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Subex Takes Home Three Pipeline Innovation Awards
LONDON, UK – Subex, a leading telecom analytics solution provider, has announced that it has been recognised by Pipeline publishing for innovation in three categories: Big Data & Analytics, Managed Services and Security & Assurance. The Award function was held at Nice, France on May 14, 2018.
The 'Innovations in Big Data & Analytics' award recognized the capabilities of Subex's ROC Insights advanced analytics solution which helps organizations be data-driven through the democratization of data science. For the 'Innovations in Managed Services' award, Subex successfully showcased its Managed Services offering which helps CSPs globally to stay on the growth path while driving business outcomes and protecting revenues backed by strong domain, technology, and operational expertise.
In terms of the 'Innovations in Security & Assurance' category, Subex demonstrated how its IoT Security solution, Subex Secure, offers comprehensive IoT security coverage from real-time discovery and monitoring to response and recovery. The solution leverages a one-of-its-kind honeypot network that combines physical devices and device emulations to generate IoT / ICS signatures.
"Pipeline is happy to see Subex recognized by the 2018 Innovation Award judges for its ongoing innovation in Big Data and Analytics, Managed Services, and Security," said Scott St. John, Managing Editor of Pipeline. "The Pipeline Innovation Awards are exclusively judged by a panel of technical executives from service provider and analyst companies, and this year included experts from Telenor, Singtel, Windstream, and Analysys Mason; which only further validates Subex's continued innovation in these areas by key stakeholders in the industry and, in particular, by those that leverage innovative technology products to deliver the most advanced communications services around the world."
Vinod Kumar, CEO and Managing Director, Subex said "It gives us great pride and honour to be recognised at the prestigious Pipeline Innovation Awards for our
work in Analytics, Security and Managed Services. The Pipeline awards continue to be a fantastic platform for us to showcase our spirit of innovation and technical expertise, and the validation we have received signifies our commitment towards ensuring our customers a smooth digital transformation journey."
– Ends-
About Subex
Subex is a leading telecom analytics solutions provider, enabling a digital future for global telcos.
Founded in 1992, Subex has spent over 25 years in enabling 3/4th of the largest 50 CSPs globally achieve competitive advantage. By leveraging data which is gathered across networks, customers, and systems coupled with its domain knowledge and the capabilities of its core solutions, Subex helps CSPs to drive new business models, enhance customer experience and optimise enterprises.
Subex leverages its award-winning analytics solutions in areas such as Revenue Assurance, Fraud Management, Asset Assurance and Partner Management, and complements them through its newer solutions such as IoT Security. Subex also offers scalable Managed Services and Business Consulting services.
Subex has more than 300 installations across 90+ countries.
Subex hosts Cybersecurity Symposium with Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Also announces the launch of its IoT Security Lab
BANGALORE, INDIA – Subex, a pioneering entity in the Cybersecurity space, hosted the first edition of its Cybersecurity Symposium with Singapore's Nanyang Technological University (NTU). The Symposium aimed towards creating a collaborative platform for the industry and academia to discuss ideas and initiatives around cybersecurity education. Representing NTU Singapore was esteemed NTU Academician and cybersecurity practitioner Prof Lam Kwok Yan, who provided his overview of the cybersecurity landscape in Singapore and perspectives on how the lessons learnt can be applied to the Indian ecosystem.
Also taking place on the same day was the launch of Subex's IoT Security Lab, which will solve threats specific to IoT industrial control systems (ICS) and IT Systems. Using the world's most comprehensive IoT and ICS focused honeypots of over 400 different architectures and over 4000 devices, Subex IoT Lab collects threat intelligence across multiple verticals including Telecom, Academics, Enterprises, Defense and Smart City projects. As part of the lab inauguration, Subex also announced that it will be opening its lab up to public-private partnerships with universities such as NTU and other colleges in Bangalore with a goal to create specific IoT security threat detection and prevention mechanisms for IoT ecosystems.
The Cybersecurity symposium also witnessed the formation of a Cyber Security Academic Forum with the objective of establishing an ecosystem in the country for cyber security research to emerge and grow, with the main mission to foster "A Safer Cyberspace". This forum will provide a unique opportunity to meet and discuss the current issues of cyber disruption and the ever-changing landscape of cyber security and IoT security related threats.
Speaking at the Cybersecurity Symposium, Vinod Kumar, CEO and MD, Subex said, "With increasing threats in the Indian and Global cyberspace, we believe that education and awareness around cybersecurity will play an important role towards preparing and securing our critical assets against these threats. However, the topic of cybersecurity is yet to gain prominence within colleges in India, leading to gaps in the available talent pool. We are extremely proud to be partner with NTU Singapore to host the Cybersecurity symposium, and play a part in addressing this gap. The symposium witnessed collaborative discussions and brainstorm sessions between the industry and academia to identify ways to improve cybersecurity education in the country. Having Prof. Lam Kwok Yan provide his expertise on the topic was of tremendous value.
Further, we also inaugurated our IoT Security Lab that will now be open to public-private partnerships with universities. The lab provides research opportunities on IoT Security threat intelligence using a one-of-its kind honeypot network. This along with the continuous monitoring of over 8.5 million customer devices have enabled us to obtain 30% more IoT and ICS threat signatures and thereby offer a comprehensive IoT threat intelligence and prevention solution to our customers."
Subex is the market leader in the products Security and Fraud Management market, with over 180+ customers in total. Subex is a pioneering entity in the Cybersecurity space involved in multiple public and private partnerships in India. The company runs the world's most comprehensive IoT and ICS focused honeypots of over 400 architectures in 32 locations around the world.
Visit www.subex.com for more information
About NTU
A research-intensive public university, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) has 33,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students in the colleges of Engineering, Business, Science, and Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, and its Interdisciplinary Graduate School. In 2017 NTU was placed 11th in the world and the best in Asia in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings. It was again placed the world's best young university (under 50 years old) by QS for the fourth consecutive year in 2017. In addition, NTU was named the world's fastest rising young university by Times Higher Education in 2015.
Subex Announced as Winner at the 8th edition of Aegis Graham Bell Award in the Data Science Category
New Delhi, 26rd February 2018: Subex has been announced as the winner in "Data Science" category for their innovation "ROC Insights" at Aegis Graham Bell Award 2017, honoring the best innovation in the ICT domain in India. Subex has been applauded as winner at the 8th edition of Aegis Graham Bell Award (AGBA) at NDMC Convention Center, New Delhi.
Aegis Graham Bell has been promoting innovations and entrepreneurship in Telecom, Data Science, Smart City Solution, Cyber Security, Digital India, Cloud and Mobility. AGBA has been rewarding those who made outstanding contribution in these fields since 7 years with a vision to foster and stimulate innovators, for India to become a nucleus of innovations.
"ROC Insights demonstrated its capability to democratize the adoption of advanced analytics across the enterprise through its innovative storyboard approach," – Mr Bhupesh Daheria, Trustee, Aegis Knowledge Trust, Founder and CEO, Aegis School of Business, Data Science & Telecom, mUniversity, Aegis Graham Bell Awards & Data Science Congress. "It has successfully scaled the application of Data Science and Machine Learning to massive volumes of data. An instance of the use cases showcased the development of a modeling approach to identify billing dispute triggers as well as an ensemble model of invoice risk and temporal-based prediction. The customized RFM (Recency, Frequency, Monetary) modeling approach facilitates financial risk management by predicting disputes."
Speaking on the award win, Vinod Kumar, Chief Operating Officer, Subex said, "It gives us great pride to receive the prestigious Aegis Graham Bell Award in the Data Science Category. ROC Insights is our Analytics-as-a-Service offering which helps users truly leverage their data to gain actionable insights quickly and in a consumable manner. In our endeavor to partner with our customers in their digital transformation journey, ROC Insights plays an important role in helping organizations be data-driven through the democratization of data science."
Subex is a leading telecom analytics solutions provider, enabling a digital future for global telcos. Founded in 1992, Subex has spent over 25 years in enabling 3/4th of the largest 50 CSPs globally achieve competitive advantage. By leveraging data which is gathered across networks, customers, and systems coupled with its domain knowledge and the capabilities of its core solutions, Subex helps CSPs to drive new business models, enhance customer experience and optimise enterprises. Subex leverages its award-winning analytics solutions in areas such as Revenue Assurance, Fraud Management, Asset Assurance and Partner Management, and complements them through its newer solutions such as IoT Security. Subex also offers scalable Managed Services and Business Consulting services. Subex has more than 300 installations across 90+ countries.
For more information, visit: www.subex.com
About Aegis Graham Bell Award
The Aegis Graham Bell Award is the largest innovation award for the ICT domain in India. The Aegis School of Business, Data Science, Cyber Security and Telecommunication has established the Aegis Graham Bell Award as a tribute to the father of the telephony, Alexander Graham Bell. This Award is intended to promote innovation, entrepreneurship in the field of Telecom, Social, Mobility, Analytics, Cloud, and Security to provide recognition for outstanding contributions by the innovators. The Award is organized with support of the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), and Telecom Centres of Excellence (TCOE), Convergence India and Deloitte as a knowledge partner.
Subex and STC awarded the prestigious Global Telecoms Business Innovation Awards 2017 in the 'Enterprise Service Innovation' category
LONDON, UK – Subex Ltd, a leading telecom analytics solution provider, has announced that it has been awarded the Global Telecoms Business Innovation (GTB) Awards 2017 along with STC in the 'Enterprise Service Innovation' category for its Managed Services offering.
GTB recognizes the industry's most innovative & successful project partnerships between the operators and vendors over the last 12 months and showcases the very best projects featuring entries from every corner of industry to reveal the latest innovations, be it application, design, network or product.
Subex and STC entered into a strategic partnership program with the objective of building a proactive Fraud Management function through a combination of best practices, domain expertise, tool capabilities and analytics. As part of Managed Services (MS), Subex provided multiple services to STC across areas of Application Support, Business Operations, 24X7 Application Monitoring and Database (DB) & Operating Systems (OS) monitoring – all provided under one roof with KPIs like 99.5% system availability.
Vinod Kumar, Chief Operating Officer, Subex, said, "It is an honour to have won the prestigious GTB Award along with STC for the 'Enterprise Service Innovation' category. This win is a testament to the effectiveness of our Managed Services model wherein our offering successfully helped STC enhance its revenue assurance and fraud mitigation initiatives. Further, we are extending our capabilities to help telcos navigate new risks around the digital space and also provide a comprehensive solution on IOT Security."
Faisal A. Alhatlani, Administration Systems Director-STC said "In Subex we have found a partner who can take the next level of fraud management challenges successfully. This move was critical for us with our expanding footprint and exponentially increasing number of subscribers. This MS engagement has empowered us to optimise resources and focus on core-business and strategic initiatives. A highly skilled team from Subex handled FM IT part for continuous improvements".
Elaborating on the award nominations, Alan Burkitt-Gray, Executive Editor of Global Telecoms Business and Capacity, said, "We had a superb range of projects nominated for this year's awards, the eleventh time Global Telecoms Business has presented our annual Innovation Awards. Each year since 2007 we've seen how the industry is getting more innovative and more imaginative about serving customers as technology advances. To get through the first hurdle and be shortlisted is already a great tribute to the quality of work here, and to go on to win an award shows an excellent level of innovation in driving demand for better quality services. Congratulations."
This is the sixth time Subex has won the prestigious GTB Innovation Awards. Subex Managed Services offerings are designed to drive new business models, enhance customer experience and optimize CSP enterprises, pillared on four primary aspects of Cost, Quality, Time-to-market and Capability. Our engagements are aimed at providing rapid ROI and increasing efficiency.
Subex Ltd. is a leading telecom analytics solutions provider, enabling a digital future for global telcos.
Subex bags multiple awards at the 2017 Pipeline Innovation Awards
LONDON, UK – Subex Ltd, a leading global provider of Business Support Systems (BSS) for Communications Service Providers (CSPs), has announced that it has been declared the Winner at the prestigious 2017 Pipeline Innovation Awards in the 'Innovations in Managed Services', and the Runner-up in the 'Innovations in Security & Assurance' category. The Award function was held at Nice, France on May 15, 2017.
The 'Innovations in Managed Services' category recognizes innovative technology solutions in the IT managed services domain that enable increased business value and alignment between the IT and business functions. On the other hand, the 'Innovations in Security & Assurance' category recognizes innovations that protect service providers operations, revenues, and business from error, fraud, and malicious attack.
For the 'Innovations in Managed Services' category, Subex successfully showcased how its Managed Services helps CSPs globally to stay on the growth path while driving business outcomes and protecting revenues backed by strong domain, technology, and operational expertise. In terms of the 'Innovations in Security & Assurance' category, Subex's IoT Security and Fraud Management solutions have taken the leap forward in countering security and fraud in new areas such as IoT, Digital and OTT.
"The 'Innovations in Managed Services' and 'The Innovations in Security & Assurance' categories were both extremely competitive and Subex's submissions in these areas were successful in best demonstrating the value delivered to CSPs," said Scott St. John, Executive Editor Pipeline magazine "I would like to congratulate Subex on the awards they have won during this year's highly contested Pipeline Awards and it's a testament the innovation occurring at Subex which has been validated by the service provider executives who served on this year's judging panel."
Ashwin Chalapathy, Chief Technology Officer, Subex Ltd. said "We are extremely proud to be awarded the prestigious 2017 Pipeline Innovation award in two categories. Our expertise and thought leadership in the Security, Fraud Management and Managed Services space have been recognized across the globe through our industry leading solution, and the Pipeline Awards plays a significant role in showcasing our excellence in these spaces."
The Innovation Awards program recognizes prominent industry innovators based on extensive evaluation, objective selection, and validation by the third-party judges of the program which include technical executives from companies such as AT&T, BT, Telenor and Windstream, besides other operators and analysts.
Subex to showcase its capabilities for Digital Revolution at the Mobile World Congress 2017
London, UK – Subex Ltd, a leading global provider of Business and Operations Support Systems (B/OSS) for Communications Service Providers (CSPs), will be participating in this year's Mobile World Congress, which will be held in Barcelona, Spain from the 27th February – 2nd March, 2017. Subex will be present in Booth #5F10 in Hall 5.
As telecom operators embark on their journey towards digital revolution, it is well known knowledge that they will encounter a broad range of challenges and risks. In order to enable telcos to be successful through this transition, Subex is the trusted technology and business solution provider to help global telcos drive new business models, enhance customer experience, and optimise enterprises.
Through its solution portfolio, Subex can empower businesses to drive new business models by pivoting their offerings around revenue, opening new revenue streams in emerging business areas and allied services, and by better leveraging the partner ecosystem. Subex can also empower telcos to optimise their enterprise by helping them bring in operational excellence by focusing on maximizing revenue and mitigating business risks, thus ensuring further Y-o-Y cost savings to make investments for the future.
With customers being at the epicenter of digital revolution Subex helps telcos enhance customer experience through the use of advanced analytics, to leverage business insights to better understand customer behaviour for deeper engagement. In line with this, Subex will be showcasing the capabilities of ROC Insights – a unique approach to solving the problem with data growth. The solution's capability to harness available operational data that service providers have and transform it into actionable intelligence for their perusal – all in near real time, plays an important part in driving new business models and enhancing customer experience for CSPs.
Subex will also be demonstrating the capabilities of its IoT security solution. Subex Secure is an IoT security solution which focuses on ensuring cyber resilience, thus providing organisations the ability to identify, protect, monitor, respond and recover from IoT attacks.
"With existing revenue streams from Voice, Data and SMS undergoing a fundamental shift, CSPs need to transform their approach to the market and find ways to embrace the world of digital services such as OTT, IoT, Mobile Money, Wearables etc. With 20 years of domain expertise and capabilities, Subex is a strategic partner to service providers in making the leap, to embrace the digital revolution." said Vinod Kumar, Chief Operating Officer, Subex.
In addition to the above, full-fledged mobile applications for ROC Revenue Assurance, ROC Fraud Management, ROC Asset Assurance, ROC Partner Settlement and ROC Insights are being showcased at this year's MWC event and will be available for hands-on demo.
To schedule a meeting and get an insight about our offerings visit https://bit.ly/2jz7DMf
About Subex Limited
Subex Limited is a leading global provider of Business and Operations Support Systems (B/OSS) that empowers communications service providers (CSPs) to achieve competitive advantage through Business Optimisation – thereby enabling them to improve their operational efficiency to deliver enhanced service experiences to subscribers.
Subex's product portfolio powers the ROC and its best-in-class solutions such as revenue assurance, fraud management, asset assurance, capacity management, data integrity management, credit risk management, cost management, route optimization and partner settlement. Through its ROC Insights advanced analytics service, Subex provides actionable insights delivered through consumable storyboards, to help telecom operators make the best use of their data. Subex also offers a scalable Managed Services program with 30+ customers.
Among the numerous awards the company has won, Subex has been awarded the Pipeline Innovation Award 2016 for Security and Assurance and has been the winner of Carriers World Awards 2015 for Best Security/Fraud solution, and Telecoms Award 2015 for Advances in B/OSS. Subex has continued to innovate with customers and have been jointly awarded the Global Telecoms Business Innovation Award in 2016 with BTC Botswana; in 2015 with Mobily; in 2014 with Telstra Global; in 2012 with Idea Cellular for Managed Services and in 2011 with Swisscom for Fraud Management. The company was also awarded the BSS&OSS Latin America Best Fraud Prevention project award in 2016 with Telefonica Chile.
Subex's customers include 39 of top 50 telecom operators* and 7 of the world's 10 largest# telecom companies worldwide. The company has more than 300+ installations across 90+ countries.
*Telecom Operators 500, 2015
#The World's Largest Telecom Companies 2015 – Forbes
For more information please visit www.subex.com
Subex leads the Dynamic Asset Management in SDN & NFV Catalyst at TM Forum Innovation InFocus 2016
Denver, US – Subex Inc, a leading global provider of Business and Operations Support Systems (B/OSS) for Communications Service Providers (CSPs), will be leading the Dynamic Asset Management in SDN & NFV Transformations catalyst that will be demonstrated at TM Forum Innovation InFocus 2016, in Dallas, Texas. As a catalyst lead, Subex has led the catalyst team in identifying the critical industry challenges, along with several comprehensive solutions, associated with managing dual Legacy and SDN/NFV networks. The catalyst is championed by a major European operator (Orange, France) who is seen as an international leader in SDN/NFV transformations; this operator has acknowledged the seriousness of the challenge, and has worked hand-in-hand with Subex and the catalyst team to validate the detailed data model Subex has created to support a structured dual network operation. The catalyst, a combination of advanced network technology and analytics, has several participants. For its part, Subex has primary responsibility towards Discovery, Analytical Modelling, Forecasting, KPI Visualisations and Data Persistence of Legacy, Software-defined, and Virtual Assets of a hybrid network, using the Subex ROC Asset Assurance platform. The goal of the project is to provide a set of solutions to the hybrid network operations that every operator will be facing in the next decade and beyond.
In the coming years, networks that operate both SDN/NFV and legacy gear will face a slew of obstacles in terms of load balancing, capacity planning, Capex planning along with many other challenges. Through the catalyst program Subex, along with Operator Champion Orange France and team participants ESRI and Teltech, aim to demonstrate a comprehensive, repeatable and scalable approach to understand and effectively manage complex facets of hybrid network asset management.
Catalysts are proof-of-concept projects developed collaboratively by TM Forum members. These projects bring together companies large and small to create innovative solutions to common challenges demonstrating how this can be achieved leveraging key TM Forum best practices and standards ensuring scalability, reuse and reduced costs and risk. As part of the Dynamic Asset Management in SDN & NFV Transformations Catalyst, Subex and Orange France will be demonstrating how to employ a robust Asset Management program to successfully navigate a complex, multi-year SDN/NFV transformation and highlight business cases where transformation is necessary along with the financial and capacity impacts.
"We are honoured to lead the TM Forum Dynamic Asset Management in SDN and NFV catalyst which is focused around the transformation of dynamic networks to SDN/NFV networks. In the ecosystem where the network operates both legacy along with SDN/NFV, operators need to have a clear understanding of their entire network, capacities, and forecasted growth needs in a limited Capex scenario to be able to effectively maintain network quality, sufficient service availability and most importantly, Capex preservation. Through the catalyst program Subex, along with Orange France and our team participants ESRI and Teltech, aim to demonstrate an approach which will help operators understand and effectively manage all facets of their network assets." said John Brooks, VP – Product Management at Subex.
The Dynamic Asset Management in SDN & NFV catalyst projects will be demonstrated at TM Forum Innovation InFocus 2016 in Dallas, Texas, during the 2nd and 3rd of November.
The company pioneered the concept of a Revenue Operations Centre (ROC®) – a centralized approach that sustains profitable growth and financial health through coordinated operational control. Subex's product portfolio powers the ROC and its best-in-class solutions such as revenue assurance, fraud management, asset assurance, capacity management, data integrity management, credit risk management, cost management, route optimization and partner settlement. Subex also offers a scalable Managed Services program with 30 + customers.
Subex has been awarded the Global Market Share Leader in Financial Assurance 2012 by Frost & Sullivan and has been the winner of Pipeline Innovation Award 2013 in Business Intelligence & Analytics; Capacity Magazine Best Product/ Service 2013. Subex has continued to innovate with customers and have been jointly awarded the Global Telecoms Business Innovation Award 2014 along with Telstra; in 2012 with Idea Cellular for Managed Services and in 2011 with Swisscom for Fraud Management. Subex's customers include 29 of top 50 operators* and 33 of the world's 50 biggest# telecommunications service providers worldwide. The company has more than 300 installations across 70 countries.
*Total Telecom Top 500 Telecom Brands, 2015
#Forbes' Global 2000 list, 2015
Subex to host 13th Global User Conference at Jaipur, India
Bangalore, INDIA – Subex Ltd, a leading global provider of Business and Operations Support Systems (B/OSS) for Communications Service Providers (CSPs) announced that it will be hosting the 13th edition of its Global User Conference from 25th to 27th of October, 2016 at Jaipur, India. The 2016 User Conference will be attended by delegates from leading wireless and wireline operators across the globe.
Among the keynote speakers for this year's User Conference is Shara Evans, Technology Futurist and CEO – Market Clarity, who is widely regarded as one of the world's top female futurists, fusing her engineering background with an intuitive understanding of how society is likely to respond to new technologies. Also joining her are Anthony Sani, Executive, Group Revenue Assurance and Fraud Management at MTN Group, Kanishka Wickrama, Chief Financial Officer at Smart Axiata, and Kevin Chuah, Director Commercial Assurance at Optus, as esteemed keynote speakers for the event.
The conference is being chaired by Eric Priezkalns, Co-founder of Commsrisk formerly known as talkRA. Independent speakers include Suzanne Hodges, Director, Security Operations & Fraud Analytics at Charter Communication / Director at CFCA; Shiva Sharma, Director RAFM at Ooredoo Kuwait; Roberto Morales Soto, Project Manager at Telefonica Chile; and Aditya Ghosh, AVP IT at Idea Cellular.
The theme for the Subex User Conference 2016 will revolve around Digital Transformation in the Telecom Industry. The 3 day conference will showcase customer presentations and case studies and debate on current industry topics related to digital revolution through roundtable and panel discussions.
The 2016 Subex User Conference: "Connect, Communicate, Collaborate" will provide the perfect stage for our customers to understand current market dynamics and challenges and exchange thoughts on industry direction. An annual property, the User Conference provides customers with an excellent opportunity to engage and learn from collective experiences while sharing best practices and feedback.
The 'Operator Excellence Awards 2016' returns for its second run. The Operator Excellence Awards endeavors to recognise individuals and organizations at the forefront of the industry that are setting new standards of excellence and innovation in their areas. Esteemed judges on the panel includes Eric Priezkalns, Suzanne Hodges, and Mark Broom, Chairman, GSMA Fraud and Security Group. The awards will come in two categories:
Business Innovation in Risk Management. The winners will be Telcos that can demonstrate they have pioneered and implemented new techniques and working practices in order to better mitigate risk
Outstanding Contribution to the Community. This award will be given to individuals who have taken a leading role in collaborating and sharing best practices with industry peers.
The awards will be presented on the 2nd day of the conference on Oct 26th, 2016
Vinod Kumar, COO, Subex Ltd. said, "The Annual Subex User Conference provides for an excellent platform for operators, futurists, media and analysts to exchange knowledge and discuss about the ever-changing dynamics of the industry. This year the event will focus around the theme of Digital Transformation in the Telecom world. With the digital revolution which is happening in the industry today, telecom operators across the world are posed with a host of new challenges, and more importantly, an incredibly large number of opportunities as well. We look forward to discussing and debating on this new trend with key and prominent minds from across the world.
We are truly humbled to have an opportunity to play host to some of the most prolific personalities in the industry. Moreover, we also look forward to hosting the second edition of the Operator Excellence Awards at the User Conference. This User Conference is extremely special considering that we get to host it in our home country, in the beautiful city of Jaipur."
Subex to speak at CANTO's 32nd Annual Conference and Trade Exhibition
Denver, US – Subex Inc., a leading global provider of Business and Operations Support Systems (B/OSS) for Communications Service Providers (CSPs), will be speaking and exhibiting at the 32nd Annual Conference and Trade Exhibition organized by CANTO, which will be held in San Juan, Puerto Rico from the 31st July – 05th of August, 2016.
Innovations like Mobility, Cloud Computing, Social Networks and Big Data have changed the way businesses are being run. As operators venture into next-generation services and content-driven service environments, Revenue Assurance becomes more challenging and critical. Adding to operators' woes is the ever increasing complexity of the network elements that gives rise to newer types of fraud each day. Moreover, Communication Service Providers (CSPs), have to deal with an enormous volume of data. In order to effectively use this data to improve and optimize business processes, CSPs need analytics & insights to derive actionable intelligence out of it.
In line with this, Mr. John Brooks – Vice President, Product Management at Subex will be presenting on the topic of "Customer Journey Analytics", at the event.
Subex will also be exhibiting its brand new powerful analytics offering – ROC Insights. Based on Subex's two decades of B/OSS expertise, telecom domain and telecom analytics experience, ROC Insights is a next generation analytics solution which provides CSPs with a unique approach to solving the problem with data growth. The solution's capability to harness available operational data that service providers have and transform it into actionable intelligence for their perusal – all in near real time, plays an important part in delivering Business Optimisation to CSPs.
Subex will also be demonstrating its Revenue Analytics and Cost Analytics solutions at the event at booth # 40.
Schedule a meeting with us to get an insight about our offerings or please walk in to our booth. To schedule a meeting visit https://www.subex.com/schedule-a-meeting-at-canto-32nd-annual-meeting/
Subex Limited is a leading global provider of Business and Operations Support Systems (B/OSS) that empowers communications service providers (CSPs) to achieve competitive advantage through Business and Capex Optimisation – thereby enabling them to improve their operational efficiency to deliver enhanced service experiences to subscribers.
The company pioneered the concept of a Revenue Operations Center (ROC®) – a centralized approach that sustains profitable growth and financial health through coordinated operational control. Subex's product portfolio powers the ROC and its best-in-class solutions such as revenue assurance, fraud management, asset assurance, capacity management, data integrity management, credit risk management, cost management, route optimization and partner settlement. Subex also offers a scalable Managed Services program with 30+ customers.
Subex has been awarded the Global Market Share Leader in Financial Assurance 2012 by Frost & Sullivan and has been the winner of Carriers World Awards 2015 for Best Security/Fraud solution, Telecoms Award 2015 for Advances in B/OSS, Pipeline Innovation Award 2016 for Security & Assurance" and in 2013 for Business Intelligence & Analytics; Capacity Magazine Best Product/ Service Award 2013. Subex has continued to innovate with customers and have been jointly awarded the Global Telecoms Business Innovation Award in 2016 with BTC Botswana; 2015 with Mobily; in 2014 with Telstra Global; in 2012 with Idea Cellular for Managed Services and in 2011 with Swisscom for Fraud Management.
Subex's customers include 39 of top 50 telecom operators* and 7 of the world's 10 largest# telecom companies worldwide. The company has more than 300 installations across 70 countries.
Subex and BTC Botswana awarded the prestigious Global Telecoms Business Innovation Awards 2016 under the 'Business Service Innovation' category
London, UK – Subex Ltd, a leading global provider of Business and Operations Support Systems (B/OSS) for Communications Service Providers (CSPs), announced that it has been awarded the Global Telecoms Business Innovation (GTB) Awards 2016 along with BTC Botswana in the 'Business Service Innovation' category for Revenue Assurance.
The Global Telecoms Business Innovation Awards have been in existence since 2007 and recognizes innovations that contribute to improved business efficiencies in the telecoms world.
Subex and BTC Botswana entered into a strategic partnership program with the objective of minimizing leakages across the revenue chain, through ROC Revenue Assurance in a Managed Services engagement, and has resulted in a leakage identification of over USD 3 Million so far. This engagement between BTC and Subex has been a successful demonstration of a highly effective Managed Services model wherein the role of Subex extends beyond simply being a software services provider. This is a classic example of a business partnership between a vendor and operator, wherein both organizations are working towards common goals and objectives by making use of their individual strengths.
Vinod Kumar, Chief Operating Officer, Subex, said, "The engagement between Subex and BTC Botswana is a successful demonstration of our highly effective Managed Services model wherein the role of Subex extends beyond simply being a software services provider. This is a classic example of a business partnership between a vendor and operator, wherein both organizations are working towards common goals and objectives by leveraging individual strengths. With tightly knit processes, stringent SLAs, industry best practices, and strong domain expertise.
Subex and BTC have been able to create an efficient Revenue Assurance ecosystem that has been able to successfully identify and fix leakages across the revenue chain. It is encouraging to note that our work in the area has been recognized and awarded by GTB."
"We are pleased to be declared winners of the GTB Innovation Award along with Subex. The Managed Services engagement with Subex has truly allowed our Revenue Assurance team to expand its footprint by providing analysis and results to various other teams like Roaming, Product Development, Wholesale, Customer Care, Network Operations and Marketing. It has also helped us focus more on strategic objectives, by ensuring that the business tasks are handled effectively by the BTC team supported by the Subex Managed Services team. We at BTC look at this strategic partnership as a long term one, and we look forward to many more achievements together in the space." said Boitumelo Gabaake – Kauta, Head of Revenue Assurance & Fraud Management at BTC.
This is the fifth time Subex has won the prestigious GTB Innovation Awards. With more than 100 global installations, ROC Revenue Assurance is the complete Revenue Assurance solution, designed to tackle critical revenue assurance challenges across the entire revenue chain. It takes revenue assurance to a new level, providing the continuous monitoring and revenue protection needed in today's changing telecommunications environment. It is highly effective in both the traditional circuit-switched and next-generation, packet-switched service environments; scalable enough to serve operators large and small; and flexible enough to support Revenue Assurance practices as they expand and mature.
The company pioneered the concept of a Revenue Operations Center (ROC®) – a centralized approach that sustains profitable growth and financial health through coordinated operational control. Subex's product portfolio powers the ROC and its best-in-class solutions such as revenue assurance, fraud management, asset assurance, capacity management, data integrity management, credit risk management, cost management, route optimization and partner settlement. Subex also offers a scalable Managed Services program with 30 + customers.
Subex has been awarded the Global Market Share Leader in Financial Assurance 2012 by Frost & Sullivan and has been the winner of Carriers World Awards 2015 for Best Security/Fraud solution, Telecoms Award 2015 for Advances in B/OSS, Pipeline Innovation Award 2013 in Business Intelligence & Analytics; Capacity Magazine Best Product/ Service 2013. Subex has continued to innovate with customers and have been jointly awarded the Global Telecoms Business Innovation Award in 2016 with BTC Botswana; in 2015 with Mobily; in 2014 with Telstra Global; in 2012 with Idea Cellular for Managed Services and in 2011 with Swisscom for Fraud Management.
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Natural Gas Marketers Finish in Positive Territory with Gains..
There was plenty of good news from most of the 24 leading natural gas marketers participating in NGI's Top North American Natural Gas Marketers rankings, which reported a 5% increase in their total sales volumes in 4Q2018 compared with 4Q2017, capping off a year in which they posted a combined 6% increase compared with 2017.
Participating gas marketers reported combined sales transactions of 121.12 Bcf/d in 4Q2018, a 5.33 Bcf/d increase compared with 115.79 Bcf/d in 4Q2017.
It was the fifth consecutive NGI quarterly survey in which marketers have reported year-over-year increases, following a 7% increase in sales of natural gas in 3Q2018 compared with 3Q2017, a 9% increase in 2Q2018 compared with 2Q2017, an 8% increase in 1Q2018 compared with 1Q2017, and a 7% increase in 4Q2017 compared with 4Q2016.
That series of surges pushed the full-year 2018 total to 118.11 Bcf/d, a 6.16 Bcf/d increase compared with 111.95 Bcf/d in 2017.
Eight of the survey's Top-10 marketers and 16 companies overall reported higher numbers in 4Q2018 than in the year-ago period. BP plc strengthened its hold on the No. 1 spot, reporting 22.33 Bcf/d, a 5% increase compared with 21.18 Bcf/d in 4Q2017.
The London-based supermajor's Lower 48 division, BPX Energy, reported total hydrocarbons in 4Q2018 of 447,000 boe/d, versus 321,000 boe/d sequentially and 319,000 boe/d in the year-ago period. BP's U.S. onshore gas production in the final three months increased to 2,053 MMcf/d, versus 1,614 MMcf/d sequentially and 1,574 MMcf/d in 4Q2017.
At No. 2, Macquarie Energy, which had seen four consecutive upward quarters, reported 12.57 Bcf/d in 4Q2018, compared with 13.15 Bcf/d in 4Q2017.
Tenaska reported an 8% increase, with 10.60 Bcf/d in 4Q2018, compared with 9.80 Bcf/d in 4Q2017. Tenaska recently announced that its natural gas marketing affiliate, Tenaska Marketing Ventures (TMV), plans to open a regional office in Houston in 2Q2019. TMV is based in Omaha and also has offices in Boston, Dallas, Denver, Calgary and Vancouver.
No. 4 Shell Energy NA reported a mild decline, falling to 9.90 Bcf/d from the 10.00 Bcf/d in the year-ago period.
At No. 5, ConocoPhillips reported 8.44 Bcf/d in 4Q2018, a 2% increase compared with 8.25 Bcf/d in 4Q2017. The Houston-based super independent said recently that it expects full-year production, excluding Libya, to be 1.3-1.35 million boe/d in 2019, with 1Q2019 production expected at 1.29-1.33 million boe/d.
The other Top-10 companies in NGI's survey all reported increases: Sequent Energy Management (6.70 Bcf/d, up 5% from 6.40 Bcf/d); J. Aron & Co. (6.35 Bcf/d, up 18% from 5.40 Bcf/d); Direct Energy (6.12 Bcf/d, up 9% from 5.63 Bcf/d); EDF Trading NA (5.06 Bcf/d, up 12% from 4.53 Bcf/d); and CenterPoint Energy (4.01 Bcf/d, up 10% from 3.66 Bcf/d).
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports seem poised to become a dominant market for domestic production. Strong demand in Asia is driving rapid growth in LNG use, with global consumption on track to rise sharply again this year after climbing by 27 million metric tons (mmt) in 2018, according to Royal Dutch Shell plc. In its annual LNG Outlook, Shell said consumption worldwide last year increased to 319 mmt, with global supply set to increase by 35 mmt this year. The International Energy Agency expects the United States to account for nearly 75% of global LNG export expansions over the next five years.
In an Energy Outlook released last month, BP said LNG exports are likely to increase significantly in coming years, led by the United States and Qatar. North America is seen leading the way on LNG exports, followed by the Middle East, Africa and Russia. As the market matures, the United States and Qatar emerge as the "main centers of LNG exports, accounting for around 40% of all LNG exports by 2040," BP said.
The European Union (EU) has boosted U.S. LNG imports by 181% to 7.9 billion cubic meters (Bcm) since last July, according to the European Commission. EU imports totaled 1.3 Bcm in January, up from 102 million cubic meters in January 2018. In February 2019, total U.S. LNG imports amounted to 0.6 Bcm, according to the commission.
U.S. demand for LNG feedgas has been on the rise recently, hitting a record high of 5.6 Bcf/d in late February and averaging nearly double what it was this time last year, according to RBN Energy. Feedgas deliveries are poised to be the biggest driver of Lower-48 gas demand this year, according to RBN analyst Sheetal Nasta.
"With about 30 mmt/year, or 4.5 Bcf/d, of liquefaction and export capacity due online this year, feedgas deliveries are poised to surpass 9 Bcf/d by the end of the year, with nearly all of that incremental demand coming online along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast," Nasta said. "The pace of this demand growth over the course of the year will come down to how quickly the anticipated trains can complete construction and testing, the timing of which can depend on a whole host of factors, including the extent of the repairs or modifications that are needed along the way, the timing of regulatory approvals, or the timing of gas pipeline connections to supply the facilities."
Several of the companies participating in NGI's survey are invested in major LNG export projects.
BP and ExxonMobil Corp. recently signed an agreement with the Alaska Gasline Development Corp. (AGDC) to collaborate on ways to advance the state-owned corporation's Alaska LNG project, which has an ultimate goal of exporting U.S. LNG to Asian markets.
ExxonMobil and partner Qatar Petroleum last month pulled the trigger on their long anticipated Golden Pass LNG project in Sabine Pass, TX, to capitalize on the low cost supply of U.S. natural gas and the expected growth in global demand.
Another key LNG project in Mozambique, in which ExxonMobil is partnering with Eni SpA, is on track for a final investment decision this year. The development plan covering the first phase of Mozambique Rovema Venture SpA has been submitted for government approval, with Rovema about to produce, liquefy and market gas from the Mamba fields in the Area 4 block offshore Mozambique. The Papua New Guinea LNG project, which ramped up initially in 2014, also is progressing.
Other highlights of NGI's 4Q2018 survey included a 12% increase year/year for Chevron Corp. (3.89 Bcf/d), a 9% increase for Southwestern Energy Corp. (3.37 Bcf/d), and a 24% increase for Castleton Commodities (3.28 Bcf/d).
Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. reported 2.24 Bcf/d, a 25% increase from the year ago period, and ARM Energy Management reported 2.04 Bcf/d, a 45% increase. Encana Corp. came in with a 12% increase (1.23 Bcf/d), while Anadarko Petroleum Corp. saw a 6% increase (1.12 Bcf/d) and Apache Corp. reported a 55% increase (0.68 Bcf/d).
In NGI's Full-Year 2018 Top North American Gas Marketers Ranking, BP reported a 3% increase compared with 2017 (21.66 Bcf/d versus 21.00), and 16 other marketers reported increases from 2017.
Highlights of the full-year survey include a 24% increase for Macquarie (12.80 Bcf/d, compared with 10.29 Bcf/d in 2017), a 12% increase for Tenaska (10.60 Bcf/d, compared with 9.50 Bcf/d in 2017), and a 4% increase for Sequent (6.68 Bcf/d, compared with 6.50 Bcf/d in 2017). EDF Trading NA reported a marginal increase to 4.92 Bcf/d.
J. Aron reported a 9% increase over 2017 (5.82 Bcf/d). Increases for the full year were also reported by Direct Energy (5.68 Bcf/d), CenterPoint Energy (3.71 Bcf/d), Chevron (3.48 Bcf/d), Southwestern (3.19 Bcf/d), Castleton (2.93 Bcf/d), Cabot (2.00 Bcf/d), ARM (1.89 Bcf/d) and NJR Energy Services Co. (1.85 Bcf/d). Encana (1.16 Bcf/d) and Apache (0.59 Bcf/d) also reported increases in 2018 compared with 2017.
CFE International's average sales for 2018 was 2.28 Bcf/d, compared to a 2017 calculation of 2.46 Bcf/d, which was based on 3Q2017 and 4Q2017 data only -- CFE didn't trade natural gas in the first half of 2017.
The NGI survey ranks marketers on sales transactions only. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's Form 552 tallies both purchases and sales.


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Mozilla issues Firefox fix following weekend of extension woes
Mozilla is recovering from a few days of browser extension failures in Firefox, a problem caused by an expired signing certificate that the company has fixed for users of the current release of the browser — but not for those on legacy versions.
On Friday, a large number of Firefox users discovered some add-ons that previously worked fine were no longer functional. Attempts to download new extensions from Firefox's online archives also failed to install successfully, leaving many users unhappy with their browser not functioning how it normally would.
An addition to a post on changes in add-on policies reveals a certificate expired on May 3, causing the extension failures. A follow-up post on May 4 advises the issue was identified and a temporary fix rolled out to all Firefox Desktop users on the Release, Beta, and Nightly builds, which would be automatically applied in the background within 24 hours.
Mozilla warned users they did not need to take any active steps for the fix to take place, and to not delete or reinstall any add-ons, as this may disassociate data relating to the app. As the temporary fix used Firefox's Studies system, it may not have worked for users who disabled the feature under the "Data Collection and Use" section of the "Privacy & Security" menu within the browser's Options tab.
A general fix for the issue that doesn't require the use of the Studies system was also issued as a full release, bringing the browser to version 66.0.4. Mozilla admits the full update still leaves some remaining issues, but wanted to get the fix out by Monday to "lessen the impact of disabled add-ons before the start of the week."
While the fix will help those using the most recent version of the browser, legacy users have complained that, as they are resisting going to version 66 of the software, they won't benefit from the fix at all. Engadget reports some users are threatening to find other solutions like switching to another browser if Mozilla does not issue a fix for older versions.
The legacy users use the earlier releases for a variety of reasons, such as being limited to them by using older versions of operating systems, or if there is an extension that works with earlier versions but won't function with newer releases.
Mozilla has yet to advise on how they would help legacy Firefox users, if at all.
rotateleftbyte Said:
I'm on the ESR Release and after reinstalling my addons and restarting it all worked.
I won't go to the bleeding edge release on any software... I've been burned too many times for that especially wrt Windows updates.
GeorgeBMac Said:
I like FireFox for a number of reasons -- one of which is it provides commonality between my Windows and MacOS devices -- where I can share bookmarks and pick up on one device where I left off on the other. I would prefer to use Safari on both, but Apple discontinued it on Windows -- so now I use FireFox.
elijahg Said:
Installing iCloud on Windows lets you sync bookmarks between Safari on iOS and FF on Windows
dysamoria Said:
More server-side everything leading to huge messes for users. Yay for cloud technology.
i just had a companion asking me about why her ad blocker no longer worked. I found out about this obnoxious mess via a review posted on an ad blocker entry on Mozilla's extension library. How exactly did Mozilla inform users? Through the update mechanism?
Abandoning users of older versions, after screwing them up, is getting to be an absolute norm in this stupid industry, even with free products. This is not progress.
lorin schultz Said:
Being the schmuck I am, it never occurred to me that it might be a bug. I just assumed I needed to update my ad blocker extension. When it wouldn't install, I figured I must have to delete the old one to install the new one. For some reason it didn't occur to me that by doing that I was also deleting my custom blocking list and my whitelist. Whoops. Damn.
By Wesley Hilliard | 10 hours ago

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Bombay HC – Mother claiming maintenance for minor son won't have to pay court fees #Goodnews
Bombay (Mumbai) – The High Court from afar with Oval Maidan in the foreground (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Family disputes: HC exempts women from paying court fees for sons too
The Chief Justice Manjula Chellur pointed out that the only sufferer in such a case was the mother, and allowed the petition.
Women approaching courts will not be required to pay the fees for their minor son/s, as the Bombay high court on Thursday allowed a public interest litigation that complained about the family court in Bandra that insisted on a state notification exempting women from paying court fees in matrimonial matters was applicable only for the benefit of women.
"For all practical purposes, it is the woman (mother of the minor son/s) who will have to pay the court fees, as her son obviously cannot pay it," said the division bench of Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice MS Sonak.
The bench was hearing a public interest litigation filed by Majlis Manch. Its lawyer, Flavia Agnes, pointed out that women are exempted from paying court fees by a notification issued by Maharashtra government in 1994 under the Bombay Court Fees Act.
She said in a recent case, where a woman sought maintenance for her two minor sons, the family court registrar refused to place the matter before the court concerned unless the fees due on the maintenance sought for the sons was paid. Since the woman was unable to pay up, the matter was taken before the principal judge of the family court.
Majlis Manch approached the high court after the principal judge affirmed that the 1994 notification was only for the benefit of women and not for minor males, and therefore court fee was payable if a woman seeks maintenance for her minor son/s. Agnes said the family court could not discriminate between male and female children.
According to the PIL, the stand will not only be unjust to women but will deter those who are unable to pay court fees on the amount claimed as maintenance for their son/s.
Assistant government pleader Neha Bhide opposed the PIL saying that the decision of the principal judge of the family court was in tune with the government's decision. She said since the exemption was granted for the benefit of women, it could not be extended to male children. Bhide also submitted that it was a source of revenue.
The submission, however, did not weigh with the bench. "There are many other better avenues available for generating revenue," said the bench, adding, "Even if the existing revenue is collected properly that would be sufficient."http://www.hindustantimes.com/mumbai-news/family-disputes-hc-exempts-women-from-paying-court-fees-for-sons-too/story-kYnVde08XIAeA78QLpD9GN.html
'I was raped by the man leading protests against the Kathua sexual assault; he's now out on bail' #M...
In a first, SC issues warrant against Calcutta HC judge C S Karnan
SC asks Can #Aadhaar be for All Purposes ?
Have you been nudged?
Advocacy, Announcements, Human Rights, Justice, Kractivism, Law, Violence against Women, Women Rights


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5: Bacteria - Internal Components
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Book: Microbiology (Bruslind)
Contributed by Linda Bruslind
Senior Instructor II and Lead Advisor (Microbiology) at Oregon State University
Sourced from Open Oregon State
FtsZ
MreB
Crescentin
Carbon storage
Inorganic storage
Non-storage functions
Microcompartments
Anammoxosome
Chlorosome
Endospore
Sporulation: conversion from vegetative cell to endospore
Conversion from endospore to vegetative cell
Essential Questions/Objectives
Exploratory Questions (OPTIONAL)
We have already covered the main internal components found in all bacteria, namely, cytoplasm, the nucleoid, and ribosomes. Remember that bacteria are generally thought to lack organelles, those bilipid membrane-bound compartments so prevalent in eukaryotic cells (although some scientists argue that bacteria possess structures that could be thought of as simple organelles). But bacteria can be more complex, with a variety of additional internal components to be found that can contribute to their capabilities. Most of these components are cytoplasmic but some of them are periplasmic, located in the space between the cytoplasmic and outer membrane in gram negative bacteria.
It was originally thought that bacteria lacked a cytoskeleton, a significant component of eukaryotic cells. In the last 20 years, however, scientists have discovered bacterial filaments made of proteins that are analogues to the cytoskeletal proteins found in eukaryotes. It has also been determined that the bacterial cytoskeleton plays important roles in cell shape, cell division, and integrity of the cell wall.
FtsZ, homologous to the eukaryotic protein tubulin, forms a ring structure in the middle of the cell during cell division, attracting other proteins to the area in order to construct a septum that will eventually separate the two resulting daughter cells.
MreB, homologous to the eukaryotic protein actin, is found in bacillus and spiral-shaped bacteria and plays an essential role in cell shape formation. MreB assumes a helical configuration running the length of the cell and dictates the activities of the peptidoglycan-synthesis machinery, assuring a non-spherical shape.
Crescentin, homologous to the eukaryotic proteins lamin and keratin, is found in spiral-shaped bacteria with a single curve. The protein assembles lengthwise in the inner curvature of the cell, bending the cell into its final shape.
Cytoskeleton Structures.
Bacterial inclusions are generally defined as a distinct structure located either within the cytoplasm or periplasm of the cell. They can range in complexity, from a simple compilation of chemicals such as crystals, to fairly complex structures that start to rival that of the eukaryotic organelles, complete with a membranous external layer. Their role is often to store components as metabolic reserves for the cell when a substance is found in excess, but they can also play a role in motility and metabolic functions as well.
Carbon is the most common substance to be stored by a cell, since all cells are carbon based. In addition, carbon compounds can often be broken down quickly by the cell, so they can serve as energy sources as well. One of the simplest and most common inclusions for carbon storage is glycogen, in which glucose units are linked together in a multi-branching polysaccharide structure.
Another common way for bacteria to store carbon is in the form of poly-β-hydroxybutyrate (PHB), a granule that forms when β-hydroxybutyric acid units aggregate together. This lipid is very plastic-like in composition, leading some scientists to investigate the possibility of using them as a biodegradeable plastic. The PHB granules actually have a shell composed of both protein and a small amount of phospholipid. Both glycogen and PHB are formed when there is an excess of carbon and then broken down by the cell later for both carbon and energy.
Often bacteria need something other than carbon, either for synthesis of cell components or as an alternate energy reserve. Polyphosphate granules allow for the accumulation of inorganic phosphate (PO43-), where the phosphate can be used to make nucleic acid (remember the sugar-phosphate backbone?) or ATP (adenosine triphosphate, of course).
Other cells need sulfur as a source of electrons for their metabolism and will store excess sulfur in the form of sulfur globules, which result when the cell oxidizes hydrogen sulfide (H2S) to elemental sulfur (S0), resulting in the formation of refractile inclusions.
There are times when a bacterium needs to do something beyond simple storage of organic or inorganic compounds for use in metabolism and there are inclusions to help with these non-storage functions. One such example is gas vacuoles, which are used by the cell to control buoyancy in a water column, providing the cell with some control over where it is in the environment. It is a limited form of motility, on the vertical axis only. Gas vacuoles are composed of conglomerations of gas vesicles, cylindrical structures that are both hollow and rigid. The gas vesicles are freely permeable to all types of gases by passive diffusion and can be quickly constructed or collapsed, as needed by the cell to ascend or descend.
Magnetosomes are inclusions that contain long chains of magnetite (Fe3O4), which are used by the cell as a compass in geomagnetic fields, for orientation within their environment. Magnetotactic bacteria are typically microaerophilic, preferring an environment with a lower level of oxygen than the atmosphere. The magenetosome allows the cells to locate the optimum depth for their growth. Magenetosomes have a true lipid bilayer, reminiscent of eukaryotic organelles, but it is actually an invagination of the cell's plasma membrane that has been modified with specific proteins.
Bacterial microcompartments (BMCs) are unique from other inclusions by virtue of their structure and functionality. They are icosahedral in shape and composed of a protein shell made up of various proteins in the BMC family. While their exact role varies, they all participate in functions beyond simple storage of substances. These compartments provide both a location and the substances (usually enzymes) necessary for particular metabolic activities.
The best studied example of a BMC is the carboxysome, which are found in many CO2-fixing bacteria. Carboxysomes contain the enzyme ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase (luckily it is also known as RubisCO), which plays a crucial role in converting CO2 into sugar. The carboxysome also plays a role in the concentration of CO2, thus ensuring that the components necessary for CO2-fixation are all in the same place at the same time.
The anammoxosome is a large membrane-bound compartment found in bacterial cells capable of carrying out the annamox reaction (anaerobic ammonium oxidation), where ammonium (NH4+) and nitrite (NO2-) are converted to dinitrogen gas (N2). The process is performed as a way for the cell to get energy, using ammonium as an electron donor and nitrite as an electron accept, with the resulting production of nitrogen gas. This chemical conversion of nitrogen is important for the nitrogen cycle.
Nitrogen Cycle. By Shou-Qing Ni and Jian Zhang [CC BY 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Found in some phototrophic bacteria, a chlorosome is a highly efficient structure for capturing low light intensities. Lining the inside perimeter of the cell membrane, each chlorosome can contain up to 250,000 bacteriochlorophyll molecules, arranged in dense arrays. Harvested light is transferred to reaction centers in the cell membrane, allowing the conversion from light energy to chemical energy in the form of ATP. The chlorosome is bounded by a lipid monolayer.
A plasmid is an extrachromosomal piece of DNA that some bacteria have, in addition to the genetic material found in the nucleoid. It is composed of double-stranded DNA and is typically circular, although linear plasmids have been found. Plasmids are described as being "non-essential" to the cell, where the cell can function normally in their absence. But while plasmids have only a few genes, they can confer important capabilities for the cell, such as antibiotic resistance. Plasmids replicate independently of the cell and can be lost (known as curing), either spontaneously or due to exposure to adverse conditions, such as UV light, thymine starvation, or growth above optimal conditions. Some plasmids, known as episomes, can be integrated into the cell chromosome where the genes will be replicated during cell division.
Then there is the endospore, a marvel of bacterial engineering. This is located under the heading "bacterial internal components," but it is important to note that an endospore isn't an internal or external structure so much as a conversion of the cell into an alternate form. Cells start out as a vegetative cell, doing all the things a cell is supposed to do (metabolizing, reproducing, mowing the lawn…). If they get exposed to hostile conditions (dessication, high heat, an angry neighbor…) and they have the ability, they might convert from a vegetative cell into an endospore. The endospore is actually formed within the vegetative cell (doesn't that make it an internal structure?) and then the vegetative cell lyses, releasing the endospore (does that make it an external structure?).
Endospore Layers.
Endospores are only formed by a few gram positive genera and provide the cell with resistance to a wide variety of harsh conditions, such as starvation, extremes in temperature, exposure to drying, UV light, chemicals, enzymes, and radiation. While the vegetative cell is the active form for bacterial cells (growing, metabolizing, etc), the endospore can be thought of as a dormant form of the cell. It allows for survival of adverse conditions, but it does not allow the cell to grow or reproduce.
In order to be so incredibly resistant to so many different substances and environmental conditions, many different layers are necessary. The bacterial endospore has many different layers, starting with a core in the center. The core is the location of the nucleoid, ribosomes, and cytoplasm of the cell, in an extremely dehydrated form. It typically contains only 25% of the water found in a vegetative cell, increasing heat resistance. The DNA is further protected by the presence of small acid-soluble proteins (SASPs), which stabilize the DNA and protect it from degradation. DNA stabilization is increased by the presence of dipicolinic acid complexed with calcium (Ca-DPA), which inserts between the DNA bases. The core is wrapped in an inner membrane that provides a permeability barrier to chemicals, which is then surrounded by the cortex, a thick layer consisting of peptidoglycan with less cross-linking than is found in the vegetative cell. The cortex is wrapped in an outer membrane.Lastly are several spore coats made of protein, which provide protection from environmental stress such as chemicals and enzymes.
Sporulation, the conversion of vegetative cell into the highly protective endospore, typically occurs when the cell's survival is threatened in some way. The actual process is very complex and typically takes several hours until completion. Initially the sporulating cells replicates its DNA, as if it were about to undergo cell division. A septum forms asymmetrically, sequestering one copy of the chromosome at one end of the cell (called the forespore). Synthesis of endospore-specific substances occurs, altering the forespore and leading to the development of the layers specific for an endospore, as well as dehydration. Eventually the "mother cell" is lyses, allowing for the release of the mature endospore into the environment.
Sporulation.
The endospore remains dormant until environmental conditions improve, causing a chemical change that initiates gene expression. There are three distinct stages in the conversion from an endospore to the metabolically active vegetative cells: 1) activation, a preparation step that can be initiated by the application of heat; 2) germination, when the endospore becomes metabolically active and begins to take on water; 3) outgrowth, when the vegetative cell fully emerges from the endospore shell.
cytoskeleton, FtsZ, tubulin, MreB, actin, crescentin, lamin, keratin, inclusion, glycogen, poly-β-hydroxybutyrate (PHB), polyphosphate granule, sulfur globule, gas vacuole, gas vesicle, magnetosome, microaerophilic, microcompartment, bacterial microcompartments (BMCs), carboxysome, ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase, RubisCO, anammoxosome, annamox reaction, chlorosome, plasmid, curing, episome, endospore, vegetative cell, core, small acid-soluble proteins (SASPs), dipicolinic acid, Ca-DPA, inner membrane, cortex, outer membrane, spore coat, sporulation, forespore, activation, germination, outgrowth.
What are the roles and composition of the bacterial cytoskeleton? How does it differ from the eukaryotic cytoskeleton? What are the specific bacterial cytoskeleton proteins and what details are known about each?
What is the purpose of inclusions found in bacteria? What are their characteristics?
What are the specific examples of storage inclusions found in bacteria? Be able to describe each type in terms of structure and purpose.
What are other inclusions found in bacteria? Be able to describe each type in terms of structure and purpose.
How do microcompartments differ from inclusions? What are specific examples? What is the composition and purpose?
What are anammoxosomes? What is their composition and purpose?
What are plasmids and what characteristics do they have? What are episomes? What is curing and what causes it?
What are bacterial endospores? What is their purpose? What characteristics do they have? What are the various layers of an endospore and what role does each layer play?
What bacterial structures could be useful to scientists in addressing societal problems?
4: Bacteria - Cell Walls
6: Bacteria - Surface Structures
Linda Bruslind