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Read Next:	Anais Bertrand on the Obstacles She Faced to Produce Sundance Player 'Jumbo'
September 28, 2013 3:29PM PT
Film Review: 'The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet'
Jean-Pierre Jeunet brings high 3D style and plentiful imagination to his adaptation of the acclaimed Reif Larsen novel.
By Jay Weissberg
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Helena Bonham Carter, Judy Davis, Callum Keith Rennie, Kyle Catlett, Niamh Wilson, Jakob Davies, Rick Mercer, Dominique Pinon, Julian Richings, Richard Jutras, Mairtin O'Carrigan, Michel Perron, Dawn Ford, Harry Standjofski, Susan Glover, James Bradford. (English dialogue.)
In a satisfying confluence of source material and director, Jean-Pierre Jeunet brings his signature abundance to bear on the richly stuffed adventures of Tecumseh Sparrow Spivet, Reif Larsen's pint-sized Montana whiz kid whose genius gets him to the Smithsonian. "The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet" is the perfect 3D vehicle and Jeunet takes full advantage, offering a feast of amusing visual flourishes suited to the book's playfulness. As with "Hugo," however, guessing the target audience will be tricky. An Imax 3D French rollout in mid-October could help the Weinstein Co. gauge how to market their yet-to-be-dated Stateside release.
Campaign strategists will need to figure out whether the kid protag and the pic's visualization of a precocious child's vivid imagination jive with the very adult expletives used by Judy Davis' Smithsonian undersecretary, Ms. Jibsen. Given the repeated cuss words, it's likely the producers are hoping for a mid-teen and older crowd, though the question arises whether post-adolescents will want to watch a movie about a gifted 10-year-old. The answer, hopefully, will be at least a tentative "yes," since "Spivet," despite some tonal problems, delivers much pleasure.
The book's protag is two years younger in the movie, and quite a few other changes have been made to harness Larsen's wide-ranging, free-spirited novel for coherent screen consumption. Copper Top Ranch is home to the Spivet family, an eccentric and oddly matched bunch headed by dad Tecumseh Elijah (Callum Keith Rennie), a dead ringer for the monosyllabic Marlboro Man sans mustache, and mom Dr. Clair (Helena Bonham Carter, notable), a distracted entomologist. Their three kids are teen Gracie (Niamh Wilson), obsessed with beauty pageants, and twin sons Layton (Jakob Davies) and T.S. (Kyle Catlett, making his feature debut).
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With its big open skies, wood-paneled study, old-fashioned telephone and rudimentary toasters, Copper Top feels like a throwback to mythical 1950s Western perfection, but like most everything else here, it's a construction of a past inserted in the present. This is how the Spivets want to live — at least everyone but Gracie, who longs for cell-phone reception. Then one day Layton is accidentally killed when a gun goes off in the barn, and the family structure breaks down: T.S. believes he's to blame, convinced his father (never hands-on with the kids) hates him. Even Mom retreats into herself, so when the little genius gets a call saying his perpetual motion machine is being recognized by the Smithsonian, he packs a suitcase and heads to D.C.
The train ride across America allows Jeunet to showcase U.S. pride, where purple mountains majesty and quaint Victorian Main Streets draped with stars and stripes testify to the country's grandeur (though "Spivet" was actually shot in Canada, apart from a few second-unit establishing shots). Once in Chicago, T.S. hitches a ride and makes it to the Smithsonian, where the self-aggrandizing Ms. Jibsen (played by Davis with a touch of an Anna Wintour parody) is only too delighted to use his tender age for added publicity.
The tension here should come from T.S.'s misguided sense of culpability and his literal running away from dealing with those feelings, but Jeunet isn't quite in command of these elements and the description of what really happened in the barn is too rushed to make the necessary impact. Ditto the father character, meant to be remote yet surely not without some presence. Though there's plenty of heart here, and the warm feelings are genuine, their depth rarely breaks out of the cartoonish — a bit more Wes Anderson and a little less "Amelie" would have increased the emotional tenor.
Nevertheless, Jeunet does a fine job bringing so many elements together, showcasing his inescapable liveliness with moments of delight, such as a brief "Inside Gracie's Cortex" fantasy, or T.S. imagining himself at the literal crossroads between the Mountain of Lies and the Prairie of Truth. Remaining true to the spirit of the book, Jeunet decorates the screen with diagrams, pictures and text, almost in a Peter Greenaway/"Tulse Luper" way, with the addition of 3D. Not since "Hugo" has three-dimensionality been used so inventively; unsurprisingly, the films share stereographers in the exceptionally talented Demetri Portelli, whose feel for pictorial planes is miraculous. Rather than seeming cheesy, each element thrown, swept or blown toward the camera induces smiles of surprise.
Canada's magnificent landscapes do just fine masquerading as U.S. territory, with the areas around Copper Top Ranch especially golden, like a dream imagining of the fruited plains. Occasionally scene arrangements feel slightly off, as if Jeunet couldn't bear to cut a few sequences and so dropped them, like unnecessary flashbacks, into places they don't belong. Denis Sanacore's score hits the spot.
Film Review: 'The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet'
Reviewed at San Sebastian Film Festival (closer), September 27, 2013. Running time: 105 MIN. Original title: "L'extravagant voyage du jeune et prodigieux T.S. Spivet"
(France-Canada) A Gaumont (in France)/Weinstein Co. (in U.S.) release of an Epithete Films, Tapioca Films, Filmarto, Gaumont, France 2 Cinema, Cross Creek production, with the participation of OCS, France Televisions. (International sales: Gaumont International, Paris.) Produced by Frederic Brillion, Gilles Legrand, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Suzanne Girard. Executive producers, Francis Boespflug, Tyler Thompson.
Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Screenplay, Jeunet, Guillaume Laurant, based on the novel "The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet" by Reif Larsen; dialogues, Laurant. Camera (color, widescreen, 3D), Thomas Hardmeier; editor, Herve Schneid; music, Denis Sanacore; production designer, Aline Bonetto; costume designer, Madeline Fontaine; sound (Dolby Digital), Jean Umansky; sound design, Selim Azzazi; supervising sound editor, Gerard Hardy; 3D stereographer, Demetri Portelli; visual effects supervisor, Alain Carsoux; 3D engineer, Ben Gervais; assistant director, Christophe Vassort; casting, Lucie Robitaille.
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Marty brings 26 years of hotel sales and marketing management to our diverse sales team. His experience in client relations and new account development has made him an integral part of Kiawah Island Golf Resort's vision of quality and excellence.
John Haskins is our Director of Golf Group Sales. He previously was the golf sales manager at Charleston Golf Inc., the golf sales arm of the Charleston CVB, and has grown up with the game. His familiarity with the nuances of Kiawah's five championship courses enables him to plan the best vacation for groups of all sizes and playing levels.
Representing: All golf groups with 12 or more people.
Mary Rieger joined the sales team of Kiawah Island Golf Resort in November 2010. Prior to joining the team at Kiawah Island Golf Resort, Mary was at the Crowne Plaza Hilton Head Island Beach Resort handling corporate, medical, education and social accounts. Prior to that, she was the Associate Director of Sales at Hilton Head Marriott Resort & Spa responsible for various markets. Mary was also a National Sales Manager at the Hilton Oceanfront Resort & Spa. Mary received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Western Illinois University in Macomb, Illinois.
Michael began his career in the hospitality industry at Kiawah Island Golf Resort in 2005. His initial role as sales manager began in 2007, when he held the positions of Group Sales Manager. After a few years away he has rejoined the team at Kiawah Island Golf Resort as the Director of Mid-Atlantic sales. Michael is a graduate of Mercyhurst University's Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management program with a concentration in Professional Golf and Clubhouse Management.
Trish brings a very impressive resume with over 10 years of Catering / Sales Hospitality Experience. Most recently, Trish was with the Westin on Hilton Head as their number one top producer in Group Sales. She takes a great deal of pride in client retention and relationships and is focused on growing her business. Trish has a degree from the University of Mississippi in English Literature.
Claire brings more than a dozen years of hospitality sales experience, including Mansion on Forsyth Park and Bohemian Hotel Savannah Riverfront in Savannah, Georgia, where she has held several positions, including Senior Sales Manager, Senior Regional Sales Manager representing 11 hotels in The Kessler Collection, and Director of Sales and Catering. Prior to that, she held positions with Daufuskie Island Resort, Westin Poinsett and Greenville Marriott. Claire is well respected in the industry and has a solid track record of client relations and strong productivity. She is a native Charlestonian, and studied Fine Arts/Communication at the College of Charleston as well as Hospitality/Culinary Arts at Trident College.
Chris Helmick joined Kiawah Island Golf Resort as Director of National Sales in April 2019. Chris develops and fosters relationships with businesses and organizations through proactive direct sales to groups throughout the country interested in hosting meetings at the luxury seaside resort. After graduating from Queens University of Charlotte, Helmick rose through the ranks at The Ballantyne, A Luxury Collection Hotel, Charlotte, located in an upscale subdivision of North Carolina's Queen City, starting as Events Concierge before eventually becoming Group Coordinator/Catering Sales and Service Coordinator. He entered the Ballantyne sales force in 2016 as Conference Sales Manager before being promoted after less than two years to Midwest Sales Manager.
Seanan Keleher, a hospitality industry veteran with thirteen years' experience, was promoted internally, having served for the past two and one half years as Front Office Manager of the resort's Forbes Five Star Sanctuary hotel. Prior to that, he served for one year as the resort's Transportation Manager.
Katie Potts was also promoted internally, having been with the resort for seven years, most recently as Villa Property Manager for the past four years. Her extensive experience with the resort's villa operations includes stints as Housekeeping Office Manager for one year, Assistant Front Office Manager at the Villa Front Desk for one year and Villa Concierge for one year.
Erin Whitsitt joins Kiawah Island Golf Resort from North Charleston, S.C.-based John Q. Hammons, where she served as sales manager for both Courtyard Fort Smith (Ark.) and Residence Inn Charleston (S.C.) Airport. While with Hammons, Whitsitt has also served as Managing Editor and Editorial Director for A Lowcountry Wedding Magazine based on Johns Island, S.C., a suburb of Charleston. Her previous diverse sales experience ranges from the hospitality, catering and media sectors.


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Isodaite (, "colei che distribuisce parti uguali") era, secondo la definizione di Arpocrazione, un "daimon" di origine non greca (si suppone frigia o trace) "in onore della quale le donne di bassa estrazione, in particolare quelle che non eccellevano in virtù, compivano riti misterici". Esichio, invece, afferma che "secondo alcuni è [un nome di] Plutone, secondo altri è un figlio di Plutone".

Il nome Isodaite è attestato anche come epiteto di Dioniso (in particolare del Dioniso Zagreo trace) quindi è possibile che in realtà Isodaite non fosse una vera e propria divinità a sé stante, ma un particolare culto di Dioniso con alcune caratteristiche accentuate rispetto ad altre: una di queste caratteristiche potrebbe essere la promiscuità dei tiasi, scandalosa per la morale dell'epoca.

Negli anni 340 a.C. o poco dopo, a seconda delle ipotesi, l'etera Frine fu processata ad Atene coll'accusa di empietà (): tra i capi d'accusa c'era, secondo un trattato anonimo intitolato Τέχνη τοῦ πολιτικοῦ λόγου (I, 390 Spengel = Anonymus Seguerianus 215 = Eutia, fr. 2 Sauppe), l'introduzione di una nuova divinità, identificabile con Isodaite grazie a un frammento (fr. 177 Jensen) della Per Frine di Iperide, colui che durante il processo difese con successo Frine.

Note

Bibliografia
Fonti primarie

Fonti secondarie

Voci correlate
Dioniso

Divinità

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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21 tthat they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that uthey also may be in vus, so that the world wmay believe that you have sent me.
31 but I do pas the Father has commanded me, qso that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.


Where the request for examination was filed before transmittal of the supplementary European search report, which is usually the case (see point 602), the EPO invites the applicant after transmittal of the supplementary European search report to indicate within a six-month time limit whether he wishes to proceed further with the application, unless the applicant has expressly waived the right to receive such invitation (see point 603). With the same communication, the applicant is invited to correct any deficiencies noted in the search opinion accompanying the supplementary European search report. Such a reply is mandatory if the search opinion was negative. If the applicant fails to file a reply in such a case, the application is deemed to be withdrawn (see points 589-590).
Where the request for examination was filed before transmittal of the supplementary European search report and the applicant wishes to proceed further, he must notify the EPO accordingly within the six-month time limit. Within the same time limit he may or must, as the case may be, comment on the supplementary European search report by filing amendments (see point 497).
If the applicant does not wish to proceed further, he may actively withdraw the application, or allow it to lapse by simply not filing a reply within the time limit set in the communication under Rules 70(2) and 70a(2) EPC. This will result in the application being deemed withdrawn.
Where the application is withdrawn, refused or deemed withdrawn before substantive examination has begun, the examination fee is refunded in full.
If the application is withdrawn after substantive examination has begun but before expiry of the time limit for replying to the first invitation issued by the examining division under Art. 94(3) EPC or, if no such invitation has been issued, before the date of the communication under Rule 71(3) EPC, the examination fee is refunded at a rate of 50%.


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Cole solicits 2018 cash before SoccerCity vote
4th District councilwoman Myrtle Cole throws big-money street taco bash
By Matt Potter, May 30, 2017
Myrtle Cole's legal defense fund against the 2015 Crenshaw libel suit attracted big money from Mission Valley leading up to her vote to expedite a new Mission Valley Chargers stadium.
With fingers pointing to inside wheeling and dealing between Republican San Diego mayor Kevin Faulconer and a group of La Jolla hedge fund mavens promoting the transfer of Qualcomm Stadium to themselves for a massive commercial real estate development, city council members are getting into the act, mounting campaign fundraising efforts before a crucial vote on whether to call a $5 million special election sought by the developers.
"I am very excited that Jim and Robin Madaffer are opening up their beautiful home to support our campaign."
As first reported here February 3, documents obtained from San Diego State University under the state's public records act revealed that FS Investors, backers of so-called SoccerCity — including Faulconer mega-campaign donor, developer Morgan Dene Oliver — held repeated closed-door meetings with Faulconer and staff in 2016 through early this year, including at least one in the private dining room of Oliver's posh downtown headquarters.
Further details regarding the extent of the off-the-record confabs emerged May 29, as the Union-Tribune reported Faulconer had released to the paper documents showing 25 contacts between the mayor and FS representatives.
Mayoral chief of staff Stephen Puetz, who financial disclosure records show moonlighted last year for Faulconer's political operation, the county Republican Party, and the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, frequently attended the discussions, says the report.
But other relevant documents have yet to be made public, according to the paper. "The Mayor's Office has not specified what was discussed or provided any of the email communications or other correspondence requested."
As first reported here last November 3, the city has persistently refused to release records, including emails and minutes of private meetings, detailing the mayor's closed-door contacts with both the Chargers and the FS group, asserting in the case of the mayor's putative Chargers deal last year that "the public interest in nondisclosure clearly outweighs the public interest in disclosure."
Faulconer is gearing up for what is widely believed to be a run for California governor next year, including a possible shift of city staffer Puetz to a campaign role after the current controversy dies down.
The mayor's push for a special election to benefit FS Investors may focus unwanted attention on the city's common practice of awarding lucrative contracts, development rights, and related perks to the friends and campaign donors of elected officials, including the mayor, after closed door maneuverings.
"The mayor reaching a backroom deal on this initiative is very inappropriate," Democratic city councilman David Alvarez told the U-T regarding the string of private contacts between Faulconer and FS.
"Secret meetings and backroom deals made bad public policy."
Another city council Democrat has not been outspoken regarding city hall transparency, according to the coverage. "Council President Myrtle Cole did not respond to questions about the FS meetings."
Last week the Fourth District councilwoman, who on February 22 set up a fundraising committee for her 2018 reelection bid, threw a campaign money-raising bash at the residence of Jim and Robin Madaffer. The GOP ex-city councilman and his second wife are both registered to lobby at city hall.
"I am very excited that Jim and Robin Madaffer are opening up their beautiful home to support our campaign," says a message from Cole accompanying the invite. "I know it's a busy time for all of us but I appreciate your consideration in joining us for a fun evening! Details can be found below.
"If you are unable to attend please consider making a contribution in any amount -- $15, $20, $50, $100 up to the $550 per person limit."
Other special interest sponsors listed on the emailed invitation to the "street tacos and cocktail reception" included Jerry Butkiewicz, the ex-labor operative and Sempra Energy executive who recently took over as trustee of the troubled San Diego Imperial-Counties Labor Council; electrical contractor lobbyist Andy Berg; developer Douglas Wilson; developer lobbyist Chris Wahl, head of Southwest Strategies; Mission Valley landowner Steve Cushman; and ex-councilman and current contract lobbyist Tony Young.
As first reported here in August, 2015, Cole's legal defense fund against a libel suit brought by former electoral opponent Dwayne Crenshaw attracted big money from Mission Valley real estate interests in the months leading up to her yes vote for an environmental impact report to expedite a new Mission Valley Chargers stadium being pushed by the mayor. The project ultimately went nowhere, but San Diego taxpayers were stuck with a $2.1 million tab.
Whether wealthy partisans in the SoccerCity fight will deliver major political cash for Cole won't be known until the committee's legally-required six-month disclosure filing, due July 31, well after next month's expected council vote on Faulconer's proposed special election.
In addition to Cole, Alvarez has established a campaign fund to raise money for a 2020 bid for county supervisor, and Republican Lori Zapf, who is running for a third term on the council, escaping term limits through a redistricting loophole, is also out collecting funds for next year.
More stories by Matt Potter
Punting the mayoral Puetz — June 16, 2017
Does mayor's big money game verge on a crime? — June 11, 2017
SoccerCity's open special influence money frenzy — June 2, 2017
Homies behind in Qualcomm Stadium cash war — April 24, 2017
Will political money war lay waste to Mission Valley? — March 17, 2017
May 30, 2017 @ 10:23 p.m.
Council President Myrtle Cole is a disgrace. She can hardly speak coherently without prompting from aides who prop her up with facts and figures. And she is so beholden to special interests in this city that she doesn't deserve to call herself a Democrat, as this blatant fundraiser flyer shows. She will have opponents in her re-election race --any one of whom is more qualified to hold office than she is. Let's hope her constituents rally and vote her out of office.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Now I am awake, and work begins.
Ok my beacon work can be modified and improved to use Channels instead of input and output streams, since native IO is much nicer looking. I could call it a pseudo file system of sorts, minimal. Then for the input of files I can just capture the entire root of said filesystem.
Or I am over complicating things, I can just make a pseudo storage area and access mechanism which is capable of being placed in memory and such, I can use URIs and URLs to determine the placement of files and such. Then when used by the code, it is able to read and write files on the disk along with having an in memory cache when needed. All of the stages could share this and such. This appears to be the best way to do it, keep it minimal and simple but flexible enough to work well.


cd(window) By default, command line expressions are relative to the top-level window of the page, cd() allows you to use the window of a frame in the page instead.
Check the example page online.
I've always wanted that... thanks!


I am a theoretical high energy physicist, interested in physics beyond the standard model of particle physics and the early universe.
I specialize in the phenomenology of physics beyond the standard model of particle physics, especially non-minimal supersymmetric extensions of the SM.
Fortran, C++, Python, Mathematica, Linux et. al., Latex, HTML, and more.


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Capilano seeks membership with Universities Canada
News	by Christine Beyleveldt February 19, 2018 February 19, 2018
The organization will promote the school federally and internationally
Capilano University made the transition from college to university 10 years ago, but until now continued to hold membership with Colleges and Institutes Canada (CI Can), which provides a voice for Canadian colleges and technological institutes. Now, the University is making the switch and applying for membership with Universities Canada, an organization that represents Canadian colleges and universities. Membership will reinforce the value of CapU degrees both nationally and internationally.
Librarian Debbie Schachter is working with Manager Academic Initiatives and Planning Bernadette Andrade on the application for Universities Canada, which requires a complete self-evaluation and overview of CapU. She noted that membership will entitle the University to benefits including opportunities for scholarships, advocacy on the institution's behalf at the federal level and access to their research reports. "It's about being part of that table where the association represents all of the universities in Canada," said Schachter.
Furthermore, members hold a common position on interpretation of issues such as copyright law. "There are some lawsuits underway, so working with a larger body will obviously benefit every university so we work together on things like that," said Schachter. "Universities Canada ensures that all universities are following the same interpretation, so that as a unit, as a whole, everyone is following what is considered best practice."
Instructors who carry out research outside of classroom and office hours will benefit from CapU being a member of Universities Canada. However, Andrade stressed that membership and with it, better access to research grants will not affect the school's teaching mandate. "In 2008, when we became a university, we were legislated among others as a special purpose teaching university," said Andrade.
Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) instructors Dr. Sylvia Kind and Dr. Kathleen Kummen noted, after winning a prestigious Insight Research Grant with Western University through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada, that they can only hold research grants from the council in partnership with other post-secondary institutions who are members of Universities Canada, because CapU is not.
Schachter and Dean of Arts and Sciences Julia Denholm are co-chairs of a Research Task Force that was set up in the fall and is currently being led by Acting President Toran Savjord to develop support for research. "We were tasked with providing recommendations for how the university could officially support research," she said. That involves reviewing existing policies, setting up a research ethics board, which they have already recommended, and defining the scope of research conducted at the University.
Kind noted that research was unique to the ECCE department, although Schachter says that there are many instructors who carry out research, and the task force will be surveying faculty to get a better understanding of research conducted at the University. Recommendations to support research will support the membership application to Universities Canada, but is something that Schachter says CapU should be doing irrespective.
early childhood care and educationecceeducationrepresentationstudentpoliuniversities canadauniversity
CSU prepares for referendum seeking fee increases
WHO YOU: Perryn Thiessen


Francois Fillon, the conservative candidate in France's presidential election, will face a probe by investigating magistrates into claims he gave his family fake jobs, prosecutors said Friday.
Fillon, one of the frontrunners in the presidential race, will be investigated for alleged embezzlement of public funds and misappropriation of corporate assets, prosecutors said in a statement.
The 62-year-old former prime minister has not been charged at this point, but under French law investigating magistrates can decide to bring charges.
With the first round of the election just two months away, on April 23, the timing of the magistrates' decision could have a crucial bearing on the race.
Fillon has been fighting claims first made a month ago by Le Canard Enchaine newspaper that he used allowances to pay his British-born wife Penelope at least 680,000 euros ($720,000) over some 15 years as a parliamentary aide.
She is accused of having barely worked for the salary. Two of Fillon's children were also put on the parliamentary payroll for brief periods.
The Canard Enchaine alleged that Penelope Fillon was also paid tens of thousands of euros by a literary review, the Revue des Deux Mondes, owned by billionaire Marc Ladreit de Lacharriere, a friend of her husband.
That allegation refers to the accusation of misappropriating corporate assets.
Prosecutors said the three investigating magistrates named to handle the case will also look at whether Fillon failed to declare the necessary information to parliamentary authorities.
Lawyers for the couple said they were confident the magistrates would find they were innocent.
The Fillons have argued that Penelope was legitimately employed as his parliamentary aide and the lawyers say they given investigators proof of the work she did.
But French TV later broadcast an interview that Penelope gave to a British journalist in 2007 in which she said she had never been her husband's assistant.
Fillon has dismissed the claims as politically motivated but he acknowledged last weekend that his presidential bid had become "difficult", with hecklers often massing at his campaign stops.
He was giving a campaign speech in Maisons-Alfort, to the east of Paris, when it was announced he would face investigation by magistrates.
The claims had taken a toll on Fillon's standings in the polls, but this week surveys showed he had regained ground and was neck-and-neck with 39-year-old centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron as they fight for second place.
Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right National Front (FN), is forecast to win most votes in the first round. But polls currently show she would be beaten by either Fillon or Macron in the all-important runoff on May 7.


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Author: Bob Koigi
Mastercard has partnered with NMI and Global Payments Inc. to launch its first live Cloud Tap on Phone pilot with Computer Engineering Group (CEG), a Napa, Calif.-based independent IT Services provider.
Cloud Tap on Phone is one of Mastercard's innovative next generation acceptance products, with the software hosted on Microsoft's Azure cloud platform.
Mastercard has been spearheading the transition to contactless payments for years. The demand for faster, more convenient, safe, and now cleaner ways to pay has driven the transition to contactless, and it's a one-way street with touch-free experiences expected to be permanent for consumers and businesses even after the pandemic ends.
In fact, in the third quarter of 2020, contactless penetration represented 41% of in-person purchase transactions globally, up from 37% in the second quarter and 30% a year ago.
With Tap on Phone, any business – regardless of size – can deliver new and best-in-class contactless consumer experiences using a device they already own: a smartphone. Tap on Phone democratizes point-of-sale technology by turning an Android smartphone or tablet into an acceptance device, allowing businesses to accept contactless payments minimizing the need to invest in hardware terminals or extra features.
Merchants can offer enhanced and accelerated curbside pick-up or payment on delivery, or provide faster line-skipping checkout in-store, options that are increasingly important as consumers look to touch-free cash alternatives.
With the introduction of Cloud Point of Sale (POS), Mastercard is enhancing its Tap on Phone product and empowering ecosystem partners to develop their own cloud-based products with new tools and capabilities.
Cloud POS moves key parts of the acceptance software – the components1 which enable the processing of contactless transactions and certain security functions – from the individual smartphone to the cloud, offering robust security, reducing development and maintenance costs, and creating scalable distribution channels by allowing immediate connectivity to partners.
Cloud POS also becomes a new channel for Mastercard and our partners to bring value added services to customers and businesses.
Mastercard will make its pre-certified Cloud POS software development kits (SDKs) openly available in multiple cloud environments, encouraging solution providers, fintechs, acquirers and processors to innovate and co-create new cloud-first products. Mastercard's pilot with CEG represents the first live deployment of Mastercard Cloud Tap on Phone anywhere in the world.
"We continue to see an accelerating shift to digital payments, with businesses of all sizes wanting to provide swift, secure, compelling point-of-sale experiences. Cloud POS enables us to make these experiences available to our partners with greater speed and efficiency," said Milan Gauder, Global Head of Mastercard's Acceptance Solutions Group. "Our partners are the center of everything we do, and our trusted technology powers innovative experiences, choice, flexibility and certainty, creating the products they need. Mastercard's Cloud Tap on Phone delivers on our promise of ground-breaking products and innovation."
Mastercard has convened an ecosystem of partners to launch Cloud Tap on Phone.
Leading payments enablement technology company NMI operates as a key integration partner and distributor.
Global Payments, a leading worldwide provider of payment technology and software solutions, will provide point of sale acceptance technology.
Continuing the company's commitment to empower small businesses, CEG, an independent IT services company from California, serviced by an ISO BNG Payments, becomes the first company to pilot Mastercard's Cloud Tap on Phone.
Development of Cloud POS technology and the Cloud Tap on Phone product has been spearheaded by Mastercard Labs, the company's new product development arm. The company's pilot with CEG follows live product testing on Mastercard's own Purchase, N.Y. campus.
Cloud POS is a product of Mastercard's multi-cloud strategy, meeting businesses, consumers, financial institutes and partners in the cloud with innovative applications and services. The company will conduct further Cloud Tap on Phone pilots and commercial deployments in other markets in 2021.
Currently, Mastercard's Tap on Phone solution is in 16 markets across Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, North America and Middle East & Africa. Pilots are taking place with partners in Costa Rica, Hong Kong, Poland, Kazakhstan, Romania, Canada, Belarus, Russia, Turkey, United Kingdom, among other countries.
www.www.mastercard.com
Author Bob KoigiPosted on January 11, 2021 Tags cloud, Cloud Computing, Mastercard, POS
Blue Prism has announced a new offering of Blue Prism intelligent automation software on Microsoft's AppSource and Azure Marketplaces.
The move enhances access for both Blue Prism and Microsoft customers, and underwrites Blue Prism's position as the intelligent automation and robotic process automation (RPA) leader in the cloud.
Blue Prism customers already have access to a scalable, enterprise-ready platform that combines robotic automation and smart workflows with technologies like machine learning, advanced analytics, natural language processing, process mining, and cognitive capabilities and this offering allows Blue Prism robots greater access to Microsoft Azure Apps too, with access to over 175 accelerators for Microsoft products within Blue Prism's Digital Exchange.
The new Bring Your Own License (BYOL) offering for Azure Marketplace and AppSource is pre-loaded with select Azure Cognitive Services – including Azure Text Analytics, Azure Form Recognizer and Azure Computer Vision – all of which customers can license directly through Microsoft. This combines with Blue Prism Digital Exchange where users can access more than 175 accelerators for Microsoft products to further enhance their enterprise automations.
"This combination of Blue Prism and Azure Cognitive Services gives our customers a greater choice with AI-enabled, self-service experience that is provisioned via Microsoft Azure," says Chief Partner Strategy Officer at Blue Prism, Linda Dotts. "Advanced intelligent automation in the cloud provides multiple advantages for our customers, most notably the ability to instantly scale to meet enterprise demands."
Blue Prism accelerators now exists for Microsoft Power Platform, Microsoft's Power Automate gallery, Microsoft's Healthcare Cloud; with Form Recognizer, Text Analytics and Azure Computer Vision.
It also adds to the company's growing portfolio of cloud offerings, which include its Blue Prism Cloud SaaS platform, and expands a cloud strategy that not only centres on making intelligent automation more accessible, but that also aligns with customer desires for interoperability, expanded automation solutions, consumable and extensible artificial intelligence, and a seamless intelligent automation journey.
"Customers can embrace the transformative potential of intelligent automation and drive impactful change within their organisations, and this is now fully supported by Microsoft," says CEO and Executive Chairman of Blue Prism, Jason Kingdon, "We are offering customers more flexible cloud deployment options delivering on Blue Prism's vision of giving customers end-to-end automation solutions that cover the broadest range of IT environments, including on-premises, hybrid, public cloud, and SaaS.
www.blueprism.com
azure.microsoft.com
Author Bob KoigiPosted on January 7, 2021 January 7, 2021 Tags Africa Cloud, Blue Prism, cloud, Cloud Computing, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Cloud
Nutanix, a player in the private cloud, hybrid, and multicloud computing, has announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Rajiv Ramaswami as President and Chief Executive Officer and as a member of the Board of Directors, effective Monday, December 14, 2020.
Ramaswami will succeed co-founder Dheeraj Pandey, who previously announced his plans to retire as CEO of Nutanix upon the appointment of a successor.
Ramaswami is a seasoned technology industry executive who has held senior executive roles at industry leaders including VMware, Broadcom, Cisco, and Nortel, after having begun his career at IBM. Ramaswami has an impressive, 30+ year track record of building and scaling businesses in cloud services, software, and network infrastructure.
In his most recent role as Chief Operating Officer, Products and Cloud Services at VMware, Ramaswami co-managed VMware's portfolio of products and services. During his tenure, Ramaswami led several important acquisitions and was playing a key role in transitioning VMware toward a subscription and SaaS model.
"Rajiv is an accomplished leader with a track record of delivering a high-growth portfolio of products and services," said Sohaib Abbasi, Lead Independent Director of Nutanix. "Rajiv distinguished himself among the CEO candidates with his rare combination of operational discipline, business acumen, technology vision and inclusive leadership skills.
The talented Nutanix team, under Rajiv's leadership, is well-positioned to drive sustained growth, to improve efficiency and to advance leadership in the emerging hybrid cloud infrastructure category."
"I'm thrilled to be joining Nutanix at this transformative time for the company and the industry," said Ramaswami. "I have long admired Nutanix as a formidable competitor, a pioneer in hyperconverged infrastructure solutions and a leader in cloud software.
Working closely with the Board, the management team, and the more than 6,000 talented Nutanix employees around the world, we will build on Nutanix's strong foundation of continuous innovation, collaboration and customer delight. Together, we will capitalize on the significant opportunities ahead and deliver on the company's next phase of growth and value creation."
"Rajiv is the right leader at the right time," said Nutanix Co-founder Dheeraj Pandey. "With a future-proof business model, a loyal and expanding customer base, and a strong technology portfolio, I look forward to seeing Rajiv take the helm to lead this incredible team.
This is the decade to watch for a company that so values simple, secure, and seamless. On a personal note, it has been a privilege to serve our customers and partners, working closely alongside Nutanix employees." Dheeraj Pandey will step down from the Board effective Monday, December 14, 2020, to ensure continuity through Nutanix's upcoming Annual Meeting of Stockholders.
www.nutanix.com
Author Bob KoigiPosted on December 11, 2020 Tags cloud, Cloud Computing, nutanix
Companies wishing to transform their operations through digital technologies often face a hard choice: stay with a legacy system and make the best of a legacy investment, or transition to a new digital platform but risk causing disruption in the lives of customers, partners and employees.
For one African pharmaceutical company, neither option was suitable, and so an exemplary digital transformation project was initiated that would completely transform its systems without any disruption to the business or its customers.
Kiara Health (Pty) Ltd is an African pharmaceutical manufacturing and healthcare solutions company headquartered in Johannesburg. It serves as a the local, non-exclusive manufacturing partner for a global top five pharmaceutical company and as a commercial partner for several global pharmaceutical and medical technology companies.
The acquisition by Kiara Health of a multinational pharmaceutical manufacturing facility, sold to fulfil a need for transformation in the local pharmaceutical sector, sees the dawn of a new type of pharmaceutical company that offers an end-to-end solution along the patient journey. Kiara Health, a 100% black-owned company, purchased this plant together with twenty-five marketing authorisations.
Kiara Health's leadership was left with a vital decision: keep to the highly-customised SAP ECC system of the outgoing multinational company, with cost-prohibitive separation terms, or invest in a standalone cloud-based digital platform to streamline operations. They chose a turn-key ERP system by SAP to support its operations.
Dr Skhumbuzo Ngozwana, CEO and President of Kiara Health, says that the driving force behind the leadership team's decision was to ensure that their customers do not suffer due to a transition to the new system. "We partnered with Seidor Westrocon and adopted SAP S/4HANA to simplify and automate our end-to-end processes, from product ordering through to production, packaging and distribution. We achieved go-live in four months, and within budget, with no disruption to our business. This implementation is potentially unprecedented in an organisation of similar size and type."
This decision has proven to be a success story as the transition from the old multinational modified system to the implementation of an off-the-shelf SAP offering ensured that the production facility remained operational throughout the SARS-CoV-2 lockdown period. Without any teething problems that would halt manufacturing, no employee jobs were put at risk due to the lockdown.
"This decision was taken by an extremely agile and highly qualified team of experts within Kiara Health and fully supports President Cyril Ramaphosa's South African Economic Recovery Plan to generate 800,000 jobs," says Dr Ngozwana. "Kiara Health sees these executions as part of their mission to progress the health of all on the continent, underpinned by job creation and not 'job saving'."
The manufacturing site previously operated on a complex and expensive legacy enterprise resource planning system. However, with the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, local manufacturing capability became more important than ever for new owners, Kiara Health. The company needed a system that could increase throughput by streamlining processes across business areas, and which could place greater control in the hands of the leadership team.
"We consolidated our operations on a standalone cloud-based digital platform with SAP S/4HANA Cloud," says Dr Ngozwana. "This off-the-shelf solution gave us a flexible yet standardised system that is adaptable to our needs, allowing us to maintain best-practice. It has also future-proofed the digital foundation of our business, and enables our Industry 4.0 aspirations for the future."
The implementation involved all Kiara Health stakeholders that are currently still involved in ensuring world-class manufacturing from the site. These experts worked in close collaboration with implementation partner Seidor Westrocon to develop a deep understanding of each department's responsibilities, and how the SAP processes can support them.
"The transition from working in multinational company silos to operating as a team has improved our internal responsiveness and enabled significant value creation across our supply chain, procurement and manufacturing processes," says Moosa Areff, Kiara Health Chief Operating Officer.
The implementation team streamlined Kiara Health's procure-to-pay processes to shorten the time between order placement and goods receipt. Following the implementation, the company has reduced its days to close from eight days to one, greatly improving cash planning.
"We have tightly integrated and simplified on-time delivery processes to enable our team to get through work faster and troubleshoot with full visibility," says Dr Ngozwana. "Each team member can diagnose any challenge to understand what is impacting production or the release of the end-product. The improved usability and support has helped us reduce the total cost of ownership by 10%, while our on-time and in-full delivery performance has improved from 80-85% to 100% – an outstanding achievement."
Following the implementation, Kiara Health has enjoyed higher settlement discounts and improved brand reputation thanks to direct payment cycles. Costs are also contained due to greater visibility and through leveraging economies-of-scale in the procurement process.
"Our business is now more responsive as our planning and production teams are connected to our warehouse," says Conrad Strydom, Kiara Health Head of Site . "We are also enjoying greater end-user sourcing compliance and increased savings in sourcing, in both direct and indirect spend. As a whole, the implementation of SAP S/4HANA has empowered our teams to make better decisions and improve the total performance of our business, setting us up for a bright future."
On Kiara Health's role in the implementation, Martin Van Wyk, Managing Director of Seidor Westrocon says the collaboration was first class. "The Kiara Health and Seidor Westrocon teams worked unwaveringly during the COVID-19 lockdown in South Africa, and pulled off the project and go-live together. The contribution from the Kiara Health leadership team, with their deep understanding of their business operations, extensive process knowledge and SAP expertise, was a considerable game-changer, making this mammoth task achievable. A big thank you to this team."
Cameron Beveridge, Regional Director for Southern Africa at SAP, says Kiara Health has reduced complexity in its environment through greater control across its operations. "By building its operations on the powerful S/4HANA digital platform, Kiara Health has achieved immediate business benefits while enabling greater future innovation and easing the process of integrating Industry 4.0 innovations. Transforming its total operations in a mere four months with no impact on product or service delivery is a great accomplishment by Kiara Health and its implementation partner Seidor Westrocon."
www.kiarahealth.com
www.sap.com
Author Bob KoigiPosted on December 4, 2020 Tags cloud, Cloud Computing, healthcare, SAP, South Africa
Tony Blair Institute and Oracle Launch Africa vaccine management in the cloud
The Tony Blair Institute (TBI) and Oracle have brought cloud technology to Africa to manage public health programs.
Initially, Ghana, Rwanda, and Sierra Leone will use the new Oracle Health Management System to create electronic health records for their vaccination programs for yellow fever, HPV, polio, measles, and COVID-19, as soon as that vaccine is distributed to Africa.
TBI and Oracle are in discussions with more than thirty other countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America that are evaluating using the same cloud system to manage their COVID-19 vaccination programs.
"Since February of this year, the Africa Union and Member States have worked tirelessly together to address the impact of COVID-19 on the continent," said Dr. John Nkengasong, Director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. "As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, partnerships such as this one with Oracle, TBI and various governments are critical to the strengthening of Member State public health institutions, not only to incorporate innovative technology but to proactively and urgently harmonize the collection and sharing of important testing data across the continent."
TBI has been providing policy advice and hands-on support to African governments as they tackle complex COVID-19 challenges. To address these challenges, TBI partnered with Oracle to deliver cloud technology to digitize and unify national health data starting with the management of vaccinations. The Oracle Health Management System creates an electronic health record in a cloud database for every person as they are vaccinated. This highly-secure system can be quickly configured to interoperate with each country's existing technology and meet their most stringent data sovereignty requirements. Participating countries will have access and support for the system, free of charge, for the next ten years.
"This is an immensely exciting and potentially ground-breaking initiative for recording information on all disease vaccinations and treatments in African nations," said Tony Blair, Executive Chairman of TBI and the former Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. "Though Africa has coped well with COVID-19, it still needs to be part of international efforts to control the disease, including for international travel. That means vaccination of at least a significant portion of the population, requiring the highest quality data system so that everyone's vaccine experience is recorded. Oracle can provide that system with data securely stored and owned by each country and is prepared to do so as part of a global philanthropic partnership.
We will be living with COVID-19 for some years, and the recording of data will be vital in managing its impact and spread. And one thing is clear from this crisis: applying new technology solutions has applications for the digitization of the entire economy and is crucial for the acceleration of African development. This initiative is a great test case, and my Institute is proud to be part of it."
"The Oracle Health Management System is currently being used by the U.S. government and large healthcare and research organizations to monitor COVID-19 patient symptoms, responses to treatments, and to screen volunteers for COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials," said Oracle Chairman and CTO Larry Ellison. "By working with Tony and his team over a period of a few months, we were able to deliver the exact same 21st century cloud technology to Ghana, Rwanda, and Sierra Leone. This is the first time vaccine data has been stored in a cloud database on a national scale. Africa is leading the way."
Ghana is now using the system to manage its yellow fever vaccine program and will follow with COVID-19 once that vaccine is distributed in Africa.
Ghana President Nana Akufo-Addo said, "We have learned many lessons from this pandemic. The most obvious is that we have to urgently fortify our public health systems. This strategic partnership with Oracle and TBI is evidence of our drive to digitalize Ghana's health systems for our people's benefit."
"The move from Ghana's current paper-based vaccination campaign records to digital data management using the Oracle platform will enable our data to be easily accessible by authorized persons. The data will be more secure, and there will be no worry about lost cards as people travel," added Dr. Kwame Amponsa-Achiano, Expanded Programme on Immunization, Ghana Health Service.
Rwanda has prepared its system to support its HPV vaccine administration as soon as secondary schools reopen, with plans to support COVID-19 vaccinations and an immunity pass for citizens in the future.
President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame called for a resilient health system as the best defense against future pandemics: "A COVID-19 vaccine will be a critical tool, and Africa must be able to access to its fair share of a vaccine once it is available. This partnership will deliver an innovative digital vaccine e-registry that signals the continent's readiness to deploy the vaccine and to safely reopen our economies to trade and tourism."
Sierra Leone is preparing to use the system to create digital vaccination records when its next routine Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) campaign begins. EPI is a global initiative to vaccinate for polio, diphtheria, tuberculosis, pertussis, measles, and tetanus. It is estimated to prevent two to three million childhood deaths globally each year from these diseases. Sierra Leone's EPI program reportedly covers 95% of eligible children in that country.
Chief Innovation Officer and Minister of Education of Sierra Leone, Dr. David Moinina Sengeh, noted, "The Government of Sierra Leone is committed to utilizing technology and innovation – digitizing services to improve service delivery for its citizens. Using our experience from Ebola, we were able to put together a robust National COVID-19 Response plan, which has technology, data, and innovation as core enablers. This collaboration with Oracle and TBI is significant not only for dealing with COVID-19 and broader health needs, such as EPI vaccinations but will be a key step in our country's mission of digitization for all."
As countries begin vaccinating people for COVID-19, the Oracle Health Management System can be used to automatically create an electronic health record for every person vaccinated. Once the COVID-19 vaccine is available, the Oracle Health Management System will track immunizations and provide recipients with a Digital Quick Response (QR) code. These QR codes will help Africa reopen its borders and economies by providing citizens the proof of immunization needed to move freely for work and travel.
www.institute.global
www.oracle.com
Author Bob KoigiPosted on November 24, 2020 Tags cloud, Cloud Computing, healthcare, oracle
Snowflake announces global startup challenge to fuel next generation of apps in the data cloud
Snowflake, creator of the Data Cloud, has announced its first-ever global Startup Challenge.
The Startup Challenge is inviting early stage organizations that are building applications in the Snowflake Data Cloud to showcase their innovations via online submission, for a chance to be one of three finalists that will pitch to an audience of judges at Snowflake Summit in Summer 2021.
The winner of the Startup Challenge may receive up to a $250,000 investment from Snowflake along with access to a global network of resources including venture capitalists and data experts.
Snowflake's single, integrated platform enables startups to focus on building their data applications, without the burden of managing complex infrastructure.
Software teams in hundreds of startups and enterprises are already innovating in the Data Cloud, leveraging the global network where thousands of organizations mobilize data with near-unlimited scale, concurrency, and performance, to help their customers acquire new users, uncover security threats, build machine learning models, analyze IOT data, and more.
Benoit Dageville, Co-Founder and President of Products, Snowflake: "Snowflake's architecture makes it an ideal platform for developing data applications and we continue to be impressed with how application builders innovate to launch their own data products in the Data Cloud. This competition will showcase the power of data network effects while also expanding their reach. We look forward to rewarding a top startup who both embodies and employs the Snowflake vision: To mobilize the world's data."
Startups that take part in the Snowflake Startup Competition will be evaluated based on a set of criteria, including business potential, level of innovation, and the use of Snowflake's unique capabilities for their product. The final three competitors will pitch to a live audience (either in-person or virtually) at Snowflake Summit in Summer 2021.
Snowflake Chief Marketing Officer, Denise Persson, Snowflake Co-Founder and President of Product, Benoit Dageville, and venture capital investors Mike Speiser with Sutter Hill Ventures and Carl Eschenbach with Sequoia Capital will judge the competition and pick a winner.
Snowflake's platform provides many capabilities for startups–including separation of compute and storage, auto-scaling, per-second pricing, native support for semi-structured data, and secure data sharing–to help build differentiated applications, faster. Additionally, startups can leverage integrations with a broad range of technology partners in the Snowflake ecosystem.
www.snowflake.com
Author Bob KoigiPosted on November 18, 2020 Tags cloud, Cloud Computing, data, startups
Shift to remote work is accelerating digital adoption, Cisco Duo Security Report
A new report published from Duo Security at Cisco, the multi-factor authentication (MFA) and secure access provider, reveals the unprecedented IT change organizations underwent this year amid a massive shift to remote work, accelerating adoption of cloud technology.
The security implications of this transition will reverberate for years to come, as the hybrid workplace demands the workforce to be secure, connected and productive from anywhere.
The 2020 Duo Trusted Access Report details how organizations, with a mandate to rapidly transition their entire workforce to remote, turned to remote access technologies such as virtual private networks (VPN) and remote desktop protocol (RDP), among numerous other efforts.
As a result, authentication activity to these technologies swelled 60%, helping propel Duo's monthly authentications from 600 million to 900 million per month. A complementary Cisco survey recently found that 96% of organizations made cybersecurity policy changes during the pandemic, with more than half implementing MFA.
Cloud adoption also accelerated. Daily authentications to cloud applications surged 40% during the first few months of the pandemic, the bulk of which came from enterprise and mid-sized organizations looking to ensure secure access to various cloud services.
As organizations scrambled to acquire the requisite equipment to support remote work, employees relied on personal or unmanaged devices in the interim. Consequently, blocked access attempts due to out-of-date devices skyrocketed 90% in March. That figure fell precipitously in April, indicating healthier devices and decreased risk of breach due to malware.
"As the pandemic began, the priority for many organizations was keeping the lights on and accepting risk in order to accomplish this end," said Dave Lewis, Global Advisory CISO, Duo Security at Cisco. "Attention has now turned towards lessening risk by implementing a more mature and modern security approach that accounts for a traditional corporate perimeter that has been completely upended."
Report findings also include:
So Long, SMS – The prevalence of SIM-swapping attacks has driven organizations to strengthen their authentication schemes. Year-over-year, the percentage of organizations that enforce a policy to disallow SMS authentication nearly doubled from 8.7% to 16.1%.
Biometrics Booming – Biometrics are nearly ubiquitous across enterprise users, paving the way for a passwordless future. Eighty percent of mobile devices used for work have biometrics configured, up 12% the past five years.
Cloud Apps on Pace to Pass On-Premises Apps – Use of cloud apps are on pace to surpass use of on-premises apps by next year, accelerated by the shift to remote work. Cloud applications make up 13.2% of total Duo authentications, a 5.4% increase year-over-year, while on-premises applications encompass 18.5% of total authentications, down 1.5% since last year.
Apple Devices 3.5 times More Likely to Update Quickly vs. Android – Ecosystem differences have security consequences. On June 1, Apple iOS and Android both issued software updates to patch critical vulnerabilities in their respective operating systems. iOS devices were 3.5 times more likely to be updated within 30 days of a security update or patch, compared to Android.
Windows 7 Lingers in Healthcare Despite Security Risks – More than 30% of Windows devices in healthcare organizations still run Windows 7, despite end-of-life status, compared with 10% of organizations across Duo's customer base. Healthcare providers are often unable to update deprecated operating systems due to compliance requirements and restrictive terms and conditions of third-party software vendors.
Windows Devices, Chrome Browser Dominate Business IT – Windows continues its dominance in the enterprise, accounting for 59% of devices used to access protected applications, followed by Mac OS X at 23%. Overall, mobile devices account for 15% of corporate access (iOS: 11.4%, Android: 3.7%). On the browser side, Chrome is king with 44% of total browser authentications, resulting in stronger security hygiene overall for organizations.
UK and EU Trail US in Securing Cloud – United Kingdom and European Union-based organizations trail US-based enterprises in user authentications to cloud applications, signalling less cloud use overall or a larger share of applications not protected by MFA.
The full report can be accessed here
www.duo.com
Author Bob KoigiPosted on November 12, 2020 Tags Africa Cloud, cisco, Cloud Computing, remote
Telekom Networks Malawi selects Canonical's Charmed OpenStack to modernize its telecommunication infrastructure
Canonical, the publisher of Ubuntu, has announced that its Charmed OpenStack, an open source private cloud solution that allows businesses to control large pools of computer, storage and networking in a datacentre, has been selected by Telekom Networks Malawi Plc (TNM), to modernise and virtualise its entire telecommunications infrastructure.
TNM is Malawi's telecoms provider and aims to create faster time to market across its product range through the move.
TNM has been a pioneer of mobile and data solutions in Malawi, having been the first mobile operator to launch 4G broadband services, while its network is the fastest in the country, covering all cities and major towns. Charmed Openstack will enable TNM to separate network hardware and software, turning legacy components into software based network services . This means they can be updated quicker with continuous integration and development, while ensuring the network is robust and scalable.
The move towards Charmed OpenStack has been driven by TNM's existing use and advocacy of open source software. The deployment, including two private clouds, will happen immediately and give TNM access to virtual network functions (VNFs), which will open up access to a wide range of network services to build on top of the initial deployment.
Adopting a cloud-based architecture with Charmed OpenStack will accelerate TNM's ability to develop new technologies and services while benefiting from reduced CAPEX investment. TNM will also adopt Canonical's Managed OpenStack service, which allows TNM to have a fully managed private cloud on its own servers. The managed service allows TNM to take advantage of Canonical's open source expertise and allows them to focus on adding business value elsewhere.
Michiel Buitelaar, Chief Executive Officer at TNM, said: "This is a big step in an ongoing programme for us to evolve our infrastructure and deliver the best possible solutions for customers. Utilising Canonical's expertise via OpenStack was an obvious choice, and by increasing our open source footprint we now have access to a wider range of services, optimising how we will deliver future technologies."
Nicholas Dimotakis, VP of Field Engineering, Datacentre at Canonical, said: "TNM is joining a wave of telco companies moving to OpenStack, to modernise their infrastructure to software based network services, and it's fantastic for us to be part of this migration. TNM understands what can be delivered through an open infrastructure and is now able to take advantage of open source technology more broadly, collaborating with the community to improve its offering."
TNM's decision represents a bigger trend within the telecoms industry, while in Africa specifically, companies are turning to OpenStack to modernise their network and future proof for the adoption of new technologies such as 5G. Through a long-term investment in the technology, TNM will now have more agility to innovate at scale and consistently meet customer demands.
TNM's cloud will be built on Canonical's Charmed OpenStack, and utilise Canonical's open source tools to automate the deployment and operations of their infrastructure. TNM has adopted Juju – Operator Lifecycle Manager to manage and operate a set of software applications for a model-driven architecture to onboard virtual network functions (VNFs) applications, while MAAS is used as the cloud-provisioning tool. The company will also benefit from Canonical's Managed OpenStack offering for the ongoing maintenance and support of operations.
www.canonical.com
www.tnm.co.mw
Author Bob KoigiPosted on November 10, 2020 Tags Africa Cloud, cloud, Cloud Computing, Malawi, Telecom
Global cloud-based contact center market poised to reach $36 million by 2025, report
The global cloud-based contact center market size is expected to grow at an annual compounded growth rate of 25.8 per cent to reach $36.1 billion by 2025 from $11.5 billion in 2020 according to the latest report by Research and Markets.
Digital business transformation has entered a more challenging and urgency-driven phase due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Global giants provide customers with cost-effective and productive digital solutions as every industry is economically hard-hit by the pandemic.
The sudden shutdowns of organizations and institutions increased the demand for cloud solutions and other online services. The cloud-based contact center market in industries such as IT and ITeS, telecommunications, BFSI, and media and entertainment, has impacted positively due to the work from the home initiative.
Cloud-based contact centers are independent of the location they are situated, enabling agents, supervisors, and administrators to access them from anywhere through a phone or by an internet connection. Enterprises across the globe are recovering gradually and are expected to get back on gradually by mid of 2021.
The omnichannel routing solutions comprise digital channels, Interactive Voice Response (IVR), ACD, dialer, and virtual agent. COmnichannel solutions empower to designates certain calls to different agents and locations depending on a variety of factors.
Focusing on call routing enables organizations to manage thousands of calls continuously without compromising with customer satisfaction. Moreover, organizations could easily manage spikes in call volume by intelligently distributing calls among multiple contact centers, including remote centers and home-based agents, with the unique omnichannel technology.
The cloud-based contact center market has been segmented based on organization size into Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and large enterprises. The major benefit large enterprises receive with the implementation of cloud transformation is that the cloud services are maintained and supported by the vendors themselves.
Moreover, firms could thereby engage their employees in more strategic business tasks. The demand for flexible, scalable, and convenient solutions for large enterprises pushes service providers to come up with new technologies and offer innovative solutions. Hence, the cloud-based contact center market for large enterprises is expected to grow at a significant rate.
The BFSI industry is adopting cloud services as it helps save operational costs and offers high business continuity. Banks' customer information is stored across a variety of systems. Having this information readily available for customer service channels is crucial to meet stated objectives and provide seamless customer experiences.
With the help of cloud-based solutions, contact center agents can enhance customer experiences through increased speed and better quality of call resolution. Moreover, a cloud-based contact center ensures business continuity by focusing on issues such as manageability, scalability, and higher efficiency.
North America is estimated to capture the largest market share in 2020, and the trend is expected to continue during the forecast period. Growth in the adoption of cloud-based services in SMEs and large enterprises is expected to drive revenue growth in this region.
On the other hand, the cloud-based contact center market in the Asia Pacific (APAC) is expected to witness exponential growth and is projected to be one of the fastest-growing regions in the global cloud-based contact center market. This is attributed to the large-scale adoption of cost-effective cloud-based solutions in these regions.
Author Bob KoigiPosted on November 9, 2020 Tags Africa Cloud, cloud, Cloud Computing
Cloud4C and SNP Ink global deal on simplified digital transformation
Cloud4C Services Pte. Ltd, a global cloud managed services provider based in Singapore, has signed a global Silver Partnership agreement with the SNP Group, a player in data transformation, to simplify the complex digital transformation of data and processes.
This alliance will offer attractive packages for the accelerated adoption of SAP® S/4HANA in the cloud bundled with one-stop shop end-to-end software solutions to reduce enterprises' total cost of ownership (TCO) and capital expenditure (CAPEX).
The partnership brings the dual advantage of Cloud4C's AIOPs and DevOps-driven Managed Services expertise in SAP S/4HANA along with SNP's BLUEFIELD™ approach powered by CrystalBridge® automation software.
With this, enterprises can launch multiple projects and migrate selective data in one go, on any cloud environment – public, private or hybrid. Cloud4C brings in global best practices in comprehensive cloud readiness assessment, security and regulatory compliance adherence, and cost optimization. The minimum duration of the contract is until the end of 2023.
Michael Eberhardt, Chief Operating Officer (COO) at SNP, commented, "Cloud-based modernization of SAP environments is a cornerstone of digital transformation, forming the basis for economic success on an unprecedented, accelerated path of business agility, continuity and innovation. A move to the cloud is increasingly becoming an integral consideration for strategic business- and technology-critical scenarios like SAP S/4HANA, mergers, acquisitions, carve-outs and infrastructure costs. We are pleased to partner with Cloud4C, taking our core capability in SAP landscape transformations to a new level globally. With our joint proposition, enterprises can rely on our selective data and process harmonization ability to minimize their cloud data footprint, thus delivering customer value through high-performance software for maximum project speed, accuracy and efficiency with minimal disruption and risk."
Sridhar Pinnapureddy, Founder and CEO, Cloud4C, said "We are delighted to partner with SNP as their cloud evolution partner providing end to end cloud managed services for enterprises. Our customers will now have a viable alternative to transform their most complex SAP deployments into next-generation integrated environments with Cloud4C migration factory framework, SNP's advanced software and global talent pool. Together, we will be able to help our customers embark on a cloud transformation journey through SAP Cloud Managed services, SAP S/4HANA transformation, Application Management Services (AMS) with reduced TCO powered by AIOps, Single interface for Platform Management." He further added, "With our Cloud value assessment including TCO analysis, compliance/regulatory and security assessment, special attention to the availability of key services, enterprises will be able to achieve their business/technology objectives through our innovative cost models and gain Total Cloud Control."
www.cloud4c.com
www.snpgroup.com


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Peak TV: The Aftermath
Posted on April 22, 2022 April 22, 2022 AuthorPaul Sweeting
Shares of Netflix plunged 35% on Wednesday (4/20), knocking $54 billion off its market cap one day after it stunned Wall Street by announcing a net loss of 200,000 subscribers in the first quarter instead of its forecast gain of 2.5 million subs for the period.
For good measure, the company projected an additional loss of 2 million subscribers in Q2.
In their earnings call, Netflix executives blamed the loss, in part, on increasingly formidable competition from the likes of Disney+, Apple TV+, Amazon Prime, HBO Max, Paramount+ and the host of other streaming services now encroaching on its turf, to say nothing of the growth of home-grown competition in international territories. But there is really no excuse for surprising the Street with that big a miss.
Blame for the surprise doesn't all fall on Netflix, however, nor will it be alone in experiencing the fallout. Disney+, for instance also missed its forecast for Q1, reporting 103.6 million subscribers worldwide, well below the 109 million analysts had been expecting, knocking 4% off its share price. Red flags have been waving over the entire video streaming business for a while, in fact, if anyone cared to look.
Earlier this month, Nielsen's inaugural State of Play report on streaming noted that nearly half of streaming viewers (46%) feel overwhelmed by the number of program choices they are presented with today, and with the number of different services and platforms they must subscribe to in order to watch their favorites. The report showed that consumers had more than 817,000 unique program titles to choose from as of February 2022, compared with 646,000 in December 2019 — a nearly 20% increase.
A separate study by Interpret found that 20% of consumers feel they subscribe to "too many video streaming services." Consumers subscribe to an average of 4-5 subscription VOD services, according to Interpret, and the majority also access multiple ad-supported streaming channels.
Prior to the Netflix announcement, Kantar Media reported that U.S. household penetration rates for video streaming services have been falling across the board for several months, including at Netflix, where household penetration fell 0.3% in Q1 after slipping 0.5% in the previous quarter.
Netflix is actually holding up somewhat better than its rivals, in fact, in terms of household penetration. Amazon Prime's penetration rate fell 3.2% in the first quarter, while Apple TV+ was off 15.6%. Discover+ SVOD suffered a 3.8% decline, while Paramount+ AVOD was down 0.6%.
Churn is one big factor behind fluctuating penetration rates and subscriber counts. With so much content and so many services, consumers are adopting a strategy of serial subscriptions, signing up for one service to watch a particular program or programs, then dropping it to move on to another.
The bigger, longer-term problem, for both Netflix and the rest, is diminishing returns. With so much content available to consumers, on so many different platforms, new, compelling and exclusive programming is just about the only thing that drives subscriptions today, and VOD services are spending wildly to produce and license it. Mere tonnage is simply table-stakes and no longer moves the needle.
Netflix alone spend somewhere between $15 and $20 billion this year on new content — or at least it was planning to before the latest setback.
That spending doesn't seem to be buying what it used to, however. Whatever the correlation has been between content spend and subscriber growth, that relationship is breaking down, raising the obvious question of how long that level of spending can be sustained.
No surprise then, to see Netflix signaling it will produce fewer new series and movies this year than originally planned.
As a strategic matter at least, the peak TV wave has crested and is now breaking. The urgent question facing Netflix and the rest of the SVOD field is whether it can figure out how to keep swimming, or get swamped in the surf.
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Book: Habakkuk (8), Philippians (21), 1 John (1).
Series: Christmas (1), Habakkuk (8), Easter (1), Philippians (21).
Service: Sunday Morning (30), Special event (1).
Habakkuk 1:12-13 (Part of the Habakkuk series).
Preached by Stephen Spanjer on December 27, 2015 (Sunday Morning).
Preached by Stephen Spanjer on December 24, 2015 (Special event).
Habakkuk 1:5-9 (Part of the Habakkuk series).
Preached by Stephen Spanjer on December 20, 2015 (Sunday Morning).
Habakkuk 1:2-4 (Part of the Habakkuk series).
Preached by Stephen Spanjer on December 6, 2015 (Sunday Morning).
Preached by Stephen Spanjer on November 29, 2015 (Sunday Morning).
Preached by Stephen Spanjer on November 22, 2015 (Sunday Morning).
Habakkuk 1:2-5 (Part of the Habakkuk series).
Preached by Stephen Spanjer on November 15, 2015 (Sunday Morning).
Habakkuk 1:1 (Part of the Habakkuk series).
Preached by Stephen Spanjer on November 1, 2015 (Sunday Morning).
Preached by Stephen Spanjer on October 25, 2015 (Sunday Morning).
Philippians 4:16-20 (Part of the Philippians series).
Preached by Stephen Spanjer on October 18, 2015 (Sunday Morning).


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Q: How to implement a lowpass filter for this one zero, one pole transfer function? I have a task where I need to implement a filter circuit (active) for the following transfer function:
$$G(s)=\frac{(s-5447)}{(s-961.3)}$$
So, we have one pole and one zero. The bode plot is as below (dB/Hz):

However, I can't for the life of me seem to design a circuit to implement it. A simple RC filter doesn't have any zeroes, and everything else I've tried (such as the circuit on page 12 of this document) leaves me stuck with terms involving negative real values or \$-\frac{1}{s}\$ which don't map to a real component. (My reasoning is that resistors contain positive real components, inductors \$sL\$ and capacitors \$\frac{1}{sC}\$.
I'm not sure if I'm just solving this kind of equation incorrectly, or if I'm using "bad" topologies to approach this specific transfer function. How would you go about implementing it? Using op-amps is completely fine.
(For context, my circuit needs to reverse the effect of an unknown, "black box" filter. I got my gain function by figuring out the black box's transfer function and inverting it.)

A: The best is to rewrite your transfer function in the proper low-entropy way, with a leading term. I have assumed the roots are all negative leading to left-half-plane pole and zero:
\$G(s)=\frac{s+5447}{s+961.3}=G_0\frac{1+\frac{s}{\omega_z}}{1+\frac{s}{\omega_p}}\$ where:
\$G_0=\frac{5447}{961.3}=5.66\$
\$\omega_z=5447\$ rd/s or 867 Hz
\$\omega_p=961.3\$ rd/s or 153 Hz
There are plenty of ways to implement such a filter. One way is to use an op-amp in an inverting configuration and have it followed by another inverting structure with a gain of -1:

You then calculate the values of the various components according to the below Mathcad sheet. These values can be determined using fast analytical techniques or FACTs.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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China Eastern Crash Update: CVR Memory Chip Damaged
by Spyros Georgilidakis | Mar 25, 2022 | Accidents, Incidents, News | 2 comments
Investigators of the China Eastern 737 crash may need outside help to read the Cockpit Voice Recorder because of damage to its memory chip.
More details are emerging about the tragic loss of a China Eastern Boeing 737-800, on the 21st of March. The aircraft was still in cruise, when it appeared to dive into the ground. However, it soon emerged that the aircraft briefly pulled out of the dive. But it then resumed its extremely rapid descent, impacting the terrain. Search and rescue teams have not found any survivors. Previous flights began their descent in approximately the same position where the plane started its dive.
Another China Eastern 737-800. Photo: Steven Byles, CC BY-SA 2.0
The crash involves China Eastern flight MU-5735, from Kunming Changshui International (ZPPP) to Guangzhou Baiyun International (ZGGG) in China. There were 123 passengers and 9 crew on board. There were three pilots in the cockpit, the third being there for training and familiarization purposes. Some news outlets have named these pilots. However, CAAC (Civil Aviation Authority of China) doesn't appear to have done so officially. CAAC only published their flight hours.
Finding the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and flight data recorder (FDR) is a priority in any such event. Search and rescue crews found the CVR of the China Eastern flight in the crash site. Initially, the damage on the device's exterior was such that investigators couldn't tell if it was the CVR or FDR. Later, they determined that it is the CVR, adding that its storage unit looks intact.
The accident aircraft. Photo: Kelvin Yu
CVR In The China Eastern Crash
But looks can be deceiving. On the 25th of March, CAAC announced that there is damage to the CVR's memory chip. And in such instances, Honeywell, the CVR's manufacturer, recommends that investigators send the device to them, for repair. Therefore, investigators could not go into more detail about when they would next try to download the CVR's data.
Photo: Alec Wilson, CC BY-SA 2.0
The search for the China Eastern 737's second "black box" continues, investigators now searching further away from the crash site. We already saw that some parts of the aircraft ended up some distance away from the main crash. Investigators identified one such part, about 1.3×0.1 metres (4.25' × 3.9") in size, approximately 14 kilometres (8.7 miles) away. However, investigators don't yet know if the separation of this part from the aircraft came before or after the dive.
Other than such parts, the debris in the main China Eastern crash site only covers a 30-metre (100-foot) radius. Also, there is a second crash site, about 245 metres away. The crater of the first crash site is 20 metres (66 feet) deep. It appears that the second site is smaller. The parts that investigators have found so far include the main landing gear and engine components. Finally, China Eastern announced that the aircraft in the crash had no history of repairs to its "pickle forks".
Photo (cropped): Shadman Samee, CC BY-SA 2.0
A mine has recently developed much of the land around the crash. One of the cameras that captured the aircraft's dive to the ground was on the mine's premises. Hopefully, investigators will find the flight data recorder and be able to recover its data, along with the CVR's. Typically, investigators publish a preliminary report with factual accident information, a month after each accident.
Spyros Georgilidakis
Spyros Georgilidakis has degrees in Business Enterprise and Management. He has 14 years of experience in the hospitality and travel industries, along with a passion for all-things-aviation and travel logistics. He is also an experienced writer and editor for on-line publications, and a licensed professional drone pilot.
Kris on March 26, 2022 at 10:22 am
Doesn't a distance of some 8 miles suggest that the acft was not whole on impact as a scenario where a piece would just bounce that far is far fetched
Now is there any photos or mention of what these pieces far away look like?
Now if say.part of tail-this accident could possibly be explained.
Knowing the mass and shape (flat or chunk) would allow for estimation of where it broke off.
At a minimum some breakup likely happened at altitude.
Any more info on this remote site???
Ernest Phelps on March 26, 2022 at 3:06 pm
Being 8.7 mi from the crash site COULDN'T be after the crash.


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Have you heard the great news? In 2019, there are just a few days between Easter and Anzac Day, which means many of us can take a 10-day break using only three days of annual leave. With this period coinciding with many states' school holidays, it's the perfect time for an autumn getaway.
Check out where to get the most bang for your holiday buck with our genius destination swaps below. Make sure you read to the end for a special coupon code just for our awesome Wotif Insider readers to help you on your way.
Just 30km north of popular Coles Bay, Bicheno is a savvy swap for in-the-know travellers, offering accommodation savings of up to 50%. North of the Freycinet Peninsula, Bicheno will put you close to the action, minus the price tag, and is home to some of Australia's best diving spots. It's a great destination for all types of travellers – especially those keen to sample local seafood and meet native wildlife (including the much-loved fairy penguins).
Byron is a traveller favourite all year round thanks to its bohemian-chic vibes and idyllic beaches, but opting for an Easter getaway to Kingscliff, just forty minutes north, could save you close to 40% on your stay. With two kilometres of unspoilt beaches, beautiful national parks, and excellent restaurants and cafes, Kingscliff is one of Australia's great coastal getaways.
The Margaret River remains one of Australia's fave wine regions. But for a chance to save over 40% on your accommodation, base yourself in nearby Bunbury, located in the less famous (but rapidly growing) Geographe wine region. Geographe is home to four wine districts full of family-run boutique wineries, delicious fresh produce, and excellent cafes and restaurants. Wine not your thing? No worries! Bunbury is also a nature-lovers delight. Swim with wild bottlenose dolphins at the Dolphin Discovery Centre.
Whether you're chilling on Fraser Island by beautiful Lake McKenzie or just strolling along the Hervey Bay Esplanade, Hervey Bay is a great low-key alternate to Noosa – and it could save you close to 40% on your accommodation. Two hours north of Noosa, Hervey Bay is a relaxed, family-friendly paradise that's perfect for hanging out on the beach, going for bike rides and getting back to nature.
The Eyre Peninsula boasts some of Australia's most stunning national parks and coastal scenery, not to mention its renowned and plentiful seafood – which has earned it the title of Australia's seafood frontier. Swapping the Fleurieu for the Eyre Peninsula could also save you close to 30% on your stay and a 10-day Easter break is the perfect opportunity to hit the road with a scenic road trip from Adelaide. Who could resist?
For a chance to save 20% or more on your WA Easter getaway accommodation, trade the popular beachside town of Scarborough in Perth for the lively city of Fremantle, just 30 minutes away. Aside from its many beaches, Fremantle is bursting at the seams with cool bars, cafes, galleries and boutiques. Plus Easter is one of the best times to visit, as the city transforms for its International Street Arts Festival.
For such a popular holiday destination, with so much to do, Newcastle provides serious value for travellers. With a growing number of awesome eateries and cafes, Newcastle has become a formidable foodie haven that's perfect for anyone looking to indulge – either in Newcastle itself or the nearby Hunter wine region. Newcastle's harbour and beaches are another big draw card, especially for families. As a bonus, swapping The Entrance for Newcastle this Easter could save you more than 15% on your stay.
While the Daintree is a must-see bucket-list destination, choosing to stay closer to Cairns in Trinity Beach could save you close to 15% on your accommodation. Famous for its laid-back atmosphere, Trinity Beach is a favourite with locals and great for both relaxing and adventurous escapes. It's home to glorious beaches and offers easy access to exciting activities such as bungee jumping, whitewater rafting and, of course, the Great Barrier Reef. And with the Daintree just a two-hour drive away, a rainforest day trip is definitely doable.
Why limit your Great Ocean Road adventure to just Torquay when some of Victoria's best coastal towns are just a few kilometres away? Apollo Bay is one of them and you'll want a few days to do some proper exploring. This charming seaside village is great for fishing, swimming and enjoying some of Australia's freshest seafood (paired with a local Sauvignon Blanc, of course). Swap Torquay for Apollo Bay this Easter and you could save more than 15% on your stay.
The Barossa Valley and the Clare Valley are both famous for incredible food and award-winning wine. But opting for the latter this Easter could save you more than 10% on your stay. Best known for its world-class Riesling, the Clare Valley is home to more than 40 wineries and vineyards, as well as fantastic museums and galleries. The countryside setting also makes it a hit with kids, with plenty of family-friendly wineries in the region.
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Our predicted best-value Easter long weekend destinations are based on the average daily rate for 3 – 5 star-rated and self-rated accommodation bookings made on Wotif.com for last year's Easter travel dates (30 March to 2 April 2018) for the featured destinations. Prices shown are in Australian dollars and are not necessarily the rates currently displayed on the site. Rates are subject to the accommodation selections made.


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Your Guide To Hamilton
Hamilton Weather
When visiting Hamilton, make sure you wear layers of clothing, which can prepare you for whatever part of the city you're in: Hamilton's climate of the lower city (downtown) is in general much more sheltered and milder than on top of "the mountain".
Overall, though, Hamilton has a humid continental climate, one which is relatively mild compared with most of Canada. The average January temperature is -3.6C (26.5F) but most days rise just above freezing making for slushy conditions during snowfalls. Winter snowfall averages 113cm (44″) with great year-to-year variation. The average July temperature is 22.5C (72.5F) and humidity is usually high during the summer, May through early October.
In the winter, it is not uncommon for lower city residents, with no snow present in their neighborhoods, to drive up into the upper city and be surprised at encountering a thick blanket of fresh white snow. The escarpment also affects summer weather; temperatures downtown are many degrees warmer, particularly at night, and often an inversion will combine with the physical barrier of the escarpment to trap smog in the downtown area, sometimes reducing downtown visibility to less than 2km.
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