IBM Korea 2018 Top 5 News & 2019 Major Agenda Media Briefings
QNAP to Introduce Fibre Channel Connectivity Solution for QNAP NAS
Microsoft Korea 'Digital Transformation Summit' Press Conference
QNAP Launches the Server-grade TS-x83XU NAS Series with Intel Xeon E Processors
QNAP Launches the TS-977XU - the First 1U Hybrid Structure NAS
NetFoundry & Lemongrass Partner to Meet the Challenge of Cloud Migration
New Open Applications Advance Comprehensive Modeling Environment for Multidiscipline Collaboration
CITIC Telecom CPC increases its global footprint with new SmartCLOUD Services Centres in Moscow and London
Enterprise IT Seeking VPN Alternatives for Applications Networking, IIoT and Multi-cloud; According to Futuriom Survey
Neural Technologies releases the Optimus Ecosystem, a leap forward in digital transformation
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Why is Messenger becoming an unpopular collaboration tool?
The Messenger that reduced unnecessary meetings and opened the new world of real-time collaboration became a troublemaker because it is giving work stresses even after work hours. Since France enacted the right to disconnect in its labor standards last year, the worldwide ban on work orders through messengers is becoming increasingly popular. However, many indications are pointing that these changes are the full answer for the problem. This is because, creating an efficient work environment for finishing work within working hours are as important as stop giving work orders after working hours. Many experts point out that instant messaging notification during office hours can cause business interruption, and even can lead to stress disorder. According to reports from McKinsey and the Korea Productivity Center, typical office workers spend an average of 2.2 hours on their e-mail and replying messengers during their work hours. it is equivalent to 27.5 percent from a typical 8-hour work day. Considering that messenger work order can occur in anytime, it would interrupt workflows interruption throughout the working hours. The actual wasting hours for workers due to interruption are beyond expectations. Hackernoon, a website for IT engineers, conducted a survey of 4,000 High-Performance Employees (HPE) in 2017. According to the report, the average time a worker wastes as a work hindrance is 2 hours and 18 minutes a day, and when converted to a year, it is equivalent to 600 hours (75 days) respectively. Considering that the average hourly wage of HPE in the U.S. is $53, the annual loss per capita is $31,800 (Approximately 3.5 million KRW), and if a company has 40 HPEs, the loss would reach $1,250,000 (Approximately 1.4 billion KRW). The damage caused by the work interruption was found to have a great influence on the work performance of the workers as well. Including ‘Interruptions to workflow: Their relationship with irritation and satisfaction with performance, and the mediating roles of time pressure and mental demands’ (2013), published by Anja Baethge, a professor of psychology at University of Leipzig, Germany and many universities and research institutes’ study on changes in cognitive ability due to work disruption confirms that people who are disturbed have more than twice the rate of work mistakes, nervous and irritated reactions, compared to people who are not disturbed, and it has been found that it takes up to 27% more time to complete an existing task. As the side effects of Messenger, which is the beneficiary of the real-time collaboration are highlighted, some companies are restricting the use of messenger to 'temporary discussion use only', or set specific time zone as concentrating working hours to prevent 'messenger pollution'. In addition, some are moving away from messenger-centric collaboration tools, and are moving toward more collaborative tools that match with its workers’ workflow. For this reason, the third generation collaboration solutions, so-called issue based collaboration tools is getting famous. ‘collabee’, the most well-known issue-based collaborative tool, supports file sharing and communication functions like the existing collaboration tools, but also it displays the user-oriented user interface (UI) in the real-time collaborative environment. When one of the members creates a 'project space' for collaborative work, anyone who is invited to this space can write, and can directly comment on the written articles including assigning specific tasks, requesting decisions. All articles, materials, and requests can be viewed through your own news feed or easily viewed through the Kanban view, which is sorted by progress. Especially since it supports both PC and Android as well as iOS, users can cope with collaborative situations regardless of time and place. An industry official said, "Many companies are wondering how to guarantee their rights not to be disturbed at times other than working hours, but what is important is that they should not be disturbed during working hours to improve work performance and reduce overtime works. As collaborative tools emphasize real-time or communication, it is important to build a new collaborative environment that allows workers to concentrate on their work without disturbing the work, as it becomes more complicated by the structure of disturbance and unrealistic collaboration flow."
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Versa Driving Trend Toward Secure Multi-Cloud/SD-WAN Services, according to new analyst report by Futuriom
Versa Networks is highlighted as a key market driver for its Secure Cloud IP architecture by analyst Futuriom with the launch of its new report Networking the Secure IP Cloud – Trends Driving the Cloud at NetEvents EMEA, in Portugal. Versa Networks has also recently been recognised by NSS Labs, the globally trusted source for independent fact-based cybersecurity guidance, as the only pure-play SD-WAN vendor to achieve a 100% evaluation for security in the first ever NSS Labs group test for SD-WAN. Versa has been awarded a ‘Recommended’ rating in the NSS Labs Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) Group Test. Cloud, SD-WAN and security are in the midst of an evolution that is quickly growing in importance and will eventually dominate the WAN-edge architecture. The new report by R. Scott Raynovich, Futuriom, makes the important point that: “Cloud networks have entirely different requirements from client/server networks. They need to connect a variety of physical and virtual endpoints, including branches, private data centers, and the Internet.” R. Scott Raynovich also says: “Advances in commercial silicon and virtualization mean it’s possible to use advanced software to manage networks on a virtual, software-driven platform. These networks can connect internally in data centers, or they can be used to connect the edge of an organization to partners, branches, the cloud and private data centers, using advances in software-defined wide-area-network (SD-WAN) technology.” The move to a multi-cloud environment is likely to be a long, slow process, even though it’s inevitable. Research from Maverick Research recently indicated that 83 percent of U.S. CIOs estimated more than half of their transactions would be conducted on a cloud infrastructure by 2020. And 79 percent of the respondents predicted that more than half of their transactions would be completed on applications leased using a SaaS platform by 2020. Versa’s technology is enabled by the Secure Cloud IP architecture – a cloud-native multi-service, multi-tenant software platform that delivers elastic scale, segmentation, programmability and automation. Versa Secure Cloud IP integrates cloud networking, SD-WAN, wireless and mobile connectivity, transport line conditioning and software-defined security services (NGFW/UTM) in a flexible, versatile software stack that displaces multiple legacy branch-office hardware devices. “Applying Versa’s platform architecture to multi-cloud, enterprise edge and managed security environments results in the ability to deploy software-defined branches with fewer hardware devices and streamline operations (policy and enforcement),” said Atchison Frazer, worldwide head of marketing, Versa Networks. “The new report from Futuriom launched today, building upon the NSS Labs 100% next-gen firewall, evaluation for SD-WAN security confirms our ability to deliver high security effectiveness and performance.”
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Tacton Opens in Japan to Meet Demand amid Industry 4.0 Revolution
Tacton, a global leader in Configure Price Quote solutions (CPQ) for the manufacturing industry, announced today the establishment of a new office in Tokyo this month. The new office marks a deepened level of commitment to the Asian market. It also enables Tacton to better support Japanese customers during the digital transformation and evolution towards Industry 4.0. With over 20 years of experience in the CPQ software industry, Tacton has been working closely since 2010 with several partners in Japan and about 30 manufacturing customers like Toshiba Mitsubishi-Electric Industrial Systems Corporation and RYOBI MHI Graphic Technology Ltd. The reseller partners include Exa Corporation, NTT data MHI information Systems, Kozo Keikaku Engineering, Toshiba Digital Solution and the service partner Mitsubishi Research Institute (MRI). With offices already established in Sweden, Germany, USA, and Poland, Tacton will now expand its global reach with a new office in Japan. Situated in the Ginza district of Tokyo, the new office will serve Tacton’s partners and clients in Japan. The wholly owned subsidiary will also enable Tacton to better serve growing demand for its CPQ and smart manufacturing solutions within Asia at large. "We look forward to establishing closer working relationships with our Japanese partners,” says Frederic Laziou, CEO of Tacton Systems. “Japan is one of the world’s most successful manufacturing countries, having invented the lean manufacturing philosophy Kaizen. The next step is smart manufacturing. Tacton is ideally positioned to meet this demand and take customers to the forefront of Industry 4.0.” The new office will bring Japanese customers even closer to Tacton’s advanced products, including engineered-to-order solutions, which are very much in demand. “Traditionally Japanese manufacturers have been ETO (Engineer-To-Order) oriented,” says Haruko Kato, Regional Channel Manager of Japan, Tacton Systems. “With Tacton, manufacturers can accelerate their digitalization and automation in both the design and order process corresponding to their customers' needs, while increasing speed and reducing the cost during global expansion.” Tacton’s smart manufacturing solutions are helping some of the world’s leading manufacturers operate more efficiently and sell more effectively. These include AI based CPQ software, Visual Configuration, Design and CAD Automation—plus integration with all major ERP, CRM and PLM systems.
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China Unicom Global will offer ngena’s Software-Defined Wide Area Networks (SD-WAN) services to its global customer base
China Unicom Global announced today to join ngena – the Next Generation Enterprise Network Alliance. By becoming a member of the global telecommunications alliance, China Unicom Global will be offering ngena’s fully managed SD-WAN services to its enterprise customers. In addition, all ngena alliance members will benefit from selected high-quality Ethernet and Internet based wholesale access services in China. ngena provides enterprises with consistent data connectivity services, integrating all the alliance partners’ networks into a single global Software-Defined Network (SDN). Using state-of-the-art cloud and virtualization technologies from ngena’s strategic technology partner Cisco-Viptela, the alliance offers end-to-end managed Software-Defined Wide Area Networks. The combination of this technology with the alliance’s operating model and ecosystem gives customers of the alliance members access to secure, stable, scalable and easy-to-use global corporate networks, and provides high-quality local customer care. Since ngena’s four founding members – CenturyLink, Deutsche Telekom, Reliance Jio and SK Telecom – made their official inaugural announcement at the Mobile World Congress in February 2016, the global alliance has now grown to include over 20 renowned international partners. - Data connectivity without limits and boundaries Alessandro Adriani, Managing Director at ngena, says: “With China Unicom Global becoming ngena’s partner, enterprise customers of all ngena alliance partners will benefit from the Software-Defined Wide Area Network services China Unicom Global is providing in their home market. In addition, we are extending our global reach to one of the biggest markets in the world, thus being able to offer our highly automated network services to our customers’ premises in China”.
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The Power of Ryzen in Rackmount NAS - QNAP Introduces the TS-x77XU Series
QNAP® Systems, Inc. (QNAP), a leading storage, network and computing solution provider, unveiled the high-performance TS-x77XU rackmount NAS series. This series features the 8-bay TS-877XU-RP, 12-bay TS-1277XU-RP, and 16-bay TS-1677XU-RP. Utilizing the blazing-fast AMD Ryzen™ processor family with high core/thread counts, the TS-x77XU series has been significantly boosted to meet the most-demanding virtualization needs of enterprises. The TS-x77XU series is available with Ryzen 3 1200, Ryzen 5 2600, and Ryzen 7 2700 processors, all of which demonstrate astonishing processing power for versatile applications and scenarios (including desktop and server virtualization, on-the-fly video transcoding/streaming, and private cloud infrastructure). Four PCI Express (PCIe) slots are available in all models, allowing users to expand NAS functionality with network adapters (40GbE, 10GBASE-T/NBASE-T™), USB 3.1 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) cards, M.2 SSD cards, and graphics cards. The TS-1677XU comes with a 500 W power supply unit (PSU) to support a graphics card that requires additional power. Models with redundant power supplies are also available. "In response to strong market demands, QNAP has added AMD Ryzen-based NAS to our rackmount lineup," noted David Tsao, Director of Product Management of QNAP. "With powerful processing capabilities, versatile expandability and high potential storage capacity, the TS-x77XU series enables enterprises to take their businesses to the next level," he added. The multi-threading advantages of the TS-x77XU series are especially suited for virtualization. The series is virtualization-ready for VMware®, Citrix® and Windows Server® 2016 environments with the support of iSER (iSCSI Extension for RDMA) thanks to built-in Mellanox® ConnectX®-4 SmartNICs. The TS-x77XU series can also host virtual machines and containers, acting as an efficient all-in-one server, and supports snapshots and virtual machine backups for complete virtualization management. The series also supports* Virtual QTS, allowing users to run multiple virtual QTS operating systems on a single NAS, providing benefits of resource segregation (CPU, memory, networking), flexible application deployment, and providing energy, cost, and space savings. The TS-x77XU series supports RAID 50/60 to provide greater protection and random write performance, striking a balance between capacity, protection and performance. The latest Qtier™ 2.0 adds IO Aware capabilities for SSD tiered storage to keep a cache-like reserved space to handle burst I/O in real time, maximizing the cost-to-performance value. The TS-x77XU series also features a redundant power supply to ensure that mission-critical applications can maintain 24/7 business operations. A single power supply model (the TS-877XU ) is also available. Running the latest version of QTS - the intelligent NAS operating system, the TS-x77XU series is a comprehensive storage solution for data storage, backup/restoration, sharing and management. The built-in QTS App Center includes hundreds of install-on-demand apps to extend NAS functionality while increasing productivity gains. QRM+ is a centralized management solution the features graphic topology diagrams for managing Windows®, Linux®, and IPMI devices; Q'center consolidates the management of multiple QNAP NAS; QVPN integrates settings of VPN server and VPN clients; Browser Station enables secure and convenient access to private networks; QVR Pro provides a professional video surveillance solution; QIoT Suite Lite builds a private IoT cloud platform; and much more. *Virtual QTS is only supported by Ryzen 5 2600 and Ryzen 7 2700 variants of the TS-x77XU series. Key specifications Redundant power supply models TS-877XU-RP-1200-4G: 8-bay, AMD Ryzen 3 1200 (4-core/4-thread, 3.1 GHz, max. 3.4 GHz) processor, 4 GB RAM, 2 x 300 W redundant power supply, 2U TS-877XU-RP-2600-8G: 8-bay, AMD Ryzen 5 2600 (6-core/12-thread, 3.4 GHz, max. 3.9 GHz) processor, 8 GB RAM, 2 x 300 W redundant power supply, 2U TS-1277XU-RP-1200-4G: 12-bay, AMD Ryzen 3 1200 (4-core/4-thread, 3.1 GHz, max. 3.4 GHz) processor, 4 GB RAM, 2 x 300 W redundant power supply, 2U TS-1277XU-RP-2600-8G: 12-bay, AMD Ryzen 5 2600 (6-core/12-thread, 3.4 GHz, max. 3.9 GHz) processor, 8 GB RAM, 2 x 300 W redundant power supply, 2U TS-1677XU-RP-1200-4G: 16-bay, AMD Ryzen 3 1200 (4-core/4-thread, 3.1 GHz, max. 3.4 GHz) processor, 4 GB RAM, 2 x 500 W redundant power supply (power connector for graphics card included), 3U TS-1677XU-RP-2600-8G: 16-bay, AMD Ryzen 5 2600 (6-core/12-thread, 3.4 GHz, max. 3.9 GHz) processor, 8 GB RAM, 2 x 500 W redundant power supply (power connector for graphics card included), 3U TS-1677XU-RP-2700-16G: 16-bay, AMD Ryzen 7 2700 (8-core/16-thread, 3.2 GHz, max. 4.1 GHz) processor, 16 GB RAM, 2 x 500 W redundant power supply (power connector for graphics card included), 3U Single power supply models TS-877XU-1200-4G: 8-bay, AMD Ryzen 3 1200 (4-core/4-thread, 3.1 GHz, max. 3.4 GHz) processor, 4 GB RAM, 350 W power supply, 2U Rackmount NAS; up to 64 GB DDR4 RAM (4 x 16 GB DDR4 UDIMM RAM); hot-swappable 2.5/3.5-inch SATA 6Gbps HDDs or SSDs; 4 x PCle 3.0 slots; 2 x 10GbE SFP+ ports; 2 x Gigabit LAN ports; 2 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 (10Gbps) ports (1 x Type-A, 1 x Type-C), 4 x USB 3.0 ports (Type A)
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Collaboration tool rises as the Work-Life Balance strives trend
As the Work-Life balance culture is becoming more and more prevalent, there is a growing interest in collaboration tools for systematic task management and efficient teamwork support. Many experts claim that productive collaboration is likely to increase work satisfaction through the realization of Work-Life Balance. Collaboration task is already taking more than half of the working hours and the task proportion even increases further for general office workers. According to reports from McKinsey and Korea Productivity Center, typical knowledge workers spend 70% of their working time on collaborative communication and searching information. Along with the rising trend, the global collaboration tools market is experiencing significant growth every year. According to the Global Cloud Collaboration Market 2016-2020 Report published by Technavio, a UK market research firm, the global cloud collaboration tool market is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 11% from the year 2016 to the year 2020. More interesting part is that the growth rate in the Asia-Pacific region is expected to outgrow the global average with an annual average rate of 16%. Also, ReportLinker, a US market researching firm forecasts that the global collaboration tool market will grow to $ 59.9 billion by the year 2023 from $ 34.5 billion this year with annual CAGR of 11%. The rapid growth of the global collaborative tool market is due to the fact that collaborative tools play a large role in effective communication and minimization of data integration costs between departments within the company or even between companies. Experts are consistently emphasizing that if collaboration efficiency increases within a limited working hour, it can lead to a reduction in management costs as well as improvement of corporate service quality from a long-term perspective. Especially, as the devices that access information are diversified due to the proliferation of mobile devices, the collaboration tools are also being expanded to web-based services or mobile apps. The proliferation of Work-Life Balance trend will not only lead to the introduction of collaboration tools but will also change the culture of collaboration among companies. In the meantime, the collaborative methods preferred by domestic companies have been conducted in a timelined manner; taking responsibility for their work, communicating in real time, and instructing and performing tasks. The optimized collaboration solution for domestic companies would be the timeline-based SNS collaborating platform and real-time communication-based messenger collaborating solution. However, this method has high team efficiency, but individual users have to invest a lot of working hours, and it has been pointed out that the decrease of work concentration due to real-time response is a disadvantage. Timeline method requires too much time to search past data or information, and it is structured to be interrupted in the midst of business hours because the prompt reply is required. According to a study by Professor Gloria Janet Mark, an informatics professor at the University of California, regular office workers are being interrupted once every 11 minutes and it takes an average of 25 minutes for workers to refocus on their tasks. An emerging solution to overcome these limitations is the issue-based collaboration tool. Also known as the Third Generation Collaboration Solutions and this tool supports data sharing, communication, decision making, and issue management as well as other collaborating tools, but the crucial difference is that the collaboration environment is fully reflecting the workflow. For instance, ‘Collabee’, the most well-known issue-based collaboration tool follows the workflow that takes place in the real work environment. If you create a 'project space' for each team or each project, everyone can contribute based on ideas or issues. Within the generated issue, various collaborations can be performed such as delivering feedback through comments, assigning tasks, requesting for decision making, sharing files, etc. All the communication for solving the issue can be confirmed on one page. In addition, a user can check project progress by Kanban method, or can solely check user’s own issue through the news feed section. Work-Life Balance is the natural flow and the demand that can no longer be resisted. As a result, companies can not postpone their homework, which should increase the productivity while guaranteeing the balance in between work and life. Collaboration tool is not a panacea for actualizing the balance, but it's a feasible solution. It is time to check, whether the issue-based collaboration tool will become the mainstream in Korea with the rising work-life balance trend.
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Broadband Forum automates, accelerates cloud-based access deployment
The Broadband Forum today announced the first code release and documentation of its new Open Broadband project – Broadband Access Abstraction (OB-BAA) to enable standardized, automated and accelerated deployment of new cloud-based access infrastructure and services. What differentiates this Open Broadband reference implementation is that it facilitates co-existence, seamless migration and the agility to adapt to an increasingly wide variety of software defined access models – the key business and operational challenge in creating a potentially vast market. “OB-BAA enables operators to optimize their decision-making process for introducing new infrastructure based on user demand and acceptance instead of being forced into a total replacement strategy,” said Robin Mersh, Broadband Forum CEO. “By reducing planning, risks and execution time, investment in new systems and services can be incremental.” As a freely-published, open source project, OB-BAA specifies northbound interfaces, core components and southbound interfaces for functions associated with access devices that have been virtualized. It is this standardized, layered architecture designed for SDN automation that distinguishes it from other approaches. It removes the need for difficult deployment planning by decoupling the device and software implementation choices from business and market decisions. An important and immediate use of OB-BAA is as an integrated layer in the Broadband Forum’s CloudCO project, as described in the published ‘CloudCO Architectural Framework (TR-384).’ OB-BAA also complements other industry initiatives and the work is being actively coordinated with related industry activities such as ONF. “The first release of OB-BAA marks a major milestone for the industry,” said Tim Carey, Lead Technology Strategist at Nokia and Chair of the Broadband Forum’s BAA project. “It delivers an open reference implementation based on standards-compliant interfaces, that operators and vendors worldwide can use to develop and deploy interoperable cloud-based access networks more easily and quickly.” Operators and equipment manufacturers involved in the project include Broadcom, BT, Calix, CenturyLink, China Telecom, Huawei, Nokia, Telecom Italia, Tibit Communications, the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Lab (UNH-IOL) and ZTE. “OB-BAA is a very important reference implementation of Cloud CO,” said Binchao Lin, Access Network Architect at Huawei and VC of OB-BAA. “It is a project which is important to the entire broadband community.” The first of several planned releases, consisting of code and supporting documentation is now publicly available at obbaa.broadband-forum.org Companies interested in participating in the ongoing work should contact: info@broadband-forum.org In addition to the release, the Forum has published a new OB-BAA system overview paper and is holding a public webinar on Wednesday, August 29, featuring service providers and vendors.
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While Egypt’s New Law Threatens Jail for Visiting Censored Sites, Egyptians Turn to VPNs
Egypt has passed a law that warns people who browse censored websites can be jailed for at least one year. Those who share content from blocked sites can receive a minimum prison sentence of two years. Since Mohamed Morsi, the Islamist president, was overthrown in a military coup, the government started crackdowns on the media. For example, Egypt has banned The Huffington Post, Human Right Watch, Qatar’s Al Jazeera, and other websites critical of the government. “People want to access the information they were used to reading, they want to know unbiased opinions about what is happening in their country – so they turn to VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) that allow to bypass censorship and to browse Internet freely,” said Marty P. Kamden, CMO of NordVPN. “We have seen an increase in the number of our Egyptian users since the law had been passed. “Even though Egypt attempts to block VPNs, NordVPN is still functioning, and we will do our best to make sure free Internet is available to Egyptians.” Social media has also been under attack – vocal influencers with anti-government statements are being rounded up. A social media account with more than 5,000 followers is deemed a media organization and is supervised by a state-appointed media supervisory council. “VPNs play a very important role if a dissident doesn’t want to reveal their identity and IP address,” said Marty P. Kamden. “They encrypt information that the user shares into a safe tunnel and hide not only the IP address, but the website one visits as well.”
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InfiNet Wireless introduces a new peak-performance and spectral-efficient solution to the LATAM market at Andicom 2018
Operators in the LATAM region looking to overcome the challenges of increasing bandwidth demands and interference mitigation are set to benefit when InfiNet Wireless, the global leader in fixed broadband wireless connectivity, launches its latest SDR technology solution to the Latin America market at the annual Andicom conference in Cartagena, Colombia next week. On display at booth 85, the Quanta 5 has been designed to offer the highest spectral efficiency available in today's wireless marketplace. Able to seamlessly operate from sub-zero temperatures to tropical conditions, Quanta 5 is the company's brand new 5 GHz Point-to-Point solution which has a capacity of up to 450 Mbps in just 40 MHz, delivers full Quality of Service (QoS) with a processing power in excess of 800,000 packets per second. "Our solutions continue to break records across the wireless world and Quanta 5 is no exception. Able to cater for a wide range of applications, such as Internet access as well as high resolution video streams in to CCTV infrastructure, we are proud to have developed this new platform, the most efficient spectrum available in the market today. Quanta 5 is easier than ever before to deploy and use, cost effective and exceeds performance expectations, satisfying bandwidth demands from our customers and mitigating interference issues even in the noisy radio environments," said Carlos de Lamadrid, Business Development Manager for LATAM at InfiNet Wireless. “Some of our strongest markets are in Latin America and events like Andicom are the perfect opportunity for us to showcase our technological breakthroughs to decision-makers from all industry sectors, and share our more global experience in order to help them address successfully all challenges they may be faced with.” Quanta 5 delivers a comprehensive set of benefits in a Point-to-Point topology, all with a fibre-like performance, thanks to InfiNet's advanced proprietary management protocols. This new solution combines the complete set of features associated with Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) platforms, with the added flexibility based on the company's own and well-proven WANflex operating system. InfiNet's continued growth and expansion in the LATAM region was further evidenced when the company and its loyal partner in the region Avantec jointly launched a new operation in Colombia. This new arrangement represented a milestone for the cooperation between the two companies, cementing an already successful cooperation which resulted in more than 100 projects jointly implemented in just four years since the partnership began in Mexico in 2014. De Lamadrid added: "Returning to Andicom this year is a wonderful opportunity to present our recent successes in the region, further develop existing relationships and build brand new ones. We have a prominent role in the market, holding a number of events in the region, including our Annual Conference exclusively for our LATAM partners, and have recently established our own business and support presence in Mexico, Colombia and Brazil. Andicom allows us to demonstrate how we can meet any wireless requirements and overcome connectivity challenges, thanks to our global experience and growing portfolio of wireless solutions." InfiNet Wireless can be found at booth 85. Andicom takes place from 29-31 August 2018 at Cartagena des Indias, Colombia.
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Pandora Selects Veriflow CloudPredict for Multi-Cloud Intent-Based Verification
Veriflow, today achieved another industry milestone, announcing that Pandora (NYSE:P), the largest music streaming service in the U.S., has selected Veriflow to provide intent verification for Pandora’s multi-cloud environment. Multi-cloud adoption grew globally by 300 percent in 2017, with approximately 80 percent of IT budgets committed to cloud solutions. With this continued increase in cloud adoption, organizations must seek new and innovative technologies in order to maintain control over their multi-cloud environments. “Customers need the ability to predict and control the behavior of their networks, regardless of architecture,” said James Brear, President and CEO of Veriflow. “CloudPredict now makes that possible, by extending the power of our Veriflow intent verification platform across disparate networks, including multi-cloud environments.” With more than 72 million monthly active users, Pandora is the world’s most powerful music discovery platform. Key to Pandora’s selection of Veriflow was CloudPredict’s ability to unify Pandora’s intent verification across their on-premises and multi-cloud network. “Defining and controlling intent across a multi-cloud network is highly complex,” said James Kelty, Director of Network Services, Pandora. “With Veriflow, we now have a single view of policy, architecture, and flow behavior across our on-premises and multi-cloud environment that is extensible into our existing systems.”
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Apstra Defines Intent-Based Networking Taxonomy and Maturity Model to Help CTOs Navigate SDN, Cloud, and IoT
Apstra® Inc., the pioneer of Intent-Based Networking (IBN), defined an objective Intent-Based Taxonomy model to help network operators cut through the marketing hype around IBN as they look to simplify the operations of their data center network. “We are introducing a model intended to help CTOs and network operators evaluate and differentiate the maturity of IBN solutions with an objective set of criteria, beginning with Level 0 (low maturity/incomplete) offerings going up to Level 3 (mature/complete) offerings which enable companies to leverage full benefits of an IBN approach,” said Sasha Ratkovic, CTO and Founder of Apstra. The lBN model addresses: Level 0 IBN: Basic Automation These offerings have the ability to: Generate device configurations from declarative specifications. For example: scripts running Ansible modules or other declarative libraries such as NAPALM. Support a heterogeneous infrastructure. Ingest real-time network status in a protocol- and transport-agnostic way. At this level there is no presence of a single source of truth, which is a fundamental aspect of a mature IBN implementation, as it enables reasoning whether or not the intent has been met. Level 1 IBN: Single Source of Truth An implementation classified as Level 1 implements a single source of truth containing the intent and the network operational state. It contains data and state artifacts related to all aspects of a network service lifecycle: design, build, deploy, and validate. Level 1 can give you answers to important questions about the state of your intent and your infrastructure. Level 2 IBN: Real-Time Change Validation Building on top of Level 1, Level 2 IBN solution enables you to ask the right questions, at the right time to help assess the impact of business rule or policy changes, as well as the operational status changes and failures in real time. Level 3 IBN: Does the IBN solution validate and close the loop between the intent and operational state by providing observability, and deliver corrective actions on a path to self-operating networks? This step is impossible to tackle if one has not built solid foundations in Levels 2 and 3.
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QNAP Unveils the TS-1635AX 16-bay NAS
QNAP® Systems, Inc. (QNAP) today announced the launch of the TS-1635AX NAS - the successor of the landmark TS-1635 NAS. With 16 drive bays (twelve 3.5-inch and four 2.5-inch) and dual 10GbE SFP+ ports, the TS-1635AX is further boosted with a high-performance Marvell® ARMADA® 8040 ARMv8 Cortex-A72 64-bit quad-core 1.6 GHz processor and two M.2 SATA SSD slots (2280 form factor) and supports Linux virtualization, SSD caching, and Qtier 2.0. The TS-1635AX sets a new standard for ARM-based NAS and marks a new milestone for high-capacity and affordable desktop NAS models. The TS-1635AX supports QNAP's proprietary Qtier 2.0 for automatic tiered storage and provides a cache-like mechanism in volumes and LUNs to boost the performance of applications where high-efficiency data access is necessary (such as virtualization). The TS-1635AX also supports containerized virtualization (LXC and Docker®) and Linux command-line interface (CLI) virtual machines* for deploying virtualization applications to fully realize the potential of the Marvell ARMADA 8040 processor. The TS-1635AX features two built-in 10GbE SFP+ ports and two Gigabit (1000BASE-T) ports for high-speed transmission and flexible network deployment. The core functionality of the TS-1635AX can also be expanded by installing two PCI Express (PCIe) 3.0 cards (compatible PCIe cards include the QWA-AC2600 wireless adapter, QM2 M.2 SSD/10GbE adapters, and USB 3.1 Gen2 (10Gbps) adapters). "Combining all the advantages of its predecessor with today's cutting-edge functionality, the TS-1635AX sets a new benchmark for next-generation storage devices" said Jason Hsu, Product Manager of QNAP, adding "supporting snapshots, Qtier 2.0, and virtualization while ensuring data security, performance, and expansion potential, the TS-1635AX meets various business needs and is perfect for small businesses and organizations." The TS-1635AX runs the intelligent, app-driven QTS operating system that supports RAID 50/60 and provides productivity-enhancing features such as Qboost and OCR Converter. Featuring apps from QNAP and trusted third parties, the QTS App Center enriches the TS-1635X with potentially limitless functionality and much greater value for money. Key specifications TS-1635AX-8G: Marvell® ARMADA® 8040 64-bit quad-core 1.6 GHz processor, 8 GB DDR4 RAM (1 x 8 GB) TS-1635AX-4G: Marvell® ARMADA® 8040 64-bit quad-core 1.6 GHz processor, 4 GB DDR4 RAM (1 x 4 GB) Desktop; RAM upgradeable to 1 x 16 GB (Long-DIMM form factor); 16-bay (twelve 3.5-inch and four 2.5-inch); hot-swappable 3.5-inch/2.5-inch SATA 6 Gbps bays; two M.2 SATA SSD (2280 form factor) slots; 2 x PCle expansion slots (1 x PCIe 3.0 x2，1 x PCIe 3.0 x1); 2 x 10GbE SFP+ ports, 2 x Gigabit (1000BASE-T) ports; 3 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) ports (front 1, rear 2); 1 x 3.5 mm Line-out; 1 x speaker; 250 W PSU *The availability of this functionality will be announced separately.
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Bentley Systems Acquires Synchro Software to Extend Digital Workflows
Bentley Systems, Incorporated, a leading global provider of comprehensive software solutions for advancing infrastructure, today announced the acquisition of Synchro Software, headquartered in London, leader (and the market creator) in 4D construction modeling software, for scheduling and project management. Synchro, “construction’s time machine,” has been globally adopted, in particular, for building and civil infrastructure projects. The acquisition broadens Bentley’s ProjectWise construction offerings—which already include ConstructSim, the leader for 4D construction modeling in project delivery of industrial plants. With construction project management in 4D, benefits of BIM can extend throughout infrastructure project delivery and asset lifecycles, as traditionally disconnected workflows become digital workflows. Synchro’s strong growth, since the introduction of Synchro PRO in 2007, has coincided with the burgeoning adoption of BIM for design workflows—which, however, stop short of considering construction planning, scheduling, and project management strategies. For London’s Crossrail, Synchro digital construction innovatively applied Bentley Systems’ iModel work packaging to complete the reach of its BIM application portfolio and its CDE. Crossrail, the largest European construction project over this period, is now being completed on time and on budget. Synchro has increasingly become the standard for major constructors leveraging BIM through project delivery. Synchro’s 2018 4D Digital Construction Conference in Amsterdam brought together infrastructure construction thought leaders from 18 countries, including presentations by Royal BAM Group, Mortenson Construction, Robins & Morton, Shanghai Construction No. 4 Group, Skanska UK, and Larsen & Toubro, who shared their benefits achieved through innovatively applying 4D construction modeling with Synchro. In industrial project delivery, characterized by EPC (engineer-procure-construct) contracting, integrated processes are already the norm—leading to ConstructSim’s digital workflows for advanced work packaging. However, in vertical buildings and civil infrastructure projects, notwithstanding the advancement of BIM for design and engineering, prevalent design/bid/build contracting has institutionalized disconnected workflows isolating construction planning from BIM data and geometry. 1) Constructors have been constrained by the limitations of stand-alone planning and scheduling programs, without digital visibility into the engineering information coalesced within the separate 3D BIM environment; 2) construction planning typically lacks the workface-level granularity and depth of detail, and exploration of sequencing alternatives, to sufficiently minimize risk and schedule variance; and 3) constructors characteristically need to create their own independent 3D models to serve construction only, in the process orphaning the BIM deliverables which can then never, despite their engineering intelligence, accurately represent the as-built asset for operations and maintenance. Within Synchro, 3D BIM deliverables are linked with the 4D time dimension to intrinsically and immersively synchronize, through digital workflows, the construction strategy, work breakdown structure, schedule, costs, resources, supply chain logistics, and progress. Synchro’s 4D construction modeling appropriately incorporates other construction variables (human, materials, equipment, falseworks, and space) for safe, reliable, and predictable project delivery performance. Synchro includes intrinsic CPM scheduling, or users can maintain external project schedules. By synchronizing changes from BIM, schedule and/or field conditions, Synchro provides clear visibility into both the project data and the design, making it quick and easy to communicate and analyze the impact of changes on the entire project delivery process. This also enables Synchro users to compare construction strategy alternatives—even in early stages of design and bid processes—and to evaluate the feasibility and efficiency of different scenarios, deriving insights toward the best possible construction outcomes. By incorporating Synchro 4D construction modeling through the ProjectWise CDE, infrastructure project delivery can now benefit from unprecedented digital workflow advancements. For the first time, change synchronization can assure that BIM deliverables are updated for changes which occur during construction, aligning the as-designed, as-constructed, and as-operated digital engineering models to improve both project performance and asset performance. And, in particular for civil infrastructure projects, constructioneering digital workflows can automate direct relationships between the project’s digital engineering models, the continuously-surveyed digital context of site conditions before and during construction, and positioning devices controlling construction equipment and feeding back as-built conditions. “I’m very excited about what Synchro brings to Bentley’s capabilities for comprehensive project delivery, not only in terms of technology, but also by virtue of the proven construction expertise of the Synchro team, led by the vision and advocacy of Tom Dengenis,” said Stephen Jolley, vice president of construction for Bentley. “In construction modeling for industrial projects, the market is already converging around ConstructSim’s advanced work packaging and workface planning. In the advancement of going digital for civil and building construction, the needed impetus for these ‘industrialized’ advantages is precisely what we are now announcing. For infrastructure projects, integrating Synchro’s 4D construction modeling completes the reach of our ProjectWise CDE.” Tom Dengenis, CEO of Synchro Software, said, “This combination reflects my conviction about what’s imperative for finally driving infrastructure construction substantially forward. At Synchro, we accomplished the breakthrough of 4D construction modeling software many years ago, but we have wanted to advance the market faster than our own continuous growth. With my 40+ Synchro colleagues in the UK, Boston, San Francisco, Shanghai, and Moscow, I look forward to working more directly with our new Bentley colleagues, thanks to our now so much greater combined power and commitment, to accelerate the global industry in going digital.” Malcolm Taylor, head of technical information, Crossrail, said, “Using specialist software from Bentley Systems and Synchro, our project schedule could be linked to the 3D information to produce 4D models that could show the progress of design and installation at any particular point in time. Using 4D models to plan helped speed up the project teams’ understanding of what we needed to do and when. They could also tease out conflicts that were not normally apparent from regular Gantt charts and drawings. Using the 4D model for construction progress also manages payment expectations as it allows teams to readily agree on what’s completed and accepted—as well as producing an excellent as-built record for the future maintainer. For me, the news of Bentley Systems’ acquisition of Synchro Software is excellent, and will help reinforce how 4D can be used to improve construction management.” Bentley Systems’ CEO Greg Bentley said, “Synchro has already inflected upward the construction productivity curve, by leading the adoption of 4D construction modeling for significant projects worldwide. The opportunity to extend digital workflows from BIM to institutionalize 4D construction modeling across infrastructure project delivery, superseding disconnected planning and scheduling, is enormous and immediate; its magnitude is confirmed by the clamor of new startups. Tom Dengenis’ informed enthusiasm and business foresight in anticipating and advancing the market’s potential—reflected in Synchro’s sustained and increasing growth from critical mass to escape velocity—assures me that we now, uniquely, have the right combined team and converged technologies. Every constructor and every infrastructure project can gain from going digital through our 4D construction modeling!”
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Paragon Software Releases Image Mounter - First-Line Data Retrieval for IT Pros, Forensics
Paragon Software Group, a recognized data storage expert, releases Image Mounter by Paragon Software – a multi-format disk image mounter that enables in-depth analysis of user data. The software allows mounting RAW images and virtual drives, such as VMDK, VDI, VHD, pVHD, and VHDX. Integration with proprietary file system drivers enables smooth, high-performance operation with Linux and APFS-formatted drives under Windows. This tool targets IT professionals, researchers, and forensic experts requiring bit-to-bit copy of volumes or entire devices. Features: · Mount RAW images and a variety of virtual disk images; · Physical level mounting of disks, including all partitions; · Automatic OS mounting of partitions when formatted in known formats; · File System Link technology to ensure cross-platform compatibility across Linux, HFS+, and APFS-formatted drives in a Windows environment; · Full availability of standard OS features for handling mounted disks of known formats; · Mount mode selection: Read-only or read-write; · Easy unmount in any required order.
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Optimized Machining Begins in the Software
OPEN MIND Technologies AG has now introduced Version 2018.2 of its hyperMILL® CAD/CAM suite. In this new release, numerous features – such as drill hole and pocket recognition as well as 3D-optimized roughing have been further improved. The most important additions are to be found in the CAD section: hyperCAD®-S. This CAD software, which is specifically designed for CAM programming, provides working solutions to many familiar challenges posed by meshes, faces and volumes, enabling the creation of highly precise components and tools. The data is prepared for subsequent NC programming independently of the original CAD system. One important new feature introduced in the previous version has been improved even further in hyperMILL® 2018.2: the electrode module, which automatically derives electrodes from the faces to be die-sunk within the component geometry. With the ‘Virtual Electrode’ function, copies of an electrode that has already been created can now be generated in various different positions. These are checked for collisions and can be assigned the technology values of the master electrode or new technology values. During electrode milling, these values are processed accordingly. The reference system and eroding position for each copy are included in the report. - Easier Analysis One of the new functions in hyperCAD®-S makes it possible to measure the distances between two shapes. This function can be applied to face models, solids, meshes or stock. This allows a face created using the ‘Global Fitting’ function to be compared with the original face. Moreover, casting allowances can be reviewed very quickly. The frequently-used ‘Unwrap’ command has now had a ‘Radial’ mode added. This allows radially aligned curves or texts on rotational solids to be unwrapped with a constant radial length, which is very useful for engraving and tire labeling. For easy changes to milling boundaries and turning contours, hyperMILL® 2018.2 offers a ‘V sketch’ command. This is used to assign geometric constraints to 2D contours. When individual contours are changed, the sketch is automatically updated using their dependencies. The values of the V sketches are edited using dimensional constraints and the parameter list.
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QNAP Launches New AMD Quad-core 4/8/12-bay TS-x63XU Rackmount NAS
QNAP® Systems, Inc. today launched the new 10GbE-ready TS-x63XU rack-mountable NAS (available in 4, 8, and 12-bay models with single and redundant power supply options) that features an AMD G-Series GX-420MC quad-core 2.0 GHz processor, 4GB DDR3L memory (upgradable to 16GB), and easy scalability, providing ideal storage solutions for bandwidth-demanding data center and virtualization applications. Pre-installed with a single-port 10GbE 10GBASE-T network card (which also supports 10G/5G/2.5G/1G/100M data transfer) the TS-x63XU series delivers up to 1,038 MB/s read speed and 985 MB/s read with AES-NI encryption acceleration. Supporting SSD caching, tiered storage allocation, and excellent expandability with a QNAP 12-bay expansion enclosure, the TS-x63XU series is ideal for business organizations looking for a secure private cloud and efficient IT infrastructure for 10GbE networks. “Besides performance and scale-up architecture, the 10GbE-ready TS-x63XU NAS series is packed with abundant business applications and reliable system operations to fully back business needs in data storage, disaster recovery, and virtualization,” said Jason Hsu, Product Manager of QNAP. Optimized for virtualization environments, the TS-x63XU series supports VMware®, Citrix®, Microsoft® Hyper-V® and Windows Server® 2016, and can also natively host virtual machines (Windows®, Linux®, UNIX® and Android™) and LXC and Docker® containers. The intelligent QTS operating system delivers a comprehensive solution for storage, backup, sharing, and central management. Snapshot (block-based) support is also provided to help users quickly restore the NAS to a previously-recorded state, providing an ideal solution for mitigating the effects of unexpected NAS failure or ransomware attack. The storage capacity of the TS-x63XU series can be expanded on demand by attaching a QNAP expansion enclosure ( UX-1200U-RP and UX-800U-RP). QNAP's VJBOD (Virtual JBOD) solution also allows users to expand the capacity of TS-x63XU models by using the unused storage capacity of other QNAP NAS. Users can flexibly increase the potential applications of the NAS with the various apps available from the QTS App Center. Qsync enables file sync across devices to boost team collaboration; QRM+ simplifies central management of Windows, Linux, and IPMI devices and facilitates easy troubleshooting; Qfiling automates file organization without needing any extra effort or time; and QIoT Suite Lite is a hands-on IoT development app, allowing organizations to easily acquire a private cloud combining storage and IoT applications. Users can also build a budget-friendly professional surveillance system with the TS-x63XU by using the new QVR Pro. Key specifications Redundant power supply TS-463XU-RP: 4-bay, 1U rackmount TS-863XU-RP: 8-bay, 2U rackmount TS-1263XU-RP: 12-bay, 2U rackmount Single power supply TS-463XU: 4-bay, 1U rackmount TS-863XU: 8-bay, 2U rackmount TS-1263XU: 12-bay, 2U rackmount AMD embedded G-Series GX-420MC quad-core 2.0 GHz processor, with AES-NI encryption engine; dual channel 4GB DDR3LSO-DIMM RAM (upgradable to 16GB); hot-swappable 2.5"/3.5" SATA 6Gbps HDD/SSD; 1x 10GBASE-T RJ-45 LAN port, 4x Gigabit LAN ports; 2x USB 3.0 ports; 2x USB 2.0 ports (TS-463XU-RP/TS-463XU provides 3x USB 2.0 ports)
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Supermicro Brings Resource Saving Green Computing to Computex Taipei 2018
Super Micro Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ: SMCI), a global leader in enterprise computing, storage, networking solutions and green computing technology, today is focusing on green computing with Resource Saving datacenter and cloud solutions, including SuperBlade®, BigTwin™, all-flash NVMe composable storage systems and AI and Machine Learning Optimized Servers at Computex Taipei 2018 from June 5-9 at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, Hall 1, Sky Dome Booth #N0806 (4th Floor). Datacenters account for 3% of the global electricity supply and 2% of the total greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, there is a turnover cycle of outdated electronic systems every three to five years which go into our landfills. This E-waste accounts for about 70% of overall heavy metal waste that poses risks to the environment and human health. With Resource Saving technology, Supermicro has introduced an overall architecture that optimizes datacenter power, cooling, shared resources, and refresh cycles. This innovative approach focuses on reusing system enclosures, enabling modular refresh of subsystems and using optimized extended life subsystems including networking, storage, cooling fans and power supplies. By disaggregating CPU and memory, each resource can be refreshed independently allowing datacenters to both reduce refresh cycle costs and optimize the adoption of new and improved technologies. “Supermicro has deployed Resource Saving systems in volume at many Fortune 100 datacenters,” said Charles Liang, President and CEO of Supermicro. “As the innovative leader in energy efficient systems and green computing technology, Supermicro now enables further savings by extending the life of server subsystems including the chassis enclosure, cables, networking, storage, fans and power supplies. The result is up to 60% hardware acquisition cost savings, up to 50% less power consumption and less e-waste during technology refresh cycles, which saves datacenters millions in costs and helps preserve the environment for future generations.” Supermicro will be showcasing a breadth of platforms at Computex that feature Resource Saving technology and address a wide range of workloads. The new Supermicro disaggregated SuperBlade unlocks the interdependence between the major server subsystems enabling the independent upgrade of CPU + Memory, I/O, Enclosure, Storage and Power/Cooling. Now each component can be refreshed at the optimal time to maximize generational improvements in performance and efficiency uncoupled from single monolithic server refresh cycles. The blade servers feature Intel® Xeon® Scalable processors and support M.2 NVMe and Intel Optane™. Delivering high performance and efficiency in a 2U 4-node design, the Supermicro BigTwin™ system also supports the full range of Intel Xeon Scalable processors, fully exploits all the memory channels with a maximum of 24 DIMMs per node, and offers options for up to six hot-swappable all-flash NVMe or hybrid NVMe/SAS3 drive bays, and up to three PCI-E 3.0 slots including support for a flexible SIOM module enabling 100/40/25/10/1G networking options and redundant 2600W/2200W Titanium Level (96%+) digital power supplies. Also, Supermicro’s comprehensive portfolio of AI and Machine Learning Systems based on the Latest Generation CPUs and NVIDIA Tesla V100 with NVLink GPUs for Superior Performance and Density will be featured including the new 2 PetaFLOP Superserver design based on the NVIDIA HGX-2 that combines 16 Tesla V100 32GB SXM3 GPUs connected via NVLink and NVSwitch to deliver breakthrough AI/ML compute power. Supermicro Rack Scale Design (RSD) will also be on display. Supermicro RSD is based on Intel® RSD, an industry-aligned datacenter architecture built on open standards. Supermicro RSD manages racks of disaggregated servers, storage, and networking with industry-standard Redfish Restful APIs that remain consistent across different vendors and multiple server generations. Supermicro RSD 2.1 supports high performance, high density, and disaggregated NVMe storage to improve datacenter efficiency, increase utilization and lower costs. The exhibit will also include the brand new all-flash NVMe Samsung NF1 and Intel “ruler” form factor 1U storage servers and JBOF that support up to 0.5PB of latest NVMe storage. To ensure the highest data bandwidth with lowest latency, both architectures support 2x 100G Infiniband, 2x 100G Ethernet as well as NVMe over Fabric thru two PCI-E x16 Gen3 lanes. On Thursday, June 7th, Mr. Liang will be presenting a keynote speech entitled, “5G-Ready Edge to Cloud Computing” at the 5th Taipei 5G Summit where he will further discuss Resource Saving Architecture. The keynote will be held at the Taipei International Convention Center (TICC), 4th Floor, VIP Room with registration starting at 8 a.m.
