Tag: MENA

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Huawei Cloud Becomes a Franz Edelman Award Finalist

SHENZHEN, China, Jan. 18, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — On January 17, 2023, the six finalists of the Franz Edelman Competition were announced. Among them is Huawei Cloud, which stands out from the competition with its pioneering cloud resource scheduling technology and excellent market performance. The Franz Edelman Award is presented annually by the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) to recognize achievements in the management sciences. Huawei Cloud is the first cloud computing company to be shortlisted for scheduling technology in the past 50 years.

How to maximize cloud resource utilization without compromising service quality remains a critical but challenging issue for the cloud industry. Huawei Cloud’s industry-leading cloud resource scheduling technology provides a solution that increases media network resource utilization by over 30% with its innovative algorithms. The improved quality of service (QoS) has translated into ten-fold livestreaming business growth over the past two years.

Top scientists and innovative algorithms to solve industry problems

Huawei Cloud assigned 39 scientists across 16 research centers both inside and outside of China to conduct research on cloud resource scheduling. Yuan Xiaoming, Chief Scientist of the Huawei Cloud Algorithm Innovation Lab, collaborated with experts in the livestreaming field to work on maximizing resource utilization and ensuring service quality under billing by 95th percentile bandwidth. Scientists developed algorithms for offline and online problems, respectively. During the problem-solving process, they encountered two difficulties:

First, due to the non-convex and non-smooth cost function in the mathematical model, minimizing the cost under billing by 95th percentile bandwidth is NP-hard. Second, Huawei Cloud Live involves more than 2,800 edge nodes. This means that there are 120 billion binary and continuous variables in the corresponding mathematical models.

In addition, it is difficult to develop an algorithm that is capable of providing an accurate scheduling scheme within milliseconds in real-world media network scheduling scenarios.

To accurately describe these problems, experts built a series of mathematical programming models, which provide a paradigm for further research. Experts also performed in-depth analysis on the structure and mathematical characteristics of the models. They split problems into subproblems, for which algorithms that combine easy problem-solving and implementation with high efficiency and stability were developed. Numerical experiment results show that these algorithms improve media network utilization by more than 30%, and also provide better QoS indicators such as higher stream pull success rate, shorter frame freezing in 100 seconds, and less time needed before playing the first frame.

Huawei Cloud also drives many other aspects of scheduling to new heights, such as through its industry-leading shortest-path MKSP algorithm and its collaboration with the Huawei Backbone Network (an industry-unique feature) and advanced cloud services. The scheduling-related research has yielded 30 patents and 6 research papers.

Huawei Cloud’s media network scheduling system fuels the growth of livestreaming

Huawei Cloud’s media network scheduling system, which resolves issues that have long plagued the industry, has been adopted by China’s top livestreaming platforms such as Douyu, Kuaishou, and Huya. Huawei Cloud developed a network traffic model and scheduling scheme, which accommodate traffic fluctuations, to ensure the smooth livestreaming of key events. With Huawei Cloud, more than 60 international sports events have been successfully broadcast live. Huawei Cloud’s livestreaming solution features industry-leading QoS, which includes 100% stream pull success rate, end-to-end latency of 2 to 3 seconds, latency of less than 800 milliseconds by Low Latency Live, and live video starting playback in seconds without frame freezing. The quantity of media resources provided by Huawei Cloud for major livestreaming platforms in China has grown 10 times in the past two years.

Adhering to the strategy of Everything as a Service, Huawei Cloud will harness its cutting-edge scheduling technology to create more value for industries such as energy, transportation, logistics, and retail.

Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1985475/image_845932_7964590.jpg

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Disposable Vaping Devices Wreak Havoc On Our Global Ecosystem

Pure Labs Urges Government Entities to Put an End to This Major Source of Environmental Pollution & Youth Vaping

Disposable Vape Waste

Heavy metals, toxic chemicals, and residual nicotine from littered disposable vape devices leach into our soil and pollute our ecosystem and wildlife.

TAMPA, Fla., Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Not only are disposable vaping devices fueling the world’s ongoing youth vaping epidemic, these single-use plastic e-cigarettes are responsible for the growing, exorbitant amount of toxic waste plaguing our earth. As if it isn’t harmful enough that disposable vape products are purposely targeting our youth with brightly colored packaging, eye-catching branding, and appealing fruit & dessert flavors; the plastics, heavy metals, and lithium batteries that these devices are comprised of are now a leading source of environmental pollution.

Similar to what we’ve seen with combustible cigarette butts, littered disposable vaping devices are now a major source of contamination to our ecosystem, on a worldwide scale. The issue is not just the non-decomposable plastic casings we see scattered in the streets, on beaches, and in parks far too often. Disposable vaping devices also leach hazardous waste from their lithium batteries and heavy metals from their circuitry systems. The moment these toxic materials penetrate our environment, the corruption of our ecosystem and our wildlife begins. In addition to the harmful and toxic chemicals found in lithium batteries, these types of batteries are known to explode or start fires if disposed of improperly. Not to mention the illegal child labor associated with up to 30% of cobalt mining facilities responsible for sourcing the material used in lithium-ion batteries.

With disposable devices being the preferred method of vaping among our youth, it is no mystery why we are seeing as much e-cigarette pollution as we are today. A standard disposable vape pen only holds enough E-liquid to last a few days, causing the average user to cycle through approximately 2 to 3 devices per week. That’s a lot of waste! Every day, respective Customs entities are seeing thousands of palettes of these disposable vape devices enter from China. If we want to take action and do our part to mitigate the global environmental pollution crisis and the undeniable youth vaping epidemic, we need to stop the infection at its root – put an end to Chinese disposable vaping devices.

About Pure Laboratories

Operating since 2009, Pure Laboratories (Pure Labs) is a Veteran-Owned state-of-the-art 110,000-sq. ft. manufacturing and distribution facility located in Gainesville, Florida. Nicopure Labs, a subsidiary of Pure Labs, is an industry leading manufacturer of American-Made tobacco and menthol E-liquid products. Nicopure Labs is best known for its award-winning E-liquid and hardware brand, Halo. With a 10,000-sq. ft. cleanroom, Pure Labs is synonymous with quality manufacturing. Pure Labs’ corporate headquarters are based in Tampa Florida, with additional operations located in Europe.

For additional information about carrying Halo’s premium American-made e-liquid and innovative line of vaporizer devices, please email Halo’s principal distribution partner, Syndicate Distribution at sales@syndicatedistribution.com.

For additional information on Pure Laboratories’ full capabilities visit www.PureLabs.com.

For media inquiries, please email press@purelabs.com

Contact:
Samantha Knight
Pure Labs
press@purelabs.com

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 8729729

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Volt Active Data Launches New Product for Capitalizing on Streaming Data

Active(SD) Will Enable Organizations to Easily Make Complex, Real-Time Decisions on Data Streams

BEDFORD, Mass., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Volt Active Data, the only no-compromise data platform built to support applications that require speed, scale, and consistency, today announced the launch of Active Streaming Decisions [Active(SD)]™, an ultra high-speed decision making engine that will allow companies to apply the power of the Volt Active Data Platform to problems that can’t be solved by other Kafka ecosystem products.

Volt Active Data Logo

“This is a tremendous opportunity for companies to finally be able to easily add intelligent decisioning to Kafka data streams and thereby fully capitalize on the massive amount of valuable data that Kafka streams into systems,” Volt CEO David Flower said.

With its foundation in the already battle-tested and proven Volt Active Data architecture, Active(SD) ingests event data directly from Kafka topics as the data is created and where it’s created, tapping the power of machine learning and advanced analytics to uncover insights and make immediate, mission-critical decisions, which are then sent back to Kafka so an action can be taken while the data (and resulting action) is still relevant.

“The key is that Active(SD) allows companies to fully and affordably capitalize on the data speed and scale that Kafka enables, and that’s a huge advantage,” Flower said. “The resulting decisions, made in single-digit milliseconds, can unlock in-the-moment monetization opportunities, prevent revenue loss from fraud or intrusion, or reduce operational revenue erosion.”

While there are several choices to consume data from Kafka for further processing downstream, such as loading into a data lake or warehouse for offline processing and reporting, Active(SD) is the only product designed specifically to facilitate event-time, in-stream decisions in less than 10 milliseconds to proactively drive real-time actions, making it the fastest path from event to action for Kafka-powered applications.

About Volt Active Data

The Volt Active Data Platform enables companies to unlock the full value of their data and applications by making it possible to have scale without compromising on speed, accuracy, or consistency. Based on a simplified stack and an ingest-to-action layer that can perform sub 10-millisecond decisioning, Volt’s unique, no-compromises foundation gives enterprises the ability to maximize the ROI of their 5G, IoT, AI/ML, and other investments, ensure “five 9’s” uptime, prevent fraud and intrusion, deliver hyper-personalized customer engagement, and save on operational costs.

Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1805076/Volt_Active_Data_Logo.jpg

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Crurated Raises $7.2 MM to Further Innovate Blockchain-Based Wine Community and Expand Market Reach

After another successful year the company will also begin to partner with wine producers beyond France and Italy

Crurated Connects Connoisseurs with World-Class Producers

Crurated Raises $7.2 MM to Further Innovate Blockchain-Based Wine Community and Expand Market ReachAfter another successful year the company will also begin to partner with wine producers beyond France and Italy

LONDON, Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) —  Crurated, the London-based membership wine community designed to connect connoisseurs with world-class producers, today announced that the company has raised $7.2 MM from a group of private investors. The money will be used to further evolve the technology platform, expand producer partnerships beyond France and Italy, and increase overall market share across the globe.

“The past year has been both innovative and successful for our entire team and the producers we’ve partnered with,” said Alfonso de Gaetano, founder of Crurated. “In addition to becoming the first wine community to offer fractional barrel sales backed by NFT technology, we signed an exclusive distribution deal with Charles Lachaux, grew our roster of producers to more than 60, and have attracted a younger demographic of oenophiles onto the platform.”

Crurated Wine Bottles With NFC RFID

Crurated is the first wine community to offer fractional barrel sales backed by NFT technology

Crurated reports that 70% of its member base is below the age of 45. With 35% of those members under the age of 35, younger than the majority of wine buyers which skews at 45+. The team believes that Crurated’s direct partnerships with the world’s top wine producers, innovative approach to how wine is purchased on the platform — traditional lot purchases/auctions and fractional barrel sales — as well as the use of NFTs to validate a wine’s authenticity is helping to increase the interest in wine with a younger demographic.

In addition, revenues were up 214% in the first half of year two vs. the first half of year one. Membership grew by 180% in the first half of year 2 vs. the first half of year 1 and is up 400% year to date.

About Crurated
Launched in 2021 with an emphasis on France and Italy, Crurated is a membership-based wine community designed to connect connoisseurs with world-class producers. A team of specialists provides personalized services and authentic experiences, while Crurated’s seamless logistics service guarantees quality and provenance thanks to secure wine cellar storage and innovative blockchain technology. For more on Crurated, visit crurated.com.

PR Contact
Michael Volpatt
Michael@larkinvolpatt.com
415.994.8864

A video accompanying this announcement is available at

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/1d1a5202-186e-4b6a-8783-aa82bbb8e388

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/0988a38c-6f44-4feb-ac1d-c734d7ccc165

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e7ba4d88-1de4-4f87-b6ee-d6026b3298c2

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 8730478

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Elo Partners with FreedomPay to Transform the Digital In-Store Experience

PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 16, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — FreedomPay, the global leader in Next Level Commerce™, and Elo, a leading global provider of interactive solutions and interactive display solutions, announce the integration of Elo’s M60 Pay handheld computer with FreedomPay’s secure commerce technology.

Built to accept today’s popular payment and loyalty cards, the M60 Pay has a built-in EMV, magnetic stripe reader and NFC for cards with either chips or strips and digital contactless payments. The Android®-based M60 Pay computer can transform from a mobile to a fixed POS solution with the optional docking station, expansion module and Elo touchscreen monitor.

Together, FreedomPay and Elo are reinventing the digital in-store experience by uniting Elo’s innovative and interactive solutions with FreedomPay’s industry-leading commerce technology platform to create a secure, frictionless, unified shopping experience for global consumers while supporting merchants with robust loyalty and data analytics capabilities.

“The M60 Pay makes decentralizing the checkout process and taking payments anywhere easy,” said Craig Witsoe, CEO at Elo. “The partnership with FreedomPay will bring enhanced functionality and security to create a more personalized experience for consumers.”

FreedomPay’s Next Level Commerce™ platform offers many benefits to merchants and their customers, including:

  • The ability to unify commerce across properties, channels, and regions within a single open, fully agnostic, flexible platform;
  • A touchless ecosystem that supports contactless payments, QR technology, Apple Pay, and Google Pay; and
  • A fully integrated end-to-end solution enabling secure payments, identity-as-a-service, loyalty, and business intelligence.

“Consumers are looking continually for new payment functionality and greater customization when it comes to payments. The partnership with Elo will give customers secure and seamless checkout experience expected with FreedomPay coupled with the innovative and modular designed solutions from Elo,” said Tom Durovsik, Founder & CEO of FreedomPay.

To learn more about the solution, visit FreedomPay at NRF booth #4250 or Elo at NRF booth #5803 to request a demo.

About FreedomPay
FreedomPay’s Next Level Commerce™ platform transforms existing payment systems and processes from legacy to leading edge. As the premier choice for many of the largest companies across the globe in retail, hospitality, lodging, gaming, sports and entertainment, foodservice, education, healthcare and financial services, FreedomPay’s technology has been purposely built to deliver rock-solid performance in the highly complex environment of global commerce. The company maintains a world-class security environment and was first to earn the coveted validation by the PCI Security Standards Council against Point-to-Point Encryption (P2PE/EMV) standard in North America. FreedomPay’s robust solutions across payments, security, identity, and data analytics are available in-store, online and on-mobile and are supported by rapid API adoption. The award-winning FreedomPay Commerce Platform operates on a single, unified technology stack across multiple continents allowing enterprises to deliver an innovative Next Level experience on a global scale. www.freedompay.com

About Elo
As a leading global supplier of interactive solutions, #EloIsEverywhere. To date, Elo has deployed more than 25 million installations in over 80 countries. A new Elo touchscreen is installed every 21 seconds, on average, somewhere in the world. Built on a unified architecture, Elo’s broad portfolio allows its customers to easily Choose, Configure and Connect & Control to create a unique experience. Choose from all-in-one systems, open-frame monitors and touchscreen monitors ranging from 7 to 65 inches. Configure with Elo’s unique Elo Edge Connect® peripherals that allow use-specific solutions. Connect & Control with EloView®, a secure, cloud-based platform for Android-powered devices. EloView enables secure deployment and management of a large network of interactive systems designed to reduce operating costs while increasing up-time and security.

Consumers can find Elo touchscreen solutions in self-service kiosks, point-of-sale terminals, interactive signage, gaming machines, hospitality systems, point-of-care displays and transportation applications, to name a few. Learn more at EloTouch.com.

Contact

Jennifer Tayebi
Hill+Knowlton Strategies for FreedomPay
Jennifer.Tayebi@hkstrategies.com
+1 734 395 0780

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 8730050