Preservica will provide digital preservation expertise and software to help develop new Jisc Research Data Shared Service

Oxford | 21st December 2016 | Preservica today announced its digital preservation platform has been selected to be part of the framework for the pilot phase of the Jisc Research Data Shared Service (RDSS) for UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The new shared service, that will integrate the offerings of a number of providers, will allow UK universities and other HEIs to easily deposit data for publication, discovery, safe storage, and long term archiving and preservation. The ultimate aim is to ensure the long-term accessibility of valuable research data, allowing it to be re-used and shared amongst universities.

The unique project involves 17 higher education pilot institutions, from large, research intensive institutions to small and specialist. Preservica, who have also provided digital preservation to several universities in the US including Yale, as well as the University of Manchester in the UK, will collaborate with Jisc and the pilot universities to develop a new system that can be offered as a managed service, relieving burden from institutional IT and procurement staff.

Preservica’s digital preservation platform safeguards and future-proofs digital information, ensuring that file formats do not become obsolete and digital records are easily accessible to be used for research and knowledge re-use. Jisc’s main drivers for the project also included meeting funder policy compliance, enabling good practice in research data management, and pooling resources to achieve cost and resource efficiencies.

“We are delighted that Preservica are part of our Research Data Shared Service framework and pilot process,” says Rachel Bruce, Jisc Deputy Chief Innovation Officer. “Preservica bring years of experience in digital preservation to the programme, and will be a core part of the efforts to build a fully integrated system. Having already provided digital preservation functionality to several universities, they are used to meeting the unique requirements of higher education institutions, and we’re pleased they will be part of the pilot and collaborative journey together.”

Jisc will procure research data management services and consultancy to support institutions’ individual research data management requirements. The programme will focus on providing an intuitive user interface and to ensure research data is easily found, also supporting interoperability between institutional and external research systems.

“We look forward to working with Jisc and all the higher education institutions involved in the pilot to develop a truly valuable shared service for the UK university research community,” says Mike Quinn, Preservica CEO. “The new service will enable UK universities to share, store and collaborate using research data that will be future-proofed and protected for the long-term. The research data created by UK universities is of enormous value, and we’re pleased to be a part of ensuring its long-term accessibility for now and into the future.”

REDWOOD CITY, California, 20 December, 2016. – Aricent announced today that it has achieved Amazon Web Services (AWS) IoT Competency status. This designation recognizes Aricent for providing deep expertise in IoT that helps organizations implement capabilities for a variety of use cases including smart cities, energy, automotive, transportation, and healthcare.

Achieving the AWS IoT Competency differentiates Aricent as an AWS Partner Network (APN) member that has demonstrated relevant technical proficiency and proven customer success. The company has the capability to deliver solutions seamlessly within the AWS Cloud environment. To receive the designation, APN Partners must possess deep expertise in the AWS platform. They undergo an assessment and demonstrate the security, performance, and reliability of their solutions.

“Aricent is already leading the way in cloud-native products and services and we are extremely proud to be a launch partner that has achieved AWS IoT Competency status,” said Walid Negm, Aricent’s Chief Technology Officer. “Aricent’s dedicated professionals with expertise in AWS solutions help innovators - from startups to Fortune 1000 companies - transform their ideas into products that exploit the Internet of Things (IoT) and make the shift to ‘as-a-service’ business models through the AWS Cloud”.

The AWS Cloud enables the integration and deployment of scalable, flexible, and cost-effective solutions from startups to global enterprises. To support this, AWS established the IoT Partner Competency Program to help customers identify Consulting and Technology APN Partners with deep industry experience and expertise.

Aricent’s brings a multi-disciplinary approach driven by human-centered design and a unique portfolio of capabilities to help R&D organizations engineer products that intelligently connect, sense and compute. Aricent’s Converged IoT Solutions orchestrate physical, digital and human interaction across a number of domains in smart wearables, smart energy, connected vehicles and smart spaces. Aricent’s Cloud Engineering Services help clients tackle complex cloud-native architectures and implementation challenges such as micro-services / containerization, cellular and unconventional connectivity, security and software-defined infrastructure.

Walkbase Opens Office in Dubai and is Set to Strengthen Its Presence in the Middle East

The newly opened location will expand company’s existing office portfolio, including several offices in Europe and recently announced US presence.

Dubai, United Arab Emirates - December 20, 2016 - Walkbase, a leading IoT analytics and marketing platform for retail, today announced the opening of its office in Dubai, UAE, resulting from a growing number of existing customer cases and ongoing discussions in the Middle East region. The decision to open a Dubai office came after a successful closure of several major projects.

The Walkbase platform helps retailers and venue owners optimize their operations by measuring customer behavior in real time, which allows them to utilize rich behavioral data for improving marketing campaigns and creates tremendous opportunities for enhanced personalized marketing. The role of the physical locations has been greatly undermined in the recent years with the growing pressure of ecommerce taking advantage of the extensive data on customer online behavior. By deploying the solution, retailers are able to merge the initiated digital transformation with the unique benefits of physical shopping in the most seamless and tailored way, thanks to the advanced mix of latest technologies, and fill the missing gaps in the consumer journey, from online to offline.

Walkbase already has several partnerships in the Middle East and is well represented throughout the region. One of the latest collaborations with Huawei has generated a lot of interest at the GITEX conference that took place in October in Dubai, where both parties jointly introduced their new product called Crowd Venue Analytics. Another big player on the market whom Walkbase has a strong relationship with is the local network and system integrations provider, British Telecom Al Saudia, has been ensuring successful deployments and collaboration between Walkbase and a large number of customers in the Middle Eastern region for almost two years.

“We are thrilled by the demand our retail IoT and marketing platform is generating in the recent months and can’t be happier to expand into new territories,” said Adrian James, COO, Walkbase. “We will still be continuing business as usual working mostly through our trusted partners making sure all the implementations are running as smooth as they possibly can. However, mirroring the key message of our platform, it is fair to say that establishing our own physical presence in the region is vital for delivering high quality product and keeping our customers satisfied”.

The retail IoT technologies are starting to gain the momentum all over the world, with Dubai as one of the world’s most highly recognized retail hubs and the future capital of World Expo 2020 being no exception. Following the theme of the World Expo being ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’, the city’s key players are very eager to experiment with new and innovative technologies aimed at linking digital and physical channels together. The recent developments towards the more connected and sustainable future have generated multiple projects requiring IoT solutions across a number of industries, pushing seamless customer experience to the forefront of the future smart cities’ vision.

2017 Predictions: President Trump’s Influence on Wireless, IoT Gets Scary and a 5G Reality Check

REDWOOD CITY, CA 19 December 2016 – Openwave Mobility, a software innovator enabling operators to manage and monetize encrypted mobile data, today released its predictions for 2017.

President Trump will change net neutrality
John Giere, President & CEO: “A Trump Administration is likely to ease net neutrality rules which could foster innovation in the mobile industry. The regulatory shackles could come off and operators would be free to launch zero-rated plans. They could offer more unlimited services and provide consumers with better choice. On the other side of the Atlantic, how will net neutrality be approached in a post-Brexit Europe? Globally, other countries could replicate America’s net neutrality stance. 2017 heralds an unprecedented opportunity for mobility operators globally to boldly innovate with their pricing models.”

Will IoT kill the Internet in 2017?
Indranil Chatterjee, SVP Product & Sales: “2016 saw one of the largest DDoS attacks to date, as the Mirai IoT botnet wreaked havoc on large parts of the net. The internet was designed to survive a nuclear attack, but if something infected it from within – it could be fatal. Many fear that DDoS could eventually undermine the internet. While flashy IoT gadgets usually grab the headlines, 2017 may see the proliferation of unsecure IoT devices open more avenues for security attacks. Mobile operators have a major role to play – for example accurate traffic management tools could identify ‘unsafe’ UDP traffic.”

The writing is on the (network’s) wall. Death of traditional DPI accelerates
Matt Halligan, CTO: “There’s a sure-fire certainty in 2017. Social media and OTTs will launch even more services, and this adds to the cocktail of diverse traffic on mobile networks. Just look at some of the developments in 2016. WhatsApp launched video calls, YouTube started 4K live streaming and Snapchat introduced Spectacles. Operators have the unenviable task of delivering this data and managing subscriber Quality of Experience (QoE). To handle the ever-changing protocols mobile operators need Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) solutions that have evolved to be agile, accurate and virtualized. Existing DPI solutions are a dead piece of investment. The protocols and signatures they are looking out for now won’t even exist by the end of 2017.”

Network encryption could reach 80%
Santiago Bouzas, Product Marketing Strategist: “Currently around 50% - 60% of operator networks have gone dark. That’s because OTT encryption is increasing. As a result, carriers have zero visibility into the data travelling on their networks and are unable to manage subscriber QoE. And it is about to get worse... Apple will launch its App Transport Security (ATS) mandate on 1 January 2017. Google is forcing encryption on developers for sign-in pages. Online ads are also being encrypted. In fact, 80% of the data travelling on mobile networks will be encrypted in 2017. Unless operators take proactive steps now, be ready for more dark networks and QoE headaches.”

Connected cars, smart homes and a 5G reality check
Aman Brar, VP, SDM & Global Alliances: “There will be over 20 billion connected devices by 2020, yet some mobile operators still are not sure how they will manage and monetize them. In 2017 forward-looking operators will deploy IoT frameworks and start preparing to manage their ‘IoT subscribers’ with User Data Repositories.”

“Looking to 5G and beyond, a number of operators have started to explore their options with network slicing. But be careful not to put the cart before the horse. Operators will need capacity and reporting tools which are key for spectrum planning and management.”

Will NFV finally arrive?
Fergus Wills, Director of Product Management: “Reality is catching up with the hype. After much talk and talk (and more talk), R&D trials, evaluations and proof of concept demos - NFV is getting serious for operators. The proof? A significant increase in the number of RFPs for robust, large-scale NFV requirements. Operators are looking to invest in real time distributed data bases that deliver telco grade five nines availability. And it is not just Tier 1 operators who are busy virtualizing. IoT, 5G and the cloud have clearly inspired tier 2 – 3 operators too. 2017 could be the year when network providers globally plan for a virtualized future.”

If you can’t beat ‘em - buy ‘em in 2017
John Giere, President & CEO: “2016 saw its fair share of acquisitions. Some were major. Verizon courted Yahoo! AT&T wants to gobble Time Warner. What’s clear is that content still remains king. More operators are likely to either acquire or partner with content companies in 2017 to increase eyeballs and secure more subscribers. With Subscriber Data Management (SDM), operators will be able to monetize their biggest asset – their customers. This leaves more room for operator innovation. Could 2017 be the year Netflix gets acquired – by an operator?”

Unisys Further Strengthens EMEA Leadership Team with Appointment of Bob Crowther as EMEA Senior Finance Director

Crowther joins Unisys to support cost management and modelling; financial planning and analysis; and corporate development activities in EMEA

LONDON, December 19, 2016 – Unisys Corporation (NYSE: UIS) today announced the appointment of Bob Crowther as the Senior Finance Director for the company’s EMEA region. Crowther will report both to Inder M. Singh, chief financial officer (CFO) of Unisys, and to Grant Sheatsley, global VP of Financial Planning and Analysis. In this new role, Crowther will act as a financial partner to the region’s vice president and general manager, Tom Higgins, to support cost management and modelling; financial planning and analysis; and corporate development activities in EMEA.

Crowther joins Unisys from Silent Circle (SC), a software technology start-up, where he served as CFO and oversaw the restructuring of the business to deliver improved cost management and overall operational efficiency. Previously, Crowther held the position of EMEA CFO for Dell Services, joining the organisation as a result of Dell’s acquisition of Perot Systems. Prior to the acquisition, Crowther held a number of key management roles – including CFO and CEO – throughout his tenure with Perot Systems’ Services business in the USA, Europe and India.

“Bob brings with him an exceptional background in both financial and operational reporting, we are excited about the vision he brings to our organisation,” said Singh. “In his new role he will have a strong focus on cost management, as well as driving business development through the design and execution of new financial and commercial models that will support the acquisition of new logo growth and expansion of revenues across our core vertical industries – financial services, government and the commercial sector.”

Crowther will be based at the company’s new EMEA headquarters at Chiswick Business Park in London.

80% will adopt DevOps over the next two years

Cambridge UK, 19 December 2016 – DevOps is moving into the mainstream – that's a major finding from a new survey by Redgate Software among SQL Server professionals. The State of Database DevOps Survey involved over 1,000 people from companies across the globe, and the respondents included database administrators, IT directors and developers.

Redgate is known for developing software for SQL Server, .NET and Azure, and the survey was conducted to discover the real adoption rates of DevOps practices, and how far the database is being included in the process.

The full survey will be published in the New Year, but three major findings have already emerged that cast a fresh light on how DevOps is viewed.

Firstly, nearly half (47%) of the companies in the survey have already adopted DevOps across some or all of their IT projects, and many more are preparing to follow them. Only a fifth of the respondents have no DevOps plans over the next two years.

Secondly, the main factor holding companies back from taking up DevOps is the lack of knowledge and skills in implementing it. This is surprising on the one hand, with the wealth of information that appears to exist about DevOps. It's understandable in other ways, however, because unless you already practice DevOps, it's hard to simply start doing it, particularly when there are cultural and organizational issues to overcome first.

Thirdly, the database brings its own challenges to DevOps. There are hurdles to synchronizing application and database changes, and differences between the ways application and database developers work.

When published, the complete survey will go into more detail about the frequency of database deployments, the drawbacks of siloed database development, and the drivers for including the database in the DevOps process.

"This is an important piece of work," says Kate Duggan, Redgate Product Marketing Manager, "because it gives us a real picture of DevOps for the database. Given the number of respondents, as well as the range of companies and organizations they represent, it's an accurate snapshot of the promise of DevOps for SQL Server professionals – and the challenges our customers face."

Redgate intends to use the results of the survey to further refine its Database DevOps offering. Redgate software already has over 800,000 users worldwide, and 91% of companies in the Fortune 100 trust it.

"We've been enabling database DevOps for a long time with a suite of tools that plug into the existing application development stack so you can build, test and deploy databases alongside your app code," Kate Duggan concludes. "With our products for provisioning, monitoring and backing up databases too, we're now in a position where we can ensure we're addressing the entire database lifecycle."

Small Cell Forum and 5G Americas Collaborate to Drive Best Practice for Small Cell Deployment

Industry associations identify technology’s immediate value to enterprise and operators and provide guidance on cell siting and streamlining process for multi-operator deployments

London, UK and Bellevue, WA, USA, 19 December 2016 – Small Cell Forum (SCF) and 5G Americas today announced the launch of two detailed guides to support the efficient deployment of small cells. The two leading mobile wireless organizations have cooperated to produce the reports, titled Small Cell Siting: Regulatory and Deployment Considerations and Multi-Operator and Neutral Host Small Cells: Drivers, Architectures, Planning and Regulation.

The documents mark the first output of SCF and 5G America’s liaison agreement, created explicitly to support and simplify the planning and regulatory issues associated with the dense Heterogeneous Network (HetNet) deployments that will be typical in our 5G mobile future, and in which small cells will be a significant component. Experts from both forums and their member organizations have been working globally to author the documents. It is the goal of the organizations to help eliminate potential roadblocks and mitigate challenges that may slow the process of successful small cell deployments. The deployment of millions of additional small cell sites in itself will be a monumental challenge in light of current regulation policy and the costs often associated with the traditional cell siting infrastructure.

Small Cell shipments will more than double from about 4 million in 2016 to nearly 10 million in 2020 for enterprise, SoHo, rural, residential and urban deployments according to a 2016 forecast by analyst firm Mobile Experts.

Going forward, SCF and 5G Americas will continue to collaborate to produce and support more initiatives to make it easier for operators to provide consumers and businesses with the service they demand, and realize the commercial and societal benefits of improved connectivity.

“SCF and 5G Americas and their memberships have unparalleled expertise and experience in deploying the dense HetNets that will be at the heart of 5G,” said David Orloff, Chair of Small Cell Forum. “These practical guides offer the wider industry access to advice and best practice based on the lessons from real-world deployments. Our aim is to remove the technical barriers to small cell deployment and encourage a consistent and supportive regulatory environment worldwide.”

The Small cell siting guide focuses on expediting the delivery of dense HetNets, outlining ways in which the many stakeholders involved can cooperate to fulfil the maximum potential of small cells. It also aims to raise awareness among the stakeholders, including equipment producers, operators, integrators, policy makers, and local administrations that are involved in the approval, acceptance and roll out of the small cells layers of the mobile networks.

In the Multi-operator and neutral host small cells white paper, the immediate value of small cells to both the enterprise and operators and the powerful market drivers for small cells to be deployed in multi-operator or neutral host environments, especially in the context of enterprise deployments, are both outlined. The paper seeks to address some of the most common deployment barriers, outlining existing solutions and pointing to emerging ones; as well as highlighting lessons that can be learned from Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS) and Wi-Fi.

”5G Americas has been working for the past three years on a variety of initiatives aimed at the successful development and future deployment of 5G technology, and at this time it is particularly important for collaboration among global organizations,” said Chris Pearson, President of 5G Americas. “Our partnership with SCF allows two of the industry’s leading trade organizations to share their collective resources and speak with one voice to the importance of dense HetNets to facilitate and support not just next generation networks, but better and more cost-effective connectivity today.”

The papers are available for free download on the Small Cell Forum and 5G Americas websites.

SDL Launches Localization Process Consulting to Help Organizations Eliminate Process Inefficiencies

New offering to help businesses go global faster by addressing the complexities of localizing content

WAKEFIELD, MA and MAIDENHEAD, UK – December 19, 2016 – SDL (LSE:SDL) announced today the launch of a new SDL Localization Process Consulting offering to help organizations lower the cost and complexity involved in localizing and managing global content.

With 79 of the world’s largest 100 brands currently powered by SDL, the new offering combines expert knowledge and 24 years’ experience in helping global customers follow industry best-practice and define optimal end-to-end processes for content localization.

SDL’s consultants – located across 14 countries – provide training and expert insight and advice across a broad range of topics, including migration to XML / DITA for technical documentation; software localization; software testing and query management. The service also provides best-practice workshops on authoring for translation; terminology and style guide management; machine translation applications; translation management system optimization; and setting KPIs for efficient localization.

Despite businesses investing in content management systems, they do not always consider the translation and localization processes required to support and enable the technology. This leads to fragmented localization strategies, budgets, processes, and technologies. Recent research from Forrester highlights the issue: 92 percent of businesses admit they experience challenges as they translate content into different languages.

The SDL Localization Process Consulting offering helps companies ensure globalization requirements are accounted for up front by combining technology and services to address the entire global content management lifecycle – including authoring, content management, localization, corporate identity and brand consistency, quality assurance and publishing.

“With more than 24 years of experience working with multinational companies across a wide variety of industries and markets, language and content are at the core of our business,” said Adolfo Hernandez, CEO, SDL. “This deep experience has enabled our employees to become linguistic and technical experts, uniquely positioned to consult on defining and optimizing processes that drive global content effectiveness. With our new offering, customers will benefit from access to the right mix of personal consultation, localization expertise and technology solutions – regardless of their industry.”

With the SDL Localization Process Consulting offering, companies can reduce costs and turnaround times, clearly define in-house roles and ensure that resources are being put to their best use. In addition companies can maximize their use of technology and automation, while staying in control of the process and increase visibility on time, cost and quality.

To find out more about SDL Localization Process Consulting, read this blog article: http://blog.sdl.com/company/sdl-localization-process-consulting-20-years-solving-localization-problems/.

Germany’s largest airline selects Naka Mobile to launch its international ‘Lufthansa Mobile Prepaid Card’ allowing passengers to slash their international roaming bills and stay connected

Buchs, Switzerland, 19 December 2016 – Naka Mobile, a global mobile telecommunication and technology company, today announced that Lufthansa, Germany’s largest airline and a founding member of the Star Alliance, has selected Naka technology to launch its Lufthansa Mobile Prepaid Card, in order to combat inflated network roaming charges.

Using the Mobile Prepaid Card, Lufthansa will have the ability to connect travellers to the best available network at the lowest possible cost in over 180 countries. This enables Lufthansa mobile customers to make calls, write or receive SMS and use data services as they would through the use of a simple domestic mobile contract. The network change is completely seamless, and the process is entirely automated meaning that customers do not need to switch SIM cards or change any settings regardless of country. From start to finish, the Lufthansa Mobile Prepaid Card is designed to make the lives of end-users as easy as possible.

Naka Mobile has proven industry experience in providing best-in-class technology and enhancing global connectivity. Recent customer examples include its work with SWISS, and Tech Data. The Naka SIM is highly flexible and works in all leading handsets and tablets with a SIM card slot (not SIM-locked) and is provided in 3-in-1 format (standard, micro and nano).

“In a connected world, flexibility and mobility is high on the agenda for both businesses and consumers alike, which is why we are proud to say our global SIM offers highly cost efficient mobile communication at home or abroad through one device,” said Achilles Rupf, CEO, Naka Mobile. “Working with global brands such as Lufthansa, we can connect pre-and post-paid subscribers to the most convenient network provider in each country without a requirement to switch SIMs or alter phone settings – helping our partners to deliver an enriched experience for their own customers.”

Digital Preservation specialist Preservica secures £3 million in growth funding to fuel expansion

UK tech company is transforming the way organisations future-proof digital information

Oxford, UK and Boston, MA | 19 December 2016 | Oxfordshire based, UK tech business Preservica is changing the way companies and organisations world-wide safeguard digital information. Having secured £3 million in growth funding from Mobeus Equity Partners, the company plans to accelerate the uptake of its digital preservation software which is already in use at over 100 large and small corporate and public sector organisations, including BT, HSBC, Transport for London (TfL), the Associated Press (AP), Yale University, New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and 16 US State Archives.

Demand for Preservica’s software, which protects and future-proofs digital information, is being driven by digital transformation initiatives and the need to keep digital information for longer for compliance, legal defence, and knowledge re-use.

Digital content is fragile and can be easily lost or worse, stored in formats that become obsolete and can’t be used. Technology analyst firm Gartner highlighted this in its 2015 Content Management report[1]: “As formats change, software is retired and hardware becomes obsolete, the data that organisations might want to keep can be lost forever.”

Preservica’s unique active digital preservation software addresses this challenge head on, ensuring digital content is not just securely stored, but also automatically recycled into formats that can be used and read by future applications and technologies.

“Preservica is a unique UK technology company with strong vision and an impressive set of customers,” says Trevor Hope, Partner, Mobeus Equity Partners. “The company has an ambitious plan for growth and a product vision that is transforming the way organisations protect and future-proof digital information. This is a disruptive offering, well matched to a vast and growing unmet market need.”

“Our current product offering is already recognised as the gold standard for digital preservation at major corporations and institutions world-wide,” says Mike Quinn, Preservica CEO. “Everyone at Preservica is delighted by the investment and support we’ve received from Mobeus Equity Partners. It is a real validation of the potential of the business and the growing demand for a digital preservation solution that enables organisations to protect the value of their vital digital information. The funding will allow us to expand our partnering program and accelerate our product vision to make digital preservation a seamless and automated part of the digital information lifecycle.”

The value of safeguarding digital information cuts across every sector and has wide ranging benefits. HSBC, which recently celebrated its 150th anniversary, uses its rich repository of digital material to enhance the value of its brand and protect vital corporate records.

Other organisations such as TfL are using Preservica’s platform to work with digital information that is key to maintaining its vast infrastructure, including escalators with an expected life-span of 50 years or more. Government agencies, like the Texas State Library and Archives Commission are mandated to retain and provide transparent citizen access to government records indefinitely.

The list goes on from clinical trials data in the Pharmaceutical sector, to environmental impact records for large construction projects, to regulatory compliance in financial services and energy sectors. Healthcare is also looking to invest in digital preservation to meet accessibility of patient data for 75 years or more, while other organisations are looking to protect intellectual property and re-use research data and digital information for product innovation and competitive advantage.

The cloud also has an important role to play as more organisations adopt a “cloud first” approach and leverage the cost-efficiencies and inherent durability of cloud storage for safeguarding digital information. Preservica’s digital preservation software is architected to take advantage of this, allowing organisations to run the software in the cloud or use a hybrid mix of cloud storage connected to an on-premise deployment. The company’s partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS) will also be a key part of its expansion plans.

[1] Gartner “Cool Vendors” in Content Management 2015

Qube donates hundreds of gifts to show those that find this time of year lonely and difficult that ‘Someone Gives a Damn’ their Christmas charity project

Qube MS translate and "Humanise” all aspects of Computing. Our technical champions de-mystify technology both in and out of the cloud, enabling you to orchestrate your entire technology lifecycle by deploying your infrastructure of choice, on the service provider of your choice. Keeping true to the company ethos Qube show their ‘human’ side and donate hundreds of gifts to worthy causes and charities.

Originally set up by Polly Arrowsmith, CEO, Qube Managed Services the ‘Someone Gives a Damn’ project is now fully supported by employees who understand what it’s like to not have much at Christmas and what a lonely time of year for many this can be.

So far, Someone Gives a Damn has delivered hand wrapped gifts all beautifully presented to over 8 charities, including a woman's refuge, 2 children’s charities, 2 OAP Christmas parties, plus mental health and homeless charities.

Although Qube is unable to wave a magic wand, it hopes that, by donating and hand delivering over 700 gifts to 12 London based charities it shows someone cares and to make Christmas that little bit more bearable.

Is your charity worthy of a donation?
Polly has been showing the true meaning of Secret Santa for many years and donating on an individual basis for many years and decided to increase the reach this year. However, surprisingly and disappointingly Qube have had either no response or a denial of donations from their offer of donations due to policies. As it’s not in their nature to give up they are inviting you to send details of why your worthy cause or London Charity would like to be considered for donations of toys, toiletries and chocolates, contact [email protected]. And the gifts will be delivered before Christmas.

The story behind ‘Someone Gives a Damn’
When Polly was 9, her mother travelled back to her family home in Lapland and unfortunately, had a car crash. This resulted in the family being unable to spend Christmas together and the box of presents her mother sent for the family didn’t arrive in time.

Polly recalls “My father drove my sister and I from Aberdeen to Cardiff so we could spend Christmas with family and friends. However, Christmas morning proved to be even more difficult as not only was my mother not there we watched relatives open huge pile of presents, whilst my sister and I received a box of Milk Tray each only to have the family dog eat them later.  I know this sounds like the script for a Christmas film it left a real mark on me and made me realize not all children and adults celebrate the idealistic family Christmas portrayed on the TV. So when I was able to I’ve regularly personally donated and volunteered time to help worthy causes and charities.”

Having shared her story with colleagues at Qube MS it became very clear that Polly wasn’t alone in wanting to help in some shape or form, whether it be time off work and volunteer at events or charities or wrapping or donating gifts.

eProseed has successfully implemented eProseed FSIP, its Oracle technology-based Automation and Integration solution, at life assurance specialist OneLife

Luxembourg, December 19, 2016 - To consolidate the simplification of its corporate structure and its ambitious growth strategy across Europe, life assurance specialist NPG Wealth Management and its Luxembourg life assurance company Private Estate Life became OneLife last June.
 
“With OneLife we want to offer a unique experience to our clients and partners while increasing our presence and commitment to the European market,” said Marc Stevens, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of the Group at the rebranding announcement.

Driven by the will to “adapt to new generational and mobility requirements” and by the ambition to “overturn conventional attitudes” to life assurance, OneLife has made the choice to deploy eProseed FSIP, an end-to-end automation and integration platform that enables organizations to adapt their business models and operations to meet the expectations of increasingly digital ecosystems.

The tight collaboration between eProseed’s experts and OneLife’s Operations and IT departments resulted in the transformation of OneLife’s core processes, thereby laying a strong foundation for the Group’s ambitious growth strategy.

Digital as a business enabler
Initiated just over a year ago, the complete re-architecture of OneLife’s IT infrastructure - servers, storage, network, security – has led to the deployment of a new Web-scale solution based on a Dell XC hyper-convergent appliance coupled with an abstraction software layer from Nutanix. 2 Oracle Database appliances were added to ensure the high availability of eProseed’s solution. Since then, the teams have worked to build new systems for contract management, business workflows and processes, document management and archiving.

"OneLife is experiencing an in depth transformation across its structure, products and markets. This transformation builds on the new opportunities that digital offers and on the decision we took to make it a real business enabler", says Eric Lippert, OneLife’s Chief Information Officer. “On the technology side, it has resulted in the complete overhaul of our infrastructure and in the implementation of new software architecture tools. These are the new foundations that enable us to build today's innovative digital solutions for our clients, partners and employees."

“With eProseed FSIP automation and integration capabilities and eProseed’s technical expertise, we have led a digital transformation resulting in a better, faster and paperless service to our business users. eProseed’s solution improves our overall efficiency and provides a real-time overview of our clients’ and partners’ transaction portfolios”, he adds.

eProseed FSIP : superior process management with less cost, time and effort
Using the full-stack of Oracle Fusion Middleware and Database products, eProseed has created a comprehensive and highly customizable supervision and insights platform, FSIP. eProseed FSIP incorporates Data Integration, Data Warehouse, Service Oriented Architecture, Business Process Management, Adaptive Case Management, Enterprise Portal, Content Management and Dynamic Business Intelligence products, all in a highly secured framework. The platform automates all the routine works including data collection, archiving, standard report production, raises risk alerts, and helps human knowledge workers focus on more complex tasks better equipped with timely insight.

"The IT transformation projects that we carry out aim to achieve three objectives common to many of our clients”, says Geoffroy de Lamalle, founder and CEO of eProseed. "Our first concern is to automate recurring tasks, thus enabling the reallocation of resources and skills to missions with higher added value, increasing efficiency and improving service quality, which puts the client back at centre stage. Then comes the advanced and real-time integration of data sources with a wide variety of formats and interfacing models. Finally, the adoption of a future-oriented platform such as eProseed FSIP makes it possible to integrate the legacy systems in a single solution based on industry standards".

Today, the implementation of eProseed FSIP at OneLife facilitates continuous service optimization, helps lower the TCO, and allows for improved client management, while providing monitoring and tracking capabilities for both IT and the business.

More than 3 million documents were migrated from a third party content management system to a new Oracle Webcenter. After the redesign of the business processes, now supported by Oracle BPM, OneLife’s business users are able to more easily manage the workloads and quickly access relevant information when interacting with customers. On top of that, a management-level overview of the operations and client cases is now possible, taking advantage of Oracle Business Intelligence capabilities.

The solution implemented by eProseed is protected by the Oracle Identity & Access Management Suite and hosted on 2 Oracle Database Appliances in order to ensure high availability for the entire Fusion Middleware stack.

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London, UK, 16th December 2016 - Join olloclip Ambassador and photography legend Chris Burkard in our new Skillshare class. Get all the tips and tricks you need to make the most of mobile photography.

You’ll follow Chris as he shares stories from his travels across the globe and tips to help you make the most of your iPhone and olloclip lenses. Whether you’re a serious photographer or a casual Instagrammer, this class will help you take and edit more beautiful and memorable shots.

Enroll for free with this free 3-month Skillshare trial. http://skl.sh/olloclip

Enroll and submit a photo in the class for a chance to win an awesome olloclip prize pack.

SACE and SIMEST (CDP Group) with BNP Paribas for Prysmian and National Grid: $519 Million for the North Sea Link Project

The world’s longest submarine interconnector

London/Rome/Milan, 16 December 2016 – SACE and SIMEST (Cassa Depositi e Prestiti Group) and BNP Paribas Corporate & Institutional Banking (CIB) announce the finalisation of export financing of $519 million for National Grid North America, a company of the National Grid Plc Group, the UK’s main electricity and gas utility company, in support of the works and supply orders awarded to Prysmian as part of the international project North Sea Link (“NSN Link”).

The project, which has a total value of €2 billion, involves the construction of a subsea interconnector with a capacity of 1,400 MW between the United Kingdom and Norway. Once completed, it will extend over 730 kilometres becoming the longest infrastructure of its kind in the world.

The credit facility, provided by BNP Paribas CIB (sole structuring bank and agent) and a pool of international banks, is backed by the participation of the two companies that together form the Italian export and internationalisation hub of Cassa Depositi e Prestiti Group: it is 90% guaranteed by SACE and benefits from interest rate stabilisation by SIMEST. It is the largest deal ever struck in this sector in Europe with coverage from an export credit agency.

The transaction contributes significantly to the completion of an infrastructure project of strategic importance to the United Kingdom and Norway, which will improve the efficiency of the two countries’ power generation systems and transmission networks, thus increasing their energy security and contributing to the achievement of national emissions targets (COP21).

Through its participation, Prysmian has shown that it can offer utilities and grid operators committed to building strategic infrastructures best-in-class expertise and resources, not only in technical terms with regard to the design, implementation and execution of projects, but also in the process of securing the required financial resources.