BEIJING, July 8, 2020 — Renren Inc. (NYSE: RENN) (“Renren” or the “Company”), which operates a leading premium used auto business in China through its subsidiary Kaixin Auto Holdings (NASDAQ: KXIN) (“Kaixin”) as well as several U.S.-based SaaS businesses, today announced the filing of its annual report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2019 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). The annual report was filed with the SEC on July 7, 2020.
The Company received a notice from NYSE Regulation on July 1, 2020 indicating that the Company was not in compliance with Section 802.01E of the NYSE Listed Company Manual as a result of its failure to timely file its annual report with the SEC.
The Company was not able to file the annual report by its due date primarily due to (i) the impact of the outbreak of COVID-19, as set forth in the Form 6-K furnished to the SEC on April 28, 2020, (ii) the internal review to complete its financial data, as set forth in the Form 12b-25 submitted to the SEC on June 12, 2020, and (iii) additional time required after June 29, 2020 to prepare its 2019 financial statements and annual report.
The annual report on Form 20-F, which contains the Company’s audited consolidated financial statements, can be accessed on the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov as well as through the investor relations section of the Company’s website at http://www.renren-inc.com. Holders of the Company’s securities may request a hard copy of the Company’s annual report free of charge by contacting the Investor Relations department by mail at:
Renren Inc. Investor Relations Department 5/F, North Wing 18 Jiuxianqiao Middle Road, Chaoyang District Beijing 100016 People’s Republic of China
About Renren Inc.
Renren Inc. (NYSE: RENN) operates a leading premium used auto business in China through its subsidiary Kaixin Auto Holdings (NASDAQ: KXIN) as well as several US-based SaaS business. Renren’s ADSs, each currently representing forty-five (45) Class A ordinary shares of the Company, are traded on NYSE under the symbol “RENN”.
For investor and media inquiries please contact:
Investor Relations Department Renren Inc. Tel: (86 10) 8448 1818 ext. 1300 Email: ir@renren-inc.com
ATLANTA, LONDON, BRUSSELS, and ROTTERDAM, Netherlands, July 7, 2020 — Anywhere365, the leading provider for Enterprise Dialogue Management and a pioneer in customer service technology for Microsoft Teams, acquires PeterConnects, a provider of advanced communications software solutions for the unified collaboration platforms of Microsoft and Cisco, including the cloud offerings of Microsoft Teams, Cisco Webex Calling and Broadworks. PeterConnects is Anywhere365’s third acquisition in the last year and leverages the €60 million minority investment received from growth capital firm Bregal Milestone.
The acquisition accelerates the growth of the leading global omnichannel communications software provider, allowing Anywhere365 to further expand its Microsoft-centric Contact Center and Enterprise Dialogue Management offering. PeterConnects’ rich product portfolio delivers market leading Receptionist and Attendant Console functionalities to Microsoft Teams, Cisco Webex Teams and Broadworks.
Lucas de Clercq, the current CEO of PeterConnects, will join Anywhere365 as a Product Director of the newly established Reception and Attendant Productivity division, directly reporting to Gijs Geurts, Founder and CEO of Anywhere365.
“This combination will strengthen our position in the global market for omnichannel communications software and will allow us to better serve our joint customer base of over 2500 enterprise clients, in 60+ countries, including dozens of Fortune Global 500 corporations. Being part of the Anywhere365 platform will also create significant opportunities for our partner ecosystem and all of our employees, and we look forward to working with the Anywhere365 team,” says Lucas de Clercq.
PeterConnects’ international team will immediately join the Anywhere365 Group and strengthen its existing sales, product development and support coverage. Anywhere365 will expand its country specific business units, with local presence in the USA, Canada, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France and Singapore.
“We have been impressed by PeterConnects’ growth trajectory, the quality of its product suite and their focus on customer service, which we feel are unique and highly complementary to our own. With a combined offering spanning a complete suite of cloud contact center solutions, backoffice integrations and add-ons for the leading unified communications environments, we are working towards our ambition of transitioning the world away from legacy on-premises systems to achieve significant efficiencies in cloud contact center and reception attendant operations. Digital transformation is accelerating at a record pace and our success proves that customers value the reduction of unnecessary dialogues that Anywhere365 brings. We look forward to welcoming the PeterConnects team and further strengthening our global footprint,” says Gijs Geurts, Founder and CEO of Anywhere365.
Anywhere365’s acquisition of PeterConnects will give enterprise businesses across the world the opportunity to gain a strong competitive advantage with Anywhere365’s Cloud Contact Center and Dialogue Management solutions. It will allow them to streamline their communications by taking advantage not only of their current channels, but of everything the cloud has to offer.
–Cloud-based services offer IT hassle-free hosted infrastructure and a choice of print management features–
BRNO, Czech Republic and DALLAS, July 7, 2020 — Y Soft, the leading enterprise workflow solutions provider, today announced YSoft SAFEQ Cloud(TM), a new family of cloud print management and hosted infrastructure services. YSoft SAFEQ Cloud is comprised of YSoft SAFEQ CloudPro(TM) and YSoft SAFEQ Breeze(TM). The new services remove the need for locally managed print infrastructure, like servers, and dramatically reduces the cost of providing and running robust print services–all delivered by the world’s preferred print management provider.
SAFEQ CloudPro offers robust print management features with a reserved infrastructure ideal for the enterprise. Additionally, SAFEQ CloudPro is offered with a choice of resiliency levels, Core, Ultra, and Elite, each providing increasingly higher resiliency and performance. A Custom level further enables Y Soft to meet the special infrastructure requirements on an individual customer basis, including hosting using a customer’s/partner’s own cloud provider. SAFEQ CloudPro can be used with or without a Y Soft Edge device.
SAFEQ Breeze is designed for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) that do not have or do not want to hire IT staff to manage their print services. With core print management features and a shared hosted infrastructure, SAFEQ Breeze can also be used with or without a Y Soft Edge device.
Both SAFEQ CloudPro and SAFEQ Breeze securely and effortlessly manage an organization’s print infrastructure. The Y Soft Edge device offers businesses additional document security as job processing is done within the business’ own private and secure network, and only metadata travels securely to the cloud. It is also well suited for remote locations with low bandwidth or latency issues.
“Companies of every size are leveraging the cloud to help lower IT costs, reduce IT burden, and speed up their digital transformation initiatives,” said Robert Palmer, research vice president, IDC Imaging, Printing, and Document Solutions. “However, each company has different requirements, and the YSoft SAFEQ Cloud family offers businesses the versatility and flexibility needed to assist organizations no matter where they are on their cloud journey.”
“With YSoft SAFEQ CloudPro and YSoft SAFEQ Breeze, we are delivering on our mission to help businesses run smarter,” said Vaclav Muchna, Y Soft CEO and co-founder. “We significantly invested in our product development to introduce a native cloud solution that efficiently scales in the cloud as businesses’ needs grow. We will continue to add to our cloud family of services and functionalities to meet the needs of our partners and customers. Y Soft’s future is firmly rooted in the cloud,” he added.
YSoft SAFEQ Cloud family availability Both new cloud-based services are typically less expensive than on-premise solutions and come with a budget-friendly monthly or annual subscription. The YSoft SAFEQ Cloud family of services are hosted on Microsoft® Azure and is managed by Y Soft. Updates, maintenance, and a premium service level are included.
SAFEQ Breeze with the Y Soft Edge Device is now available as a customer beta program. Both SAFEQ Breeze (Edge enabled and non-Edge) and YSoft SAFEQ CloudPro will be generally available in Fall 2020.
Y Soft develops intelligent Digital Transformation office solutions for enterprise, SMB, and Education that empower employees to be more productive and creative. Our YSoft SAFEQ® workflow solutions platform in the cloud or on-premise enables businesses to manage, optimize and secure their print and digital processes and workflows. Our 3D print solutions are focused in the Education sector where they provide unique ease of use and safety benefits, while utilizing YSoft SAFEQ software for seamless 3D print management.
Founded in 2000, the company is headquartered in Brno, Czech Republic, with offices in North and Latin America, Europe and Middle East/Africa (EMEA) and the Asia Pacific region (APAC). For more information, please visit www.ysoft.com.
Y Soft, YSoft SAFEQ, YSoft SAFEQ Cloud, YSoft SAFEQ Breeze and YSoft SAFEQ CloudPro are trademarks or registered trademarks of Y Soft Corporation a.s. in the European Union and other countries. All other names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
Media contacts:
Global: Steven Knuff Global PR and Analyst Relations steven.knuff@ysoft.com +1 512 810-3207
LISHUI, China, July 7, 2020 — Farmmi, Inc. (“Farmmi” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: FAMI), an agriculture products supplier in China, today announced it has been expanding the use of online and cloud-based sales and marketing platforms to drive growth in sales of its Shiitake mushrooms, Mu Er mushrooms, other edible fungi and agricultural products. The Company has attended various online fairs and sales events, such as the Cloud Canton Fair (the Canton Fair held online), the Cloud Live Sales Event held by the Economic and Commercial Bureau of Liandu District, Liandu District Fusion Media Center, and Liandu District Market Supervision Administration, and the 2020 Online Export Agricultural Products Fair held by the Zhejiang Export Agricultural Products Virtual Expo (Global Station). Farmmi also joined the government’s procurement cloud computing service platform The Company’s increased focus on strategically using online marketing tools and platforms is helping to drive sales with new customers and has resulted in multiple additional repeat orders in China, the U.S. and Israel, and other markets worldwide.
Ms. Yefang Zhang, Farmmi’s Chairwoman and CEO, commented, “With the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic, we quickly prioritized the health and safety of our employees and customers. Temporary business shut-downs, social distancing and the implementation of broader safety measures made traditional marketing based on large gatherings no longer practical. From there we made the strategic decision to upgrade and accelerate our use of digital technology and platforms, and our online and cloud-based sales and marketing efforts. Farmmi has fully embraced and supported the move online for important events like the newly renamed Cloud Canton Fair and the 2020 Online Export Agricultural Products Fair. These sales and marketing platforms are helping us to move additional products online, find new markets, develop new business opportunities, and inject new momentum to further promote the digital transformation of enterprises.”
Ms. Zhang continued, “We are working to take advantage of online trading, broaden online cooperation channels and increase sales, as we leverage our online, cloud and digital programs to transfer sales channels online through limited promotions, while implementing group purchase discounts and other online marketing programs, ranging from webcasts to intuitive 3D product presentations. We view this as a major driver of future economic growth. We are encouraged by the positive, broad customer support for the new technologies and Cloud-based apps, which allow the customers to communicate and make purchases more efficiently and conveniently, while enhancing their overall buying experience. Over the long-term, we remain committed to maintaining an integrated online and offline presence, innovating our business model, and achieving our fully upgraded digital transformation, as we build value for the Company and shareholders.”
About Farmmi, Inc.
Headquartered in Lishui, Zhejiang, Farmmi, Inc. (NASDAQ: FAMI), is a leading agricultural products supplier, processor and retailer of Shiitake mushrooms, Mu Er mushrooms, other edible fungi, and many other sought-after agricultural products. The Company’s Farmmi Liangpin Market serves as a global trading platform for Chinese geographical indication agricultural products and is one of the largest platforms for consumers to access locally sourced agricultural products. For further information about the Company, please visit: http://ir.farmmi.com.cn/.
Forward-Looking Statements
This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than statements of historical fact in this announcement are forward-looking statements, including the potential impact of COVID-19 on our business within and outside of China. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and are based on current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that the Company believes may affect its financial condition, results of operations, business strategy and financial needs. Investors can identify these forward-looking statements by words or phrases such as “may,” “will,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “aim,” “estimate,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “potential,” “continue,” “is/are likely to” or other similar expressions. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent occurring events or circumstances, or changes in its expectations, except as may be required by law. Although the Company believes that the expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot assure you that such expectations will turn out to be correct, and the Company cautions investors that actual results may differ materially from the anticipated results.
“Our investment will help enable Hong Kong technologies to reduce the massive loss of life, environmental problems and financial burdens caused by wildfires”
HONG KONG, July 7, 2020 — A HK$6 million investment led by Hong Kong-based venture capital fund Beyond Ventures is enabling a Hong Kong company to help protect over 4 million hectares of forest around the world.
Robotics Cats is a global leader in detecting wildfires at an early stage and serves national parks, UNESCO World Heritage sites and private plantations with its InsightFD Early Wildfire Detection System. This is a network of InsightFD robots linked to the Insight Globe management platform in a typical wildfire control centre.
InsightFD robots constantly rotate and scan for visual and thermal signals of burning vegetation using sensors, while an image-detection system combined with an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm are able to detect wildfires within a distance of 15 kilometres.
The new Series A round funding from Beyond Ventures will be channelled into R&D, as well as sales and operational functions. It will also finance development of applications and a push into new markets in geographies as far flung as Australia, Spain, Greece, the US, Brazil and Chile.
Some of the cash will go into funding resources to support customers in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Thailand, Portugal and Mexico, while enabling the company to build partnerships with private fire service contractors, woodland management service companies and telecommunications providers.
Robotics Cats CEO and Founder Andre Cheung said: “We are a team of nature lovers and techies passionate about applying the latest technologies to greatly reducing the devastating effect of wildfires. Our company is therefore thrilled to be partnering with a like-minded investor such as Beyond Ventures, which shares our devotion to promoting environment-protection technologies developed in Hong Kong.”
Locally-born Cheung explained how early wildfire detection and environmental monitoring solutions are crucial to preventing disasters such as Australia’s bushfires. Over a period of several months from mid-2019, “Black Summer” wildfires destroyed an estimated 18.6m hectares of bush and nearly 6,000 buildings. At least 34 people perished, along with what is reckoned to be 1 billion animals. If such bushfires could be detected during the early ignition stage, they could be controlled and extinguished far more effectively, thereby reducing damage to a significant degree.
Cheung added: “We were terribly saddened by this tragedy and will ramp up global adoption of our technologies to help make the world a safer place.”
He holds more than 20 years’ experience in international B2B sales and has served at director level to the benefit of Hong Kong and multinational organisations such as DYXnet, Cisco, EdgeCast and Verizon.
Lap Man, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Beyond Ventures, said: “Our investment in Robotics Cats represents a success story on several fronts. One is about bypassing the bottleneck effect on Hong Kong’s innovation ecosystem normally caused by the difficulty of commercialising technologies. But I am happy to see Robotics Cats demonstrating how Hong Kong-developed technologies can be successfully commercialised and deployed globally.”
He added: “Another success factor for us is the way Robotics Cats aligns with the Beyond Ventures mission to bring about positive impact on society.”
Highlighting the sheer magnitude of the positive impact Robotics Cats will have on the world, Lap Man explained how it will help protect more than 4 million hectares of forest – a land area 42 times larger than Hong Kong itself.
He said: “The AI-enabled wildfire detection solution developed by Robotics Cats provides an automated 24/7 monitoring system that vastly improves accuracy and response times – all to help reduce the massive loss of life, myriad environmental problems and financial burdens caused by wildfires globally.”
About Beyond Ventures
Beyond Ventures is a Hong Kong-based venture capital fund established by eGarden Ventures in partnership with locally-grown serial entrepreneurs in 2017. eGarden Ventures is a venture capital fund focused on technology, media and telecoms (TMT) and holds nearly 20 years investment track record in Mainland China. The fund is also supported by leading investment company, Hony Capital, which manages more than US$10 billion in assets.
Since 2018, Beyond Ventures has appointed Co-investment Partner to the Innovation and Technology Venture Fund (ITVF), which was formed to spur private investment in local innovation and technology (I&T) start-ups.
Adopting the slogan “From Hong Kong. For Hong Kong”, Beyond Ventures seeks to revitalise Hong Kong’s innovation ecosystem by bringing experienced venture and private equity funds together with successful entrepreneurs able to provide start-ups with mentoring support.
Beyond Ventures focuses on early stages investments on artificial intelligence, biotechnology, chips, consumer electronics and platform business. For more information about Beyond Ventures, please visit the official website at www.beyondventures.hk
About Robotics Cats
Robotics Cats Limited is a technology company headquartered in Hong Kong. It focuses on computer vision, AI, and robotics technologies. It develops and provides early wildfire detection and environmental monitoring solutions to international customers. Its solutions help national parks/forestry, wildfire services, world heritages, private plantations, and infrastructure companies around the world to mitigate wildfire risks and damages. For more information about Robotics Cats, please visit the official website at www.roboticscats.com
The recognitions highlight Tata Communications’ unmatched service delivery in India
MUMBAI, India, July 7, 2020 — Tata Communications, a digital ecosystem enabler, received top honors at Frost & Sullivan’s 2020 India ICT Awards, with eight wins in the ‘Company of the Year‘ category. All the awards were for excellence in service provision, underlining the company’s dominance in the Indian service provider market.
Applauding Tata Communications’ feat, Benoy CS, Vice President, Digital Transformation Practice, Frost & Sullivan, said, “Tata Communications’ services are aligned with industry best practices and address vertical-specific needs. It is an ideal example of a service provider that has the best-in-class people, processes and technologies to offer customer-focused solutions and services.”
In its 19th edition, the 2020 India ICT Awards celebrated the achievements of the IT industry’s best innovators, disruptors and leaders. The event honored industry professionals and corporates that created breakthrough business models and strategies through the innovative use of transformative technologies.
“We are thrilled that our continued focus on delivering superior customer experiences has resulted in another year of wins at the prestigious Frost & Sullivan’s 2020 India ICT Awards,” said Sumeet Walia, Chief Sales & Marketing Officer at Tata Communications. “To have won eight awards, especially the ‘Enterprise Data Service Provider of the Year’ for the eleventh time, is a strong validation of our efforts and expertise. The economic disruption triggered by the pandemic has resulted in an accelerated shift towards a digital-first world, creating an essential need for every industry to align to the new models of working. Our large suite of solutions, services and partnerships have helped unlock infinite possibilities to enable a seamless digital transition for our customers. These awards are a testament to the customers’ confidence in us as their trusted advisor. We look forward to continuing to work closely with our customers and enabling secure connected digital experiences for them.”
Accolades Won by Tata Communications at Frost & Sullivan’s 2020 India ICT Awards:
Enterprise Data Service Provider of the Year
Tata Communications has demonstrated tremendous innovation in product launches and strategies along with strong service delivery and support. It has enhanced the IZO cloud enablement platform, which integrates IZO Internet WAN with Global MPLS VPN, to form IZO Hybrid WAN. This is fully linked to its security services, such as DDoS mitigation, virtual proxy secure web gateway and Unified Threat Management. The company’s unique IZO SD-WAN service is available in 150+ countries globally and is continuously gaining traction among Indian enterprises.
Tata Communications follows a multi-pronged strategy and has the vision to enable faster service delivery through automation and self-servicing/provisioning capabilities implemented through APIs and virtual platforms. Furthermore, it aims to enable automation and virtualisation to expedite customers’ business transformation journeys.
Enterprise Telecom Service Provider of the Year – Large Enterprise Segment
Bolstered by its global network infrastructure and leadership in emerging markets, Tata Communications is continuously developing its service portfolio to include new technologies and innovations that simplify their enterprise customers’ operations and help promote a competitive enterprise telecoms services business.
The company has a vast portfolio of solutions and services aligned to the needs of large enterprise customers. Its focus on staying agile and delivering superior customer experiences has helped it position itself as a digital ecosystem enabler. Its international network coverage and partnerships help it serve Indian companies with a global footprint and global companies with India presence.
Managed Multi Cloud Service Provider of the Year
Tata Communications has developed an integrated value proposition by combining its managed service prowess with multi-cloud capabilities. This is helping it tap newer opportunities in the emerging multi-cloud space.
Its broad multi cloud portfolio enables digital transformation for enterprises by bringing together all enterprise workloads on a single pane, yet giving each workload a choice of platforms to run on multiple models such as public clouds, managed hosting, private cloud and cloud container services. It helps the organisations balance investments in on-premise private cloud technologies with effective utilisation of off-premise public cloud services to achieve an optimised total cost of ownership (TCO).
SDWAN Service Provider of the Year
Tata Communications has been the frontrunner for efficiently leveraging and building innovative solutions using cutting-edge technologies such as Software Defined Networking/ Network-Function Virtualization and IoT. It has exhibited exceptional go-to-market strategies and service innovations by providing two different deployment models so customers can pick the one that best aligns with their SD-WAN deployment strategy.
Tata Communications has maintained its SD-WAN leadership in India on the back of its customised SD-WAN solution suite, continuous addition of innovative features in SD-WAN service, strong R&D capabilities and collaborative business with customers.
Unified Communications Service Provider of the Year
India’s Unified Communications & Collaboration (UCC) market is becoming increasingly cloud-oriented as more businesses are willing to shift to the hosted/cloud model as long as they have a strong service provider that can manage their UCC requirements end-to-end. Tata Communications has been a clear leader in identifying these changing preferences of Indian businesses and continues to build technology partnerships to provide best-in-class UCC experiences to its business customers.
Managed Security Service Provider of the Year – Telecom
As enterprises aim to build a 360-degree cyber security posture, the number of security tools within the IT ecosystem has increased at a rapid pace. Organisations are not only focused on perimeter security, but are extending the security elements beyond the enterprise network; notably to the cloud and mobile devices. They need service providers that have a broad range of capabilities to manage and monitor security concerns around these areas. Tata Communications has expanded its cyber security offerings in response to this and significantly improved its threat detection and response capabilities. It leverages next-generation technologies and security frameworks that are industry-compliant and dependable.
Cloud Interconnect Service Provider of the Year
A trendsetter in the cloud interconnect space in India, the company has a robust roadmap to further enhance its cloud interconnect offerings and improve customer experiences. It plans to develop expansive multi-cloud connectivity capabilities involving customer use cases such as distributed applications in multiple clouds. Additionally, Tata Communications is developing cost-effective approaches wherein a customer can connect to multiple cloud service providers through a single physical connection. This would be significantly more efficient than building multiple dedicated physical connections to different cloud service providers.
Tata Communications intends to integrate its managed security services capabilities with cloud interconnect services. Moreover, it hopes to increase its existing interconnect capacity with cloud providers to address the rising demand for bandwidth.
Video Managed Services Provider of the Year
As the video managed services segment continues evolving due to the rapid advancement of technologies, service providers are being challenged to address customer demand on-the-go to remain relevant. The video managed services segment has, as a result, undergone a significant transformation in terms of the introduction of customised solutions by various players. The declining infrastructure cost of cloud-solutions and the rising demand for a wider range of video solutions at low costs are key issues that need to be addressed.
Tata Communications provides managed video services to enterprises leveraging its flagship product, Video Connect, as a core service for live and file-based contribution and global distribution to broadcasters and aggregators. It has the largest dedicated fiber-based Video Connect managed service, which offers unprecedented reach, flexibility and reliability. With a focus on constant innovation, the company has become the managed service provider of choice for broadcasting solutions such as Live 4K, 8K, and 360-degree video.
About the Awards
Frost & Sullivan’s India ICT Awards contenders were judged on a variety of parameters including revenue, market share, product diversity, vertical and horizontal diversity, major customer acquisitions, the efficacy of the innovation process, product service, and positioning. The judging process involved in-depth primary interviews with various industry participants and secondary research conducted by Frost & Sullivan analysts. An elite panel of jury members comprising some of the most prominent CIOs/CTOs from the industry evaluated the compiled data and incorporated the end-user perspective. Frost & Sullivan then presented the awards to the companies that received the number one industry rank in each category.
About Frost & Sullivan
For over five decades, Frost & Sullivan has become world-renowned for its role in helping investors, corporate leaders and governments navigate economic changes and identify disruptive technologies, Mega Trends, new business models and companies to action, resulting in a continuous flow of growth opportunities to drive future success. Contact us: Start the discussion.
Tata Communications is a digital ecosystem enabler that powers today’s fast-growing digital economy.
The company enables the digital transformation of enterprises globally, including 300 of the Fortune 500 – unlocking opportunities for businesses by enabling borderless growth, boosting product innovation and customer experience, improving productivity and efficiency, building agility and managing risk.
With its solutions orientated approach and proven managed service capabilities and cutting-edge infrastructure, Tata Communications drives the next level of intelligence powered by cloud, mobility, Internet of Things (IoT), collaboration, security, and network services.
Tata Communications carries around 30% of the world’s internet routes and connects businesses to 60% of the world’s cloud giants and 4 out of 5 mobile subscribers.
The company’s capabilities are underpinned by its global network, the world’s largest wholly owned subsea fibre backbone and a Tier-1 IP network with connectivity to more than 200 countries and territories.
Tata Communications Limited is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India.
KINGSTOWN, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, July 7, 2020 — Olymp Trade has announced an introduction of a service levels system. It is a kind of ecosystem of trader development. In the first iteration, the company traders will receive Starter, Advanced, or Expert statuses.
Olymp Trade Clients Now Have a New Loyalty System
Background Olymp Trade held a big tournament last December. Traders completed tasks and received new indicators and strategies as prizes. The competition was over but the demand for these tools was still very high.
As a result, the Olymp Trade team decided to create a complete system of statuses. It will help traders of any experience go through the process of studying analysis on the platform smoothly and consistently.
The main advantage of the update is flexible conditions. A trader can upgrade the status by making a certain trading turnover or investing a fixed amount into their account.
More about Statuses Each status offers a certain service pack. For example, after making the first deposit, a trader receives a Starter status, which guarantees basic trading conditions: a yield of up to 82% and free training on the platform.
To get the Advanced status, one should either make a deposit at least $500 or gain 25,300 experience points (XP) for one’s trading turnover. This status provides an increased yield of up to 84%, access to 7 customized strategies, and analyst consultations.
To get the highest Expert status, a customer has to gain 120,000 XP or invest at least $2000. With the Expert status, traders receive risk-free trades, exclusive trading signals, and personal training. The yield on trades increases to 92%.
The new level system is positioned as an effective guide to the world of professional trading for the Olymp Trade customers. The company plans to gamify points accumulation and service activation. This will make the process of studying the analysis and mastering strategies really exciting.
AUSTIN, Texas, July 7, 2020 — The Open Compute Project Foundation (OCP) announced today that Singapore-based data center provider SpaceDC Pte Ltd has achieved OCP Ready™ certification for their new data center in Jakarta, Indonesia. This is the first data center in Asia to receive this OCP certification and demonstrates the growing awareness of creating highly efficient facilities designed for the new wave of open infrastructure deployments.
SpaceDC‘s Jakarta facility has met guidelines created by the OCP Data Center Facility Project Team, and serves as a reference for data center operators and tenants who want to understand the fundamental facility requirements to deploy OCP hardware into their IT space. Facilities that meet the OCP Ready™ requirements and approved by the OCP Data Center Facilities Project receive the certification as an OCP Ready™ facility.
Along with the facility, SpaceDC Pte Ltd has achieved ColoSolution Provider status, which is a specific designation for members who are part of the OCP reseller ecosystem. OCP ColoSolution Providers must exhibit strong technical, service and support capabilities to enable scalable deployments of OCP infrastructure.
SpaceDC is committed to lowering the environmental impact of their data centers and they have taken great care in all areas of the data center design. From site selection to modular construction, the energy source that they’ll be using to power the facility and the recycling of waste heat, these are all aspects that will help SpaceDC achieve their mission.
“We’re thrilled to be a part of the OCP community – the same community shared by tech giants such as Google and Facebook. As the first OCP Colo Solution Provider in Asia, this certification certainly affirms SpaceDC‘s mission of being an efficient, reliable and scalable data center platform for businesses looking to expand in the region. By being OCP certified, we’ve distinguished ourselves as a brand whom our customers can depend on for world-class data center solutions,” said Darren Hawkins, CEO of SpaceDC.
“SpaceDC recognizes the capacity for OCP solutions to continue growing and evolving across Asia, resulting in a need for more facilities and operators who understand the needs of enterprise companies looking to adopt more open hardware designs. I would like to congratulate SpaceDC for becoming the first OCP ReadyTM facility in Asia, which is an incredible achievement, ” stated Steve Helvie, Vice President of Channel Development for the Open Compute Project Foundation.
“Throughout the process for JAK2 to be certified as OCP Ready™, their team has demonstrated a deep technical knowledge and understanding of what it means to create an optimised data center facility for hosting OCP IT gear. This new colo facility is a fantastic addition to the growing portfolio of OCP Ready™ data centers and will enable SpaceDC’s OCP customers to take full advantage of the TCO benefits of deploying OCP technology” stated Mark Dansie, a key member of the OCP DC Facilities Project Team and leader of the OCP Ready™ program
SpaceDC’s OCP Ready™ facility is now listed on the OCP Marketplace.
About the Open Compute Project Foundation The Open Compute Project Foundation (OCP) was initiated in 2011 with a mission to apply the benefits of open source and open collaboration to hardware and rapidly increase the pace of innovation in, near and around the data center’s networking equipment, general purpose and GPU servers, storage devices and appliances, and scalable rack designs. OCP’s collaboration model is being applied beyond the data center, helping to advance the telecom industry & EDGE infrastructure.
About SpaceDC SpaceDC is creating state-of-the-art data enters to help businesses grow in Southeast Asia’s fast-moving digital markets. Headquartered in Singapore and backed by the GIC, SpaceDC is applying over 60 years of combined experience to create a network of state-of-the-art data center campuses in Southeast Asia’s key regional cities.
Our campuses are strategically located to tap the cities’ natural resources and maximize accessibility. They feature multiple layers of security, dark fiber connectivity and very low PUEs to ensure your business-critical data is always secure and accessible. We offer a collaborative partnership that enables you to hyperscale on a long-term lease.
HONG KONG, July 7, 2020 — Happy customers drive sales. Recent research finds that customers are willing to pay more for a better customer experience (CX). As customers are no longer only comparing products and prices, CX is the key differentiator that businesses are competing on. But investing in the right software to improve CX isn’t easy when people take into account customer interactions across various channels and touchpoints. 96% of people think businesses need to improve communication.[1] Many brands are failing or falling behind due to poor touch point experiences, and it’s clear that a lot of desperate situations could have been avoided with better CX and communication tools.
maaiiconnect provides businesses with an all-in-one solution for customer engagement and internal collaboration. By choosing the right solutions and investing in the right tool, a business can strive for digital maturity and thrive for decades to come.
What should businesses consider? Start asking some hard questions to get to the bottom of the current situation.
1. What do customers need? What channels are they using, now and in the future? 2. Is there a need for external or internal communication tools? Or both? 3. Is there old/ current data and conversations to migrate? 4. What data and analytics are needed? How can these reports support the business decision? 5. What tangible impact will it have on sales and customer experience? 6. Is it secure? Where is the data stored, and is there end-to-end encryption? 7. What is the timeline for implementation? When is it needed?
Identify and prioritise the must haves, and need nots. Make use of free plans and trials to experience the tools first-hand before committing. maaiiconnect Essentials Plan is a free package with all the web-based communication features needed to create powerful customer experiences.
Use live chat to curate intelligent customer experiences, globally Customer satisfaction rates for live chat interactions are 98%, higher than all other channels.[2] As a touchpoint for online customer service, shoppers value the instant connection and users can leverage the additional data to design stronger experiences.
But not all live chats are created equal! maaiiconnect is a customer engagement software that combines telecom and digital channels. With a unique dashboard and insights, businesses can easily access data to transform customer experiences through a live chat widget that includes live chat, web call, video call, SMS, virtual numbers, and international toll free numbers.
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[1] Project.co: Communications Statistics 2020 Report [2] Customer Think: How Live Chat Can Impact Your Customer Satisfaction [3] Gallup: 4 Factors Driving Record-High Employee Engagement in the US [4] Gallup: The Right Culture: Not Just About Employee Satisfaction
About maaiiconnect maaiiconnect provides businesses with an all-in-one solution for customer engagement and internal collaboration. Leveraging an innovative multi-dimensional convergence model, maaiiconnect seamlessly unifies telecom and digital communication channels, such as PSTN, VoIP, chat & instant messaging, video conference, and social networks. It is device-agnostic, empowering employees to be more productive, as well as providing companies a platform to deliver a suite of multimedia experience to their customers anytime, anywhere, on any device. Learn more at www.maaiiconnect.com.
PIETERMARITZBURG, South Africa, July 6, 2020 — Drones, with specialty spraying technology, was deployed for a recent sugarcane ripening trail in South Africa, showing an evident increase in the amount of sugar extracted from these canes. This might signal a potential improvement in profit margin for the cane growers, who have been incurring loss from the country’s ailing sugar industry.
XAG P Series drone on the work of sugarcane ripening in South Africa
Primarily grown in tropical and subtropical regions, sugarcane is the type of perennial, high-value cash crop that serve as juicy fruit as well as the major feedstock for sugar production. South Africa ranks the world’s top 15 sugar producing countries that provide cost-effective, high-quality sugar products. However, due to a series of interweaving threats, mainly the influx of cheap imports and the imposition of sugar tax, South Africa’s$833 million sugar industry has been struggling to stay competitive in the global market. Crop-spraying drones, meanwhile, gently tap in and get prepared to give a new lease of life to this industry.
Drones outperform to reap recoverable value
This June, in Seafield Farm, located at the Midlands South region of KwaZulu-Natal, a new round of sugarcane harvest arrived. What made this harvest season special was that a commercial ripening trial was conducted for the first time to compare the efficacy of drone and helicopter. Ripening refers to the process of applying chemical ripener to enhance the content of sucrose in the sugarcane plants usually six to nine weeks before harvest. The ripening application has been widely adopted as a routine management that proves to effectively improve cane quality and sugar yield.
In this trial, different fields of the Seafield Farm were selected, each of which divided into two areas between 1 to 5 hectares assigned to different ripener applications. The drone used was XAG P20, which carried a custom spraying attachment and 12-litre smart liquid tank designed in a modular fashion. It followed the pre-set flight route, operated at a fixed height 2 to 3 metres above the crops, and sprayed accurately into the target fields. Results show that the traditional manned helicopter was considerably outperformed by XAG drone in both cane yield and quality of the harvested crops.
The areas ripened with drones had a small, yet significant 1% increase in recoverable value (RV), compared to those ripened with helicopter. In South Africa, RV is the accepted measure of the amount of sugar recovered from every ton of cane crushed in the mills.
“This means a lot to us. With higher sugar extracted from every tons of sugarcane, we get paid higher and my farms become more profitable,” said Kim Hein, the licensed operator of XAG drone as well as cane grower who has been testing the feasibility of drone spraying solution in sugarcane cultivation.
Under the RV Cane Payment System since 2000, the South African farmers are remunerated for their harvested sugarcane based on recoverable value. As RV% generally falls within 9% to 14%, the more than 1% increase is a relatively satisfactory progress for sugarcane growers to obtain a greater return on investment. This smallest breakthrough could mean a great deal to individual farmers facing an ailing sugar industry.
The recent two years have seen a considerable drop in the market price of RV, which means that farmers are payed less for the sugarcane of the same recoverable value. This is largely attributed to the flood of low-priced sugar import and the introduction of tax on sugar-sweetened drinks (or health promotion levy) that brings down the demand for local sugar.
Small-scale growers being the early adopters
Despite the market chaos of the sugar industry, South Africa has granted the legal take-off of agricultural drones last year which could innovatively transform the labour-intensive farming ecosystem. Kim Hein, the man behind the Seafield Farm ripening trial, has purchased agricultural drones from XAG to tend its self-owned 200ha sugarcane field as well as those of his farmer counterparts.
“Drone, imagery, and smart agriculture system can help us solve many environmental and labour problems,” Hein said. Drones with precision spraying ability can address the increasing pressure to use less chemical, while reducing labour usage to tackle the rising labour cost that is disproportionate to the quality of work done. As the advantages of drone technology start to shine through, there has been a growing acceptance of drone-based treatment by cane farmers, who has been dealing with difficulties to manage this specialty crop.
Sugarcane plants can reach 3 to 7 metres high, that ground equipment such as tractors are inapplicable. Manual option with knapsack sprayer can expose field workers directly to the chemicals. This leaves manned aerial approaches, such as helicopter and airplane, to be used for sugarcane ripening over the past 20 years.
According to Heim, helicopter spraying can treat large areas very quickly, but the downside of it was that most sugarcane fields are quite small in size. According to South Africa Sugar Association (SASA), small-scale farmers constitute 90% of the nation’s 22,949 registered sugarcane growers, predominantly located in two provinces namely Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal. They form the backbone of the sugar industry value chain.
“We usually end up with problem with the helicopter company which offer a minimum spray of 50 hectares a day, but we only want to do 2 to 3 hectares a week. This does not allow any flexibility in the ripening process which means the outcome might fail,” explained by Hein. Large airplane and helicopter can only be subject to blanket spray, which means they work on huge areas at a time that does not match well with farmers’ harvesting schedule.
Instead, the drones that Hein uses are designed by XAG to facilitate precision application in agriculture. They can smoothly operate on various terrains, no matter steep slopes or irregular-shaped plots, which are common places where most South African sugarcane plants are grown. Owing to real-time kinematic (RTK) positioning and the special atomised nozzles, XAG drones can spray more precisely and evenly on target areas without affecting the neighbouring fields not yet ready for ripening. This help cut down the use of chemicals by 30% and converse agricultural water by 90%.
Get ready for the Sugar Master Plan
The introduction of precision drones into farming complements government’s determination to rejuvenate the sugar industry. The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition has announced the Sugar Masterplan this June that marks a major milestone in efforts to ensure the health and longevity of the industry.
The sugar industry makes important contributions to South Africa’s economic activities and rural employment. Its direct and indirect employment is estimated at 435,000 jobs, as well as representing over 11% of the total agricultural workforce. However, based on the SASA statistics, the annual sugar production has declined by 25% over the past 20 years, while the number of sugarcane farmers experienced a decline by 60% along with a reduction by 45% in sugar industry-related jobs.
The Sugar Masterplan aims to reverse this industry downtrend and protect tens of thousands of livelihoods in rural areas. As SA Cane Growers’ Association chairperson Rex Talmage introduced, the warmly welcomed plan includes the actions to enhance import protection, diversify sugar by-product production (i.e. biofuel) and support small-scale cane farmers, which would increase demand in the local market.
Amid the industry reconstruction, smart agriculture technology such as drones could play a new role in the upstream part of the sugar value chain. Through generating higher recoverable value, reducing labour costs, and minimising the use of chemicals, drones could help to guarantee sustainable supply of sugarcane and improve the profitability of small-scale growers.
When talking about his future plan, Kim Hein expressed positive attitudes towards the scale-up of smart agtech. “The number of tasks that can be done with drones have growing. We are now testing new applications to treat sugarcane crops at different stages in ways we could never image in the past.” In South Africa, sugarcane is harvested in an 18 to-24-month rotation, when agricultural drones can apply throughout the period from field mapping, fertilisation, controlling diseases, weeds, and pests, to ripening.
About XAG
Founded in 2007, XAG is a world-leading agriculture technology company with 13 years of technical experience in unmanned aerial system (UAS) and seven years of practical experience in innovative field applications. Up to 30 April 2020, XAG has over 51,000 agricultural drones in operation, having empowered 8 million farmers with precision crop protection services on 28 million hectares of farmland. With a global mission to advancing agriculture, XAG is devoted to building digital farming infrastructure, developing precision farming equipment, such as robots, drones, AI and IoT, and creating smart agriculture ecosystem.
