HPX Group Companies Ivanhoe Liberia and SMFG Enter Into a Framework Agreement With the Government of Liberia That Establishes a Path for Agreeing Final Terms for Access to Critical Rail and Port Infrastructure

 NEW YORK & MONROVIA, Republic of Liberia-Friday 1 April 2022 [ AETOS Wire ]

The Framework Agreement is the next step in de-risking the world-class Guinean Nimba Iron Ore Project and moving the project closer to realization

HPX and the Government of Liberia have agreed a timetable for detailed negotiations and the implementation of a definitive Concession and Access Agreement for HPX’s infrastructure requirements

(BUSINESS WIRE) -- Ivanhoe Liberia and Société des Mines de Fer de Guinée (“SMFG”), the Liberian and Guinean subsidiary companies of High Power Exploration Inc (“HPX”), announced today that they have signed an amended and restated Framework Agreement with the Government of Liberia reaffirming the principles for HPX’s non-discriminatory access to critical Liberian rail and port infrastructure and identifying HPX’s requirements for the future evacuation of ore from the Guinean Nimba Iron Ore Project. The Framework Agreement, which is immediately effective, also sets out a timetable for detailed negotiations and the implementation of a definitive Concession and Access Agreement for HPX’s infrastructure requirements.

HPX currently envisages that these infrastructure rights will include an extension of the existing rail line from Yekepa to the Guinea-Liberia border and access (with associated development and expansion rights) to the existing Yekepa-Buchanan rail corridor and to port infrastructure at or in the vicinity of Buchanan (the “Infrastructure Corridor”; and, where such infrastructure may be shared with other users, the “Shared Infrastructure”).

The Framework Agreement is another step forward in the realization of the benefits of the Guinean Nimba Iron Ore Project which will provide significant social and economic benefits to both Guinea and Liberia once in production. The Framework Agreement builds on previous important steps, including the 2019 Implementation Agreement between Liberia and Guinea securing the use by Guinean mining operators of Liberian infrastructure and transport services, and the Right of Access to existing transport infrastructure and services within the Yekepa-Buchanan port and rail corridor that was granted to HPX by the Government of Liberia in August 2021.

The 2021 PFS also estimated total project development costs at US$2.77 billion (including direct capital costs plus all engineering, owners cost, contingencies and taxes). Direct capital costs for rail and port development in Liberia are estimated at more than US$600 million. Project operating costs are estimated at below US$18/tonne. The 2021 PFS assumes construction starts in 2023.

The development of the Nimba Iron Project is estimated to create 2,000 direct permanent jobs, of which approximately 1,500 would be in Guinea and 500 in Liberia, and will help support indirect secondary employment in both countries.

Guy de Selliers, Chairman of Ivanhoe Liberia commented: “This Framework Agreement for access to critical Liberian port and rail infrastructure is an important step forward in making the Guinean Nimba Iron Ore Project a reality. It is clear that our project will deliver significant benefits in the form of investment, employment and recurring income for both Guinea and Liberia.

Through this Framework Agreement and the upcoming definitive Concession and Access Agreement, HPX is committed to ensuring that Liberia and the Liberian people reap their fair share of the benefits of the Guinean Nimba Iron Ore Project.

In addition, we want to develop our own mining activities in Liberia and have committed to start immediately identifying potential projects and exploration targets.

Now it’s time for all of us who care about mining and infrastructure in the region to become true partners and work together. Together with the Government, I really look forward to working co-operatively alongside ArcelorMittal to accelerate the development of both our Guinean Nimba Iron Ore Project and the planned expansion of their Liberian operations for the benefit of the Guinean and Liberian people, including as users of a passenger and freight rail service.”

Key Terms of the Framework Agreement

HPX and the Government of Liberia will enter into negotiations for a definitive Concession and Access Agreement for access rights (including associated development and expansion activities) in the Infrastructure Corridor to support HPX’s required capacity to export 30 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of iron ore by 2027.

The Government of Liberia will grant HPX usage of the Infrastructure Corridor in accordance with its rights and obligations under its current Mineral Development Agreement with ArcelorMittal, and will seek to resolve with ArcelorMittal the technical and commercial terms for HPX’s usage of the Shared Infrastructure in accordance with that Mineral Development Agreement.

HPX and the Government of Liberia agree a passenger and freight traffic service will be an integral part of the railroad from the commencement of expanded operations.

HPX commits to conduct its activities within the infrastructure corridor in accordance with industry best practice and world class technical, safety, social and environmental standards for a large-scale heavy haul railroad.

HPX confirms that all environmental and social impact assessments on any infrastructure accessed by HPX will be carried out in accordance with the World Bank Group standards.

The Government will provide HPX with continuous unimpeded access to the Infrastructure Corridor to allow HPX to complete its environmental and social impact assessment and technical studies in respect of the Infrastructure.

HPX will provide two upfront prospective access payments with the first one due immediately and the second one upon the Concession and Access Agreement becoming fully effective. Further, the Government and HPX will negotiate recurring access fees and fiscal regime structure, as well as HPX’s social and community development spending obligations, as part of the Concession and Access Agreement negotiations. The level of the recurring access fee payments will be established in line with recognised international practice through detailed negotiations with the Liberian Government.

HPX and the Government have agreed to collaborate to identify and assess viable mineral prospects in Liberia.

The definitive Concession and Access Agreement embodying the above agreed principles is expected to be entered into and fully effective before the end of March, 2023.

About HPX

HPX is a privately-owned, U.S.-domiciled mineral exploration and development company.

Ivanhoe Liberia Limited is a Liberian Domestic Corporation and wholly-owed independent subsidiary of HPX. For further information, please visit www.ivanhoeliberia.com

SMFG is a Guinean incorporated mining company and an 85% owned subsidiary of HPX, owned in partnership with the Government of Guinea. For further information, please visit www.smfg.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220331005856/en/

Contacts

Media contact

James Gray

Finsbury Glover Hering

HPX@fgh.com

HPX-LON@finsbury.com

Labcorp Renews Strategic Partnership with Medidata to Provide Suite of Clinical Trial Technologies and Services

 NEW YORK-Thursday 31 March 2022 [ AETOS Wire ]

(BUSINESS WIRE) -- Medidata, a Dassault Systèmes company, announced that Labcorp, a leading global life sciences company, has selected Medidata's technology platform to extend their 14-year partnership, the foundation of their initiative to co-develop digital biomarkers and expand the use and functionality of decentralized clinical trials.

“Our relationship with Medidata is built on using their core technologies to enhance our clinical trial portfolio and continue to expand our decentralized clinical trial offerings,” said Bill Hanlon, PhD, chief scientific officer and president of Clinical Therapeutic and Regulatory Sciences, Labcorp Drug Development. “Our work to advance sensor and digital biomarker usage in clinical research can help accelerate patient care while providing valuable information to study sponsors.”

Labcorp Drug Development has developed its offerings on Medidata technologies, starting with Rave EDC (electronic data capture), Coder and TSDV (targeted source data verification). Labcorp is now also using most of the Medidata Clinical Cloud platform, including eCOA (electronic clinical outcome assessment), RTSM (randomization and trial supply management), and Imaging.

“The last two years have required clinical trials to become more accessible and flexible; these changes make our strategic partnership with Labcorp Drug Development to modernize and decentralize trials even more critical,” said Anthony Costello, CEO Patient Cloud at Medidata. “With this new agreement, we’re excited to develop and deploy the innovations that help our customers run more effective clinical programs and get new treatments to patients faster than ever before.”

Medidata is a wholly owned subsidiary of Dassault Systèmes, which with its 3DEXPERIENCE platform is positioned to lead the digital transformation of life sciences in the age of personalized medicine with the first end-to-end scientific and business platform, from research to commercialization.

About Medidata

Medidata is leading the digital transformation of life sciences, creating hope for millions of patients. Medidata helps generate the evidence and insights to help pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device and diagnostics companies, and academic researchers accelerate value, minimize risk, and optimize outcomes. More than one million registered users across 1,900+ customers and partners access the world's most trusted platform for clinical development, commercial, and real-world data. Medidata, a Dassault Systèmes company (Euronext Paris: FR0014003TT8, DSY.PA), is headquartered in New York City and has offices around the world to meet the needs of its customers. Discover more at www.medidata.com and follow us @Medidata.

About Dassault Systèmes

Dassault Systèmes, the 3DEXPERIENCE Company, is a catalyst for human progress. We provide business and people with collaborative 3D virtual environments to imagine sustainable innovations. By creating virtual twin experiences of the real world with our 3DEXPERIENCE platform and applications, our customers push the boundaries of innovation, learning and production to achieve a more sustainable world for patients, citizens, and consumers. Dassault Systèmes brings value to more than 300,000 customers of all sizes, in all industries, in more than 140 countries. For more information, visit www.3ds.com

3DEXPERIENCE, the Compass icon, the 3DS logo, CATIA, BIOVIA, GEOVIA, SOLIDWORKS, 3DVIA, ENOVIA, NETVIBES, MEDIDATA, CENTRIC PLM, 3DEXCITE, SIMULIA, DELMIA, and IFWE are commercial trademarks or registered trademarks of Dassault Systèmes, a French “société européenne” (Versailles Commercial Register # B 322 306 440), or its subsidiaries in the United States and/or other countries.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220331005212/en/

Contacts

Tom Paolella

Senior Director, Corporate Communications & Affairs

+1-848-203-7596

thomas.paolella@3ds.com

Paul Oestreicher

External Communications Director

+1-917-522-4692

paul.oestreicher@3ds.com

The Health Bank and Cedars-Sinai Collaborate to Strengthen Patient Care Services in the Region

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates-Thursday 31 March 2022 [ AETOS Wire ]

The Health Bank (THB) Global and Cedars-Sinai are proud to announce a collaboration to implement global standards of excellence in areas of patient-centered care delivery. The collaboration covers telehealth services, faculty and expert speaking events, joint consultancy services in hospital management and operations, and patient referral services between the two organizations.

Mr. Raza Jafar, on behalf of THB Global and Heitham Hassoun, MD, Vice President and Medical Director of Cedars-Sinai International, jointly hosted an event in Dubai at the US Pavilion of Expo 2020 to inaugurate this collaboration.

“Our collaboration is committed to the adoption of the latest in innovative telemedicine solutions, with a focus on digital outpatient care, experiential learning, clinical training, including mixed reality and hologram technology. Our focus is to provide enhanced remote patient care and jointly facilitate existing and new partnerships, within the medical ecosystem,” said Zarmina Jafar, Head of Strategy at THB Global.

Cedars-Sinai is the largest non-profit hospital in the Western United States, with over 4,500 physicians and nurses, and serving more than 1 million people in over 250 locations annually throughout Los Angeles and Southern California. The academic medical center prides itself on setting the highest standards for quality and innovation in patient care with pioneering medical research achievements, leading-edge technology, robust global partnerships and support in the local community, and graduate education and training programs that shape the future of healthcare.

According to U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals “Honor Roll” for 2021-2022, Cedars-Sinai ranked #6 in the U.S. and #1 in California for cardiology and heart surgery, gastroenterology and GI surgery, orthopaedics, pulmonology and lung surgery and urology.

"We are thrilled to partner with The Health Bank Global to heighten and improve the level of care provided to patients in the region," Dr. Hassoun said. "We see tremendous opportunities for both organizations and the communities that will benefit from this collaboration."

The Health Bank (THB) Global is a health and wellness management company that aims to empower its members to live better and healthier lives through tech-enabled, personalized care management and home care solutions. Since its inception in 2016, THB Global has grown into a reputed international organization, expanding into Pakistan and Kuwait, serving over 60,000 patients through various healthcare challenges and requirements. Keeping in line with the global standards of healthcare, THB Global prides itself on being able to provide streamlined home health services and encourage its members to be proactive about reaching a healthier lifestyle through programs such as remote and personalized diabetes management, at-home nursing care, and virtual health management services.

Contacts

Mohammed Al Barazenjey 

+971557163727

mb@saharapr.com

SES Partners with NorthStar Earth & Space to Tackle Space Sustainability Challenges

Collaboration will improve Space Situational Awareness and promote best practices in all near-Earth orbits for SES and its partners

LUXEMBOURG-Thursday 31 March 2022 [ AETOS Wire ]

(BUSINESS WIRE) -- A partnership to enhance Space Situational Awareness (SSA) and ensure a sustainable use of space has been formed between SES, the world’s leading satellite-based content connectivity solutions provider, and NorthStar Earth and Space (NorthStar), the first commercial service to monitor space from space, both companies announced today.

Together with NorthStar, the teams will be working to launch, develop and evolve NorthStar’s SSA products tailored to benefit SES’s satellite operations and fleet management. NorthStar will deliver unique SSA services to help satellite operators with safer management of their fleets, minimization of collision risks, and development of space sustainability solutions. Fuelled by data gathered in space, NorthStar’s next-generation service will provide a unique layer of information to improve operational performance for all satellite operators and contribute to the realization of a more sustainable space environment.

SES has recently announced its revised Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) strategy and is a firm believer of how sustainable space meets sustainable Earth. Its new ESG strategy revolves around four key pillars – ensuring the secure and sustainable use of space; embarking bold climate action, increasing diversity and inclusion in the industry; and using its global content connectivity solutions to meet critical human needs.

"Space supports critical infrastructure for our economy. NorthStar’s collaboration with SES leads to more responsible and sustainable operations in space from all stakeholders. NorthStar’s high performance SSA services combined with SES’s leading role in the industry brings a necessary focus towards the increasingly unmanageable risks we are all witnessing in space”, said Stewart Bain, CEO & Founder of NorthStar Earth & Space. "This is a major step in NorthStar’s integration and growth within the fast-moving Luxembourg space ecosystem. Recent investment from the LFF and support from the Luxembourg Ministry of the Economy also contribute to accelerate NorthStar services in support of this important collaboration.”

“We are excited to partner with NorthStar and leverage their expertise in space-based sensors to monitor traffic in space and the accuracy of their intelligent platform to transmit information faster,” said Steve Collar, CEO of SES. “Space sustainability is of fundamental importance to SES and to the industry. The industry needs to come together quickly to protect space for future generations before it’s too late and our partnership with NorthStar is a strong step in that direction.”

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About North Star

NorthStar Earth & Space is headquartered in Montréal, Canada. NorthStar has recently launched its European headquarters in Luxembourg with the support of the Luxembourg Future Fund. NorthStar also has an office in Washington D.C. NorthStar seeks to empower humanity to preserve our planet through a unique Space and Earth information & intelligence platform using space-based sensors. NorthStar strives to help transform the way governments, industry and institutions assess risk, enforce regulations and make decisions to foster the sustainable development of our planet and deliver a safe and secure near-Earth environment. NorthStar’s unique space-based commercial Space Situational Awareness products address many of the critical and immediate challenges facing all satellite operators. With a comprehensive view of all near-Earth orbits, NorthStar’s satellites will deliver more frequent and precise observations of resident space objects than any current system. Through a suite of high-speed decision quality information services derived from its unparalleled coverage, object custody, and enhanced predictive analytics NorthStar generates its Space Information & Intelligence services.

NorthStar’s investors comprise a global coalition of strategic partners, including Telesystem Space (a co-enterprise of the Sirois family office, Telesystem and the Roger’s Family Trust of Canada), the Space Alliance (Thales Alenia Space and Telespazio) of Europe, the Government of Quebec, the Government of Canada and the Luxembourg Future Fund. More information: https://northstar-data.com/

About SES

SES has a bold vision to deliver amazing experiences everywhere on earth by distributing the highest quality video content and providing seamless connectivity around the world. As the leader in global content connectivity solutions, SES operates the world’s only multi-orbit constellation of satellites with the unique combination of global coverage and high performance, including the commercially-proven, low-latency Medium Earth Orbit O3b system. By leveraging a vast and intelligent, cloud-enabled network, SES is able to deliver high-quality connectivity solutions anywhere on land, at sea or in the air, and is a trusted partner to the world’s leading telecommunications companies, mobile network operators, governments, connectivity and cloud service providers, broadcasters, video platform operators and content owners. SES’s video network carries over 8,400 channels and has an unparalleled reach of 361 million households, delivering managed media services for both linear and non-linear content. The company is listed on Paris and Luxembourg stock exchanges (Ticker: SESG). Further information is available at: www.ses.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220330005906/en/

Contacts

For further information please contact:

Suzanne Ong

External Communications

Tel. +352 710 725 500

suzanne.ong@ses.com

NorthStar Public Relations: media@northstar-data.com

Zain South Sudan Selects Tecnotree as a Strategic Partner for its Digital BSS Transformation

 ESPOO, Finland-Thursday 31 March 2022 [ AETOS Wire ]

(BUSINESS WIRE) -- Further to the stock market release published by Tecnotree dated 21st March 2022 at 11:15 EET.

Tecnotree, a Finnish-based global provider of digital transformation solutions for Communication Service Providers (CSPs) and Digital Service Providers (DSPs), has today announced the signing of one of the largest digital transformation projects for its award-winning BSS (Business Support Systems) Suite. Tecnotree has been chosen for this project by Zain Group, a leading telecom services provider in the Middle East & Africa for its operations in South Sudan.

Tecnotree will implement their complete range of BSS Suite products and services. This full stack deployment will offer Zain South Sudan a new set of capabilities such as Advance Customer Experience, Quick Time to market with new unified Product Catalogue, Convergent Billing and Charging solutions, as well as other key solutions. The deployment will help drive digital transformation of Zain’s current legacy products and BSS infrastructure, making them 5G ready. Tecnotree’s award winning BSS suite and extensive experience over the last 40 years across the globe will enable the operator to improve operational efficiency, sustain rapid growth and redefine their customer experience.

Commenting on the project, Khalid Abdalla, Zain South Sudan CEO said, “We are looking forward to this partnership with Tecnotree, which will help us update our BSS infrastructure in order to unlock our digital transformation strategy. This implementation will be a first step towards facilitating our business processes efficiently, and achieving our goals to provide innovative services to our customers.”

Padma Ravichander, CEO Tecnotree Corporation, stated, “We are delighted about winning this deal and are eager to embark on this new transformation journey with Zain South Sudan. It is a testament to Tecnotree’s growth and expansion as well as our commitment to using our market-proven framework of products and services to provide premium digital experiences. This is yet another chapter in our success story and gives us the motivation to continue providing our clients with state-of-the-art products and solutions.”

Tecnotree will be involved in delivering the licenses, implementation services, as well as support services. The company had already received orders from the same operator last year, and the new order enhances the existing relationship between the groups and opens avenues for future opportunities.

About Zain South Sudan
Zain South Sudan is one of the largest telecom operators in South Sudan, serving over 1,050,000 customers. The mobile operator is part of the Zain Group the fourth largest CSP in the world, has a presence in 8 countries. Zain Group aims to become a leading Information & Communications Technology and digital lifestyle provider in the region. The company is listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange (stock ticker: ZAIN).

About Tecnotree
Tecnotree is the only full-stack digital business management solution provider for digital service providers, with over 40 years of deep domain knowledge, proven delivery, and transformation capability across the globe. Our open-source technology-based agile products and solutions comprise the full range (order-to-cash) of business process and subscription management for telecom and other digital service providers. Tecnotree products and platforms service over 800 million subscribers worldwide. Tecnotree is listed on Nasdaq Helsinki (TEM1V). For more information, please visit www.tecnotree.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220330005461/en/

Contacts
Danielle Hines on behalf of Tecnotree
tecnotree@libertycomms.com
+442077514444




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ABB Launches New Share Buyback Program of up to $3 Billion

 ZURICH-Thursday 31 March 2022 [ AETOS Wire ]

(BUSINESS WIRE) -- ABB will launch on April 1, 2022 its previously announced new share buyback program of up to $3 billion. Based on the current ABB share price this represents a maximum of approximately 89 million shares. The maximum number of shares that may be repurchased under this new program on any given trading day is 1,262,310.

This new program is consistent with ABB’s capital allocation principles and its capital structure optimization program targeting to maintain a strong investment grade rating. As part of this program, the company intends to return to its shareholders the remaining $1.2 billion of the $7.8 billion of cash proceeds from the Power Grids divestment. Since July 2020, ABB repurchased a total of 218,686,689 shares for a total amount of approximately $6.6 billion.

The total number of ABB’s issued shares is 2,053,148,264 including the 88,403,189 shares approved for cancellation at ABB’s 2022 Annual General Meeting (AGM). ABB currently owns approximately 124 million treasury shares.

The share buyback program is for capital reduction purposes and will be executed on a second trading line on the SIX Swiss Exchange (Valor: 35.767.961; ISIN: CH035 767 961 9). It is planned to run from April 1, 2022 until March 22, 2023. At the company’s AGM on March 23, 2023, ABB intends to request shareholder approval to cancel the shares purchased through this new program as well as those shares purchased under the previous program that were not proposed for cancellation at ABB’s 2022 AGM.

The share buyback program will be managed by a bank mandated by ABB that, based on the trading instructions given by ABB to the bank, will make its trading decisions concerning the timing of share repurchases independently of ABB. ABB can change these parameters outside of its closed periods and if it is not in possession of any inside information.

The purchase price per share will not exceed the higher of the price of the last independent trade on the ordinary trading line on the SIX Swiss Exchange and the highest current independent bid price on the ordinary trading line on the SIX Swiss Exchange. In addition, customary spreads on purchases on the second trading line on the SIX Swiss Exchange will be paid, observing the limitations of the Ordinance on Financial Market Infrastructures and Market Conduct in Securities and Derivatives Trading (FMIO). Payment for the shares will be made in cash.

The buyback program is being carried out in accordance with the Ordinance on Financial Market Infrastructures and Market Conduct in Securities and Derivatives Trading (FMIO), the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 and the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 2016/1052. Weekly updates on the program will be published on ABB’s investor relations website at https://global.abb/group/en/investors/investor-and-shareholder-resources/share-buybacks and issued by press release.

ABB (ABBN: SIX Swiss Ex) is a leading global technology company that energizes the transformation of society and industry to achieve a more productive, sustainable future. By connecting software to its electrification, robotics, automation and motion portfolio, ABB pushes the boundaries of technology to drive performance to new levels. With a history of excellence stretching back more than 130 years, ABB’s success is driven by about 105,000 talented employees in over 100 countries. www.abb.com

Important notice about forward-looking information

This press release includes forward-looking information and statements concerning the share buyback program. These statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about the factors that may affect our future performance, and are generally identifiable by statements containing words such as “intends”, “expects,” “plans”, or similar expressions. However, there are many risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, that could affect our ability to achieve any or all of our stated targets. Factors that could cause such differences include, among others, business risks associated with the volatile global economic environment and political conditions, changes in governmental regulations and currency exchange rates and such other factors as may be discussed from time to time in ABB Ltd’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Reports on Form 20-F. Although ABB Ltd believes that its expectations reflected in any such forward-looking statement are based upon reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that those expectations will be achieved.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220330005873/en/

Contacts

ABB Ltd

Affolternstrasse 44

8050 Zurich

Switzerland

Media Relations

Phone: +41 43 317 71 11

Email: media.relations@ch.abb.com

Investor Relations

Phone: +41 43 317 71 11

Email: investor.relations@ch.abb.com

Bacardi Shakes up Cocktails-at-Home With Launch of TAILS® COCKTAILS

 

• Bar quality cocktails ready to enjoy in 30 seconds

• Crafted with Bacardi premium spirits blended with top quality ingredients

(BUSINESS WIRE) -- Bacardi, the largest privately held spirits company in the world, is raising the bar for cocktails-at-home with the launch of TAILS COCKTAILS.

This is the first time this new range of premium batched cocktails from TAILS will be available for consumers to enjoy at home. The brand was originally created for the hospitality industry, offering a hassle-free solution for serving premium quality cocktails easily, quickly and consistently.

“Over the last two years, cocktail awareness has boomed as people served up daiquiris, espresso martini cocktails and mojitos to make staying-in feel extra special,” said Evert-Jan Bos, General Manager of TAILS. “Now, as the on-trade reopens, consumers are enjoying the experience of being back in the bar and they’re ordering cocktails more than ever before.”

To tap into this thriving cocktail culture, TAILS is bringing a taste of the bar home with new-look packaging and new recipes. Made using the Bacardi portfolio of premium brands blended with top quality ingredients, the pre-batched cocktail range is perfectly positioned for the rise in entertaining at home, and an ever-growing demand for hyper-convenience. People can now enjoy the experience of shaking up a bar quality cocktail in just 30 seconds, with no planning required.

Evert-Jan adds: “This is a game-changer for the home bar. TAILS COCKTAILS offer both incredible taste and convenience, making it easier than ever for people to enjoy the same flavor and complexity of a cocktail made from scratch, without any effort or expertise. No shopping for ingredients, no measuring, no recipes - just add ice, shake and pour – how easy is that?”

There are five TAILS COCKTAILS - the ‘Rum Daiquirí’ made with BACARDÍ® rum; the ‘Whisky Sour’ with DEWAR’S® Blended Scotch whisky; the ‘Gin Gimlet’ with BOMBAY SAPPHIRE® gin; and the ‘Espresso Martini Cocktail’ and ‘Passion Fruit Martini Cocktail’, both made with 42BELOW® vodka.

Francis Debeuckelaere, Regional President, Western Europe, Australia & New Zealand, comments: “Of course you can never replace the experience of enjoying a favorite cocktail in a local bar, however we’re going one step further to offer more and more fantastic choices for consumers. With TAILS we’re delivering new experiences for the home, putting cocktails on the menu whatever the occasion. We are pioneering a whole new ‘ready-to-shake’ category.”

A QR code on every 50cl bottle links to a 30 second ‘how to’ video which explains the three simple serving steps, along with garnish suggestions, for each cocktail: 1, add ice and 125ml of the TAILS cocktail to a shaker; 2, experience that ‘bartender feeling’ by shaking until ice cold; and 3, pour into a glass.

TAILS will be available from April in supermarkets, specialist liquor stores and online across the UK & Ireland, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria, and Australia, supported by a digital-first marketing campaign focused on building awareness and driving trial of the new range.

For more information on TAILS COCKTAILS, visit www.tailscocktails.com.

Always drink responsibly.

About TAILS®

TAILS COCKTAILS is an exclusive range of premium pre-batched cocktails that bring the experience of the bar to consumers’ homes, with all the flavor and complexity of hand-made cocktails, but none of the effort. Established in 2010, TAILS was founded with a vision to make high-quality cocktails more accessible to a wider audience of cocktail lovers. Each TAILS COCKTAIL begins with the highest quality, premium spirits – BACARDI® Rum, 42BELOW® Vodka, BOMBAY SAPPHIRE® Gin and DEWAR’S® Blended Scotch whisky – blended with top quality ingredients. The TAILS brand is part of the portfolio of Bacardi Limited, headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda.

Visit www.tailscocktails.com.

About Bacardi

Bacardi Limited, the largest privately held spirits company in the world, produces and markets internationally recognized spirits and wines. The Bacardi Limited brand portfolio comprises more than 200 brands and labels, including BACARDÍ® rum, GREY GOOSE® vodka, PATRÓN® tequila, DEWAR’S® Blended Scotch whisky, BOMBAY SAPPHIRE® gin, MARTINI® vermouth and sparkling wines, CAZADORES® 100% blue agave tequila, and other leading and emerging brands including WILLIAM LAWSON’S® Scotch whisky, ST-GERMAIN® elderflower liqueur, and ERISTOFF® vodka. Founded over 160 years ago in Santiago de Cuba, family-owned Bacardi Limited currently employs more than 8,000, operates production facilities in 10 countries, and sells its brands in more than 170 countries. Bacardi Limited refers to the Bacardi group of companies, including Bacardi International Limited. Visit http://www.bacardilimited.com or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220330005116/en/

Contacts

Phillippa Williams, Corporate Communications Manager, Western Europe, Australia & New Zealand, pholmes@bacardi.com

Andrew Carney, Corporate Communications Director, Western Europe, Australia & New Zealand, acarney@bacardi.com

Synergis Software to Host Drawing Management & Collaboration Panel with Leaders from Eversource, Hoosier, and Great River Energy

 

Engineering and IT leaders from three utilities come together for a live webinar to discuss the costs of drawing management chaos, their solutions, the business impact, and best practices.

QUAKERTOWN, Pa-Thursday 31 March 2022 [ AETOS Wire ]

(BUSINESS WIRE) -- Synergis Software, a global leader in engineering document management and workflow solutions, is hosting a free live panel for engineering, operations, and IT leaders who want to learn how to overcome drawing management and collaboration chaos and create a more resilient, adaptable, and secure utility.

The live 90-minute webinar will take place on Wednesday, April 6, 2022, at 2:00 p.m. EDT. The panel will be moderated by Scott Lamond, Vice President at Synergis Software with these guest panelists:

• Paul J. Melzen, P.E., Director, Eversource Substation Engineering & Design

• Blake Donley, Principal Systems Analyst, Great River Energy

• Bernie Voges, Senior Protection Engineer, Hoosier Energy

Discussion topics will include the advantages of a centralized platform for drawing management and collaboration, best practices, and lessons learned for implementation and user adoption. Attendees will gain insights that will help them:

• Align engineering, construction, field service, and operations

• Ensure fast access to the right version, day or night

• Eliminate expensive mistakes and outages

• Simplify collaboration and accelerate projects

• Capture tribal knowledge and secure digital assets

• Streamline compliance and drive standards

The live Q&A session will allow attendees to get their questions answered.

Register now to reserve your seat, and if you can't attend, register to receive a replay.

“Our utility customers know the hidden costs and inefficiencies of doing business without a centralized drawing management and collaboration solution that aligns engineering, field service, operations, and construction,” says Scott Lamond, vice president at Synergis Software. “With our Adept engineering document management solution, utilities will increase asset reliability, improve operational efficiency, reduce compliance and safety risk, and lower operating costs.”

Paul Melzen, director, Eversource substation engineering and design says, “In addition to configuration control, drawing management has become more and more critical to reliability and compliance. If the drawings don't represent what's in the field, it's just a human error trap."

“When the people in the field can’t find the correct drawing, it can result in more man-hours spent to resolve an issue, which can have a direct impact on our customers,” adds Melzen. “Moreover, if we're designing and bidding on a project using inaccurate drawings, we’re exposing ourselves to the risk of change orders from our engineering and construction contractors. Not only can these issues have significant cost impacts to the company, but they can also impact compliance, reliability and safety.”

Synergis Adept is a proven solution used by utility customers such as Con Edison, Northwestern Energy, San Diego Gas & Electric, Dominion Energy, Emera Companies, Lansing Board of Water and Light, California Water Authority, Platte River Authority, Turlock Irrigation District and more.

For further information on the webinar or to register, visit the event page event page. If you can't attend, register to receive the replay.

About Synergis Software

Synergis Software is a global leader in document management and workflow solutions and is the creator of Synergis Adept software. Adept serves more than 120,000 users across dozens of industries providing fast, centralized access to design and business documents in a secure, collaborative environment. Adept Integrator connects your enterprise applications so your data and business processes flow seamlessly across your entire IT infrastructure.

Named the customer service leader in the global engineering information management market by Frost & Sullivan and ranked in the Top 5 globally by Helpdesk International for three consecutive years, our commitment to clients is unwavering.

Founded in 1985, Synergis Technologies, LLC is headquartered in Bucks County, PA and is privately owned and funded.

About Eversource

Eversource (NYSE: ES), celebrated as a national leader for its corporate citizenship, is the #1 energy company in Newsweek’s list of America’s Most Responsible Companies for 2021 and recognized as one of America’s Most JUST Companies. The #1 energy efficiency provider in the nation, the company is empowering a clean energy future in the Northeast, with nationally recognized energy efficiency solutions and successful programs to integrate new clean energy resources like solar, offshore wind, electric vehicles, and battery storage, into the electric system.

About Great River Energy

Great River Energy (GRE) is wholesale power cooperative; our member-owners are 28 Minnesota electric distribution cooperatives. Individuals and businesses are members of those distribution cooperatives based on their geographic location.

As a Touchstone Energy Cooperative, GRE is a part of a nationwide alliance made of more than 750 electric cooperatives in 46 states.

About Hoosier Energy

Hoosier Energy serves 18-member electric cooperatives in central and southern Indiana and southeastern Illinois. Founded in 1949 and based in Bloomington, Indiana, Hoosier Energy is a generation and transmission electric cooperative providing wholesale power and services to member distribution cooperatives. Their portfolio includes coal, natural gas and renewable energy resources that deliver power through a nearly 1,700-mile transmission network.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220330005277/en/

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Contacts

Scott Lamond
Vice President of Marketing
Email: scott.lamond@synergis.com
Phone: 215-302-3006

 

Permalink : https://www.aetoswire.com/news/synergis-software-to-host-drawing-management-amp-collaboration-panel-with-leaders-from-eversource-hoosier-and-great-river-energy/en

 

Alma Technologies Launches Scalable Encoder and Decoder Semiconductor IP for VESA DSC 1.2b Visually Lossless Compression

ATHENS, Greece.-Wednesday 30 March 2022 [ AETOS Wire ]

(BUSINESS WIRE)-- IP Highlights:

- Fully compliant with VESA DSC 1.2b and backwards compatible with DSC 1.1

- Ultra-low latency visually lossless image compression for all types of content

- Scalable architecture supporting up to 10K @120Hz with native pixel coding and up to 16 bits per color for high color depth and HDR content

- Compatible with major transport standards including MIPI DSI, VESA DisplayPort 1.4 and HDMI 2.1

Alma Technologies S.A. today announced its new UHT-DSC-E and UHT-DSC-D DSC 1.2b encoder and decoder IP cores that enable the transport of high-definition content with up to 10K resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, high dynamic range and high color depth through existing interfaces, such as VESA DisplayPort, MIPI DSI and HDMI 2.1.

Extending Alma Technologies UHTTM Image and Video Compression family of JPEG, JPEG 2000 and H.264 IP, these ultra-high throughput and scalable performance semiconductor IP implementations of the DSC 1.2b standard provide a fully accelerated, standalone and robust compression solution in a single IP instance, saving on ASIC or FPGA silicon area and power. The cores do not need an external memory device for their implementation and lower power consumption for longer battery life is further enabled by the reduced video interface data rates and video buffer sizes.

The new Alma Technologies encoder and decoder IP cores for DSC 1.2b are very easy-to-use and integrate in a system. They are self-contained, CPU-less, complete H/W implementations and are available either in RTL source code, or as pre-synthesized Netlists for all major FPGA vendor devices.

Contact us online at www.alma-technologies.com/contact, or call us at +30-210-603-9850 to learn more.

About Alma Technologies

Alma Technologies is a semiconductor IP provider, designing high-quality FPGA and ASIC IP cores since 2001. Its products stand out for their engineering, being complete, easy-to-use and reliable IP solutions. World-class technical support and a long track record of proven designs by more than 250 licensees in over 20 countries provide Alma Technologies customers with excellent service and great value.

UHT is a trademark of Alma Technologies.

All other trademarks and trade names are the property of their respective owners.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220330005026/en/

Contacts

Vassilis Spiliotopoulos

media@alma-technologies.com

+30-210-603-9850 ext.107

Permalink : https://www.aetoswire.com/news/alma-technologies-launches-scalable-encoder-and-decoder-semiconductor-ip-for-vesa-dsc-12b-visually-lossless-compression/en

Global Port Operator ICTSI Entrusts Rimini Street to Deliver Reliability, Stability, and Efficiency to its Global ERP System and Enable Business Growth

 A leading multinational company in the Philippines and one of the world’s top container terminal operators chooses Rimini Street software support for SAP to optimize ERP investments and align its ERP roadmap to business priorities

LAS VEGAS-Thursday 31 March 2022 [ AETOS Wire ]

(BUSINESS WIRE) -- Rimini Street, Inc. (NASDAQ: RMNI), a global provider of enterprise software products and services, the leading third-party support provider for Oracle and SAP software products, and a Salesforce partner, today announced that International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI), has switched to Rimini Street’s award-winning software support services for SAP. Rimini Street will support business-critical functions such as financials, treasury, asset tracking, equipment maintenance and repair that powers the entire sea freight business for the Philippines and other ICTSI-operated terminals.

By leveraging Rimini Street services, ICTSI will achieve 50% savings in annual support fees while enjoying an extraordinary client experience with improved service quality. The savings in both IT budget and resources will allow ICTSI to focus its resources and invest in transforming its SG&A processes, accelerating growth, and improving innovation, productivity and efficiency moving forward.

“Our existing ECC 6 platform has become a constraint, rather than an enabler for our business, with more and more initiatives that would drive efficiency and digital transformation either blocked, expensive, or requiring third-party add-on solutions. It is a legacy system, and, as such, it is vital that we minimize investment in it and divert that investment into preparing for a replacement that would again enable and transform our business,” said Brian Hibbert chief information officer, ICTSI. “Working with Rimini Street not only delivers that spend reduction, but with their exceptional support, we can turn our internal focus on preparing for that change and going to market for our future ERP needs.”

Established in 1987, ICTSI is a leader in the port operations sector, employing more than 7,000 people and managing 35 terminals in 20 countries. It is the Philippines’ largest multinational company and the eighth largest container terminal operator in the world, with established operations in both developed and emerging market economies. As the company explores digital transformation opportunities, ICTSI looks to the next evolution of its IT infrastructure.

"Process is always king. Preparing for a new ERP platform requires first reviewing our internal processes and data assets and ensuring that before we implement any new system, our processes and data requirements are driving that implementation,” added Hibbert. “Partnering with Rimini Street helps us ensure that our technology meets the needs and goals of our business today. Allowing us to focus on addressing emerging market requirements and being well-positioned to capitalize on future opportunities."

Personalized and Responsive Support Services

To deliver the experience and efficiencies clients have come to expect, Rimini Street leverages patented AI technology and a primary support engineer to provide ultra-responsive, personalized, premium-level services from highly experienced senior engineers. The Company continues to expand its portfolio with services that help clients optimize, evolve and transform their IT infrastructure. Rimini Street’s expanded portfolio of services and client success has put the Company on a stated target of $1 Billion in annual revenue by 2026.

“With Rimini Street's client-centric and expert-led support services, businesses like ICTSI are truly free to focus on aligning their IT roadmap, innovation plans, and investments with their strategic business objectives,” said Andrew Seow, regional general manager ASEAN and Greater China, Rimini Street. “Rimini Street’s enterprise software services are a game-changer for companies wanting to stabilize and maintain their IT operations and achieve cost efficiency while building resilience as they grow amid shifting business circumstances globally. As ICTSI continues its transformation journey, Rimini Street will continue to provide trusted, reliable services that deliver significant business value and offer peace of mind to ICTSI, allowing them to grow their business and optimize the value they deliver to their own stakeholders.”

About Rimini Street, Inc.

Rimini Street, Inc. (Nasdaq: RMNI), a Russell 2000® Company, is a global provider of enterprise software products and services, the leading third-party support provider for Oracle and SAP software products, and a Salesforce partner. The Company offers premium, ultra-responsive and integrated application management and support services that enable enterprise software licensees to save significant costs, free up resources for innovation and achieve better business outcomes. To date, more than 4,400 Fortune 500, Fortune Global 100, midmarket, public sector, and other organizations from a broad range of industries have relied on Rimini Street as their trusted application enterprise software products and services provider. To learn more, please visit http://www.riministreet.com, follow @riministreet on Twitter, and find Rimini Street on Facebook and LinkedIn. (IR-RMNI)

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements included in this communication are not historical facts but are forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements generally are accompanied by words such as “may,” “should,” “would,” “plan,” “intend,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential,” “seem,” “seek,” “continue,” “future,” “will,” “expect,” “outlook” or other similar words, phrases or expressions. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our expectations of future events, future opportunities, global expansion, and other growth initiatives and our investments in such initiatives. These statements are based on various assumptions and on the current expectations of management and are not predictions of actual performance, nor are these statements of historical facts. These statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties regarding Rimini Street’s business, and actual results may differ materially. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the amount and timing of repurchases, if any, under our stock repurchase program and our ability to enhance stockholder value through such program; the impact of our credit facility’s ongoing debt service obligations and financial and operational covenants on our business and related interest rate risk, including uncertainty from the discontinuance of LIBOR and transition to any other interest rate benchmarks; the duration of and operational and financial impacts on our business of the COVID-19 pandemic and related economic impact, as well as the actions taken by governmental authorities, clients or others in response to the continuance of the pandemic; catastrophic events that disrupt our business or that of our current and prospective clients, including terrorism and geopolitical actions specific to an international region; changes in the business environment in which Rimini Street operates, including inflation and interest rates, and general financial, economic, regulatory and political conditions affecting the industry in which Rimini Street operates; adverse developments in pending litigation or any new litigation; our need and ability to raise additional equity or debt financing on favorable terms and our ability to generate cash flows from operations to help fund increased investment in our growth initiatives; the sufficiency of our cash and cash equivalents to meet our liquidity requirements, including under our credit facility; our ability to maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting and our ability to remediate any identified material weaknesses in our internal controls; changes in laws and regulations, including changes in tax laws or unfavorable outcomes of tax positions we take, or a failure by us to establish adequate reserves for tax events; competitive product and pricing activity; challenges of managing growth profitably; the customer adoption of our recently introduced products and services, including our Application Management Services (AMS) offerings, in addition to other products and services we expect to introduce in the future; the loss of one or more members of Rimini Street’s management team; our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel; uncertainty as to the long-term value of Rimini Street’s equity securities; the effects of seasonal trends on our results of operations, including the contract renewal cycles for vendor supplied software support and managed services; our ability to prevent unauthorized access to our information technology systems, protect the confidential information of our employees and clients and comply with privacy and data protection regulations; and those discussed under the heading “Risk Factors” in Rimini Street’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on March 2, 2022, and as updated from time to time by Rimini Street’s future Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and other filings by Rimini Street with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, forward-looking statements provide Rimini Street’s expectations, plans, or forecasts of future events and views as of the date of this communication. Rimini Street anticipates that subsequent events and developments will cause Rimini Street’s assessments to change. However, while Rimini Street may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, Rimini Street specifically disclaims any obligation to do so, except as required by law. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing Rimini Street’s assessments as of any date subsequent to the date of this communication.

© 2022 Rimini Street, Inc. All rights reserved. “Rimini Street” is a registered trademark of Rimini Street, Inc. in the United States and other countries, and Rimini Street, the Rimini Street logo, and combinations thereof, and other marks marked by TM are trademarks of Rimini Street, Inc. All other trademarks remain the property of their respective owners, and unless otherwise specified, Rimini Street claims no affiliation, endorsement, or association with any such trademark holder or other companies referenced herein.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220330005165/en/

Contacts

Vikki Hansen

Rimini Street, Inc.

+1 (708) 556-3185

vhansen@riministreet.com

UN Secretary-General tells WGS2022: we need to support and help each other

 Governments urged to respond more effectively to poverty and climate change


DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES.-Thursday 31 March 2022 [ AETOS Wire ]

United Nations Secretary General António Guterres called on the world to support and help each other, in a passionate appeal to delegates at the World Government Summit (WGS2022) in Dubai.

Addressing delegates via video link he said: “Today, it is more important than ever before for governments to meet and discuss how we respond to the challenges we face today – from conflict to poverty and climate change.”

Guterres added that both people at an individual level and fragile ecosystems are being hit by the impact of climate change.

The need for governments to act to tackle climate change, geopolitical conflicts and health crises dominated discussions during the Summit on day two.

Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stressed an urgent need to ensure greater COVID-19 vaccine equality worldwide, adding “Expanding vaccine distribution is a high priority for the WHO, and there is an urgent need to increase local production of vaccines.”

Meanwhile, Kuwait’s Prime Minister His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah said future governments will be transformed and driven by the impact of technology and digital transformation.

His Highness said: "By enabling the smarter use of technology and digital solutions we are able to tackle many of the challenges of today.”

On an optimistic note, leaders of three African nations described the future of Africa as “bright” amid major opportunities for international investors.

His Excellency Philip Mpango, Vice President of Tanzania, Rt. Hon. Robinah Nabbanja, Prime Minister of Uganda, and His Excellency Mohamed Béavogui, Prime Minister of Guinea, spoke of the resilience of the African continent to grow despite a series of shocks.

Contacts

APCO Worldwide

Raneen Nasrallah

rnasrallah@apcoworldwide.com

Permalink : https://www.aetoswire.com/news/un-secretary-general-tells-wgs2022-we-need-to-support-and-help-each-other/en

CRN® Lists ExaGrid in Its 2022 Partner Program Guide

 ExaGrid Reseller Partner Program added to the ultimate list of industry-leading technology vendors in the IT Channel

MARLBOROUGH, Mass.-Thursday 31 March 2022 [ AETOS Wire ]

(BUSINESS WIRE) -- ExaGrid®, the industry’s only Tiered Backup Storage solution, today announced that its Reseller Partner Program has been recognized by CRN®, a brand of The Channel Company, in its 2022 Partner Program Guide. CRN’s annual Partner Program Guide is the ultimate list of the most notable partner programs from industry-leading technology vendors that provide innovative products and services through the IT channel.

CRN develops its Partner Program Guide every year to provide the channel community with a deep dive into the partner programs offered by IT vendors, service providers and distributors. Companies are scored based on investments in program offerings, partner profitability, partner training, education and support, marketing programs and resources, sales support, and communication.

ExaGrid offers many innovations in its ExaGrid Reseller Partner Program, including:

No inventory required

No milestones or commitments required

Deal registration for resellers who bring opportunities to ExaGrid to protect margin

SPIFF programs for reseller sales reps and solutions architects

Meeting Maker bonuses for customer prospect meetings

ExaGrid co-sells with its own sales force including technical field systems engineers

ExaGrid performs all customer support and the resellers gain all future orders for appliance and maintenance and support renewals

“ExaGrid strongly values its channel partners and is honored to be added to the CRN Partner Program Guide,” said Bill Andrews, President and CEO of ExaGrid. “ExaGrid’s Reseller Partner Program delivers on what channel partners are looking for: a product or solution that brings strong value to their customers; a product that works well and is well-supported; and a close selling relationship with the vendor, the ExaGrid sales team co-sells with our reseller partners and offers Solutions Architects an optional ExaGrid certified engineer course to really understand the technology and the value that ExaGrid can bring its customers.

“Resellers, like customers, have choices on the products they sell and buy. Resellers are not customers to the vendors but are in equal partnership with the vendor. That is what makes it work!” said Andrews.

“CRN’s Partner Program Guide delves into the strengths of each organization’s partner program in order to honor those that consistently support and promote good change within the IT channel,” said Blaine Raddon, CEO of The Channel Company. “As innovation fuels the speed and complexity of technology today, solution providers want partners that can keep up with and assist their growing business.”

The 2022 Partner Program Guide will be featured in the April 2022 issue of CRN and online at www.CRN.com/PPG.

ExaGrid Tiered Backup Storage – Built for Backup

ExaGrid provides Tiered Backup Storage with a front-end disk-cache Landing Zone, the Performance Tier, which writes data directly to disk for the fastest backups, and restores directly from disk for the fastest restores and VM boots. The long-term retention data is tiered to a deduplicated data repository, the Retention Tier, to reduce the amount of retention storage and resulting cost. This two-tiered approach provides the fastest backup and restore performance with lowest cost storage efficiency.

In addition, ExaGrid provides a scale-out architecture where appliances are simply added as data grows. Each appliance includes processor, memory and network ports, so as data grows, all resources required are available to maintain a fixed-length backup window. This scale-out storage approach eliminates expensive forklift upgrades, and allows for mixing appliances of different sizes and models in the same scale-out system, which eliminates product obsolescence while protecting IT investments up front and over time.

About ExaGrid

ExaGrid provides Tiered Backup Storage with a unique disk-cache Landing Zone, long-term retention repository, and scale-out architecture. ExaGrid’s Landing Zone provides for the fastest backups, restores, and instant VM recoveries. The retention repository offers the lowest cost for long-term retention. ExaGrid’s scale-out architecture includes full appliances and ensures a fixed-length backup window as data grows, eliminating expensive forklift upgrades and product obsolescence. ExaGrid offers the only two-tiered backup storage approach with a non-network-facing tier, delayed deletes, and immutable objects to recover from ransomware attacks. Visit us at exagrid.com or connect with us on LinkedIn. See what our customers have to say about their own ExaGrid experiences and learn why they now spend significantly less time on backup in our customer success stories.

ExaGrid is a registered trademark of ExaGrid Systems, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders.

About The Channel Company

The Channel Company enables breakthrough IT channel performance with our dominant media, engaging events, expert consulting and education, and innovative marketing services and platforms. As the channel catalyst, we connect and empower technology suppliers, solution providers and end users. Backed by nearly 40 years of unequalled channel experience, we draw from our deep knowledge to envision innovative new solutions for ever-evolving challenges in the technology marketplace. www.thechannelcompany.com

Follow The Channel Company: Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

© 2022 The Channel Company, LLC. CRN is a registered trademark of The Channel Company, LLC. All rights reserved.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220330005198/en/

Contacts

ExaGrid

Mary Domenichelli

mdomenichelli@exagrid.com

The Channel Company

Jennifer Hogan

The Channel Company

jhogan@thechannelcompany.com

Linedata Integrates AI and Prescriptive Analytics Into Its Solutions to Inform Clients’ Decisions

 PARIS & NEW YORK & TORONTO & CASABLANCA, Morocco-Tuesday 29 March 2022 [ AETOS Wire ]

(BUSINESS WIRE) -- Linedata (Euronext Paris: LIN) (Paris:LIN), a global provider of asset management and credit technology, data and services, today announced it has developed two artificial intelligence modules aimed at supporting clients in their decision-making and enhancing productivity in the follow-up of client cases. The new Digital Assistant and Sales Advisor modules, already used by Linedata’s clients from London to Toronto, are now available for the Linedata Ekip360 solution and can also be deployed on further Lending & Leasing solutions.

Khalid Dbich, Deputy CEO of SOFAC, a Moroccan company specializing in credit solutions, said: “Contrary to common belief, the financing offer with the best chance of success is not necessarily the one with the lowest monthly payment. It was important for us, at SOFAC, to master all the upstream information in order to provide the best advice, suggest the most suitable financing offers and, ultimately, remain competitive. Linedata’s Sales Advisor prescriptive analytics module provided a real answer to our needs. We immediately looked forward to participating in this promising project, which focuses on the concrete and tangible contributions of artificial intelligence to resolving business issues.”

Digital Assistant, an AI-powered assistant to benefit from peer expertise

The artificial intelligence that makes up Linedata’s Digital Assistant suggests actions to a case manager, based on the choices previously made by other users on the same type of case. The assistant thus generates the equivalent of a business workflow without requiring any complex configuration.

Linedata’s Digital Assistant is particularly useful as:

It avoids navigating across a number of submenus in order to select the appropriate option.

It simplifies the takeover of an ongoing case by an employee who is not very familiar with it by immediately indicating its current status and the next actions to be taken.

It acts as a virtual mentor to pass the essential know-how of more experienced colleagues to newcomers, who benefit from reliable suggestions for tasks to be performed.

Digital Assistant is based on a LSTM (Long Short Term Memory) recurrent neural network that takes into account the current screen and the sequence of actions that led to it in order to make the prediction. Digital Assistant exploits all the traceability data provided by the solution, makes them more reliable and enriches them with new concepts relating to accounting or financial processing.

Sales Advisor, to guide financing advisors

Linedata’s Sales Advisor module aims to transform the user experience of financing advisors by guiding them towards the offer to be put forward based on the probability of the transaction being validated.

In concrete terms, the tool performs analyses based on anonymized data about the buyer, the property to be financed or even the financing organization

“In business intelligence, prescriptive analytics helps make decisions by identifying the best choices among the various options available and within known limits. We have chosen this approach and developed two modules to be integrated into our software offering. This will allow our clients to make more informed decisions while maintaining a high level of productivity and efficiency,” explained Alain Mattei, Head of Lending & Leasing at Linedata.

Linedata designed Sales Advisor to help its clients optimize their business processes around three main use cases:

Improving the close rate of sales proposals by determining the most appropriate funding schedules

Helping sell additional services (insurance, maintenance, etc.)

Identifying loyal customers (future renewals) as early as possible in the setup process

To create the Sales Advisor module, Linedata’s experts deployed learning algorithms to calculate a relative probability of close between the different simulations offered to the client while taking into account the evolution of commercial policies over time. To achieve this, Linedata worked with a mixed team of data scientists and business experts who were able to collaborate on a fast-track implementation for SOFAC through a Datalab.

ABOUT LINEDATA

With 20 years’ experience and 700+ clients in 50 countries, Linedata’s 1100 employees in 20 offices provide global humanized technology solutions and services for the asset management and credit industries that help its clients to evolve and to operate at the highest levels.

Headquartered in France, Linedata achieved revenues of EUR 160.2 million in 2021 and is listed on Euronext Paris compartment B FR0004156297-LIN – Reuters LDSV.PA – Bloomberg LIN:FP

linedata.com

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220328005728/en/

Contacts

Press Contacts

Linedata

Aurélia Szymanski

+33 6 63 72 94 14

Aurelia.Szymanski@se.linedata.com

OPRG France for Linedata

Inès Marotte: +33 89 84 40 32

Florence Devillers: +33 6 29 76 07 62

France.Linedata@omnicomprgroup.com

THE SMARTER E EUROPE 2022: INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS FOR THE ENERGY TRANSITION AND SECURITY OF SUPPLY

 MUNICH-Thursday 31 March 2022 [ AETOS Wire ]

(BUSINESS WIRE) -- Independence from fossil fuels is key for climate protection – and is of relevance for security policy in light of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Europe must make enormous strides towards renewable energies in order to achieve climate targets and ensure security of supply. At The smarter E Europe – Europe's largest platform for the energy industry – 1,450 exhibitors will present innovative products and solutions to 50,000 trade visitors over an exhibition area of 132,000 m2 from May 11 to 13 in Munich.

Rising electricity and gas prices and dependence on Russian gas are giving the energy transition a tailwind. The transition is urgently needed, and possible: photovoltaics (PV) have been successful for two decades, the energy storage industry has been gaining traction for ten years, and electromobility and charging infrastructure are booming. The solutions for an independent energy supply are ready - now it is time to deploy them sustainably. Renewable energy, decentralization, digitalization, sector coupling, smart and networked energy systems as well as smart charging systems and e-mobility are the focus of The smarter E Europe 2022. Another key topic is green hydrogen. At the exhibition, the “Green Hydrogen Forum & Expo” will provide important impetus for bringing hydrogen, fuel cells, electrolysis and power-to-gas technology to the markets at an accelerated pace.

Focus on energy and mobility transition

The smarter E Europe includes four energy exhibitions: Intersolar Europe, ees Europe, Power2Drive Europe and EM-Power Europe. At Intersolar Europe, companies will present cell concepts and modules as well as inverters and solutions for building-integrated PV, agri-PV (simultaneous land use for agriculture and electricity production using PV systems) and floating PV systems. However, solar power alone does not make an energy transition; rather, what is needed is integrated solutions for a full supply of renewable energy 24/7 and across all seasons. The focus of ees Europe 2022 will therefore be on storage technologies, and in particular battery storage and green hydrogen.

Renewable energy and interconnected energy systems are closely linked to the goal of climate neutrality and the need to reassess security of supply. EM-Power Europe will therefore present smart grid solutions, smart buildings and neighborhoods, and digital business models for municipal utilities and energy providers. Power2Drive Europe will demonstrate the interconnectedness of new energies and mobility and explore everything related to the mobility of the future. This includes in particular intelligent charging solutions, vehicle-to-grid technologies, solar charging infrastructure and e-vehicles.

On May 10 – the day before the exhibition opens – visitors to the accompanying specialist conferences will discover all facets of the new energy world. In the evening, the industry innovation drivers will be honored with the Intersolar AWARD, the ees AWARD and The smarter E AWARD. Exhibition forums and workshops will bring visitors together with key industry representatives.

The smarter E Europe, which encompasses the four individual exhibitions will take place from May 11–13, 2022, at Messe München.

www.TheSmarterE.de

The original source-language text of this announcement is the official, authoritative version. Translations are provided as an accommodation only, and should be cross-referenced with the source-language text, which is the only version of the text intended to have legal effect.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220329005519/en/

Contacts

Solar Promotion GmbH | PO Box 100 170 | 75101 Pforzheim

Horst Dufner | Tel.: +49 7231 58598-0 | Fax: +49 7231 58598-28

dufner@solarpromotion.de

Press contact:

fischerAppelt, relations | Otl-Aicher-Str. 64 | 80807 Munich

Felizia Rein| Tel. +49 89 74 74 66 40

felizia.rein@fischerappelt.de

IPO bound, Netcore Cloud takes majority stake in Unbxd Inc, invests close to $100 mn - one of India's largest strategic SaaS investments, to date

MUMBAI, India-Thursday 31 March 2022 [ AETOS Wire ]

Establishes Netcore Cloud as a one-stop marketing stack for digital eCommerce brands and provides a strong foothold in the US & developed markets

Marks Netcore Cloud's fourth investment over the last three years, after Quinto.ai (Conversational commerce), Boxx.ai (Product recommendation), and Hansel.io (Product Experience) and is funded by its internal accruals

Unbxd Inc. was previously backed by marquee investors like Nirvana Ventures, Chiratae Ventures, Eight Roads, and Inventus Capital.

(BUSINESS WIRE) -- Netcore Cloud, a profitable SaaS company and global leader in customer communication, engagement, and retention, bets big on Personalization with its investment of close to $100 mn to acquire a majority stake in US-based, search-personalization company Unbxd Inc. It will also be infusing additional funding into Unbxd to propel the company's growth in developed markets.

Founded by Pavan Sondur and Prashant Kumar in 2012, Unbxd is a 120-member team and has built a best-in-class AI-powered Product Discovery suite. Its intelligent search solutions significantly improve retention and conversions for leading eCommerce retailers/B2C brands in the USA, UK, and Australia, including marquee brands like Mattress Firm, Express, Ashley Homestore, Home Shopping Network, Advance Auto Parts, The Children's Place, Mitre10, Kookai, and many others.

Netcore Cloud, has ranked a strong performer globally in email marketing by Forresterwave, commands 75% of India's & 50% of Asia's email traffic on its platform. With Unbxd's expertise in product discovery, the investment positions Netcore Cloud's as a leading Digital Experience Platform (DXP) globally. Leveraging Unbxd's AI-powered search expertise equips Netcore Cloud to deliver a real-time recommendation to its online eCommerce/app-first brand and retailer.

"The coming MarTech era will be defined by budget shifts from Adtech to MarTech as brands will focus more on unit economics and valuing existing customers. This will lead D2C/eCommerce brands to accelerate their spending towards delivering personalized customer experiences. Unbxd's AI/ML tech stack will empower our customers to track their shopper’s interactions with Search and implement site-wide Personalization, merchandising, along with shopper-focused recommendations. This will enable brands to optimize their entire customer journey, providing the best in class customer experience," said Kalpit Jain, Group CEO, Netcore Cloud.

"Netcore Cloud platform is growing rapidly at 40% YoY (with international markets growing 100% YoY ). We are positioned as the digital proxy in emerging markets. Added to that, this investment will enable us to get a strong foothold in the US and other developed markets as well. Furthermore, the combination of Unbxd and Netcore Cloud's capabilities will bolster our full-stack product offerings,” said Nishant Jain, Chief Strategy Officer and Head of M&A, Netcore Cloud.

He further added, “The SaaS market is very fragmented, and the era of SaaS consolidation is upon us. We intend to fast-track our growth exponentially with the Buy-Partner strategy. This is our fourth acquisition in quick succession, and we already have our eyes set on the next one.”

Pavan Sondur and Prashant, Co-founders at Unbxd, said, "Since our launch, we at Unbxd have been on a mission to solve the problem of discovery for digital commerce leveraging the power of AI. With our unique combination of personalization solutions and Netcore's robust full-stack marketing automation tech platform, it's a perfect partnership that can capture cross-selling opportunities and scale the business globally.

Netcore Cloud has confirmed that there will be no change in the company's management, as the founders and key management will continue to build and grow the company post this deal. Unbxd will operate as an independent entity.

About Netcore Cloud:

Netcore Cloud is a bootstrapped SaaS company that helps B2C brands and marketers create AI-powered new-age customer experiences at every touchpoint of a customer's journey. Netcore Cloud's full-stack marketing platform enables highly personalized digital experiences that are easily scalable and provide actionable analytics, real-time reporting, and quick to implement solutions across channels. Brands using Netcore Cloud can have a unified view of their customers and optimize their user experience.

Headquartered in Mumbai, India, with 11 offices across the USA, Singapore, Malaysia, Nigeria, Indonesia, UAE, UK, and Germany, Netcore Cloud serves 5000+ customers across the globe. It delivers 17+ billion emails and tracks 100+ billion marketing events every month. Netcore Cloud is a trusted partner across industries with some of the most respected brands like MaxLife Insurance, ICICI Bank, Standard Chartered, Flipkart, Myntra, Miss Amara, Airtel, Disney Hotstar, Canon, Puma, Tobi, EaseMyTrip, PizzaHut and McDonald's. For more information, visit https://netcorecloud.com/

About Unbxd:

Unbxd is an eCommerce product discovery platform to help online retailers provide a seamless shopping experience to customers. The company deploys self-learning AI/ML models and advanced algorithms to deliver personal recommendation and merchandising controls. Presently, the company empowers 3.5% of all US e-commerce on-site search queries spread over 150+ customers. The company has a wide presence in 40+ countries and provides intelligent site search to more than 1,200 eCommerce sites.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220328005966/en/

Contacts

Simone Pious | simone.pious@netcorecloud.com | +91 9930354205

Rajashree Arandhara | rajashree.arandhara@2020msl.com | +91 78990 60517

Reshma Nair | reshma.nair@2020.com | + 91 9901372965

GCCA: Cement and Concrete Industry Launches Net Zero Accelerators Across the World – Including Focus on the ‘Global South’

 Accelerator program includes national roadmaps and government dialogues in Egypt, India, Thailand, and Colombia - kicking off local phase of 2050 net zero global commitment

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates-Thursday 31 March 2022 [ AETOS Wire ]

Major cement and concrete producers from across the globe are launching the first wave of Net Zero Accelerators in India, Thailand, Egypt, and Colombia to help national industries reach decarbonisation targets by 2050

The Accelerators will identify and drive a range of decarbonisation levers reflecting local factors and highlighting the best approach to meeting net zero targets

The initiatives signal the start of the national and regional phase of the GCCA’s 2050 Net Zero Global Roadmap, which emphasises the importance of local action and policymaking to help the cement and concrete industry achieve its decarbonisation commitments

First phases of Accelerator program include focus across the global south to help decarbonisation progress where building and infrastructure needs have been called the most pressing

Accelerator initiative launched at UNFCCC’s MENA Climate Week event in Dubai

(BUSINESS WIRE) -- The Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) has today launched a series of Net Zero Accelerator initiatives to help national cement and concrete industries decarbonise in line with the GCCA’s 2050 Net Zero Global Industry Roadmap.

The first wave of Accelerators will launch in Egypt, which later this year will be the host country for COP27, as well as in India, Thailand and Colombia. These countries combined represent approximately 10% of global cement and concrete production. Concrete, a local and durable material, is fundamental to overcoming sustainable development challenges which many parts of the world are facing, such as population growth, increasing urbanisation and the need for more resilient infrastructure and communities in the face of a rapidly changing climate.

Globally, cement and concrete manufacture accounts for around 7% of CO2 emissions. The global plan to eliminate these emissions by 2050 requires all parts of the world to accelerate the reductions in CO2 emissions. The Accelerator program will identify the barriers to decarbonisation in target countries and recommend key actions. This includes encouraging government policies that can have an immediate impact, such as better recycling, the use of waste as an alternative to fossil fuels, and other circular economy practices. It will also include identifying lighthouse projects that can fully eliminate emissions over the next decades, such as carbon capture utilisation and storage technologies.

Thomas Guillot, GCCA Chief Executive, said: “Last year our industry made a breakthrough net zero global commitment. This is the next logical step as we move our focus from a global roadmap to driving decisive local action.

“Concrete will continue to be the world’s most used building material for decades to come, meaning global cooperation between governments and industry is crucial to ensuring net zero targets are met. Our Net Zero Accelerators will offer collaboration and support to a number of target countries to help them decarbonise and align with the global roadmap. I’m proud to launch the first phase of the Accelerator program to assist these nations in embracing greener technologies and work towards a more sustainable future together. I now call on more partners around the world to join us and be part of this movement.”

His Excellency, Dr Mahmoud Mohieldin, COP 27 UNFCCC High-Level Champion of Egypt, said: “Much of the infrastructure the world needs to overcome our major global challenges – such as alleviating poverty, the need for clean water and energy, and safe, affordable housing – is yet to be built.

“Cement and concrete will play a critical role in delivering a healthier, more resilient, zero carbon world as the industry moves to rapidly and fully decarbonise. As such, we are pleased to support the Net Zero Accelerator initiative, helping developing countries achieve their decarbonisation targets, as we work to support all industries and countries with their climate ambitions to help build a more sustainable future for all. The full and willing participation of a sector which accounts for 7-8% of global CO2 emissions is critical to contribute to the goal of the 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement to limit global warming well below 2°C degrees and as close as possible to 1.5°C.”

The accelerator programme comprises three elements – i. net zero national roadmaps including emissions forecasts, reduction levers, policy needs and the industry commitment; ii. identification and funding exploration for large scale carbon cutting ‘Lighthouse’ Projects; and iii. policy dialogues with national governments to help accelerate the transition.

The GCCA is partnering with the cement and concrete industry on the ground and will work closely with policymakers, designers, and the construction sector to help overcome procurement and resourcing challenges, as well as demonstrate the business case for greener technologies to be used on a wider scale.

The Accelerators will help align Phase 1 countries’ cement and concrete industries with the GCCA’s 2050 Net Zero Roadmap, which marked the biggest global commitment by a heavy industry to decarbonise when it was launched last year. The Roadmap sets out a path to fully decarbonise by 2050, a target aligned with the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 1.5°C. The roadmap actions between now and 2030, to reduce concrete related emissions by 25%, will prevent almost 5 billion tonnes of carbon from entering the atmosphere compared to a business-as-usual scenario.

Lighthouse Projects and a new tranche of phase two Accelerators will be announced later this year.

Notes to editors:

About the GCCA:

Launched in January 2018, the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) is dedicated to developing and strengthening the sector’s contribution to sustainable construction. The GCCA aims to foster innovation throughout the construction value chain in collaboration with industry associations as well as architects, engineers, and innovators. In this way, the association demonstrates how concrete solutions can meet global construction challenges and sustainable development goals while showcasing responsible industrial leadership in the manufacture and use of cement and concrete. The GCCA is headquartered in London, England. It complements and supports the work done by associations at the national and regional levels.

The GCCA works with key a range of partners. It co-leads the Mission Possible Partnership’s Concrete Action for Climate initiate with the World Economic Forum. The GCCA is also an official accelerator for the Race to Zero.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220329005500/en/

Contacts

Media enquiries should be directed to:

Ed Coy

GCCA@BCW-global.com

Promise of new horizons stirs World Government Summit 2022

  Dubai, United Arab Emirates-Tuesday 29 March 2022 [ AETOS Wire ]

A new dawn for peace in the Middle East dominated talks at the World Government Summit 2022 (WGS2022) today as the UAE president’s diplomatic adviser stressed the need to work with all countries in the region.

The UAE will work with all nations to promote prosperity and stability in the Middle East, His Excellency Dr. Anwar bin Mohammed Gargash, Diplomatic Advisor to the UAE President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, said.

“We are reaching out to friends and also adversaries and rebuilding bridges. We are not going to agree with everything they want to do,” he said on the first day of WGS2022.

Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), said Russia has not been suspended from the IMF.

Speaking at a plenary session at WGS 2022, she said: “The board can only suspend them if the membership of the Fund says we do not recognise this particular government anymore. There has to be dialogue.”

Umm Al Quwain launched the Sustainable Blue Economy Strategy, which aims to contribute 40% to the emirate’s GDP by 2031. This includes meeting a net-zero emissions target by 2031 and dedicate a fifth of Umm Al Quwain’s land area to nature reserves.

His Highness Sheikh Majid bin Saud bin Rashid Al Mualla, Chairman of the Umm Al Quwain Department of Tourism and Archaeology, announced the intention to establish the Umm Al Quwain Centre for Entrepreneurship and the Blue Economy that will deliver eight transformative projects.

Umm Al Quiwain has seen GDP rise by 34% in the past decade, foreign direct investment nearly double in eight years, and exports increase threefold since 2017.

With “astronomical” demand for flights, Emirates President Sir Tim Clark promised renovation of the airline’s iconic fleet of A380s, which have produced 80% of the Dubai carrier’s profits. “We’re going to refurbish them, refresh them, put more innovation into them, and they’re going to be something really special,” he said.

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Contacts

APCO Worldwide

Raneen Nasrallah 

rnasrallah@apcoworldwide.com

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