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Cambodia Donates 200,000 Doses of Covid-19 Vaccines to Laos

Cambodia donates Sinovac vaccines to Laos
Lao Minister of Health, Dr. Bounfeng Phoummalaysith, receives the Sinovac vaccines from Secretary of State of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cambodia, Mr. Ouch Borith.

Cambodia has provided Laos with some 200,000 doses of the Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine to assist the country in its battle against the coronavirus outbreak.

2Africa Extended to The Arabian Gulf, Pakistan and India

Now the Longest Subsea Cable System in the World

HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 28 September 2021 – The 2Africa consortium, comprised of China Mobile International, Facebook, MTN GlobalConnect, Orange, stc, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone and WIOCC, announced today the addition of a new segment – the 2Africa PEARLS branch – extending to the Arabian Gulf, Pakistan and into India. This extension will bring the total length of the 2Africa cable system to over 45,000 kilometers, making it the longest subsea cable system ever deployed.

 

Now connecting three continents, Africa, Europe and Asia terrestrially through Egypt, 2Africa creates unique connectivity by adding vital landing locations in Oman (Barka), UAE (Abu Dhabi and Kalba), Qatar (Doha), Bahrain (Manama), Kuwait (Kuwait), Iraq (Al-Faw), Pakistan (Karachi), India (Mumbai), and a fourth landing in Saudi Arabia (Al Khobar). The new 2Africa PEARLS branch joins recently announced extensions to the Canary Islands, the Seychelles, Comoros Islands, Angola, and a new landing to south-east Nigeria.

 

As with other 2Africa cable landings, capacity will be available in PEARLS landings at carrier-neutral facilities or open-access cable landing stations on a fair and equitable basis, encouraging and supporting the development of a healthy internet ecosystem. 

 

To further support a burgeoning global digital economy, the expanded system will serve an even wider range of communities that rely on the internet for services from education to healthcare, and businesses, providing economic and social benefits that come from increased connectivity. As announced in May 2020, 2Africa was planned to directly bring seamless international connectivity to 1.2 billion people. Today, with 2Africa PEARLS, 2Africa will be providing international connectivity to an additional 1.8 billion people–that’s 3 billion people, representing 36% of the global population.

 

Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) will deploy the new system utilizing new technologies such as SDM that allow the deployment of up to 16 fiber pairs, double that of older technologies and bringing greater and more cost-effective capacity.

 

According to China Mobile International (CMI), extending the 2Africa cable system to bring international connectivity to more people in Africa, the Middle East and Asia helps deliver on its vision of driving intelligent digital transformation. CMI continues to invest in the Arabian Gulf region, and the new 2Africa PEARLS branch is an important addition to its network further connecting its PoPs around the Arabian Sea to its digital infrastructure to Europe and Asia. Together with the London and Frankfurt data centers launched earlier, CMI’s resources has built a superhighway, ensuring the capacity as well as the service quality to address the increased bandwidth demand driving by 5G and digitalization, between Europe-Africa-middle East-Asia.

#2Africa

Data Sharing Key to Solving Asia’s Biggest Economic and Societal Challenges: Microsoft Asia Whitepaper

  • The whitepaper, created with the Open Data Institute, captures lessons from governments and organizations in Asia that have embarked on data sharing initiatives
  • Building a foundation of trust, greater public-private collaboration, and a proactive approach by governments will unlock new opportunities to innovate and solve Asia’s biggest challenges

SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 28 September 2021 – Microsoft today, with support from the Open Data Institute (ODI), released a whitepaper that reveals lessons to help governments and organizations in Asia fully realize the benefits of data sharing and collaboration. It found that establishing a foundation of trust through privacy, security and governance; collaboration between public and private sector stakeholders; and actions by governments to create a strong enabling environment, were crucial to building momentum on data sharing.

 

Today, 50% of the data generated by online interactions is amassed by less than 100 companies. If this ‘data divide’ continues, economic value will flow only to a few economies and companies in the region. The whitepaper titled “Sharing Data for Impact: Lessons from Data Sharing Initiatives in Asia” was launched as part of Microsoft’s ongoing efforts to address the data divide, by empowering people and organizations to share and use data more effectively and equitably. With support from ODI, the whitepaper features learnings from 10 case studies of data collaboration across markets in Asia – including Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, and Taiwan.

 

Mike Yeh, Regional Vice President and Director of Corporate, External and Legal Affairs, Microsoft Asia, said: “Data is indispensable to managing some of Asia’s most urgent challenges – from combatting the pandemic, to reducing carbon emissions, and tackling cybersecurity. Regardless of the problem that Asia faces, there’s a good chance that data can be part of the solution. Asia is uniquely poised to be a leader in unlocking the potential of data sharing, as a populous, mobile-first region. But we know that unlocking that potential can only happen when a foundation of trust is established, and when the public and private sectors work together. At Microsoft, we are committed to partnering and growing with governments and organizations in the region to unlock the plentiful opportunities data can bring to Asia.”

 

Jack Hardinges, Programme Lead, Data Institutions, Open Data Institute, said: “Data sharing is most successful when governments and organizations work together to drive an enabling environment that upholds security, privacy and interoperability. We are committed to building a world where data works for everyone. This means getting data to those who need it, particularly in response to UN Sustainable Development Goals. The case studies that inform the whitepaper’s learnings show us that Asia is on the way to establishing an open, trustworthy data ecosystem – and can take intentional steps to close the ‘data divide’ in ways that benefit societies and economies.”

 

Dr. Meri Rosich, Chief Data Officer, Standard Chartered Bank, said “Data has the immense capability to unlock a more sustainable future for Asia, and create more value for businesses, governments and societies. Data science is maturing in the region, bringing us opportunities to skill and mature the workforce, customize solutions for customers, build better infrastructure and innovate. All these should be strengthened by established governance policies and strong ethics principles to drive the transformation that advanced data and AI solutions can bring.”

 

Trust Foundational to Data Sharing

A common theme is that a lack of trust can undermine data sharing initiatives – but this can be overcome through efforts to protect privacy and security, and through strong governance models:

  • Privacy management practices are essential, and there is a key role for tools like confidential computing and differential privacy – a practice used in the opening of LinkedIn’s labor market insights data
  • To uphold security in data sharing, security-by-design approaches and alignment with security certifications promote trust – cloud-based solutions for data sharing deliver cutting-edge security protections for organizations sharing data 
  • Governance models can also be built to protect commercial sensitivities – Through the AI Data Consortium in Japan, contract templates and smart contracts are being developed for AI practitioners to share data more easily

Greater Public-Private Collaboration

The whitepaper further establishes that opportunities for data can only be maximized through active public-private collaboration. Impact is greater when data is useable and interoperable.

  • Collaborating on data reaps benefits – such as in sharing LinkedIn data on in-demand roles to close skills gaps in Asia or Microsoft cyber threat intelligence open-source data on COVID-19 related threats to bolster cybersecurity and inform policymaking
  • Useability and interoperability can be better facilitated through publishing data that anyone can use and redistribute and is available in common formats with no useability restrictions

Governments to Lead the Charge

Lastly, the paper demonstrated that governments have a key role to play in creating an enabling environment for data sharing to flourish. Priority actions for governments are to publish more useable government data, implement national data sharing policies, and engage with industry and other stakeholders to ensure that regulations affecting data sharing are balanced and transparent. Further regional cooperation to support data sharing through groups like ASEAN and APEC would also have significant positive impact.

Lenovo ThinkSmart Core Modular Collaboration Solution Helps Hong Kong Organizations Embrace Hybrid Working Models

HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 28 September 2021 – Lenovo™ today announced that ThinkSmart™ Core is now available in Hong Kong. As a collaborative solution built for the next phase of hybrid work, ThinkSmart Core is Lenovo’s first modular room kit for meeting spaces that enables both flexibility and scalability, powered by the 11th Gen Intel vPro® platform designed to deliver high performance and comprehensive hardware-based security features. As a certified solution for Microsoft Teams Rooms, ThinkSmart Core is available in two room kit configurations:

  • ThinkSmart Core + Controller: This kit is designed for workspaces that are already equipped with Teams-certified audio and visual devices.
  • ThinkSmart Core Full Room Kit: The ThinkSmart Core compute device and Controller are paired with the ThinkSmart Cam and ThinkSmart Bar XL to offer high-quality video and immersive audio as well as smarter features for an improved collaboration experience. Supporting huddle rooms, boardrooms and home offices.

Powered by an 11th Gen Intel® Core™ vPro processor with 256GB SSD1, the ThinkSmart Core compute device supports almost any meeting room, and can be placed discreetly with a clever integrated cable management and VESA mount compatibility.

 

A 10.1-inch point-to-point touchscreen, the ThinkSmart Controller is powered by USB-C through a 10-meter cable2 and can detect whenever participants enter the room with its integrated infrared sensors. Its integrated stand offers both 30-degree or 60-degree viewing angles, while a 3.5mm headphone jack provides direct audio connection.

 

ThinkSmart Manager 2.0

Lenovo also unveiled ThinkSmart Manager 2.0, a feature-rich conference room solution. ThinkSmart Manager is a transformative tool designed to help businesses drive better communication and collaboration in the workplace, empowering IT and operations teams with a way to evolve the workplace itself. It gives admins the power to deploy, manage and monitor all of their Lenovo ThinkSmart meeting room devices from one place, enabling full visibility into device status.

 

New features and updates include:

  • A single-state dashboard of in-meeting analytics for Microsoft Teams Rooms
  • The addition of a mobile app for iOS™ or Android™ devices allowing IT admins to access ThinkSmart Manager from their phone where they can check device status, and receive push notifications with a dashboard view of deployed services
  • Visibility into both device status (ok/error) and state (online/offline/in meeting)
  • The ability to create and send team notifications within ThinkSmart Manager without having to switch to email.
  • Bulk claiming via simple CSV file upload so that IT admins can register all devices at once upon receipt instead of having to physically register in each conference room, saving them time and energy, especially on large campuses where rooms are spread out. 


Deploy, Manage and Maintain
As with all Lenovo ThinkSmart products, the components come standard with Lenovo’s Premier Support, providing access to advanced technicians 24-hours a day, 365 days a year. The ThinkSmart Core kits also include one year of Lenovo’s value-added software and services:

  • ThinkSmart Professional Services: Deploy and Maintain will help IT departments set up each kit, configure and integrate into existing unified communications platforms; and includes a one-year renewable maintenance contract that also comprises a redeployment option to a new meeting space if required.
  • ThinkSmart Manager Premium is the premium version of ThinkSmart Manager. Maintaining effective collaboration means the technology needs to be always on, always connected and easy to use. ThinkSmart Manager Premium helps IT departments to configure, control and manage the entire portfolio of ThinkSmart solutions from a single intuitive interface.


ThinkSmart Core Kit comes with a year of Lenovo’s value-added software and services, including a license for ThinkSmart Manager Premium, Lenovo’s collaboration management software suite, and ThinkSmart Professional Services: Deploy and Maintain.

 

ThinkSmart Core + Controller and ThinkSmart Core Full Room Kit are both available now in Hong Kong at www.lenovo.com/ThinkSmart.1 Please contact your local representative for pricing.

Specifications at a glance:

ThinkSmart Core

Performance

Processor

Intel® Core™ i5-1145G7E IoTG vPro® Processor

OS

Windows 10 IoT Enterprise SAC

Memory

8GB (Dual Channel) DDR4 3200MHz

Storage

256GB PCIe TLC SSD

Graphics

Intel® Iris® Xe Graphics

Security

Chip

TPM 2.0

Physical

Kensington™ MiniSaver lock slot

Connectivity

Ports

1 x HDMI Ingest

2 x HDMI-Out

1 x RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet

2 x USB-A 3.2 Gen 2

1 x USB-A 3.2 Gen 1

1 x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2

1 x USB-C 3.2 Gen 1 for ThinkSmart Controller

1 x Standard Think Power

Wireless

WLAN 802.11 AC (2×2)

Bluetooth® Low Energy (LE) 5.0

Design

Dimensions

(W x D x H)

226 x 200 x 37.5mm

8.90 x 7.87 x 1.48 in

Weight

1.12kg

2.47 lbs

ThinkSmart Controller

Design

 

10.1-inch 10-point Touch (1280×800) with 16:10 aspect ratio

30- and 60-degree rotatable, anti-glare and anti-fingerprint

Connectivity

 

1 x USB-C 2.0

1 x 3.5mm headphone

Security

 

Kensington™ MiniSaver lock slot

 

 


1 Actual available capacity is less and varies due to many factors, including formatting, partitioning and operating system, etc. which utilize part of this capacity. The available capacity may change with software updates.

2 10-meter cable is included with purchase.

 

LENOVO and THINKSMART are trademarks of Lenovo. Intel, the Intel logo, and other Intel marks are trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries. VESA is a trademark of the Video Electronics Standards Association. Microsoft Teams is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. USB Type-C® and USB-C® are registered trademarks of USB Implementers Forum. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. ©2021, Lenovo Group Limited.

About Lenovo

Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) is a US$60 billion revenue Fortune Global 500 company serving customers in 180 markets around the world. Focused on a bold vision to deliver smarter technology for all, we are developing world-changing technologies that power (through devices and infrastructure) and empower (through solutions, services and software) millions of customers every day and together create a more inclusive, trustworthy and sustainable digital society for everyone, everywhere. To find out more visit https://www.lenovo.com and read about the latest news via our StoryHub.

#Lenovo

ADB: Economic Recovery in Laos Delayed by Covid-19

COVID-19 Delays Economic Recovery in Laos
Lane Xang Avenue in Vientiane Capital.

Economic recovery in Laos slowed amid a second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic that has led to lockdowns and lower consumer spending, according to a report released by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

NetApp Outpaces Market YoY Growth in APAC’s All-Flash Array and Open Networked Market Segments in Q2 2021, Says Leading Analyst Firm

NetApp ranked first in All-Flash Array and Open Networked market share by vendor revenue in Taiwan, and first in All-Flash Array market share by vendor revenue in both India and Hong Kong, for Q2 2021

SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 28 September 2021 – Global cloud-led, data-centric software company NetApp (NASDAQ: NTAP) today announced that it has achieved double-digit percentage growth, year-on-year, in the All-Flash Array (AFA)[1] and Open Networked[2] segments for the Asia-Pacific[3] (APAC) region, according to the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Enterprise Storage Systems Tracker, Q2 2021 (September 2021 release).

 

The company retained its position as the second largest vendor by vendor revenue, quarter-on-quarter, in the AFA segment for the APAC region, according to IDC.

Across the APAC region in Q2 2021, NetApp achieved 19.5 percent and 15.1 percent year-on-year growth for its AFA and Open Networked business segments, respectively, outpacing overall market growth, according to IDC. This was driven by strong performances in Taiwan, India, and Hong Kong.

  • In Taiwan, NetApp achieved 158.7 percent year-on-year growth for its AFA business in Q2 2021, outpacing market growth of 31.9 percent, according to IDC. This performance established NetApp as the local AFA segment leader in Q2 2021, with a market share of 45.6 percent by vendor revenue. In the Open Networked segment, NetApp achieved 102.4 percent local year-on-year growth in Q2 2021, outpacing market growth of 25.5 percent, according to IDC. This performance established NetApp as the local Open Networked segment leader in Q2 2021, with a market share of 38.4 percent by vendor revenue.
  • In India, NetApp achieved 35.6 percent local year-on-year growth for its AFA business in Q2 2021, outpacing market growth of 13.8 percent, according to IDC. This performance elevated NetApp’s position from third to first, quarter-on-quarter, in the local AFA segment in Q2 2021, with a market share of 30.1 percent by vendor revenue.
  • In Hong Kong, NetApp achieved 43.4 percent local year-on-year growth for its AFA business in Q2 2021, outpacing market growth of 4.3 percent, according to IDC. This performance elevated NetApp’s position from second to first, quarter-on-quarter, in the local AFA segment in Q2 2021, with a market share of 22 percent by vendor revenue.

“NetApp’s exceptional growth in the APAC region’s AFA and Open Networked segments, in Q2 2021, is a validation of our vision and ability to innovate in the storage marketplace,” said Sanjay Rohatgi, Senior Vice President and General Manager, APAC, NetApp. “Our enterprise storage portfolio will continue to be a key part of our hybrid cloud and data fabric strategy, to meet organizations’ digital transformation needs and help them keep up with evolving business requirements. By continuing to provide market leading storage infrastructure and services that unlock the best of cloud and deliver the best cloud-like experiences on-premises, we enable enterprises to truly put their data to work – wherever and whenever they need it.”

 

Modern All-Flash Arrays by NetApp provide robust data services, integrated data protection, seamless scalability, and new levels of performance. These software features, along with deep cloud and application integration, enable the provisioning of storage within minutes. By easily connecting to more public clouds, customers can enjoy both the advanced services and cost savings that they are looking for.

NetApp mostly recently expanded its strategic partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS), making it the first and only storage environment that is truly enabled for the hybrid cloud and natively integrated into each of the major public cloud providers. The company has also expanded its partnership with Microsoft to deliver digital workspaces on demand for the modern workforce.



[1] The AFA segment refers to a network storage system that only supports all-flash media as persistent storage and is available under a unique stock keeping unit (SKU).

[2] The Open Networked segment refers to all enterprise storage systems that are not directly attached to a server and deployed in the open operating system environment (this excludes mainframe operating environments).

[3] APAC refers to Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand, excludes Mainland China

About NetApp:

NetApp is a global cloud-led, data-centric software company that empowers organizations to lead with data in the age of accelerated digital transformation. The company provides systems, software and cloud services that enable them to run their applications optimally from data center to cloud, whether they are developing in the cloud, moving to the cloud, or creating their own cloudlike experiences on premises. With solutions that perform across diverse environments, NetApp helps organizations build their own data fabric and securely deliver the right data, services, and applications to the right people – anytime, anywhere. Learn more at www.netapp.com or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

NETAPP, the NETAPP logo, and the marks listed at www.netapp.com/TM are trademarks of NetApp, Inc.

#NetApp

Economic Recovery in East Asia and Pacific Faces Setback

Covid-19 in Asia Pacific Region
Covid-19 in Asia Pacific Region (Photo: Independent)

The East Asia and Pacific region’s recovery has been undermined by the spread of the Covid-19 Delta variant, prolonging the distress for firms and households, likely slowing economic growth and increasing inequality, the World Bank said on Monday.

Laos Records 500 Cases of Covid-19 as Small Cluster Forms in Xaysomboun Province

Xaysomboun Covid-19 Update

Laos has recorded more cases of community spread of Covid-19 across several provinces today, with thirteen cases in Xaysomboun Province involving residents who attended a funeral.