China Southern Power Grid (CSG) will seek more opportunities in Laos after being an active power investor and trading partner in the country.
Luang Prabang to Host Annual Boat Racing Festival in September
Luang Prabang will organize its annual boat racing festival in Khan River during the Buddhist Lent starting 14 September.
NetApp and DreamWorks Animation Extend Multi-Year Strategic Alliance
Partnership agreement maintains NetApp as the preferred cloud data services provider for the studio during the continued evolution of its hybrid cloud environment
SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 12 July 2023 – NetApp® (NASDAQ: NTAP), a global, cloud-led, data-centric software company, today announced the renewal of its strategic alliance and co-engineering partnership with DreamWorks Animation. NetApp will remain DreamWorks’ preferred cloud data services provider, and with the support of NetApp solutions, both on-premises and in the cloud, the studio will continue to evolve its hybrid cloud environment to ensure enhanced productivity, flexibility, and agility.
With the release of its latest animated feature Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken, DreamWorks Animation marks more than 25 years pushing the boundaries of both animation and the technologies they use to bring innovative films to global audiences. From the very beginning, NetApp has provided the studio with cutting-edge solutions to manage its ever-increasing production demands and data complexity. Additionally, NetApp’s co-engineering partnership with DreamWorks brings together engineers from both organizations to solve real-world engineering problems focused on optimizing workflows in a hybrid cloud environment, while decreasing latency.
“We’ve worked in lockstep with DreamWorks Animation to enable the studio’s digital transformation journey and accelerate its growth with NetApp’s product portfolio and the innovations resulting from our co-engineering efforts,” said Gabrielle Boko, CMO at NetApp. “NetApp’s All Flash Array solutions were the foundation of the hybrid storage required to manage the production’s complex data requirements, and it simplified the workflows for the giant character model of Ruby Gillman, so that the animators were focused on creativity, not capacity management.”
The technological advancements resulting from the NetApp and DreamWorks alliance include:
- Improved performance using NetApp AFF in DreamWorks’ high-performance computing environment and the ability to tier data more efficiently using NetApp StorageGrid.
- Increased agility by extending applications to the cloud using Azure NetApp Files and NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP, while extending geographic reach to support distributed resources.
- Decreased latency and a reduced datacenter footprint with NetApp ONTAP systems utilizing NetApp All Flash Arrays for energy and rackspace efficiency.
“In 2018, we moved from being a NetApp customer to engaging with them as a valued partner that brought the best of both companies’ resources together to accelerate our digital transformation,” said Bill Ballew, Chief Technology Officer at DreamWorks Animation. “Unlike many other businesses that simply rely on data, DreamWorks’ actual end product is completely composed of data. In fact, we generate up to a petabyte of data for each film, and we couldn’t bring the imaginative storytelling of our animated films to life without the world-class data management services that NetApp provides.”
Together, NetApp and DreamWorks Animation work together to continually evolve the tools and techniques needed to raise the bar of visual storytelling for each film at the studio. NetApp provides DreamWorks Animation with innovative technologies to manage the massive amount of data generated in production, while balancing data storage performance, flexibility, and cost.
“It’s amazing to witness the capabilities that a well-executed Hybrid Cloud Data Fabric strategy can bring to bear. In Asia Pacific’s digital-first business environment, hybrid cloud storage has become even more important for organizations to successfully modernize and transform,” said Matthew Swinbourne, CTO, Cloud Architecture, NetApp Asia Pacific. “NetApp is excited to partner with organizations to better manage their data across the hybrid cloud to deliver greater productivity, agility and cost efficiency to their operations, increasing their business competitiveness in the long haul.”
Additional Resources
DreamWorks Animation and NetApp: Unleashing Imagination with Data
Customer Success Story: DreamWorks Animation Takes Imagination to New Heights
Hashtag: #DreamWorksAnimation #HybridCloud #NetApp
https://www.linkedin.com/company/netapp/
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
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
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NETAPP, the NETAPP logo, and the marks listed at www.netapp.com/TM are trademarks of NetApp, Inc. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Taiwan Stock Exchange set to further attract foreign capital with newly launched ESG InfoHub and Investment InfoHub
This year, Taiwan’s capital market has shown tremendous strength with resilient fundamentals, high dividend returns, and a complete upstream and downstream supply chain in information and communication technology (ICT) industry. The recent AI frenzy, together with the expected end to US rate hikes, has attracted the foreign capital flow to return to Taiwan’s stock market. So far in 2023, the proportion of foreign capital in Taiwan stocks exceeded 40%, which has driven up stock prices in Taiwan. According to data from TWSE, as of June 30, Taiwan’s stock market was up 19.65% for the year, ranking fourth among the world’s major stock markets, and second only to the Japanese stock market 27% among Asian stock markets.
The total revenue of listed companies in Taiwan hit a record high of USD 1.31 trillion in 2022, with an annual growth rate of more than 5%. Judging from the estimated distributable cash for dividends, the estimated dividend yield is close to 5%, ranking among the best in the world. Among the constituent stocks of the Taiwan stock index, listed companies in technology, semiconductors and electronic components have a combined weight of more than 50%.
Sherman Lin, Chairman and CEO of the TWSE, said, “Taiwan’s stock market has sound fundamentals. This year, it has continued to attract foreign capital and recorded an outstanding rise in stock prices. We hope the foreign capital will keep coming to Taiwan and the launch of the ESG InfoHub and Investment InfoHub will help investors better understand the advantages of listed companies in Taiwan, so as to continuously attract foreign investment.”
Optimization of information disclosure with a one-stop service platform
The Investment InfoHub website aims to provide investors with one-stop integrated information services for making investment decisions. It integrates important information from the official website of the TWSE, Market Observation Post System and Market Information System websites. The key information of the markets and listed companies are presented with graphics and visualized analytic reports, providing investors with infographics to facilitate their use in comparison and analysis. In addition, all data reports provide outputs in various file formats such as pictures and tables, allowing investors to further process and utilize the data. By establishing the Investment InfoHub website, TWSE hopes to provide investors, especially foreign institutional investors, with a one-stop access to crucial reference materials needed for making investment decisions.
The ESG InfoHub website integrates ESG information, ESG products and other data from listed companies to make ESG-related information more accessible and useful to investors as an investment reference. Investors may use the platform to look for E (Environment), S (Social), and G (Governance) information of specific companies, and make comparison between companies and across industries to identify the opportunities in the ESG market. The launch of ESG InfoHub, which aims to facilitate ESG investment and drives sustainable finance, represents a critical milestone in the TWSE’s commitment to promoting the ESG ecosystem, making ESG a competitive advantage for Taiwanese companies in the global market and enhancing the international competitiveness of the capital market as a whole.
Adopting the approach of “Taiwan going out, the world coming in”, led by Chairman Sherman Lin, TWSE will arrange a delegation visit to New York, the global financial hub, for overseas roadshows and physical meetings with important institutional investors in September, in addition to their visits to Singapore, Malaysia, Japan and Vietnam during the first half of the year. The upcoming visit to New York aims to bolster Taiwan’s positioning in the international capital market, build long-term relationships and collaboration with major international financial institutions, and attract more foreign investment flow.
Launching new economy industry index to cover four new industry categories
Along with ESG InfoHub and Investment InfoHub, TWSE has also launched several new key measures in July, including adjustments to the industry classification of listed companies by adding four new categories, namely “Digital and Cloud Services” (four companies), “Sports and Leisure” (15 companies), “Green Energy and Environmental Services” (12 companies), and “Household” (11 companies), which allows distinctive listed companies to benefit from a clustering effect and draw the attention of investors. Taking the world’s largest sports footwear OEM Pou Chen Group and the world’s leading bicycle manufacturer Giant Group as examples, the two conglomerates, which were originally listed under the “Other” category, will be included in the “Sports and Leisure” industry category starting from July.
In tandem with the above measures, TWSE will also launch the “Taiwan New Economy Industry Index”, which covers the listed companies of the four said new industries, as well as the “Taiwan Innovation Board Index” to highlight Taiwan’s new economy companies.
In addition, the TWSE is set to launch a new Corporate Identification System (CIS) in July since the last update 15 years ago in 2008, the new CIS design aims to convey the importance of innovation highly valued by the TWSE.
Hashtag: #TaiwanStockExchange #TWSE
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
About TWSE
The Taiwan Stock Exchange (the “TWSE”) started operations on February 9, 1962. The TWSE is responsible for operating and advancing Taiwan securities market. TWSE primary business operations include listing, trading, settlement and surveillance. These comprise listing promotion and review, post-listing supervision and corporate governance, maintaining market trading and order, securities firms’ services, investor protection, clearing and settlement operations, safeguarding against market defaults and the monitoring of illegal transactions. The Exchange provides comprehensive services to the stock market.
Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha Retires from Politics
Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, who held power for almost nine years following a military coup in 2014, has announced his retirement from politics.
Lao Minister Proposes New Employment Law to Safeguard Workers’ Rights and Boost Job Market

The Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare requested approval from the National Assembly on Monday for drafting a new law aimed at ensuring employment and protecting the rights of workers and employers while economic challenges continue to affect the country.
OPPO ColorOSHack 2023 Kicks Off to Empower the Global Pantanal Service

The Pantanal Ecosystem Is Opening Up to Invite Southeast Asian Developers
Since its release, the Pantanal Comprehensively Intelligent Platform has been in collaboration with 21 eco-partners, including top companies such as Meituan, Baidu Map, Umetrip and Xiaohongshu in China, as well as Snapchat, Spotify, Zamato, and Swiggy overseas. Among them, 4 ecological partners have reached strategic cooperation in scenarios covering life services, travel, entertainment, office and other fields, meaning more than 300,000+ developers have contributed to the construction of Pantanal ecosystem.
As a part of the Pantanal innovation ecosystem, OPPO ColorOSHack 2023 is officially opened for global registration on July 11 and will last until September 15. This year’s competition will focus on Southeast Asia, aiming to find local service providers or developers in scenarios such as lifestyle services, transportation services and entertainment services, encouraging them to develop smart services in relevant scenarios, conceptualize scenarios and design interaction forms by learning the Pantanal Platform, to explore services that meet the local market in Southeast Asia.
A Comprehensive Developer Empowerment System to Enhance Development Efficiency from Multiple Dimensions
In addition to the continuation of the previous prize money system, the contest will open up the corresponding development capabilities of the Pantanal Platform and the Pantanal DevKit, including Pantanal DevFwk, Pantanal DevStudio, and supporting guidelines to help developers achieve low-cost, cross-terminal service development quickly.
Pantanal Platform has made accessible various development capabilities, including Context Awareness, Service Running, and Natural Interaction. For instance, Pantanal DevFwk may be used to transform sophisticated cross-terminal, multi-service entry points into easy-to-use interfaces. This enables each development to quickly adapt to various terminals and entry points while optimizing cross-platform operating efficiency to satisfy developers’ demands.
The brand-new Pantanal DevStudio can provide multiple business module options for developers by integrating the integrated development environment for relevant Pantanal modules, thus helping them to reduce costs and improve efficiency significantly. It also features consistent cross-platform rendering and real-time preview across multiple entry points and devices, enabling developers to obtain and validate results quickly.
In OPPO ColorOSHack 2023, developers will experience these Pantanal Platform open capabilities and Pantanal DevKits in advance while greatly improving development efficiency. A single developer is expected to accomplish service development in as little as three days and end-to-end service uploads in 30 days.

To answer developers’ questions about the contest and guide developers in utilizing Pantanal Platform open capabilities and Pantanal DevStudio, OPPO ColorOS has arranged online event briefings and online salons for Q&A and explanations. During the final round’s device debugging phase, participants will receive technical support directly from the OPPO technical team. Additionally, the contest has invited local Southeast Asian entrepreneurs and OPPO industry experts to the final venue, where they will offer participants professional advice. It is also worth noting that the OPPO App Store will support and reward the winning works.
Furthermore, OPPO ColorOS offers complete assistance to Pantanal ecosystem developers, including year-round developer live stream (Otalk), a developer community, salon events, and a developer academy part on the open platform’s official website. More salon events, live stream, and training materials will be made available in the coming days.

Join OPPO ColorOSHack 2023 to Co-create a Human-centered, Beyond-boundary Ecosystem
In the context of beyond-boundary ecosystem, OPPO ColorOS aims to provide more support for Southeast Asian developers through the contest, to lower development barriers, optimize training systems, and assist outstanding global makers in smoothly carrying out projects. A more open and dynamic Pantanal ecosystem will be established to expand the possibilities for the intelligent living experiences of over 500 million ColorOS users globally.
Hashtag: #OPPO
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
About OPPO
OPPO is a leading global smart device brand. Since the launch of its first mobile phone – “Smiley Face” – in 2008, OPPO has been in relentless pursuit of the perfect synergy of aesthetic satisfaction and innovative technology. Today, OPPO provides a wide range of smart devices spearheaded by the Find and Reno series. Beyond devices, OPPO also provides its users with ColorOS operating system and internet services such as OPPO Cloud and OPPO+. OPPO has footprints in more than 60 countries and regions, with more than 40,000 employees dedicated to creating a better life for customers around the world.
About ColorOS
ColorOS is a highly customized, efficient, intelligent, and richly designed Android-based mobile OS from OPPO. With over 500 million global monthly active users, ColorOS supports 67 languages, including English, Hindi, Thai, and Indonesian.
Myanmar Violence and SEA Disputes to Dominate Asean Talks Joined by US, Russian and Chinese Envoys

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Myanmar’s prolonged civil strife, tensions in the disputed South China Sea, and concern over arms buildups in the region are expected to dominate the agenda when Southeast Asia’s top diplomats gather for talks this week in Indonesia.