Laos is to increase production of its Molacovir medication used to treat Covid-19 in order to meet rising demand.
Vientiane Police Arrest Drug Trafficker After Two-Year Investigation
A major drug trafficker operating in Vientiane Capital has been arrested after a two-year investigation by Xaythany District police.
NetApp Achieved Double-Digit YoY Growth Again in APAC’s All-Flash Array and Open Networked Market Segments in Q3 2021, Says Leading Analyst Firm
In Taiwan, NetApp ranked first in the All-Flash Array (AFA) and Open Networked market segments by vendor revenue; in Hong Kong, NetApp ranked first in the All-Flash Array segment by vendor revenue
SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 13 January 2022 – 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, Q3 2021 (December 2021 release).
Across the APAC region for Q3 2021, NetApp retains its position as the second largest vendor (tied) by vendor revenue, quarter-on-quarter, in both the Open Networked segment and the AFA segment. NetApp achieved 41.2 percent year-on-year growth for the AFA business segment, while achieving 15.1 percent in the Open Networked business segment, outpacing the overall market growth again, according to IDC. This achievement was driven by strong performances in the Greater China Area, specifically for Hong Kong and Taiwan.
- In Taiwan, NetApp achieved 184.6 percent year-on-year growth for its AFA business in Q3 2021, outpacing the local market growth of 49.4 percent. This performance established NetApp as the local AFA segment leader for Q3 2021, with a market share of 52.2 percent by vendor revenue.
- In Hong Kong, NetApp achieved 209.9 percent year-on-year growth for its AFA business in Q3 2021, outpacing the local market growth of 3.9 percent. This performance allowed NetApp to retain its top position, quarter-on-quarter, in the local AFA segment in Q3 2021, with a market share of 20.2 percent by vendor revenue.
In the Open Networked segment, NetApp achieved 146.4 percent local year-on-year growth for Q3 2021, outpacing market growth of 49.1 percent. This performance established NetApp as the local Open Networked segment leader for Q3 2021, with a market share of 38.7 percent by vendor revenue.
“The year-on-year growth shown in our Hong Kong and Taiwan markets is phenomenal, if we are to compare against the overall local market figures,” said Sanjay Rohatgi, Senior Vice President and General Manager, APAC, NetApp. “The overall results tell us that we have a great team who truly understand our customers’ needs, as they progress with their digital transformation. We hope to continue on our path of making the hybrid cloud more accessible to customers at less cost through our strategy of building strong hyperscaler partners and a strong product portfolio.”
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 has recently strengthened its product portfolio with the introduction of the new NetApp AFF A900, powered by NetApp ONTAP Enterprise Edition. It features leading capabilities that include the highest data storage performance, best-in-class data security with the new Anti-Ransomware Suite, and simplified, non-disruptive upgrades. In the past year, NetApp has also more than doubled its natively integrated public cloud presence to 27 stamps or zones across APAC, through its partnerships with the hyperscalers.
[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
CUHK Business School Research Finds the Rise of Rail Along China’s Belt and Road Stimulates the Maritime Freight Market and Local Economies
HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 13 January 2022 – The Belt and Road Initiative, announced in 2013, represents China’s most ambitious effort yet to strengthen its physical connectivity to the world. As a programme of vast infrastructure building throughout the country’s neighbours, it comprises of two major components: A land trade route known as the Silk Road Economic Belt that links China to Europe via Central Asia and Russia as well as to other Asian countries, and a sea route known as the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road running from the East coast of China to Europe through the Indian and South Pacific Oceans.
(Source: iStock)
The Belt and Road Initiative, announced in 2013, represents China’s most ambitious effort yet to strengthen its physical connectivity to the world. As a programme of vast infrastructure building throughout the country’s neighbours, it comprises of two major components: A land trade route known as the Silk Road Economic Belt that links China to Europe via Central Asia and Russia as well as to other Asian countries, and a sea route known as the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road running from the East coast of China to Europe through the Indian and South Pacific Oceans.
While few would doubt its development is of immense value to China’s future economic wellbeing, studies and discussion on the topic has tended to presuppose that two components operate independently, when in reality the development of one component can drastically affect the other.
This is the premise of the study How “Belt” and “Road” are Related Economically: Modelling and Policy Implications, which sought to examine how the two modes of transport affected one another as well as how they benefited companies making use of it to transport goods to faraway markets.
The study was conducted by Andrew Yuen Chi-lok and Cheung Waiman, Senior Lecturer and Professor, respectively, at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Business School’s Department of Decision Sciences and Managerial Economics, in collaboration with Prof. Laingo Randrianarisoa at the Kedge Business School, Prof. Zhang Anming at the University of British Columbia and Prof. Yang Hangjun at the University of International Business and Economics.
“In the past, people have tended to think of the land and sea routes under Belt and Road as being separate and independent economically, whereas in realty they are pretty much anything but,” says Dr. Yuen, adding that, for example, improvements to the main rail line connecting China to a number of Eurasia countries, known as the New Eurasian Land Bridge, has hit the bottom lines of shipping companies such as China’s COSCO in recent years.
“As China continues the rapid development of its high-speed rail network, there’s every possibility that companies will increasingly look to moving their goods by land, rather than by air or across the seas,” he adds. In turn, this prompted the researchers to closely examine the short and medium-term impact of the development of rail links under Belt and Road on the maritime market.
Rail Subsidies
To do so, they developed an analytical model to capture how the two components of Belt and Road interacted with each other. They first turned their attention to the thorny issue of subsidies granted by the Chinese government to encourage the use of rail links.
Despite the rapid improvement in rail links brought about by infrastructure spending under Belt and Road, the sea remains the predominant way that Chinese companies transport their goods across countries within the initiative.
To stimulate demand, the Chinese government typically provides significant subsidies to encourage the use of rail links. Back in 2018, China’s Ministry of Finance subsidised as much as up to 50 percent of the cost of shipping rail freight between China and Europe, although this has gradually been cut back in recent years and is expected to be completely abolished in 2022.
Using the model they developed, the researchers demonstrated that the high level of subsidy that the Chinese government has been offering to rail operators in the early years of Belt and Road may at least be partially explained by the slump in the shipping sector (caused by successive global economic crises as well as structural overcapacity within the maritime industry) depressing freight rates, which amounted to just around US$3,000 per FEU (forty-foot equivalent unit, the size of a standard shipping container) in the pre-pandemic era, but has since risen dramatically as supply chains around the world restarted as COVID lockdowns eased.
Specifically, it found that subsidies paid by governments to stimulate rail usage often depends on demand for the transportation of goods in the shipping sector as well as the shipping freight rate. It also depends on the costs that the rail operator incurs as the volume of goods being transported rises, regional road tolls to and from the rail station, as well as the degree to which companies having their goods transported are sensitive to price and speed of delivery.
Fully Competitive Market
On the other hand, the researchers also looked at what would happen if rail subsidies were abolished altogether and the two modes of freight were to compete on an equal footing.
The study showed that firms which make use of the infrastructure links under Belt and Road are only likely to continue to favour transporting goods by sea (which is typically the cheaper option) if shipping prices at ports remain low. However, demand for rail (which is faster) will depend on the nature of goods that are to be transported, with companies favouring rail for high-value and time-sensitive products such as laptop computers, mobile phones, auto parts, household electronic appliances, and some perishable goods.
Companies are also more likely to choose to use rail to transport these products because in China they are typically manufactured in inland cities like Chongqing and Chengdu. Not only is it cheaper for companies to set up shop in these regions, but by making use of comparatively faster rail transport links, companies can maintain a lower inventory. This allows them to offset the higher rail freight charges.
For the region hosting the Belt and Road infrastructure, the study found that when rail links are added or improved, they provide benefits by improving the quality of rail services, reduce the costs associated with delayed freight, and reduce the cost of ground transportation to and from factories as result of competition.
The extent of this benefit largely depends on the size of investment that has been made into improving rail or port links, as well as the relative proportion of freight users that ship time-sensitive goods, the study found.
“In the long term, we find that if the rail operator in a given region is able to compete with their maritime counterparts on a level playing field, this system would generate positive benefits for a given region where this infrastructure is set up,” says Prof. Cheung. “This is especially so for companies using these shipping services, since competition would lower the price of freight, and the introduction of new rail infrastructure also would help to lower ground transportation costs for companies situated close to the rail station.”
Facility Management
Lastly, the study looked at the effect of whether the rail and port facilities were managed by the same or separate entities. When the two types of facilities are managed separately, the study found that the facility fees charged tended to be lower because the rail and port authorities would behave as competitors, shifting the demand to faster rail services. On the other hand, when they are managed by the same entity, it would yield a greater benefit for companies shipping goods overall, provided that there is a sufficient proportion of them which produce time-sensitive goods.
The researchers say the findings hold deep implications for policymakers in managing subsidies and infrastructure financing. If external economic conditions are poor, the government should set rail subsidies at a minimum level until conditions in both the rail and maritime markets improve. Because a high level of subsidy is unsustainable over the long term, government should also stimulate competition between the terminal operators of the two modes of transport to generate a positive benefit from the Belt and Road Initiative.
Given that rail subsidies are linked to the external economic environment, the Central or local government may also look to improving the market conditions in other sectors of the economy to reduce rail companies’ dependence on financial aid. It is also important for policy makers to identify the share of freight users who are time or price sensitive and to plan accordingly when developing rail or port links to avoid overcapacity or excessive subsidies in one or the other form of freight.
Finally, because the joint management of rail and port facilities tend to yield higher benefits for freight users, the researchers recommend that local and central government authorities cooperate more closely to ensure that the two modes of transport operate in a way that is complementary to each other.
Reference:
Randrianarisoa, Laingo M., Zhang, Anming, Yang, Hangju, Yuen, Andrew Yuen and Cheung, Waiman, How ‘Belt’ and ‘Road’ are related economically: modelling and policy implications (July 21, 2020). https://doi.org/10.1080/03088839.2020.1791993
This article was first published in the China Business Knowledge (CBK) website by CUHK Business School: https://bit.ly/3356AQa
About CUHK Business School
CUHK Business School comprises two schools – Accountancy and Hotel and Tourism Management – and four departments – Decision Sciences and Managerial Economics, Finance, Management and Marketing. Established in Hong Kong in 1963, it is the first business school to offer BBA, MBA and Executive MBA programmes in the region. Today, CUHK Business School offers 9 undergraduate programmes and 18 graduate programmes including MBA, EMBA, Master, MSc, MPhil and Ph.D. The School currently has more than 4,500 undergraduate and postgraduate students from 20+ countries/regions.
In the Financial Times Executive MBA ranking 2021, CUHK EMBA is ranked 19th in the world. In FT‘s 2021 Global MBA Ranking, CUHK MBA is ranked 48th. CUHK Business School has the largest number of business alumni (40,000+) among universities/business schools in Hong Kong – many of whom are key business leaders.
More information is available at http://www.bschool.cuhk.edu.hk or by connecting with CUHK Business School on:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/cuhkbschool
Instagram: www.instagram.com/cuhkbusinessschool
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/school/cuhkbusinessschool
WeChat: CUHKBusinessSchool
#CUHKBusinessSchool
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
First-of-its-Kind Sustainability Framework Empowers Data Center Industry to Take Control of Sustainability Goals
- The rise in digital demand and increased pressure from key stakeholders drives the need for standardized environmental-impact reporting for data centers
- Schneider Electric’s framework proposes 5 key areas of impact to address with 23 key metrics in Beginning, Advanced and Leading categories
HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 13 January 2022 – Schneider Electric™, the leader in digital transformation of energy management and automation, and the world’s most sustainable corporation 2021 as ranked by Corporate Knights, today released a comprehensive novel framework for environmentally sustainable data centers. The industry-first framework proposes five areas of environmental impact inclusive of key metrics for data center operators in various stages of their sustainability journeys. By leveraging the framework, operators can mitigate the impact data centers have on the environment.
Data centers are the backbone of today’s digital world. They are also responsible for up to two percent of the world’s carbon emissions, equivalent to that of the airline industry. To contend with an increase in digital bandwidth and IT-sector electricity demand, the industry demands a holistic and standardized approach to environmental sustainability.
Pankaj Sharma, Executive Vice President, Secure Power Division, Schneider Electric, said: “Environmental sustainability reporting is a growing focus for many data center operators. Yet, the industry lacks a standardized approach for implementing, measuring, and reporting on environmental impact. Schneider Electric developed a holistic framework with standardized metrics to guide operators and the industry at large. Our intention with this framework is to improve benchmarking and progress toward environmental sustainability to protect natural resources for future generations.
“The data center industry has made significant progress in increasing energy efficiency; however, as digital demands increase they must remain committed to driving long-term broader sustainability initiatives,” said Rob Brothers, Program Vice President for the Datacenter and Support Services Program at IDC. You can’t have an impact on what you don’t measure; therefore, companies must establish clear and consistent metrics that account for not only efficient technology, but also the consumption (or possible destruction) of natural resources such as water, land and biodiversity.”
Mounting pressures from investors, regulators, shareholders, customers and employees also drive the need for improved environmental-impact reporting in data center operations. However, many data center operators lack sustainability expertise and face a daunting task of determining what metrics to track and strategies to implement. Schneider Electric’s framework was developed by its Energy Management Research Center leveraging expertise from ESG experts, sustainability consultants, data center scientists, and data center solution architects to take the guesswork out of measurement and reporting. The Energy Management Research Center was established in 2002 and has developed more than 200 vendor-neutral whitepapers and trade-off tools available for free to the industry.
Data Center Sustainability Metrics Drive Sustainability Strategy
Tracking and reporting on standardized sustainability metrics helps drive internal team alignment improvements and increases transparency for external stakeholders, including customers and regulators. Implementing this framework also allows data center operators to:
- Remove the difficulty of selecting impactful metrics for tracking
- Improve communication and alignment with internal teams on sustainability objectives
- Act on the data to improve operations
- Enable regular and consistent reporting for external stakeholders (investors, regulators, potential employees, etc.
- Standardize benchmarking across industry peers around the globe
Schneider Electric works with leading technology companies and colocation providers to design, build, operate, and maintain facilities. It is the only digital partner that offers solutions for power, building, IT, and sustainability facets of the business.
To learn more about the framework and enable your sustainable growth, download the Guide to Sustainability Metrics for Data Centers, today.
About Schneider Electric
Schneider’s purpose is to empower all to make the most of our energy and resources, bridging progress and sustainability for all. We call this Life Is On.
Our mission is to be your digital partner for Sustainability and Efficiency.
We drive digital transformation by integrating world-leading process and energy technologies, end-point to cloud connecting products, controls, software and services, across the entire lifecycle, enabling integrated company management, for homes, buildings, data centers, infrastructure and industries.
We are the most local of global companies. We are advocates of open standards and partnership ecosystems that are passionate about our shared Meaningful Purpose, Inclusive and Empowered values.
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Discover the newest perspectives shaping sustainability, electricity 4.0, and next generation automation on Schneider Electric Insights
Hashtags: #LifeIsOn #Sustainability #DataCenter
SoundWave: The New ‘Brilliance 3’ Assessment Tool Is Revolutionizing Communication in the Workplace
SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 13 January 2022 – SoundWave is transforming the way individuals and organizations alike approach verbal communication through the power of Brilliance 3. The launch of its latest assessment tool—the Brilliance 3 Communication Styles Assessment—is a quick and useful insight for people to understand their preferred way to talk, and how their style of communication works in their office and team dynamic. Communication is a straightforward yet complex process so the tool’s objective is to simplify it, highlighting the strengths of people in the way that they talk.
Participants who have made use of the tool report being more conscious of their verbal productivity, having a deeper understanding of how they talk, and are more intentional in fostering a habit of effective and efficient communication. It has been proven time and time again that communication is the key to a harmonious and successful relationship between co-workers, subordinates, and superiors. Some interesting key facts that the data shows include the prevalence of ‘to challenge’ as one of the dominant voices for men as compared to women. Of the nine voices, to Probe, to Critique and to Correct are the truly edgy and socially risky voices; on average, they are heard as the dominant voice only 6% of the time.
According to SoundWave, everyone has nine voices that we use to talk—our verbal strategies. While we make use of all these voices in our day-to-day interactions, all of us differ in our preferences of voices. The SoundWave Brilliance 3 Assessment ranks your top three preferred voices, giving you an overview you on how you think, feel, and behave, and how you can service your voices better to communicate your intended impact. Brilliance 3 uses frameworks, detailed explanations, and concrete data to assess and delineate each and every participant’s assessment results. The tool helps in resolving challenges in communication so individuals, as well as groups, can collaborate more—cultivating a more productive and positive working environment. Through Brilliance 3, SoundWave aims to deliver actionable outcomes so participants can maximize their skills to its fullest potential. By knowing how to deal and converse with a specific type of person, there is very little room or no room left at all, for any misunderstanding or conflict.
The company has seen constant waves of success since the release of Brilliance 3. A recent development is the book that was launched in September 2021, complementing Brilliance 3 Assessment. Titled 9 Voices: Own Your Conversation, the free e-book is about the nine voices that SoundWave has identified in its profiles; it explores the nuances behind people’s voices and delves deeper into the various types of communication styles and clusters that reflect one’s way of conversing.
Within a year of its launch, more than 1,000 individuals have undergone the Brilliance 3 Assessment. Many participants have shared their testimonials, proving the effectiveness of the tool in shaping the way they should communicate. It has provided them with insights and learnings that helped them understand how they can use the different verbal strategies to adapt their talk in bringing forward ideas and influencing others. It proved itself to be incredibly useful, especially to the people who find difficulty in knowing the right way to listen and talk with the people at work. With Brilliance 3 gaining traction so quickly, the company has since then been committed in providing individuals and organizations with smart tools that significantly help improve one’s communication approach and overall performance in numerous aspects.
About the Company
SoundWave is a global assessment and consultancy firm based in Bristol, UK. We help organisations solve wicked problems through the power of conversation. Our suite of innovative tools and frameworks provides insights and development expertise on how you talk and listen through data. We take a process-driven approach that focuses on helping you to understand how your communication skills and your preferred style of communication impacts and influences the people around you, enabling them or limiting their performance.
SoundWave reveals not only your preferred style of communication, but also how others perceive you in the way you communicate— whether it is with your team members, managers or other stakeholders. Our assessments include the popular and affordable Brilliance 3, Self-Perception Assessment, and 360 Leadership Assessment for a holistic overview on the way you talk, and how it impacts the way others think, feel and behave. We understand that effective business communication is challenging, and our SoundWave reports offer insights that reveal the opportunities to improve your communication skills further. Learn more at https://www.soundwave.global/
#SoundWave
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
World Bank Predicts 4.5 Percent Economic Growth for Laos in 2022
The World Bank’s latest Global Economic Prospects report suggests Laos will see economic growth of 4.5 percent in 2022 and 4.8 percent in 2023.
Eric Cantona Launches New Travel Brand, Looking Fc Curating Trips To The World’s Most Iconic Football Clubs
In Partnership With DHARMA, The Startup Bringing The Passion Economy To The Travel Space
LONDON, UK – African Media Agency – 12 January 2022 – Sporting legend Eric Cantona has launched Looking FC (www.lookingfc.com), a collection of football trips for passionate football fans to experience the world and its cities through its football communities, in partnership with innovative travel startup Dharma.
Looking FC by Eric Cantona. The most passionate football trips on earth.
“I love the kind of football that makes your heart pound and the stadium shake. Our idea was to create the most passionate football trips on earth, with charisma and soul. Everything today is optimised for price – we wanted to optimise for passion.” Eric Cantona said.
Based on the Looking For documentary series produced by Cantona and his brothers (Canto Bros Production), each 4-day trip is uniquely crafted by Cantona himself. The trips all culminate with a Game Day experience seated in the passion section of iconic stadiums for big League and Champions League matches. In the lead up to the game, the trips feature unique experiences such as fan chant workshops with superfans, street art walks with historians, and tactics briefings with leading journalists.
Eric Cantona continues: “If you are a Manchester United fan, watching a game at Old Trafford is a dream. But that’s only one part of the story – have you heard of FC United and what they stand for? Do you know the chants of Stretford End? Beyond its artistic beauty, do you know the significance of the Marcus Rashford mural to the local community? This is the essence of football, whether you are in Liverpool, Buenos Aires, or Casablanca. These trips are for those who still believe in passion and want to go deeper into their love of football.”
Manchester (United), Buenos Aires (Boca), Liverpool (Liverpool), Milan (Inter), Madrid (Real Madrid), Barcelona (Barca), Paris (PSG), Lisbon (Sporting), and Casablanca (Raja) are the nine trips that will be featured this season, with thrilling fixtures on the calendar including a Liverpool v Manchester United at Anfield, a Real Madrid v FC Barcelona El Clásico at Bernabeu, and a PSG v Marseille Le Classique at the Parc des Princes. Each signature itinerary is designed for groups but is also bookable privately for friends and families.
In line with Cantona’s persona, Looking FC also takes a people, planet, profit approach. It has announced a first-of-its-kind partnership with Common Goal, donating 1% of its revenue to supporting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals Initiative. Each trip is built with an emphasis on supporting local businesses and all trips are carbon offset through Thrust Carbon.
To launch Looking FC, football legend Cantona partnered with DHARMA, a disruptive travel startup that builds travel brands for the passion economy. Backed by the likes of Pernod Ricard and Loop, the global Marketing agency for Red Bull and Porsche, Dharma, an ABTA member, has previously launched travel verticals with iconic people and brands such as Equinox (New York), Bitso (Mexico City), and Culture Trip (London).
“Eric represents the authenticity and soul that 3B+ football fans crave around the world. We believe the future of travel will be driven by passion, not geography. As people re-assign their identities to online communities, the need for IRL connection with like-minded people will only grow – that is the space DHARMA’s travel-brand-as-a-service model is pioneering.” said Charaf El Mansouri, CEO and co-founder at DHARMA.
● Prices start from 1,290 EUROS pp (based on 2 people sharing a room) – including all accommodation, experiences, most meals, guides, and match tickets.
About Eric Cantona
Eric Cantona, known as ‘King Eric’ by Manchester United fans, is a French actor, director, producer, and former professional footballer. He played for Auxerre, Martigues, Marseille, Bordeaux, Montpellier, Nîmes, and Leeds United before ending his career at Manchester United, where he won four Premier League titles in five years and two League and FA Cup Doubles. He was voted greatest ever Man U player by Inside United magazine. Following his retirement from football in 1997, he took up a career in cinema. In 2009 he starred as himself in ‘Looking for Eric’, a film directed by Ken Loach.
#EricCantona #DHARMA