10x Banking (10x), the financial technology firm that is disrupting the core banking sector, today announces that it will deepen its partnership with Westpac, to launch a market-leading transaction banking platform for the bank’s institutional clients.
10x Banking is going from strength to strength with clients across three continents including the successful launch of Westpac’s Banking as a Service offering (BaaS) last year. The move into supporting Westpac’s transaction banking business is a hugely significant step in 10x’s strategic growth plans while also underlining our clients’ confidence in our platform’s ability to support their ambitions.
Antony Jenkins CBE, Founder, Chairman and CEO of 10x Banking commented, “The banking industry is experiencing a radical change and Westpac is taking a leading role in its transformation. Using our technology to underpin the new platform is a logical next step in its move to cloud native technology.
At 10x we’ve built the technology I always dreamed of when I was running businesses in banking. We are excited to extend our partnership with Westpac.”
Jeff Byrne, Managing Director of Global Transaction Services, Westpac Institutional Bank commented, “Our clients are on the digital transformation journey and are looking for ways to use data to improve working capital. We want to empower them by maximizing access to real time data across a range of sophisticated cash management structures.”
Quantinuum, the global quantum computing company, today announced the release of InQuanto, a state-of-the-art quantum computational chemistry software platform that makes it easy for computational chemists to experiment with a wide range of quantum algorithms on today’s quantum computers.
InQuanto is available for the first time as a standalone platform to commercial organizations, bringing together the latest quantum computing tools in a single application. It was developed and deployed by Quantinuum’s quantum chemistry team to support collaborations with partners such as BMW, Honeywell, JSR, Nippon Steel Corporation, and TotalEnergies to explore quantum computing use cases specific to their industry. They have used it to understand the potential of quantum computing to improve the accuracy of complex molecular and materials simulations in their fields.
InQuanto enables users to mix and match the latest quantum algorithms, advanced subroutines, and chemistry-specific noise-mitigation techniques to make the best use of today’s quantum computers. The platform also helps computational chemists to break down larger industrially-relevant systems into smaller fragments that can run on today’s small-scale quantum machines. It uses Quantinuum’s open-source toolkit TKET to reduce the computational requirements for electronic structure simulations and maximize performance across the widest range of quantum devices and simulators.
“Quantum computing offers a path to rapid and cost-effective development of new molecules and materials that could unlock novel answers to some of the biggest challenges we face,” said Patrick Moorhead, CEO and Chief Analyst of Moor Insights and Strategy. “The way to ensure progress is to start prototyping now, using real-world use cases, so that methods are tailored to solving actual needs of the industry. InQuanto is built to enable exactly this.”
BMW and Quantinuum have worked together using the InQuanto platform to simulate electrode reactions in hydrogen fuel cells, with the goal of achieving the highest fidelity on today’s machines. The collaboration has focused on modeling the oxygen reduction reaction. It has provided insights into how quantum computers could help with the future design of efficient catalysts and electrodes.
Elvira Shishenina, Quantum Computing Lead at BMW Group New Technologies and Innovation, said, “The path to future progress in materials modelling using quantum computers relies on a deep understanding of both the technology and our applications. Bringing together the fuel cells expertise and highly predictive quantum computing simulations could enhance the new materials development towards zero-physical prototyping.”
Through Quantinuum’s research and development (R&D) collaborations with global partners, the technology now available through InQuanto has led to the achievement of a number of firsts: it explored for the first time the quantification of drug-protein interactions using today’s emerging quantum devices (link); In a collaboration with Nippon Steel Corporation, it proved its capabilities in the simulation of materials such as iron crystals for steel development (link); and in a paper published with TotalEnergies, it was used to model metal-organic frameworks for carbon capture (link).
Ilyas Khan, CEO of Quantinuum said, “We are deeply excited about the news today. InQuanto is a perfect example of a product developed with the active support of the leaders across every sector deeply involved in quantum chemistry. We have created a dedicated quantum computing product for computational chemists looking for the bridge between classical computing, which they know well, and quantum techniques, which show so much promise.”
Rei Sakuma, Principal Researcher of the Materials Informatics Initiative at JSR Corporation, said, “JSR entered into a close partnership with Quantinuum very early on. We participated in the beta testing of InQuanto (formerly EUMEN) and have used it primarily for research and development on novel materials and property prediction. InQuanto is very easy to use, even for researchers and engineers without a deep knowledge of quantum computing. In the future, we would like to use InQuanto not only in research and development but also in actual manufacturing sites, based on the premise of further performance improvement of quantum computers.”
In another project, Quantinuum, together with Honeywell, applied InQuanto to investigate the applicability of quantum computing to the design of novel refrigerants. These complex compounds, widely used in many industries, are chosen for properties such as low toxicity, low flammability, and stability, as well as low global warming potential (GWP) and no ozone depletion potential. Finding new, environmentally-friendly refrigerants is a critical challenge for future sustainable solutions. The collaboration modeled a reaction between methane gas, a simple refrigerant, and a simple atmospheric radical using capabilities built into InQuanto.
Gavin Towler, Chief Technology officer for Honeywell PMT, said, “Honeywell is leaning forward to understand how we use quantum computing capabilities for our business. Tools like InQuanto will play a valuable role in inventing and discovering new chemicals with improved environmental performance.”
Quantinuum is also partnering with Mitsui & Co. and building on its global industrial reach in order to accelerate the InQuanto offering to industrial customers and researchers in Japan and the broader Asia-Pacific region.
Simon Toda, General Manager of Digital Technology Strategy Dept., Integrated Digital Strategy Div. at Mitsui & Co., said, “We are extremely excited to be working with Quantinuum, a global pioneer of quantum computing. We believe the InQuanto platform will bring great innovation to the research and development activities in the chemical industry. With our broad business assets and unique position in the industry and region, we are supporting our customers to create new, innovative value together with Quantinuum.”
To learn more on how one can work with Quantinuum to jumpstart their use case exploration with the InQuanto platform, contact Quantinuum at inquanto@quantinuum.com. For more information on InQuanto, visit: https://www.quantinuum.com/products/inquanto. The InQuanto license can include access to the Quantinuum System Model H1, powered by Honeywell, ion trap-based quantum computing hardware.
About Quantinuum
Quantinuum is one of the world’s largest integrated quantum computing companies, formed by the combination of Honeywell Quantum Solutions’ world-leading hardware and Cambridge Quantum’s class-leading middleware and applications.
Quantinuum employs over 400 people, including 300 scientists, at eight sites in the US, Europe, and Japan.
Science-led and enterprise driven, Quantinuum accelerates quantum computing and the development of applications across chemistry, cybersecurity, finance, and optimization. Quantinuum’s focus is to create scalable and commercial quantum solutions to solve some of the world’s most pressing problems in fields such as energy, logistics, climate change, and health.
Quantinuum’s open-source developer toolkit TKET provides platform-inclusive access to the world’s leading quantum hardware and simulators and enhances the performance of every Quantinuum product, including cybersecurity key-generation platform, Quantum Origin; quantum computational chemistry and materials science package, InQuanto; and λambeq, Quantinuum’s quantum natural language processing and computational linguistics toolkit.
Quantinuum’s H1 generation quantum computer, Powered by Honeywell, is one of the most advanced in the world and was the first to pass the industry standard quantum volume 4096 benchmark. In March 2020, Quantinuum (as Honeywell Quantum Solutions) committed to increasing the quantum volume of its commercial H-Series quantum computers by an order of magnitude each year for the subsequent five years.
The Honeywell Trademark is used under license from Honeywell International Inc. Honeywell International Inc. makes no representations or warranties with respect to this product. This product is produced by Quantinuum.
Johnnie Walker teams up with BlockBar, the world's first direct-to-consumer NFT, Image Credit: blockbar.com
Media Release by BlockBar.com
Today, Johnnie Walker, the world’s No.1 Scotch Whisky[1], along with BlockBar.com, offers seven whisky connoisseurs the chance to own an extremely rare bottle of 48-year-old Johnnie Walker Masters of Flavour NFTs, alongside their very own digital art and have access to an exclusive brand experience in Scotland.
The Digital Art
The digital arts unlock access to a unique piece of graphic design by artist Kode Abdo aka BossLogic. The renowned artist is known for his fancasts, creating posters for some of the biggest films of the last few years, and more recently, teaming up with footballer Lionel Messi to create a new series of artistic NFTs featuring the global sports icon.
BossLogic said: “The art of flavour. The alchemy of the elements. The taste of generations. I’m proud to present this ‘once in a lifetime’ collection of seven one-of-a-kind works of art. Each piece is a unique celebration of the souls of life, paired with seven rare bottles of 48 year old Blended Scotch Whisky. Seven treasures reserved for only the most worthy of connoisseurs.”
The Experience
Tied to each bottle is a one-off opportunity to take a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Johnnie Walker Princes Street – the brand’s visitor experience in Edinburgh, Scotland, where they will immerse themselves in the flavour journey of Johnnie Walker and the country’s whisky-making culture.
Staying at the palatial Gleneagles Townhouse, NFT owners will tour the iconic Glenkinchie Distillery, which plays such an integral role in the crafting of Johnnie Walker whisky, take a guided tour of the Diageo Archive and enjoy VIP tastings of only the rarest and most collectible whiskies from the Diageo collection.
The Whisky
Johnnie Walker Masters of Flavour is crafted from fleetingly rare whiskies – all aged for at least 48 years – from the four “ghost” distilleries of Port Dundas, Brora, Glen Albyn and Glenury Royal. It sits in a hand blown, green baccarat Crystal decanter and is beautifully presented in a handcrafted, wooden cabinet.
This incredible blend showcases how masters of the art of whisky making combine generations of Scotch knowledge and craftsmanship with their own expertise in malting, distillation, cask maturation and, of course, blending, to create a truly exceptional Scotch.
The Collaboration
Johnnie Walker Global Brand Director, Julie Bramham says: “At Johnnie Walker, we’re always challenging ourselves to create unique experiences that people can enjoy and engage with around the world. This innovative collaboration with BlockBar puts Johnnie Walker at the cutting edge of what is possible in whisky, providing something truly unique for whisky aficionados and collectors around the world.”
Dov Falic, CEO and co-founder of BlockBar, adds: “Partnering with Johnnie Walkerfor its first-ever NFT drop is so exciting. This partnership demonstrates how an NFT can be so much more than just one product, it can be an experience like no other that offers buyers exclusive long-lasting access to a brand, its heritage and its future.”
How to Purchase
Johnnie Walker Masters of Flavour NFTs will be available to buy at 10.30am EST on Tuesday, May 31st on a first-come, first-served basis. Priced at $35,000 USD the Johnnie Walker Masters of Flavour NFTs are available to purchase with ETH or by fiat. The Lobby will open at 10am EST on BlockBar.com. In order to enter the Lobby, each participant must have either $35,000 in their Ethereum based wallet connected to the site or receive pre-approval if they intend to pay via wire transfer. At 10.30amthe first users to reserve the bottle will then have 10 minutes to checkout. Users who successfully check out will also receive an artwork NFT by BossLogic transferred to their wallet, as well as the opportunity to redeem the Scotland experience. For any questions please contact BlockBar via email at support@blockbar.com or Whatsapp/Telegram at 305-814-6772.
New research from Monash University presents the most effective approach to accurately predict vulnerabilities in software code and strengthen cybersecurity.
Software vulnerabilities are prevalent across all systems that are built using source codes, causing a variety of problems including deadlock, hacking or even system failures. Thus, early predictions of vulnerabilities are critical for security software systems.
To help combat this, Faculty of Information Technology experts developed the ‘LineVul’ approach, and found it increased accuracy in predicting software vulnerabilities by more than 300 percent while spending only half the usual amount of time and effort, when compared to current best-in-class prediction tools.
LineVul is also able to guard against the top 25 most dangerous and common weaknesses in source codes, and can be applied broadly to strengthen cybersecurity across any application built with source code.
Research co-author Dr Chakkrit Tantithamthavorn, from the Faculty of Information Technology (IT), said standard software programs contain millions to billions of lines of code and it often takes a significant amount of time to identify and rectify vulnerabilities.
“Current state-of-the-art machine learning-based vulnerability prediction tools are still inaccurate and are only able to identify general areas of weakness in the source codes,” Dr Tantithamthavorn said.
“With the proposed LineVul approach we are not only able to predict the most critical areas of vulnerability but also are able to specifically identify the location of vulnerabilities down to the exact line of code.”
Research co-author PhD candidate Michael Fu said the LineVul approach was tested against large-scale real-world datasets with more than 188 thousand lines of software code.
“Software developers normally spend a substantial amount of time trying to identify vulnerabilities in code either during the development process or after the program has been
implemented. The existence of vulnerabilities, especially after the implementation of the program, can potentially expose software systems to dangerous cyberattacks.
“The LineVul approach can be broadly applied across any software system to strengthen applications against cyberattacks and can be a significant tool for developers especially in safety-critical areas like software used by the Australian government, defence, finance sectors etc.”
Future research building on the LineVul approach includes the development of new methods to automatically suggest corrections for vulnerabilities in software code.
This research was supported by the Australian Research Council’s Discovery Early Career Researcher Award 2020-2022.
The research findings will be presented during the Mining Software Repositories 2022 conference from 18–20 May.
Dr Chakkrit Tantithamthavorn and Michael Fu from Monash University’s Faculty of IT are available for interviews.
Four the Win! GIGABYTE Wins Big at iF Design Award 2022 Image Credit: gigabyte.com
GIGABYTE Technology announced a total of four products under its gaming-focused AORUS brand, including a trio of AORUS high-end Z690 motherboards and the AORUS FO48U large-sized gaming monitor, which have been awarded the prestigious iF Design Award 2022 for their excellence in product design.
The awarded Z690 AORUS XTREME WATERFORCE, Z690 AORUS XTREME, and Z690 AORUS MASTER are the top-of-the-line motherboards engineered to perfectly support the Intel 12th-gen processors. These three motherboards impress the performance-driven enthusiasts with GIGABYTE’s state-of-the-art cooling solutions and class-leading power deliveries. Combined with the exclusive DDR5 memory overclocking function, these AORUS Z690 can fully unleash the gaming prowess of the new-gen processors, putting together a powerful and durable platform for those who seek nothing but the extreme performance from their desktop PCs.
The AORUS FO48U gaming monitor also gained the iF Design acknowledgment for delivering groundbreaking visuals that were never seen before. The AORUS FO48U is the world’s first 48-inch gaming monitor featuring a 4K OLED panel with up to 120Hz refresh rate, offering unmatched immersion and esports-grade, silky-smooth gameplay when paired with the latest GPU, such as the GeForce RTX 30 series graphics cards. The HDMI 2.1 connectivity also allows gamers to get the most out of their new-gen game consoles by elevating the gaming performance to its full potential. Ideal for both PC and console gaming, the AORUS FO48U gives users the best of both worlds.
This year’s iF Design recognition reaffirms GIGABYTE’s leadership in product engineering and industrial design, as the brand once again sets the industry standard and benchmark for PC hardware components and a wide range of gaming products. GIGABYTE will continue to lead the way and strive to upgrade every user’s life with the most innovative and forward-looking designs. To learn more about GIGABYTE’s award-winning products and design stories, please refer to: https://bit.ly/ifaward2022
Shutterstock, Inc. (NYSE: SSTK), the leading global creative platform for transformative brands and media companies, today announced the acquisition of Pond5, the world’s largest video-first content marketplace for filmmakers, media organizations, and marketers worldwide. Pond5 is the world’s leading online marketplace for royalty-free and editorial video, with customers including Netflix, Disney, NBC, BBC, Discovery Channel and The Wall Street Journal. Pond5’s comprehensive collection includes 30 million licensable video clips, 1.6 million music tracks and 1.7 million sound effects assets.
This acquisition solidifies Shutterstock’s position as the premium destination for its global customer community for unique access to editorial content, video footage and music. Integrated with Shutterstock’s workflow applications, this expansive content library enables Shutterstock’s global customer community to create with confidence, and provides value to Pond5’s 115K+ contributors, by expanding the distribution of their content to new regions and customers. Shutterstock Studios customers are also able to leverage their access to the offering, integrating clips from Pond5’s unparalleled offering into powerful short form and long form content.
Pond5 combines their vast collection – which can be seen in various destinations, ranging from films and TV shows including Succession and The Queen’s Gambit, to YouTube videos, video games and Super Bowl ads – with a best-in-class search experience that makes it seamless for creators to find what they need, even for the most unpredictable and niche content searches.
Since its inception in 2006, Pond5 has built an expanding contributor network of over 115,000 active contributors across 180 countries, who upload over 2.5 million assets each month. Additionally, Pond5’s premium editorial content partners, such as Reuters, PA Media and British Movietone, will provide Shutterstock’s global customer community access to up-to-the-minute and archival news footage.
“The acquisition of Pond5 provides immense value for our global customer base, with unparalleled access to one of the largest collections of editorial and commercial video content in the world,” said Jon Oringer, Interim Chief Executive Officer at Shutterstock. “Our contributors will also benefit from having their work showcased on Pond5’s platform, expanding their portfolio to new customers.”
Jamie Elden, Chief Revenue Officer at Shutterstock said, “With this acquisition, we are able to offer our customers across global agency, corporate, and media channels access to one of the largest premium archival collections in the industry. Shutterstock is constantly reinventing, and this acquisition brings together powerful creators and exceptional content to ensure our customers have world class video, music and editorial collections at their fingertips.”
Tom Crary, CEO at Pond5 said, “We could not be more thrilled to join forces with Shutterstock to lead the video and music space. Our combined editorial offerings will be a competitive force in the market, and offer additional choice to customers with highly exclusive editorial video content.”
Transaction Highlights:
Consideration for the transaction consists of $210 million of cash paid at closing
Further scales Shutterstock’s video business and expands Shutterstock’s editorial offering with unique and high-quality exclusive video content
Complementary customer base with powerful relationships with the world’s largest media outlets, social media platforms, and OTT streaming companies
Maintaining 2022 revenue and adjusted EBITDA margin guidance
Immediately accretive to 2022 adjusted EBITDA, even after one-time transaction related costs
CapM Advisors acted as financial advisor, and Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP acted as legal advisor to Shutterstock. Jefferies LLC acted as financial advisor, and Goodwin Procter LLP acted as legal advisor to Pond5. Investors can find a link to the presentation materials on the Pond5 transaction at https://investor.shutterstock.com
About Shutterstock, Inc.
Shutterstock, Inc. (NYSE: SSTK), is the leading global creative platform for transformative brands and media companies. Directly and through its group subsidiaries, Shutterstock’s comprehensive collection includes high-quality licensed photographs, vectors, illustrations, 3D models, videos and music. Working with its growing community of over 2 million contributors, Shutterstock adds hundreds of thousands of images each week, and currently has more than 405 million images and more than 25 million video clips available.
Pond5 strives to create world-class storytellers by providing creators of all types with the content they need to tell stories, share knowledge, and inspire audiences.
Driven by a commitment to its passionate and growing global community of more than 115,000 professional visual and audio artists, Pond5 provides a platform where creative work can flourish, and artists can make a sustainable living with industry-leading revenue shares. Pond5 serves the needs of creators across industries—from individual users to major corporations—with competitive pricing and an array of purchase options including a unique pay per item model. Purchases are backed by a broad and flexible license, a best price guarantee, and a dedicated team standing by to provide expert assistance.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking. Examples of forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding guidance, industry prospects, future business, future results of operations or financial condition, future dividends, our ability to consummate acquisitions and integrate the businesses we have acquired or may acquire into our existing operations, new or planned features, products or services, management strategies, our competitive position and the COVID-19 pandemic. You can identify forward-looking statements by words such as “may,” “will,” “would,” “should,” “could,” “expect,” “aim,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “intend,” “plan,” “predict,” “project,” “seek,” “potential,” “opportunities” and other similar expressions and the negatives of such expressions. However, not all forward-looking statements contain these words. Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements contained herein. Such risks and uncertainties include, among others, those discussed under the caption “Risk Factors” in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, as well as in other documents that the Company may file from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. As a result of such risks, uncertainties and factors, Shutterstock’s actual results may differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements discussed in or implied by the forward-looking statements contained herein. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made only as of this date and Shutterstock assumes no obligation to update the information included in this press release or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as required by law.
Media Release by Blockchain Association Singapore (BAS)
Blockchain Association Singapore (BAS) today announced a strategic partnership with Crypto.com, through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). Through this strategic partnership, BAS and Crypto.com will collaborate to advance both parties’ work in the Non-Fungible Token (NFT) ecosystem. BAS and Crypto.com will also seek to leverage each other’s network and expertise to facilitate wider understanding of the constantly evolving NFT landscape, while fostering wider collaboration in this space.
As part of the strategic partnership, Crypto.com will power the second edition of the NFT charity auction event, Blockchain for Good. Blockchain for Good is an initiative launched by the NTUC-U Care Fund and BAS to raise funds for various assistance programmes, including helping support cost of living for families in need, school expenses for under-resourced youth, as well as elder care. Last year, more than S$400,000 was raised through the initiative, exceeding the original target of S$250,000. All donations raised will go towards supporting various U Care Fund assistance programmes.
The auction, available to participants in Singapore, will take place in July 2022 using Crypto.com‘s NFT marketplace.
“We are honoured to collaborate with Crypto.com for the advancement and advocacy of NFTs,” said Mr Chia Hock Lai, Co-Chairman of BAS. “The influence and prominence of NFTs continues to increase significantly, particularly across Asia. A recent poll[1] conducted across 20 countries found that the highest NFT adoption rates were in Asia. The study found that the Philippines has the largest proportion of NFT owners (32%), followed by Thailand (27%), Malaysia (24%), UAE (23%) and Vietnam (17%). The acceptance and trend towards NFT ownership has been in the ascendancy in recent years and we expect this to continue. BAS is committed to further educating the public on this emerging technology jointly with Crypto.com.”
“We are excited to partner with BAS to not only advance NFTs in the market, but to also further harness the positive impact NFTs and the entire crypto ecosystem can have in our communities,” said Eric Anziani, Chief Operating Officer at Crypto.com. “By partnering with BAS on this important initiative, we will be able to maximize our efforts while also continuing to build this technology for a highly engaged regional population.”
NTUC Assistant Director-General Zainal Sapari, who oversees the NTUC-U Care Fund, said: “We are thrilled to collaborate with BAS once again as part of our fundraising efforts to help lower-income members and their families. It is our second year doing an NFT charity auction, this time with Crypto.com‘s domain expertise. Amidst a vibrant NFT marketplace that has grown by leaps and bounds in the past year, I hope more corporates and individuals will come on board to give their support towards this fundraising effort for a worthy cause.”
BAS was established to facilitate collaboration between market participants and stakeholders in the Blockchain ecosystem. The association is an effective platform for members to engage with multiple stakeholders to find solutions to issues and to promote best practices in a collaborative, open, and transparent manner.
Blockchain For Good is taking place as part of Singapore Blockchain Week 2022. The hybrid event will provide unique in-person and digital engagements for participants and attendees. The anchor summit, including speaking engagements and exhibitions, will be held on July 26 and 27. BAS will also coordinate a series of other accredited events, such as hackathons on July 25 and an innovation lab crawl, career fair, workshop and other joint events on July 28 and 29. Supported by Singapore’s leading government agencies, industry leaders from across the world will converge for Singapore’s premier blockchain event.
About Blockchain Association Singapore
The Blockchain Association Singapore (BAS) seeks to empower its members and the community to leverage blockchain and scalable technologies for business growth and transformation.
The Association is designed to be an effective platform for members to engage with multiple stakeholders – both regional and international – to discover solutions and promote best practices in a collaborative, open, and transparent manner. It aims to promote blockchain literacy and build a strong talent pipeline for the digital economy in Singapore.
In a joint effort to make the web more secure and usable for all, Apple, Google and Microsoft today announced plans to expand support for a common passwordless sign-in standard created by the FIDO Alliance and the World Wide Web Consortium. The new capability will allow websites and apps to offer consistent, secure, and easy passwordless sign-ins to consumers across devices and platforms.
Password-only authentication is one of the biggest security problems on the web, and managing so many passwords is cumbersome for consumers, which often leads consumers to reuse the same ones across services. This practice can lead to costly account takeovers, data breaches, and even stolen identities. While password managers and legacy forms of two-factor authentication offer incremental improvements, there has been industry-wide collaboration to create sign-in technology that is more convenient and more secure.
The expanded standards-based capabilities will give websites and apps the ability to offer an end-to-end passwordless option. Users will sign in through the same action that they take multiple times each day to unlock their devices, such as a simple verification of their fingerprint or face, or a device PIN. This new approach protects against phishing and sign-in will be radically more secure when compared to passwords and legacy multi-factor technologies such as one-time passcodes sent over SMS.
An Expansion of Passwordless Standard Support
Hundreds of technology companies and service providers from around the world worked within the FIDO Alliance and W3C to create the passwordless sign-in standards that are already supported in billions of devices and all modern web browsers. Apple, Google, and Microsoft have led development of this expanded set of capabilities and are now building support into their respective platforms.
These companies’ platforms already support FIDO Alliance standards to enable passwordless sign-in on billions of industry-leading devices, but previous implementations require users to sign in to each website or app with each device before they can use passwordless functionality. Today’s announcement extends these platform implementations to give users two new capabilities for more seamless and secure passwordless sign-ins:
Allow users to automatically access their FIDO sign-in credentials (referred to by some as a “passkey”) on many of their devices, even new ones, without having to re-enroll every account.
Enable users to use FIDO authentication on their mobile device to sign in to an app or website on a nearby device, regardless of the OS platform or browser they are running.
In addition to facilitating a better user experience, the broad support of this standards-based approach will enable service providers to offer FIDO credentials without needing passwords as an alternative sign-in or account recovery method.
These new capabilities are expected to become available across Apple, Google, and Microsoft platforms over the course of the coming year.
“‘Simpler, stronger authentication’ is not just FIDO Alliance’s tagline — it also has been a guiding principle for our specifications and deployment guidelines. Ubiquity and usability are critical to seeing multi-factor authentication adopted at scale, and we applaud Apple, Google, and Microsoft for helping make this objective a reality by committing to support this user-friendly innovation in their platforms and products,” said Andrew Shikiar, executive director and CMO of the FIDO Alliance. “This new capability stands to usher in a new wave of low-friction FIDO implementations alongside the ongoing and growing utilization of security keys — giving service providers a full range of options for deploying modern, phishing-resistant authentication.”
“The standards developed by the FIDO Alliance and World Wide Web Consortium and being led in practice by these innovative companies is the type of forward-leaning thinking that will ultimately keep the American people safer online. I applaud the commitment of our private sector partners to open standards that add flexibility for the service providers and a better user experience for customers,” said Jen Easterly, Director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. “At CISA, we are working to raise the cybersecurity baseline for all Americans. Today is an important milestone in the security journey to encourage built-in security best practices and help us move beyond passwords. Cyber is a team sport, and we’re pleased to continue our collaboration.”
“Just as we design our products to be intuitive and capable, we also design them to be private and secure,” said Kurt Knight, Apple’s Senior Director of Platform Product Marketing. “Working with the industry to establish new, more secure sign-in methods that offer better protection and eliminate the vulnerabilities of passwords is central to our commitment to building products that offer maximum security and a transparent user experience — all with the goal of keeping users’ personal information safe.”
“This milestone is a testament to the collaborative work being done across the industry to increase protection and eliminate outdated password-based authentication,” said Mark Risher, Senior Director of Product Management, Google. “For Google, it represents nearly a decade of work we’ve done alongside FIDO, as part of our continued innovation towards a passwordless future. We look forward to making FIDO-based technology available across Chrome, ChromeOS, Android and other platforms, and encourage app and website developers to adopt it, so people around the world can safely move away from the risk and hassle of passwords.”
“The complete shift to a passwordless world will begin with consumers making it a natural part of their lives. Any viable solution must be safer, easier, and faster than the passwords and legacy multi-factor authentication methods used today,” says Alex Simons, Corporate Vice President, Identity Program Management at Microsoft. “By working together as a community across platforms, we can at last achieve this vision and make significant progress toward eliminating passwords. We see a bright future for FIDO-based credentials in both consumer and enterprise scenarios and will continue to build support across Microsoft apps and services.”
Industrial companies consume over half of the energy and produce one-fifth of greenhouse gas emissions globally, giving the sector a significant opportunity to support climate initiatives. A new report from Manufacturers Alliance Foundation and Infosys (NYSE: INFY), “Delivering on Carbon Neutral Goals,” outlines the progress manufacturers have made to-date on reducing carbon emissions across three scopes: direct emissions, indirect emissions from electricity purchases, and indirect emissions derived from a manufacturer’s value chain.
The report also shares steps on how manufacturers can move forward in reducing emissions and provides examples from manufacturing executives across sectors at various stages in their carbon neutrality journey.
“The manufacturing sector is an important player in helping reduce the global carbon footprint,” notes Stephen Gold, President and CEO of Manufacturers Alliance. “This report shines a light on where U.S. manufacturers are today and how they can continue to support sustainability and growth.”
Findings include:
45% of manufacturers are exploring how to expand their carbon footprint initiatives, with 28% already expanding initiatives beyond factories.
The aerospace and automotive industries are ahead of the pack with over 30% of respondents, (which is more than double other industries covered in the survey), saying they are tracking across all three scopes of emissions.
94% of respondents noted that capturing a product’s carbon footprint was difficult as only 28% have a system in place to track the carbon footprint of their products.
Digital technologies were identified as a key resource for emission tracking, with four stages of maturity identified in the digitalization journey. 45% of respondents are already using data to track and monitor emissions.
“Providing visibility and insights from manufacturing operations data is key to accelerating progress on sustainability goals,” says Jasmeet Singh, Executive Vice President and Global Head of Manufacturing, Infosys. “Digitalization tools will enable manufacturers to meet the sustainability goals while continuing to optimize performance.”
About Manufacturers Alliance Foundation
Manufacturers Alliance Foundation is the 501(c)(3) partner of Manufacturers Alliance. The Alliance Foundation provides educational opportunities for the manufacturing community and its stakeholders through insights, events, and tools for today’s most critical business decisions. The Alliance Foundation focuses on talent, technology, digital transformation, and competitiveness. Learn more about the Alliance Foundation: manufacturersalliance.org/foundation
About Manufacturers Alliance
Manufacturers Alliance powers leaders. We bring together an unparalleled network of manufacturing executives to advance their careers, grow their companies, and support the whole community. We accomplish our mission through peer communities, education, and business insights on the topics that matter most to the sector. Learn more: manufacturersalliance.org.
About Infosys
Infosys is a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting. We enable clients in more than 50 countries to navigate their digital transformation. With over four decades of experience in managing the systems and workings of global enterprises, we expertly steer our clients through their digital journey. We do it by enabling the enterprise with an AI-powered core that helps prioritize the execution of change. We also empower the business with agile digital at scale to deliver unprecedented levels of performance and customer delight. Our always-on learning agenda drives their continuous improvement through building and transferring digital skills, expertise, and ideas from our innovation ecosystem.
Visit www.infosys.com to see how Infosys (NSE, BSE, NYSE: INFY) can help your enterprise navigate your next.
Safe Harbor
Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking statements intended to qualify for the ‘safe harbor’ under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements concerning our future business opportunities and growth prospects. Such forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding fluctuations in earnings, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, our ability to manage growth, intense competition in IT services including those factors which may affect our cost advantage, wage increases in India, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, industry segment concentration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks or system failures, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which Infosys has made strategic investments, withdrawal or expiration of governmental fiscal incentives, political instability and regional conflicts, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, and unauthorized use of our intellectual property and general economic conditions affecting our industry.
Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our United States Securities and Exchange Commission filings including our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2021. These filings are available at https://www.sec.gov/. Infosys may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. In addition, please note that any forward-looking statements contained herein are based on assumptions that we believe to be reasonable as of the date of this press release. The company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the company unless it is required by law.
In recent years, Innodisk has been eyeing the development of Industrial Artificial Intelligence Internet of Things (AIoT), and has assisted thousands of customers in realizing various intelligent applications. Today, Innodisk, a global leader in industrial storage and embedded peripherals, is delighted to announce its latest business strategy. Together with its subsidiaries, Innodisk will make every effort to promote Edge AI computing technologies to the world.
Innodisk is optimistic about the important role of AI technology will play in future industrial development, accelerating the deployment and implementation of global smart city, smart vehicle, smart medical, smart retail, smart factory, energy and infrastructure intelligence, among other application fields.
Chairman of Innodisk, Randy Chien said “Only by accelerating the introduction of AI technologies and releasing the potential of AI applications, can the industry effectively reduce the cloud processing cost and data transmission pressure faced in the process of intelligentization; and this is the most fundamental reason why Innodisk is focusing on Edge AI.”
Taking advantage of AI’s tremendous growth, Innodisk has developed a series of new products by combining three key elements: software and hardware integration, remote management, and data security, hoping to help global customers achieve their AI optimization goals. In terms of software, Innodisk provides a complete set of solutions through its self-developed AI Suite SDK to strengthen the deployment and management of AI.
On the hardware side, the latest K26 SOM module provides a plug-and-play integrated module solution for FPGAs with high technical barriers. The InnoAgent out-of-band management expansion module eliminates the risk of prolonged equipment downtime. InnoAGE and InnoOSRSSDs integrate data storage and intelligent remote management functions to improve device management performance. Innodisk has also launched the world’s first M.2 10GbE LAN module and a DDR4 Ultra Temperature module that supports extreme temperature change in all edge environments.
Innodisk’s new AI strategy and total focus on Edge AI computing will lead the industry and company operations to new heights while pushing the limit of what we all believe is possible. Together we will build an intelligent world.
