Syntropy, Evidium Team Up To Advance Data-centric Healthcare

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 29 (Bernama) -- Syntropy, a partnership between Merck and Palantir Technologies Inc, has collaborated with Evidium, a healthcare platform developer, making end-to-end medical knowledge more computational as well as improving data quality for clinical research and practice.

According to a statement, the coalition will be facilitated through Syntropy’s secure data collaboration platform.

Evidium’s Referenced artificial intelligence (AI) platform will play a key role in transforming narrative-form information into AI-ready knowledge at the elemental level, allowing clinical data to be disseminated and utilised with unprecedented scale and precision.

Whereas, Syntropy’s secure, collaborative ecosystem will enable researchers to review high-quality data, share insights, and apply their findings to clinical trials, helping to generate more specific treatment options.

“Together, Syntropy and Evidium will work to make clinical research computable and scalable by simplifying the process of entering quality medical data onto a secure, trustworthy platform.

“The joint efficiencies will break down the silos that have hampered research to support collaboration on data. This will help shorten the time it takes to uncover crucial insights and deploy lifesaving discoveries," said Syntropy Director, James Kugler.

Meanwhile, Evidium Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Carl Bate said: “We are excited to announce this collaborative effort with Syntropy. Our teams are aligned to enable our customers to maximise the impact of their medical knowledge and bring trustworthy AI benefits to patients and every expert across the system.”

The combination of the two platforms will enable more reliable, lower bias and more precise usage of Generative AI across use cases, both in workflow and analytics from vast and complex sources.

Eventually, the offering will be expanded to more healthcare and biopharmaceutical organisations, with the goal of positively impacting patient quality and experience.

Syntropy empowers healthcare providers, researchers, and collaborators to derive insights from every point of data they collect and generate in a secure, compliant, and ethical manner.

-- BERNAMA

CLOUDFLARE OFFERS DEVELOPERS PLATFORM TO BUILD FULL-STACK AI APPLICATIONS

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 29 (Bernama) -- Cloudflare Inc, a connectivity cloud company, announced that developers can now build full-stack artificial intelligence (AI) applications on Cloudflare’s network.

According to a statement, Cloudflare introduces Workers AI for end-to-end infrastructure needed to scale and deploy AI models efficiently and affordably for the next era of AI applications.

“Workers AI will empower developers to build production-ready AI experiences efficiently and affordably, and in days, instead of what typically takes entire teams weeks or even months,” said Cloudflare chief executive officer and co-founder, Matthew Prince.

Cloudflare’s developer platform will provide the best end-to-end experience for developers building AI applications, enabling fast and affordable inference without the need to manage infrastructure.

As every business, from startups to enterprises, looks to augment their services with AI, Cloudflare’s platform is empowering developers with the velocity to ship a production-ready application quickly, with security, compliance and speed built in.

Workers AI is delivering a simple, affordable way for developers to run AI models on Cloudflare’s global network. Cloudflare will now provide access to GPUs running on Cloudflare’s massive global network to ensure AI inference can happen close to users for a low-latency end-user experience.

In addition, Cloudflare’s new vector database, Vectorize, enables developers to build full-stack AI applications entirely on Cloudflare. With Workers AI and Vectorize, developers no longer have to glue multiple pieces together to empower their apps with AI and machine learning whereby they can do it all on one platform.

Cloudflare is also introducing AI Gateway to make AI applications more reliable, observable and scalable, giving developers observability features to understand AI traffic like the number of requests, number of users, cost of running the app and duration of requests.

-- BERNAMA

AM Best Affirms Taiwan’s Cathay Century Credit Ratings As Excellent

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 29 (Bernama) -- Global credit rating agency, AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of “a” (Excellent) of Taiwan’s Cathay Century Insurance Company Limited (Cathay Century).

In a statement, AM Best said the credit ratings (ratings), which have a stable outlook, reflected Cathay Century’s balance sheet strength, which was assessed as very strong, as well as its adequate operating performance, neutral business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management.

Cathay Century’s risk-adjusted capitalisation, as measured by Best’s Capital Adequacy Ratio, was at the very strong level at year-end 2022 and is expected to strengthen gradually over the short to intermediate term and be commensurate with the pre-pandemic level through earnings retention.

Other supportive factors of the balance sheet strength assessment include the company’s diversified investment portfolio that focuses on low-risk fixed-income securities, good liquidity, and comprehensive reinsurance arrangements.

Cathay Century remains the second-largest insurer in Taiwan’s non-life sector, with a market share of 12.8 per cent in terms of direct premiums written (DPW) in 2022. The company’s underwriting portfolio is diversified moderately with motor being a major line of business, accounting for over half of the company’s DPW in 2022, followed by fire, accident and health businesses.

The portfolio is skewed toward personal lines insurance products and the company continues to leverage the comprehensive business network of its parent group and affiliated distribution channels to grow its underwriting portfolio.

In addition, Cathay Century has refined and strengthened its risk management by reviewing product design and underwriting control, following the significant pandemic insurance claims. Cathay Financial Holding also has collaborated with Cathay Century to provide risk oversight support and resources.

-- BERNAMA

AM Best Affirms Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance, US Subsidiaries' Credit Ratings

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 29 (Bernama) -- AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating (FSR) of A++ (Superior) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Ratings (Long-Term ICR) of “aa+” (Superior) of Japan’s Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co Ltd (TMNF) and its United States subsidiaries.

According to the global credit rating agency in a statement, the outlook of these credit ratings (ratings) is stable.

Meanwhile, the FSR of A++ (Superior) and the Long-Term ICRs of “aa+” (Superior), each with a stable outlook, have been affirmed for Tokio Marine America Insurance Company; Trans Pacific Insurance Company; TM Specialty Insurance Company; and TNUS Insurance Company.

The ratings reflect TMNF’s balance sheet strength, which AM Best assessed as strongest, as well as its strong operating performance, very favourable business profile and very strong enterprise risk management (ERM).

The company’s balance sheet strength assessment reflects its risk-adjusted capitalisation that is at the strongest level, as measured by Best’s Capital Adequacy Ratio and it has a robust absolute capital base and very conservative financial leverage.

It has a track record of consistent premium growth and a robust bottom line, supported by its diversified business portfolios and a five-year average return on equity of 5.4 per cent (fiscal year 2018 – 2022) on a consolidated basis, as calculated by AM Best.

Although net profit is subjected to volatility from natural catastrophe losses in Japan, TMNF’s domestic non-life business has maintained a consistently profitable underwriting performance over the same period.

The company continues to have a sophisticated ERM framework that is embedded throughout its organisation and AM Best believed that TMNF’s ERM programme is very effective in managing its group-wide exposure to potential earnings and capital volatility.

-- BERNAMA

LANLING COUNTY SHOWCASES VAST BURDOCK PRODUCTS AT FOOD CULTURE FESTIVAL

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 29 (Bernama) -- The "2023 China (Lanling) Burdock Food Culture Festival" held recently in Lanling County offered a diverse range of burdock products such as burdock tea, burdock noodles and burdock snack that left consumers amazed and spoilt for choice.

According to the News Office of the People's Government of Lanling County in a statement, burdock possesses various medicinal values and remarkable health benefits, including its rejuvenating and longevity properties.

As the "hometown of vegetables in China" and "hometown of burdock in China", Lanling County boasts a vast burdock cultivation area with each burdock plant offering a diverse range of products.

By leveraging the development of a series of burdock-based products and agricultural tourism projects, Lanling County has expanded its market channels in which the cultural festival has transformed burdock into a delectable delight for everyone to savour.

During the cultural festival, 100 renowned chefs from various parts of Shandong Province showcased a grand burdock feast featuring Lanling's finest specialty ingredient.

The delectable array of dishes captivated everyone's taste buds, whereby the combination of Linyi fried chicken and Lanling burdock, known as "Burdock Chicken", became an irresistible delicacy that people eagerly lined up to savour.

Furthermore, Lanling's distinctive local ingredients, including Lanling burdock, Cangshan garlic and Great Wall chilli, were artfully incorporated to create a delightful fusion of flavours that delighted all.

As the primary hub for burdock products, Zhuangwu Town in Lanling County has seen the establishment of over 100 burdock processing enterprises, which had a significant impact in providing employment and income opportunities for over 200,000 individuals.

-- BERNAMA

BOOMI CHOSEN TO DEVELOP ANGLICARESA'S PERSONALISED SERVICES

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 29 (Bernama) -- Boomi, the intelligent connectivity and automation leader, announced AnglicareSA has selected the Boomi Platform to pave the way to improve personalised services by centralising its data to better understand the needs of the 62,500 constituents it supports.

Not-for-profit (NFP) AnglicareSA has provided a diverse range of programmes including housing, National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) services, Aboriginal services, aged care, foster care, emergency assistance and financial counselling to South Australians for more than 150 years.

In a statement, Boomi said AnglicareSA selected the Boomi Platform to integrate its technology investments and ensure information is available to its 1,800 employees and volunteers when they need it, after evaluating several options.

“Switching to Boomi has helped AnglicareSA better understand the needs of its constituents and afforded its IT team the ability to move fast and leave complex integration behind,” said Boomi Director, Australia and New Zealand, Nathan Gower.

Meanwhile, AnglicareSA Manager for Application Support, Brett Rowe said: “Boomi serves as the stable foundation we need to ensure reliable system integration so we can continue to improve our services, and tailor them around the unique needs of South Australians.

“Since we introduced Boomi in early 2023, we are more agile, responding to requests from the business and employees rapidly, sparing the team from manual data entry and resolving complex integration issues,” he said.

AnglicareSA uses Boomi’s integration platform as a service (iPaaS) to connect business-critical applications, including TechnologyOne enterprise resource planning (ERP), Salesforce Lumary, Rapid Global workforce management software, ELMO’s human resources (HR) software, as well as Microsoft ActiveDirectory and SQL databases.

Having upskilled through Boomi’s training programme, AnglicareSA’s application team developed and now manages integrations internally, which has generated significant cost savings.

AnglicareSA selected Boomi to replace Microsoft Azure integration services, and in the process eliminated complex point-to-point integrations, which were proving difficult to maintain and support.

-- BERNAMA

Cloudflare Partners Microsoft To Enable AI Model Location

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 29 (Bernama) -- Cloudflare Inc, the connectivity cloud company, has collaborated with Microsoft to make it easier for companies to run artificial intelligence (AI) in the location most suitable for their needs.

“Together, Cloudflare and Microsoft will build the railroad tracks that AI traffic and tasks will move on, to tailor AI inference to the exact needs and demands of every organisation,” said its chief executive officer and co-founder, Matthew Prince in a statement.

Meanwhile, Microsoft General Manager of Data, AI, & Emerging Technologies, Rashmi Misra said: “With Cloudflare’s combination with Microsoft’s experience in training and deploying the world’s most advanced AI workloads through our Azure cloud, businesses will gain access to a new level of flexibility and performance for AI inference.”

As inference tasks become more and more distributed, this collaboration will enable businesses to seamlessly deploy AI models across a computing continuum that spans device, network edge, and cloud environments, maximising the benefits of both centralised and distributed computing models.

By leveraging ONNX Runtime, a cross-platform accelerated machine learning, across these three tiers, Cloudflare and Microsoft can ensure that AI models can be run anywhere. 

AI model training requires significant computational and storage resources in close proximity to one another, making centralised cloud platforms the best environment for the intensive calculations needed in model training.

While training will continue to be centralised, inference tasks will be increasingly performed in more distributed locations, specifically on devices themselves and on edge networks.

Microsoft’s AI capabilities and hyperscale cloud infrastructure combined with Cloudflare’s hyper-distributed edge network will empower businesses to drive innovation and efficiency across the entire AI lifecycle.

As a result, businesses will be able to find the best location for AI tasks; navigate changing needs; and deploy on Cloudflare in a few clicks.

-- BERNAMA

AM Best Affirms Credit Ratings, Assigns National Scale Rating To Philippines’ Nat Re

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 25 (Bernama) -- Global credit rating agency, AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of B++ (Good) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of “bbb” (Good) of National Reinsurance Corporation of the Philippines (Nat Re).

AM Best has also assigned the Philippines National Scale Rating (NSR) of aa+.PH (Superior) to Nat Re, and the outlook of these credit ratings (ratings) is stable.

In a statement, AM Best said the ratings reflected Nat Re’s balance sheet strength, which was assessed as strong, as well as its adequate operating performance, neutral business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management (ERM).

Nat Re’s balance sheet strength is underpinned by its risk-adjusted capitalisation, as measured by Best’s Capital Adequacy Ratio, which remained at the strongest level in 2022.

The rating agency viewed the company’s investment portfolio as having moderate risk. Despite some exposure to corporate bonds and equity investments, the majority of Nat Re’s portfolio is composed of fixed income securities issued by the Philippines’ government.

Nat Re’s operating performance was assessed as adequate, with a five-year average return-on-equity ratio of 2.3 per cent (2018-2022), while net profit declined in 2022 compared to the prior year.

While the company reported lower underwriting losses in 2022, compared to 2021, the improvement was outweighed by lower investment income, which was partially impacted by investment impairment and fair value losses on equity investments.

AM Best viewed Nat Re’s business profile as neutral. As the only domestic reinsurer in the Philippines, the company is well-positioned for business opportunities emanating from local government initiatives, including its engagement in the design and launch of underwriting facilities in the Philippines market.

The company’s risk management framework and corporate governance capabilities are viewed to have strengthened over recent years, considering its ERM approach to be appropriate given the current size and complexity of its operations.

-- BERNAMA

CLOUDFLARE TEAM UP WITH META TO MAKE LLAMA 2 AVAILABLE GLOBALLY

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 27 (Bernama) -- Cloudflare Inc, the connectivity cloud company, has partnered with Meta to make the Llama 2 open source large language model (LLM) available to developers building artificial intelligence (AI) applications on its developer platform, Workers.

According to Cloudflare in a statement, Meta’s release of Llama 2, a publicly available LLM, has presented a major shift, allowing developers to run and deploy their own LLMs.

“Meta has been a great contributor to the open source community, and bringing that same approach to AI is going to help ensure that powerful AI is accessible to all developers, and their communities, around the world, with data localisation built in,” said its chief executive officer and co-founder, Matthew Prince.

Now, more than a million developers already building on Cloudflare have access to a leading LLM to enrich their applications.

Cloudflare’s hyper-distributed edge network will enable developers anywhere to build applications with Llama 2, and with Cloudflare’s Data Localization Suite, they will be able to do this while controlling where their data is handled.

The company’s privacy-first approach to application development can help companies earn trust with their customers by ensuring data used for inference is not used for training or improving the LLM.

-- BERNAMA

ACCELERATOR LIFE SCIENCE PARTNERS LAUNCHES BIOTECHNOLOGY STARTUP COMPANY IN SINGAPORE WITH $16M IN SERIES A COMMITMENTS

 

Automera unlocks the full potential of autophagy-based targeted protein degradation for oncology and other indications SEATTLE & SINGAPORE, Sept 27 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) -- Accelerator Life Science Partners (ALSP), an early-stage life science accelerator and investment firm that creates and builds next-generation biotechnology companies centered on innovative science, today announced the Series A financing of Automera, a new biotechnology company that focuses on the development of autophagy-targeting chimera small molecules (AUTACs). Augmented with quantum chemistry and artificial intelligence (AI) enabled drug discovery tools, Automera’s AUTACs have the broad potential to rapidly generate novel therapeutic leads for a range of diseases. Automera will initially focus its product development efforts to treat cancer. The company was established by co-founders Associate Professor Michael Lazarou, Loong Wang, and Taiyang Zhang at Talo Labs Pte Ltd. in collaboration with ALSP. Automera has secured $16M in Series A funding, a co-led endeavor by ALSP and ClavystBio, with participation from Singapore-based global investor EDBI, Xora Innovation, and other undisclosed investors. Joining the Board of Directors are Loong Wang, from Automera, Dr. Alice Chen and Thong Q. Le, from ALSP, and Dr. Wen Qi Ho, from ClavystBio. “ALSP has long been interested in helping to drive biopharma innovation emerging in Singapore,” said Alice Chen, Executive Vice President at ALSP and Automera board member. “As our first investment in Singapore, Automera exemplifies the innovative scientific and translational research ongoing in the region. We plan to leverage ALSP’s unique company-building capabilities in Singapore, and we look forward to working with the broader Singapore community to enhance the platform technologies and early-stage therapeutic programs that Automera will develop. We are honored to co-lead Automera’s Series A financing with our partners at ClavystBio and are excited about expanding Automera’s operations in the months ahead.” Automera’s AUTAC platform is a next-generation approach to realizing the potential of targeted protein degradation (TPD) as a therapeutic modality. TPD, an emerging field of novel therapeutics, catalyzes the degradation of disease-related proteins while retaining the benefits of small molecules. Automera’s AUTAC platform is designed to generate novel therapies that degrade not only disease-related proteins but also protein aggregates, organelles, and pathogens. AUTACs have the potential to provide a more flexible approach to protein degradation than existing approaches such as proteolysis-targeting chimeras (PROTACs) to trigger protein degradation. “Automera was founded on the premise that improving health outcomes for people with serious diseases requires new technologies that make it easier, faster, and less expensive to develop safe and effective medicines,” said Loong Wang, co-founder of Automera. “We believe that our AUTAC platform is one such technology, with broad potential across multiple disease indications that are difficult to treat with current therapeutic approaches. We greatly value the business and financial support that ALSP provides and are proud that leading healthcare investors are participating in Automera’s Series A financing. With these resources, Automera is well positioned to deploy our AUTAC platform toward the development of potentially transformative therapies.” Automera has assembled a distinguished scientific advisory group that includes Associate Professor Michael Lazarou, Automera's Scientific Co-Founder at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI) and the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Dr. Nicholas Ktistakis from Babraham Institute, Dr. Gene Yeo from the University of California San Diego (UCSD) and Dr. Kendall Mohler from ALSP. “ClavystBio is excited to be building new ventures in Singapore through partnerships with young entrepreneurs like Loong Wang and his team at Automera, and smart capital investors like ALSP,” said Wen Qi Ho, Therapeutics Lead at ClavystBio. “Our mission is to accelerate the commercialization of breakthrough innovations like the AUTAC platform for health impact, and we welcome Automera and ALSP to Singapore’s growing life sciences translational community.” About Automera Automera is an early-stage company focused on the development of a novel therapeutic approach via autophagy-based targeted protein degradation. Automera aims to leverage its unique understanding of autophagy, drug development capabilities, and access to quantum chemistry and generative AI-enabled insights to enhance its drug development programs. Automera’s AUTAC platform has broad potential across cancer and other disease areas, with oncology being the initial lead program. The company was founded by co-founders Associate Professor Michael Lazarou, Loong Wang, and Taiyang Zhang at Talo Labs Pte Ltd. For more information, visit www.automeratx.com. About Accelerator Life Science Partners Accelerator Life Science Partners (ALSP) is an early-stage life science accelerator and investment firm that creates and builds next generation biotechnology companies centered on innovative science. ALSP catalyzes the development and commercialization of breakthrough biotechnology innovations by providing a holistic toolkit and leveraging its network and entrepreneurial expertise to accelerate the establishment and operation of early-stage biotechnology companies. ALSP’s portfolio companies are backed by renowned life science investors and are comprised of industry-leading, transformative companies, including KayoThera, Inc., Lodo Therapeutics (acquired by Zymergen, now Ginkgo BioWorks), Petra Pharma (acquired by a global pharmaceutical company), Proniras Corporation, and Rodeo Therapeutics (acquired by Amgen Inc.). For more information, please visit www.acceleratorlsp.com. About ClavystBio ClavystBio’s mission is to accelerate the commercialization of life science breakthroughs into health impact. We invest and partner with innovators, entrepreneurs, and founders to launch and grow global companies in Singapore. We foster partnerships among academics, industry, and investors, and convene life sciences communities at our collaborative innovation space Node 1. Together, we advance Singapore as a global life sciences translational hub. ClavystBio was conceived and launched by Temasek to be a venture builder, trusted partner, and keystone to catalyze global health solutions from Singapore. Since our inception in 2022, ClavystBio has committed over US$220m to biotech, diagnostics, and digital health companies, as well as early-stage VC funds. For more information on ClavystBio, please visit www.clavystbio.com. About EDBI Investing since 1991, EDBI is a Singapore-based global investor in select high growth technology sectors ranging from Information & Communication Technology (ICT), Emerging Technology (ET), Healthcare (HC) and promising Singapore SMEs in strategic industries. As a value-creating investor, EDBI assists companies achieve their ambitious goals by leveraging our broad network, resources, and expertise. With our growth capital, EDBI supports companies seeking to grow in Asia and globally through Singapore. For more information, visit https://www.edbi.com. About Xora Innovation Xora Innovation invests in disruptive, world-changing ventures forged by ambitious founders and powered by compelling scientific breakthroughs. Headquartered in Singapore, Xora is an early-stage deep tech investing platform of Temasek. For more information, visit https://xora.vc. View source version on businesswire.com:  https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230926466395/en/ Contact Jessica Burback Email: jburback@acceleratorlsp.com Phone: 206-957-7302 Source : Automera

NEW STUDY REVEALS CLOUD GIANTS ARE HOLDING BUSINESSES CAPTIVE

Independent study finds that 96% of respondents would find value in a connectivity cloud approach


SAN FRANCISCO, Sept 27 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) -- Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE: NET), the leading connectivity cloud company, today released a commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting that underscores companies’ growing need to connect everything in their business, while maintaining control over their security, productivity, and competitive growth. To help the industry address this emerging challenge, today Cloudflare is introducing the concept of the connectivity cloud – a unified platform of cloud-native services designed to help enterprises regain control over their increasingly complex and sprawling technology and data.

“Today, the big clouds have built business models on capturing your data, making it hard to move your data. These captivity clouds will lure you in with one product, and make it near impossible to mix and match competitive offerings across the cloud space,” said Matthew Prince, CEO, Cloudflare. “Cloudflare offers an alternative: the connectivity cloud. Fundamentally, we are a network that makes it easy for you to connect and protect everything. We sit atop everything else and connect anything that’s online — whether it’s a cloud, a device, a database, or on-premises hardware — so businesses can escape the grasp of the cloud captors.”

Organizations Are Losing Control Over Their IT and Security Environments

In the last several years, organizations across the globe have seen a dramatic increase in the adoption of more applications, often SaaS-based, to help teams efficiently and collaboratively operate in a hybrid work environment. However, this has introduced new risks and challenges and led nearly 40% of organizations to agree or strongly agree that they are losing control over their IT and security environments. Specifically, organizations ranked the top four factors that are contributing to the overall loss of control as an increase in the overall number of applications (66%), an increase in locations for applications (62%), the shift from on premise to cloud (54%), and the shift to remote/hybrid workforces (49%).

New and More Complex Responsibilities Are Burdening Today’s IT and Security Teams

IT and Security teams are now tasked with responsibilities to remain productive and compliant while managing an increasingly complex landscape — and a third of organizations say these new responsibilities weren’t in their purview five years ago. For instance, 52% of IT and security teams were not responsible for ensuring security for all in-office, remote or hybrid workers five years ago, but are today. What’s more, greater than 40% are also now responsible for managing and securing applications in public cloud environments or managing and securing data in SaaS environments, despite not owning these areas five years ago. These tasks are also becoming harder since 2020, with 30% of teams noting that managing and securing both public cloud environments, and data in SaaS environments, is significantly more complex today than ever before.

Ignoring the Challenges of Today’s Changing Landscape Will Have Real Business Impact

IT and security leaders see their major challenges revolving around managing a growing business landscape while ensuring their team remains productive and secure. Nearly 50% of organizations see the growing number and types of users — spanning human, machine, and third party — as one of their top five challenges they face today. The top five challenges also include the difficulty of maintaining or improving their team’s productivity (44%) and addressing growing attack surface areas (44%). If not adequately addressed, these challenges are expected to have a direct impact on the customer experience, productivity, and their organization’s competitive advantage.

A Connectivity Cloud Can Help with Digital Transformation, While Decreasing Risk and Increasing Productivity

98% of organizations agree that today’s businesses would gain value from a connectivity cloud that provides secure, performant, “any-to-any” connectivity (i.e., connectivity between more people, apps, data, devices, networks, and clouds) more now than ever before. Nearly half of respondents believe this type of solution would accelerate digital transformation, while reducing attack surface area. 58% of leaders also believe this solution would increase productivity, 54% see it improving time to market, and 54% of businesses believe it would grow overall revenue.

Methodology

In September 2023, Cloudflare commissioned Forrester Consulting to evaluate the IT and security ecosystem. Forrester conducted an online survey with 449 IT decision makers across North America, Europe, APAC, and Latin America.

Customer Testimonials

“With 12,000+ stores and more than 11 million transactions every day, Carrefour needs a platform that we trust to connect, manage, secure, and accelerate online experiences,” said Guillaume Cécile, Operational Security Manager at Carrefour. “That’s why we rely on Cloudflare and its global network to help deliver security, performance, visibility, and reliability—everywhere we, and our customers, do business.”

“Every day, Indeed connects millions of people to new opportunities. Operating at this scale means control and simplicity are key, especially in how we run our IT and security teams,” said Anthony Moisant, CIO and Chief Security Officer at Indeed. “With Cloudflare, we’re able to connect, secure, and optimize the digital experience of our 350 million monthly unique visitors in a connected, cloud-native manner.”

To learn more, please check out the resources below:

• Cloudflare connectivity cloud
• Blog Post: Welcome to the Connectivity Cloud

About Cloudflare

Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE: NET) is the leading connectivity cloud company. It empowers organizations to make their employees, applications and networks faster and more secure everywhere, while reducing complexity and cost. Cloudflare’s connectivity cloud delivers the most full-featured, unified platform of cloud-native products and developer tools, so any organization can gain the control they need to work, develop, and accelerate their business.

Powered by one of the world’s largest and most interconnected networks, Cloudflare blocks billions of threats online for its customers every day. It is trusted by millions of organizations – from the largest brands to entrepreneurs and small businesses to nonprofits, humanitarian groups, and governments across the globe.

Learn more about Cloudflare’s connectivity cloud at cloudflare.com/connectivity-cloud. Learn more about the latest Internet trends and insights at https://radar.cloudflare.com.

Follow us: Blog | X | LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, which statements involve substantial risks and uncertainties. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements because they contain words such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expect,” “explore,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “could,” “intend,” “target,” “project,” “contemplate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential,” or “continue,” or the negative of these words, or other similar terms or expressions that concern Cloudflare’s expectations, strategy, plans, or intentions. However, not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Forward-looking statements expressed or implied in this press release include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the capabilities and effectiveness of Cloudflare’s products and technology, the benefits to customers of Cloudflare’s products and technology, the timing of when Cloudflare’s product and technology features will be generally available to all current and potential Cloudflare customers, Cloudflare’s technological development, future operations, growth, initiatives, or strategies, and comments made by Cloudflare’s CEO and others. Actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied in forward-looking statements due to a number of factors, including but not limited to, risks detailed in Cloudflare’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including Cloudflare’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed on August 3, 2023, as well as other filings that Cloudflare may make from time to time with the SEC.

The forward-looking statements made in this press release relate only to events as of the date on which the statements are made. Cloudflare undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements made in this press release to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this press release or to reflect new information or the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law. Cloudflare may not actually achieve the plans, intentions, or expectations disclosed in Cloudflare’s forward-looking statements, and you should not place undue reliance on Cloudflare’s forward-looking statements.

© 2023 Cloudflare, Inc. All rights reserved. Cloudflare, the Cloudflare logo, and other Cloudflare marks are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Cloudflare, Inc. in the U.S. and other jurisdictions. All other marks and names referenced herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

View source version on businesswire.com: 
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230926147514/en/

Contact

Cloudflare, Inc.
Daniella Vallurupalli
Vice President, Head of Global Communications
press@cloudflare.com

Source : Cloudflare, Inc.

BDA Promotes Bermuda’s Investment Opportunities on Business Development Mission to Singapore

 

 

HAMILTON, Bermuda, Sept 26 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- The Bermuda Business Development Agency (BDA) has organised a business development mission to Singapore to hold multiple business development missions in and around Submarine Networks World, the world’s largest annual gathering of the global subsea communications community.

David Hart, CEO, BDA said, “Seeking out foreign direct investment in the infrastructure space is a key objective of the BDA’s strategy, as 95 percent of the world’s communications is carried on submarine cable networks. The BDA has long advocated that Bermuda’s location in the Atlantic makes us an ideal landfall and connection point for cables between the Americas, Europe and Africa and opportunities like the Submarine Network World conference dovetail with the BDA and government’s mission to build critical new infrastructure.”

Mr. Hart will be accompanied in Singapore from September 25 to 28 by Steven Rees Davies, Partner, Carey Olsen.

Mr. Rees Davies said, “Bermuda has been a key jurisdiction in the submarine network sector from both a logistical, corporate and financing perspective for decades. The recent introduction of legislation and regulation to govern and protect cable landing projects is testament to the Bermuda government’s commitment to support and facilitate the continued investment in this infrastructure as part of the global network and infrastructure that supports the wider global technology and communications industry.”

The BDA serves as a vital conduit between industry and government, as well as new market entrants and Bermuda’s quality service providers. Having just completed an overseas business development mission to Israel, these targeted missions not only allow the BDA to tell Bermuda’s story, but also puts potential prospects in touch with our comprehensive concierge service, available at info@bda.bm.

This business development mission forms a central component of the BDA’s Asia strategy for 2023 and aligns with the ‘Business Attraction and Investment Promotion’ strategic priority outlined in Bermuda’s Economic Development Strategy.

CONNECTING BUSINESS

The BDA encourages direct investment and helps companies start up, re-locate, or expand their operations in our premier jurisdiction. An independent, public-private partnership, we connect you to industry professionals, regulatory officials, and key contacts in the Bermuda government to assist domicile decisions.

View source version on businesswire.com: 
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230922846761/en/

Contact

Stuart Roberts, Director of Marketing & Communications

stuart@bda.bm | +1 441 292 7774

Source : Bermuda Business Development Agency

 

CONCENTRIX AND WEBHELP COMPLETE COMBINATION, CREATING A DIVERSIFIED GLOBAL CX LEADER, WELL-POSITIONED FOR GROWTH

NEWARK, Calif., Sept 26 (Bernama-GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Concentrix Corporation (NASDAQ: CNXC), a leading global provider of customer experience (CX) services and technologies, today announced it has closed its combination with Webhelp and the integration of the two companies is underway. While the combined company finalizes its permanent name, it will operate under the trade name Concentrix + Webhelp.

This combination further positions Concentrix + Webhelp as a global CX leader, with an expanded breadth of generative AI solutions, digital capabilities, and high-value services. It also strengthens its end-to-end CX value proposition, with one of the most robust, well-balanced global footprints in the industry to help the world’s best brands transform customer experiences and achieve their business goals.

“I am excited to embark on this new journey together and believe that, with our combined strengths, we are uniquely positioned to redefine the industry and design, build and run the future of CX for our amazing and valued clients. I want to thank our game-changers around the world who have made this possible. I am truly honored to work with such a diverse and talented team,” said Chris Caldwell, CEO of Concentrix + Webhelp.

The company also welcomes two new members to the Board of Directors, Olivier Duha and Nicolas Gheysens. Olivier is an entrepreneur, philanthropist, co-founder, and former CEO of Webhelp and will serve as Vice Chair of the Board. Nicolas is a Partner at Groupe Bruxelles Lambert (“GBL”), the company’s largest shareholder following the Concentrix + Webhelp combination, and brings with him a wealth of investment and board experience, backing the growth of large and successful businesses across Europe.

“We are fortunate to add such strong skill sets with deep background in the customer experience industry to our Board. With the addition of Olivier and Nicolas, we expand our international expertise in leading large, complex multinational companies on a successful path for growth,” said Kathryn Marinello, Concentrix Chair of the Board.

This combination is a milestone moment, bringing together two recognized market leaders with complementary cultures, footprint, capabilities, and vision for growth across more than 70 countries. At closing, the transaction was valued at approximately $4 billion, including net debt.

About Concentrix + Webhelp
Hi, we’re a leading global provider of customer experience (CX) solutions and technology. We create game-changing customer journeys for some of the world’s best brands, and the ones that are changing the world as we know it. Every day, we Design, Build and Run CX that helps brands grow across the world and into the future. Whether it’s a specific solution or the whole end-to-end journey — we’ve got it covered. We’re the strategic thinkers who design brand-defining experiences. The tech geeks who build smarter solutions. And the operational experts who run it all and make it work seamlessly. Across 70+ countries and six continents, we provide services across key industry verticals including technology & consumer electronics; retail, travel & ecommerce; banking, financial services & insurance; healthcare; communications & media; automotive; and energy & public sector. Concentrix Corporation (NASDAQ: CNXC) operating under the trade name Concentrix + Webhelp. Location: virtually everywhere. Visit concentrix.com to learn more.

Safe Harbor Statement
This news release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the integration of the Concentrix and the Webhelp businesses, the strengths and differentiation of the combined businesses, our positioning in the industry, and statements that include words such as believe, expect, may, will, provide, could and should and other similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain and involve substantial risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. Risks and uncertainties include, among other things: risks related to the ability to successfully integrate the Concentrix and Webhelp businesses; our ability to realize estimated cost savings, synergies or other anticipated benefits of the combination, or that such benefits may take longer to realize than expected; diversion of management’s attention; the potential impact of the combination on relationships with clients and other third parties; risks related to general economic conditions, including consumer demand, interest rates, inflation, supply chains and the effects of the conflict in Ukraine; cyberattacks on our or our clients’ networks and information technology systems; the failure of our staff and contractors to adhere to our and our clients’ controls and processes; the inability to protect personal and proprietary information; the inability to execute on our digital CX strategy; the loss of key personnel or the inability to attract and retain staff with the skills and expertise needed for our business; increases in the cost of labor; the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and other communicable diseases, natural disasters, adverse weather conditions or public health crises; geopolitical, economic and climate- or weather-related risks in regions with a significant concentration of the our operations; the inability to successfully identify, complete and integrate strategic acquisitions or investments; competitive conditions in our industry and consolidation of our competitors; higher than expected tax liabilities; the demand for CX solutions and technology; variability in demand by our clients or the early termination of our client contracts; the level of business activity of our clients and the market acceptance and performance of their products and services; currency exchange rate fluctuations; the operability of our communication services and information technology systems and networks; changes in law, regulations or regulatory guidance; damage to our reputation through the actions or inactions of third parties; investigative or legal actions; and other factors contained in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended November 30, 2022 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and subsequent SEC filings. We do not undertake a duty to update forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which they are made.

Copyright 2023 Concentrix Corporation
All rights reserved. Concentrix, Webhelp, Concentrix + Webhelp, the Concentrix and Webhelp logos, and all other Concentrix company, product and services names and slogans are trademarks or registered trademarks of Concentrix Corporation and its subsidiaries. Concentrix and the Concentrix logo Reg. U.S. Pat. & Tm. Off. and applicable non-U.S. jurisdictions. Other names and marks are the property of their respective owners.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/5f66a659-481a-4e4e-809d-72dcadc4c2b2


Investor Contact:
David Stein
Investor Relations
Concentrix Corporation
+1-513-703-9306
david.stein@concentrix.com

Media Contact:
Debbie Gonzalez
Marketing & Communications
Concentrix Corporation
media@concentrix.com

SOURCE : Concentrix