Selected resellers at upcoming PC Fair to offer Intel® Core™ 2 Duo and Core™ 2 Quad based systems at RM1099 and RM1599 respectively 
Kuala Lumpur, April 4, 2008 – At the upcoming PC Fair 2008, Intel together with a network of participating partners are offering a complete range of affordable Intel® Core™ 2 Duo based PCs at RM1099.00 and Intel® Core™ 2 Quad systems at RM1599.00.
“The usage model for a PC among the typical Malaysian households has evolved from being a simple productivity tool to one that runs multimedia-rich entertainment and communications applications. This includes file sharing, viewing high-definition videos, photo editing, gaming, and live content streaming over the web.
The evolution of our computing requirements has therefore resulted in an increasing demand for higher performance PC systems with energy efficiency features like never before. At Intel, we’re set to meet these demands by providing consumers with breakthrough performance PCs at the most affordable price points to make it easier for users to have access to better and more feature-rich technologies,” said Simon Chan, marketing manager of Intel Malaysia.
Intel’s commitment to offer Intel Core 2 Quad systems at such an affordable price is part of the company’s ongoing initiative to provide mainstream consumers with a better choice of processors that enhance overall PC performance and multitasking capabilities. Meanwhile, entry level users who are looking for a basic day-to-day computing system will find the Intel Core 2 Duo based PCs ideal and extremely affordable as a tool for them to enjoy their first step into the exciting world of multi-media.
Computer systems powered by Intel Core 2 Duo and Intel Core 2 Quad processors also provide a major breakthrough in areas such as energy efficiency. For instance, the Intel® Dynamic Bus Parking feature enables platform power savings and improved battery life by allowing the chipset to power down with the processor in low-frequency mode. Furthermore, the Enhanced Intel® Deeper Sleep with Dynamic Cache Sizing capability enable PCs to save power by flushing cache data to system memory during periods of inactivity to lower CPU voltage.
Apart from the great offers for Intel Core 2 Duo and Intel Core 2 Quad systems, visitors to PC Fair can also look forward to other exciting promotions and giveaways from Intel. This includes an interactive SMS quiz where participants who respond to questions correctly will be able to redeem a free gift from the Intel redemption counter. To participate, visitors should look out for the Intel Bunnyman that carries an SMS-specified short code displayed on the LCD.
SCCyberworld
Friday, April 4, 2008
Intel and Selected Resellers to Offer High Performance PCs at Unbelievable Prices
FALCONSTOR THE MARKET LEADER IN DISK-BASED DATA PROTECTION SOLUTIONS MAKING ITS ENTRY INTO MALAYSIA
FalconStor – appoints local partners to distribute the CDP Virtual Appliance for VMWare 
(L to R): Wendy Koh, Sales Director of Maxmulia Holdings Sdn Bhd, Mr Simon Ng, FalconStor Regional Director of South Asia and Mr Yap, General Manager of Zen Computer during the appointment of FalconStor appointment of Master Resellers.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – April 3, 2008 – FalconStor Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: FALC), the market leader in disk-based data protection solutions, today announced that it has partnered with Maxmulia Holdings Sdn Bhd (Maxmulia) and ZEN Computer Systems Sdn Bhd (ZEN Computer), are the leading business solution service providers, to distribute the new FalconStor® Continuous Data Protection (CDP) Virtual Appliance for VMware® Infrastructure to the small to medium-sized businesses (SMB). This solution provides continuous data protection for both physical and virtual machines and will be available to local channel partners via Maxmulia and ZEN Computer, the appointed Master Resellers in Malaysia.
Providing enterprise features in a simple-to-use and reasonably priced appliance rides the wave of a major IT trend. The other noteworthy part of CDP Virtual Appliance is just that – it’s “virtual.” Virtual appliances have all the earmarks of a revolutionary approach to developing and deploying business applications. The implications for faster software development cycles and powerful customer experience are profound. FalconStor is one of the first vendors to support virtualized servers for the SMB market – and as an early provider of a robust virtual appliance.
Integrated with the VMware ESX Server 3i, the unified solution empowers organizations to meet data protection challenges by providing periodic and any-point-in-time recovery for business continuity and disaster recovery. FalconStor CDP Virtual Appliance for VMware Infrastructure is a pre-built, pre-configured and ready-to-run software application packaged with the operating system inside a virtual machine for easy integration and deployment. This provides the industry's fastest, most granular recovery of mission critical databases, messaging data, files, and even entire systems in the event of hardware or software failures and site-level disaster.
“Partnering with Maxmulia and ZEN Computer will support the expansion of FalconStor´s reach and capability to better service FalconStor CDP Virtual Appliance customers, particularly a much broader set of SMB market," said Simon Ng, FalconStor Regional Director of South Asia. “The new relationship with Maxmulia and ZEN Computer will provide FalconStor with an opportunity to rapidly gain market share in Malaysia and with additional technical resources ready-to-deploy CDP Virtual Appliance.”
“FalconStor consistently delivers solutions that give our customers the best data protection at the right price,” said Simon. “With the introduction of the CDP Virtual Appliance for VMware, FalconStor has taken data protection to an entirely new level by creating a single solution that meets customers' continuous availability needs across both physical and virtual environments.” "We are delighted and look forward to expanding our partnership,”.
Enterprises are shifting to CDP offerings for business continuity, with CDP adoption for databases and messaging applications projected to increase from 20% in 2006 to 35% in 2011. Enterprises in emerging Asia Pacific markets are also expected to adopt advanced disk-only data protection offerings such as CDP at a faster rate than VirtualTape Library (VTL).
Seamlessly integrated with the ESX server, the FalconStor CDP Virtual Appliance provides continuous availability to data with 100% data integrity. Highlights include:
· Pre-configured virtual appliance for easy integration and deployment
· Advanced data protection capabilities such as snapshot, mirroring, replication for any point in time recovery
· Up to 255 snapshot recovery points
· Transactional integrity snapshots for fast recovery with no data loss
· Remote replication for disaster recovery
· Simple protection and recovery processes, needing no additional scripting
· Rapid, reliable recovery (typically in minutes)
· HyperTrac serverless backup acceleration, which eliminates backup windows and host performance impact
Simple to use, the FalconStor CDP Virtual Appliance enables physical-to-virtual (P2V) recovery of a crashed physical server in as little as 10 minutes, virtual-to-virtual (V2V) recovery of a crashed guest system in as little as two minutes, and can recover a lost file or database, regardless of size, in as little as one minute.
Disaster recovery (DR) is a major driver for server virtualization because DR is a major headache in the data center. A best practice for traditional DR is to recreate the primary site in nearly every detail at the secondary site, from hardware to software to components. This doubles not only the upfront purchase costs, but also the ongoing system maintenance requirements, since any patches or upgrades made to systems at the primary site must be made at the secondary site as well. For DR testing, CDP Virtual Appliance allows VMware users to replicate their LUNs to a remote site – i.e., mount test data to the secondary VM – and thus test DR without expensive and disruptive traditional testing.
“A centralized and virtualized storage infrastructure is critical to realizing the full benefits of virtualization”. “By combining VMware Virtual Infrastructure and FalconStor data protection software, customers get a solution that delivers significantly improved infrastructure scalability and management, high availability, high reliability, and significant cost savings. We believe it’s the simplest, fastest, and most accurate all-around data protection solution for VMware environments.”
FalconStor CDP Virtual Appliance for VMware is now available in Malaysia. For more information, visit http://www.falconstor.com/en/solutions/?pg=Application&sb=VMware
* Source: Disk-Based Data Protection Forecast: 2006 to 2011, Forrester Research, Inc.
IBM #1 Vendor in Server Revenues for 12th consecutive year in Asia Pacific (ex Japan) and Seventh consecutive year in ASEAN in 2007
IBM Malaysia was also ranked #1 in server revenues 
Robert Lye, General Manager, Systems Technology Group, IBM Malaysia.
Petaling Jaya, 4 April -- IBM today announced that it was the number one ranked vendor in the server market by revenue, for both Asia Pacific (ex Japan) and the ASEAN regions in 2007.
According to leading IT research and advisory firm IDC in the Asia Pacific (ex. Japan) region, IBM was the number one vendor in the server market for the fourth quarter of 2007, recording a year-to-year growth of 33.1% and capturing a 40.1% share of the market, 10.1 points more than the next vendor in second position. IBM also came out tops in the Non x86 server segment in the fourth quarter 2007, with 52.6% revenue share, underpinned by a 44.5% increase in revenues, the biggest jump recorded amongst the top five server vendors.
IBM led the server market in ASEAN in the fourth quarter of 2007 and full year 2007, capturing 42.4% and 38% revenue market shares, respectively. IBM was the #1 ranked vendor in ASEAN for the seventh consecutive year on an annual basis in 2007. IBM’s leadership position in the ASEAN server revenues in 2007 was augmented by impressive revenue growth in the High-End Enterprise server segments, capturing 64.3% revenue market shares, respectively. IBM also saw sterling growth in the Linux Server segment in Q4 2007, capturing 41.2% revenue market share.
Said Paul Moung, Vice President, IBM Systems and Technology Group and Business Partners, “Fueling this growth for IBM in the ASEAN region was the continuation of server technology refreshes, IBM’s leadership in the growing Virtualisation market and the introduction of innovative new technology such as the POWER 6 seen last year and the recent launch of the new z10 mainframe. IBM’s continuous efforts in working with Business Partners to provide integrated solutions to their customers also helped to drive such positive growth in the server area.”
Added Paul, “ASEAN customers are constantly innovating themselves and leveraging IT technology to maintain their competitive edge. IBM have worked closely with customers and Business Partners to offer solutions that integrate our server technology for virtualization, consolidation and green data center. These solutions and technologies, addresses these customers requirements, and are as relevant and applicable to a simple IT infrastructure, as it is to complex data centers that customers may have. The results from IDC's reports clearly indicate that IBM's server technology, strategy and ongoing focus on customer value are resonating well with customers.”
IBM also took the number one spot in the overall server market in Malaysia by revenue share for 2007. IBM Malaysia was the number one ranked vendor in the overall server market with 40.9% factory revenue market share in CY 2007.
Other highlights of IBM’s performance in the Malaysia server market from the IDC’s Q4 2007 Server tracker release:
1. IBM is the #1 non-x86 UNIX server vendor in Malaysia, underpinned by a strong 41.1% year-on-year growth in revenues in the fourth quarter of 2007. For the full year 2007, IBM is also the #1 ranked vendor with 41.7% revenue market share.
2. IBM is the #1 High-end Enterprise Server vendor in Malaysia in Q4 2007.
3. IBM maintained the #1 position in Linux server market in Malaysia in revenues in 2007 since 2006, having achieved solid year-on-year revenue growth of 163.5% in Q4 2007 and 95% for the full year 2007. IBM took the #1 spot in the Linux server market with 44.6% revenue market share in Malaysia in 2007.
“As local companies embark on innovation journey, they gravitate towards simplicity. Therefore our clients are taking up solutions such as Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), server consolidation and virtualization.
They also want information on demand which is open, secure, flexible and compliant information infrastructures.There is also an increase in the awareness level of energy efficiency. The cost, availability, and impact of power-hungry IT is very real. It is an issue that all companies are now thinking about,” said Robert Lye, General Manager, Systems Technology Group, IBM Malaysia.
He added, “We have been providing local clients with the technology and expertise, businesses need to maintain a competitive advantage. Not just today, but far into the future. IBM serves customers as a one stop solution vendor for server and storage infrastructure solutions for large enterprises and small and medium business clients. That is why we are the leader in this space. ”
All results were based on a quarterly and yearly Tracker report by IDC entitled “IDC Asia Pacific Enterprise Server Tracker, Final 4Q 2007”.
1. [1] Source : IDC Asia/Pacific Quarterly Enterprise Server Tracker, Q4 2007, Feb 2008
MIMOS & UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK (UNIMAS) TO ESTABLISH CENTER OF EXCELLENCE IN SEMANTIC TECHNOLOGY
From Left: UNIMAS Dean of the Faculty of Human Sciences and Cognitive Development Dr Shahren Ahmad Zaidi Adruce; UNIMAS Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research and Innovation) Prof. Dr. Murtedza Mohamed; MIMOS President & Chief Executive Officer, Dato’ Abdul Wahab Abdullah; and Head of Knowledge Technology Cluster, Dr. Dickson Lukose at the MoA signing ceremony.
Kuala Lumpur, 4 April 2008 – MIMOS and Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) today signed a Memorandum of Agreement to establish a Centre of Excellence in Semantic Technology.
Semantics is the study of meaning; while Semantic Technologies include software standards and methodologies that are aimed at providing more explicit meaning for the information at one’s disposal.
Currently, MIMOS is working with UNIMAS’ Faculty of Computing Science and Information Technology on Language Technology productisation initiatives for commercialization of language-based technology.
UNIMAS was chosen as it has the critical mass in artificial intelligence (A.I). It is the only university in Malaysia with A.I departments in two separate faculties namely The Faculty of Cognitive Science and the Faculty of Computer Science & Information Technology.
“Semantic technology is the core to the next-generation Web 3.0 development which promises knowledge to be an integral part of our daily lives. In our efforts to ensure Malaysia is recognized as the first Web 3.0 society in the world, MIMOS is spearheading the development of the Centre of Excellence in Semantics Technology (to be established in partnership with UNIMAS) aimed at nurturing domain experts in semantics technology, thereby making the Knowledge-society a reality,” said Dato’ Abdul Wahab Abdullah, President & Chief Executive Officer, MIMOS.
The Centre of Excellence in Semantics Technology is part of MIMOS endeavours in driving universities towards the National Technology Roadmap aimed at serving as a compass for researchers in translating their work into benefits from the strategic, social and economic aspects towards achieving the national aspiration of K-nation.
MIMOS’ Semantic Technology Platform has the potential to deploy intelligent applications in the following areas:
v Business (Data Integration, Data mining, Business Intelligence)
v Banking and Financial (Predictive analysis)
v Speech (Speech Recognition, Natural Language Processing)
v Healthcare (Clinical Decision Support System, Medical Expert System)
v Automotive (Self-driving, Safety –driven intelligent controller)
v Automated Programming
v Meaning Based Search Engine
MIMOS as the premier applied research centre in frontier technologies is well positioned to develop semantic technology platforms for Service Oriented Architecture (SoA) and Web services as the backbone for the indigenous industries.
MDeC and IMS Asia Sign MOU to Raise the Skills of Malaysian ICT Professionals
Make CCIE (Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert) certification – the most respected, high-level certification, recognized worldwide as the “doctorate" of networking – affordable and locally available. 
(From L to R) MDeC VP Ng Wan Peng shaking hands with IMS Asia MD Palaniappan Singaram after the MOU signing ceremony witnessed by MDeC CEO Dato’ Badlisham Ghazali and Cisco Systems Malaysia MD Kumaran Singaram.
KUALA LUMPUR, April 3, 2008 — Multimedia Development Corporation Sdn. Bhd. (MDeC) and IMS Asia Sdn. Bhd. signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) this afternoon to formalize their participation in the MSC Malaysia Capability Development Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CDP-CCIE) Lab Preparation Programme as part of the “MSC Malaysia Get IT Certified!” campaign, driven by MDeC. Under the MOU IMS Asia will be responsible for managing the entire CDP-CCIE programme and MDeC will offer financial support to participants.
“For over ten years, CCIE certification has equipped networking professionals with the highest level of expertise — those capable of tackling the most challenging assignments in their field,” said MDeC CEO YBhg. Dato' Badlisham Ghazali.
“This is the kind of high quality talent that organizations are demanding and are willing to pay for. However, obtaining certification locally has been tough, due to the high cost involved and limited access to suitable labs for training and practice. MDeC and IMS Asia, together with Cisco have developed a specially designed programme that addresses these issues, enabling local ICT professionals to get certified affordably in Malaysia,” he added.
The MSC Malaysia CDP-CCIE Lab Preparation Programme will provide candidates with access to fully-equipped lab facilities at MIMOS-Cisco's Asian Centre of Excellence in Networking Technologies (ACENT) in Technology Park Malaysia. Through weekly lab sessions, candidates will receive 350 hours of hands-on lab experience and a further 100 hours of training through guided tutorials.
By providing candidates with a local facility to prepare for the CCIE exams along with an accelerated and focused training schedule that reduces the total needed lab time, MDeC has succeeded in driving the total cost of the CDP-CCIE programme down with estimated savings of 83%. Under the “MSC Malaysia Get IT Certified!” campaign, part of the training and tutorials fee will be borne by the companies that enroll their engineers into the MSC Malaysia CDP-CCIE Lab Preparation Programme. In addition, MDeC will reimburse the full fees incurred for the CDP-CCIE Written and Lab exams to the candidates who succeed in earning the CCIE certification.
“IMS came up with this programme because we saw a need for the industry to be proactively working with the Government to assist local ICT professionals to increase their skills and knowledge. We chose the CCIE due to the growing complexity of IT and Networking environments in Malaysia which has created a pressing need for engineers with high-level networking skills as presently there are only 71 CCIE qualified Network Engineers in Malaysia out of 15,658 CCIE’s worldwide. The next 3 years we like to see Malaysia in the Top 10 List of CCIE World Index,” said IMS Asia Managing Director Mr. Palaniappan Alagan.
In 2006, IDC ranked Malaysia 9th in the world in Advanced Networking Skills Gap and 10th in General Networking Skills Gap. This shortfall between the supply and demand of networking skills was further highlighted when 55% of companies surveyed reported that they found it difficult to find Network Engineers with the right skills for their organizations.
“Malaysia's ongoing economic expansion places a strong emphasis on ICT to drive business growth, collaboration and interaction,” said Badlisham. “It is critical that we close any and all IT skills gaps to ensure a healthy economic future.”
The MSC Malaysia CDP-CCIE Lab Preparation Programme is a two-phase collaboration with Phase 1 being covered in the MOU between MDeC and IMS Asia. In Phase 2, MDeC and Cisco will work together to set up a CCIE Testing Centre in Cyberjaya that will allow CCIE candidates to sit for their lab exams in Malaysia.
“Cisco has been working to meet the demand for highly skilled Network Engineers throughout the world. The collaboration between MDeC and IMS Asia is a great step toward meeting this need in Malaysia and achieving our goal to develop 60 local CCIEs per year. Eventually, this will help elevate Malaysia’s position to the top 10 ranking in the CCIE population worldwide. Cisco supports this initiative and we are looking forward to future collaborations with MDeC,” said Mr. Kumaran Singaram, Managing Director, Cisco Malaysia.
INTEL UNVEILS SECOND-GENERATION INTEL-POWERED CLASSMATE PC --‘NETBOOK’ FOR WORLDWIDE EDUCATION MARKETS
New Strategic Investment, Software Certification Service also Disclosed at Shanghai IDF
Kuala Lumpur, April 3, 2008 – Intel Corporation unveiled a new design of the Intel-powered classmate PC today at the Intel Developer Forum in Shanghai. As announced in a keynote by Andrew Chien, Intel vice president, Corporate Technology Group and director of Intel Research, the second-generation Intel-powered classmate PC is an affordable, fully functional, rugged Internet-centric computer platform. These simple-to-use PCs have wireless capability, longer battery life, water resistant keyboards and are more shock resistant if dropped. Intel is calling this category of PCs “netbooks”
The Intel designed computer offers different choices to manufacturers so each can tailor laptop models for a variety of education needs. The new classmate PC blueprint is the latest innovation and educational tool for parents and teachers to use technology, computers and Internet access to better educate students around the world.
“Only 5 percent of the world’s children today have access to a PC or to the Internet,” Chien said. “Education is one of the best examples of how technology improves our lives. We have seen how technology helps teachers create fun learning experiences more efficiently. We have also been touched by children’s excitement when they are inspired by technology. The Intel-powered classmate PC is one of the ways we support the IT industry in spreading the benefits of technology in education for children around the world.”
The second-generation classmate PCs are built on Intel® Celeron® M processor with 802.11b/g Wi-Fi and mesh network capabilities. The top range of these netbooks includes a 9-inch LCD screen, 6-cell battery life, 512 MB memory, a 30 GB HDD (hard disk drive) storage and an integrated webcam. An Intel powered classmate PC supports Microsoft* Windows* XP and variants of the Linux* operating environment. When pre-installed with the education software stack, these netbooks are ideal for classroom-learning environment. Software and content will be available in more than eight languages.
More than 80 software and hardware vendors, content providers, educational services providers and local OEMs have been working with Intel to develop a complete infrastructure that supports the Intel-powered classmate PC. They were present at today’s announcement in Shanghai.
Chien also said future Intel-powered classmate PCs will be built with the Intel® Atom™ processor. It is an energy-efficient, low-cost computer chip designed to provide wireless capability to small mobile computing devices such as netbooks.
The updated child-sized computer will continue to be deployed as part of the Intel World Ahead Program, a global initiative aimed at spreading digital accessibility and educational opportunities.
The Digital Transformation
Chien also discussed how the second-generation classmate PC is a proof point of the digital transformation he believes is underway today. He highlighted several more digital advances including the use of a cascaded silicon Raman laser as a low-cost Methane gas detector and talked about a novel “holistic” platform power management technology to significantly improve the energy efficiency of a wide range of platforms. He addressed emerging digital consumer applications such as personal robotics and computational photography as fronts where this transformation is taking place by demonstrating “Fuwa," a personal robot from the Fudan University and ReFocus Imaging’s light field camera.
Intel architecture is also transforming with the multi-core movement in mainstream, parallel computing. This will require new programming techniques and languages at the heart of Intel’s tera-scale computing research program. Chien, along with Dr. Zhang Xia, chief technology officer of Neusoft Co., demonstrated Ct, a new parallel programming language from Intel research that will make programming for many-cores more efficient than what is possible today. Chien says Intel’s research is poised to tackle both the opportunities and the challenges that lie ahead with the Digital Transformation.
Renee James: Creating the Future in Software
Also at IDF, Renee James, vice president and general manager of Intel’s Software and Solutions Group, illustrated the crucial role software plays in unlocking the power of hardware and ultimately creating a better computing experience. She highlighted visual computing and mobile applications for MIDs as two important, rapidly growing areas of software development and announced the Intel® C++ Software Development Tool Suite for Linux* OS Supporting MIDs.
James also announced the Intel® Certified Solutions program. This new software testing and validation service will enable Intel® Software Partner Program members to deliver high-quality solutions that are certified to meet rigorous standards for security, interoperability and maintainability, and are optimized for Intel technologies. This new service offering, provided by SpikeSource*, will help software vendors reduce development costs and produce more trustworthy solutions that work well on Intel platforms. In conjunction with this certification initiative, Intel Capital, Intel’s global investment organization, has made an additional investment of $10 million in SpikeSource. Intel and SpikeSource are initially offering the service as an early adopter program with broader availability expected later this year.
Intel and Epic Games launched the “$1 Million Intel Make Something Unreal Contest” for aspiring game developers to create modifications (“mods”) for the PC version of “Unreal Tournament 3.” Winnings include an Unreal Engine 3 license and more than $500,000 in cash and prizes, including Intel® Software Development Products and PCs based on Intel® Core™2 Extreme quad-core processors.
JARING INTERNET LEASED LINES FOR USM CAMPUSES
USM campuses in Penang and Kelantan get bandwidth upgrade that provides high-performance uninterrupted Internet service
Dr Mohamed bin Awang Lah, Chief Executive Officer of JARING Communications Sdn Bhd (Left) and Professor Dato’ Dzulkifli bin Abdul Razak, Vice-Chancellor of Universiti Sains Malaysia (Right) at the signing ceremony.
Kuala Lumpur, April 3 -- JARING, Malaysia’s Internet pioneer has recently announced an agreement with Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) to provide dedicated Internet leased-line access to all of its campuses in Penang and Kelantan.
Under the agreement, JARING will provide 155 Mbps Dedicated Internet Leased-line or also known as STM1 to USM’s main campus in Minden, Penang, and 34 Mbps Leased-line (E3) to both USM’s Engineering Campus in Nibong Tebal and Health Campus in Kubang Kerian, Kelantan.
With the bandwidth upgraded to fibre optic lines, USM will enjoy high-performance guaranteed bandwidth carrying voice, data and Internet traffic and supported by comprehensive Service-Level Agreement (SLA) offered by JARING.
"We are pleased to be selected to carry out this bandwidth upgrade project for USM as JARING is very enthusiastic in helping local universities get the best Internet facilities. In turn, this will help produce more quality graduates and help the faculties with their research," said Dr Mohamed bin Awang Lah, Chief Executive Officer of JARING Communications Sdn Bhd.
“When it comes to Internet services, JARING carries wide experience as we are the first ISP in Malaysia and we recognise USM as the first institute of higher learning to have Internet access capacity of 200 Mbps with online capacity of 1.0 Gbps, added Dr Mohamed.
With the signing of the agreement, USM has become a Platinum Customer of JARING, which entitles it to round the clock Corporate Helpdesk and line monitoring with fault reporting within 30 minutes via phone, SMS or e-mail and an appointed Service Manager.
“Looking ahead, JARING is willing to consider any project proposals or new business models from USM to provide full wireless broadband such as WiFi coverage at all its campuses.
“The line capacity provided through this bandwidth upgrade is capable of implementing the wireless broadband development.” said Dr Mohamed.
JARING will also be responsible to manage and monitor Internet access to and from USM’s Internet gateway and private addresses usage and USM main to its Nibong Tebal and Kubang Kerian campus.
At the signing ceremony held recently, JARING was represented by its Chief Executive Officer Dr. Mohamed bin Awang Lah, while USM was represented by it’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Dato’ Dzulkifli bin Abdul Razak.
JARING 宽频网络为理科大学学府提供互联网专线
槟城和吉兰丹的理科大学分校将获宽频网络升级，并享有高效益及不受干扰的网络服务
（吉隆坡3 日讯）大马网络服务的先驱JARING 最近宣布与马来西亚理科大学 （理大）(Universiti Sains Malaysia, USM) 签署合约，以提供互联网专线 (Dedicated Internet leased-line) 予槟城和吉兰丹的大学分校。
在这项合约下，JARING 将提供155 Mbps 传输速率（或被称为STM1）的互联网专线予位于槟城明登 (Minden, Penang) 的理总校，34 Mbps传输速率的E3互联网专线 (Leased-line E3) 则供予高渊 (Nibong Tebal) 工程分校与吉兰丹古邦阁亮 (Kubang Kerian) 医学院分校。
随着宽频网络被升级至光纤专线 (fibre optic lines)，理大将享有高效益宽频网络，能负载声音、资料及网络流量 (Internet traffic)，而JARING也支援提供全面性的服务等级协议 (Service-Level Agreement, SLA)。
JARING Communications公司首席执行员Dr Mohamed bin Awang Lah表示：“我们深感荣幸获挑选为理大的宽频网络进行升级工程，因为JARING热衷于协助本地大学取得最佳的网络服务设施，从中栽培更多优秀的毕业生以及协助各学院分校的研究工作。”
Dr Mohamed 补充道：“在网际网络服务方面，JARING有着丰富的经验，因为我们在大马是首个网络服务供应商 (ISP) ，并共识到理大是首个拥有网络使用量 (Internet access capacity) 200 Mbps 及线上容量 (online capacity) 1.0 Gbps的高等学府。”
随着这项合约的签署，理大已成为JARING 的“白金顾客”(Platinum Customer)，并享有全天候企业咨询台服务 (Corporate Helpdesk) 与在30分钟以内通过拨电、电话短讯或电邮发送故障报告的在线监测 (line monitoring)，及一名指定的服务经理。
“看前景而言，JARING 将会考虑理大为其大学所有分校提供如无线网络覆盖 (WiFi coverage) 的全面无线宽频服务的计划建议书或新商业模式。”
Dr Mohamed 说：“升级后的宽频网络线容量 (line capacity) 能有效实现无线宽频网络发展。”
JARING 也将负责管理和监管透过理大网关 (Internet gateway) 使用的网络服务与专用IP地址 (private addresses)，及理大主校舍与高渊分校和古邦阁亮分校的网络联系。
在最近举办的协议书签署仪式上，JARING由首席执行员Dr Mohamed bin Awang Lah代表，而理大则是由大学校长Professor Dato’ Dzulkifli bin Abdul Razak 代表。
IBM Delivers Innovation Directly to Mid-sized Customers
- Mobile Solutions Kiosk to enhance capabilities of mid-sized customers to navigate the breadth of IBM solutions - 
Chiam Yat Seng, General Manager, General Business, IBM Malaysia, (on the left) and Ou Shian Waei, Managing Director of IBM Malaysia, stepping into the Mobile Solution Kiosk.
Petaling Jaya, 3 April, 2008 – IBM reaffirmed its commitment to the mid-sized clients with the launching of IBM Express Advantage Mobile Solutions Kiosk, an expansion of its Express Advantage program for mid-sized businesses yesterday.
The Mobile Solution Kiosk is an initiative aimed at bringing to the mid-sized businesses customised solutions to address specific pain points and growth needs. Bundled as a ‘moving solutions clinic’ the Express Advantage coach will visit various industrial areas carrying with it simple and easy to implement solutions priced and designed for medium-sized businesses. The bus will begin its journey on 2 April in Kuala Lumpur and carry on for a duration of one month. Some of the early destinations include Kepong, Cheras, Kelana Jaya, Subang and Shah Alam.
This Mobile Solutions Kiosk brings directly to the customer a comprehensive line of offerings, including hardware, software and services – literally to their door-steps. Through this effort IBM is making it easier for mid-sized companies to innovate for growth.
This initiative is also part of the plan towards improving IBM’s focus on the mid-market channel. In early 2007, IBM studied its potential customer base and learned that there are very real differences between its enterprise and its mid-market customers. The study revealed that mid-market companies prefer to focus on complete solutions, and are more likely to work with solution providers to develop those solutions. In response to the mid-markets needs, IBM is dividing its focus to recognize the different wants and needs and buying behaviors of different sets of customers.
Ou Shian Waei, Managing Director of IBM Malaysia (on the left) and Chiam Yat Seng, General Manager, General Business, IBM Malaysia, inside the Mobile Solution Kiosk.
For the mid-market segment, IBM has skewed its marketing resources towards developing mid-market customers. This includes increasing marketing dollars targeting such customers to US$ 100 million worldwide, up about 25 percent over last year. IBM has also shifted its telecoverage resources to focus on mid-market customers allowing such customers to have a defined relationship with an existing and stable telecoverage individual. Each telecoverage individual will have his or her own defined set of 100 to 125 accounts.
In addition, IBM has also created a new role, the mid-market territory sales rep, which is focused exclusively on midrange accounts who will work as a team with the telecoverage reps to develop midrange opportunities for IBM, all or nearly all of which will be handed to solution providers.
“This new model recognizes differences in buyer preferences for both the mid-market and the enterprise clients. This in turn provides greater clarity of roles and makes it easier for IBM to focus on business across both segments. At any time, we will be able to channel dedicated resources with face to face attention and improved coverage to our mid-market customers” said Chiam Yat Seng, General Manager, General Business, IBM Malaysia.
“This latest evolution of Express Advantage is a reaffirmation of IBM being accessible, approachable and affordable to the mid-market customers. The market is beginning to transform their business models innovatively and IBM is able to provide enterprise solutions customized and priced with financing to free up capital for mid-market customers in Malaysia,” continued Chiam.
IBM Express Advantage combines a comprehensive set of mid-market offerings, Business Partner resources and customer experience capabilities to create a unified, end to end approach to helping mid-market companies innovate and grow. In February 2007, IBM announced a total of 10 new and enhanced Express Advantage systems and software offerings to complement its existing portfolio of industry leading mid-market Express offerings. The Express Advantage program ensures mid-sized businesses have simple and efficient access to the resources they need allowing them to focus on innovation and growth.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
AT&T WINS US$1.6 BILLION GLOBAL DEAL WITH SHELL
Agreement Represents AT&T’s Largest Contract Win to Date with Company Headquartered outside the US
AT&T to connect thousands of locations and manage Shell’s mobility needs, delivering services/applications to 150,000 Shell employees worldwide
(Left) Norihiko Minato, vice president of AT&T Asia Pacific, and (Right) Goh Swee Chen, Vice President Global IT Infrastructure and Services, Shell
HONG KONG, March 31, 2008 — AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) announced today that Royal Dutch Shell (Shell) has selected AT&T to be its global provider of advanced communications services. The five year agreement, estimated to be worth US$1.6 billion, calls for AT&T to provide, manage and maintain Shell’s worldwide communications infrastructure while also managing the company’s global mobility needs. It is one of the largest commercial contracts ever signed by AT&T, and it’s the largest agreement signed with a company that is headquartered in Europe. The agreement is one of three outsourcing contracts signed by Shell with key suppliers for networking and IT services.
This agreement with Shell follows a series of other large and strategic wins AT&T has secured in the past year, including deals with Starbucks, General Motors, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and IBM. All of these wins underscore AT&T's position as the leading global telecommunications service provider within the industry. The agreements with GM and the Department of the Treasury are each worth up to US$1 billion; the IBM agreement is worth up to US$5 billion.
Once the contract with Shell has been implemented, AT&T will provide managed network services to Shell and its subsidiary companies in more than 100 countries. AT&T will deliver wide area and local area networks, voice services (including Internet-based telephony), managed security solutions and mobility services. Shell will benefit from access to AT&T’s advanced global Internet Protocol (IP) network to deliver cost effective, consistent, secure and highly reliable services.
AT&T will provide direct connectivity to 1500 Shell corporate and operating unit locations underpinning a range of services critical to Shell’s operations. AT&T will also manage more than 600 separate third party contracts with more than 300 vendors around the world. These contracts include agreements for local connectivity provided by regional telephone companies, contracts with individual service providers and various other maintenance and operations deals.
Shell employees will have access to AT&T’s industry-leading position in the wireless space both within and outside the United States and AT&T will manage the cellular services contracts provided by other mobile operators. AT&T will also support remote data access to Shell’s Virtual Private Network (VPN) service for more than 50,000 traveling users and home-based workers.
Shell signed master service agreements with AT&T, EDS and T-systems to manage a significant part of its IT infrastructure and telecommunications services. Contract signing ceremony took place in Malaysia today.
AT&T offers the largest integrated GSM network in the U.S., covering 290 million people, and has the largest international coverage of any U.S. wireless carrier. Customers can make calls on six continents and in more than 200 countries – with wireless data-roaming in more than 145 countries for laptops, PDAs and other data services and third-generation (3G) service in 60 countries.
Shell chose AT&T after an extensive evaluation and procurement process. AT&T was able to offer Shell a world-class portfolio of IP-based products and services, a consistent global approach to its operations, and the significant local support Shell needs around the world. In addition, AT&T, a world-class networking provider, will be able to offer IT professionals who are expected to transfer to AT&T as part of the agreement the opportunity to further develop their skills and careers.
“This important agreement with AT&T reflects our determination to accelerate Shell’s essential IT capability, optimize our operations and ensure we can provide best-in-class IT services to support our global business,” said Alan Matula, Executive Vice President & Chief Information Officer for Shell.
Shell will retain core skills within its own IT organization, while being able to access AT&T’s world-class expertise in networking. Plus Shell will benefit from AT&T’s significant economies of scale. Approximately 560 Shell networking professionals located predominantly in the Netherlands, Malaysia, the U.K. and the U.S. are expected to transfer to AT&T, joining the company’s worldwide workforce of 300,000. AT&T will create dedicated service units in these key hubs to ensure that Shell receives continued support at these locations.
“We are delighted that Shell has chosen AT&T as its leading global networking solutions provider,” said Ron Spears, AT&T president, Global Business Services. “We are committed to connecting Shell’s worldwide employees, partners and suppliers, while delivering and managing the array of managed network services needed for the company to accelerate its business performance.
“Providing connectivity and applications to world-class companies like Shell is AT&T’s core mission,” said Spears. “I have every confidence that AT&T will exceed Shell’s expectations for anytime, anywhere global communications.”
AT&T provides advanced communications services to every company on the Fortune 1000 listing. Large global corporations and organizations are entrusting AT&T to build IP-based networks that will serve as the telecommunications and I.T. backbone for the achievement of their strategic business goals. Through the agreements with companies and agencies like GM, IBM, and the Department of the Treasury, AT&T has been able to demonstrate that it has the scale and scope required to execute these complex arrangements on a worldwide basis.
Additionally, the contracts reflect how AT&T is capitalizing on the ongoing shift in network traffic from voice to data — and more importantly to IP-based data — as customers migrate from legacy packet networks to Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS)-based VPNs and managed applications. The company offers its multinational customer base consistent, resilient, standardized IP services around the world. These services include IP-based VPNs, which use the latest MPLS technology, and are complemented by an advanced portfolio of data-hosting services, applications and leading IP security offerings.
New Sophos facial recognition technology uses webcams to stop hackers and virus writers in their tracks
Sophos appeals for computer users to send in pictures to increase accuracy of new system
Singapore. April 2, 2008 – IT security and control firm Sophos today announced its new RAPIL (Recognition and Analysis of Potentially Intruding Lifeforms) system which is able to produce a real-time forensic analysis of a PC or Mac user's facial features to determine if they exhibit any characteristics commonly associated with hackers. The new system uses webcams, now in widespread use on modern computers, to assess the facial characteristics of computer users, and cross-references them against features typically found in cybercriminals. Current tests show that with a clear background and provided the face is free of any obstructions, including hats, moustaches and sunglasses, the beta version of RAPIL has a success rate of 97.78 per cent.
As the amount of malware created each month continues to grow, Sophos experts note that most hackers are now working for organised criminal gangs intent on breaking into the PCs of innocent victims to steal sensitive and confidential information which can then be used for financial gain. Until today, most security companies have focused their efforts on preventing these attacks by detecting the malicious software and stopping it running. With RAPIL, Sophos can identity and stop the hacker before the malware is ever even written.
A video of the technology in action can be found at: www.youtube.com/SophosLabs
“Being able to stop the hackers before they even get a chance to write their malware, let alone spread it, is a breakthrough in the fight against cybercrime. Frankly this technology will put Sophos lightyears ahead of its competitors,” said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos. “With the amount of new cyberattacks we're discovering every month, it's increasingly difficult for computer users to ensure there are no holes in their security defences and that their PCs are fully defended. With our new solution that can identify key physical characteristics, we can literally see when someone has hacker written all over them.”
RAPIL samples the signal from the webcam 32 times a second. Using various new and existing machine learning techniques, such as K-Means clustering, SVM classifiers, decision trees, cross validation and genetic programming, thousands of facial characteristics including retinal patterns, shape of the philtrum, symmetry of the lips, size of the forehead and facial expression are tested to establish the probability of the user being a hacker. Once identified as a cybercriminal, the PC screen automatically goes blank, the keyboard freezes and the first 512 GB of the hard drive is encrypted with a user-defined key - many hard drives will therefore be encrypted in their entirety. The solution is fully protected against rootkits which hackers may attempt to use to disable it.
At present, advanced evasion techniques such as facial polymorphism and metamorphism can be used by hackers to evade the system. The face is polymorphic if it is randomly obstructed by an item such as hat, moustaches and glasses. Facial metamorphism, which occurs when the user changes their facial characteristics for every command run on the system, is even more difficult to detect. As part of the beta testing for RAPIL v0.401, Sophos is appealing for computer users to upload polymorphic pictures of themselves to help improve the accuracy of RAPIL still further. To add to the Sophos library of faces and help fight against cybercrime, please upload your photographs at: www.flickr.com/groups/ra-pil
To learn more about RAPIL, please visit the SophosLabs blog at: http://www.sophos.com/security/blog/2008/04/1246.html
TNS REVEALS ASIA’S LEADING DIGITAL ADVERTISERS
The study, based on interviews with more than 3,000 Asian internet users, including 505 from Malaysia, drawn from TNS’ 6thdimension online panels, reveals that amongst those brands that advertise using digital media in Asia:
Mobile devices and operators are the most frequently recalled: Nokia tops the list in three out of the six featured markets and ranks in the top five in five out of six markets.
The financial sector enjoys strong recall in South East Asia
FMCG, especially fast food and soft drinks rank within the top five most frequently recalled in four out of six markets.
In Malaysia, ‘dedicated websites’ were the most widely recalled type of digital media used for promotion with 64 percent of respondents recalling having seen dedicated websites from a number of top brand names. As well as remembering what they have seen, respondents in Malaysia are also receptive to it - 83 percent report being more interested in a brand after seeing it advertised via digital media.
Additional findings from the study reveal:· Different digital channels have different levels of credibility: manufacturer/brand websites are comparatively more credible while consumers are more sceptical of SMS and in-game ads; and
· Different Asian markets have markedly different levels of trust in digital; with China and Taiwan less trusting, and Malaysia and Thailand more trusting.
Siti Norbaya Manaf, Managing Director of TNS Malaysia comments, “Many of Malaysia’s biggest brands and advertisers have done a good job of leveraging digital channels to create awareness – especially those in the mobile industry.”
Stephen Yap, Director at TNS adds, “This new study shows that digital has finally come of age in Asia. However, it also reveals that trust in and scepticism towards digital channels can vary significantly between different markets and different channels: the implication for marketers looking at a regional digital strategy is that one size does not necessarily fit all.”
此项研究共访问超过3,000多个亚洲区互联网使用者，其中包括505个由TNS 6th dimension网上小组抽取的马来西亚互联网使用。根据研究结果显示，亚洲使用数码媒体进行推广的品牌中：
· 移动设备和其营运商最经常被回想起的：在六个受访的市场中，诺基亚(Nokia)於一半市场佔榜首，而於另外两个市场亦名列首五位。
· 金融行业在东南亚地区被回想起的频率也相当高
· 快速消费品,尤其是速食食品和汽水饮品被回想起的频率,於六个市场中的其中四个排名首五位。
消费者对各数码推广渠道的可信性各有不同：生產商或品牌网站相比手机短讯和电子游戏内的广告更可靠，他们对后者的广告都持怀疑态度；以及
各个亚洲市场对数码推广渠道的信任程度差异显著；中国大陆和台湾市场对此信任程度较低，而在马来西亚和泰国则相对较高。
TNS马来西亚董事经理西蒂诺巴亚表示：「马来西亚很多大品牌和广告商在如何透过数
码推广渠道提升消费者对其品牌的认识这方面都做得很好，尤其是消费电子產品行业的品牌。」
她续称：「这个最新研究显示了亚洲数码时代终於来临。然而，它也反映了，在不同的市场和不同的渠道，市民对数码推广渠道的可信度和怀疑程度差异极大：这暗示了负责区域数码推广策略的市场人员不能只集中一个渠道来迎合所有市场。」
Celcom selects Ericsson to take its GSM and WCDMA networks to next level
天地通Celcom選Ericsson提升其GSM與WCDMA至另一境界
Celcom today became the first operator in Malaysia to establish a single core network platform for both GSM and WCDMA technology with the deployment of Mobile Softswitch solution from Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC), in its network. 
The move is in line with Celcom’s continuous focus to modernize its network to deliver classic telephony services over a more modern and cost efficient network while creating a common foundation for new services. The deployment of Ericsson Mobile Softswitch also marks the first crucial step for Celcom in migrating its core network to an all-IP architecture.
Upon completion, Celcom will benefit from the convenience and simplicity of having a single, common infrastructure that can handle both 2G and 3G network services, including the current available voice, data and TV services such as MMS, mobile broadband and mobile TV.
The common infrastructure will also enable Celcom to be ahead of its competition in introducing innovative services such as dual numbers in one SIM card or same number in multiple devices, 3G services on 2G SIM card and mobile number portability, to name a few.
By deploying Ericsson Mobile Softswitch, Celcom is able to introduce a layered architecture design in its GSM/WCDMA mobile circuit core. Layered architecture enables separation and centralization of the equipment responsible for call control and network intelligence, enabling a reduction in the number and size of main core network sites for Celcom. This will ultimately provide significant savings for Celcom and reduces the company’s core network operating expenditures (OPEX).
"As a long-time partner to Celcom, Ericsson is excited to play a prime role in supporting Celcom’s decision to create yet another milestone in the industry. Ericsson is fully committed to ensure a smooth evolution of Celcom’s core network to an all-IP architecture." said Krishna Kumar, President and Country Manager of Ericsson Malaysia.
Ericsson is the world's leading provider of technology and services to telecom operators. The market leader in 2G and 3G mobile technologies, Ericsson supplies communications services and manages networks that serve more than 185 million subscribers. The company’s portfolio comprises mobile and fixed network infrastructure, and broadband and multimedia solutions for operators, enterprises and developers. The Sony Ericsson joint venture provides consumers with feature-rich personal mobile devices.
Ericsson is advancing its vision of ‘communication for all’ through innovation, technology, and sustainable business solutions. Working in 175 countries, more than 70,000 employees generated revenue of USD 27.9 billion (SEK 188 billion) in 2007. Founded in 1876 and headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, Ericsson is listed on the Stockholm, London and NASDAQ stock exchanges.
For more information, visit www.ericsson.com or www.ericsson.mobi.
NUMONYX™ Enters Memory Market with a Strong Position
STMicroelectronics, Intel and Francisco Partners Complete Deal to Create New, Innovative Memory Company
GENEVA, March 31, 2008 – Numonyx B.V. officially became the latest semiconductor company today, focusing on delivering innovative memory solutions using combinations of leading NOR, NAND and RAM memory technologies as well as new Phase Change Memory (PCM). The new company starts as the leading dedicated memory specialist serving customers who make a variety of consumer and industrial devices including cellular phones, MP3 players, digital cameras, ultra-mobile computers and other high-tech equipment.
Numonyx begins its operations in the growing and dynamic non-volatile memory business market with considerable momentum. The company is the leading provider of NOR flash memory and holds a considerable line-up of NAND technologies for added growth as well as DRAM products that provide unique product depth and value. Combined, Numonyx becomes the third largest non-volatile memory provider with a combined annual revenue of approximately US $3 billion*.
“It is rare when a company starts in such a strong position,” said Brian Harrison, chief executive officer of Numonyx. “The complementary nature of the two parent companies’ products, technologies and expertise has given us a competitive edge. We start with a comprehensive product line-up of leading technologies; dedicated capacity; already leading PCM development and delivery; a highly experienced management team and an amazing employee base of memory experts. Immediately, Numonyx is a formidable memory solutions provider.”
The broad range of leading technologies and products will give Numonyx a unique advantage and flexibility in how it helps solve customer needs – configuring systems with the right balance of density, performance, power and cost. According to a report by industry analyst firm iSuppli, the non-volatile memory market generated nearly $22.5 billion in revenue in 2007 and it is expected to surpass $37.7 billion by 2011.
Leading with Technology and Manufacturing Muscle
Part of Numonyx’ strength is built on its ability to develop and deliver cutting-edge technologies and advanced manufacturing capabilities – the building blocks for leading non-volatile memory products. The company is currently producing high volume 65nm NOR memory chips and plans to quickly move to 45nm before the end of the year, enabling state-of-the-art technology at lower costs. In addition, Numonyx possesses some of the most sophisticated packaging and stacking techniques in the industry to enable more flexible and space-saving configurations for customers.
To meet demands for Numonyx memory chips, the company will possess both wafer fabrication and assembly and test manufacturing facilities in addition to holding external supply agreements. These facilities include six 200 mm and three 300 mm wafer fabs, including Numonyx owned facilities in Israel, Italy and Singapore. This will give Numonyx the flexibility to produce any combination of NOR, NAND and RAM wafers depending on customer demand.
A Distinguished History, A Promising Future
With 40 years of combined experience from Intel and STMicroelectronics, Numonyx is receiving a substanial worldwide patent portfolio from Intel and STMicroelectronics. The patents and applications cover a variety of technologies including flash memory and PCM, graphics, cell phones, storage media, processors, semiconductor manufacturing and packaging, and various consumer devices. Numonyx also brings a history of breakthroughs and milestones including seven generations of Multi-level Cell (MLC) technologies.
“Our broad portfolio of intellectual property, patents and expertise will serve as the cornerstone for Numonyx. We intend to build on this rich history with even more innovation.” added Harrison.
An example of this, earlier this month Intel and STMicroelectronics announced that the industry’s first functional prototypes (code named “Alverstone”) of a future product using PCM was being sampled to customers. The parent companies also presented a research paper describing how they created the world’s first demonstrable high-density, MLC large memory device using PCM technology. PCM is a promising new memory technology that provides very fast read and write speeds at lower power than conventional flash, and allows for bit alterability normally seen in RAM.
The Numonyx executive team is comprised of seasoned industry veterans from both Intel and STMicroelectronics as well as other industry executives. Brian L. Harrison, formerly vice president and general manager of the Flash Memory Group for Intel has been appointed chief executive officer and Mario Licciardello, corporate vice president and general manager of STMicroelectronics’ Flash Memories Group has been appointed chief operating officer.
Headquartered in Switzerland and incorporated in the Netherlands, Numonyx has approximately 7,000 employees worldwide with facilities in USA, Italy, China, Israel, Singapore, Malaysia, and Philippines. Bank financing for the new venture is being provided by Intesa Sanpaolo s.p.a and Unicredit Banca d'Impresa s.p.a.
About Numonyx
Numonyx designs and manufactures a full complement of integrated NOR, NAND and Phase Change non-volatile memory technologies and products to meet the increasingly sophisticated needs of customers in the cellular and embedded markets. Numonyx combines the technology and manufacturing expertise of the flash memory divisions of Intel Corporation and STMicroelectronics, and is dedicated to providing high density, low power memory technologies and packaging solutions to a global base of customers. Additional information about Numonyx is available at www.numonyx.com.
* Based on preliminary data from iSupply Q4 2007 CLT and AMFT reports
NUMONYX™ 以强大势头进军存储器市场
意法半导体、英特尔及Francisco Partners公司完成交易成立崭新、创新的内存公司
日内瓦3月31日讯– Numonyx于今日正式粉墨登场成为半导体业里的最新公司，通过联合采用世界领先的NOR、NAND与RAM内存科技以及崭新的相变存储器（PCM）而专门提供创新的存储器方案。该新合资公司将负起领先存储器专家的使命，为制造一系列广泛的消费电子产品及工业设备的客户效力，应用领域包括手机、MP3播放器、数码相机、高度流动的计算机及其它高科技设备。
Numonyx以强大势头进军发展迅速且活跃的非易失性存储器业务市场。它除了是NOR内存的领先提供商，还持有相当广泛系列的NAND内存科技促进发展，更聚集了提供独特产品深度及价值的DRAM内存产品。集三大内存科技为一身的Numonyx立即摇身一变成为最三大非易失性存储器提供商，组合年度收益达约美金30亿元*。
Numonyx首席执行官Brian Harrison 透露：“新成立的公司能够以这么强劲势头高举旗帜进军，不是平常的一件事。我们两家母公司的产品、科技及专长相得益彰，赋予了我们一个竞争优势。我们除了持着一系列领先的全面产品、专用才能、占有一席之地的相变存储器发展与呈现问世之外，还获得一组资深的管理人员以及一班熟练存储器而令人钦佩的员工支持。有鉴于此，Numonyx立即有如带着令人生畏的光环而驾到的存储器解决方案提供商。”
一系列广泛的领先科技与产品使Numonyx 拥有独特的优势及灵活性，能够全面地协助客户寻找解决方案及迎合他们的需求，以最佳组合的密度、性能、力量及价钱配置系统。根据存储器领域分析家集团iSuppli的一项报告，非易失性存储器市场在2007年创下近美金225亿元的收益，并估计在2011年前达到逾美金377亿元的收益。
以先进科技和制造实力遥遥领先
Numonyx强劲实力的一部分来自发展及呈现最前线的科技与先进的制造功能，而这无非是前沿性非易失性存储器产品的结构单元。该公司目前生产高容量65毫微米的NOR存储器片，并打算在今年年底前尽快改良至45毫微米，落实以更低廉的价格取得顶尖水准的技术。除外，Numonyx 是存储器领域里拥有最优质的包装与堆集技术，提供客户更灵活及更节省空间的配置。
为了迎合对Numonyx存储器片的需求，该公司除了依赖本身的芯片制造及装置与测试制造设备之外，还与外部供应商定下协议。Numonyx的设备包括六个200毫米及三个300毫米的薄片制造厂，而其中包括Numonyx本身在以色列、意大利和新加坡拥有的设备。通过这些充足的设备，Numonyx能够有伸缩性地依照客户的需求而生产任何组合的NOR、NAND 及RAM系统芯片。
后有卓著的历程，前有光明的宏景
继承英特尔（Intel）及意法半导体（STMicroelectronics）联合40年的资深经验，Numonyx 从这两家母公司接管了一系列相当广泛组合的全球专利权。这些专利权及应用程序概括各方面不同的科技，包括内存与相变存储器、图形、手机、存储媒体、处理器、半导体制造与包装以及其他各种消费产品设备。同时，Numonyx 也带来创新纪录及新里程碑的历程，其中包括七世代的多层式储存（MLC）科技。
Harrison接说：“我们广泛组合的知识产权、专利权及专门技术为 Numonyx 奠定了巩固的基础，同时鞭策我们努力不懈地通过更多的创新来延续发展这深厚的历史。”
上述努力的例子就有如英特尔及意法半导体在本月早些时候所宣布，存储器领域里一个采用相变存储器（PCM）技术的未来晶片的首创功能原型（其代号称为“Alverstone”）已公开给客户试用。而这两家母公司也呈现了一份研究报告描述它们如何采用相变存储器科技制造世界第一可论证的高密度、多层式储存的巨大内存设备。相变存储器技术是一个引人瞩目的新兴内存科技，号称能以低于传统快闪记忆体的功耗来提供极高的读写速度，并且能实现一般在RAM内存才看得到位元可变性（bit alterability）能力。
Numonyx的执行管理组是由来自英特尔及意法半导体而拥有广泛经验的老将，以及其他该领域里的执行人员组成。英特尔内存组前副总统兼总经理Brian L. Harrison被任命为Numonyx的首席执行官，而意法半导体内存组的企业副总统兼总经理Mario Licciardello则被任命为Numonyx的业务总裁。
在荷兰组成公司但总部位于瑞士的Numonyx在全球分布于美国、意大利、中国、以色列、新加坡、马来西亚和菲律宾的设备厂里雇佣总共约七千名员工。Intesa Sanpola s.p.a 和Unicredit Banca d’Impresa s.p.a 提供银行财务给予新业务经营
关于Numonyx的简介
Numonyx的主要业务在于设计及制造一系列全面互补的综合性NOR、 NAND及相变非易失性存储器科技与产品，以迎合手提电话与嵌入设备市场里日益精细的客户需求。Numonyx集英特尔（Intel Corporation）及意法半导体（STMicroelectronics）内存部门的技术及制造专长于一身，致力为全球各地的客户提供高密度、低电源的内存科技及包装方案。欲知详情关于Numonyx，请浏览网址www.numonyx.com。
*根据iSupply 2007年第四季CLT和AMFT报告里的初步数据
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
HSBC and SAS win Asian Banker IT Award
HSBC銀行與SAS贏得亞洲銀行IT大獎
HSBC and technology partner SAS named as winners for the Best Data and Analytics Project Award from Asian Banker 
KUALA LUMPUR, 31 March 2008 - HSBC (Malaysia) and SAS Malaysia was recently awarded the Best Data and Analytics Project Award 2007 at the annual Asian Banker IT Implementation Awards held recently in Hanoi, Vietnam.
The HSBC-SAS win was for the implementation of a mortgage anti-attrition model, card usage behavior segmentation and customer value project.
Held in conjunction with The Asian Banker Summit, the coveted award was in commendation of technological excellence and best practices in the financial services industry; and selected through a rigorous selection process by a an international panel of leading global industry experts including highly experienced bankers and ex-bankers.
The Best Data and Analytics Project Award 2007 was jointly awarded to HSBC and on the basis that the SAS implementation has allowed HSBC to better understand its customers’ financial traits to tailor services to better suit their needs:-
1. Within six (6) months of the Mortgage Anti-attrition Solution implementation, the SAS model helped identify HSBC customers with high probability of refinance their home loans – reducing attrition by over 36 percent and outward refinancing by 55 percent.
2. The Card Behavior Segmentation model - that helps segment customers by their spending pattern, tasted success with a 28 percent improvement in post-campaign spending by the target direct mailer customers.
3. Meanwhile, the SAS Customer Value Project has allowed HSBC to better manage its customer portfolios by providing a logical basis for applying different sales channels and strategies to high, medium, and low value customers.
Award criteria was based on time and ease of implementation, ROI to the bank, speed of processes, efficiency improvement, customer satisfaction, technical innovation and system design;
“SAS is proud to be credited in this milestone accomplishment as the award is judged by leading executives from the regional banking fraternity. This (award) firmly establishes SAS BI solution and implementation credibility within the banking industry,” added Jimmy Cheah, Managing Director of SAS Malaysia.
Paybox Empowers Celcom to Launch New Mobile Payments & Banking Solution
天地通Celcom與Paybox合作即將推出流動銀行與流動付款服務 
Frankfurt, Germany, March 31 2008 – Celcom (Malaysia) Berhad, Malaysia’s premier mobile network with the widest coverage, and paybox, the trendsetting company for mobile payment solutions, will be launching a Mobile Banking & Mobile Payment solution for the Malaysian market.
Mobile Banking (m-banking) and Mobile Payment (m-payment) solutions in Malaysia are very diverse in nature. Mobile operators trial with diverse solutions, none of them using the phone as an overall means for real-time banking and payment instructions. Only a few banks provide true m-banking solutions that enable customers access to their current e-banking systems using a Java client on their phone. Since many banking customers either do not have a Java capable phone, reluctant to download clients to their phone or not familiar how to use or access the service, the overall customer benefit remains limited.
Celcom wants to offer a simple and standardized platform for m-Banking and m-Payment (known as Celcom Mobile Financial Services). Celcom selected paybox as its solutions partner to set up a holistic mobile banking and payment solution that will allow customers to access their accounts at any bank, at a minimal investment by the participating banks.
In phase one, which is targeted to be launched in the 2nd quarter of 2008, Celcom will enable mobile access to the Celcom-TuneMoney Prepaid VisaCard. The cardholders will be able to check their balance and transaction history, recharge their prepaid airtime and transfer money to each other. In later phases, Celcom will expand the system to include other partners and provide extended remittance, bill payment and merchant payment services.
“Partnering with Celcom, paybox can accelerate its growth in SouthEast Asia” states Mathew Avadiar, paybox Director, Business Development for Asia. “Celcom is ….
“paybox’s proven solutions will enable us to provide cutting edge solutions for customers and financial partners, further cementing our leadership in proving mobile offerings beyond voice. This initiative will take us yet further in our strategy of transforming our offerings from meeting communications needs towards providing lifestyle solutions. We are also very excited that the solution will allow us to work in partnership with financial Institutions in new ways, which were not possible before,” says Dato’ Sri Shazalli Ramly, Chief Executive Officer, Celcom (Malaysia) Berhad.
DELL CONTINUES INVESTMENT IN MALAYSIA WITH SECOND RETAIL PARTNERSHIP
馬來西亞Dell合資開設第二家Dell零售店 
The D’Mobile Dell Retail Concept Store on 2nd Floor Digital Mall, Section 14, Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia.
PETALING JAYA, 29 March 2008 – Dell reiterated its commitment to invest in Malaysia with the announcement of its second retail partnership with Fosa Marketing Sdn. Bhd (“Fosa”). The announcement was made during the grand opening of Dell’s second retail outlet at Section 14’s Digital Mall here today.
Located on the second floor within Fosa’s D’Mobile concept showroom, the outlet boasts a wide range of Dell products on display, including the award-winning XPS M1330 and XPS M1530 notebooks, the Inspiron line of notebooks and desktops, and 20-inch and 22-inch wide LCD monitors. At the outlet, customers are able to browse, touch and feel the products and make an informed purchase with the help of D’Mobile’s staff.
Present to launch the store were Amanda Wong, Consumer Sales, Dell Asia-Pacific Sdn., Chris Leow, Director of Fosa, and Kenny Seow, Managing Director, SD Digital Mall Sdn Bhd. According to Wong, the roll-out of the retail strategy has been successful in Malaysia and the company will continue to invest more outlets gradually over time.
“We engaged retail to give our customers what they want; wider options and personalization along with the speed, value and quality accustomed to Dell. The feedback from Malaysians has been positive while increasing sales at our first outlet indicates that we are on the right track. With the partnership with Fosa, we look to build on that momentum and continue to give our customers the best possible shopping experience,” she said.
“On whether we will continue to open more outlets, we are always seeking potential partners who have the necessary resources and vision to partner us. We have been very committed to the Malaysian market and will continue to invest, albeit carefully. We will assess and evaluate each opportunity as they arise,” she added.
Apart from the outlet in Digital Mall, Dell’s products will also be available at other D’Mobile showrooms in Plaza Low Yat, Sunway Pyramid Digital Centre, and Plaza Imbi. Its other showrooms around the country are located at Queensbay Mall and Prangin Mall in Penang and Complex Karamunsing in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.
The partnership with Fosa marks Dell’s latest retail distribution agreement aimed at reaching more customers worldwide. Following its partnership with TecAsia, the company has announced relationships with Courts in Singapore and with GOME in China. Other arrangements around the world include with Bic Camera Inc. in Japan, Carphone Warehouse in the U.K., Staples in the U.S., Wal-Mart in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Russia as well as Best Buy and DGSi for all Europe.
