European Conference on Optical Communications (ECOC) Exhibition has confirmed the location of its 25th Anniversary exhibition, which will take place in Brussels, Belgium, the site of Europe’s largest optical connections event’s inaugural exhibition.
ECOC has already started taking bookings for the landmark event next year, with both Ciena and Corning confirming booth space following the 2019 ECOC Exhibition in Dublin, Ireland. The event welcomed 6,569 attendees and over 330 international exhibitors through the doors of the city’s RDS Venue.
The 24th annual event, which was hosted by Nexus Media Events Ltd. and held from 23-25 September, saw exhibitors including sponsors Axtetris, Flyin Optronics, IBM Canada, Intel, KOC Group, MACOM, Molex, and Sicoya showcase their latest products and solutions at the forefront of optical communication technology.
Attendees were also treated to live product announcements from companies including HUBER+SUHNER who announced its LISA Double Access solution, and Imec which announced the extension of its silicon photonics portfolio.
Emma Harvey, Commercial Director at ECOC Exhibition said: “This year’s event came at a crucial time for the industry, exemplified by the volume of attendees we welcomed in Dublin, as new technologies emerge and gain a footing in the optical connections market.
“We are proud to provide a consistent platform for the industry to come together and share insight, opinion, and innovation on the next-generation of technology that will shape the optical communications landscape of the future. We look forward to welcoming back past ECOC Exhibition attendees and new faces to our next event in Brussels next year, which promises to be an exciting event as we anticipate the industry developments over the next year,” said Harvey.
Attendees noted the importance of the popular Market Focus sessions, sponsored by Inphi, which featured presentations on topics such as 400G and 800G, fibre for 5G and New Markets including 3D sensing.
Stephan Neidlinger, VP Global Business Development, ADVA Optical Networking, said: “Market Focus was just amazing again this year. Again, we had a full room, with people standing outside of the room, and it was also good to see that we could further expand the scope of the event here. We really started with being focused on the telco market but we are now expanding into alternative markets – there is talk about using fibre as sensors for monitoring road conditions and using lasers in cars. It’s a lot of cool stuff and it’s good to see the success.”
Crowds at the Market Focus sessions spilled out of the pavilion to see presentations including Mark Nowell, Cisco Fellow on 400 GbE, Kees de Waard, FTTH Council President on its Market Panorama, Lisa Huff, Principal Analyst, Optical Components at Ovum on data centre networks and Thomas Liljeberg, General Manager, Integration for Intel Silicon Photonics Products Division on integrated silicon photonics for data centre applications.
For ECOC’s 25th Anniversary event, attendees to Europe’s largest optical communications event are invited to Brussels, Belgium from 21-23 September. For more details, please visit: https://www.ecocexhibition.com/.
ECOC Exhibition has confirmed the locations for future events, including Bordeaux, France in 2021 and Switzerland in 2022. For a full list of locations, please visit: https://www.ecocexhibition.com/about-ecoc/future-dates/.
‘Tis The Season to Be Jolly, So Protect Your Smartphones From Germs and Fall-ies!
From the new iPhone 11 to the Samsung Galaxy Note 10, your loved ones will truly be spoiled for choice when writing their Christmas lists this year. But no matter what smartphone Santa leaves under the tree for them, make sure to give them a gift from Speck that will keep their shiny new devices safe all year long!
Have they been dreaming of a white Christmas?
For your loved ones expecting an iPhone 11 Pro Max this Christmas, a Presidio Inked is the perfect companion.
Unlike the Christmas snow, Presidio Inked’s design will never fade away. Its chic marble design is permanently embedded into the case’s polycarbonate shell. This case also boasts 4-meter drop protection and Microban anti-microbial technology.
Will Santa’s 9 Reindeers Bring a Note 10?
If Santa’s reindeers have a Samsung Galaxy Note 10 for your friend this Christmas, why not gift them a Presidio Stay Clear to go with it?
This case will showcase the Note 10’s iridescent shimmer without compromising on protection. Presidio Stay Clear’s proprietary coating prevents discoloration caused by UV rays and other everyday substances, so it will stay clear for the lifetime of the case.
Lest We Forget the Stocking Fillers!
The best gifts often come in the smallest packages. Luckily, Speck has some fantastic stocking fillers this year that will surely go down a treat with your friends and family!
LootLock is a slim stick-on wallet accessory that can stow up to three cards, with a secure locking wheel and convenient card access slot. GrabTabis a slim grip-assist accessory that provides a secure hold on our device while doubling up as a phone stand. Both accessories support wireless charging, and retail at less than £10!
Perhaps All That Glitters Is Gold…
And finally, for the glamatron in your life this Christmas, look no further than the Presidio Clear + Glittercase. This case’s dazzling glitter crystals are embedded into its hard outer-layer, meaning they won’t scratch or flake off. But don’t be fooled by its pretty exterior – this Speck classic now packs 4-meter drop protection and Microban anti-microbial technology – making it more than just a glamorous festive accessory!
Singles Day is a Chinese festival that is popular with our young population. It is not only the officially recognized public holiday in China but it has also been a large offline and online shopping festival. As Singles Day approaches, all the online shopping retailers are beginning to prepare the best shopping celebrations for the people during Singles Day.
Banggood, one of the most important international e-commerce retailers in China is going to launch a grand shopping feast named “Banggood 11.11 Shopping Festival 2019” in which they plan to celebrate this fantastic day. The shopping event is now live until November 11th, 2019.
We have a big shipment of tech coming from the guys at Banggood so stay tuned for that coming very soon and just in time for Christmas.
Every Singles day, Banggood will try its best to offer the best celebration for their customers by providing them with a wonderful shopping carnival. There is no exception for the 11.11 Shopping Festival 2019. Brand upgrade and fashion category creation is the main task of Banggood to satisfy you with a better shopping experience in 2019. Banggood 11.11 Shopping Festival 2019 will be regarded as one of the most important chances for Banggood to deepen the plan of brand upgrade and fashion category creation. According to Banggood company, this sale will try to help the Banggood good partner brands to achieve a higher level in every aspect of brand development and spend more efforts on fashion category creation.
Based on the last brand upgrades of the Banggood 13th-anniversary sale, Banggood will join hands with its partner brands to lift brand grade to a higher platform during the Banggood 11.11 Shopping Festival 2019. To provide a completely new shopping experience both in visual effect and user experience, all the graphics, buttons, navigation, typography and color will be upgraded to the lastest Banggood featured design to make it perfectly match to the Banggood 11.11 Shopping Festival 2019. What’s more, single promotion pages will be designed for Banggood partner brands to offer the best brand deals in the Sale.
For another, a high discount rate and new product release will pay an important part in brand upgrade. To make their customers benefit more from the Sale, Banggood will provide you with big discounts in a variety of discounting ways including big coupon, flash deals, snatch up, gifts and so on. According to Banggood officials, $100000 of gifts will be available in the Sale. During the warm-up period, the first 100 orders will gain a gift from our partner brands every day. More than that, there will be a much bigger discount rate in the blowout stage of the Sale. Worth to notice, $11.11 snap ups that will be available is also one of the most important measures taken to fulfill the goal of our branding upgrade and also to show you the upgrades made on the product quality and product advantages. More new product releases will be available from Banggood partner brands. For example, Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 and Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 pro will be released to you during the blowout period of the Sale. To our surprise, high discounts will be given to you to get the latest products.
Fashion is the second important category of the Banggood site. Since its establishment, Banggood has concentrated more on the fashion category development. In 2019, fashion category creation has also been regarded as a top priority of the development of the Banggood 11.11 Shopping Festival 2019 is a golden time to promote the category creation. During the Sale, Banggood will put more effort into fashion category creation. Not only do a series of high quality latest fashion items will be offered but also humanized service and affordable luxury experience on the package, shipping, and after-sale service will be offered by the top valued brands about men and women clothing, lingerie, shoe, and bag.
More importantly, focusing more on autumn and winter fashion, the fashion sale of the event will provide you with more latest fashion clothing and accessories. And a high discount rate will be given for you to get them. For instance, during the warm-up period of the Sale, you can get a full reduction offer of $40-$20. Not to mention the discount of the blowout sale that brand flash deals will be offered to you. The discount rate of 80% off will go in this part.
Banggood 11.11 Shopping Festival 2019 is not only a grand shopping carnival which can make your all the shopping fantasies come true with the ever-biggest discounts, but it also gives you the chance to enjoy the best shopping experience offered by upgrading Banggood. Want to join the Sale now to experience what I mentioned? If you do, please visit the Banggood site now and have fun on the Banggood 11.11 Shopping Festival 2019.
SQUID App, the first personalized news app for Millennials available all over Europe, is now launching in Ireland. Users can choose the topics they really care about, follow the latest news and creatively interact with the most exciting articles – all in one app.
SQUID is free and does not require registration
More than 100 news categories and more than 20 000 sources, (techbuzzireland.com included)
Features for personalization such as choosing and sorting topics, saving articles and blocking sources
SQUID makes relevant news easily accessible and usable. The app offers a wide range of topics that users can choose from to create their own personalized and image-centered newsfeed. SQUID’s algorithms collect, sort and prioritize news from the most exciting sources on the internet, enabling users to keep up with the most important and interesting events. At the same time, SQUID is driving traffic from the popular Millennial target group to the news sources. “We want to help younger generations rediscover news reading as a fun, valuable and engaging daily activity,” says Johan Othelius, CEO and founder of SQUID App.
About SQUID: SQUID App is developed by Njuice AB, a media company based in Stockholm, Sweden. It is a fast-growing news media app targeting millennials in Europe and from now in Latin America. The company is growing its userbase with double digit percentages month on month. SQUID App is available for free in the UK, Italy, Poland, Spain, France, Netherlands, Russia, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Australia, Portugal, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Greece, Finland, Norway,Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Ireland, Romania, Czech Republic, Hungary, Bulgaria, Serbia, Slovakia, Croatia, Ukraine, Belarus, Turkey, Lithuania, Slovenia as well as an International English and Spanish version. The app has received very good consumer reviews in App Store, Google Play Store and Huawei AppGallery and very positive coverage in media in all markets where launched. Find more information onwww.squidapp.co.
Interview with Rebecca Versteegh country manager in Ireland of SQUID App
What do you hope for with Squid Ireland?
My hope is that we will attract young readers and introduce them to qualitative journalism. I am a millennial myself and I love the Squidapp. Many of my friends spend a lot of time on social media today. They don’t always no that there is a lot of interesting news out there, that would interest them. We want to show them all that.
How much traffic do you drive to publishers.
Quite a lot actually. In countries where we have been live for a while, such as Poland and Italy we have close relationships with publishers. They often reach out to us with news they find interesting. if we agree we are happy to boost and help spread the articles. We want to do everything we can to help publishers. We also help publishers connect with readers that they otherwise have difficulties finding.
Which are the most popular topics? Tech is actually one of our most popular topics. Sports is popular, as is Health & Training. and Top News of course.
What are your favorite topics?
Top News and Politics
More info: –SQUID is free and does not require registration –More than 100 news categories and more than 20 000 sources –Features for personalization such as choosing and sorting topics, saving articles and blocking sources
Superior video experience for huddle and small conferencing rooms.
The CAM340+ is a portable high-quality HD intelligent camera that allows a user to communicate from anywhere. Compatible with all common applications, it connects to a computer via a single USB cable and provides a superior video communication experience.
With a versatile monitor mount, which can accommodate displays up to 4cm thick, easy-to-carry size, and durable construction, the CAM340+ gives users the flexibility to make any room or space a huddle room. A performance-quality multi-glass lens with deep focus and impressive 120° FOV gives an ultra-wide field for view video conferencing, allowing everyone at the table into a meeting with minimal distortion. An optional wall mount and remote control is available.
Meetings can be in 4K, giving a picture technology that quadruples the pixel count of Full HD, creating sharper images. With a 4X zoom, the CAM340+ scans the room with no moving parts and no loss of quality. AVer uses SONY EXMOR sensor, features ePTZ (electronic pan tilt zoom) and built-in microphone ideal for the huddle room and small conference room.
Once registered the CAM340+ carries a five-year warranty, considerably more than the industry norm and in line with AVer’s superior customer service.
Rene Buhay, AVer Europe Vice President of Sales & Marketing, comments: “The CAM340+ is the ultimate in huddle room cameras. No more people having to crane their necks to be in the picture or struggling to be heard. AVer makes conferencing easy.”
Data hosting industry initiative, Host In Ireland, has teamed up with the Native Woodland Trust and the Irish National Biodiversity Centre as part of a long-term initiative to help save Irish bees. Today’s launch will see over 100 members and associates of Host In Ireland plant indigenous Irish trees in County Wicklow to help create safe habitat and food for bees.
One-third of Ireland’s bee species are threatened with extinction. At the current rate of decline, 90% of our bumblebees in Ireland will be wiped out by 2050. Not only are bees an indicator of healthy biodiversity, but they are also crucial in the production of more than 70% of our food.
This launch is the beginning of a broader initiative that will include a toolkit to enable Host In Ireland members, and the industry as a whole, to make an impact on their premises, in their community and within their global companies. It aims to support education, advocacy, awareness and meaningful action to improve bee populations.
It’s the first time such an initiative will have taken place by any industry group, with the involvement from all sides of the industry, including competitors working together, to help tackle bee depletion. By creating this industry-wide initiative, Host In Ireland hopes to influence other industries to get involved and reach a far greater audience than Native Woodland Trust or National Biodiversity Data Centre could do working with individual companies.
Commenting on today’s launch of the ‘DC’s for Bees’ initiative, Host In Ireland Founder and President Garry Connolly said:
“The people in the Irish data centre industry told us that they wanted to do something impactful, but individually, it’s hard to make a difference. We saw an opportunity to bring them together, working collaboratively, alongside competitors to do something for the greater good. Today marks the first step in this initiative that will deliver a plan for our entire industry to support the health and survival of bees through action, advocacy and awareness.”
Speaking about the partnership, Jim Lawlor from the Irish Native Woodland Trust said:
“We are delighted with the partnership between the Native Woodland Trust and Host In Ireland as part of their new programme to promote biodiversity in Ireland. This is the first time that we had a call from an industry willing to work together on such a project. It’s fantastic to be able to take this opportunity to promote native woodland habitat for our wildlife – particularly birds and insects. We are grateful to Host In Ireland and their members for helping to create two entire acres of new tree groves on our reserve here in Laragh, County Wicklow and we are looking forward to watching them grow for years to come.”
Blink, one of the world’s fastest growing Travel Insurance InsurTechs has made it onto the INSURTECH100 for 2019. The INSURTECH100 is an annual list of the world’s most innovative InsurTech companies, that are solving significant industry problems, generating cost savings and/ or improving efficiency within insurance, as selected by a panel of analysts and industry experts.
This is just the latest highlight in Blink’s 3-year growth story, which, since its inception in 2016, has seen it grow from a 2-man start up to a trailblazing InsurTech, which was bought by the AIM listed CPP Group just 6 months after it was set up.
Speaking of today’s announcement by FinTech Global, the specialist data and research provider and the organisation behind INSURTECH100, Blink’s co-founder and serial Irish entrepreneur Paul Prendergast said,
“We are honoured to be named amongst the best and brightest in the global InsurTech industry. Selected from a pool of more than 1,000 companies and being awarded such recognition makes this a very proud day for us. 3 years after we started Blink, we continue to grow at speed, driven by our product innovation, our insurance partnerships and our ambition to provide InsurTech solutions to end users in every corner of the world.”
PICTURE Darragh Kane
Blink is now a world leader in parametric insurance product innovation, transforming its clients’ complex offerings into superior service experiences with simple, intuitive, online products. The company partners globally with insurance and financial services companies, driving innovation in Asia, Europe and North America.
Blink made it onto the prestigious list amidst strong competition in an industry which is growing at breakneck speed and where new players are joining weekly.
According to FinTech Global, the InsurTech industry has seen huge growth in the last 2 years as insurance companies grapple with the challenges of digital transformation and new demands from customers. Nearly $10bn has been invested in InsurTech companies since the beginning of 2017.
Richard Sachar, Director of FinTech Global commented,
“The companies on this list are the ones that every leader in the insurance industry needs to know about as they consider and develop their digital transformation strategies.”
Blink successfully launched Blink Travel in 2016 and have recently complemented their services platform with Energy, IOT and Weather solutions.
Blink Travel offers an innovative real-time data driven travel disruption solution. Once a traveller registers their flight details, Blink monitors that flight in real-time. Any flight disruption that occurs to the registered flight, automatically results in a traveller being notified instantly. Real-time event notification allows for real-time problem resolution. The traveller is immediately offered service choices that can instantly remove the stress and consequences of the disruption ranging from airport lounge access, cash which is immediately deposited into the travellers’ bank account, through to booking and paying for a hotel whilst also booking a new flight.
Mr. Prendergast continued,
“Being able to differentiate ourselves from other businesses in the industry is crucial. What we offer is unique and has a ‘wow’ factor that delivers an extraordinary impact for our partners as they push ahead with their InsurTech transformation objectives. We’ve signed some huge partnerships over the last 24 months, and we have others in the pipeline to be announced this year, so the future is exciting, and this recognition is the perfect acknowledgement and motivator for our team to keep delivering excellence.”
The latest Global Interconnection Index (GXI), an annual market study published by Equinix, predicts private connectivity at the edge will grow by 51% compound annual growth rate (CAGR), and exceed a total bandwidth capacity of more than 13,300 Tbps, equivalent to 53 zettabytes of data exchanged annually. This is enough to support every person on earth simultaneously downloading a complete season of Game of Thrones in ultra-high definition resolution in less than a single day.
The GXI market study finds interconnection bandwidth – the capacity for direct and private traffic exchange between key business partners – is an essential component to digital business and validates that to compete in the digital economy, companies must address growing data volumes and increasing data exchange velocity across a rising number of clouds and business ecosystems. In fact, according to a separate independent survey commissioned by Equinix of more than 2,450 global senior IT professionals, almost half (48%) of global IT decision-makers believe interconnection is a key facilitator of digital transformation. 4 in 10 IT decision-makers in EMEA feel the same, rising to 5 in 10 for Ireland.
“People, software and machines are creating and consuming data faster and in all the places where we work, play, and live,” said Rick Villars, Research Vice President, Datacentre & Cloud, IDC. “The significant increase in data created, aggregated and analysed in these new locations is contributing to a major shift away from deploying IT in traditional corporate data centres. Enterprises need access to robust, modern data centre facilities near the edge locations where businesses want to deploy dedicated infrastructure and interconnect to the increasing number of clouds, customers and partners that are at the core of digital transformation efforts.”
Strong data compliance regulations across EMEA are unlocking data exchange and growth of interconnection bandwidth in Healthcare & Life Sciences, Government & Education, and Business & Professional Services. This is leading Europe (51% CAGR) to overtake North America (46% CAGR) in the race to digital growth. Latin America is leading the charge with a 63% CAGR, with Asia-Pacific not far behind (56% CAGR). Expansion plans across the world, according to the survey, tell a slightly different story with 55% of EMEA businesses planning to expand in to new metros, versus more aggressive expansion plans in other regions (Americas 69%, Asia-Pacific 65%). 6 out of 10 (62%) IT decision-makers globally are utilising virtual connections to support these growth plans.
Maurice Mortell, Managing Director for Ireland, Equinix
Key Findings:
The GXI Vol. 3 delivers insights by tracking, measuring and forecasting growth in interconnection bandwidth—the total capacity provisioned to privately and directly exchange traffic, with a diverse set of partners and providers, at distributed IT exchange points inside carrier-neutral colocation data centres. The GXI finds:
The ability to exchange large volumes of data through interconnection is essential to compete in the digital economy
In response to rapidly growing volumes of data, enterprise consumption of interconnection bandwidth will grow at a 64% CAGR globally, outpacing other forms of business data exchange. This is due to be even higher for EMEA, with consumption growing at a 67% CAGR, leading enterprises to account for 60% of total interconnection bandwidth in 2022.
The independent survey found that interconnection is playing a central role in Irish businesses’ expansion plans. 57% of Irish respondents said their organisation is expanding into new regions, countries or metros, with 63% of those planning to use virtual connections to support this expansion. Some 41% of IT decision-makers in Ireland say interconnection helps to reduce the cost of connectivity.
To manage increasing volumes of data, enterprises are on average deploying in nine locations, with a total of 340 interconnections to networks, clouds and business partners. The survey shines more light on this – IT decision-makers in Ireland are utilising interconnection to connect to other enterprises (28%), network service providers (32%) and cloud service providers (17%).
The survey also found more than one-third (36%) of Irish IT decision-makers believe interconnection can help their business to gain competitive advantage within the marketplace. Half (50%) believe that interconnection is a key facilitator of digital transformation, while 40% consider it to be central to their business’ survival.
Ireland’s role as a data centre hub is also continuing to attract business. Almost half (47%) of IT decision-makers in Ireland say that due to the flourishing data centre industry, Ireland is the best place in EMEA to interconnect with partners, customers, supply chain and cloud service providers.
Distance is the biggest performance killer for digital business
Deploying direct, private connections at the edge propels both application performance and user experience.
Today’s latency-sensitive workloads require response times ranging from <60 to <20 milliseconds, forcing IT infrastructure closer to the points of consumption (the edge).
According to the survey, 24% of Irish IT decision-makers are using interconnection to increase speed of connectivity.
Leading businesses are gaining competitive advantage using a combination of key interconnection deployment models
Interconnecting to multiple network providers across multiple edge locations is the most prominent use case for interconnection bandwidth and is expected to grow 4x by 2022. According to the survey, optimising the performance of networks is a key priority for 61% of IT decision-makers in Ireland.
Interconnecting to multiple clouds and IT services across multiple edge locations and cloud regions represents the next largest and fastest use of interconnection bandwidth and is predicted to grow 13x by 2022. The move to multi-cloud strategies is cited by respondents to the survey as a priority for 37% of Irish IT decision-makers.
Interconnecting to digital business partners for financial services, content and digital media and supply chain integration makes up the remainder of interconnection bandwidth use cases and is forecasted to grow 5x by 2022.
Customer case study – Smartbox Group, Ireland
Smartbox Group, headquartered in Dublin, is using interconnection to support its rapid growth across Europe. Selling themed experience gifts – from wellness and adventure to gastronomy and holidays – across 11 European countries, it enables recipients of gift ‘boxes’ to redeem experiences from any of the group’s 40,000 partner companies. To ensure seamless customer journeys across Europe, Smartbox is interconnecting with partners and cloud service providers via Equinix.
Paul Cash, Director of IT Operations, Smartbox, said: “Interconnection is a fundamental element in driving digital transformation and enabling the movement of data on a global scale and it allows our technology teams the flexibility to decide the where to deploy data intensive applications.
“Leveraging public and private clouds is a crucial element in the continuous development of our business and new technologies. Given our focus on the user experience, it is vital that there are no latency issues and Platform Equinix gives us that peace of mind by providing secure and direct connections to the cloud. It is the backbone of all of our systems.”
“Europe’s predicted CAGR of 51%, illustrates the fact that enterprises across the continent are increasingly using new and innovative ways of interconnecting with their customers and partners, to stay relevant and gain a competitive advantage. In line with this, results from our independent survey found the EMEA region has the largest proportion of organisations – at 63% – using interconnection to support their expansion into new regions, countries or metros. This shows interconnection is a critical business asset for companies increasingly looking to operate across borders and in doing so, broaden customer bases”.
Maurice Mortell, Managing Director for Ireland, Equinix
“Interconnection has become vital as organisations look to digitally transform and innovate. Companies need to be able to connect to key business partners across the world and meet their digital requirements. Interconnection offers what traditional modes of connectivity cannot, enabling businesses to adapt to a global way of working, stay competitive in a digital economy and take advantage of the data they are producing. Ireland is really thriving in this area because we have the digital ecosystem to support enterprises in their interconnection journey.”
Kmend, a unique new online trading platform, which enables businesses to connect with potential trading partners has been launched today in Dublin and is looking for early adopters to register their interest.
Using specially designed artificial intelligence from UCD spinout RecommenderX, Kmend gives businesses and business organisations easy, time-saving access to constantly growing networks and markets and continually sends businesses valuable new opportunities that match their needs. To ensure value for users, contacts are made on the platform through personal recommendations and introductions from trusted contacts.
Speaking following the launch this morning, John McGrane, Founder and CEO of Kmend said:
“We’re delighted to launch Kmend as part of Dublin Start-up Week 2019.
“Kmend is at the cutting edge of business development through its use of semantically aware AI that recommends business opportunities to users. In so doing, Kmend will help businesses to grow by connecting them to new customers, suppliers, networks and markets; increasing profits which can be invested into supporting jobs in local communities across Ireland and the UK.
“Kmend will also help businesses in Ireland and the UK overcome the challenges of Brexit and global trade disputes by helping them to trade across borders. We are now actively looking for volunteers to register with and use the platform. We want to find businesses interested in expanding their network and securing new business opportunities. Businesses interested in becoming early adopters of the Kmend platform can register their interest by emailing info@kmend.com.
“Thank you to Lord Mayor of Dublin, Paul McAuliffe for joining us today for our launch. Thank you as well to Techstars, Dublin City Council and all the organisers of Start-up Week Dublin for their support of this event.”
Keynote speaker at the event, Lord Mayor of Dublin Paul McAuliffe said:
“I’m delighted to attend the launch of Kmend today as part of Techstars Start-up Week Dublin.
“Kmend is an exciting new Dublin-based online trade platform that uses state-of-the-art artificial intelligence to automatically match businesses with customers and suppliers based on the power of recommendations. In such challenging trading times as these, platforms such as Kmend are to be commended for their work in promoting trade across borders and for helping businesses to find new markets and grow.
“It is a great example of the entrepreneurial spirit of Dublin and of the strength of our business community. I wish John McGrane and the team at Kmend the very best of luck for the future.
“Thank you as well to the team at Techstars, Dublin City Council and all the organisers of Start-up Week Dublin for their hard work in organising such a fantastic programme of events.”
About Kmend
Kmend (pronounced ‘commend’) is a unique new online platform which enables businesses to connect with potential trading partners through personal recommendations and introductions from trusted contacts. Using artificial intelligence from UCD spinout RecommenderX, Kmend gives businesses and business organisations easy, time-saving access to constantly growing networks and markets and continually sends businesses valuable new opportunities that match their needs. Users are provided with new automatically matched opportunities, can introduce their contacts to other businesses and give recommendations based on quality of service.
Kmend is currently recruiting businesses to join its platform. Both business representative groups and individual businesses will be considered for inclusion in the early adopter phase and in return will receive free use of the platform. Those interested in registering should email info@kmend.com.
