Irish sustainability experts ConnectGreen (connectgreen.ie) has launched its innovative biodiversity and carbon offsetting platform, connecting farmers and landowners with companies who are looking for guaranteed, certified and verified biodiversity and carbon offsetting initiatives.
By leveraging the new EU carbon framework, ConnectGreen makes it possible for ordinary landowners, including farmers, to participate in the carbon and biodiversity credits global marketplace and maximise the financial benefits of carbon farming.
John Kelleher, CEO of ConnectGreen commented: “We are calling on farmers and landowners across Ireland to see the revenue potential in the evolving biodiversity credits and carbon offsetting sector. We come from a farming background ourselves and we understand the pressures that farmers are currently under. With Ireland’s biodiversity plans that aim to rewild and rewet 20 percent of the country’s land, we are partnering with farmers and landowners helping them unlock the potential and opportunity of realising a dependable, long-term income stream from carbon and biodiversity assets on their own land”.
Kelleher added: “We are also highlighting to Irish-based companies the option of securing their biodiversity and carbon credits here in Ireland – why invest in projects in Africa or South America, when our platform offers a wide range of biodiversity and carbon offset initiatives available across Ireland. Your customers and shareholders will appreciate your action in ensuring your ESG investments are helping to improve the environment right here at home rather than in a project half way round the globe”.
Cattle and sheep farmers Mike Cremins and his Uncle Pat Cremins who are fourth and fifth generation farmers from Meenganaire, Knocknagoshel, Co. Kerry, said: “We have been saying for years that someone has to pay farmers for the great work they do in managing the landscape, in particular, for farmers who own what could be termed poorer land in peatland and mountain areas like ourselves where economic viability is always difficult. ConnectGreen’s platform with its biodiversity credits and carbon offsetting opportunities is a great way of compensating small farmers and landowners like ourselves for the work we do day in and day out in nurturing the Irish countryside”.
From the outset, ConnectGreen has focussed on providing an opportunity for companies and landowners to collaborate in carbon offsetting in a thoroughly verifiable and certified way, guaranteeing that a reliable and quantifiable level of offsetting is taking place.
Mr. Kelleher concluded: “That is the essence of our ‘triple-lock’: verified, certified and guaranteed. We offer an unwavering commitment to authenticity and integrity, so every carbon credit purchased through our platform has been rigorously verified by our expert team.
“The carbon market is evolving rapidly and we’re excited to be at the forefront of this new movement in Ireland and across the EU. ConnectGreen is already engaged with a number of biodiversity and carbon offsetting projects across Ireland, and we have ambitious targets to oversee deals that will facilitate the removal of 250k tons of carbon from the atmosphere by the end of 2024.”
Full details on how the ConnectGreen platform works can be found on the company’s website: ConnectGreen.ie. The site also features tailored content for both landowners, including farmers, who are looking to maximise income from their holdings. ConnectGreen also offers a “Software as a Service” platform for companies looking to engage in carbon accounting including the monitoring, reporting and verification of biodiversity and carbon assets.
In the modern world, educational apps are becoming as important as entertainment apps. Educational companies are actively implementing IT solutions to strengthen the brand and increase profits. Online schools and multimedia courses have already become part of our daily lives, turning PCs and smartphones into indispensable educational tools.
This trend will continue to intensify, driving growing demand for education software development services among businesses of all sizes. So, how can they create a quality educational app that will captivate users? The developers from Light IT Global are going to help figure it out.
What is an educational app
An educational app is software for distance learning. It is designed to simplify the process of acquiring new skills and knowledge for people of all ages, no matter where they are. These apps are valued for their ability to provide access to education without restrictions on location or physical condition.
Not all educational apps are limited to mobile devices. There are many successful examples on the market that are available through the internet or have both web and mobile versions. An example is Google Classroom. This app has gained wide popularity due to its availability on the internet and on mobile devices.
What types of educational applications are available?
There are several types of educational apps, each serving different purposes and audiences.
Learning management systems (LMS). These are comprehensive platforms that cover the entire educational process, from planning to course delivery and assessment. They offer teachers and students a unified platform for educational tasks.
Online course platforms. These platforms provide access to a wide range of educational materials, allowing users to choose what they want to study—from languages to programming.
Language learning apps. These apps provide users with tools to learn new languages, including vocabulary, grammar, and conversational practice.
Distance learning platforms. These platforms create bridges between teachers and students, offering a place for meetings, knowledge exchange, and learning.
Apps for people with special needs. These apps are designed for those who, due to physical limitations, are unable to attend traditional educational settings.
Exam preparation apps. These apps support students in preparing for standardized tests and exams.
E-book/audiobook apps. Audiobooks and podcasts on educational topics attract those who seek to expand their knowledge through auditory learning.
Educational game apps. Games that combine learning with entertainment provide a unique and engaging learning experience for all ages.
Each category serves a specific need in the educational landscape, catering to different learning styles and preferences.
First steps in development
Developing an educational application is a complex process. The experienced developers from Light IT Global have prepared a list of seven key steps to help you get started.
Step #1. Define your offering
Determine what your application will offer. If you’re not sure, refer back to categories of educational applications. Find what sets you apart from competitors. Your application should have unique features or approach to attract an audience.
Step #2. Study your audience
Identify the needs of different user groups. Differences between children, adults, parents, and their preferences are important. Understanding the desires of your target audience is the key to creating a successful product.
Step #3. Conduct market research
Study potential competitors and market trends. It’s important to know what already exists and what problems your product can solve. Pay attention to user reviews of similar applications. This will help you avoid others’ mistakes.
Step #4. Plan functionality
Make a list of everything you want to include. Don’t be afraid to dream big at this stage. Start by creating a prototype and MVP. This will help form the foundation of your application.
Step #5. Choose a platform
Decide whether your product will be a web application, a mobile application, or both. Choose between iOS, Android, or cross-platform solutions depending on your audience.
Step #6. Choose an IT provider
Use networking events and social media such as LinkedIn to find a suitable IT partner. Consider assembling a diverse, cross-functional team to work on the project.
Step #7. Development, launch, and support
After establishing the team, the project moves to the development and testing stages. Monitor feedback and make necessary improvements to keep the application relevant.
This path will provide you with the foundation for creating an effective and in-demand educational application that meets user needs and stands out in the market.
Final thoughts
To outperform competitors in creating an educational application, it is important to focus on market leaders such as Duolingo, Coursera, and Quizlet. According to Likeweb research, these applications dominate in many countries due to their accessibility, engagement, and adaptability.
Success in the educational app market is often linked to free access or freemium monetization model, making content available to a wide audience. Gamification and continuous development, responding to user requests, also play a key role, making learning engaging and maintaining user interest. Adding new features and integrating with social networks can significantly increase audience engagement and loyalty.
Zoom Video Communications, Inc. announced Zoom Workplace, its AI-powered, open collaboration platform, and introduced new AI Companion expansions to help reimagine teamwork. Zoom’s latest products and features, including new AI Companion features for Zoom Phone and extended capabilities with Ask AI Companion, a refreshed look within the Zoom app, and more, will provide its customers with the all-in-one AI-powered platform they need to power modern work. Zoom also announced customer experience enhancements to Zoom Contact Center, so businesses can strengthen customer relationships and leverage real-time AI-powered insights to improve live agent engagements.
“We have seen the positive impact that Zoom AI Companion has had on our business and our customers, transforming how we work by freeing up precious time for collaborative teamwork,” said Smita Hashim, chief product officer at Zoom. “Zoom Workplace with AI Companion will help solve real customer problems by bringing the core collaboration solutions into a single AI powered platform to help improve productivity, efficiency, and the overall workday, all within the Zoom experience users trust and love.”
Drive Impact with AI Companion
Zoom continues to elevate AI within its platform, helping users harness their productivity directly within their existing workflows, enhancing employees’ skills, and empowering teams to focus their time where it matters. Zoom’s latest AI Companion innovations will include Ask AI Companion, an enhancement of the digital assistant that will help users prepare for their workday across Zoom Workplace, plus AI Companion for Zoom Phone and additional capabilities for Team Chat and Whiteboard. All AI Companion features will continue to be included at no additional cost with the paid services in eligible Zoom user accounts.
Ask AI Companion will provide a new way to interact with AI Companion across the Zoom platform. Users can enhance their productivity and be better prepared for their workday with Ask AI Companion, which will gather, synthesise, and share information from Zoom Meetings, Mail, Team Chat, Notes, Docs, and more. Ask AI Companion will also help prepare users for and recap meetings, show relevant action items, draft agendas, and summarise chat and email threads, as well as documents. In a later release after the initial launch, Ask AI Companion will be able to pull relevant content from select third-party applications (if the customer chooses to enable them) to be even more helpful.
Zoom Phone is now boosted with AI Companion capabilities to help make calls and follow-up more productive. With AI Companion in Zoom Phone, users can request a post-call summary and next steps, so they can focus on the conversation instead of taking notes. If they miss an important call, voicemail prioritisation helps elevate urgent messages, moving them to the top of the queue, and voicemail task extraction delivers tasks from voicemails to help users understand the next steps without listening to every voicemail. Team SMS thread summary also provides a concise overview of Team SMS threads in PowerPack, so users can quickly catch up after stepping away.
Other AI Companion innovations across the platform will include new Team Chat and Whiteboard capabilities. In Team Chat, AI Companion now helps users save time with smart scheduling that automatically detects the intent for a meeting in chat and suggests a meeting time, and in the future will provide sentence completion and will expand to support 38 languages (in preview) for the chat compose and thread summary features. Zoom Whiteboard users are now able to generate and refine whiteboard flowcharts and mind maps using a simple prompt to kick-start ideation and creativity. For more information about AI Companion innovations, visit the Zoom blog.
Reimagine Teamwork with Zoom Workplace
Zoom Workplace, the company’s AI-powered collaboration platform, will deliver new innovations to help businesses reimagine teamwork, facilitate connections, improve productivity, and optimise flexible work experiences. Zoom Workplace will elevate the Zoom experience with Zoom AI Companion so that all employees within a company can be more productive, collaborate better, and enhance their skills.
Zoom Workplace will continue to be an open platform that enables customer choice. Zoom’s APIs, SDKs, and over 2,500 integrations in the Zoom App Marketplace make it easy for customers to integrate Zoom into existing tech or integrate users’ favourite apps into Zoom.
With the introduction of Zoom Workplace, Zoom is unveiling a refreshed user experience with more choices, including the ability to choose from four colour themes within the Zoom app, so users can make the app their own. Hosts will also have the opportunity to add customised virtual meeting backgrounds to tailor the feel or focus of the meeting.
“With Zoom, there aren’t any challenges with implementing complex tools, so we can focus on engaging our employees and collaborating on the work that matters,” said Diofanto Rosales, vice president of digital workplace and IT infrastructure at Flex. “Zoom Workplace will bring all our essential work tools together in a single app, making it easier than ever to get work done.”
For Zoom Meetings, users will see a new Meetings tab within the Zoom app that will allow users to collaborate before, during, and after meetings. It supports traditional calendar views and serves as the central place for agendas, recordings, and other shared assets such as documents, plus AI Companion smart recordings and meeting summaries. Last year Zoom introduced continuous meeting chat, which helps users continue chat conversations so collaboration can continue outside of meetings asynchronously and throughout the life of a project. With the new Meetings tab, users can access continuous meeting chats from the Meeting card before and after the meeting.
During meetings, the new multi-speaker view will automatically adapt the video layout to highlight active speakers to help attendees follow the discussion more easily. AI-powered portrait lighting will help illuminate users’ faces in poor lighting, and generative AI virtual backgrounds will allow users to create custom backgrounds.
Additional new features for Meetings will include a customisable toolbar that will allow users to pin their most-used features, multi-share, which will allow multiple participants to share their screens and documents, whiteboards, and notes simultaneously, and document collaboration that will provide the ability to select documents, streamline document access permissions, and co-edit right from meetings with documents from third-party apps.
In Zoom Team Chat, asynchronous communication will be boosted by Team Chat tabs that will help users stay organised by keeping channel-related assets like links, whiteboards, and resources in a single view, shared spaces that provide a shared grouping of channels to help users better organise conversations and improve discoverability of relevant project or team based topics, and workflow automation, a powerful, no-code workflow engine, will be easily configurable to automate business tasks in Team Chat.
For hybrid and onsite organisations, navigating the office will be easier than ever with the introduction of a Workspaces tab, providing access to Workspace Reservation with wayfinding and Visitor Management directly from the Zoom Workplace app. To help make meetings more inclusive, Zoom Rooms will include the option to enable new smart name tags, which will be able to automatically apply name tags to people in a Zoom Room during a meeting.
When one screen isn’t enough, users will be able to expand Zoom Rooms with a companion device for an additional screen to collaborate with audio and video. For Workvivo customers, a new integration with Zoom Rooms will provide the ability to instantly broadcast important updates, news, and events to employees using Workvivo TV with certified devices for Zoom Rooms.
“Businesses are looking for AI-powered solutions that will help them move the dial by boosting employee productivity and team collaboration,” said Zeus Kerravala, Principal Analyst at ZK Research. “Zoom’s newest innovations, including its release of Zoom Workplace and Ask AI Companion, demonstrate its commitment to deploying AI that is intuitive and effective across one platform to improve productivity and collaboration.”
At launch, Zoom One bundles will be rebranded as Zoom Workplace bundles, giving new and existing customers simple pricing for our different offerings. For more information about Zoom Workplace, visit the Zoom blog.
Strengthen Customer Relationships with Zoom Business Services
Zoom’s business services include AI-powered solutions for marketing, customer care, and sales. Tightly integrated with Zoom Workplace, Zoom Business Services empower customer-facing employees to provide exceptional experiences throughout the customer lifecycle.
Zoom Contact Center already includes AI Companion for Contact Center at no additional cost. Further real-time capabilities available with AI Expert Assist include intelligently retrieving and suggesting the best responses from a curated set of knowledge bases, customer relationship management (CRM) systems, and other systems of record. Now supervisors are getting even more AI Companion for Contact Center capabilities. Supervisors now have visibility into their agents’ live engagements with real-time customer sentiment, live transcriptions, and conversation summaries from a single dashboard to help them better manage agents and easily identify when they need to provide assistance.
In Zoom Contact Center, businesses can now expand their digital communication channels to include WhatsApp and inbound email, giving customers more flexibility and choice, and making it easier for agents to engage and respond to customers.
Agents will benefit from custom app integration with Zoom’s open and flexible framework that allows teams to build apps from proprietary or third-party data sources that surface relevant customer information directly within the agent desktop, which reduces toggling between apps and allows for personalisation and faster resolutions. Agents will also benefit from deep integration with Zoom Workplace, which will allow them to seamlessly direct transfer customers with AI-generated engagement summaries to back-office experts using Zoom Phone Power Pack, enabling seamless escalations and helping reduce handling time.
Zoom Contact Center and Zoom Phone will also offer an integration with PCI Pal to enable secure capture of payment data, including PCI attestation of compliance (AOC). Also, Zoom Contact Center customers now have the ability to store certain data locally in Zoom’s EU data center, designed to meet the data storage needs of EU-based customers.
Revenue organisations who use Zoom Revenue Accelerator can now enhance their customer conversations with deal memos, which will provide a brief summary of a conversation and an analysis of its impact on the possibility of winning a deal. Coming soon, a built-in automated scorecard will help improve sales outcomes by creating scorecards that rate customer interactions and provide actionable feedback.
For marketing professionals, Zoom Events enhancements amplify their hybrid events to help make them more engaging. With new AI Companion image generation, hosts can now create custom images based on a simple text prompt for event registration pages, virtual backgrounds, and marketing emails. To help bridge the gap between hybrid events and in-person events, the Swoogo integration for Zoom Eventsallows event professionals to reach broader audiences. For more information about Zoom’s business services innovations, visit the Zoom blog.
Newly announced products and features are expected to roll out over April and May. Some features and products may not be available for all regions and industry verticals at launch.
Revolut POS, a Point of Sale iPad app, is now out of beta testing and is packed with clever tools and an easy-to-use interface that rivals the rest.
Aimed at every business from small boutiques to large restaurant chains, Revolut’s POS app streamlines operations, enhances customer experiences, and drives growth like never before.
Revolut is helping small businesses move beyond the cash register, needing only their iPad to take customer orders and payments — going a step further than Revolut Reader, which launched in 2022.
Jesus Romo, General Manager of In-Person Payments at Revolut, said: “Revolut values the trust from all our Irish account holders and we are actively working to simplify their financial needs. For businesses having to deal with multiple vendors on payments and POS software, we have created Revolut POS. Simple, and everything under the Revolut Business umbrella.”
For additional information about Revolut Business’ latest offering, read more below:
Revolut acquired London-headquartered point-of-sale software provider Nobly in 2021. It has on boarded hundreds of thousands of monthly active businesses since.
Traders want systems that can adapt to the ever-changing financial markets and provide the tools they need to succeed. Finkea, as a trading platform, can impress this picky demographic by taking several calculated steps to boost use, satisfaction, and functionality.
Advanced Analytical Tools
Finkea must invest in cutting-edge analytics and put them to use if it wants to entice professional traders. Technical indicators, analytics of real-time data, and advanced charting choices may help traders make better decisions. By incorporating AI and ML algorithms into their predictive analytics, traders can stay one step ahead of market shifts.
Individual Charts
Giving clients the option to personalise their dashboards is critical to creating a tailored trading experience. If Finkea wants to make its interface more intuitive and easy to use, it should allow traders to rearrange the widgets, charts, and KPIs to suit their needs.
Quick and Easy Execution
Efficient order execution is vital for serious traders who want to benefit swiftly from market changes. It should prioritise enhancing the efficiency of trade execution, decreasing latency, and ensuring accurate order processing. No platform’s reliability should be jeopardised because of how well its infrastructure handles high-frequency trading.
Classroom Resources
Prosperous businessmen are often on the lookout for fresh educational opportunities. Finkea has a chance to become the leading platform by providing comprehensive educational programs. If traders want to learn to make better decisions, they might look for resources like webinars, tutorials, market research reports, and expert insights.
Tools for Managing Risks
The trading sector is notoriously unpredictable, making effective risk management essential. Better risk management tools, such as limit orders, stop-loss orders, and others, should be a part of Finkea offerings. These features demonstrate our commitment to establishing a risk-free trading environment and preventing traders from suffering substantial financial losses.
Adopting a Social Trading Approach
Many seasoned traders value sharing strategies and ideas with other traders. Finkea is considering launching a community of traders using social trading technologies. This group would allow traders to share strategies, learn from each other’s mistakes, and engage in deep discussions. Traders get a sense of community and support as they work to improve their strategies.
Continuously Up-to-Date Market News
Traders must be informed about market changes. Is Finkea responsible for guaranteeing that the site’s economic information, real-time market updates, and alerts for breaking news are readily accessible to users? As a result, not only is Finkea reliable as a source of current information enhanced but so is the user experience.
Optimisation of Asset Allocation
To cater to the diverse interests of active traders, It should continuously expand its range of tradable assets. This umbrella term encompasses various financial assets, such as stocks, commodities, cryptocurrency, etc. If traders have access to various assets, they can better explore opportunities in various markets.
Enhanced Customer Support
An informed and quick customer service team is essential to every trading platform. Finkea must invest in its customer service infrastructure to ensure that traders can get assistance whenever needed and resolve issues quickly. Brands that actively seek out and address consumer concerns are more likely to earn the confidence and loyalty of their target audience.
Explicit Budget
Even seasoned traders sometimes worry about transaction costs. It must provide all trading fees in an easy-to-understand and competitive pricing structure. As a result of being more transparent, traders may improve their trading strategies and build trust with each other.
If Finkea implements these strategies, it will surely attract professional traders. With its commitment to openness, personalised experiences, educational resources, and state-of-the-art technology, the company aims to become the platform for traders seeking sophisticated trading capabilities. It must prioritize its consumers and continuously innovate to remain relevant and expand in the financial trading platform sector.
Menta, a deeptech company specializing in semiconductor design will attend Chiplet Summit to present MOSAICS-LP – an industrial platform specifically designed for the development of heterogeneous chips, using a universal chassis and a catalog of third-party chiplets . This platform is supported by the French government and the CEA-List, a research center specializing in intelligent digital systems .
The Second Annual Chiplet Summit is a pivotal gathering for chip designers and market players, providing insights into optimizing chiplet performance in speed, scalability, power efficiency, and flexibility. The summit facilitates networking, expert interactions, and exposure to a wide array of products and services, enabling participants to stay abreast of the latest advancements in chiplet technology.
Menta, is has pioneer in programmable logic solutions and will share a booth with its partner CEA-List .
In the current semiconductor manufacturing environment , conventional monolithic solutions give rise to issues related to energy consumption, scalability, and cost. MOSAICS-LP aims to tackle these challenges, in the booming environment of increased production demands. MOSAI CS- LP addresses the Edge Computing market, including Artificial Intelligence, IoT, robotics, automotive industry and 5G/6G markets; by offering competitive, scalable, high-performance, and energy-efficient solutions.
Vincent Markus, CEO of Menta declares “ At the forefront of innovation, Menta, alongside our strategic research partner CEA-List, is proud to participate in the Second Annual Chiplet Summit, a crucial event for chip designers and market players in the United States . MOSAICS-LP redefines semiconductor solutions, addressing issues of energy and cost in traditional monolithic approaches. Our groundbreaking platform, centered on Edge Computing and embedded AI, features a unique architecture with a universal chassis and chiplets. Key advantages include scalability, energy efficiency, reduced development costs, and risk mitigation through pre-tested components , making MOSAICS-LP an innovative solution for the evolving semiconductor landscape .”
ESET, a global leader in cybersecurity, today announced the launch of its new innovative and streamlined offering for consumers. With more than 30 years on the market, ESET has moved to unify its broadly deployed consumer product portfolio. Specifically, ESET is introducing three brand-new customer-centric subscription tiers, providing both broad and reliable digital life protection via new features such as Virtual Private Network (VPN), Identity Protection, and a Browser Privacy & Security extension. To meet customer demand for an all-in-one approach that enables easy and intuitive use with all these new features, ESET has introduced an improved ESET HOME, the complete security management platform. It is available on all major operating systems —Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS—and includes visibility into home networks and connected smart devices.
At ESET, we’re thrilled to unveil our cutting-edge consumer solutions. It’s more than just security – it’s a comprehensive portfolio designed to keep our customers safe in today’s digital landscape. We’re dedicated to advancing technology without compromising their safety. Our team has poured their expertise into creating a powerful blend of AI, human insight, and cloud protection, delivering a state-of-the-art defense against a multitude of cyber threats. The new ESET HOME Security subscription tiers offer multilayered security, protect privacy, and keep the devices and homes of our customers safe. With ESET, they’re not just protected; they’re empowered to explore, connect, and thrive securely,“ said Mária Trnková, Chief Marketing Officer at ESET.
Complete security management platform
Research among ESET customers shows that the vast majority of ESET HOME users define themselves as home admins, those who take care of their household’s digital security. They are tech savvy but don’t want to spend much time managing ESET products. To meet customers’ needs, ESET has made improvements to ESET HOME. Now, as a complete security management platform, it is a seamless part of the user experience. In this version, managing devices, making online purchases, subscription activation and renewal, downloading or upgrading security solutions, and enabling powerful functionalities like Identity Protection,1 VPN security, Password Manager and more, are all a seamless part of existing user flows.
To enhance user experience and simplify the platform’s management, ESET has made several interface changes, including the introduction of our Overall Protection Status, so users can see the level of protection for their households in one view. This combines both the validity status of a user’s licenses and the security status of devices connected to the account in three categories: Protected, Attention Required, and Security Alert.
These changes aim to provide customers with cutting-edge protection, while minimal interaction is needed to set up the product. At the same time, this new ecosystem provides meaningful options and functionality for proactive users who want to control and customize it. ESET HOME is an easy-to-use web portal and mobile app available for both iOS and Android.
Explore new subscription tiers and their features
Also introduced with this launch are three subscription tiers for this new ecosystem—ESET HOME Security Essential, ESET HOME Security Premium, and ESET HOME Security Ultimate. Subscription tiers provide all-in-one protection, from the entry level of protection up to the ultimate level, covering the complex needs of individuals and their households for digital life privacy and security. ESET HOME Security subscriptions are available on all major operating systems —Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS.
ESET HOME Security Essential is an entry-level subscription tier with protection features, including improved modern endpoint security and multilayered real-time protection, as well as additional tools that further enhance the user’s ability to protect against various threats. Included are the Safe Banking and Safe Browsing features, designed to protect users’ sensitive data, and Network Inspector, a diagnostic tool providing information on the security of the user’s router and display of devices connected to the network. Newly developed browser extensions provide enhancement of the Browser Privacy & Security feature. This includes cleanup tools, such as Browser Cleanup, which cleans cookies, history, and much more from the browser, regularly or on demand.
The middle tier, ESET HOME Security Premium, extends the feature set further by adding other security functionalities such as a Password Manager, which protects and stores users’ passwords and personal data. This includes an automatic and accurate form-filling feature, saving users time when filling out web forms. Secure Data functionality boosts their privacy and security with powerful encryption of files and removable media, preventing data theft in the event of USB or laptop loss, and ensuring secure collaboration and data sharing. ESET HOME Security Premium offers the ESET LiveGuard tool, cloud-based protection specifically designed to mitigate never-before-seen threats.
ESET HOME Security Ultimate is the most advanced subscription tier; it seamlessly provides complex all-in-one protection and introduces brand-new ESET features: Identity Protection1 and VPN. These features are also complemented by the browser extension functionality (Browser Privacy & Security), to ensure that the user’s browsing is protected. Additionally, Metadata Cleanup removes metadata from uploaded pictures to the browsers on Windows. Website Settings Review allows users to easily review and change permissions granted to websites.
With the new offering, ESET introduces two groundbreaking features aimed at bolstering online security and privacy—VPN and Identity Protection1.
VPN functionality offers users a confidential internet experience by establishing a private network connection guaranteeing protection while using public Wi-Fi, and enforcing a strict no-logs policy to make it more difficult to track. It encrypts users’ online activities and enables unlimited bandwidth access to geo-restricted content, including unrestricted and private access to websites in more than 60 countries worldwide. Thanks to this feature, users can securely access their home countries’ TV shows and movies while traveling or enjoy their favorite streaming services from different parts of the world. Even more features are available on the VPN service running on desktop, including DNS leak protection, MAC spoofing, proxy gateway for other devices, firewall, and split tunneling.
The new Identity Protection1 feature actively scans for compromised user identities and monitors user-input data, cross-referencing it against known online data leaks on the dark web. Users enter their data such as email accounts, or IDs that they want to check. When a match is made, the user is immediately notified, enabling swift action against potential misuse of their personal information.
All new features reflect customer demand for elevated data and identity protection, as evidenced by the findings of recent surveys, notably the 2022 Consumer Digital Life Protection Survey. By adding VPN and Identity Protection1 on iOS, ESET is strengthening its presence on this platform where Password Manager and ESET HOME are already established.
More information about the new consumer offering and subscription tiers can be found here. 1. The Identity Protection functionality is currently available in the US market only, with global roll out planned in H1/2024.
Dell Technologies today announced the availability of Dell APEX Cloud Platform for Microsoft, a new fully integrated turnkey system developed in collaboration with Microsoft that extends the Microsoft Azure hybrid cloud experience to data center and edge environments.
It’s the first offer in the Dell APEX Cloud Platform family and the first available Premier Solution for Microsoft Azure Stack HCI. This new Azure Stack HCI solution category only includes platforms that provide fastest time to value for Azure hybrid cloud through the deepest levels of integration with Microsoft.
Dell APEX Cloud Platforms are next generation infrastructure that deliver consistent operations and more control over workload placement by extending your choice of cloud ecosystem on-premises. These platforms offer our customers greater flexibility and investment protection over time by combining the best of Dell innovation in automated infrastructure management and orchestration, software-defined storage, and next generation compute.
Simplifying Azure on-premises
The opportunity to extend Azure cloud services to on-premises environments is significant. According to an ESG study on multicloud application deployment trends, 48% of customers surveyed are expanding on-premises deployments[1]. Dell APEX Cloud Platform for Azure provides an optimal way for customers to bring Microsoft Azure to their data center and edge locations.
This new platform builds upon decades of Dell and Microsoft collaboration. It combines Dell’s expertise in delivering software-driven management and orchestration and software-defined storage with Microsoft’s leadership in cloud services and container orchestration.
“More of our customers are asking us to bring the power of Azure wherever they need it out in the real world, whether that is in their factories, retail stores, quick service restaurants, or distributed locations. Through our partnership with Dell, we can project just enough Microsoft Azure to those locations at the edge,” said Douglas Phillips, Corporate Vice President, Azure Edge + Platform. “This new solution gives our mutual customers a seamless experience from cloud to edge, wherever their data lives, so they can spend less time managing infrastructure and focus more on transforming their business.”
Enhancing Azure hybrid cloud
The Dell APEX Cloud Platform for Microsoft Azure is designed to address several key IT priorities.
Simplify management: This new offer delivers consistent Azure operations across on-premises locations and public cloud via native integration with Azure Arc. Deep integration and extensive automation enabled by Dell’s APEX Cloud Platform Foundation Software allow us to deliver benefits to our customers that far exceed our past solutions. For example, the automated deployment wizard results in an 88% reduction in deployment steps compared to existing integrated systems, allowing customers to save more time when deploying the platform.
Accelerate Application Delivery: Through optimized delivery of Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) hybrid, and Arc-enabled app and data services, the platform helps accelerate application delivery. Customers will be able to simplify management with deep integration and familiar tools. Users can also enforce consistent security and compliance policies across the Azure landscape through integration with centralized Azure management and governance services.
Fastest Time to Value: To ensure customers get the fastest time to value and ongoing full stack support, Dell ProSupport Infrastructure Suite provides a single source of solution level-support for Dell hardware, system software and Azure HCI. Onsite diagnosis, residency, data migration, data disposition, and education services cover you on tasks commonly required in a multicloud environment, allowing internal staff to focus on other priorities.
Going above and beyond
While the new Premier Solutions for Azure Stack HCI category represents the highest level of required automation, integration and collaboration with Microsoft, Dell APEX Cloud Platform for Microsoft Azure takes this even further.
Lifecycle Management: Dell APEX Cloud Platform for Microsoft Azure delivers near instantaneous availability of new releases and patches – within just four hoursof a Microsoft release. Single-pane, full-stack lifecycle management ensures the complete infrastructure stack always remains compliant.
Unique automation: The platform provides automated cluster expansion, enabling rapid addition of on-premises infrastructure to meet workload requirements.
Edge Offerings: Coming soon, we will offer specialized nodes based on the Dell PowerEdge XR4000 edge-optimized server platform to help customers extend Azure to the edge while minimizing cost, footprint and complexity.
Ultimate Flexibility:Coming soon, we will support additional storage configurations with Dell software-defined storage, making it the only offer to support linear scaling of storage resources independently from compute resources, helping customers address workloads with diverse performance and scaling needs.
Meeting customer and partner needs
Dell has heard overwhelming excitement about this solution from customers and partners alike. Kyndryl, a strategic partner of Dell and Microsoft, is expanding its solutions with managed services for this platform.
“In a rapidly changing IT landscape, Kyndryl is helping customers modernize their mission-critical environments to a hybrid cloud operating model. As a strategic alliance partner with Dell and Microsoft, we are excited for the availability of the new Dell APEX Cloud Platform that will provide a consistent Azure operation across on-premises and Azure public cloud,” said Kevin Powell, Vice President, Private Cloud Services, Kyndryl. “We are committed to delivering services that help customers utilize the latest industry technology innovations from our ecosystem partners to deliver leading edge hybrid cloud solutions.”
Through customer conversations, we are seeing existing customers familiar with the operational outcomes delivered by our automated software are excited to adopt the APEX Cloud Platform for Microsoft Azure to extend their Azure deployments on-premises.
“More than 5,000 organizations around the world look to LoopUp to help them bring global communications to the cloud to support flexible work, increase productivity, simplify complexity and reduce cost,” said Chris Stanley, VP of Network Operations, LoopUp. “Dell APEX Cloud Platform for Microsoft Azure’s deep software integration and lifecycle management will help us scale and deliver cloud telephony innovations faster and get the most value from our Azure hybrid deployment.”
Orange Business, another strategic partner for Dell and Microsoft, are also excited about the transformative power Dell APEX Cloud Platform for Microsoft Azure could hold for their customers.
“As organizations increasingly turn to hybrid cloud strategies to help power digital experiences for their employees and customers, they need an efficient solution to easily manage it all from edge to core data centers to public cloud,” said Olivier Ménez, Marketing Director of Digital Services at Orange Business. “Dell APEX Cloud Platform for Microsoft Azure includes deep integrations and automation that will help us easily build and manage our customers’ data and applications in hybrid environments.”
Delivering hybrid cloud innovation
We’re thrilled for our customers to get their hands on Dell APEX Cloud Platform for Microsoft Azure to see first-hand how it can help them unleash innovation by simplifying the Azure hybrid experience.
Follow the links below to learn more about APEX Cloud Platform for Microsoft Azure.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has helped AIB life, the newly formed joint venture between Allied Irish Banks plc and Great-West Lifeco, launch operations in Ireland with a future-ready, digitally enabled, platform that supports its vision to help people on their path to financial security, one step at a time.
TCS was selected as the strategic partner to help build a digital first, full-service life company for the Irish market. TCS helped create a modern, cloud-based technology stack ground up, with its flagship insurance platform TCS BaNCS™ at the core that gives AIB’s 3.2 million customers the ability to access financial advice and a range of integrated AIB life protection, pensions, and investment products in their branch, by phone and via the AIB mobile banking app. The solution also integrates with AIB’s nationwide network of 120 financial advisors from whom customers can seek financial guidance.
TCS BaNCS’ configurability and rich functionality will enable AIB life to launch innovative new products and services. The entire solution is hosted on the cloud and its digital-first architecture provides APIs to enable easy integration with ecosystem partners to co-create new joint offerings.
In addition to designing and deploying the enabling technology stack, TCS will also provide IT, customer, and claims handling services for AIB life in a managed insurance services model. The end-to-end policy administration services will be provided from the TCS Global Delivery Centre in Letterkenny, Co. Donegal.
“Financial services firms and their customers around the world are benefitting from the rich functionality and omnichannel experiences offered by TCS BaNCS. Its Digital First, Cloud First architecture is tailor-made for the digital-first approach that AIB life has taken. We are delighted to support the launch of AIB life and be a partner in the exciting journey ahead,” said Vivekanand Ramgopal, President, BFSI Products and Platforms, TCS. “TCS BaNCS’ digital capabilities and configurability will help AIB life differentiate itself in the Irish market with innovative offerings that seamlessly support its customers in their personal financial journeys.”
Jacquie Doyle, COO, AIB life, said: “The Joint Venture between AIB and Great-West Lifeco, which will provide AIB customers with exclusive access to AIB life protection, pensions, and investment products, has entered into a 10-year partnership with TCS to build and operate a future-ready digital infrastructure that enables customers to more effectively plan their finances and investments.
“After an extensive review of the market, it was clear that TCS’ contextual industry knowledge, European cloud-based technology and global delivery team based in Letterkenny meant that they would be the perfect partners for us. As we look to grow this new greenfield life company, it is key that we build this on a foundation of cutting-edge technology. The global delivery centre in Letterkenny, where we will be servicing AIB life customers, will allow us to help our customers understand and improve their financial wellbeing and the financial security of their families and businesses.”
TCS is one of the world’s largest providers of services and solutions to the financial services industry and has been helping leading banks and financial institutions across the world in their growth and transformation journeys. Using its deep domain expertise, contextual knowledge, intellectual property and knowledge of global regulatory norms and risk management guidelines, TCS helps its customers leverage high levels of intelligent automation to reimagine their operations, enhancing their agility and competitiveness. For more information about TCS BFSI Products and Platforms, visit https://www.tcs.com/what-we-do/products-platforms/tcs-bancs.
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