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Author: Deborah Schalm

  • Ionic 5 Framework Now Available to the Appery.io Developer Community

    Major framework update allows developers to build more modern, faster and reliable applications

    WALNUT CREEK, Calif., March 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Exadel (www.exadel.com), a software engineering company that delivers digital platforms, products, and applications, today announced the Ionic 5 framework is available to all Appery.io users. With this update, Appery.io becomes the first low code editor to support the newest versions of Ionic (5.5) and Angular (11.2).  Ionic is an open source mobile UI toolkit for building high quality, cross-platform native iOS, Android and PWA/ web applications. Ionic 5 provides the developer community with access to the latest frameworks, optimized performance, improved collaboration opportunities and advanced support.

    Learn more about the Appery.io Ionic 5 Framework update: (https://blog.appery.io/2021/03/going-big-upgrade-to-ionic-5-in-our-march-2021-release/)

    “Ensuring that the Appery.io community has access to all the latest modern technologies for building low code applications is a top priority,” said Eldar Chernitsky, Head of Product at Appery.io by Exadel. “The availability of the Ionic 5 Framework is an important update and improvement to Appery.io that ensures developers have what they need to continue delivering top-notch digital products and solutions.”

    Additional Ionic 5 updates include:

    • Adheres to Current Guidelines: Ionic 5 follows the modern Material Design Guidelines and Human Interface Guidelines from Apple
    • Improved Resources: With the update, developers gain access to the latest Ionic and Angular UI components for faster answers to questions
    • Design Updates: This release includes iOS 13 design updates
    • A New API: io developers can create custom animations, revamped Ionicons, updated Ionic colors, new starter designs, improvements to component customization, and more

    Appery.io is trusted by nearly half a million developers worldwide. These new updates keep in stride with recent developments in app building and give users the extensibility and capabilities they need to build successful digital platforms, products and applications.

    Tweet this: Attn @apperyio community! You can now update to the Ionic 5 framework for faster & more reliable #appdev

    About Exadel

    Exadel is a software engineering company that delivers the digital platforms, products, and applications our clients need to run and grow their businesses. For more than 20 years we have developed solutions that accelerate the speed, quality, and efficiency of our delivery while adding value to our customers. Since the advent of the cloud, Exadel has helped companies get the most out of their data, reducing expenditure and increasing scalability and access. A Forrester-recognized market leader in distributed Agile, we are proud of our long history of partnering with the largest brands across all industries. For more information on Exadel services and areas of expertise, visit exadel.com and follow us on Linkedin and Twitter @exadel.

  • SmartBear Welcomes Vineeta Puranik as New SVP of Engineering

    Vineeta Puranik brings 25 years of engineering experience to SmartBear, including specialties in CI/CD, acquisitions and integrations, and security product development

    SOMERVILLE, Mass. — March 2, 2021 — SmartBear, a leading provider of software development and quality tools, has welcomed Vineeta Puranik as the company’s new SVP of Engineering. Most recently, Vineeta was VP of Engineering and Operations at Veracode, where she led the direction of its flagship static analysis product line.

    “Vineeta’s background, vision, and strategies map ideally to helping SmartBear enterprise customers around the world to deliver the highest quality applications in the most timely manner,” said Greg Nicastro, EVP/GM of Products and Technology at SmartBear. “We are thrilled to welcome her talents that will allow us to continue supporting the changing needs of the software development community. Additionally, we are delighted about the diversity that Vineeta brings to our leadership team and culture at SmartBear.”

    Vineeta’s software engineering career spans over two decades and includes leading teams through the entire lifecycle of delivering innovative products to market in domains like networking, HR applications, and software security. Most recently, Vineeta led Veracode’s flagship product lines with an emphasis on security-driven development and agile/scrum practices. Vineeta is known for strong execution that delivers impactful business outcomes, and she specializes in CI/CD pipelines, multi-shore development, and Agile-to-DevOps workflows. Vineeta is also a strong proponent of diversity and inclusion in workplace.

    “SmartBear provides software delivery teams with the right products to accelerate their delivery of high-quality solutions and digital services,” said Puranik. “As the market continues to transition to DevSecOps practices, organizations are looking for the tools that support this transition, as well as their other digital transformation initiatives. I was attracted to the immense growth potential at SmartBear, and I look forward to further strengthening our company’s robust product portfolio.”

    Vineeta has a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and a bachelor’s degree in engineering from University of Mumbai in India. Vineeta was also named one of the Top 20 VPs and Directors in Tech by Rev Boston in 2017.

    About SmartBear
    At SmartBear, we focus on your one priority that never changes: quality. We know delivering quality software over and over is complicated. So our tools are built to streamline your process while seamlessly working with the products you use – and will use. Whether it’s TestComplete, Swagger, Cucumber, ReadyAPI, Zephyr, or one of our other tools, we span from test automation, API design, collaboration, performance testing, test management, and more. Whichever you need, they’re easy to try, easy to buy, and easy to integrate. We’re used by 15 million developers, testers, and operations engineers at 24,000+ organizations – including world-renowned innovators like Adobe, JetBlue, FedEx, and Microsoft. Wherever you’re going, we’ll help you get there. Learn more at smartbear.com, or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook.

    All trademarks recognized.

     

  • OpenLegacy Announces Partnership with Axway to Create Seamless Enterprise Integration Platform for Legacy Mainframe and Midrange Systems

    • Axway and OpenLegacy customers benefit from a seamless enterprise integration platform

    • Enables businesses to keep up with pace of technological change without increasing technical debt

    • Businesses can securely, easily access and integrate complex legacy mainframe and midrange systems

     

    PRINCETON, NJ—March 2, 2021—OpenLegacy, the pioneer in composable integration for legacy and core systems, announced today a partnership with Axway (Euronext: AXW.PA), a leading API integration platform provider. Thanks to the partnership, organizations now can securely and easily access complex legacy mainframe and midrange systems.

    Too often, legacy data sources—particularly on-premise SAP, mainframes and midrange systems—remain difficult to weave into an enterprise integration strategy. These complex assets frequently require specialized expertise to overcome back-end dependencies for effective integration. Developers, analytics professionals and business decision-makers often lack visibility into critical data housed in these systems, to the detriment of the entire business.

    Automates Access to Data Sources Across Legacy Data Infrastructure

    OpenLegacy complements Axway’s Amplify API integration platform by automating the ability to access heritage infrastructure—making it quick and easy to connect, enrich, manage and share legacy data sources. OpenLegacy and Axway’s shared Java-based architecture enables the creation of a seamless application.

    “The pace of technology innovation continues to accelerate dramatically, so organizations need to find more efficient ways to keep up with the business demand without introducing additional technical debt,” said Bo Luongo, global senior vice president of alliances and business development at OpenLegacy. “Our ability to quickly unpack legacy environments into composable services makes it easy for Axway and OpenLegacy customers to integrate all data and create experiences that delight.”

    “By partnering with OpenLegacy, we can help our customers achieve optimal value from their hybrid and API-enabled systems by securely opening everything,” said Vince Padua, chief technology and innovation officer at Axway. “Providing easy access to legacy applications, that is typically out of reach, will increase the operational efficiency of API and multi-cloud applications, unlocking their use in both internal and customer-facing services.”

    About OpenLegacy

    OpenLegacy’s Composable Integration enables organizations with legacy systems to release new digital services faster and more efficiently than ever before. It connects directly to even the most complex legacy systems, bypassing the need for extra layers of technology. It then automatically generates APIs in minutes, rapidly integrating those assets into new and exciting innovations. Finally, it deploys them as standard microservices or serverless functions, giving organizations speed and flexibility while drastically cutting costs and resources. With OpenLegacy, industry-leading companies release new apps, features, and updates in days instead of months, enabling them to truly become digital to the core. Learn why leading companies choose OpenLegacy at openlegacy.com, and follow on Twitter or LinkedIn.

    About Axway
    Axway gives heritage IT infrastructure new life, helping more than 11,000 customers worldwide build on what they already have to digitally transform, add new business capabilities, and drive growth. With our Amplify API integration platform —­­ the only open, independent platform for managing and governing APIs across integration patterns, the hybrid cloud, and 3rd-party solutions — we help companies integrate faster, reach new markets, and create brilliant digital experiences. Our MFT and B2B integration solutions have been trusted for 20 years. Axway (Euronext: AXW.PA) employs over 1,800 people in 18 countries. Learn more at axway.com.

  • Core Scientific Achieves AWS High Performance Computing Competency Status

    BELLEVUE, Wash., March 1, 2021 — Core Scientific, a leading infrastructure and software solutions provider for artificial intelligence and blockchain that is led by CEO Kevin Turner, the former COO of Microsoft, announced today that it has achieved Amazon Web Services (AWS) High Performance Computing (HPC) Competency status. This designation recognizes that Core Scientific has demonstrated deep experience helping customers optimize their HPC workloads for performance and efficiency using AWS’s elastic and scalable cloud infrastructure.

    AWS launched the AWS HPC Competency to help customers easily and confidently engage highly specialized AWS Partners that provide technology offerings for faster innovation, better agility, and flexibility in areas such as genomics, computational chemistry, financial risk modeling, computer aided engineering, as well as emerging applications such as deep learning, and autonomous driving. The AWS HPC Competency takes on the heavy lifting of identifying and validating industry leaders with proven customer success and technical proficiency.

    Achieving the AWS HPC Competency differentiates Core Scientific as an AWS Partner with deep domain expertise in one or more of the following categories: Application, HPC Management, and Foundational Technology.

    “Core Scientific is humbled to be one of the first AWS Partners to achieve AWS HPC Competency status,” said Ian Ferreira, Core Scientific Chief Product Officer of Artificial Intelligence. “Our customers come from an array of important, game-changing industries and backgrounds. By combining the Core Scientific Plexus HPC-Ops software stack with AWS HPC infrastructure, customers can seamlessly run very large parallel workloads.”

    AWS is enabling scalable, flexible, and cost-effective solutions from startups to global enterprises. To support the seamless integration and deployment of these solutions, AWS established the AWS Competency Program to help customers identify Consulting and Technology AWS Partners with deep industry experience and expertise.

    Core Scientific’s Plexus™ is a hybrid-cloud platform that combines AWS with existing on-premises resources customers may own. With a single-pane-of-glass, Plexus provides a consistent workflow across infrastructure, reducing the need to retrain end-users.

    Plexus for HPC-ops control plane provides turn-key integration with AWS compute services. This enables customers to manage, orchestrate and run HPC workloads backed by enhanced AWS computing infrastructure. Core Scientific’s fine-grained-scheduler supports the capability to run embarrassingly parallel workloads over coarse-grained compute, therefore maximizing customer ROI.

    To learn more, please visit https://www.corescientific.com/artificial-intelligence-platform/aws.

  • Deque Systems Launches axetm DevTools Pro

    Developers Can Now Directly Address the Majority of Web Accessibility Issues with Ease Using Human and Machine Learning

     

    HERNDON, VA – March 1st, 2021– Deque Systems, the trusted leader in digital accessibility, announced today the availability of axe DevTools Pro. Built upon the wildly popular free axe browser extension, axe DevTools Pro is a huge step forward for digital equality, enabling dev teams to address accessibility at the source, using groundbreaking human and machine learning technology.

    Developers and novices alike can use axe DevTools Pro to run automated and Intelligent Guided Tests™ on their websites and applications, which directly address the core blockages preventing people with disabilities from enjoying all the web has to offer. Axe DevTools Pro can identify 76 to 84 percent of accessibility issues on a webpage, the industry’s broadest range of options for detecting and remediating accessibility problems.

    Over 19,000 developers and other users provided input to refine axe DevTools Pro during the 16-month beta period. Many of these suggestions have already been implemented.

    Axe DevTools Pro is available now at www.deque.com/axe/devtools. There is a 14-day free trial, with no credit card required. It is then available for $40 per month, or $409 per year.

    “With little effort or expertise, developers can now make meaningful change by significantly improving the user experience of their apps. By making your app accessible to people with disabilities, you’re shipping cleaner code and mitigating risk. Axe DevTools Pro was built to expand the impact developers can make, without disrupting existing processes,” says Dylan Barrell, Chief Technology Officer of Deque Systems. “With superior automation and guided tests, even novices can now conduct robust accessibility testing and remediation.”

    Utilizing Deque’s industry-standard open source axe accessibility rules engine and machine learning, axe DevTools Pro’s Intelligent Guided Tests are based on simple question-and-answer interactions that don’t require accessibility expertise. Axe DevTools Pro walks developers through inspections of their websites and applications, allowing scans of full or partial pages, then produces and saves full reports highlighting areas for optimization.

    Other available axe DevTools plans are:

    Axe DevTools Enterprise: All axe DevTools Pro features are also available to Deque axe DevTools Enterprise customers. Enterprise users also enjoy CI/CD integration, CLI, enterprise security and support, and native Android and iOS tools.

    Axe DevTools Free:  Users who do not upgrade to Pro or Enterprise for their added feature sets, can continue to run automated tests using the axe DevTools browser extension for free.

     

    “Axe DevTools is designed to help developers fix issues at the core while they code, the most agile method to resolve accessibility blockers as well as avoid future legal troubles,” says Preety Kumar, CEO of Deque Systems. “This is critical to avoiding re-work and helping speed the DevOps lifecycle while ensuring websites are usable to the more than 1 billion people in the world living with some form of disability who may rely on assistive technologies to navigate the Internet.”

    About Deque Systems

    Deque (pronounced dee-cue) is a web accessibility software and services company, and our mission is Digital Equality.  We believe everyone, regardless of their ability, should have equal access to the information, services, applications, and everything else on the web.

    We work with enterprise-level businesses and organizations to ensure that their sites and mobile apps are accessible. Installed in over 250,000 browsers and with over 4,000 audit projects completed, Deque is the industry standard.

    Axe and Intelligent Guided Testing are trademarks of Deque Systems, Inc.

  • Lenovo Reveals New ThinkEdge Portfolio of Embedded Computers

    New ThinkEdge SE30 and SE50 enable digital transformation at the edge for healthcare, retail, manufacturing and all data-dependent industries 

    RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., March 1, 2021 – Lenovo™ announced today its all new portfolio of embedded computers for the edge during the Embedded World 2021 DIGITAL virtual exhibition. Building from the existing edge portfolio from Lenovo, the ThinkEdge devices – the new ThinkEdge SE30 and ThinkEdge SE50 – are small, rugged, and powerful enough to meet the demanding needs of enterprise data processing, security and scalability at the edge.

    Accelerating Productivity at the Edge

    It is estimated that by 2025, 75 percent of enterprise-generated data will be processed at the edge.[i] The global pandemic has become a catalyst for digital transformation and accelerated the push to the edge for many levels of the enterprise, as new solutions for operations and sales are introduced in global markets. Edge computing applications are numerous and growing rapidly. Retailers are implementing more automated checkouts and dynamic signage, real-time store traffic monitoring, inventory and fulfilling. Manufacturers are further automating assembly lines with predictive maintenance alerts and utilizing smart cameras for safety and quality inspections. Healthcare turns to edge computing for remote patient monitoring and medical device integration. With increased need for powerful, real-time insights across industries, the edge is becoming more critical and complex than ever.

    Lenovo’s December 2020 survey of IT executives and managers found that edge computing solutions are an urgent priority and their deployment is on a fast-track. Fifty-nine percent of those surveyed stated they are “looking to implement new edge computing solutions within the next 6 months.” And 82 percent stated that “real time data collection and analysis is where edge solutions are making the most impact on their business.”[ii] 

    ThinkEdge Portfolio

    The new Lenovo ThinkEdge devices are powered by Intel technology and built for the data needs of tomorrow. The embedded edge computers are for customers who need faster processing power, better security, and scalability. With the right data securely on hand for when it matters, businesses can be more efficient, insightful and competitive.

    “Edge computing is critical infrastructure for intelligent transformation within the enterprise,” said Jon Pershke, vice president of Strategy and Emerging Business for Lenovo’s Intelligent Devices Group. “The new products in the ThinkEdge portfolio are purpose-built devices designed to be networked on premise or embedded in solutions to give Lenovo’s customers an advantage in performance, security and scalability.”

    The new ThinkEdge SE30 is a small and rugged compute device for edge workloads. It includes the latest 11th Gen Intel® Core™ i5 vPro® processors for industrial computing. The processor improves compute power, accelerates AI workloads, and is built for the challenges of edge implementations in enterprise with extended temperature support from -20 to +60 Celsius, long-life reliability, as well as enhanced security and manageability features.

    The ThinkEdge SE30 will start with 4G support globally and have 5G availability with key carrier support in the second half of this year[iii]. 5G edge devices enhance wireless connectivity to match the low-latency, high-reliability, and high-capacity capabilities of existing wireline solutions with both improved agility of capabilities and better return on investments.

    Embedded applications for the ThinkEdge SE30 include kiosks and ATMs for smart retail, automated production lines in manufacturing, and medical device monitoring in healthcare, among others.

    Key Features / Specs:

    • 11th Gen Intel® Core™ i5 vPro® processors for industrial computing 
    • Up to 16GB memory and 1TB storage[iv] 
    • Fan-less, operational temperature range of -20 to 60 Celsius 
    • Both 4G 1 and 5G 1 modules 

    ThinkEdge SE30  

    The new ThinkEdge SE50 is designed for versatile applications that require higher analytics and data processing at the edge. The embedded edge compute device includes an Intel® Core™ i5 or i7 vPro® processor for industrial computing and up to 32GB of memory.

    End users can deploy the ThinkEdge SE50 to aggregate and analyze real-time data from distributed IoT devices. This smart edge device can filter and forward IoT data across the WAN to the cloud or data center. Customers have the option to enhance their edge AI strategy with cutting edge silicon and optimized software leveraging the OpenVINO™ toolkit.

    Key Features / Specs:

    • 11th Generation Intel® Core™ i7 or i5 vPro® processors for industrial computing 
    • 32GB memory and up to 2TB storage[v] 
    • Fan-less, operational temperature range of 0 to 50 degree Celsius, and IP50 rating 
    • 2-liter design with full industrial I/O 

    ThinkEdge SE50  

    Lenovo’s Solutions Give Customers the Edge

    The same commitment to continuous innovation that drives Lenovo’s global leadership in PC manufacturing provides the foundation for its edge device roadmap. Lenovo’s portfolio of ThinkEdge devices gives enterprises the flexibility to specify what they need today with the value to include processing capacity to grow for future functionality.

    The ThinkEdge portfolio is supported by a growing group of industry-leading software providers, OEMs and system integrators to deliver devices that become a seamless part of the overall ecosystem. The ThinkEdge Certified Solutions Partners include Telit, IMS Evolve, Software AG and many more.

    ThinkEdge devices are ready to be embedded in solutions to accelerate time to market and improve efficiencies for OEMs. Lenovo, through its OEM Solutions business, provides secure, reliable hardware and services to design purpose-built appliances and solve industry pain points.

    Availability

    The Lenovo ThinkEdge SE30 and SE50 will be available in select markets worldwide starting mid-2021. Visit the ThinkEdge web page to find out more or contact your local Lenovo sales representative.                                                                                     

    About Lenovo

    Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) is a US$50 billion Fortune Global 500 company, with 63,000 employees and operating in 180 markets around the world.  Focused on a bold vision to deliver smarter technology for all, we are developing world-changing technologies that create a more inclusive, trustworthy and sustainable digital society. By designing, engineering and building the world’s most complete portfolio of smart devices and infrastructure, we are also leading an Intelligent Transformation – to create better experiences and opportunities for millions of customers around the world. To find out more visit https://www.lenovo.com, follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Weibo and read about the latest news via our StoryHub.

    LENOVO and THINKEDGE are trademarks of Lenovo. Intel, the Intel logo, and other Intel marks are trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries. Other company, product and service names may be trademarks or service marks of others and are the property of their respective owners. ©2021, Lenovo Group Limited.

    [i] Gartner ‘What Edge Computing Means for Infrastructure and Operations Leaders’

    [ii] Lenovo commissioned an online survey of 288 U.S. IT managers in roles associated with edge computing in organizations that employ at least 500 people, the survey was conducted December 12-18, 2020.

    [iii] Requires 5G network service and separately purchased cellular data plan that may vary by location. Additional terms, conditions and/or charges apply. Connection speeds will vary due to location, environment, network conditions and other factors.

    [iv]Available user storage is less due to many factors, including operating system, software and functions utilizing part of this capacity.

    [v]Available user storage is less due to many factors, including operating system, software and functions utilizing part of this capacity.

    …

  • Checkmarx Launches Infrastructure as Code Scanning Solution to Secure Cloud-Native Applications

    Open source IaC scanning engine is industry’s most comprehensive solution for enabling developers to detect and fix configuration issues

    RAMAT GAN, Israel–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Checkmarx, the global leader in software security solutions for DevOps, today announced the launch of KICS (Keeping Infrastructure as Code Secure), an open source static analysis solution that enables developers to write more secure infrastructure as code (IaC). With KICS, Checkmarx expands its AST product line, providing a single platform for securing proprietary code, open source components, and critical infrastructure for both traditional and cloud-native applications.

    The adoption of IaC has risen considerably in recent years as organizations transition to the cloud and seek ways to make the provisioning of infrastructure faster and more scalable. However, with all the benefits of IaC comes a multitude of security, compliance, and configuration risks that developers are struggling to address. This is realized when considering that error-related issues (e.g. misconfigurations and misdeliveries) are now the second biggest cause of data breaches.

    KICS automatically detects vulnerabilities, hard-coded keys and passwords, compliance issues, and misconfigurations from the very start of the IaC build cycle, allowing developers to easily remediate these flaws before reaching production. As the most comprehensive IaC scanning engine available, KICS supports the top IaC technologies including Terraform, Kubernetes, Docker, AWS CloudFormation, and Ansible. Additionally, KICS offers more than 1,200 fully customizable and adjustable queries, which cover more than 12 categories ranging from encryption and key management to network ports security.

    “As development processes evolve and organizations accelerate their cloud adoption, developers are taking on more security responsibility while also delivering software faster than ever before. This is an impossible balance to strike by solely relying on manual, time-consuming code reviews,” said Maty Siman, CTO and Founder, Checkmarx. “KICS was built with this in mind, enabling development teams to automatically identify IaC issues when fixing is quickest, cheapest, and easiest. As the newest addition to the Checkmarx product portfolio, developers now have a single destination for securing all components that make up today’s complex applications.”

    Additional key features and benefits of KICS include:

    • Built-in extensibility: KICS provides the largest ‘library’ of queries of any IaC scanning solution, all of which are fully customizable and adjustable. Additionally, KICS’ robust, yet simple, architecture allows for the quick addition of support for new IaC tools.
    • Community-sourced: As an open source project, both the scanning engine and queries for KICS are clear and open to a community of thousands of security and DevOps experts and software developers. Coupled with Checkmarx’s dedicated team that is constantly adding new features and vetting contributions, KICS is able to scale at a rapid pace.
    • Seamless CI/CD integration: KICS can easily be integrated with any CI/CD pipeline, including GitHub Actions and GitLab CI, applying vulnerability and misconfiguration checks to IaC while keeping developers within their preferred tools.

    Siman continued, “Checkmarx is a strong advocate of open source projects, and creating KICS in this manner gives the community the opportunity to steer its direction and foster innovation across the industry. We’re excited to watch this passionate community embrace and contribute to KICS as it becomes an essential addition to every developer’s cloud-native security toolkit.”

    “I’m proud to welcome Checkmarx to the open source ecosystem with the release of KICS, as the company brings its vast AST experience to the community,” said Lior Kaplan, open source advisor and evangelist. “KICS is already seeing significant interest from the DevOps and security experts who take part in open source, and this will continue to grow as the project scales and expands to more infrastructure as code platforms.”

    KICS is available for free today. To learn more, visit kics.io.

    About Checkmarx
    Checkmarx is the global leader in software security solutions for modern enterprise software development. Checkmarx delivers the industry’s most comprehensive Software Security Platform that unifies with DevOps and provides static and interactive application security testing, software composition analysis, and developer AppSec awareness and training programs to reduce and remediate risk from software vulnerabilities. Checkmarx is trusted by more than 40 of the Fortune 100 companies and half of the Fortune 50, including leading organizations such as SAP, Samsung, and Salesforce.com. Learn more at www.checkmarx.com.

  • New Off-the-Shelf (OTS) Datasets from Appen Accelerate AI Deployment

    High-quality datasets include scripted speech, images with text, body movement and human audio

    SYDNEY; SAN FRANCISCO — Feb. 25, 2021 — Appen Limited (ASX:APX), the leading provider of high-quality training data for organizations that build effective AI systems at scale, today announced new off-the-shelf (OTS) datasets. These datasets are designed to make it easier and faster for businesses to acquire the high-quality training data needed to accelerate their artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) projects. The new OTS datasets include human body movement and innovative baby crying sounds, as well as scripted speech and images with text suitable for optical character recognition (OCR) for high-demand but hard-to-acquire languages, such as Arabic, Croatian, Greek, Hungarian, Thai and more. With the expanded datasets, Appen’s total OTS offering includes over 250 datasets, comprising of over 11,000 hours of audio, over 25,000 images and over 8.7 million words across 80 languages and multiple dialects.

    Appen’s OTS datasets are a fast, cost-effective tool to jumpstart an AI or ML project with consistent high-quality training data. Teams expanding their AI capabilities can also leverage OTS datasets to effectively improve accuracy, develop new model skills and incorporate other improvements into their AI models. An OTS dataset is often delivered in one week, for example, compared to the eight to twelve weeks for a new dataset collection and annotation project – or even longer, depending on complexity. All Appen datasets are developed using a fully transparent, opt-in methodology, so AI specialists can be assured their data is clean and compliant, eliminating the potential risk of backlash and reputation damage.

    “AI teams around the world working on projects with tight deadlines and flexible data requirements can benefit from using off-the-shelf datasets,” said Wilson Pang, CTO of Appen. “OTS datasets shorten time to value and provide access to high-quality data at a lower total cost than using traditional methods. We at Appen take the necessary steps to ensure that all our datasets are ethically sourced and demographically balanced, enabling companies to maintain responsible AI practices by minimizing bias in their models and ensuring fair treatment of data annotators. You always know the precise quality of an OTS dataset, which helps build better AI that works in the real world.”

    MediaInterface has delivered language technology solutions to healthcare-related institutions in Germany and other parts of Europe for over 20 years. When the company was expanding into France, it had fully localized software but lacked French lexicon data, especially French names and places, which are often referenced in patient health information. Using Appen OTS datasets, MediaInterface acquired approximately 21,000 French names and 14,000 place names. “The critical data from Appen has been incorporated into our background lexicon to successfully launch in a new market, and this helps us build out new vocabularies for our clients and strengthen our approach for future market launches as well,” said Ines Wendler, product manager at MediaInterface.

    The most experienced AI experts combine OTS datasets with on-demand data collection and annotation projects to meet their complex AI model training data needs. Appen is the leader in offering continued support through a range of specific data collection services, such as ongoing data annotation and smart labeling, through AI-powered tools and automated workflows to maximize efficiency.

    “We interact with AI from the moment we wake up to the moment we go to bed – through virtual assistants, chatbots, search engines, social networks, medical devices, smart cars and other applications,” said Judith Bishop, Appen’s senior director of AI specialists, who leads a team of 100 AI linguists and language experts. “Language is often the primary interface for many of these compelling AI use cases, so to guarantee a great experience, the model needs to be trained to work for everyone. Appen’s commitment to high-quality data and responsible, ethical AI development allows companies purchasing our off-the-shelf datasets to accelerate their AI projects with complete confidence in their data.”

    Joining the existing hundreds of datasets already live on appen.com, the list of new Appen OTS datasets that are now available includes:

    • Scripted speech for Arabic (Egypt), Arabic (Saudi Arabia), Arabic (United Arab Emirates), Central Khmer (Cambodia), Croatian, Greek, Hungarian, Polish, Spanish (Spain), and Turkish
    • Image OCR for Simplified Chinese printed text, Thai printed text, and Finnish printed text
      • Includes pre-recorded billboards, outer packaging, signs, magazines, and menus to train and update computer vision OCR models
    • Human body movement (China)
      • Includes annotated videos of people moving, tracked at pixel level, suitable for game development, fitness apps and more
    • Baby crying audio (China)
      • Includes pre-recorded and annotated baby sounds that can be used to train AI models to recognize different crying sounds and alert parents

    Availability

    For more information and to request an Appen OTS dataset sample, visit https://appen.com/off-the-shelf- datasets/

     

    About Appen Limited

    Appen collects and labels images, text, speech, audio, video, and other data used to build and continuously improve the world’s most innovative artificial intelligence systems. Our expertise includes having a global crowd of over 1 million skilled contractors who speak over 235 languages, in over 70,000 locations and 170 countries, and the industry’s most advanced AI-assisted data annotation platform. Our reliable training data gives leaders in technology, automotive, financial services, retail, healthcare, and governments the confidence to deploy world- class AI products. Founded in 1996, Appen has customers and offices globally.

     

  • 2021 Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) Survey Now Open

    DevOps Institute, in partnership with Catchpoint and VMware Tanzu, encourages IT professionals to share their insights into SRE teams, metrics and automation in 2021

    BOCA RATON, Fla. – Feb. 25, 2021 – DevOps Institute, a global professional member association for advancing the human elements of DevOps, today announced the launch of the 2021 SRE Survey. DevOps Institute, Catchpoint and VMware Tanzu have collaborated to offer the 2021 survey. The survey will result in a more in-depth understanding of how SRE teams are organized, how they are measured, and a deep dive into specific automation needs within SRE teams.

    Take the 2021 SRE Survey here: http://bit.ly/3dKh22E

    “This year is critical for collecting data on the state of SRE after an unforeseeable 2020,” said Eveline Oehrlich, Chief Research Officer at DevOps Institute. “The survey takes a deep dive into the practices, organizational dynamics and critical changes to the SRE role over the last year. This data will be essential to building a report to help SRE teams gather a baseline and continue to advance the enterprise SRE role in 2021 and beyond.”

    The goal of the report is to offer practical details to continuously update the roadmap for adopting and expanding SRE success. The survey will focus on collecting data around:

    ●     Organizational structures, topology, and team composition.

    ●     Where the responsibility of SRE lies and what has changed since last year.

    ●     Specific practices that lead to improved automation work.

    ●     Key automation topics which are essential for SRE work.

    “The survey is essential to gathering extensive data from the industry—which will allow us to take an intensive look at the overall state of SRE,” said Leo Vasiliou, former IT Ops practitioner and current Director of Product Marketing at Catchpoint. “We are excited about the partnership with DevOps Institute and VMWare Tanzu to learn the state of SRE in 2021. The survey results will help the SRE community better understand the challenges ahead and ensure they will find success in 2021.”

    The 2021 SRE Survey is open now and will close on April 1, 2021. Additionally, for every survey taken, Catchpoint is donating $5 to Devices for Students, which helps to ensure all students have access to digital learning opportunities. Take the survey now.

    About Catchpoint

    Catchpoint, the global leader in Digital Experience Monitoring (DEM), empowers business and IT leaders to protect and advance the experiences of their customers and employees. In a digital economy, enabled by the cloud, SaaS and IoT, applications and users are everywhere. Catchpoint offers the largest and most geographically distributed monitoring network in the industry – it’s the only DEM platform that can scale and support today’s customer and employee location diversity and application distribution. It helps enterprises proactively detect, identify and validate user and application reachability, availability, performance and reliability across an increasingly complex digital delivery chain. Industry leaders like Google, L’Oréal, Verizon, Oracle, LinkedIn, Honeywell and Priceline trust Catchpoint’s out-of-the box monitoring platform to proactively detect, repair and optimize customer and employee experiences. Learn more at www.catchpoint.com

    About the DevOps Institute
    DevOps Institute is a professional member association whose mission is to advance the human elements of DevOps.

    We create a safe and interactive ecosystem where members can network, gain knowledge, grow their careers, lead and initiate, and celebrate professional achievements.

    We inspire thought leadership and knowledge by connecting and enabling the global member community to drive human transformation in the digital age.

  • Logi Analytics Research Finds Disconnect Between Value of Analytics to Knowledge Workers with Current BI Tools

    2021 State of Analytics: Why Users Demand Better research explores the current state of business analytics

     

    MCLEAN, Virginia — February 25, 2021 — Logi Analytics, the leading provider of embedded analytics solutions for software teams, today released findings from a recent survey of knowledge workers, 2021 State of Analytics: Why Users Demand Better. This research explores the use of analytics within knowledge workers’ daily operations and its impact on business decisions. Nearly 2,000 knowledge workers — individuals employed primarily to develop or use knowledge — across the U.S. responded to the survey conducted by Hanover Research. Responses came from an array of industries, including financial services, healthcare, manufacturing and more.

     

    According to the findings, 90% of knowledge workers consider analytics very to extremely valuable when making business decisions, yet 99% spend time looking for information they couldn’t easily find in their analytics solution. Additionally, 77% of the respondents said they would likely adopt a new analytics solution if it were embedded within an application.

     

    “There is an obvious disconnect between knowledge workers’ desire to use analytics in decision-making practices and their ability to find the information they need to do so in the tools at their disposal. If we can’t give our people the ability to derive meaningful insights from our business data with existing BI tools, how can we ever expect them to make smart business decisions?” said Brett Hansen, CMO at Logi Analytics. “This research not only spotlights the importance of analytics in businesses’ success, but uncovers the inadequacies of traditional stand-alone analytics and BI products that leave users searching for insights. We need to integrate analytics within knowledge workers’ existing workflow so they can quickly draw out impactful insights.”

     

    Fifty-seven percent of knowledge workers also claim analytics have become increasingly important amid COVID-19, particularly in healthcare and manufacturing. These specific knowledge workers range anywhere from 46-57% more likely to use analytic solutions to adapt workflows, monitor impact and perform safety assessments due to COVID-19.

    “Working with Logi Analytics, this report aimed to outline the needs of knowledge workers and the value of analytics when making informed business decisions,” said James Wilcox, Senior Director at Hanover Research. “The results of the study clearly indicate that analytics are essential for increasing the efficiency of informed decision making. Nonetheless, the pandemic has shaken multiple industries and made the need for valuable insights and data arguably more critical than ever before. Specifically, with workforces adapting to working remotely and historical predictive indicators becoming unreliable in the current context, the use of user-friendly analytical tools will increase in 2021.”

    Other key findings include:

    • Eighty-seven percent of knowledge workers use analytics to make business decisions often or very often
    • On average, knowledge workers spend over five hours a day working with analytics
    • More than half of healthcare (60%) and finance (54%) analytic solutions are embedded with current applications, while manufacturing (55%) and other (54%) industries utilize separate stand-alone applications
    • Three-quarters of knowledge workers are likely to adopt a new solution if it is embedded with current apps (77%)

    “The pandemic increased the need for rapid digital transformation in many industries previously thought of as slow to adopt like healthcare, manufacturing and financial services,” said Hansen. “Knowledge workers must be able to capture the information they need to do their jobs and standalone BI solutions have repeatedly failed these decision makers. Embedded analytics is the answer and is the most effective solution with rapid innovation taking center stage in today’s environment.”

    To learn more about the research and Logi Analytics, visit www.logianalytics.com/

    About Logi Analytics

    Logi Analytics empowers the world’s software teams with the most intuitive, developer-grade embedded analytics solutions, along with a group of dedicated people invested in your success. Logi leverages your existing tech stack, so you can quickly build, manage, and deploy your application. And because Logi supports unlimited customization and white-labeling, you have total control to make the application uniquely your own. Over 2,200 application teams have trusted Logi to help power their businesses with sophisticated analytics capabilities. Logi Analytics was recently awarded the 2020 “Best Business Intelligence Solution” Proddy award by Product School, in addition to being named a leader in Business Application Research Center’s (BARC) BI & Analytics Survey 21 across several categories, including Operational BI, Embedded BI, and Cloud BI.

    Logi Analytics is headquartered in McLean, Virginia, with offices in Ireland, England, Ukraine, and China. Learn more about what’s possible with Logi at LogiAnalytics.com.