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Livingston International to Participate in TradeLens Pilot

Livingston International to Participate in TradeLens Pilot

Global trade management and freight forwarding provider, Livingston Blockchain, confirmed this week its position as the first customs broker to implement the TradeLens pilot for brokerage automation. The blockchain-enabled digital shipping solution aims to provide solutions for trade roadblocks such as delayed transit times, risk factors, and fraud.

“The most important aspect of the platform is the ecosystem – building trust to enable collaboration with one another through a model that benefits everyone. Livingston’s participation in this initiative allows us to analyze the impact of blockchain on the logistics process by bringing in the role of customs administration, which involves the submission, examination and storage of reams of data on a daily basis,” said Peter Patterson, IBM Canada -Blockchain Leader.

Developed by A.P. Moller – Maersk and IBM, the initiative aims to create an efficient and secure trade environment. Livingston’s participation in the TradeLens pilot will consist of sensitive information on shipments while streamlining internal operations – all without added risks.

“We have always prided ourselves on being a forward-thinking customs broker and trade-services provider,” said Craig Conway, Chief Technology Officer, Livingston International. “We are excited to work with Maersk, IBM, CBSA and other members of the TradeLens ecosystem on an initiative we believe will serve our industry well and provide transparency and security in the global movement of goods.”

“As a leader in customs brokerage services, Livingston is now positioned to pioneer the use of blockchain technology and shape its impact to shippers around the world,” said Mike White, CEO of Maersk Global Trade Digitization and head of TradeLens.

IBM Inks Three Major Technology Deals in China

Armonk, NY – IBM is increasing its footprint in China with three major deals as the global technology giant has been trying to turn around falling revenues there.

The company’s sales in China have reportedly declined 11 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier, after tumbling 20 percent in the first three months of the year.

In the largest – and most surprising – deal, IBM has formed a partnership with Inspur Group Ltd. that calls for the Chinese company to install IBM’s database and WebSphere software on its mainframe computers.

The mainframes are reportedly the first ‘high-end’ servers to be wholly developed and produced by a Chinese company.

The partnership has raised some eyebrows as IBM and Inspur have maintained a serious rivalry since May when the Chinese company set out to lure IBM’s customers after a US media report was published claiming that Beijing was studying if domestic banks’ reliance on the US company’s technology threatened national security.

At the same time, IBM has said that Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China Ltd., the largest private insurer in the country, has implemented an IBM Software Defined Storage solution “to help it speed data collection from one month to one hour, dramatically improving its ability to meet new regulatory requirements such as the annual audit and industrial data analysis.”

According to a statement issued by IBM, “With the new virtualized storage environment, Ping An is able to aggregate its growing data volumes in one hour instead of one month and accomplish data migrations easily with just a few instructions. In addition, the solution has delivered fast service times for Ping An’s critical projects.”

IBM also announced that it’s also working with China Telecom Corp. in a three-year agreement to help small- and medium-sized businesses run cloud-based applications, which are stored on remote servers instead of on-site.

Working with China Telecom, IBM said it will “provide integrated and seamless management across all SAP architectures and delivery models so clients can migrate and integrate new applications on the cloud, while maintaining and operating current applications.”

Under the agreement, IBM and China Telecom will first focus on clients in the Guangdong province and then extend the project to such “key areas” as the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, Beijing and Tianjin.

09/10/2014

IBM Opens New Security Center in Costa Rica

Heredia, Costa Rica – IBM recently celebrated its 10 year anniversary in Costa Rica with the opening of its latest Security Operations Center (SOC).

Through an initial investment that includes infrastructure and education, the center will allow IBM to address the growing security needs of its clients in the region.

With this new center, the first in Costa Rica, IBM adds to the existing services offered in the country including cloud, business analytics, project management, human resources, financial services and more.

Open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the security center of operations team will monitor the latest security events experienced by IBM clients, assess their potential impact on the business and ensure that IBM clients’ infrastructure is configured to handle the latest threats.

As a result of this analysis, IBM “will help to protect people, data, applications, transactions and the infrastructure for all businesses in the region,” the company said.

Since IBM opened its Costa Rica operations, the company has created a number of new jobs and development opportunities for employees while helping build low income family housing.

The company has also introduced several educational initiatives, providing student scholarships through a program sponsored by Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency (CINDE), university courses focused on key subjects like security and cloud computing, and reading companion software for 12 educational centers that are designed to help citizens improve knowledge of the English language.

IBM has the world’s largest security services practice, with more than 6,000 skilled security services professionals, all of who have a unique handle on the “threat landscape.”

Through this latest facility and its 10 SOCs located in the US, Poland, Japan, Brazil, Belgium, India and Australia, IBM manages and monitors 15 billion security events every day for more than 4,000 clients.

07/08/2014

IBM Opens New Linux Cloud Center in China

Endicott, NY – IBM has opened the world’s first dedicated System z Linux and Cloud Center of Competency in Beijing, designed to help customers take advantage of Linux and cloud computing solutions on the mainframe, and help accelerate adoption of Linux on System z technologies in China.

IBM is investing heavily in open source development for System z to capture new growth opportunities in China and other markets.

The IBM System z Linux & Cloud Center of Competency in Beijinga centralized location for briefings, technical training, testing and technical support services – is equipped with the latest hardware, software and services to enable clients, business partners, and ISVs to take advantage of advancements in cloud, analytics and mobile applications.

Linux server demand is reportedly rising due to demand from cloud infrastructure deployments, according to IDC, and is expected to continue to grow in the future.

In the first quarter of 2014, Linux server revenue accounted for 30 percent of overall server revenue, an increase of 15.4 percent.

IBM has supported development of Linux on System z for more than a decade, and today there are over 3,000 certified applications for Linux on System z.

In addition, IBM is supporting the development of skills to take advantage of these applications through the IBM Academic Initiative.

The IBM Academic Initiative helps to provide schools with the education resources they need to introduce and develop enterprise-computing skills to students to help them gain exposure to job opportunities and careers.

The program helps to facilitate student learning in high demand IT skills and links employers to available students and professional talent. 

For more than seven years, IBM has worked with students, professors, businesses and universities to provide mainframe training and curriculum resources to more than 180,000 students at over 1,000 schools in 70 countries – including eleven universities in China.

“Market adoption of Linux on System z has been tremendous with 80 of the top 100 System customers running Linux on the mainframe and more than 50 percent of all new mainframe accounts since 2010 running Linux,” the company said.

 

06/03/2014