NetApp Teams with VMware, AWS to Help Customers Modernize and Scale Enterprise Workloads on the Cloud

 Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP is the only native AWS cloud storage service today to be certified and supported as a supplemental datastore for VMware Cloud for AWS

(BUSINESS WIRE) -- NetApp® (NASDAQ: NTAP), a global, cloud-led, data-centric software company, in collaboration with VMware, Inc. and Amazon Web Services (AWS), today announced the general availability of Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP with VMware Cloud on AWS, the first and only native AWS cloud storage service certified and supported as a supplemental datastore for VMware Cloud on AWS.

With this new datastore solution, enterprises can quickly, easily and cost-effectively move their enterprise, data-demanding workloads to VMware Cloud on AWS. This allows organizations to scale cloud storage independent of cloud compute to optimize costs, deploy new modern applications with the speed and scalability of the cloud, and maximize the value of their existing IT investments. Additionally, organizations can gain access to the rich data management, protection, and efficiency benefits of ONTAP utilized by nearly twenty thousand VMware customers running on-premises today.

“Our strong relationship, deep integration and joint innovation with both VMware and AWS hits another milestone, which helps make it easier for organizations to efficiently move enterprise workloads to the cloud,” said Phil Brotherton, Vice President, Solutions & Alliances at NetApp. “VMware customers running on NetApp or non-NetApp storage onpremises can now access the enterprise-class public cloud storage services and features of ONTAP, all running on AWS, as the first certified and supported supplemental datastore to VMware Cloud on AWS.”

“The majority of enterprises today run workloads on a VMware platform. Whether that is on premises or in VMware Cloud on AWS, they want to be able to leverage consistency in operations and architecture,” said Narayan Bharadwaj, Vice President, Cloud Solutions at VMware. “AWS, NetApp and VMware are giving customers the flexibility to buy and configure cloud storage independent of compute to meet the needs of a wide variety of enterprise applications. Our co-innovation will enable customers moving enterprise workloads to the cloud to cost-optimize and better scale their environments.”

New benefits from this certified and supported offering include improved:

Speed: Migrate data-demanding on-premises vSphere-based workloads with NetApp or non-NetApp storage to VMware Cloud on AWS with reduced complexity – leveraging consistent VMware-to-VMware migration for workloads combined with the speed, performance and simplicity of ONTAP via Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP.

Cost Control: Scale VMware Cloud compute independent of cloud storage to optimize cost at scale for demanding workloads combined with the rich data efficiency features of ONTAP to control cost at scale, including dedupe, compression, compaction, and thin provisioning.

Efficiency: Leverage existing VMware-centric resource investments including people, processes and technologies from on-premises and on the cloud for consistency of operations.

In addition, partners of NetApp, VMware and AWS can benefit from this innovation to expand their current offerings around VMware Cloud in multiple ways:

Unlock new business for hybrid and cloud-native workloads through breaking down cost barriers to migrating enterprise workloads through right-sizing cloud compute and cloud storage.

Expand existing cloud services helping customers plan, design, deploy and optimize enterprise hybrid and cloud-native solutions for data-demanding workloads.

Reduce risk for their clients through integrated and supported cloud solutions from NetApp and VMware to help customers migrate, extend or protect enterprise workloads to the cloud with confidence.

“As a leading multi-brand provider of full stack IT solutions, our customers rely on us to deliver solutions and services to help them manage their most data-demanding workloads,” said Troy Brick-Margelofsky, Digital Infrastructure Team Lead at CDW. “With Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP as a certified and supported datastore for VMware Cloud, we can now help customers move workloads on to the cloud quickly and efficiently, saving them time, money, and resources with the added benefit of integration with the complete NetApp portfolio.”

Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP provides fully managed shared storage on AWS with the popular data access and management capabilities of ONTAP. The solution allows organizations to easily migrate applications and run them on AWS, with ONTAP’s enterprise-grade storage workflows and data management capabilities, regardless of their on-premises storage provider.

Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP supplemental datastore for VMware Cloud on AWS is available today.

Additional Resources

VMware Announcement

Blog: Announcing VMware Cloud on AWS integration with Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP

Blog: The Power of Partnerships: Taking Multi-Cloud Mainstream

Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP

About NetApp

NetApp is a global, cloud-led, data-centric software company that empowers organizations to lead with data in the age of accelerated digital transformation. The company provides systems, software and cloud services that enable them to run their applications optimally from data center to cloud, whether they are developing in the cloud, moving to the cloud, or creating their own cloudlike experiences on premises. With solutions that perform across diverse environments, NetApp helps organizations build their own data fabric and securely deliver the right data, services, and applications to the right people—anytime, anywhere. Learn more at www.netapp.com or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

NETAPP, the NETAPP logo, and the marks listed at www.netapp.com/TM are trademarks of NetApp, Inc. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

VMware and vSphere are registered trademarks or trademarks of VMware, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States and other jurisdictions.

 

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Contacts

Media Contact:

Kenya Hayes

NetApp

kenya.hayes@netapp.com

Investor Contact:

Lance Berger

NetApp

lance.berger@netapp.com

 

Italy’s CDP agrees debut EUR 100 million loan for Africa Finance Corporation to support transition in Africa

 (BUSINESS WIRE) --The Italian development finance institution Cassa Depositi e Prestiti SpA (CDP) has agreed a debut 100 million euro loan for Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), the leading infrastructure solutions provider on the African continent, to facilitate investments in renewable power, energy efficient projects and climate-resilient infrastructure.

CDP, with assets totalling over 400 billion euros, is providing the bilateral loan to support AFC projects that are urgently needed to transform African infrastructure to help combat and adapt to global warming, as well as catalyse industrialisation, create jobs and reduce poverty.

“Building strong partnerships with major international institutions such as Africa Finance Corporation is part of our strategy to scale up impact finance and accelerate the ecological transition in developing countries” affirmed Antonella Baldino, Head of International Cooperation and Development Finance at CDP. “It is in this spirit that we welcomed AFC recent entry into the International Development Finance Club. By intensifying our commitment to Africa, this operation best places CDP as a partner of choice for regional and local Development Finance Institutions.”

The loan agreement supports CDP’s mission to boost economic growth in emerging markets and expand Italy’s global investment footprint and demonstrates continued interest from European investors in high-quality infrastructure projects on the African continent.

“This milestone agreement today marks the start of a mutually beneficial relationship between AFC and CDP – the Italian DFI” said Samaila Zubairu, President & CEO of AFC. “Access to funding from highly rated institutions, like CDP, helps us to further our commitment to investing in projects that simultaneously combat climate change and develop the critical infrastructure required for Africa’s economic growth, while delivering reliably competitive investor returns.”

AFC has invested over $10 billion in projects spanning 35 African countries over 15 years. The Corporation draws capital from a diverse range of international investors and lenders as part of a strategy to maintain its investment grade credit rating of A3 at Moody’s. CDP joins AFC’s pool of funding partners comprising international development finance institutions such as the German Development Bank KfW, the India Exim Bank, and a syndication of Germany’s DEG, Netherland’s FMO and France’s Proparco, demonstrating global investor confidence in AFC’s strong credit profile and strategy to delivering de-risked, transformational projects for Africa.

The focus on sustainably reducing Africa’s energy deficit led to agreement by AFC last month to jointly acquire Lekela Power, the continent’s biggest renewables independent power producer, with plans to double generation capacity within four years. AFC’s approach to balancing the need for emissions reduction in Africa with critical development imperatives is set out in a recently published white paper titled Roadmap to Africa’s COP: A Pragmatic Path to Net Zero. The report received wide endorsement from leaders including Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo, Nigeria’s Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and the Chair of the African Group of Negotiators at COP26, Tanguy Gahouma.

End

Notes to Editors

About AFC

AFC was established in 2007 to be the catalyst for private sector-led infrastructure investment across Africa. AFC’s approach combines specialist industry expertise with a focus on financial and technical advisory, project structuring, project development and risk capital to address Africa’s infrastructure development needs and drive sustainable economic growth.

Fifteen years on, AFC has developed a track record as the partner of choice in Africa for investing and delivering on instrumental, high-quality infrastructure assets that provide essential services in the core infrastructure sectors of power, natural resources, heavy industry, transport, and telecommunications. AFC has invested over US$10 billion in 35 countries across Africa since inception.

www.africafc.org

 

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Media Enquiries:

Yewande Thorpe

Communications

Africa Finance Corporation

Mobile : +234 1 279 9654

Email : yewande.thorpe@africafc.org

Gavin Serkin

New Markets Media & Intelligence

Telephone: +44 20 3478 9710

Email: gserkin@newmarkets.media

 

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Racing and Wagering Western Australia Turns to Rimini Street for Better Support and Advanced Security for its Oracle Technology Landscape

 acing industry leader switches to Rimini Street to reduce reliance on Oracle, prepare for open-source databases, and improve security

(BUSINESS WIRE) -- Rimini Street, Inc. (Nasdaq: RMNI), a global provider of enterprise software products and services, the leading third-party support provider for Oracle and SAP software products, and a Salesforce partner, today announced that Racing and Wagering Western Australia (RWWA), a national leader in racing and wagering entertainment, has switched from Oracle to Rimini Street for better, more responsive support and advanced security for its Oracle database and Oracle technology landscape. The move helps RWWA to achieve its strategic plan to reduce its reliance on Oracle products as cloud-native and open-source offerings become viable for the organization, providing RWWA with more deployment and usage flexibility, reduced enterprise software operating expenses and improved security.

“The wagering sector is a competitive one in Australia and companies need a level of flexibility in their systems to provide new services while staying online,” said Daniel Benad, group vice president and regional general manager, Australia, New Zealand and Oceania, Rimini Street. “Sports wagering is now a 24/7/365 business, and clients are increasingly turning to organisations that offer the best ‘always on’ experience during big events. To do that, wagering companies can’t afford to spend their limited IT budget solely on enterprise software operating costs; they need to be able to invest more of their IT budget in innovation and continuously update their offerings to stay ahead of their competition.”

Moving Ahead of the Pack with More Budget to Innovate

The RWWA identified a need to invest in its customer engagement as well as machine learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities as wagering became an increasingly online business, particularly during the pandemic when its business shifted from its retail brick-and-mortar stores to managing online wagering at high volumes. It has also been on a journey to shift its infrastructure platform from on-premise to cloud, a shift set to be completed by the end of the year.

“The better we can understand our customers, the better we can give them the service they want, when they want it,” said Grey Properjohn, head of technology at RWWA. “Wagering on racing and sport in general is now an anytime, anywhere offering, and we wanted to ensure that we could continue to innovate to provide the experience our customers deserve and expect.”

Oracle Database and Oracle Technology platforms, while mature and reliable, were proving to be high-cost. Furthermore, security patches offered by Oracle for its platforms were time consuming, resource-intensive, costly to implement and often did not fix the root cause of security issues.

RWWA turned to Rimini Street support as its selected option to achieve its goals, signing a contract with Rimini Street through Australia’s Whole of Government Agreement, with the Company providing support for RWWA’s Oracle footprint. RWWA also selected and implemented Rimini Street’s Advanced Database Security which provides RWWA with an innovative security solution with a fast time-to-protect for its database in comparison to Oracle’s traditional, dated software vendor patching approach.

Rimini Street Security Solutions Enable Peace of Mind

Software vendor patching is often ineffective due to late delivery, complexity to apply code patches, and the expense of extensive regression testing before moving patches into production environments. By comparison, Rimini Street’s Advanced Database Security protects databases from known and unknown vulnerabilities by monitoring and analyzing database communications traffic and blocking attempted attacks before they reach the database.

RWWA also now benefits from Rimini Street’s industry-leading service level agreement of 10-minute response times for all critical Priority 1 cases. In addition, RWWA is assigned a Primary Support Engineer with an average of 20 years’ experience in enterprise software and backed by a team of global functional and technical engineers, available 24/7/365.

Having a dedicated support engineer and security team is critical to RWWA during the organization’s busiest periods, such as during the annual Melbourne Cup, known as ‘the race that stops a nation’ in Australia and a period which sees huge increases in traffic to wagering platforms across the country.

“Having direct access to a dedicated, local support engineer assigned specifically to us, gave us peace of mind to operate during the most critical periods of the Melbourne Cup, knowing that any issue would be addressed quickly should one arise because they were available and nearby,” said Properjohn. “This is a huge weight off our shoulders as vendor support is often overseas and they don’t have the level of knowledge of our environment in the way Rimini Street’s dedicated local engineer does. That level of service and availability from Rimini Street during a high period of activity was and is greatly appreciated.

“Their security offering has also delivered everything we’ve needed in the time we’ve worked with them, and concurrently removed the need for resource-intensive vendor patching. This has allowed us to free up staff dedicated to costly patching and regression testing cycles to instead focus their efforts on more high-value initiatives, such as our innovation in the cloud.”

About Rimini Street, Inc.

Rimini Street, Inc. (Nasdaq: RMNI) is a global provider of enterprise software products and services, the leading third-party support provider for Oracle and SAP software products and a Salesforce partner. The Company offers premium, ultra-responsive and integrated application management and support services that enable enterprise software licensees to save significant costs, free up resources for innovation and achieve better business outcomes. To date, nearly 4,700 Fortune 500, Fortune Global 100, midmarket, public sector and other organizations from a broad range of industries have relied on Rimini Street as their trusted application enterprise software products and services provider. To learn more, please visit http://www.riministreet.com, follow @riministreet on Twitter and find Rimini Street on Facebook and LinkedIn. (IR-RMNI)

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Certain statements included in this communication are not historical facts but are forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements generally are accompanied by words such as “may,” “should,” “would,” “plan,” “intend,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential,” “seem,” “seek,” “continue,” “future,” “will,” “expect,” “outlook” or other similar words, phrases or expressions. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our expectations of future events, future opportunities, global expansion and other growth initiatives and our investments in such initiatives. These statements are based on various assumptions and on the current expectations of management and are not predictions of actual performance, nor are these statements of historical facts. These statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties regarding Rimini Street’s business, and actual results may differ materially. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the amount and timing of repurchases, if any, under our stock repurchase program and our ability to enhance stockholder value through such program; the impact of our credit facility’s ongoing debt service obligations and financial and operational covenants on our business and related interest rate risk, including uncertainty from the discontinuance of LIBOR and transition to any other interest rate benchmarks; the duration of and economic, operational and financial impacts on our business of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the actions taken by governmental authorities, clients or others in response to the pandemic; changes in the business environment in which Rimini Street operates, including the impact of any recessionary economic trends, including inflation, rising interest rates and changes in foreign exchange rates, as well as general financial, economic, regulatory and political conditions affecting the industry in which Rimini Street operates and the industries in which our clients operate; the evolution of the enterprise software management and support landscape facing our clients and prospects and our ability to attract and retain clients and further penetrate our client base; catastrophic events that disrupt our business or that of our current and prospective clients, including terrorism and geopolitical actions specific to an international region; adverse developments in and costs associated with defending pending litigation or any new litigation; our need and ability to raise additional equity or debt financing on favorable terms and our ability to generate cash flows from operations to help fund increased investment in our growth initiatives; the sufficiency of our cash and cash equivalents to meet our liquidity requirements, including under our credit facility; our ability to maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting and our ability to remediate any identified material weaknesses in our internal controls; changes in laws and regulations, including changes in tax laws or unfavorable outcomes of tax positions we take, or a failure by us to establish adequate reserves for tax events; competitive product and pricing activity; challenges of managing growth profitably; customer adoption of our products and services, including our Application Management Services (AMS) offerings, in addition to other products and services we expect to introduce in the future; the loss of one or more members of Rimini Street’s management team; our ability to attract and retain qualified employees and key personnel; uncertainty as to the long-term value of Rimini Street’s equity securities; the effects of seasonal trends on our results of operations, including the contract renewal cycles for vendor supplied software support and managed services; our ability to prevent unauthorized access to our information technology systems and other cybersecurity threats, protect the confidential information of our employees and clients and comply with privacy and data protection regulations; and those discussed under the headings “Risk Factors” and “Cautionary Note About Forward-Looking Statements” in Rimini Street’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed on August 3, 2022, and as updated from time to time by Rimini Street’s future Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and other filings by Rimini Street with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, forward-looking statements provide Rimini Street’s expectations, plans or forecasts of future events and views as of the date of this communication. Rimini Street anticipates that subsequent events and developments will cause Rimini Street’s assessments to change. However, while Rimini Street may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, Rimini Street specifically disclaims any obligation to do so, except as required by law. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing Rimini Street’s assessments as of any date subsequent to the date of this communication.

© 2022 Rimini Street, Inc. All rights reserved. “Rimini Street” is a registered trademark of Rimini Street, Inc. in the United States and other countries, and Rimini Street, the Rimini Street logo, and combinations thereof, and other marks marked by TM are trademarks of Rimini Street, Inc. All other trademarks remain the property of their respective owners, and unless otherwise specified, Rimini Street claims no affiliation, endorsement, or association with any such trademark holder or other companies referenced herein.

 

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AFC and Mizuho Bank sign MOU to Drive Sustainable Economic Growth in Africa & Asia

 TUNIS, Tunisia - Tuesday, 30. August 2022

(BUSINESS WIRE)--Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), the leading infrastructure solutions provider in Africa, and Mizuho Bank, a leading global bank with one of the largest customer bases in Japan, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate on project & infrastructure finance, trade finance and treasury to drive sustainable economic growth in Africa and Asia. This agreement was signed at the just concluded 8th Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Tunisia.

Through this partnership, AFC and Mizuho Bank are committed to co-financing infrastructure projects in Africa across key sectors including energy, transport and telecoms. The agreement also aimed at realignment of Africa’s trading position, providing innovative finance instruments to facilitate trade between Africa and Japan.

Additionally, Mizuho Bank will leverage AFC’s specialist industry expertise and global network to enhance its support of Japanese and other multinational companies doing business in Africa. For AFC, the Corporation will benefit from closer access to Japanese and Asian capital markets for its fundraising activities.

Samaila Zubairu, President & CEO, Africa Finance Corporation, said:“ This partnership is a significant milestone in our journey to build the alliances that will deliver timely sustainable solutions for building the instrumental infrastructure that enables Africa’s industrialization and unleash our continent’s prosperity. Asia and in particular, Japan, are key to Africa’s next phase of growth and structural transformation. We are delighted to forge a new partnership today with Mizuho Bank, one of the largest financial institutions in Japan.”

For over 15 years, AFC has built experience mobilising global capital for critical infrastructure projects in Africa. The Corporation has recently received equity investments from Public Investment Corporation (PIC), Africa’s largest asset manager, Seychelles Pension Fund, the Government of Sierra Leone, and the Central Bank of Guinea, signalling investors’ confidence in AFC’s key role in elevating Africa as a critical engine of global growth.

Ends.

Notes to Editors

About AFC

AFC was established in 2007 to be the catalyst for private sector-led infrastructure investment across Africa. AFC’s approach combines specialist industry expertise with a focus on financial and technical advisory, project structuring, project development and risk capital to address Africa’s infrastructure development needs and drive sustainable economic growth.

Fifteen years on, AFC has developed a track record as the partner of choice in Africa for investing and delivering on instrumental, high-quality infrastructure assets that provide essential services in the core infrastructure sectors of power, natural resources, heavy industry, transport, and telecommunications. AFC has invested over US$10 billion by in 35 countries across Africa since inception.

www.africafc.org

 

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Contacts

Yewande Thorpe

Communications

Africa Finance Corporation

Mobile : +234 1 279 9654

Email : yewande.thorpe@africafc.org

Gavin Serkin

New Markets Media & Intelligence

Telephone: +44 20 3478 9710

Email: gserkin@newmarkets.media

Aleph Farms Joins AIM for Climate as Newest Innovation Sprint Partner to Advance Cellular Agriculture

REHOVOT, Israel - Tuesday, 30. August 2022

Global initiative now includes an innovation sprint on cellular agriculture as a strategic choice for reducing food’s environmental impact and enabling greater food security

(BUSINESS WIRE) --  Aleph Farms, the first cultivated meat company to grow steaks directly from non-genetically engineered animal cells, today announced that it has been officially recognized by the Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate (AIM for Climate) as an Innovation Sprint Partner. As part of this innovation sprint, $40 million is being invested in cellular agriculture R&D over the next five years through Aleph Farms with the support of L Catterton, Strauss Group, VisVires New Protein, CPT Capital, Synthesis Capital, Food Tank and Christensen Global. Aleph Farms will introduce its products into global markets as soon as regulatory processes conclude and approvals are finalized.

The United States and the United Arab Emirates, alongside 39 other countries and over 180 non-governmental partners, officially launched the AIM for Climate initiative at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of Parties (also known as COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland in 2021. The initiative galvanizes support and investments for innovation geared towards climate-smart agriculture and food systems, enabling solutions where global hunger and the climate crisis intersect. Of AIM for Climate’s four focal areas for innovation sprints in 2022, cellular agriculture addresses two in particular: methane reduction and emerging technologies in agriculture.

When supplementing sustainable segments of conventional animal agriculture, cellular agriculture can rapidly reduce emissions of methane, a powerful (yet short-lived) greenhouse gas of which livestock is a main source. Compared to conventional beef production, cultivated meat that is produced via cellular agriculture can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 92% and water use by 78%, according to an independent Life Cycle Analysis conducted by CE Delft. Cultivated meat is also far more efficient than cows at converting feed into meat. By requiring 95% less land, cultivated meat opens up new opportunities for land use, including producing more food and re-wilding habitats for biodiversity, the latter of which further reduces emissions. In addition, because cultivated meat is produced in closed systems, its production is feasible in locations where extreme climate and resource scarcity prevent conventional beef production from taking place.

“Enhancing food security via cellular agriculture empowers communities and fosters regional cooperation, spurring economic growth in the process. This is why we are especially proud to be allocating these R&D funds as an AIM for Climate Innovation Sprint Partner,” said Didier Toubia, co-founder and CEO of Aleph Farms. “With cellular agriculture, humanity is better equipped to overcome significant food-related challenges and bring agricultural systems back into balance.”

Because meat represents only one-third of a cow slaughtered for conventional beef, Aleph Farms intends to continue expanding its product line to replace the whole cow. The company, the first to have grown steaks directly from non-genetically engineered animal cells, has also developed slaughter-free collagen, which has numerous applications across an array of multi-billion dollar industries.

About Aleph Farms

Aleph Farms grows cultivated beef steaks from cells that are isolated from a living cow and not immortalized or genetically modified, avoiding slaughter and achieving reduced environmental impact. The company was co-founded in 2017 by Didier Toubia, The Kitchen Hub by Strauss Group, and Professor Shulamit Levenberg of the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology. Its vision is to ensure unconditional nutrition for anyone, anytime, anywhere.

For its contributions to sustainability, Aleph Farms has received top accolades from the World Economic Forum, UNESCO, Netexplo Forum and EIT Food. The company is also part of the Private Sector Mechanism (PSM) at the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS).

For more information, follow Aleph Farms on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn or visit www.aleph-farms.com. Access the Aleph Farms press kit here.

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Lizi Sprague

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AWS Launches Region in the United Arab Emirates

 SEATTLE - Tuesday, 30. August 2022

Second AWS Middle East (UAE) Region allows customers to run workloads and store data securely in the UAE while serving end users with even lower latency

The new AWS Region is estimated to support an average of nearly 6,000 full-time jobs annually through a planned investment of more than $5 billion (AED 20 billion) in the UAE through 2036

Tens of thousands of customers in the Middle East and North Africa are innovating on AWS, including Al Ghurair Investment, Alef Education, Dubai Islamic Bank, GEMS Education, the UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention, and YAP

(BUSINESS WIRE) -- Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com, Inc. company (NASDAQ: AMZN), today announced the launch of its second Region in the Middle East, the AWS Middle East (UAE) Region. Starting today, developers, startups, entrepreneurs, and enterprises, as well as government, education, and nonprofit organizations will have even greater choice for running their applications and serving end users from data centers located in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), using advanced AWS technologies to drive innovation. AWS estimates that its projected spending on the construction and operation of the new Region will support an average of nearly 6,000 full-time jobs annually at external vendors, with a planned $5 billion (AED 20 billion) investment in the local economy through 2036. The AWS Middle East (UAE) Region will also add an estimated $11 billion (AED 41 billion) over the next 15 years to the UAE’s gross domestic product (GDP). For more information about AWS Global Infrastructure, visit aws.amazon.com/about-aws/global-infrastructure.

“AWS is committed to helping customers in the UAE deploy the most advanced cloud technologies and achieve the highest levels of security, availability, and resiliency,” said Prasad Kalyanaraman, vice president of Infrastructure Services at AWS. “With the launch of the AWS Middle East (UAE) Region, we are making it possible for even more customers to harness the power of the cloud to drive innovation across the UAE, while also investing in the local economy through job creation, training for highly sought-after technology skills, and education resources to further advance the UAE’s strategic priorities.”

“The opening of the AWS Middle East (UAE) Region is a significant milestone for Abu Dhabi and the UAE as a whole, reflecting our efforts to generate opportunities for all,” said His Excellency Mohamed Ali Al Shorafa, Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development. “It strengthens Abu Dhabi’s commitment to positioning itself as a leading digital economy by leveraging cutting-edge technology to support business growth. The enhanced cloud capabilities enabled by AWS are expected to generate significant advantages and efficiencies that can propel businesses to success and realize major economic benefits for the country.”

With the launch of the AWS Middle East (UAE) Region, AWS has 87 Availability Zones across 27 geographic regions, with announced plans to launch 21 more Availability Zones and seven more AWS Regions in Australia, Canada, India, Israel, New Zealand, Spain, and Switzerland. AWS Regions are composed of Availability Zones that place infrastructure in separate and distinct geographic locations. The AWS Middle East (UAE) Region consists of three Availability Zones and joins the existing AWS Middle East (Bahrain) Region, which opened in July 2019. Availability Zones are located far enough from each other to support customers’ business continuity, but near enough to provide low latency for high-availability applications that use multiple Availability Zones. Each Availability Zone has independent power, cooling, and physical security and is connected through redundant, ultra-low latency networks. AWS customers focused on high-availability can design their applications to run in multiple Availability Zones to achieve even greater fault tolerance. The launch of the AWS Middle East (UAE) Region will enable local customers with data residency requirements to store data securely in the UAE, while providing customers with even lower latency across the country.

AWS is planning to invest an estimated $5 billion (AED 20 billion) in the UAE over the next 15 years through the new AWS Middle East (UAE) Region, which includes capital expenditures on the construction of data centers, operational expenses related to ongoing utilities and facility costs, and purchases of goods and services from regional businesses. The investment is also estimated to support an average of nearly 6,000 jobs annually during this time. These jobs will be part of the AWS supply chain in the UAE, including construction, facility maintenance, engineering, telecommunications, and jobs within the country’s broader economy. The construction and operation of AWS infrastructure in the UAE is also estimated to add an estimated $11 billion (AED 41 billion) to the UAE’s GDP over the next 15 years.

“Abu Dhabi aims to enable transformative technology that delivers opportunities for businesses and residents alike,” said Eng. Abdulla Abdul Aziz AlShamsi, acting director general of the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO). “Smart infrastructure is powering the thriving private and public sectors by opening new economic possibilities, fostering inclusive growth, and creating opportunities for collaboration across our innovation ecosystem. At ADIO, we are contributing to this through many valuable ecosystem-enabling partnerships that support Abu Dhabi’s position as a leader in the region’s digital revolution. The AWS Middle East (UAE) Region is a welcome addition to the country’s innovation ecosystem, helping to build vital capabilities for all.”

Customers and AWS Partners welcome the news of the AWS Middle East (UAE) Region

Organizations in the UAE are among millions of active customers using AWS every month in more than 190 countries around the world, including tens of thousands of customers in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). These customers leverage AWS to accelerate innovation, increase agility, and drive cost savings. Enterprises that have chosen AWS to become more agile and innovative include Al Ghurair Investments, Al Tayer Group, Aramex, Axiom Telecom, Flydubai, GIG Gulf (previously AXA Gulf), Gulf News, OSN, Shahid, Seera Group, Virgin Middle East, and many more. MENA public sector organizations are using AWS to drive cost savings, accelerate innovation, and better serve the citizens of the region. Examples of these organizations include Dubai Expo 2020, Egypt Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Government of Bahrain’s Ministries, Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University, and the University of Bahrain. MENA startups building their businesses on top of AWS to scale rapidly and expand around the world include Alef Education, Anghami, Careem, Dubizzle, EKar, Fetchr, Haraj, Maestro Pizza, Mawdoo3.com, Property Finder, Sarwa, Souqalmal, StarzPlay, and Yallacompare.

Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) is the largest Islamic bank in the UAE, and second largest Islamic bank in the world. "Dubai Islamic Bank has for many years championed the use of technology as a means for empowering customers and simplifying the overall banking experience,” said Obaid Al Shamsi, chief operating officer at DIB. “We pride ourselves in being a truly digitally intelligent bank that has been at the forefront of innovation and transformation, supporting the Nation’s leadership in realizing their vision for the UAE’s digital economy and establishing Dubai as a thriving hub of the global Islamic economy. Our digital transformation strategy is formulated with a clear focus on dissecting each step of the customer journey and removing any pain points for the customer. We’ve achieved this by taking a customer-centric approach and delivering convenient, fast and pleasant banking services within minutes rather than days. In line with this, we welcome the launch of the AWS Region in the UAE, which we expect will increase our agility and help accelerate the rate of innovation and experimentation with the latest technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning.”

The United Arab Emirates Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) is responsible for the implementation of health care policy in all areas of technical, material, and coordination with the Ministries of State, and cooperation with the private sector in health locally and internationally. Earlier this year, AWS signed a strategic memorandum of understanding (MOU) with MoHAP. “We welcome the launch of an AWS Region in UAE and look forward to the implementation of our agreement with AWS to assist MoHAP in modernizing the patient experience,” said Ali Juma AlAjme, director of the Digital Health Department at MoHAP. “Having the AWS Region in the UAE will allow us to accelerate our digital transformation program and build skills and capabilities, driving clinical and technological innovation and further strengthening the country’s position as a global health care leader. Our collaboration with AWS enables us to connect 100% of care providers—public and private—to further enhance our data strategy in support of predictive and population health programs. We are working to identify current data sources, flows, and targeted outcomes from a data-driven approach to decision making.”

Al Ghurair Investment (AGI) is one of the largest diversified family business groups in the Middle East, with six key business units including foods and resources, properties, construction and services, energy, transportation, and ventures. In 2020, AGI began a Group-wide transformation journey, building on its greater than 60 year legacy to reshape for the future. A fundamental part of this business-driven transformation was to strengthen the company’s digital ecosystem, harnessing the power of AWS to drive information technology (IT) transformation and infrastructure modernization. “AWS is a strategic partner in our IT transformation journey as our preferred cloud service provider for all of the advanced digital technology stack,” said Marinda Sheahan, global vice president, IT at AGI. “We selected AWS for its rich data and analysis capabilities, and now our journey to become a data-driven organization is well underway. This will result in a cost savings of up to 25% over a period of three years. The new AWS Region in the UAE will accelerate our own objectives to become an agile, innovative, and flexible IT organization, in alignment with our Group’s purpose of ‘Enhancing Life.’”

GEMS Education is one of the largest private K–12 operators in the world, with more than 60 years of experience. In the MENA region, it owns and operates more than 60 schools, serving more than 130,000 students. “We have developed an all-in-one integrated edtech platform called LearnOS on AWS,” said Krishnan Gopi, group chief disruption officer at GEMS Education. “We are also building ANET, an advanced AI neural engine for education. The platform uses a host of advanced cloud technologies from AWS, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, to support teachers and create personalized learning experiences. We have automated student attendance using Amazon Rekognition, reducing 93% of the time spent in marking attendance. We have also developed an automated quiz generation and assessment platform using Amazon EC2 and Amazon SageMaker. The algorithms predict student year-end performance with up to 95% accuracy and recommends personalized reading materials. Having local data centers from AWS will enable us to accelerate our innovation while meeting requirements to host data in country.”

Alef Education is all in on AWS with customers in the U.S., UAE, and Indonesia, serving more than 4,000 schools, 690,000 students, and 40,000 teachers. Alef Education is a leading global education technology company that has developed the Alef Platform, which supports a suite of digital products and services to support students’ learning, on AWS. The platform uses AWS artificial intelligence services to personalize lesson plans and provide K-12 teachers with real-time feedback on students' progress. “Leveraging AWS has brought us significant benefits in identifying and resolving some of the most critical issues in the education sector, as well as equipping the future generations to succeed in a world driven by technology,” said Geoffrey Alphonso, CEO at Alef Education. “AWS's cloud computing technologies and features have allowed us to innovate faster, while also reducing IT costs by 30%, warehouse expenses by 50%, and video stream size by 300%. Furthermore, the new UAE data centers will aid us in better supporting our local customers, including the Ministry of Education, by meeting data residency requirements.”

YAP is a fast-growing regional financial super app that focuses on improving the digital banking experience. It functions as an independent app with no physical branches, making it the first of its kind in the UAE. “AWS has helped fuel our growth and enabled us to scale to become a leading regional fintech,” said Marwan Hachem, founder and CEO at YAP. “AWS gives us the elasticity to control costs as our user base grows to more than 130,000 users, and allows us to scale fast as we launch new markets, reducing the time to build and deploy complete infrastructure from months to weeks. As the UAE continues to pave the way for innovative companies like YAP, the new AWS Region will be a huge benefit for the expansion of the technology sector in the Middle East.”

Middle East-based AWS Partner Network (APN) Partners also welcomed the news of the launch of the AWS Middle East (UAE) Region.

The AWS Partner Network (APN) includes tens of thousands of independent software vendors (ISVs) and systems integrators (SIs) around the world. AWS Partners build innovative solutions and services on AWS, and the APN helps by providing business, technical, marketing, and go-to-market support to customers. AWS SIs, consulting partners, and ISVs help enterprise and public sector customers migrate to AWS, deploy mission-critical applications, and provide a full range of monitoring, automation, and management services for customers' cloud environments. Examples of AWS Middle East Partners include Accenture, Bespin Global MEA, Citrus Consulting, Cloud4c, Crayon, Deloitte, Du, Etisalat, F5, Integra Technologies, Keplerworx, Palo Alto Networks, Rackspace, Redington, SAP, Splunk, TCS, Trend Micro, VMWare, Wipro, and Zero&One. For the full list of AWS Partners, visit aws.amazon.com/partners.

AWS Advanced Tier Services Partner Bespin Global–Middle East and Africa (MEA) is a leading cloud consultancy and management firm helping businesses accelerate cloud adoption on AWS. Bespin Global provides cutting-edge solutions and consulting expertise, delivering service-level driven outcomes. “Today’s launch of the AWS Region in the UAE is a key moment for the acceleration of digital transformation for our customers, particularly those in highly regulated industries such as government, financial services, energy, and health care,” said Mouteih Chaghlil, CEO of Middle East & Africa at Bespin Global. “Through our strategic partnership with the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO), we have been working closely with government entities to help them leverage the new AWS Region, including compliance with data residency requirements. We look forward to working with our customers across all industries to realize the full potential of the new AWS Region through our highly skilled team of cloud experts in Abu Dhabi.”

Zero&One is an AWS Partner helping organizations with complex technology projects across the MENA, specializing in migration and modernization. “Zero&One is growing because of the continued investment of AWS in the Middle East, and today’s launch of the new AWS Region is an important milestone for the industry,” said Ali El Kontar, founder and CEO at Zero&One. “As a company, we have been developing our resources and skill sets in response to the increasing demand for AWS services and recently became an AWS Premier Tier Services Partner. We also developed a strategic partnership with PwC Middle East, bringing together PwC’s expertise in digital consulting and Zero&One's deep competencies to further empower our clients with comprehensive solutions to transform, manage, and execute cloud strategies and adoption.”

AWS Investment in the UAE

The new AWS Middle East (UAE) Region is the latest in AWS’s ongoing investments in the UAE. In 2018, AWS launched its first Amazon CloudFront edge locations in the UAE, offering customers in the UAE access to Amazon CloudFront and Amazon Route 53 services. Amazon CloudFront is a highly secure and programmable content delivery network that accelerates the delivery of data, videos, applications, and application programming interfaces (APIs) to users worldwide with low latency and high transfer speeds. That same year, AWS also launched AWS Direct Connect locations in the UAE, which enable customers to establish private connectivity between AWS and their data center, office, or colocation environment. This can reduce network costs, increase bandwidth throughput, and provide a more consistent network experience. AWS operations technicians and engineers ensure continued operation of AWS infrastructure.

In 2020, AWS launched AWS Outposts, which offers customers and partners in the UAE access to the same AWS infrastructure, AWS services, APIs, and tools in virtually any data center, colocation space, or on-premises facility for a truly consistent hybrid experience. Today, AWS Outposts enables customers and partners to run key AWS services in their own data centers, while connecting to a broader range of services in the AWS Global Infrastructure.

Commitment to Sustainability

Amazon is committed to becoming a more sustainable business and reaching net-zero carbon across its operations by 2040, 10 years ahead of the Paris Agreement, as part of The Climate Pledge. Amazon co-founded The Climate Pledge and became its first signatory in 2019. As part of its Climate Pledge commitment, Amazon is on a path to power its operations with 100% renewable energy by 2025, five years ahead of the original 2030 target. Amazon is the world’s largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy, and as of the end of 2021, reached 85% renewable energy across its business. See Amazon's public methodology for more on its approach. Organizations that move compute workloads to AWS Cloud can benefit from the net effect of Amazon’s sustainability efforts to reduce their carbon footprint.

About Amazon Web Services

For over 15 years, Amazon Web Services has been the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud offering. AWS has been continually expanding its services to support virtually any cloud workload, and it now has more than 200 fully featured services for compute, storage, databases, networking, analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), mobile, security, hybrid, virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR), media, and application development, deployment, and management from 87 Availability Zones within 27 geographic regions, with announced plans for 21 more Availability Zones and seven more AWS Regions in Australia, Canada, India, Israel, New Zealand, Spain, and Switzerland. Millions of customers—including the fastest-growing startups, largest enterprises, and leading government agencies—trust AWS to power their infrastructure, become more agile, and lower costs. To learn more about AWS, visit aws.amazon.com.

About Amazon

Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Amazon strives to be Earth’s Most Customer-Centric Company, Earth’s Best Employer, and Earth’s Safest Place to Work. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Career Choice, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, Alexa, Just Walk Out technology, Amazon Studios, and The Climate Pledge are some of the things pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.

 

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NTT Launches Edge-as-a-Service to Accelerate Automation

 (BUSINESS WIRE)--NTT Ltd., a leading IT infrastructure and services company, today announced the launch of Edge-as-a-Service, a managed edge compute platform that gives enterprises the ability to deploy quickly, manage and monitor applications closer to the edge.

NTT and VMware, in collaboration with Intel, are partnering to innovate on edge-focused solutions and services. NTT uses VMware’s Edge Compute Stack to power its new Edge-as-a-Service offering. Additionally, VMware is adopting NTT’s Private 5G technologies as part of its edge solution. The companies will jointly market the offering through coordinated co-innovation, sales, and business development.

NTT’s Edge-as-a-Service offering is a globally available integrated solution that accelerates business process automation. It delivers near-zero latency for enterprise applications at the network edge, optimizing costs and boosting end-user experiences in a secure environment.

NTT’s Edge-as-a-Service offering, powered by VMware’s Edge Compute Stack, includes Private 5G connectivity and will be delivered by NTT across its global footprint running on Intel network and edge technology.

“Combining Edge and Private 5G is a game changer for our customers and the entire industry, and we are making it available today,” said Shahid Ahmed, Group EVP, New Ventures and Innovation CEO, NTT. “The combination of NTT and VMware’s Edge Compute Stack and Private 5G delivers a unique solution that will drive powerful outcomes for enterprises eager to optimize the performance and cost efficiencies of critical applications at the network edge. Minimum latency, maximum processing power, and global coverage are exactly what enterprises need to accelerate their unique digital transformation journeys.”

As factories increase their reliance on robotics, vehicles become autonomous, and manufacturers move to omnichannel models, there is a greater need for distributed compute processing power and data storage with near-instantaneous response times. VMware’s secure application development, resource management automation, and real-time processing capabilities combined with NTT’s multi-cloud and edge platforms, creates a fully integrated Edge+Private 5G managed service. VMware and NTT’s innovative offering resides closer to where the data is generated or collected, enabling enterprises to access and react to information instantaneously.

This solution, which leverages seamless multi-cloud and multi-tenant connectivity, combined with NTT’s capabilities in network segmentation, and expertise with movement from private to public 5G, provides critical benefits for multiple industries, including manufacturing, retail, logistics, and entertainment.

“Enterprises are increasingly distributed — from the digital architecture they rely on to the human workforce that powers their business daily. This has spurred a sea change across every industry, altering where data is produced, delivered, and consumed,” said Sanjay Uppal, senior vice president and general manager, service provider, and edge business unit, VMware. “Bringing VMware’s Edge Compute Stack to NTT’s Edge-as-a-Service will enable our mutual customers to build, run, manage, connect and better protect edge-native applications at the Near and Far Edge while leveraging consistent infrastructure and operations with the power of edge computing.”

NTT’s Edge-as-a-Service platform was developed to help secure, optimize and simplify organizations’ digital transformation journeys. Edge-as-a-Service is part of NTT’s Managed Service portfolio, which includes Network-as-a-Service and Multi-Cloud-as-a-Service, all designed for enterprises to focus on their core business.

To learn more, attend the Modernize and Monetize with VMware Multi-Cloud Edge Solutions – Session 2432 and Managed VMware Edge Compute Stack and Edge services delivered by NTT – Session 2234 at VMware Explore on Tuesday August 30th.

About NTT Ltd.

NTT Ltd. is a leading IT infrastructure and services company. With revenues of over USD 10 billion, we operate in more than 200 countries and regions and serve 5,000 clients across multiple industries. Through technology and innovation, we deliver a secure and connected future that empowers our people, clients and communities. We lay the foundation for organizations’ edge-to-cloud networking ecosystem, simplify the complexity of their workloads across multi-cloud environments, and innovate at the edge of their IT environments, where networks, cloud and applications converge. On the journey towards a software-defined future, we support organizations with platform-delivered infrastructure services. As part of the global NTT Corporation, we serve 65% of the Fortune Global 500 and 80% of the Fortune Global 100. We enable a connected future. Visit us at services.global.ntt

 

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