Category Archives: Technology

We at eWEEK and our publisher, TechnologyAdvice.com, are delighted to report qualitative proof that several of the finest information technology analysts in the world can be found providing important insight every day for our readers.

Research conducted by Apollo Research and released Dec. 21 recorded a substantial number of analysts quoted in various media outlets during the past year: 3,960, to be specific. To be included in the top 10 of that list is a singular honor; insights from seven of the top 10 were published in the pages of eWEEK in 2020, either as resources for articles or as writers of their own insight and perspective.

The list is as follows:

The No. 1 most-quoted analyst was Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights and Strategy, who is a frequent resource in eWEEK. Moorhead is mentioned or quoted in 50 percent more articles than second-place Holger Mueller of Constellation Research, another formidable and respected thinker.

Significantly, seven of the analysts here also appeared in a similar list that Apollo published in 2017. At that time, the firm published the top 15; the seven who were on that list and also on the 2020 list are Moorhead, Mueller, Enderle, Wood, Wang, Dinsdale and King. These analysts have really nailed the volume of coverage, Apollo said in a media advisory.

Enderle, Kerravala and King write regular analyses of various sectors of IT here in eWEEK. Moorhead, Dinsdale, Wood and Wang are regular resources for our writers and editors. Wood was a guest expert on an #eWEEKchat last May.

Volume of coverage is one thing, but audience reach is also very important, and Moorhead's coverage placed him in front of more CIOs, CTOs, developers and AI/ML specialists than any other analyst. However, there were a few analysts who didn't get enough volume to get a mention in the above list but nonetheless were very successful in reaching big decision-making audiences. Notably, Ben Stanton, Mo Jia and Nicola Peng (all at Canalys), Carolina Milanesi (Creative Strategies) and Piers Harding-Rolls (Ampere Analysis) fall into that category.

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Top 10 Technology Analysts of 2020 - eWeek

By Tim McKnight and Elena Kvochko

2020 has been a year that turned lives upside down. Not only has the pandemic impacted people on a personal level, this event has reshaped the way the world does business. At the same time80% of the organizations experienced an increase in cyber attacks. A large portion of them targeted banking, healthcare and cloud services as work environments shifted to become more virtual. CISOs, CIOs and executives took a hard look into their architecture and infrastructure. New types of expectations emerged. We saw how meeting these expectations gave more power to customers in shaping, building and operating of cloud environments. Throughout this process, more trust was built, as customers voices had a direct impact on the way business was conducted.

5 ways to build trust in the cloud

Encourage Trust and Transparency

Continuous technological innovation is critical if organizations are to be successful. As users and businesses, we tend to trust the infrastructure and applications we rely on every day. Demand for issues around trust grows in the marketplace. CSOs, CTOs, CIOs and senior leadership are relied upon to set responsible frameworks and processes around security, privacy and risk management. As cloud providers shape security narrative and help define how policies and governance frameworks are implemented across cloud services, they do so in collaboration with global customers and regulators.

Similarly, due to the critical role cloud providers play, customers have come to rely on them. Trust is inherent in the relationship between an organization and their cloud service provider. Trust is the confidence that commitments are kept. Trust is a value. It is also a way of doing business. Finally, it is a way to prioritize security among multiple business priorities.

One of the most frequent requests we have seen this year were around notifications - how will customers get notified of changes in services, availability, confidentiality, integrity or material impact? Establishing this bi-directional channel working without undue delay will continue to be important in driving further trust and transparency in the cloud.

Upgrade Engagement Models

Presentations and in-person meetings can of course no longer scale to match the speed of the business. Today, we have to rely on in-person conversations at the initial state of partnerships and during peak events. Instead, more customers prefer to engage through security questionnaires, among other scalable forms, to receive the answers. As cloud customers perform their due diligence, more and more of them are asking not just for a security review, but for a deeper level of details. This level of detail drives new standards inside the industry, too.

In order to deliver standardized information to customers, we rely on a self-service model for critical data. For example, the Trust Center is a self-service portal where customers can initiate requests and collect information related to security, privacy, and compliance for cloud services and on-premise software. Cloud customers can request and view industry certifications, audit reports, deployment guidelines and critical frequently asked questions.

Some of the most popular questions we saw in2020have revolved around: notifications, audits, certifications, reports/methods/results, encryption, data custody, scope of data protection, compliance to standards and regulations, controls lists.

Take Advantage of Hyperscale Technology

Hyperscale Data Centers are growing in popularity and are expected to take up nearly 53% of all data-center servers by 2021. Industry data shows that todays hyperscale Data Centers are responsible for 39% of the IP traffic.

As cloud service providers, we have established partnerships with major hyperscaler technology platforms. In addition, as part of this process, our teams walk customers through key aspects of the transition toward cloud-based business innovation and how it may improve and change their business and regulatory landscapes. The requirements of every industry differ, but we placed significant efforts and laid the foundation for stronger partnerships in financial services, healthcare and the public sector. Together with our customers, we have road-mapped the roll out of projects, controls and platforms. The next step for the security industry is to create more mutual agreements between cloud providers and hyperscalers to continue to build on that level of trust.

Implement Product Security Guides

A large portion of customer security incidents is still based on misconfigurations and implementation errors. Industry data shows that misconfigured storage services were discovered in 93% of deployments exposing more than 30 billion records. It is reasonable to expect that this speed and scale might continue unless we as an industry continue to reinforce the importance of configuration management. Same data shows that 91% of deployments had at least one major exposure, and50% of deployments had unprotected credentials stored in container configuration files.

In this context, Zero Trust initiatives and concept will continue to serve as a guiding principle in architectural designs to protect core systems, workflows and data. As cloud providers, we make products security guides available. We, of course, also are aware that in many cases it is easier to skip steps due to complexity or format, or simply because of potential negligence. While this is observed frequently, following product security guides and engaging with your providers on the proper implementations will be a major step towards a more trusted prevention program.

As millions of workers were fast-tracked into the remote work environment many organizations didnt have the capacity or time available to prevent all of the potential misconfigurations. Organizations reported taking weeks or months before discovering errors overlooked during the early months of the pandemic. Therefore, continuously checking for gaps in controls (that might have been missed as a result of a massive shift) will serve as good hygiene and a way to further build trust internally and externally.

A core part of trust in the cloud is a good understanding of the shared responsibility model. The providers are responsible for and are investing in the infrastructure and product security. Customers have the controls over the data that goes into the cloud, access management and permissions, retention, data deletion requests and management. Our guides, such as the Cloud Security Framework, showcase these as a reminder for our customers.

Familiarity fosters trust. We found that human errors tend to increase when product engineers and security professionals deal with unfamiliar environments. Relying on the product guides and engaging with your providers will help reduce the risk surface.

Protect Remote Environments

Remote work environments will continue to drive business into 2021 and business continuity plans will be critical playbooks. Opportunistic threats are prominent and on the rise. High value data continues to be targeted across all industries. For attackers, the use of off-the shelf tools provides deniability and an opportunity to continue to attack. As such, threats, including ransomware, were successful in targeting critical industries. It is important to document our lessons learned throughout 2020, to build on that awareness, and develop new models that will be adjusted for this new reality.

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5 Ways To Build Trust In Cloud Technology We Saw In 2020 - Forbes

A man wearing a face mask looks at a robot in Beijing. The use of industrial robots became increasingly widespread in 2020.

Photo: Wang Zhao/AFP via Getty Images

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A year is a long time in the technology space. In 2019, much of our focus was on blockchain and 5G, but in 2020, it was all about artificial intelligence and its rapid adoption into business practices something that was hastened by the onset of COVID-19. But among the 50 pieces that BRINK published on technology in 2020, we also covered cyberattacks, fintech, digital healthcare and other areas of technological expertise.

In the past, one of the challenges of adopting AI has been the cost. But that is changing from an increase in open source AI comes into the market. Justin Starr, the vice president of digital transformation at PreScouter, says that companies can experience huge efficiencies from quite straightforward AI uses:

Companies that are able to leverage AI on existing data sets can immediately begin identifying causal relationships and generating a return on investment. Effectively, this means that AI projects can generate a 3-5 times ROI and cost less than any capital improvement program.

This has not gone unnoticed by companies: In February, even before the full onset of COVID-19, we published a graphic from Salesforce showing companies rapid expansion plans for AI.

In Here Are 3 Ways AI Could Help You Commute Safely After COVID-19, CEO and Co-Founder Amos Haggiag of Optibus pointed out the various ways AI can help ensure safe public transport post-COVID:

Artificial intelligence can help us all travel at ease by crunching huge amounts of data, devising optimal schedules and journeys and adapting them to the rapidly evolving situation.

CEO Steve Potter of Odgers Berndtson, U.S. wrote about the way in which AI is transforming talent search and the ability to fit people to the right jobs:

Though it would have seemed impossible just a few years ago, AI algorithms can now aggregate personal and organizational profiles from billions of social, public and enterprise sources and use them to build a continuously updated portrait of the labor market.

Meanwhile, we showed how industrial robots became increasingly widespread in 2020:

Stephan Zheng, the lead research scientist at Salesforce Research, posed a fascinating possibility in his piece: Can AI Build a Tax System That Supports Equality?

In our simulations, the AI Economist achieved a 16% gain in the trade-off between equality and productivity compared to the next best framework, the Saez model. Compared to the free market, the AI Economist also improves equality by 47 percent, with only an 11% decrease in productivity.

AIs treatment in the law was another challenge that we covered. In his piece, Should AI be Treated the Same as Humans Legally, Ryan Abbott, the author of The Reasonable Robot, argued that the law is biased in favor of AI because companies do not have to pay payroll tax on an AI employee, thereby incentivizing the adoption of robots over humans:

The even bigger problem may be that automation can dramatically reduce tax revenue. Thats because 90% of the U.S. federal governments revenue comes from payroll and income taxes. A relatively small amount, less than 10%, comes from company taxes.

Bias within algorithms has become a major focus of academic study. CEO Rumman Chowdhury of Parity and Mona Sloane of New York University explored the concept further in The Risks of Using AI for Government Work:

The public use of an algorithmic decision-making system has different requirements than a private-use product. It is acceptable for a private company to create a product that addresses the needs of, for example, 80% of their target market. However, if this product is translated to public use, addressing the needs of 80% of your constituency is unacceptable.

Mona Sloane also wrote about the problems of relying on ethics codes to curb the danger of bias in AI, while Kartik Hosanagar, a professor of technology at the Wharton School, addressed a major concern in his piece called How Can We Stop Algorithm Bias? He concluded that it is possible to give consumers a digital bill of rights that at least provides them with some transparency in how AI makes a decision:

its much easier in the long run to fix and correct biases in algorithmic decisions than in human decisions. Correcting gender or race bias in humans is incredibly hard.

AI offers much promise for healthcare, but there are considerable risks too. COVID-19 has accelerated the acceptance of digital healthcare tools, such as telemedicine, online symptom checkers, use of robots in hospitals and algorithms in surgery. This is particularly seen in Asia, according to Kitty Lee and Matt Zafra of Oliver Wymans Health & Life Sciences practice. Kavitha Hariharan, the director of healthy societies at Marsh & McLennan Advantage, argues that male bias pervades every step of the process that shapes health care from discovery and testing to clinical practice and outcomes but that this could be changed with AI:

To ensure health equity for women, we need a sex and gender lens incorporated into data, algorithms and health care.

BRINKs most widely read pieces on technology in 2020 were as follows:

If you would like to read more of our technology articles in 2020 anything from the risks in digital time to the rise of esports and use of drones in the city you can find them all here.

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BRINK Explores the Technology Sector in 2020 BRINK News and Insights on Global Risk - BRINK

This unusual options alert can help traders track potentially big trading opportunities. Traders often look for circumstances when the market estimation of an option diverges away from its normal worth. Unusual trading activity could push option prices to hyperbolic or underperforming levels.

Below are some instances of unusual options activity happening in the Information Technology sector:

These itemized elaboration has been created using the accompanying table.

For AAPL (NASDAQ:AAPL), we notice a call option sweep that happens to be bearish, expiring in 3 day(s) on December 31, 2020. A trader bought 454 contract(s) at a $135.00 strike. This particular call needed to be split into 35 different trades to become filled. The trader or institution spent $95.1K on this trade with a price of $208.0 per contract. There were 51104 open contracts at this strike prior to today, and today 125795 contract(s) were bought and sold.

For AMD (NASDAQ:AMD), we notice a call option sweep that happens to be bearish, expiring in 18 day(s) on January 15, 2021. A trader bought 340 contract(s) at a $100.00 strike. This particular call needed to be split into 22 different trades to become filled. The trader or institution spent $40.1K on this trade with a price of $118.0 per contract. There were 46478 open contracts at this strike prior to today, and today 5491 contract(s) were bought and sold.

Regarding FUBO (NYSE:FUBO), we observe a call option trade with bearish sentiment. It expires in 18 day(s) on January 15, 2021. A trader bought 336 contract(s) at a $40.00 strike. The trader or institution spent $156.5K on this trade with a price of $466.0 per contract. There were 9412 open contracts at this strike prior to today, and today 2904 contract(s) were bought and sold.

For VECO (NASDAQ:VECO), we notice a put option sweep that happens to be bearish, expiring in 18 day(s) on January 15, 2021. A trader bought 365 contract(s) at a $17.00 strike. This particular put needed to be split into 13 different trades to become filled. The trader or institution spent $27.3K on this trade with a price of $75.0 per contract. There were 3119 open contracts at this strike prior to today, and today 2093 contract(s) were bought and sold.

Regarding BB (NYSE:BB), we observe a call option sweep with bearish sentiment. It expires in 389 day(s) on January 21, 2022. A trader bought 200 contract(s) at a $10.00 strike. This particular call needed to be split into 7 different trades to become filled. The trader or institution spent $26.0K on this trade with a price of $130.0 per contract. There were 18936 open contracts at this strike prior to today, and today 1619 contract(s) were bought and sold.

For DBX (NASDAQ:DBX), we notice a call option sweep that happens to be bullish, expiring in 109 day(s) on April 16, 2021. A trader bought 313 contract(s) at a $30.00 strike. This particular call needed to be split into 29 different trades to become filled. The trader or institution spent $29.6K on this trade with a price of $95.0 per contract. There were 13704 open contracts at this strike prior to today, and today 1240 contract(s) were bought and sold.

For DOCU (NASDAQ:DOCU), we notice a call option trade that happens to be bearish, expiring in 389 day(s) on January 21, 2022. A trader bought 1000 contract(s) at a $240.00 strike. The trader or institution spent $4.5 million on this trade with a price of $4550.0 per contract. There were 565 open contracts at this strike prior to today, and today 1014 contract(s) were bought and sold.

For CSCO (NASDAQ:CSCO), we notice a call option trade that happens to be bearish, expiring in 3 day(s) on December 31, 2020. A trader bought 963 contract(s) at a $43.00 strike. The trader or institution spent $189.7K on this trade with a price of $197.0 per contract. There were 1810 open contracts at this strike prior to today, and today 977 contract(s) were bought and sold.

Regarding SQ (NYSE:SQ), we observe a call option sweep with bullish sentiment. It expires in 18 day(s) on January 15, 2021. A trader bought 205 contract(s) at a $250.00 strike. This particular call needed to be split into 15 different trades to become filled. The trader or institution spent $70.7K on this trade with a price of $345.0 per contract. There were 5101 open contracts at this strike prior to today, and today 818 contract(s) were bought and sold.

Regarding GLW (NYSE:GLW), we observe a call option sweep with bearish sentiment. It expires in 53 day(s) on February 19, 2021. A trader bought 507 contract(s) at a $40.00 strike. This particular call needed to be split into 15 different trades to become filled. The trader or institution spent $32.8K on this trade with a price of $64.0 per contract. There were 3157 open contracts at this strike prior to today, and today 684 contract(s) were bought and sold.

Options Alert Terminology- Call Contracts: The right to buy shares as indicated in the contract.- Put Contracts: The right to sell shares as indicated in the contract.- Expiration Date: When the contract expires. One must act on the contract by this date if one wants to use it.- Premium/Option Price: The price of the contract.

For more information, visit our Guide to Understanding Options Alerts or read more news on unusual options activity.

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10 Information Technology Stocks Showing Unusual Options Activity In Today's Session - Benzinga

Lidar (light detection and ranging) tech specialist Luminar(NASDAQ:LAZR) has certainly made its presence felt in the markets in 2020. As you may recall, LAZR stock more than doubled in a week after its Dec. 3 debut on the Nasdaq Exchange.

Source: Shutterstock

Clearly, LAZR stock has been a big hit among traders. Its also favored among some analysts. For example, Northland analystGus Richard upgraded LAZR from market perform (which is similar to hold) to outperform. Similarly, Deutsche Bank analyst Emmanuel Rosner initiated his coverage of LAZR with a buy rating. Thus, the ambitious lidar leader isnt flying under the radar anymore.

For folks who havent entered into the trade yet, they might be wondering what all of the fuss is about. Thats perfectly understandable, so lets put a laser-like focus on Luminar and see if we can get a reading on this fascinating up-and-comer.

First, lets not get the impression that the ride has and will always been smooth for shareholders of Luminar. Even if its on the way to higher prices, prospective investors must be ready to accept some volatility along the way.

In mid-November, the stock was chugging along at $10 and change. However, starting on Nov. 20, the stock started moving up quickly. One could say that during the next couple of weeks, LAZR took the elevator instead of the stairs.

By Dec. 8, LAZR reached a breathtaking 52-week high of $47.80. In hindsight, we now know that the move was too steep and too fast. A major retracement ensued, with LAZR landing at $22.87 on Dec. 15.

Yet, this wouldnt be the end of the journey by any means. More recently, Dec. 21 was a blockbuster day for the LAZR stock bulls as the share price gained over 27% and settled at $35.15. Furthermore, the stock maintained the $34 to $35 level over the next couple of trading days. As of Dec. 28, the stock changes hands at around $31.

Now, lets hone in on lidar, a technology that is the crux of LAZR stocks momentum.

Rather than attempt to provide a fancy scientific definition, Ill simply yield to InvestorPlace contributor Luke Langos concise explanation. As Lango puts it, lidar gives cars the ability to see and respond to their surroundings by shooting out laser beams and carefully measuring their return paths.

Now, some businesses have hesitated to adopt this technology because they expect it to be prohibitively expensive. Conversely, though, Luminar differentiates itself with high-performance lidar thats available at sub-$1,000 price points.

Moreover, NorthlandsGus Richard expects 2025 global sales of lidar devices to auto companies to reach an astounding $2.5 billion. So, even if Luminar simply maintains its current market share over the coming years, the revenue generation potential here is tremendous.

If youre looking for the number-one competitor in the lidar space, Luminar is as strong a candidate as any. After all, the company has already secured more than 50 industry partners. These include seven of the top 10 global automotive OEMs or original equipment manufacturers.

The aforementioned Deutsche Banks analyst, Emmanuel Rosner, also evidently views LAZR stock as a solid point of entry for investors. Rosner explains,Luminar offers investors an attractive way to invest into higher-level vehicle autonomy whose adoption is poised to take off.

And again, affordability sets Luminars high-powered lidar lineup apart from the competition. Rosner continues, Its differentiated LiDAR technology, featuring proprietary architecture and components, is essentially the only one delivering the performance needed for highway-speed autonomy at the right cost.

Already, analysts and traders are discovering Luminar as a premier and cost-efficient provider of lidar technology. But the excitement surrounding this stock is not just hype theres significant room for future gains.

As noted by plenty of analysts, data indicates that there is fast market growth in store for lidar tech. Therefore to get involved while the markets still young investors should consider accumulating shares of promising LAZR stock.

On the date of publication, neither LouisNavellier nor the InvestorPlace Research Staff member primarily responsible for this article held (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article.

Louis Navellier had an unconventional start, as a grad student who accidentally built a market-beating stock system with returns rivaling even Warren Buffett. In his latest feat, Louis discovered the Master Key to profiting from the biggest tech revolution of this (or any) generation.

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Differentiated Lidar Technology Puts Luminar in the Spotlight - InvestorPlace

during the forecast period. The increasing awareness related to environmental concerns and the growing consumer and industrial interest for the use of clean energy resources are driving the adoption of green technology and sustainability solutions and services in the market.

New York, Dec. 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Green Technology and Sustainability Market by Technology, Application, Component And Region - Global Forecast to 2025" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p05816393/?utm_source=GNW

The airborne communication segment to hold a larger market size during the forecast periodThe communication type segment comprises airborne, air-ground, underwater, ground-based, and shipborne communications.The airborne communication segment is expected to hold a larger market share during the forecast period.

The key trend contributing to this market growth is the increased focus and investment to enhance the capabilities of air forces.Several countries, such as the US, the UK, Russia, Israel, India, Japan, Singapore, and China, have increased their spending to strengthen their air forces, which is expected to enhance the expenditure on airborne communications.

The underwater communications segment is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period.

The services segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast periodThe component segment comprises solution and services.The overall services segment has a major influence on the green technology and sustainability market.

These services help lower operational costs, increase the overall revenue, and improve business productivity and performance. The solution segment is estimated to account for a larger market size during the forecast period.

The blockchain segment is estimated to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast periodThe green technology and sustainability market by technology has been segmented into IoT, AI and analytics, digital twin, cloud computing, security, and blockchain.Various startups are already using blockchain as a tool to make energy grids more accessible and sustainable by promoting data sharing in real time.

Energy-intensive cryptocurrency mining has caused a spike in carbon emission, and hence blockchain is capable of driving innovation in the field of green technology.The cloud computing technology segment is expected to have the largest market size during the forecast period.

This growth can be attributed to the benefits of the cloud to provide real-time remote access to data through sensors, satellite images, and weather.

The crop monitoring segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period.The green technology and sustainability market by applications has been segmented into carbon footprint management, green building, water purification, water leak detection, fire detection, soil condition/moisture monitoring, crop monitoring, forest monitoring, weather monitoring and forecasting, air and water pollution monitoring, and sustainable mining and exploration.The green building segment is projected to account for the largest market during the forecast period.

Technologies, such as AI and analytics, IoT, predictive maintenance, and blockchain, find multiple use cases in this application and have the potential to change how buildings are designed, built, and managed.The crop monitoring segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period.

This growth can be attributed to the increasing need to remotely monitor the health and condition of crops and enable farmers to implement timely interventions that ensure optimal yields at the end of the season.

Asia Pacific to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast periodThe green technology and sustainability market has been segmented into five regions: North America, Europe, APAC, MEA, and Latin America.North America is projected to account for the largest market size by 2020, majorly due to the broad base of green technology and sustainability vendors in the region.

Vendors are focused on R&D and integration of advanced technologies to serve the challenge of climate change and the increasing levels of emissions, pollution, and waste.The APAC is expected to be a favorable market for investments and has the highest CAGR during the forecast period.

This growth can be attributed to the focus of developing countries, such as China, India, and Singapore, on the integration of advanced technologies to enhance business processes.

Breakdown of primariesIn-depth interviews were conducted with Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), innovation and technology directors, system integrators, and executives from various key organizations operating in green technology and sustainability market. By Company: Tier I: 15%, Tier II: 40%, and Tier III: 45% By Designation: C-Level Executives: 50%, Directors: 30%, and Others: 20% By Region: North America: 25%, APAC: 30%, Europe: 30%, MEA: 10%, Latin America: 5%

The report includes the study of key players offering green technology and sustainability solution.It profiles major vendors in the global green technology and sustainability market.

The major vendors in the global green technology and sustainability market are GE (US), IBM (US), Enablon (France), Salesforce (US), Microsoft (US), Schneider Electric (France), Engie Impact (US), Intelex (Canada), Enviance (US), Sensus (US), LO3 Energy (US), Isometrix (South Africa), Taranis (Israel), Trace Genomics (US), ConsenSys (US), CropX (Israel), Hortau (US), IOT Solutions and Consulting (Europe), Pycno (UK), MineSense Technologies (Canada), WINT (US), OIZOM (India), Treevia (Latin America), SMAP Energy (UK), and Accuvio (Ireland).

Research CoverageThe market study covers the green technology and sustainability market across segments.It aims at estimating the market size and the growth potential of this market across different segments, such as components, technology, application, and regions.

It includes an in-depth competitive analysis of the key players in the market, along with their company profiles, key observations related to product and business offerings, recent developments, and key market strategies.

Key Benefits of Buying the ReportThe report would provide the market leaders/new entrants in this market with information on the closest approximations of the revenue numbers for the overall green technology and sustainability market and its subsegments.It would help stakeholders understand the competitive landscape and gain more insights to better position their business and plan suitable go-to-market strategies.

It also helps stakeholders understand the pulse of the market and provides them with information on key market drivers, restraints, challenges, and opportunities.

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05816393/?utm_source=GNW

About ReportlinkerReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.

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The global Green Technology and Sustainability market size to grow from USD 11.2 billion in 2020 to USD 36.6 billion by 2025, at a Compound Annual...

A team of researchers has joined forces with a technology firm to create what is thought to be the worlds first age verification service for whisky in a bid to tackle counterfeit products.

Everledger and the Scottish Universities Environment Research Centre have created a digital identify for whisky to help cut down on fakes

London-based blockchain company Everledger and the Scottish Universities Environment Research Centre (SUERC) at the University of Glasgow have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to fight fraud in the whisky sector.

The move will see SUERC researchers fit Everledger anti-tamper bottle closures to rare Scotch whiskies. The liquid in each individual bottle will be analysed using SUERCs proprietary technology, which will be connected to the blockchain using near field communication (NFC) tags, resulting in a digital record that certifies the whiskys origin and age.

Sales of collectable bottles of single malt Scotch reached a total of 57.7 million (US$76.6m) in 2018, according to Rare Whisky 101. Researchers at SUERC estimate that as many as 40% of all rare whiskies on the market could be fake. Research released by SUERC in 2018 showed that of 55 bottles of rare Scotch they had tested, 21 were either fake or not distilled in the year stated.

The SUERC has developed a way to accurately determine when whiskies were distilled using radiocarbon dating. By being given access to samples of rare whisky, the team have created a radiocarbon dating curve that is now used to determine the age of all types of vintage whiskies. The technology is able to detect the actual age of whiskies within a few years.

Gordon Cook, head of the SUERC Radiocarbon Laboratory and a professor at the University of Glasgow, said: This method for identifying fake malt whisky samples extends from the removal of small samples through the cork, to alcohol distillation, high-precision analysis and finally, interpretation of the radiocarbon data using a unique calibration curve developed by our laboratory.

This research has been carried out in response to a growing interest in these whiskies that, if genuine, can be worth tens of thousands of pounds per bottle, which may encourage fraudsters to attempt to fake the more expensive brands. Were proud that we are now able to provide the first and only fully secure whisky age verification service in the world with the support of Everledger.

The research team decided to use Everledgers bottle caps and blockchain platform, which was launched in April 2020. Once the radiocarbon testing is complete, researchers add Everledgers NFC-powered tamper detection label to the bottle cap to create a digital identity for the whisky. Through the use of a smartphone, the provenance of the bottle and its lifecycle journey can be viewed.

Dr Elaine Dunbar, research scientist at SUERC, added: One aspect of the process that has eluded us is securing a permanent digital record of a whiskys origin and age. We are therefore absolutely delighted to establish a partnership with Everledger, who will provide a lasting seal and a digital record of the whisky and details of its radiocarbon analysis.

Its the perfect way to provide additional peace of mind for those who choose to have us verify their whiskies, and to help cut down on the trade in fakes.

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Technology that detects whisky's age is 'world first' - The Spirits Business

-- Initiatives support company initiatives to fight illiteracy, food scarcityand support STEM education--

ATLANTA, Dec. 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- LocatorX, an innovative tracking technology provider, today announced the launch of its LocatorX Lends-A-Hand program and Women in Technology group, in support of company initiatives to fight illiteracy, food scarcity and support STEM education. Under the LocatorX Lends-A-Hand program, LocatorX initiates team-based volunteer activities as well as supports its employees in their individual volunteerism.

LocatorX Lends-A-Hand is a reflection of our identity, our principles, and our beliefsand the activities in which we engage provide distinct internal and external advantages to our amazing, growing organization, said Steve Maul, LocatorXs Chief Revenue Officer, and executive sponsor of the program. "Giving back is part of who we are at LocatorX, and we are committed to supporting our core values both locally in our home community of Atlanta, and also in every community in which our employees live.

Women in Technology is a group within LocatorX with a mission to connect the creative talents and skills of the hardworking women at LocatorX to attract and retain women for careers in technology. The group organizes and participates in community outreach activities aimed at exciting and educating girls about the technology field, and help to equip girls with the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) skills necessary to pursue technology careers.

LocatorX is deeply passionate about STEM education, which we believe provides the foundation for long and impactful careers for women, said Cindy Sloan, LocatorXs Operations Manager. The LocatorX Women in Technology group will be active in promoting networking and mentorship opportunities within our membership for girls in our shared communities.

In October, LocatorX was named the Gold Winner of Company Response of the Year: Creative Ways Companies are Giving Back During COVID-19 from the 2020 Customer Sales & Service Awards. LocatorX was recognized for developing and launching a National Medical Device Registry in May 2020, enabling any participating hospital to log their life-saving equipment at no cost during the COVID-19 crisis. The registry also helps hospitals quickly and easily identify the status of ventilators available for loan.

LocatorX provides accurate, flexible and inexpensive tracking technology to retailers, manufacturers and distributors across a variety of industries. Founded with technology discovered at the University of Oxford, LocatorX has patented new techniques such as a cutting-edge, solid-state, location tracking, digital engagement and counterfeit detection capabilities.

For more information about LocatorX, go to https://www.locatorx.com/

Media Contact:

Will HarawayLeadCoveragewill@leadcoverage.com404.593.8320

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LocatorX Launches Lends-A-Hand Program and Women in Technology Group to Reflect Company Values and Mission - GlobeNewswire

DONGGUAN, China--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 19th~20th, 2020, 2020 China (Dongguan) International Forum & Exhibition on Epidemic Prevention and Health Industry Development was held at Dongguan Guangdong Modern International Exhibition Center, which was sponsored by Dongguan Municipal Peoples Government and guided by China Chamber of Commerce of Medicines and Health Products Importers and Exporters.

The scope of this medical epidemic prevention exhibition included mask equipment and raw materials, mask products and epidemic supplies, sterilizing and disinfecting equipment, big health products and comprehensive service, etc.

Invited by Changan Economic Development Bureau, Shenpu Technology, as one of the four business representatives, made a comprehensive presentation, which became a highlight of the exhibition with excellent product quality, abundant product variety and complete qualification.

The main brand KIEYYUEL of Shenpu Technology can be divided into more than ten series: disposable mask, N95 mask, FFP2 mask, FFP3 mask, disposable nitrile, latex and vinyl gloves, protection suit, operation gown, goggles, face shield, disposable non-woven foot cap, body bags, infrared thermometer, etc., which have passed the relevant inspection and authentication of NMPA, CE, FDA, ISO9001, ISO13485, SGS, ITS, TUV, and can be used in the field of medical check, hospital segregation, labor cleaning, chemical engineering experiment, hairdressing and beauty, food processing, machinery maintenance, electronic component, pet cleaning, etc.

Shenpu Technology is a modern enterprise of product processing, developing, producing and sale, which has 100 thousand level clean workshops, 10 thousand level microbiology laboratory, bacterial filtration efficiency tester, partial filtration efficiency toaster and other detecting instruments. With a double guarantee of strength and quality, Shenpu Technology entered National Business White List, Guangdong leading brand in the medical device industry, AAA grade faith business model unit.

At present, KIEYYUELs series products has been exported to UK, Germany, Chile, Spain, the United States, Japan, Malaysia, India and more than 40 countries, and has more than 10 International logistics stations in total, which shows KIEYYUELs will to fight the pandemic and overcome the difficulties together with global partners.

During this exhibition, KIEYYUELs series products are highly regarded by domestic and foreign businessmen, and Shenpu Technology has achieved the purchasing intention with many clients on site. Shenpu Technology will seize the opportunity to create an international high-tech enterprise by modern management policy, technology innovation and efficient execution.

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Shenpu Technology (KIEYYUEL) Made a Stunning Appearance at the International Epidemic Prevention Exhibition - Business Wire

The Technology Maturity Curve

There are some young supply chain technologies that are getting a lot of buzz. But how mature are these technologies?Do they have a proven ROI? Are they worth piloting? Or can companies safely ignore them?

There are also promising technologies that we expect will deliver great value. But we cant document the ROI or other benefits at this point.

Finally, there are technologies that do generate value that few people have heard of.

In this article, the main hyped, promising, and solid solutions but widely adopted technologies in supply chain management are discussed.

Hyped technologies are getting a lot of publicity but have little proven value. These seem like technologies in search of a solution.

Hyped technologies are getting a lot of publicity but have little proven value. These seem like technologies in search of a solution.

5G is the fifth generation of wireless technology. With 5G, youll see exponentially faster download and upload speeds. Latency, or the time it takes devices to communicate with each other wireless networks, will also drastically decrease. The benefits are clear for consumers that want to download movies on their smart phones and watch them. But will there be benefits for supply chains?

The theory is that as more and more devices throughout the supply chain and manufacturing process become part of the Internet of Things, they will produce an incredibly rich data stream that will send signals in real-time to trigger a wide variety of events. For example, using a 5G network, a parts tote could communicate that the tote is 80% depleted for this SKU which would trigger a re-order of the necessary parts. This would be a trigger across the supply chain which would result in warehouse movements, maybe LTL, consolidation, and finally distribution and delivery of re-supplies.

5G is not getting as much attention as it did last year, but we are still at the hype stage here. Despite television commercials that suggest 5G is already here, the 5G wireless networks is still being built out across the U.S. ARC is not hearing providers of supply chain technology leveraging this network to provide new value to their customers.

We continue to see companies pitching their blockchain solutions in the supply chain realm. Often these are here today, gone tomorrow startups. Blockchain is said to be a strong solution for traceability or to provide payment to linked supply chain partners after their part of a chain of linked activities has been completed. We have continued to ask blockchain providers for the names of customers that are using their technology every day as part of their newly entrenched way of doing business. Blockchain providers cannot provide these references. That is a sure sign that the technology is still in the hype stage.

Promising technologies seem like they would offer robust ROI or other tangible benefits. It is highly logical that the promised benefits will appear. But these technologies are so young, that ARC has not been able to talk to references and verify that the promised benefits are real.

These platforms allow companies to ingest massive amounts of historical and real-time streaming data, clean and prepare it, and see if applying machine learning or AI algorithms and techniques to that data will provide valuable predictions for their business.

In the supply chain realm, leading supply chain software companies are actively working to embed existing applications with AI and machine learning. For most companies this is a less risky and more cost-effective way to access the capabilities of AI.

But there are very big global corporations, corporations with revenues of over $10 billion, that have digital centers of excellence. These companies do believe that custom AI/ML applications can be built that provide value in black spaces not currently covered by existing supply chain applications. Further, for Logistics Service Providers, excellence is supply chain management is how they differentiate themselves. For them building a custom AI/ML application that their competitors do not have could make a lot of sense.Certainly, several of the largest 3PLs are doing work here and claiming they are getting good value.However, it is hard to know how credible those claims like like self-serving marketing messages.

We are also moving to blended solutions that are partly an application framework and partly an AI/ML platform. Anaplan, a supplier providing supply chain planning (SCP) and other business applications, introduced PlanIQ. PlanIQ pulls in data from Anaplan and automatically tests several AI/ML algorithms before selecting the model optimized to generate the strongest forecast for a customers unique use case. PlanIQ includes Amazon Forecast. Amazon Forecast is based on the same ML technology used by Amazon.com.

Startups have been pouring money into tests, but we are still some years away from seeing fleets of autonomous trucks on the road. And in some cases, investment dollars are beginning to dry up for this technology. One of the biggest names in autonomous truck technology was Starsky Robotics. It was at the forefront of putting autonomous trucks on the road. Its list of accomplishments is staggering. In 2016, it became the first street-legal vehicle to be paid to do real work without a driver behind the wheel. In 2018, it became the first street-legal truck to do a fully unmanned run. In 2019, it became the first fully unmanned truck to drive on a live highway. And now, even with these accomplishments, due to a lack of funding, the company shut down this year. The best guess on when we might see autonomous trucks delivering loads without drivers in the truck to take over in case something goes wrong in 2024. That is what the folks at TuSimple are projecting and they seem like straight shooters to us. But even in 2024, these trucks will not be running across all lanes nationwide.Rather there will be a focus on delivering across targeted lanes for select customers. What seems clear, however, is that the ROI of autonomous trucks could be very, very good.

River Logic is using an AI expert system that drives a graph database to aid in automating the building of the digital twin of the value chain. In traditional supply chain planning (SCP) solutions, the model has to be configured step by step this is a products bill of material, this is the routing, this a production machines setup time. But River Logic is touting their solution as one where the AI system designs and builds the graph database and relationships and selects and applies relevant business rules and logic based on a visual drag and drop diagram that lets users draw out their value chain - greatly speeding up model building and SCP implementations, including full representation of financials as they are incurred by the business. Furthermore, behind the scenes the AI expert system composes and generates a full mathematical model of the clients value chain, allowing advanced scenario optimizations to be quickly formulated and operationalized.

Infor also uses a graph database for their Multienterprise Supply Chain Business Network known as Infor Nexus. The Nexus network connects businesses to their entire supply chainfrom suppliers and manufacturers, to brokers, 3PLs, and bankspaving the way for enhanced supply chain visibility, collaboration, and orchestration. Infor makes the point that a graph databases ability to infer relationships helps to keep the model up to date. A company may assume that a suppliers component built in Wuhan China moves through the port of Shenzhen and takes 22 days on average to reach the port of Long Beach in California. But in reality, it may be that often the components often flow through a port in Xiamen and take 25 days to reach California. In short, the graph database can help keep the supply chain model accurate. This is critical for effective performance.

A robust supply chain control tower is built on a cross-functional end-to-end digital twin of the supply chain. It includes visibility to how events across the extended supply chain will impact the ability to fulfill orders to customers. The digital twin models the constraints in transportation, warehousing, production and then can produce optimized plans to handle the inevitable exceptions that arise. In the past a supply chain control towers tended to be focused more on handling transportation exceptions or be more focused on orchestrating around exceptions rather than using true optimization to maximize service at the lowest cost.In order to get the data, clean it, and normalize it, most of these modern control towers are being built using data lakes.

In the last few years a form of goods-to-person automation has come to market. These robotic shuttle systems are a hybrid of traditional shuttle systems and free roaming robots. There are a handful of providers currently offering solutions that fit into this categorization.And each one approaches the problem in a different manner. However, they all offer the benefit of high storage density and a high degree of flexibility due to the dynamic movement of bots. This bot agility removes throughput and sequencing constraints, providing increased productivity potential. These solutions align with the operational needs of many industries. However, they are coming to market just as demand is accelerating for same-day fulfillment of online orders. This spike in demand is especially prevalent in e-grocery fulfillment. These solutions may be fulfilling your next online order of apples and bread.

Robotic process automation is software that is used to automate high volume, repeatable tasks. Over time enterprise systems develop better automation and users can do their job more effectively. But companies using legacy systems may have opportunities to use an external RPA solution to automate the work inside the legacy system. RPAs do this by performing the same computer keystrokes and opening the same modules humans do. We know of a 3PL that received good payback by using RPA to automate the highly manual tasks associated with planning optimization in their legacy transportation management system (TMS). It is also used to examine carrier websites for appointment scheduling.

Descartes is embedding RPA into its routing solution. Descartes points out that for all but the simplest route planning problems, creating the best plan is not as simple as loading data and hitting the optimize button. Instead, the best planners go through multiple steps to generate optimal results. Essentially, RPA can model the steps that the best planners take to produce superior results.

My colleagues Chris Cunnane and Clint Reiser made contributions to this article.

Read more:

2021 Supply Chain Technology Trends To Watch - Forbes