Case studies by entelechyasiaJul 30, 201311:06 am

Rhythm & Hues Studios creates award-winning visual effects with NVIDIA GPUs

Rhythmn and Hues By Edward Lim, Managing Consultant, CIZA Concept

Founded in 1987, Rhythm & Hues Studios is a visual effects company with corporate headquarters in El Segundo, California and production facilities in India, Malaysia, Canada, and Taiwan.

The studio has won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects for Babe (1995), The Golden Compass (2008) and Life of Pi (2013), on top of four Scientific and Technical Academy Awards from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).

Computing power and unified platform needed
Lots of computing power are needed to create computer graphics imagery (CGI) in films. Besides this requirement, Rhythm & Hues also needed to standardize on a platform that can be used in its studios around the world. This unified platform is critical as work is shared and done concurrently in different parts of the world.

Enterprise by entelechyasiaJul 29, 20135:27 pm

Global printing dips but APeJ bucks trend

IDC Worldwide page volume from digital hardcopy devices has dipped to 2.98 trillion in 2012 from 3.03 trillion in 2011, a decline of 1.5 percent year over year, according to IDC.

However, in spite of the decline, the world continues to print at a good clip. Developed countries continued their negative page growth trend, driven by digital workflows, adoption of managed print services (MPS) and anemic economies. The silver lining for print volume in developed economies appears to be net new incremental pages from mobile devices.

While it may seem counter intuitive, smartphone and tablet users are generating more print volume compared to non-tablet/smartphone users.

Mobile by entelechyasiaJul 29, 20135:10 pm

ZTE introduces MF253 LTE wireless router with customised versions for different markets

ZTE MF253 ZTE has launched the MF253 LTE wireless router that enables 4G mobile data access for homes, retail stores and offices.

With a sleek upright design, the MF253 supports data downlink speeds of 100Mbps, and 50Mbps for uplink, delivering high-speed mobile Internet access for up to 32 users simultaneously. It comes with a streamlined white chassis and blue indicator lights.

Customised versions for markets in the Americas, Europe and China ensure comprehensive support for a broad range of LTE spectrum used in different markets globally. Support for an external antenna will allow the MF253 to be deployed in areas of poor mobile signals.

Mobile by entelechyasiaJul 26, 201312:53 pm

Global mobile phone market up 6% in Q2

IDC Demand for mobile phones continue to grow. In Q2, the worldwide mobile phone market grew six percent year over year, according to the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker.

Vendors shipped a total of 432.1 million mobile phones in Q2 compared to 407.7 million units in the corresponding quarter of 2012. The Q2 total was also slightly higher than the 428.8 million units shipped in Q1.

The growth in the mobile phone market was partly driven by vendors from outside the Top 5 who experienced torrid shipment growth that outpaced the overall market. Several vendors, including Alcatel and Huawei, had high double- and triple-digit growth rates in Q2 for their Android-based offerings shipped to high-growth countries such as China and India. These vendors from outside the Top 5 accounted for 44.8 percent of the overall shipment volume, up from 42.2 percent in the same quarter one year ago.

Mobile by entelechyasiaJul 25, 20132:35 pm

Sensors and gesture recognition are major smartphone differentiators

Accelerometers, vision-based gesture recognition, gyroscopes, and NFC are predicted to be the feature set big winners in smartphones in 2013, according to ABI Research.

“Gesture recognition is soon going to become a key differentiator in high-end flagship smartphones. Samsung’s latest Galaxy S4 has already incorporated the technology within its handset and has received significant plaudits for its new innovative user experience. Today’s consumers are becoming much savvier with their smartphones and they’re looking for new interesting ways to communicate with each other and their devices,” said Joshua Flood, Senior Analyst of ABI Research.

In 2013, almost 12 percent of smartphones shipped will have vision-based gesture recognition capabilities. It is unsure if Apple will include the technology in its next generation iPhone but the company is expected to include a full array of MEMS sensors and NFC.

Enterprise by entelechyasiaJul 24, 201312:26 pm

Twistcode leverages GPU power for big data

By Edward Lim, Managing Consultant, CIZA Concept

Founded in 2006, Twistcode does research and development in high performance computing technology, especially massive-parallel computing and applications using central processing units (CPUs) and graphics processing units (GPUs). It thrives in accelerating any repetitive algorithm and/or process in most environments.

With its focus on high performance computing, the young and dynamic company hopes to let its clients – enterprises and government organisations – concentrate on what’s important to them. It provides services such as rendering and modelling, and tweaks technologies and twist codes to adapt to customers’ needs.

Frustration over cell architecture
It was frustration over Sony’s cell architecture that prompted Twistcode to consider other options for its work.

Enterprise by entelechyasiaJul 23, 20139:51 pm

NVIDIA unveils Quadro K6000 GPU

Monsters University is the first Pixar film to implement Global Illumination, a new lighting technology that allows for ultra-complex lighting set-ups where light bounces in a physically realistic way.

NVIDIA has unveiled the NVIDIA Quadro K6000 GPU and a new line of professional graphics GPUs for mobile workstations.

The Quadro K6000 GPU delivers five times higher compute performance and nearly double the graphics capability of its predecessor, the NVIDIA Quadro 6000 GPU, and features the world’s largest and fastest graphics memory.

Combining breakthrough performance and advanced capabilities in a power-efficient design, it enables leading organisations such as Pixar, Nissan, Apache Corporation, and the Weather Channel’s WSI division to tackle visualisation and analysis workloads of unprecedented size and scope.

Gadgets by entelechyasiaJul 22, 20139:30 am

NVIDIA Shield to ship on July 31

It’s official! NVIDIA has informed those who pre-ordered the NVIDIA Shield gaming portable that the product would be shipped to US and Canada customers on July 31. This is more than a month off its […]

Desktop by entelechyasiaJul 19, 20139:45 am

China pulls down APAC PC market in Q2

IDC The PC market slowdown continued in Q2 with Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) dropping one percent last quarter and 11 percent year-on-year in Q2 to reach 26.7 million units, according to IDC’s preliminary results.

Weak sell-in amid ongoing consumer distractions, such as phones and tablets, as well as a slowing economy affected the PC market performance in China, which pulled the entire region down. While consumer sentiment in the rest of region was also tepid, a higher-than-expected shipment for a large education notebook project in India helped to offset some of this decline.

“The second half of this year still faces a number of challenges such as economic and channel conditions in China as well as uncertainty around an education project in India,” said Handoko Andi, Research Manager at IDC Asia/Pacific. “It’s possible for the market to bottom out and recover by 2014 as technology evolves, but IDC confidence is low at the moment given all of the forces tugging at each other right now.”

People by entelechyasiaJul 18, 20133:43 pm

Allen Ma is new CEO of HKSTPC

Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTPC) has appointed Allen Ma as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO), succeeding E Anthony Tan, who has held the position since April 2008.

Joining as CEO-designate on July 22 and taking office on August 1 , Ma believes technology plays a key role in fuelling Hong Kong’s economic transformation and will draw on his 30 years of industrial and business experience to increase the competitiveness of the city as a regional hub for science and technology innovation while building ever stronger collaboration with the Mainland.

His key focus will be to advance HKSTPC’s mission to provide world-class infrastructure and services and promote Hong Kong as a regional hub of innovation and technology.

Mobile by entelechyasiaJul 18, 20131:15 pm

Cellebrite introduces PC-based wireless retail solution

Cellebrite DeskTop Cellebrite has introduced Cellebrite DeskTop, a PC-based version of its suite of applications that increase revenue, boost margins and improve customer satisfaction in the store and beyond.

Cellebrite DeskTop includes fast phone-to-phone content transfer, back-up, and restore, a fully automated phone trade-in programme, application content and delivery, and robust diagnostics to “detect and correct” phone problems, in an integrated solution running in a Microsoft Windows environment.

It reduces total cost of ownership (TCO) by offering retailers the flexibility of running on a general-purpose PC, eliminating the added cost associated with dedicated hardware. Users will also benefit from unprecedented system performance, including fast content transfer.

Enterprise by entelechyasiaJul 18, 201310:17 am

Worldwide IT outsourcing market to grow to US$288b in 2013

Gartner The worldwide IT outsourcing (ITO) market is predicted to reach US$288 billion in 2013, a 2.8 percent increase from 2012, according to Gartner. Compared with Gartner’s previous forecast, nearly all ITO segments are now forecasted to grow more slowly this year.

Gartner’s forecast includes slight upward revisions for both custom application outsourcing and infrastructure utility services (IUS) for 2014 through 2017. Although software as a service (SaaS) impacts the ITO market, it is forecasted as part of the software market, rather than as part of the ITO market.

“We continue to see overall market growth being constrained by near-term market factors, such as evolving ITO delivery models, economic, political and labor conditions, and service provider financial performance,” said Bryan Britz, Research Vice President at Gartner. “Mature Asia/Pacific and Western Europe are the regions where the outlook is most tempered, partly due to currency but also reflective of our view that 2013 is likely to be similar to 2012 in these regions.”

Enterprise by entelechyasiaJul 18, 20139:47 am

NVIDIA launches world’s first GPU-accelerated platform for geospatial intelligence analysts

NVIDIA NVIDIA has launched the NVIDIA GeoInt Accelerator, the world’s first GPU-accelerated geospatial intelligence platform to enable security analysts to find actionable insights quicker and more accurately than ever before from vast quantities of raw data, images and video.

The platform provides defence and homeland security analysts with tools that enable faster processing of high-resolution satellite imagery, facial recognition in surveillance video, combat mission planning using geographic information system (GIS) data, and object recognition in video collected by drones.

It offers a complete solution consisting of an NVIDIA Tesla GPU accelerated system, software applications for geospatial intelligence analysis, and advanced application development libraries.

Enterprise by entelechyasiaJul 17, 20133:07 pm

Cyber security for critical infrastructure to reach US$46b

Cyber security spending for critical infrastructure will hit US$46 billion by the end of 2013, according to ABI Research. Increased spending over the next five years will be driven by a growing number of policies […]

Mobile by entelechyasiaJul 17, 201310:50 am

Huawei MediaPad 7 Youth tablet targets connected generation

Huawei is banking on the popularity of tablets among the younger generation with the launch of the Huawei MediaPad 7 Youth. Compact, sturdy and stylish with its aluminum metal unibody measuring just 9.9mm and weighing […]

Gadgets by entelechyasiaJul 17, 201310:25 am

Smart watches poised to take off in 2014

Canalys Fancy a new accessory? How about a smart watch? It looks like smart watches are going to be the next “must have” item. According to Canalys, the worldwide smart watch market will exceed five million units in 2014.

Canalys estimates that over 330,000 smart watches were shipped in 2012, led by Sony and Motorola. Kickstarter-backed Pebble Technology has joined Sony as a market leader in 2013. More than half a million units will be shipped this year. Smart watches are then set to explode by the end of 2014, growing tenfold as a new generation of devices from Apple, Google, Microsoft, Samsung, and others are launched.

Unlike earlier products, these smart watches will provide more sophisticated software and more elegant hardware. Glanceable information, integration across sensors and hooks into web services will be key features. These companion devices will not replace smart phones, but rather complement them as ‘appcessories’.

e-commerce by entelechyasiaJul 17, 201310:12 am

ASOS leverages hybris for China e-commerce business

hybris UK online fashion and beauty store ASOS has selected the hybris Commerce Suite to launch its new e-commerce business in China. Providing an omni-channel experience for those 420 million potential customers, the site will include a fully-integrated, feature-rich mobile version.

With six million active customers, ASOS stocks more than 60,000 branded and own-label products through each of its websites: UK, USA, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Australia, and Russia. It ships to 241 countries and territories from its 1.1 million square foot global distribution centre in the UK.

According to a report from eMarketer released in February 2013, this year’s B2C e-commerce sales are expected to grow 18.3 percent to US$1.298 trillion worldwide as Asia-Pacific (APAC) surpasses North America to become the world’s No. 1 market for B2C e-commerce.

Enterprise by entelechyasiaJul 16, 20132:14 pm

Australia big on cloud computing

IDC Australian enterprises are taking to cloud computing. According to IDC’s 2013 Australia End-User Cloud Survey, 86 percent of Australian enterprises were currently using cloud computing, up from 71 percent in 2012.

IDC observed that line-of-business (LOB) managers in leading-edge enterprises had begun to add to CIO’s cloud spending by direct acquisition of cloud services as a delivery mechanism for new competitive offerings within their own industries and marketplaces. This was validated by the survey results where the business unit (69.6 percent) was ranked higher than the IT department (59.8 percent) by the respondents when it came to the responsibility for selection of the service providers in their most recent cloud computing projects.

“Until 2012, cloud was primarily an IT label for IT infrastructure services delivered as a service. Now, cloud is no longer just an IT infrastructure play. Cloud-based business services being acquired by LOB managers will now drive growth in the use of externally sourced services. Cloud in 2013 is now business as usual for CIOs, IT managers, and LOB managers. By 2015, cloud will be just another delivery model for a range of “as-a-service” offerings that are based on infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and software as a service (SaaS),” said Raj Mudaliar, Senior Analyst, Cloud Services Research at IDC Australia.

Case studies by entelechyasiaJul 16, 201310:28 am

RMI counts on GPU computing for credit risk analysis

By Edward Lim, Managing Consultant, CIZA Concept

Established in 2006 as a research institute at the National University of Singapore (NUS), the NUS Risk Management Institute (RMI) is dedicated to financial risk management. Its establishment was supported by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) under its program on Risk Management and Financial Innovation.

In 2009, RMI embarked on a non-profit Credit Research Initiative (CRI) in response to the financial crisis, with the intent to spur research and development in the critical area of credit rating. Besides being just a typical research project, it wanted to demonstrate the operational feasibility of its research and become a trusted source of credit information.

CRI currently covers more than 35,000 companies in 106 economies in Asia-Pacific, North America, Europe, Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East.

Continue reading RMI counts on GPU computing for credit risk analysis

Mobile by entelechyasiaJul 12, 201310:35 am

Nokia redefines zoom with Lumia 1020

In an effort to make an impact in the smartphone market, Nokia seems to be banging the camera feature. Boasting a second generation 41 megapixel sensor, the new Nokia Lumia 1020 reinvents zoom, delivering more details than the eye can see so people can take photos first and frame later.

With Nokia’s innovative PureView technology and a new application called Nokia Pro Camera, it claims to be able to produce some of the sharpest images possible by any digital camera. Nokia Pro Camera makes it easy to capture, edit and share photos and videos.

The Nokia Lumia 1020’s 41 megapixel sensor features ZEISS optics with six physical lenses, plus optical image stabilisation. It also captures blur free videos with stereo sound even at the loudest concerts thanks to Nokia Rich Recording, which handles sound pressure levels six times louder than conventional smartphone microphones.

Desktop by entelechyasiaJul 11, 20136:33 pm

Lenovo nudges HP off global PC perch

Lenovo became the number one PC vendor in Q2 as HP slid to second with Dell coming in third.

According to IDC‘s Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker, Lenovo continued its streak of gains following channel expansion and solid product development. In Q2, it made impressive gains outside of Asia Pacific except Japan (APeJ). However, the headwinds in China continued to affect its home turf significantly. Lenovo ended the quarter with a double-digit decline in APeJ. Overall growth has slowed from prior quarters, and slipped into negative territory this quarter, but still outpaced the market and top competitors.

HP slipped to second place, but growth improved from recent quarters. It was boosted by shipments to India as part of large education projects. Despite ongoing uncertainty surrounding its restructuring, Dell performed above market with a decline of 4.5 percent. As with HP, this was a significant improvement from the past year that was aided by improving growth in the US. It managed to perform above market in all key regions except APeJ.

Mobile by entelechyasiaJul 11, 20133:30 pm

Samsung Galaxy S4 Active with LTE available for S$898 from July 13

samsung galaxy s4 active with lte Yet another iteration of the Samsung Galaxy S4 will be making its debut in Singapore on Saturday. The Galaxy S4 Active with LTE is designed for active users who want to stay connected while exploring environments from the most rugged mountain trails to the roughest rivers.

Priced at S$898 without contract, the phone has qualified protection from dust and water (IP67), keeping dust particles out and protecting against water damage for up to 30 minutes of submergence at a depth of one metre. Equipped with a water-resistant earphone jack, the GALAXY S4 ACTIVE With LTE frees you to use earphones above water when the phone is wet or in water.

“The Galaxy S4 Active with LTE is a new addition to the Galaxy series and is purposefully designed for active users who love the outdoors,” said Irene Ng, Vice President, Marketing, Samsung Asia Pte Ltd. “Samsung has taken the innovative features of the Galaxy S4 and added breakthrough protective design elements to create a device that thrives in an active environment and is built for a lifestyle of travel and exploration.”

Telecommunications by entelechyasiaJul 11, 20133:11 pm

LTE to deliver US$74b in service revenue in 2013

Out of 470 LTE commitments tracked by ABI Research, 193 have gone commercial. Over the next two years, another 123 network commitments are expected to do likewise. Additionally, ABI Research is currently tracking 69 LTE-TDD commitments.

“By 2018, LTE deployments should deliver population coverage of 57 percent (4.2 billion) and 31 percent (2.3 billion) in legacy WCDMA and CDMA2000 markets respectively. Significantly, LTE-TDD coverage should achieve 49 percent population coverage by the end of the five year period,” said Jake Saunders, Vice President – Core Forecasting at ABI Research.

These coverage targets will be driven by macrocells and small cells. By 2018, the number of LTE macrocell base stations will reach 2.43m to achieve the population coverage targets. Small cells are an integral part of the LTE operator’s network strategy. As a result, ABI Research estimates that 18,000 LTE outdoor small cells will ship in 2013, and will expand to 986,000 by 2018.

Case studies by entelechyasiaJul 10, 20139:52 am

Richmanclub Studios relies on NVIDIA GPUs to produce upcoming film

By Edward Lim, Managing Consultant, CIZA Concept Founded by Rich Ho in Singapore in 2004, Richmanclub Studios is a motion picture production company. Its first official production was the short film, “The Alien Invasion” in […]

Mobile by entelechyasiaJul 8, 201310:43 am

Smartphones account for half of mobile device shipments in Japan in Q1

Smartphone shipments in Japan grew 4.0 percent year over year in Q1 to 6.8 million units to account for half of the overall mobile device market in Q1, according to IDC’s Japan Quarterly Mobile Device Tracker.

Total shipments in the Japan mobile device market for Q1 came to 13.6 million units, an increase of 9.7 percent on a year-over-year basis.

While the PC market declined by 4.6 percent in the quarter, the rapidly growing tablet market enjoyed year-over-year growth of 187.2 percent to slightly more than 2 million units. The tablet growth was largely driven by the availability of inexpensive new tablets and huge sales incentives from mobile operators to boost the shipping volumes of LTE (4G) tablets.

Telecommunications by entelechyasiaJul 4, 20131:11 pm

ZTE snags most new contracts in China Telecom CDMA procurement programme

ZTE ZTE Corporation has been awarded the most new contracts in phase 1 of China Telecom Group’s 2013 CDMA network procurement programme.

With the 2013 network procurement programme, China Telecom is strongly-positioned to grasp the new opportunities in CDMA services and meet the increasingly sophisticated needs of subscribers.

“We are fully committed to offering China Telecom the most advanced products and solutions,” said Fan Xiaobing, vice president of ZTE. “ZTE always strives to deliver the best technology, and the most customised services.”

Enterprise by entelechyasiaJul 2, 20134:39 pm

Gartner adjusts worldwide IT spending projection downwards to 2% growth this year

Gartner has adjusted its worldwide IT spending forecast for 2013 downwards to US$3.7 trillion in 2013. Last quarter, the research firm predicted a 4,1 percent increase compared to 2012 but that projection has been sliced by half to 2 percent. This reduction takes into account the impact of recent fluctuations in US dollar exchange rates.

The Gartner Worldwide IT Spending Forecast is the a leading indicator of major technology trends across the hardware, software, IT services and telecom markets. For more than a decade, global IT and business executives have been using these highly anticipated quarterly reports to recognise market opportunities and challenges, and base their critical business decisions on proven methodologies rather than guesswork.

“Exchange rate movements, and a reduction in our 2013 forecast for devices, account for the bulk of the downward revision of the 2013 growth,” said Richard Gordon, Managing Vice President at Gartner.

Mobile by entelechyasiaJul 1, 20136:23 pm

Samsung launches Galaxy S4 mini with LTE in Singapore

Galaxy S4 mini Like the Samsung Galaxy S4 but prefer a smaller form factor? The good news is that Samsung has launched the Samsung Galaxy S4 mini with LTE, a compact version of its flagship Galaxy S4 smartphone.

Priced at S$698 without contract, the phone will be available in two colours — white frost and black mist — from July 6.

With a 4.3-inch qHD SUPER AMOLED display, 107g lightweight and compact design, it is easy to carry and operate with one hand. Though compact, the Galaxy S4 mini with LTE boasts a 1.7GHz dual core processor that allows users to quickly and easily perform data intensive tasks.

Supercomputer by entelechyasiaJul 1, 20136:11 pm

NVIDIA Tesla GPU accelerators power world’s most energy efficient supercomputer

Eurora System NVIDIA Tesla GPU accelerators are powering the world’s two most energy efficient supercomputers, according to the latest Green500 list published last week.

The winning system is Eurora at CINECA, Italy’s largest supercomputing centre, in Casalecchio di Reno. Equipped with NVIDIA Kepler architecture-based GPU accelerators – the highest-performance, most efficient accelerators ever built – Eurora delivers 3,210 MFlops per watt, making it 2.6 times more energy efficient than the best system using Intel CPUs alone (at Météo France). It also greatly surpasses the most efficient Intel Xeon Phi accelerator-based system, Beacon, at the National Institute for Computational Sciences, at the University of Tennessee.

The number two system on the June 2013 Green500 list is the Aurora Tigon supercomputer at the Selex ES facilities Chieti, Italy.

Gadgets by entelechyasiaJun 27, 201311:09 am

NVIDIA Shield shipment delayed till July

Those hoping to lay their hands on a NVIDIA Shield gaming portable device have to wait a little longer. As “some final quality-assurance testing has just turned up a mechanical issue that we’re not happy […]

Mobile by entelechyasiaJun 26, 20139:37 am

Mobile fuelling economic growth in APAC

Mobile communications is more than just a way of communications — it is impacting and driving economies in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.

According to GSMA’s ‘Mobile Economy: Asia Pacific 2013’ report, the region is at the forefront of mobile innovation, with the number of unique mobile subscribers having outpaced the rest of the world over the last decade, reaching 1.5 billion at the end of 2012.

In 2017, it is expected that APAC will reach 1.9 billion unique mobile subscribers, accounting for almost half of the predicted global total of 3.9 billion.

GSMA mobile ecosystem 2012

Source: GSMA’s Mobile Economy: Asia Pacific 2013’ report

Continue reading Mobile fuelling economic growth in APAC

Gadgets by entelechyasiaJun 25, 201310:21 pm

NVIDIA rolls out GeForce GTX 760

Barely a month after it introduced the first GeForce 7 series GPUs — the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 — NVIDIA has added another new card to its lineup. Priced at US$249, the new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 GPU, is designed to deliver extreme frame rates for this year’s hottest PC games, including Call of Duty: Ghosts, Watch Dogs, and Battlefield 4,.

According to NVIDIA, this would be its last GeForce 7 series card to be introduced this year. The new lineup now consists of:

GeForce GTX TITAN/GeForce GTX 690
GeForce GTX 780
GeForce GTX 770
GeForce GTX 760
GeForce GTX 660
GeForce GTX 650 Ti BOOST
GeForce GTX 650 Ti
GeForce GTX 650

Powered by an NVIDIA Kepler architecture-based GPU with an incredible 2.3 gigaflops of processing horsepower, the GeForce GTX 760 is more powerful than the next-generation game consoles expected by the end of the year.

Enterprise by entelechyasiaJun 25, 201311:03 am

Gartner: Worldwide PC, tablet and mobile phone shipments to grow 5.9% in 2013

Combined shipments of PCs, tablets and mobile phones are projected to reach 2.35 billion units in 2013, a 5.9 percent increase from 2012, according to Gartner. The market is being driven by sales in tablets, smartphones and to a lesser extent, ultramobiles, as PC shipments are on the decline.

Worldwide traditional PC (desk-based and notebook) shipments are forecast to total 305 million units in 2013, a 10.6 percent decline from 2012 , while the PC market including ultramobiles is forecast to decline 7.3 percent in 2013. Tablet shipments are expected to grow 67.9 percent, with shipments reaching 202 million units, while the mobile phone market will grow 4.3 percent, with volume of more than 1.8 billion units.

The sharp decline in PC sales recorded in Q1 was the result in a change in preferences in consumers’ wants and needs, but also an adjustment in the channel to make room for new products hitting the market in the second half of 2013.

Mobile by entelechyasiaJun 25, 201310:37 am

Huawei introduces MediaPad 7 Vogue

When Samsung launched the 5.3-inch Galaxy Note in October 2011, critics scorned at the size of the phablet and wondered if people would actually buy the product. In under two years, the Galaxy Note has not only proven to be a success but has become the trailblazer to bigger-screen phones.

The latest iteration is the Huawei MediaPad 7 Vogue, which sports a 7-inch display, aluminum unibody and quad-core processor.

“We’re delighted to introduce the MediaPad 7 Vogue, our call-enabled tablet with world-class entertainment capabilities and long-lasting battery power,” said Richard Yu, Chief Executive Officer of Huawei Consumer Business Group.

Desktop by entelechyasiaJun 24, 20138:05 pm

Thailand’s PC market declines 20% in Q1

IDC Sluggish demand in Thailand’s consumer market helped drive PC shipment down 20 percent in Q1, compared to the same period last year.

According to IDC’s Asia/Pacific Quarterly PC Tracker, PC shipment reached only 800,000 units in Q1.

“Channel partners reacted quickly to the slowdown by reducing PC buy-in to make room for faster-moving devices like tablets” said Jarit Sidhu, Market Analyst for Client Devices Research at IDC Thailand.

Gadgets by entelechyasiaJun 21, 201310:11 am

NVIDIA drops price of SHIELD to US$299

NVIDIA Shield NVIDIA has done something quite unheard of — dropping the price of a pre-ordered product just a week before shipping. According to a NVIDIA blog post, “we’ve heard from thousands of gamers that if the price was US$299, we’d have a home run. So we’re changing the price of SHIELD to US$299”.

All pre-orders will be charged the new price of US$299 when the product ships.

“We want to get SHIELD into the hands of as many gamers as possible. That’s because we think they’ll have the same reaction to it as thousands of gamers already have: joy,” said NVIDIA Product Manager Jason Paul.

Enterprise by entelechyasiaJun 20, 20133:54 pm

Enhancements to hybris Commerce Accelerator speed up omni-channel functionality deployment

hybris hybris has integrated hybris Commerce Accelerator with hybris Order Management Services (OMS) to enable merchants to deliver a complete omni-channel shopping experience, including browsing and fulfillment – like buy online and pick up in store and cross-channel stock-level display.

This significant enhancement means that B2C merchants of all sizes can now, at an affordable price point, go live with a world-class commerce system in less than four months through ready to use storefront templates and channel integrations that can be deployed quickly and then enhanced with more functionality over time.

Customers can also chose the deployment and purchase model which best meets their needs – traditional on-premise perpetual license, hosted by hybris or on-demand (software-as-a-service) with a monthly fee based on usage or revenue share.

Desktop by entelechyasiaJun 20, 20133:41 pm

Malaysia’s PC market down 18% in Q1

IDC The PC market in Malaysia dropped 18 percent in Q1, compared to the same period last year, according to IDC’s Asia/Pacific Quarterly PC Tracker. However, the 898,000 units sold in the quarter represented an 18 percent growth in sequential quarter.

A major delivery of mini-notebooks nationwide under the government’s Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) project was the only notable event in an otherwise lacklustre quarter. The education and enterprise segments both posted declines after flushing their budgets last quarter.

Retail spending on PCs was also curtailed by distractions from Chinese New Year festivities and the influx of smartphones and tablets into the market. However, the positive response to touch-based notebooks in retail was a notable silver lining in a gloomy retail climate.

Mobile by entelechyasiaJun 19, 201311:50 am

Huawei unveils slim Ascend P6 smartphone

Huawei Ascend P6 Claimed to be the world’s slimmest smartphone at 6.18mm, the Huawei Ascend P6 weighs just 120g. Packed into this sleek design are a 1.5GHz quad-core processor, Android 4.2.2 operating system, 2000mAh battery, 4.7-inch HD in-cell LCD screen technology, and ‘MagicTouch’ for enhanced screen responsiveness even when wearing gloves.

As the flagship smartphone of the Huawei Ascend P series, it is targeted at the fashion conscious. The smartphone’s brushed metallic look with a naturally curved base is both elegant and intuitive.

“The Huawei Ascend P6 is a star among smartphones with its industry-leading design, high-quality camera, and intuitive user interface, Huawei’s proprietary Emotion UI,” said Richard Yu, Chief Executive Officer of Huawei Consumer Business Group.

Gadgets by entelechyasiaJun 19, 201311:11 am

New Samsung Galaxy S4 model comes with 10x optical zoom

Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom Samsung Electronics has released yet another model of its flagship Galaxy S4 smartphone. The Samsung Galaxy S4 zoom is positioned as a smartphone with the capabilities of a high-end compact camera.

Packed with 10x optical zoom, 16MP CMOS sensor, optical image stabiliser (OIS), and Xenon Flash, the Galaxy S4 zoom aims to enhance the mobile photography experience.

“As communication continues to become increasingly visual in nature, people wish to capture and share their moments in the highest quality possible, but often do not have the space or inclination to carry a dedicated camera for this purpose. The GALAXY S4 zoom changes this forever, combining the industry leading functionality and connectivity of the GALAXY S4 with the high quality photographic experience you’d expect from a compact camera,” said JK Shin, President and CEO, Head of IT & Mobile Communications Division, Samsung Electronics.

Continue reading New Samsung Galaxy S4 model comes with 10x optical zoom

Supercomputer by entelechyasiaJun 18, 20134:12 pm

Stanford University researchers build world’s largest artificial neural network

NVIDIA NVIDIA has collaborated with a research team at Stanford University to create the world’s largest artificial neural network built to model how the human brain learns. The network is 6.5 times bigger than the previous record-setting network developed by Google in 2012.

Computer-based neural networks are capable of “learning” how to model the behaviour of the brain – including recognising objects, characters, voices, and audio in the same way that humans do.

Yet creating large-scale neural networks is extremely computationally expensive. For example, Google used approximately 1,000 CPU-based servers, or 16,000 CPU cores, to develop its neural network, which taught itself to recognise cats in a series of YouTube videos. The network included 1.7 billion parameters, the virtual representation of connections between neurons.

Mobile by entelechyasiaJun 18, 20133:50 pm

Android and Windows tablets picking up steam in ANZ

IDC The ANZ tablets market grew a phenomenal 147 percent year-on-year in Q1, bringing the total market size up to 1.14 million units, according to IDC. This tremendous growth was due to increased demand of smaller, cheaper Android tablets, as well as Windows tablets.

“Users now have better access to a wide range of low to high-end tablets as well as different operating systems compared to last year. In 2012, an user would usually choose between an Apple iPad or a Samsung Galaxy Tab but now, a year later, brands like ASUS, Acer and Microsoft would also appear on the user’s radar,” said Suzanne Tai, Associate Market Analyst of IDC’s ANZ Infrastructure Research Group. “Whitebox tablets have picked up significantly as well, driven with heavy promotions by retailers such as Aldi, Harvey Norman, K-Mart, and Warehouse Stationary.”

“Android is growing its foothold in the marketplace, thanks to Samsung’s aggressiveness with promotions and channel strategies, as well as the influx of whitebox tablets. Additionally, Windows tablets are also gaining traction with entry of new models, pilot rollouts and implementations in commercial sector especially in education.”

Mobile by entelechyasiaJun 17, 20132:42 pm

Every car to come with mobile technology in 2025

GSMA GSMA has shared research that details the disruptive impact embedded mobile technology will have on the automobile industry, revolutionising the motoring experience and helping to create a connected car market worth almost €40 billion globally in 2018, up from €13 billion in 2012.

According to research firm SBD, €32.6 billion of revenues – 83 percent of the total – will be driven by the growth of embedding SIM technology into new vehicles to enable mobile connectivity. This will encourage a range of mobile-based services around safety, security, infotainment, traffic information, navigation and vehicle diagnostics.

SBD predicts that most, if not all, new cars will have some form of connectivity by 2025, due largely to the rapid growth of embedded mobile technology.

Enterprise by entelechyasiaJun 17, 20138:41 am

ASICS picks hybris for new global consumer websites

hybris Sports footwear maker ASICS has selected hybris Commerce Suite for the infrastructure of the company’s new global consumer websites, featuring corporate, branding and e-commerce functions.

The solution will empower its branding and transactional pages, supporting its omni-channel deployments and B2C commerce with consumers.

In the middle of 2011, ASICS launched an internal project to rebuild the system, by using an omni-channel enabled e-commerce solution. After carefully comparing and evaluating several vendor solutions, ASICS selected hybris Commerce Suite in May 2012. It will start designing and integrating the new system in the US this year before rolling it out to other countries.

Enterprise by entelechyasiaJun 14, 20133:10 pm

Vietnam’s PC market up in Q1

IDC It looks like Indonesia is not the only market where PC sale is still heading north. Vietnam’s PC market grew by 13 percent in Q1 compared to the same period last year, according to IDC’s Vietnam Quarterly PC Tracker.

Nearly 500,000 PCs were shipped despite concerns over high inventory.

Anticipation of growing consumer demands in under-penetrated areas of Vietnam spurred vendors to increase consumer PC shipments.

Enterprise by entelechyasiaJun 13, 201310:21 am

Philippines’ printer market bucks APAC trend

The market for printing devices in the Philippines grew by an astounding 34.5 percent in Q1, compared to the same period last year. This is a sharp contrast to overall Asia-Pacific region drop of 7.6 percent, the sixth consecutive quarter of year-on-year drop.

According to International Data Corporation’s (IDC) Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals (HCP) Tracker, about 233,400 units of single and multifunction printers (MFP) and copiers were shipped in Q1 versus 174,000 units in Q1 of 2012.

Eight out of 10 were of inkjet technology while laser and serial dot matrix (SDM) accounted for the remaining 12.9 percent and 7.0 percent, respectively. Total market revenue hit an all-time high of US$48.2 million.

Mobile by entelechyasiaJun 13, 20139:48 am

GSMA launches data and analysis platform for mobile industry

GSMA GSMA has launched GSMA Intelligence, a powerful new data and analysis resource for the mobile industry. The online portal provides a comprehensive set of data points, covering every mobile operator in every country worldwide, alongside market insights produced by a team of experienced industry analysts and experts.

The GSMA Intelligence portal is available at https://gsmaintelligence.com

“The mobile industry is one of the most dynamic and transformative technology markets ever, evolving at an unprecedented pace,” said Anne Bouverot, Director General of GSMA. “This dynamism presents many opportunities and challenges for players across the mobile ecosystem and the GSMA is in a unique position to provide the intelligence and insights that organisations require to drive future growth and innovation. We’re excited to be addressing this key issue with today’s launch of GSMA Intelligence.”

Enterprise by entelechyasiaJun 12, 20133:25 pm

hybris partners LivePerson to provide digital engagement solutions

hybris hybris will partner intelligent engagement solution provider LivePerson to offer an integrated solution for businesses to optimise the online commerce experience and drive greater return on investment (ROI) to their digital properties.

The hybris Commerce Suite is now fully integrated with LivePerson’s award-winning chat solution and available on the hybris Extend marketplace. The new integration will be essential to e-commerce professionals seeking to differentiate their brands from competitors, enabling them to connect more meaningfully to visitors and delivering a richer, more personalised experience for customers that will drive higher customer satisfaction and greater value to their business.

With LivePerson’s chat solution, merchants are able to increase conversion rates through their online stores and decrease cart abandonment. For example, if a customer is having difficulty locating a particular item, a customer service agent will be alerted and offer immediate assistance with the customer directly through live chat or ‘click to call’. Likewise, customers can engage directly with a customer service agent through a ‘click to chat’ button. To ensure an optimised client engagement, the customer’s page data is dynamically passed through to the agent.

Enterprise by entelechyasiaJun 12, 20139:51 am

PC sales in ANZ dip in Q1

IDC The PC market is weakening as demand for tablets and other mobile devices strengthen. In Australia and New Zealand (ANZ), the PC market closed Q1 with a 21 percent and 27 percent dip respectively compared to the same quarter last year, according to IDC.

This decline is all the more ominous in view of recent cuts to the Australian Federal interest rate and the quarter being the end of financial year in New Zealand.

“The softness in PC sales across the consumer and commercial space reflects a declining demand for PCs,” said Amy Cheah, Market Analyst of IDC Australia. “More consumers are skipping or delaying PC purchase as tablets become the more common alternative for mobile access. Vendors, as a result, took a more cautious approach this quarter, cutting back on shipments given the slow moving inventory situation.”

Mobile by entelechyasiaJun 11, 201312:46 pm

1b smart connected devices to be shipped to BRIC countries in 2014

The ASUS Transformer Book Trio is among the many smart devices launched at Computex.

At Computex in Taipei last week, tablets and mobile devices took centrestage. ASUS, maker of the Google Nexus 7, even introduced a tablet starting from just US$129. It looks like these vendors are right on track to tap a burgeoning demand for smart devices.

According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Smart Connected Device Tracker, global shipments of smart connected devices (PCs, tablets, and smartphones) are expected to surpass 1.7 billion units by 2014 with roughly 1 billion units delivered to emerging markets.

Within the emerging markets, the BRIC countries — China, India, Brazil, and Russia — are expected to generate shipments of 662 million units with a shipment value of more than US$206 billion. More than 650 million units are forecast to be shipped to developed markets, with the US, UK, and Japan capturing more than 400 million units with a shipment value of US$204 billion.

Enterprise by entelechyasiaJun 11, 201311:15 am

Gartner: BI software revenue to reach US$113m in India this year

Gartner Business intelligence (BI) software revenue in India is forecasted to reach US$113 million in 2013, a 16 percent increase over 2012 revenue of US$98.1 million, according to Gartner. This forecast includes revenue for BI platforms, analytic applications and corporate performance management (CPM) software.

“Pressures from consumers, environmental policies, government and industry regulations, international standards of quality, and internal operational efficiency are forcing enterprises to improve their operations and processes to become both agile and efficient in a volatile marketplace, “ said Bhavish Sood, Research Director at Gartner. “These internal and external pressures are driving increased adoption of analytics solutions across the country.”

India BI Software Software Forecast Estimates (US$m)

Subsegment	Data	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Analytic Applications and Performance Management	Sum of Revenue (M)	14.2	16.8	20.0	23.6	27.8
Analytic Applications and Performance Management	Growth (%)	14.24	18.94	18.45	18.07	17.87
CPM Suites	Sum of Revenue (M)	18.6	22.0	26.0	30.7	36.1
CPM Suites	Growth (%)	11.97	18.32	18.03	17.85	17.62
BI Platforms	Sum of Revenue (M)	65.3	74.1	84.0	95.1	107.4
BI Platforms	Growth (%)	13.86	13.43	13.40	13.11	12.93
Total Sum of Revenue (M)		98.1	113.0	130.0	149.3	171.2
Total Growth (%)		13.55	15.15	15.05	14.82	14.67

Gartner (June 2013)

Enterprise by entelechyasiaJun 10, 20132:59 pm

Unified communications picking up steam in Malaysia

Unified communications is picking up steam in Malaysia with an increase of 14 percent to US$47.5 million in the second half of 2012 compared to the earlier half.

Overall, the revenue in 2H12 Unified Communications & Collaboration (UC&C) market hit US$89.2 million, a 22.5% growth on a year-over-year basis, according to IDC’s Asia/Pacific Semi-annual Collaborations and Video Tracker, which captures the market share of major vendors in the region,

Enterprise telephony continues to play an integral part of the UC&C market, with 50.6 percent of total revenues in 2H12, followed by enterprise collaboration apps (29.5 percent), contact centre applications and equipment (12.9 percent) and enterprise videoconferencing solutions (6.9 percent).

Enterprise by entelechyasiaJun 6, 20134:45 pm

ZTE and Easymeeting.net to develop videoconferencing solutions

ZTE ZTE and Easymeeting.net have entered into a strategic partnership to develop and release several major videoconferencing R&D initiatives in the next 12 to 18 months.

The videoconferencing industry is experiencing a huge shift from complicated high-cost solutions towards highly-scalable cloud-based software coupled with affordable hardware. The partnership between ZTE and Easymeeting.net will expedite the transition by making videoconferencing more affordable and simple to use.

ZTE’s depth of knowledge and experience with enterprise communication technology is a perfect match for Easymeeting.net whose focus is on providing innovative and disruptive services to the mass market.

Mobile by entelechyasiaJun 5, 20133:03 pm

NVIDIA SHIELD ready for the market

The cameras came out instantly as NVIDIA showcased the production version of NVIDIA SHIELD to journalists at a demo suite at Grand Hyatt Taipei. The NVIDIA Tegra-powered gaming portable can play games on its own […]

Mobile by entelechyasiaJun 5, 20132:00 pm

ASUS aims to take gaming to “incredible” level

Gamers, rejoice! ASUS wants to take gaming experience to “incredible” level with its new lineup of gaming desktop and notebook PCs. Announcing this to a global media gathering at TICC in Taipei, ASUS Chairman Jonney […]

Mobile by entelechyasiaJun 3, 20136:42 pm

ASUS transforms expectations with exciting new products

ASUS Memo Pad HD7 As a prelude to Computex, which starts tomorrow, ASUS has announced a slew of products at a press conference packed with journalists from around the world at Le Meridien Taipei. The products are part of what Chairman Jonney Shih described as “innovations that transform the market”.

The lineup include a powerful tablet, a phablet, a value tablet, a PC with a difference, complete with mouse and router, an all-in-one PC.

First up is the ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity, the world’s first NVIDIA Tegra 4-powered tablet.

Mobile by entelechyasiaJun 3, 20131:30 pm

NVIDIA working with MSI on SHIELD

NVIDIA’s SHIELD is gathering momentum. At a MSI press conference in Taipei today, Scott Herkelman, General Manager of the GeForce GPU business at NVIDIA, said one of the things NVIDIA is going to do with […]

Mobile by entelechyasiaJun 1, 20139:34 pm

Travel tip: charging mobile devices without travel adapter

One of the pains of traveling is the different types power sockets used in various countries. Worst yet, what if you forget to bring your travel adapter? Fret not because if your hotel room has […]

Gadgets by entelechyasiaMay 31, 201310:10 am

NVIDIA adds GeForce GTX 770 to its lineup

GTX770 Just a week after launching its top-of-the-line GeForce GTX 780, NVIDIA has added a scaled-down sibling to its impressive lineup of GPUs based on the award-winning NVIDIA Kepler architecture.

Priced at US$399, the new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 GPU joins the GTX TITAN and the GTX 780 in delivering superior gaming performance, advanced features, and silky smooth frame rates for unsurpassed high-definition PC gaming.

“Only NVIDIA GPUs consistently provide gamers with the ability to achieve extremely fast frame rates at high-definition resolutions with all of the eye candy turned on,” said Scott Herkelman, General Manager of the GeForce GPU business at NVIDIA. “The GeForce GTX 770 represents a new threshold of performance and features for under US$400 and our commitment to PC gaming is why GeForce GPUs continue to be the No. 1 choice of gamers worldwide.”

Mobile by entelechyasiaMay 30, 201312:48 pm

ZTE launches mobile hotspot device for 100Mbps data transmission

ZTE MF90 ZTE has introduced the new MF90 4G uFi (unified WiFi) mobile hotspot device that delivers high-speed data access for mobile consumers via LTE wireless networks.

The MF90 supports simultaneous wireless data access by 10 users, and offers maximum data transmission speeds of 100Mbps. It is supported on mainstream 4G frequency bands globally, including Asia Pacific, and is backward compatible with 3G and 2G networks. The MF90 supports dual-band 2.4GHz/5GHz WiFi networks, WiFi 2X2 MIMO, and 802.11 b/g/n.

Offering improved power consumption capabilities compared with first-generation LTE uFi devices, the MF90’s 2300mAh battery supports four hours of continuous use, meeting the needs of most business users and consumers.