ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY IS ONE OF THE MOST INTERNATIONALLY AND REGIONALLY INTEGRATED INDUSTRIES IN ASEAN, SPREADING ALL MEMBER STATES, SAYS THE ASEAN-JAPAN CENTRE

 

^{Report “Global Value Chains in ASEAN: Electronics” is available for download on AJC website (Graphic: Business Wire)}


TOKYO, April 20 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) -- The electrical and electronics (E&E) industry is characterized by internationally fragmented but well-integrated production networks with geographically extensive and highly modular value chains, which provide opportunities for ASEAN countries to easily participate in the E&E value chain, according to the study by the ASEAN-Japan Centre, entitled Global Value Chains in ASEAN: Electronics, issued in March 2021. This is the 14^th report of the 16-paper series of ASEAN global value chain (GVCs) by AJC.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210419006002/en/

 

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a significant hub of E&E production, contributing approximately $268 billion to the regional gross domestic product (GDP), employing more than 2.4 million workers and accounting for the largest share of ASEAN’s total exports (27 per cent).

Overall, the E&E industry in ASEAN relies on more foreign inputs and technology than other industries, with 53 per cent of E&E exports coming from foreign value added (FVA), or the foreign inputs integrated into ASEAN’s E&E exports. Nonetheless, value added in exports differs across the region, depending on each country’s position in the E&E value chain.

Intraregional trade among ASEAN countries is the largest contributor to ASEAN E&E exports in terms of FVA, accounting for a quarter of total FVA ($43.4 billion) in 2017, while the combined FVA created by China and Japan constitutes more than a third of total FVA.

During 1990–2017, ASEAN’s GVC participation in E&E equipment declined slightly, from 74 per cent to 70 per cent, while its regional value chain (RVC) participation doubled, from 9 per cent to 18 per cent. The contradictory trends are explained by higher regional production capacity and well-established regional production networks.

With different areas of specialization, ASEAN has become an attractive and important hub for the E&E industry. The region hosts an extensive range of E&E production along the value chain, ranging from labour-intensive and simple activities such as assembly and testing to capital-intensive tasks such as component design and research and development.

To view and download the report, please visit the AJC website as below.
https://www.asean.or.jp/en/centre-wide-info/gvc_database_paper13/

View source version on businesswire.com: 
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210419006002/en/

Contact

ASEAN-Japan Centre (AJC) PR Unit
Tomoko Miyauchi (MS)
URL: https://www.asean.or.jp/en/
TEL: +81-3-5402-8118
E-mail: toiawase_ga@asean.or.jp

Source : ASEAN-Japan Centre

DRUVA SECURES $147 MILLION INVESTMENT TO EXTEND MARKET LEADERSHIP

 

New Funding to Fuel Continued Innovation, Scale, and Expand Routes to Market for Druva Cloud Platform


SUNNYVALE, Calif., April 20 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) -- Druva Inc., the leader in Cloud Data Protection and Management, today announced a $147 million investment as the company rapidly scales in response to accelerated demand for its platform. The fundraise was led by Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), a global investment group, with a significant investment by Neuberger Berman, each of which manage more than $300 billion in net assets. The round, which raises the company’s valuation above $2 billion, also included participation from existing investors Viking Global Investors and Atreides Management. As organizations quickly move workloads to cloud environments, adopt SaaS solutions, and combat rising cyber threats, this new investment will fuel continued expansion of Druva Cloud Platform to meet today’s unprecedented needs, and extend the company’s industry leadership as it defines tomorrow’s data protection.

Over the last 12 months, enterprises have moved swiftly to adopt cloud solutions to strengthen business resilience, maintain critical business operations, and support hybrid work models. Based on this demand, Gartner, Inc. forecasts cloud adoption will reach a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20.7 percent.* As data grows exponentially in parallel to this new operating model, traditional data protection based on hardware and software is no longer scalable or cost-effective. Instead, businesses need a new approach which can be deployed from anywhere, protect data across the enterprise, and deliver it securely as a service. Only solutions built natively in the cloud will be able to successfully deliver all this functionality and, 40 percent of organizations will supplement or completely replace traditional backup applications with cloud-based solutions by 2022, according to Gartner, Inc.**

“Rising volumes of stored data, rapid adoption of cloud and deployment of SaaS applications, regulatory frameworks and cybersecurity concerns have accelerated the demand for data protection and management solutions for businesses,” said Alexandre Synnett, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, CDPQ. “The working-from-home dynamic experienced globally has further accentuated the need for cloud-based data protection solutions and we believe Druva is in an excellent position to seize opportunities and enhance its clients’ agility and data compliance.”

With the ability to deliver faster time to value and help businesses manage, protect, and govern critical data during their digital transformation efforts, Druva Cloud Platform’s customer base has expanded substantially during 2020, while the adoption of multiple Druva Cloud Platform products has increased by 50 percent in the same time period. In the last year, the company’s data under management has grown by more than 40 percent as Druva supports industry leaders, disruptors, and pioneers including GameStop, Marriott, NASA, National Cancer Institute, Pfizer, and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals.

“We have been extremely impressed by Druva’s talented management team, leading technology, and ongoing innovation in serving the enterprise market,” said Charles Kantor, Managing Director, Neuberger Berman. “We believe we are in the early innings of enterprises shifting workloads to the cloud, and Druva’s proprietary solutions position the company for long-term success. We look forward to providing our experienced market perspectives to management as Druva marks this important inflection point in its growth trajectory.”

“The unprecedented events of 2020 have ushered in a generational cloud transformation for businesses, and data‘s increasing value is at the very heart of it,” said Jaspreet Singh, founder and CEO, Druva. “Druva pioneered the cloud data protection category almost a decade ago and has led the way in defining the architecture, business model, and user experience our customers now expect. This investment and our continued, rapid growth is further validation of our vision for a simple, open, and unified data protection and management platform.”

“The last 12 months have underscored how organizational agility is at a premium, and IT leaders are increasingly turning to cloud technologies to increase business resilience and velocity,” said Phil Goodwin, Research Director, IDC. “Companies able to simplify complex data protection processes, particularly by leveraging the cloud, can gain strategic advantage through better data availability and Druva Cloud Platform is architected to make it a compelling choice for organizations navigating cloud migrations.”

Additional information:

• Customer Testimonials: Hear from our customers on how Druva helps them thrive in the cloud era
• Platform Overview: Learn more about Druva Cloud Platform
• Video: Highlights of today’s announcement and Druva’s milestones over the last 12 months

*Gartner, Forecast: Public Cloud Services, Worldwide, 2019-2025, 1Q21 Update, ID G00743201. Published 25 March, 2021.

**Gartner, 2020 Strategic Roadmap for Storage, ID G00722078. Published 1 January, 2020.

About Druva Cloud Platform

Built for the public cloud with a microservices architecture, Druva Cloud Platform is secure by design, always up-to-date, and offers all-inclusive, consumption-based pricing. The industry’s largest cloud-native SaaS platform operating at scale, Druva Cloud Platform enables organizations to centrally protect data, no matter where it lives: cloud environments, leading SaaS applications such as Microsoft 365, Google Workspace and Salesforce, hybrid environments, or endpoint devices. Leveraging this innovative SaaS platform, organizations can reduce the cost and complexity of data protection, accelerate and protect cloud projects and increase cyber resilience and regulatory compliance.

About Druva

Druva delivers Data Protection and Management for the cloud era. Druva Cloud Platform is built on AWS and offered as-a-Service; customers drive down costs by up to 50 percent by freeing themselves from the burden of unnecessary hardware, capacity planning, and software management. Druva is trusted by thousands of companies worldwide, including over 50 of the Fortune 500. Druva is a privately held company headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and is funded by Sequoia Capital, Viking Global Investors, CDPQ, Neuberger Berman, Tenaya Capital, Riverwood Capital and Nexus Partners. Visit druva.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

ABOUT CDPQ

At Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), we invest constructively to generate sustainable returns over the long term. As a global investment group managing funds for public retirement and insurance plans, we work alongside our partners to build enterprises that drive performance and progress. We are active in the major financial markets, private equity, infrastructure, real estate and private debt. As at December 31, 2020, CDPQ’s net assets total CAD 365.5 billion. For more information, visit cdpq.com, follow us on Twitter or consult our Facebook or LinkedIn pages.

View source version on businesswire.com: 
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210419005283/en/

Contact

Druva Inc.
Jesse Caputo
Director of Corporate Communications & Analyst Relations
+1.516.815.2836
jesse.caputo@druva.com

CDPQ
Conrad Harrington
Senior Director, International Media Relations
+ 1 514 847-5493
charrington@cdpq.com

Source : Druva Inc.

JAPAN NATIONAL TOURISM ORGANIZATION LAUNCHES COUNTRY'S MANY-SPLENDOURED INSIDER GUIDE

 

KUALA LUMPUR, April 15 (Bernama) -- The Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) recently launched Insider Guide to Japan, celebrating the country’s many traditions, innovations, natural wonders and adventures.

2021 is a landmark year for Japan, as Tokyo gears up to host the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and the country is set to be one of the top travel destinations.

According to a statement, JNTO will launch a series of newsletters from this month to serve as an insider’s guide to Japan’s many traditions and innovations.

Given the volume of attractions across the country, JNTO categorises Japan’s travel offerings into seven passions: Cuisine, Outdoors, Relaxation, Nature, Tradition, Art, and Cities. 

In addition, JNTO has launched ‘Experiences in Japan’, a website that showcases activities based on these Seven Passions.

While preparing for the resumption of inbound travel, JNTO is also taking a number of COVID-19 measures to ensure peace of mind for visitors, including multilingual infographics on precautions as well as emergency information. 

JNTO president, Seino Satoshi said: “Tokyo 2020 will begin from July 23 this year. Taking place 10 years after the Great East Japan Earthquake, the torch relay will demonstrate the nation’s recovery to the world.”

“The COVID-19 pandemic has made travel to Japan impossible, and unfortunately it has been decided to hold the games without overseas spectators. However, I firmly believe that humankind will overcome this crisis and tourism will resume.”

-- BERNAMA

NEXMIND AI UNVEILS NEW DEEP LEARNING & MACHINE LEARNING IN CHINESE VERSION TO OUTRANK COMPETITORS IN GOOGLE SEARCH ENGINE

 PUCHONG, April 9 (Bernama) -- NexMind AI is proud to announce the newest version of one of their AI-Technology, the world’s-first Artificial Intelligence (AI) Machine-Learning SEO Platform as a Service (PaaS) named NexODN in Chinese Version. NexMind AI takes pride in NexODN as the first and only SEO Machine Learning (ML) in Malaysia that guarantees top-ranking website position in organic Google Search within an agreed timeframe. This momentous launch remarks on the evolutions and business growth of NexMind AI, and proved themselves again as a leader in the SEO industry. Primarily, NexMind AI has extended the NexODN AI-Powered solution beyond SEO in English language and further developed the AI-Powered SEO in Chinese version as the world's-first AI-Powered SEO Predictive Modelling in Chinese market.

NexODN is the AI SEO expert system employing various Machine Learning and Deep learning that surpass the human intelligence to allow people transform data into real business value, ultimately contributing to conversion rates by ranking higher on Google. Its ability to smartly recommend keywords based on target audience in Chinese, including next-level feature of real time rank changes of AI content topic recommendations based on content driven sites.

A new comprehensive smart reporting dashboard to performance reporting for website site audit, website ranking and keyword. Ultimately, the brilliant system that can take care of mundane, SEO tasks at length. This smart system product enables agile changes in Taiwan, Hong Kong and China market allowing businesses to rank their website in Google SERP with chinese language in a single click.

Being involved in the SEO industry for more than 16 years, CEO & Founder of NexMind AI, Francis Lui explains “Right now the NexODN products currently cater for 98% of SMEs and 2% for multinationals and conglomerates. Aside from Southeast Asia, the company also plans to expand its operations in North America and Europe, under the SaaS model”

With this in mind, NexODN’s cutting edge technology is also expected to gain significant traction in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japanese market “”We feel that this forward-looking AI solution has the potential to be a game changer for businesses that’s not really been possible before to expand their growth exponential” Francis adds. This will enable significant changes to Micro SME, SME,corporate and essentially provide a radical shift in the overseas technology market.

ABOUT NEXMIND AI

NexMind AI Sdn Bhd (formerly known as NexODN International Sdn Bhd) is a big data and artificial intelligence business with the vision to make Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) robots modeled on computational concepts of the human brain. Our AI solutions as a whole are established to help companies solve different business challenges by finding the best predictive model for their data to reach quality leads in the quickest possible time and bring your brand on top ranking of google search engine.

SOURCE: NexMind AI Sdn Bhd

PINE LABS UNVEILS BUY NOW PAY LATER IN MALAYSIA

KUALA LUMPUR, March 30 (Bernama) -- Pine Labs, one of Asia’s leading merchant commerce platforms, has announced the launch of its Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) offering in Malaysia. 

According to a statement, Pine Labs has already achieved tremendous success with offline BNPL services in India where it has 95 per cent market share.

The foray into Malaysia by its subsidiary Pine Payment Solutions comes at an interesting time when there is pent-up demand among consumers after a prolonged period of lockdown; consumers want easier access to credit and merchants are looking for newer ways to revive sales.

Pine Labs’ BNPL launch in Malaysia will further accelerate digital payments adoption in the country and make it possible for merchants to sell more in this tough business environment post the pandemic.

“We’re quite upbeat about the expansion plans around our very successful tech-focused Buy Now Pay Later product and are excited at its launch in Malaysia,” said Pine Labs Chief Business Officer, Kush Mehra.

“It is an excellent product and a win-win proposition for everyone involved including consumers who get affordable buying options, merchants who are getting an enticing proposition to woo customers back to the stores and boost their sales, and banks and brands who get to build their brand loyalty.” 

The company has ambitious plans to launch BNPL in the rest of the Southeast Asia markets.

Late last year, Pine Labs had announced its intent to launch an integrated pay later installment solution in partnership with Mastercard to markets like Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore, and Indonesia.

More details at www.pinelabs.my.

-- BERNAMA