Operations Associate becomes Philippines’ First Microsoft Excel Champion

Press release

Charles Emerson Ngo to represent the Philippines in World Excel Ch

(Makati City, Philippines) (November 29, 2016) – Three Microsoft Excel enthusiasts bested 107 competitors after four rounds to face off against one another for the title of Excel World Championship Philippines last November.  Only one Excel Champ, Charles Emerson Ngo, a business operations associate, emerged victorious from the final round held live at the Microsoft Philippines office.

 

(L-R) Anton Ramos, Product Marketing Manager, Office 365, Microsoft Philippines; Michael John Sayno Ramos, third place; Charles Emerson Ngo, first place; Vincent Hermogeno, second place; and Cian O`Neill, Chief Operating & Chief Marketing Officer, Microsoft Philippines.

Ngo will be the first to represent the Philippines in the World Excel Championship in early 2017.  The World Excel Champ will win a trip to Seattle, USA and get an opportunity to meet with Excel Product Leads to provide feedback on the next features to be added to Excel.    

Excel World Championship Philippines, which ran from October to November 2016, provided a chance for Excel fans to show their skills and creativity as they worked through questions focusing on data management, data visualization, and formula writing.ampionship 

ADIDAS ORIGINALS = PHARRELL WILLIAMS HU HOLIDAY

Press release

PHILIPPINES – Continuing their celebration of humanity and diversity across the globe, Pharrell Williams and adidas Originals presents a new installment of the collaborative Hu collection, founded on Pharrell’s vision of connection through love, passion, energy and colour. 

The new collection, entitled Hu Holiday, takes inspiration from the interplay of organic and mathematical forms that can be seen throughout nature, blending natural silhouettes with geometric designs and graphic overlays to create a fluid apparel collection with subtle stylistic touches.

In men’s, a range of classic 3-stripes designs are updated with Pharrell’s unique perspective, including tees, sweats, coaches jackets, track tops & pants, and accessories. A simple colour palette is countered with crisp graphic details such as a geometric triangle motif, and all-over prints in Japanese katakana, finished with essential trefoil branding details.

Women’s apparel continues this approach with a range of sportswear pieces reconfigured with contemporary cuts, such as drop-shoulder track tops and extended silhouettes, whilst the geometric and katakana prints are repeated in an asymmetric motif that captures the organic essence of Pharrell’s source of inspiration.

Overall, the latest instalment of Pharrell’s Hu range is a pure continuation of the polymath’s innate fascination with human nature and its power to push creativity to ever greater heights, as well as the very nature of the human race itself — distinct, diverse, and infinitely connected by a deeper, hidden meaning.

adidas Originals = PHARRELL WILLIAMS Hu Holiday is now available in select adidas stores and retailers.

#adidaspharrellwilliams

PhilBike Starts Today

I always like biking since I first pedaled back when I was still twelve. Since I do not know how to drive any motor vehicle, a bicycle is the only mode of transportation I can handle. What I like about bicycles is you don’t need a license for it and it is fun. You just need to know how to balance while pedaling.

Pedal biking is also easier to maneuver in small spaces than any motor vehicle and it is also environment friendly. Not to mention, a healthy exercise.  For the third time this year, I was invited to attend the opening of the PhilBike event yesterday at SMX Convention Center in Mall of Asia complex.

But not only I was able to see bike stunts of foreign bike experts but I end up canvassing for a bike that I may invest someday. Some of the exhibitors are bikers themselves and they will help you choose the right bike for you according to your height and preference whether you are a beginner or pro.

Philbike happens on the 2^nd level of SMX Convention Center from Nov. 26-27 only. In my next post about PhilBike, I will highlight the bikes I fancy in the exhibit. Just follow this blog and like my Facebook page of heads up.

Kelly "the Magician" Belaey in #philbike

A video posted by Mark Vincent Nuñez (@marktemplar) on Nov 25, 2016 at 12:20am PST

adidas + KANYE WEST simultaneously release three YEEZY BOOST 350 V2 styles

Press release

Philippines – For the first time on November 23, Kanye West and adidas Originals release three color-ways of the iconic YEEZY BOOST at the same time. The world’s most influential and sought-after shoe debuts in black with three different flashes of color:

YEEZY BOOST 350 V2 Copper, YEEZY BOOST 350 V2 Green, and YEEZY BOOST 350 V2 Red

The YEEZY BOOST 350 V2 is crafted with the best innovation in adidas and with Kanye West’s unmistakable aesthetic. This version of the 350 V2 features an upper composed of Primeknit in tonal black. A streak of either Copper, Green or Red bears the mark ‘SPLY-350’. A semi-translucent rubber outsole and TPU sidewalls create a striking effect while providing superior traction.

The YEEZY BOOST 350 V2 midsole utilizes adidas’ innovative BOOST™ technology to create a durable, shock-resistant, responsive sole. At the same time, the breakthrough Primeknit material leverages adidas’ most advanced digital knitting techniques to fit like a second skin. 

The YEEZY BOOST 350 V2s are now in stores and retail at P11,495.

Asia Pacific Businesses Focused on Achieving Digital Maturity in 2017 According to Hitachi Data Systems

Press release

All areas of the enterprise expected to feel the benefit as region takes the lead on digital transformation

Hitachi Data Systems (HDS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE:6501), today released its key Business and Technology Trends for Asia Pacific in 2017. According to Hubert Yoshida, chief technology officer of Hitachi Data Systems and Russell Skingsley, chief technology officer of Hitachi Data Systems Asia Pacific, digital transformation will continue to dominate enterprise IT strategies in 2017, as trends in a number of areas emerge.

“With digital transformation rising up the agenda of CIOs across the world in 2016, we expect to see an increasing number of organizations striving to reach digital maturity in 2017,” comments Skingsley. According to the findings of an upcoming Forbes Insights research survey, sponsored by HDS, enterprises in APAC generally believe they are further ahead in their digital transformation journeys than their global counterparts. A belief that is likely to be validated in 2017.

In line with the Forbes survey, which will be officially published end of November, Yoshida and Skingsley have identified five trends for the technology market in 2017.

#1: Productivity Gains Will Be More About People, Process and Business Outcomes

Despite the explosion of new technology over the past 10 years, productivity has declined compared to the previous 10 years according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. According to Yoshida, this is because new processes have not kept up with new technologies.

In the hospitality business, Airbnb has had access to the same technology as traditional hotels, but it has created a new business model that has enabled it to grow to a market valuation of $30B USD in less than 10 years. Digital transformation is about transforming the business through people and process, as well as through innovative use of technology. As a result, agile infrastructure, cloud, and the benefits of DevOps will gain greater attention as a way to speed up the development and deployment of applications and services with less defects and wasted effort.

“The biggest benefit of agile infrastructure and cloud delivery models is the empowerment of those with the most business insight and most innovative ideas to drive their own technology projects. It’s really about putting the power of innovation into the hands of those with the best ideas”, added Skingsley

#2: Accelerating Transition to Cloud

Cloud-first strategies are the foundation for staying relevant in a fast-paced world, according to Ed Anderson, research vice president at Gartner. The Asian market has been quick to embrace this approach, with Asia leading the world in this year’s Cloud Readiness Index by Asia Cloud Computing Association.

“It is clear that the predominant cloud model for the foreseeable future will be hybrid, as most understand the agility benefits of cloud but are not willing to move entirely to public cloud at this point.  We expect this to continue throughout 2017,” comments Skingsley.

As a result, IT managers across APAC will be focused on developing skills in cloud monitoring, cloud workload performance and security management, and cloud capacity management. Instead of buying infrastructure from different vendors and knitting them together with management software, IT will want access to the converged systems required to deliver infrastructure-as-a-service. These will enable enterprises to drive out even more cost and streamline infrastructure operations even further by combining converged solutions, like Hitachi’s United Compute Platform, with cloud management portals, like VMware vRealize, to deliver a pre-engineered approach for public, private, and hybrid cloud via a single management interface.

#3: Bimodal IT

Bimodal IT refers to two modes of IT:

• Mode 1: Traditional — emphasizes safety, accuracy and availability.
• Mode 2: Nonlinear — emphasizes agility and speed.

In the same way that hybrid cloud will continue to be the predominant model for years to come, so too will bimodal IT continue to be necessary.  While many may wish for the ability to simply do away with legacy application stacks and start afresh, the reality of the need for business continuity built on well understood and supported mission-critical systems continues. IT must be able to manage both modes and implement systems that can bridge between them. Converged infrastructure solutions can modernize mode 1 systems and bridge to mode 2 ones via orchestration and cloud ready interfaces.

Skingsley adds, “From a storage perspective it is important that data from both IT modes can be leveraged, so organizations will look more to systems that can bridge the gap between the two.  This means the ability to present cloud protocols, the capability to be instantiated on-premise or in public clouds and to facilitate data mobility between these environments.”

While the need to operate bi-modally may be seen as a necessary evil, organizations will not tolerate data being stranded in mode 1 islands at the cost of valuable business insight. Tools like Pentaho Enterprise Data Integration, that can bring together the data warehouse of mode 1, with the unstructured data of mode 2 to provide users with a clear view of all their data, will gain significant traction.

#4: A Centralized Data Hub

Data is becoming increasingly valuable. Recent IDC research revealed that 53% of organizations in the region consider big data and analytics important and have adopted or plan to adopt it in the near future. Companies are finding new ways to correlate and merge data from different sources to gain more insight, while repurposing old data for different uses.

“It is a clear lesson learnt from the highly disruptive internet-based businesses that the ability to wield data effectively is extremely valuable.  Many of these businesses are fundamentally data, a simple interface and insightful business logic.  Traditional enterprises realize now that they have not used their valuable data as effectively as they might have,” says Skingsley.

To ensure the governance and accessibility of this data, IT needs to create a centralized data hub for better management, use and protection of their data. This centralized hub will need to be an object store that can scale beyond the limitations of traditional storage systems, ingest data from different sources, and provide search across public and private clouds as well as mobile devices.

Skingsley calls this the “repository of everything an organization knows” and believes that organizations can no longer abide by archiving or backup systems that leave this potentially important data stranded.

#5: Growing Awareness of IoT in the Data Center

The networking of things will affect every aspect of our lives, and while this may not become a major trend for APAC next year, according to Yoshida the decisions we make in IT in 2017 should be made with an eye to IoT.

“The integration of IT and OT with analytics is the first step. Today, IoT requires data scientists and researchers with deep domain expertise and most projects are in the proof-of-concept stage. In 2017 we will be at the stage where we have the recipe for IoT projects, like train-as-a-service or industry 4.0. Hitachi Data Systems, along with other divisions in Hitachi and outside partners, is developing an IoT core platform, Lumada, to develop these recipes and deliver baked IoT solutions that are open, adaptable, verified and secure,” comments Yoshida.  

Russell Skingsley adds, “Next year’s trends are being driven by a clear enterprise demand to deliver on all the promises of digital transformation, with APAC set to lead the way. Regardless of industry, IT is seeing a fundamental shift as enterprises embrace the new revenue streams, efficiencies and possibilities provided by digitization.”

For further insights into the APAC technology market, sign up to the upcoming Webcast here on December 14, 2016.

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SUNNY THE HORNBILL IS JURONG BIRD PARK’S NEW ANIMAL ICON

Press release

Sunny will shine as a beacon of hope for all threatened hornbill species;

Year-end holiday activities at the park will include hornbill feeding sessions and mascot appearances.

SINGAPORE – As a nod to its unique place in Singapore’s biodiversity, Jurong Bird Park has introduced Sunny the Hornbill as the park’s animal icon.

Starting with just five Hornbill species when the park opened in 1971, Jurong Bird Park today is home to the largest collection of Southeast Asian Hornbills in the world. Of the 18 Hornbill species in the park, 11 are native to Southeast Asia.

Dr Cheng Wen-Haur, Deputy CEO and Chief Life Sciences Officer, Wildlife Reserves Singapore said, “We have chosen the Hornbill as Jurong Bird Park’s animal icon as we think this striking bird will be a relatable ambassador for all threatened bird species that need our help and protection. We have great success in Singapore where we have helped to reintroduce the oriental pied hornbill.  There are other species such as the Helmeted Hornbill that are being hunted relentlessly and urgently need our help.”

Jurong Bird Park has long been actively involved in hornbill conservation efforts. Locally, Oriental Pied Hornbills were not seen for 140 years prior to 1994. In 2005, Jurong Bird Park entered a collaboration dedicated to the breeding and conserving of these birds and today, Singapore is home to a thriving population of Oriental Pied Hornbills. In 2013, three Oriental Pied Hornbill eggs rescued from Pulau Ubin were successfully incubated and hatched at the park’s Breeding & Research Centre. This marked the world’s first successful incubation and hatching of an Oriental Pied Hornbill.

The park’s Hornbill conservation efforts go beyond local shores. Last year, Wildlife Reserves Singapore (parent company of Jurong Bird Park) hosted the first Helmeted Hornbill Workshop, and was instrumental in the uplisting of the species’ IUCN* status to ‘Critically Endangered’. According to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the Helmeted Hornbill population has drastically declined from habitats in Sumatra where it was once found in abundance.

In his role as the park icon, Sunny will be a beacon of hope for all threatened hornbill species by raising greater awareness on the hornbill ivory trade. Guests can learn more about the threats Hornbills face through Sunny’s daily appearances at the High Flyers show and getting up close with some of the park’s Hornbills and their keepers at the daily Hornbill Chit-Chat sessions.

From 19 Nov to 11 Dec, guests can participate in many Hornbill-focused activities. They can feed Hornbills under supervision and learn all about them at the daily Hornbill Chit-Chat sessions, take photos with Sunny the Hornbill mascot, indulge in some fun-filled craft activities and pen some love notes at the Hornbill Love Mail.

Twitter and PBA partner to boost 2017 Philippine Cup

Press release

See your favorite cagers and teams in a different light on live Periscope interviews and show your support with the first-ever PBA emoji

Philippines, 22 November 2016 – Basketball fans will have a thrilling time this 2017 Philippine Cup as Twitter and the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) announced a collaboration today to launch several fun and unique activities that will have fans trooping to the platform.

For the first time, Filipinos’ love for the game will be immortalized using the Twitter platform with PBA’s very own emoji. Fans can enjoy the emoji by Tweeting any of the following hashtags from 20 November to 29 February:#WeArePBA #KaPBA #PBAPhilCupSeason42 #PBAPinoyPride #ProudlyPBA #PBAPride #NagiisangPBA#PhilippineCup  #PhilippineCup2017 #PhilCup #PBA2017.

Our emoji is now online! Use the ff:#WeArePBA #KaPBA #PBAPhilCupSeason42 #PBA2017#PBAPinoyPride #ProudlyPBA #PBAPride  #NagiisangPBA

— PBA (@pbaconnect) November 20, 2016

Meanwhile, the excitement in and around the court to win the Philippine Cup will also be captured through play-by-play posts in Moments on Twitter with video clips, as well as halftime and post-game visuals. “Twitter Selfies” encourages all basketball aficionados and enthusiasts - from players to coaches, fans, and mascots - to take selfies before, during and after the  games using the Twitter Challenger app. Fans can get a different perspective of their favorite coaches’ and players’ lives as they Tweet a variety of selfies on- and off-court.

Starting today until the end of Season 42, fans will be treated to exclusive pre-game highlights on Periscope before their favorite players enter the court and during warm-up. Daily live interview broadcasts of the PBA players on Twitter using Periscope will be available at #PBATweetsmisan.

“This is an exciting collaboration for Twitter as it puts us front and center amid the Philippines’ most popular sport, and in the line of sight of millions of Filipinos who are passionate for the game. It makes us proud to be part of fueling that passion for this sport,” said Pratiksha Rao, Head of Media Partnerships, South East Asia, Twitter.

Likewise, PBA Commissioner Chito Narvasa also expressed his enthusiasm for this relationship, saying that, “PBA is really proud to be in collaboration with Twitter. We see the value of social media in building relationships regardless of distance or language barriers. We want to promote the league and hear from our fans here and around the globe. Twitter can help us do that and more.”

Follow @PBAConnect on Twitter and Periscope to follow the games live.

PhilBike Expo Marks 3 Years of Pure Appreciation of Cycling

Press release

November 21, 2016 (MANILA, Philippines) – The PhilBike Expo, the only international-standard trade and consumer cycling show in the Philippines, returns for its third annual convention this November. The event kicks off on Nov. 25 and allows cycling enthusiasts’ access to the most diverse range of local and international products and demonstrations.

Organized by Phil-Bike Convention Inc., the event has seen over 17,000 enthusiasts pack convention centers for two years.

To mark its third year anniversary, this year’s expo shall be headlined by a few of the best in the sport today:

Regarded as one of the biggest names in the bike trail world scene, “The Magician” Kenny Belaey is a 24-year veteran of the sport. Since his debut in 1992, Belaey has brought the sport to the mainstream as a constant innovator and professional. He is the record holder of the most medals won at the World Cup and World Championships. His latest video project, “Balance”, saw him crossing a slackline on the top of the French Alps, a feat that had yet to be accomplished by any other biker before him.

The Superkids are Japanese prodigies made up of Yu Shoji (14) and Takumi Isogai (15). This dynamic duo has been making a name in the Flatland scene with their cutting edge and flair for pushing innovation to its limits. Shoji is the first place winner of the 2015 Voodoo Jam and the second runner-up for the 2014 FlatArk Novice. Isogai was the first place winner of the 2014 FlatArk Expert and came in at eighth place for the 2016 FlatDev Pro.

Accompanying the Superkids is their mentor, Viki Gómez, who is returning to PhilBike for the second year in a row. Hailed as one of the best in the world, the 35-year-old Spaniard is known for his constant creation of new tricks that combine flow and rhythm and surpassing the limits of imagination. The Red Bull athlete is a three-time Champion of the Flatland World Circuit Series, as well as a three-time Red Bull Circle of Balance Champion. He is also a two-time winner of the European X-Games.

Rounding out this incredible line-up is a special, one-day only performance from Canadian,

Geoff Gulevich. With a career that started at the age of 12, the Rocky Mountain Bicycle ambassador is among the best in his field, combining passion with a strong sense of perseverance that sets him apart from his peers. He is the fourth runner-up for Jumpship 2011, and came in fifth for both the Red Bull Rampage 2010 and the Crankworx Joyride 2011.

The event will bring together over 100 brands from the world of cycling and fitness, giving enthusiasts and first-timers alike, the chance to check out the very best and latest that the industry has to offer.  To complement these brands, the PhilBike Expo offers unique, indoor interactive features that will get the adrenaline flowing.

To top it all off, the event will include a selection of fun games, contests, and raffles that will give attendees the chance to bring home brand new mountain bikes as well as a collection of other exciting prizes.

To purchase tickets, visit http://philbike.pounchnation.com/. Tickets are PHP120 for one day, and PHP200 for two days until November 21, 12:01PM only. Regular prices of PHP150 per day shall apply on site at the SMX Convention Center.  Children ages 12 and below are entitled to a 50% discount while toddlers 3ft. and below enter for free.

Filinvest Home Expo

One of the basic needs of us human beings is shelter. But providing a house for the family is not that easy. Besides purchasing a land and having a house constructed, you need to pay taxes from time to time.

This is where Filinvest Home Expo comes in. Filinvest is been doing the Expo for three years now in Alabang Town Center. This is not just to showcase their properties but to orient people that it is not hard to desire your own home.

I attended the Expo last year when they introduced their celebrity endorser, Mr. Richard Yap. This year, Richard Yap interviewed some dreamers who made it big when they bought their own home at Filinvest. The video reminds us to never stop achieving our dreams which is also true for potential homeowners in Home Expo.

Having a home or shelter is not a privilege but a right. But it also comes in how we should manage our resources including our homes. This is what you will learn from Filinvest Home Expo. For more updates in the real estate business, follow this blog and like L.E.N.S. blogs on Facebook.

Understanding the LRT-1 Commuter

Press release

MANILA, Philippines — In the largest transit research on LRT-1 riders done in recent times, marketing agencies PHAR and TNS (part of Kantar Media), interviewed 3,500 LRT-1 commuters in considerable depth.

Results of the survey shed some interesting insights:

• Out of a total of 4.99 million people that comprise the Manila NCR workforce, approximately 500,000 people (10%) ride the LRT-1 on a daily basis.
• The gender split is equal with 49% of commuters being female.
• The average journey time is approximately 42 minutes each way (from arriving at the station, queueing for tickets, riding the train and exiting at destination).
• LRT-1 commuter demographics skew heavily towards 18-29 year olds (59% of commuters). Very significant in comparison to the overall Manila NCR workforce has 30% in the 18-29 year old bracket.
• 88% of commuters are either working professionals or students. Within the working professionals, the average monthly income is 15,000 pesos, and whereas for students the disposable income is 212 pesos per day.
• In terms of device ownership, 97% own a mobile phone, whereas 44% own laptops.

The study also measured high and medium usage categories for these commuters and the brand preferences within the categories revealed interesting insights into purchasing behavior and market share of the top brands in the Philippines. For instance:

Certain categories had clear market leaders like toothpaste (Colgate), bath soap (Safeguard) and softdrinks (Coca Cola). But on the whole, most categories saw close competition between a number of brands fighting for market share and share of voice. These categories include shampoo, canned meat, branded clothing, laundry bars, laundry powder, snacks, chocolate and candies, fruit juices/beverages and cosmetics, amongst others.

Within the services categories, there were clear leaders in certain segments like domestic travel (Cebu Pacific) and cable television (Sky Cable), but in most categories, there was a hard fought contest. These categories include insurance, banking, loan services, and credit cards.

Prem Bhatia, Managing Director of PHAR said, “Transport forms an integral part of the urban landscape and opportunities for brands, basis dwell time and engagement, are immense. The LRT-1 commuters are early jobbers and therefore a perfect audience to develop a brand relationship with. Take financial services for instance – two thirds do not have bank accounts, and 10% have credit cards. The headroom for growth is tremendous.”

The Journey to the Crown: A Celebration of Beauty premieres exclusively on ETC

Press release

Right at the start of our consciousness, a beauty pageant always means the holy grail of all pageants—The Miss Universe crown. It is deeply embedded in our culture, a much-anticipated event and a source of inspiration for every aspirational Filipino. 

As etc champions every Filipina beauty, it premieres The Journey to the Crown: A Celebration of Beauty, a 10-episode reality-documentary show that brings to fore our passion for beauty pageants. Hosted by 2010 Miss Universe 4^th Runner-up Venus Raj and 2011 Miss Universe 3^rd Runner-up Shamcey Supsup-Lee, the weekly program will showcase the odyssey that leads to fame and glory.

The Journey to the Crown: A Celebration of Beauty airs on etc every Sunday at 7:30 PM.  Don’t miss out and join the conversation at #MsU2016onETC.

For more updates, log on http://www.solarentertainmentcorp.com/channel/whats_new/etc/ and check out etc on www.facebook.com/etctv, on Twitter and Instagram via @etc_channel. 

About etc

etc is the Philippines' TV destination for the fun, fierce, and stylish Filipina. Catch us on UHF channel 21, Sky Cable channel 16, Destiny Digital channel 16, Global Destiny channel 28, Cignal channel 9, or Cablelink channel 34.  You can also livestream ETC via http://www.blink-now.com/.

Hitachi Data Systems Delivers Industry’s First and Only Object Storage Portfolio With Content Intelligence Capabilities

Press release

Hitachi Content Portfolio With Hitachi Content Intelligence Transforms Data Into Relevant Business Information Delivered to the Right People When It Matters Most

Hitachi Data Systems (HDS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE:6501), today announced Hitachi Content Intelligence, an addition to its trusted Hitachi Content Portfolio (HCP), making it the industry’s only object storage portfolio with search and analytics capabilities. The new intelligence solution rounds out the HCP portfolio, which already offers a seamlessly integrated cloud-file gateway and enterprise file sync and sharing, and continues to improves organizations’ ability to strategically manage data. More than 1700 customers have already adopted HCP as a key component in their digital transformation journey. With Hitachi Content Intelligence, these customers can transform data into relevant business information and deliver it to the right people, when it matters most.

Hitachi Content Intelligence addresses the challenges of exploring and discovering relevant, valuable and factual information across the growing number of data producers and siloed repositories that plague organizations today. By aggregating multistructured data, Hitachi Content Intelligence enables insights to be surfaced faster, data management and governance to be more complete, and to understand the distribution of organizational data based on its value to the business.

“Hitachi Content Platform has transformed the way we handle compliance investigations and cut the time needed for discovery searches from weeks to hours. Hitachi Content Intelligence is now an important and necessary part of our global compliance monitoring, discovery, and intervention architecture,” said Walter Hendricks, BA, CCEP-I, business change manager, Discovery & Intervention – Compliance Expertise & Operations, Rabobank

Rabobank serves more than 10 million customers in 47 countries, employs over 51,000 people worldwide and, like all financial institutions, is subject to strict regulations in each of the countries where it operates. The company needed a solution that would be efficient, flexible and comprehensive for current and future compliance investigations. With Hitachi, the bank now gives approved users all the data they need at their desks without having to ask for IT support.

Customers such as Precision Discovery, and the National Archives and Record Administration (NARA) have turned to HDS to solve their most critical digital transformation initiatives. With the seamless integration of Hitachi Content Intelligence, long-standing HCP portfolio customers are able to analyze their endlessly growing amounts of structured and unstructured data without having to turn to a third party.

The National Archives and Records Administration uses HCP and Hitachi Content Intelligence to store, preserve and make accessible their largest and most prominent electronic records collections to include emails, photos, documents and dozens of source applications that have been converted to open formats. “We selected Hitachi Content Intelligence over competing Solr-based implementations or building our own, due to its use of a flexible software developers kit and its integration with HCP. In addition, we know the architecture will not constrain what we want to do with the platform,” said Jason vanValkenburgh, vice president at Hitachi Consulting, which provides project management and application development for the project with HDS Federal and prime contract holder, ViON Corporation.

“Precision Discovery recognizes the value in HCP with Hitachi Content Intelligence in solving the parts of the litigation lifecycle that are the most difficult to manage. This platform allows us to build custom solutions that greatly reduce customer costs, increase visibility and manage risk. None of this is possible without the intelligence, extensibility and raw power of Hitachi Content Intelligence,” said Howard Holton, CIO, Precision Discovery

According to Scott Baker, senior director of Emerging Technologies at Hitachi Data Systems, “For today’s enterprises, data is the most strategic asset, and connecting the right people to the right data in a timely and meaningful way is critical to staying relevant and competitive in their market segment. Hitachi Content Intelligence lets customers organize, transform and package organizational data into factual information, making it invaluable to the business.”

With Hitachi Content Intelligence organizations can:

·         Improve employee productivity and efficiency by creating a standard and consistent enterprise search process across the entire IT environment.

·         Empower all levels of the organization with a self-service and intuitive out-of-the-box data exploration experience that includes support for detailed queries and ad hoc natural language searches.

·         Discover new insights faster through automated extraction, classification, enrichment and categorization of all of their data.

·         Minimize business risk and exposure from data that is inaccessible, dark, or has been lost, while improving the operational effectiveness of the business.

·         Optimize existing infrastructure by identifying infrequently accessed data and automate its relocation to a lower-cost object storage tier.

Key features of Hitachi Content Intelligence include:

·         Centralizes organizational data and transforms it into valuable and relevant business information.

·         Connects to and aggregates multistructured data across heterogeneous data silos and different locations.

·         Offers flexible deployment options that include physical, virtual, or hosted (public or private cloud).

·         Handles high degrees of scalability and availability with support for distributed and dynamic cluster sizes that can burst to more than 10,000 instances.

·         Maintains data sensitivity safely and securely by ensuring that only authorized users have access to specified results with integrations to authentication services, document-level security controls, and granular access policies.

·         Delivers personalized and self-service results that are tailored to the individual user or group that accesses the data.

·         Includes extensibility with published application programming interfaces that support customized data connections, transformation stages, or building new applications.

·         Deploys with an intuitive workflow designer, administration tools, and a guided data exploration and search application.

With Hitachi Content Intelligence, organizations can now connect to and aggregate data silos, transform, and enrich the data as it’s processed, and provide analytics across all the data stored on the platform -- making it the industry’s only object storage portfolio with seamlessly integrated cloud gateway, file sync and share, and data search and analytics capabilities.

About the Hitachi Content Platform Portfolio

The Hitachi Content Platform portfolio is the only offering that allows organizations to bring together object storage, file sync and share, cloud storage gateways, and sophisticated search and analytics to create a tightly integrated, truly secure, simple and smart cloud storage solution. HCP provides massive scale, multiple storage tiers, powerful security, cloud capabilities, broad protocol support, multitenancy and configurable attributes for each tenant, all backed by legendary Hitachi reliability. Designed to reliably hold data for long durations, HCP carries built-in data protection mechanisms and is designed to fluently evolve with storage technologies without the need for tape backup. Furthermore, HCP is able to address a wide range of challenges through a thriving community of third-party software partners. HCP eliminates the need to maintain separate systems for each workload. Customers enjoy faster time to value and service providers accelerate time to market by eliminating the hassles of do-it-yourself integration.

Learn More. Join the Conversation.

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