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The global 5G trend is vigorous in 2021, WiMi Hologram expands 5G+AR/AI digital innovation and is the pioneer.
source
https://finance.sina.com.cn/jjxw/2021-09-02/doc-iktzqtyt3684273.shtml
September 02, 2021 18:09 China Jiangsu Net
The 2021 World 5G Conference with the theme of "5G Deep Cultivation, Inclusiveness and Symbiosis" was held in Beijing on August 31. The conference focused on the key words of "industry", "economy" and "innovation" to establish international exchanges and cooperation in the field of 5G. The collaborative innovation of the industrial chain aims to fully promote the integrated development of 5G vertical industries and assist the digital transformation of various industries. The World 5G Conference has witnessed and assisted the process of 5G from accelerating construction, deepening applications to integrated development, and has become an important platform for promoting global industrial development and application scenario innovation.
It is reported that the 2021 World 5G Conference involves global 5G technology cooperation, industry application standardization, 5G and industrial Internet, 5G and smart education, 5G and new audio-visual, 5G and smart Winter Olympics and other topics, which outlines the full landing of 5G in the consumer market and industry. Full-scenario planning in the field. Among them, China Xinke launched a virtual driving product, which undoubtedly became one of the "5G Innovation Zone Projects" that attracted the most attention of the audience at the conference, allowing visitors to experience the "surreal" driving experience under the vehicle-road collaborative technology. With the help of 5G and Internet of Vehicles technology, this product demonstrates a good start for the symbiosis and vigorous development of 5G and other industries, allowing users to experience the driving experience in the three scenarios of smart parks, highways, and cities, and better perceive the surrounding environment. , Improve driving safety.
China's 5G base station is about to break through one million to accelerate the transformation and upgrading of the industry.
The "14th Five-Year Plan" officially proposed to promote the deep integration of digital technology and the real economy, transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, spawn new industries, new formats and new models, and strengthen the engine of economic development. According to expert analysis, the accelerated application of new digital infrastructure represented by 5G is driving profound changes in the development model and production methods of the real economy. At present, the number of 5G base stations in China is about to exceed one million, and the number of mobile terminal connections is nearly 400 million, which represents a new level of my country's large-scale networking capabilities. In the next step, my country adheres to the principle of moderately advanced 5G network construction, matches the development path and pace of applications, and drives 5G deep cultivation and industrial integration with innovation, and uses 5G to help the construction of a network power and a digital China.
Up to now, in the progress of 5G in vertical industries, the largest and most active part is still in industry. Such as mining, electronic manufacturing, etc., and then government affairs, such as smart government, smart city construction, medical education, etc., to create 5G smart cities, 5G smart factories, 5G smart hospitals and other application cases. In this regard, 5G is being applied to various industries, consumer fields, industry industries, and social and people's livelihoods across borders. Compared with industry enterprises actively embracing 5G, individual users are still showing insufficient interest in 5G technology. In fact, mobile Internet applications are typical technology-driven applications. The user's perception needs technology and applications to lead, just like 4G compared to 3G, which solves data services, and solves data between people and things. Experience, 5G is more about solving the connection between things.
In the next few years, the entire 5G trend will be the industrial Internet, and this is bound to lead to explosive breakthroughs in AR and VR. With a sensitive market sense, WiMi Hologram takes the lead in creating a 5G+AR/VR smart business digital twin platform, leading the new era of holographic business, and building a 5G digital capability base and a digital space resource distribution platform for commercial complexes. The platform integrates leading 5G cloud network and edge computing capabilities, and launches application scenarios such as XR digital landscape, digital marketing, social comment, cloud live broadcast, and AI business big data, and cooperates with complex operators, merchants, and ecological partners to carry out digital operations. Create a new omni-channel, all-contact digital marketing model.
WiMi Hologram was established in 2015 and was listed on the Nasdaq in April 2020 under the Nasdaq stock code: WiMi.
WiMi focuses on holographic cloud services, mainly focusing on automotive AR holographic HUD, 3D holographic pulse LiDAR, head-mounted light field holographic equipment, holographic semiconductor, holographic cloud software, holographic car navigation and other professional fields, covering from holographic car navigation AR technology, 3D holographic pulse LiDAR technology, holographic vision semiconductor technology, holographic software development, holographic AR advertising technology, holographic AR entertainment technology, holographic ARSDK payment, interactive holographic communication and other holographic AR technologies. It is a holographic cloud integrated technology Solution provider.
WiMi Hologram 5G Digital Scene Consumption Potential Released, Enjoy the Cloud Experience.
The performance of WiMi Hologram's holographic AR technology in 5G is also outstanding. Recently, WiMi Hologram won the bid for China Mobile and the second phase of the holographic remote interaction of the media cloud platform, and WiMi Hologram eventually surpassed other competitors in the holographic field and communications field to win the bid. WiMi Hologram's 5G strength should not be underestimated. As a professional company for 5G communication holographic applications, it concentrates on independent R&D and investment in 5G core fields, and fully integrates 5G, AR/VR, holographic communication and other technologies. And to strengthen the close cooperation with industry partners such as China Mobile and other communication operators, it is bound to promote the application and practice of 5G holographic communication services, and help China's holographic communication applications to a higher level.
WiMi Hologram Cloud has the world's leading 3D computer vision technology and SAAS platform technology. WiMi Hologram Cloud uses AI algorithms to turn ordinary images into holographic 3D content, which is widely used in holographic advertising, holographic entertainment, holographic education, holographic communication and other fields . For example, the WiMi Hologram 5G Innovation Zone is displayed in AR in the whole space, interpreting new historical elements to empower new scenes, and performing high-precision three-dimensional space digital twin modeling. All the spatial information in the museum is restored, and a digital twin landscape based on real space is customized, which not only displays real-world information, but also displays historical information. The two kinds of information complement and overlap each other. In visual augmented reality, live audiences can see the digital world presented in the real world through 5G mobile phones, AR glasses, and AR headsets. The high-definition large screen and various surreal virtual scenes are in the same frame for interactive experience and group photos. Really feel the cool charm of black technology.
According to Sullivan Consulting, from the perspective of overall industry hardware in 2020, WiMi Hologram can be regarded as a leading holographic AR integrated application platform. In the development and application of hardware technology, establish subsidiaries to carry out production and research cooperation to jointly develop AR chip technology and VR/AR optical R&D centers; have first-mover advantages in the fields of 3D holographic pulse lidar products, VR/AR, HUD, and sensors ; In the development and use of software content, it has 195 related technology patents in AI artificial intelligence, machine recognition, model theory, video image processing technology and 3D modeling; 325 software copyrights, and more than 4600 high-quality holographic content .
With the deepening of 5G, further refine the development of 5G, not only in terms of speed, but also in terms of delay can also create new space. Just like the development and use of a new generation of mobile communication technology, the digital economy will have a relatively good feedback development. The deployment of 5G can drive a new round of growth in the digital economy. For example, 5G can also go deep into autonomous driving and telemedicine, and truly solve the problem of the connection between things, so that the connection between things can quickly catch up, and the interconnection of everything is not a dream.
WiMi Hologram: Can the layout of the meta-universe catch up with the "dawn"?
source
https://www.donews.com/article/detail/5457/32758.html
US Stock Research Agency 2021-09-02 16:23:18
"Virtual idols" are sweeping the market, and "virtual spaces" are also quietly emerging.
3D three-dimensional scene communication, various "digital images" are embedded in our lives, a series of virtual space-time collections, cross-converging to form the "meta universe".
Meta universe is parallel to the real world, but at present, ordinary mobile phones and PC terminals cannot well display the virtual scenes of the meta universe, and the 3D display technology in the AR and VR markets can well connect the real world and the virtual world. Therefore, the development of AR and VR technology directly affects the status quo of Metaverse.
On August 24, WIMI Hologram, a provider of holographic AR application technology, announced the establishment of the "Holographic Meta-Universal Division", which will deploy the research and development of the underlying holographic technology of Meta-Universe.
AR is ?, platform is a boat, can WiMi Hologram empower the construction of meta-universe? What exactly is the new concept meta universe?
The "Boom" of the meta universe continues.
In 1992, Neil Stephenson described in the novel "Avalanche": A virus called "Avalanche" can spread on the Internet or in real life, causing system breakdown and human brain failure.
The story scene in "Avalanche" describes a super-virtual time and space. Stephenson named it "metaverse", where people on different sides can work and play through each other's digital identities.
Metaverse is composed of Meta (transcendence) and Universe (universe). Through technology and other means, people in real life can live in the virtual world and conduct a series of activities such as social interaction and economic transactions.
In the past, some film, television and entertainment works have repeatedly brought Metaverse into the public's field of vision. For example, the movies "The Matrix", "Number One Player", and the animation "Sword Art Online" have all taken in the elements of the meta-universe, continued and improved their concepts, showing people a unique hyperspace virtual space.
The development of the meta-universe concept is inseparable from the promotion of AR/VR technology. Analyst Mordor Intelligence reports that the VR/AR market will be worth 17.25 billion U.S. dollars in 2020 and is expected to reach 184.66 billion U.S. dollars in 2026, with a compound annual growth rate of 48.7% from 2021 to 2026.
The AR/VR track is large enough. On the other hand, it will boost the development of the metaverse industry. The accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers predicts that the related economy of Meta Universe will usher in substantial growth, and the market size is expected to increase to US$1.5 trillion in 2030.
The meta-universe market has a bright future. Although it is in its infancy, it has been targeted by many giants. Facebook, Nvidia, and Tencent are all prominent representatives.
In July of this year, Zuckerberg announced on the earnings conference call that Facebook will transform into a "meta universe" company within five years, and will mobilize competent personnel from various business departments to promote implementation.
On August 11th, at the SIGGRAPH conference, which showcased cutting-edge graphics and image computing technologies, NVIDIA announced that the world’s first simulation and collaboration platform that provides the foundation for the establishment of Metaverse-NVIDIA Omniverse will be integrated with Blender and Adobe to achieve large-scale Expansion and will be open to millions of new users.
On August 29, Bytedance plans to invest 9 billion yuan to acquire Pico VR. Pico is a leader in the domestic VR field. According to Sina VR news, ByteDance’s acquisition of Pico may be in the same way as Internet giants such as Facebook and Tencent to deploy the meta-universe.
In addition, the "Meta Universe First Share" Roblox was valued at 4 billion U.S. dollars before the listing. After the listing, the market value soared nearly 10 times to 47 billion U.S. dollars. The market value has changed drastically, which shows the capital market's interest in Meta Universe.
It is worth noting that Tencent is Roblox's Chinese strategic partner and holds 40% of Epic Games. Tencent CEO Ma Huateng said that the mobile Internet era has passed, and the true Internet era is the future. This concept, which is similar to the "meta universe", has been interpreted as the prelude to the new era of China's Internet.
The concept of meta universe has continuously attracted the attention of the capital market. In addition to Internet giants, some small and medium-sized technology players are also ready to move. AR technology provider WiMi Hologram is an example. The layout of the meta-universe, the geometry of the holographic purpose of Weimei?
"Adrenaline" that boosts WiMi Hologram.
On April 1, 2020, WiMi Hologram officially landed on Nasdaq with an issue price of US$5.5, officially becoming the “first share of holographic AR”.
With a halo over the head, WiMi Hologram failed to win the applause of the capital. As of September 1, the share price of WiMi Hologram was reported at US$4.22, which was down from the issue price. It can be seen that the capital market reacted relatively flatly to it.
WiMi Hologram, which cannot make capital interested, will inevitably need to make "new actions" to boost the stock price. This time the layout of Meta Universe shows the determination of WiMi Hologram. On the day when the news of its entry into Meta Universe was announced, the share price of WiMi Hologram rose slightly by 3.08% to US$4.02.
In addition to wanting to catch a new round of Internet dividends, from the perspective of WiMi Hologram itself, what is the purpose of the layout of the meta-universe?
The financial report shows that WiMi Hologram's 2020 revenue was 766 million yuan, compared with 319 million yuan in the same period last year, an increase of 140% year-on-year. The numbers look good, but most of the revenue comes from the growth brought about by the Fe-da Electronics Company acquired last year.
WiMi Hologram's revenue includes AR advertising service revenue, AR entertainment revenue and semiconductor business revenue. However, its market segments performed poorly. AR advertising revenue grew by only 15% year-on-year, which was lower than the 18.4% year-on-year growth in the first half of 2020 and significantly lower than the 41.8% compound annual growth rate from fiscal 2017 to fiscal 2019.
Revenue from AR advertising is decelerating. At the same time, revenue from AR entertainment is shrinking, down 42.4% year-on-year. This part of the business currently only accounts for 3.9% of total revenue.
At present, the semiconductor business accounts for 56% of total revenue. Although WiMi Hologram has new business income, it is worth noting that the cost of selling products and third-party software development costs in the semiconductor business is relatively high, and the profit margin is low. The gross profit margin of WiMi Hologram also dropped from 54.2% to 22.1%.
The development of WiMi Hologram is facing a "bottleneck", and a new story is urgently needed to open the situation. Meta Universe has great imagination, and the advance layout of Meta Universe is the key to maintaining a leading position in the next era. Therefore, it is not difficult to see the intention of WiMi holographic layout of the meta-universe.
In addition, WiMi Hologram itself has certain technical advantages, and years of technological precipitation can help WiMi Hologram to better explore the meta-universe.
According to news from Zhitong Finance Network, in terms of Metaverse software technology, WiMi Hologram is able to embed holographic AR content into virtual applications based on imaging detection and recognition technologies; in terms of applications, WiMi Hologram has 4654 holographic virtual IP rights content. ; In terms of hardware, WiMi Hologram has launched the holographic XR head-mounted display product "WiMi Hologram SoftLight", laying the foundation for entering the meta-universe market.
Meta Universe needs AR/VR, cloud computing, AI, 5G and other advanced technology assistance. WiMi Hologram has a certain technical foundation to enter Meta Universe in the professional field. From another perspective, the essence is that WiMi Hologram raises the ceiling of its own development. Further deepen the action in the field of holography.
Jump into the "new predicament" of the meta-universe.
Entering the meta-universe is not an easy task, especially since this field is still in the exploration period, it is full of opportunities and challenges for any player who enters the game.
According to the US Stock Research Agency, WiMi Hologram will face technical and cost issues in the follow-up of its entry into Meta Universe.
One is the technical aspect. Song Jiaji, Dean of Guosheng Securities Blockchain Research Institute, once put forward in the keynote speech "Meta Universe: The Next Stop of the Internet": Meta Universe is the innovation master of the next era, and it will have a higher level of software, hardware, and network. Require.
Metaverse lacks a clear concept. Roblox has proposed several characteristics of Metaverse in its prospectus: identity, friends, immersion, everywhere, diversity, low latency, economy, and civilization. The multi-faceted characteristics lining the complexity of the meta-universe also indicate that it has very high requirements for technology.
From another perspective, Metaverse includes content system, blockchain system, display system and operating system. According to Blockchain Heisenberg Information, the technology cluster supporting the "meta universe" includes 5 parts: network and computing power technology, artificial intelligence, electronic game technology, display technology and blockchain technology.
This involves cloud computing and edge computing. According to Popov Technology Information, HD sports live broadcasts require complex procedures such as real-time monitoring of data, real-time complex calculations, and rapid response. Traditional cloud computing is faced with source site pressure and bandwidth pressure, as well as challenges in storage and latency. In the 4K mode, the data capacity is 8 times that of the general high-definition video data. Under low-latency requirements, fast processing at the edge is required. Using the current cloud computing and edge computing capabilities to contact the meta-universe can be said to be "more than enough but not enough."
In addition, Meta Universe also needs a strong communication infrastructure, as well as a large number of innovations, including content generation, economic models, interaction methods, and so on. Various technical pressures will be weighed heavily on the shoulders of WiMi Hologram.
The second is the cost aspect. Cloud computing, AI and holographic technologies are indispensable for high costs. In terms of hardware, if you want to get an immersive and open experience, you need to be equipped with corresponding high-tech equipment. The research and development of equipment requires a large amount of expenditure, which will also bring considerable pressure to the enterprise.
In the case of WiMi Hologram's financial report, R&D expenses in 2020 will increase sharply by 362.8% year-on-year to 85 million yuan, and the rapid growth of expenditures will drag down profitability. In 2020, WiMi Hologram has a net loss of 145 million yuan, which has turned from profit to loss last year.
The opening of the "Holographic Meta-Universal Division" will be a big expense, and the cash flow of WiMi Hologram's operations has also fallen from a positive 143 million yuan to a negative 66.9 million yuan. Funding will inevitably bring more pressure to WiMi Hologram.
The development of Meta Universe is a long-term strategy that requires long-term costs and heavy financial support. High cost and expenditure will continue to drag down WiMi Hologram's net profit. Whether WiMi Hologram can have enough funds to support the life cycle is a question that WiMi Hologram needs to think about.
Concluding remarks
I'm tired of listening to old stories, and telling new stories may be able to attract the attention of the capital market.
The meta-universe era has begun, and whether its concept is a false proposition still needs to be finalized by all walks of life.
"The road is long and long, and I will search up and down." The layout of the meta-universe is a big move for WiMi Hologram, but at present, the meta-universe road of its exploration is still very long.
Digital Sunac Cloud Leads the FutureTencent Cloud and ChinaSoft International High-level Exchange Meeting Successfully Held.
source
http://www.chinasofti.com/news/2256.htm
September 1, 2021
On August 27, 2021, Tang Daosheng, Senior Executive Vice President of Tencent, CEO of Tencent Cloud and Smart Industry Group, Chen Guangyu, Senior Vice President of Tencent Cloud, and Wang Feng, Vice President of Tencent, visited ChinaSoft International and met with Chen Yuhong, Chairman and CEO of ChinaSoft International , Cao Yan, Senior Vice President and President of Technology and Professional Services Group, Peng Jiang, Senior Vice President, Xiong Yong, Chief Digital Officer and Senior Vice President, Zhou Xiaoxiao, President of Internet + Business Group of Technology and Professional Services Group, etc. held talks. At the meeting, the two parties conducted in-depth exchanges based on past cooperation progress, future cooperation models and follow-up promotion methods.
Complementary advantages to help digital transformation of industry customers.
As a leading global software and information technology service company in the industry, ChinaSoft International has more than 20 years of practical experience in IT services and solutions, and has a profound experience in telecommunications, government, manufacturing, finance, public services, energy and other industries. As a digital assistant in all walks of life, Tencent Cloud has accumulated a deep technical foundation and mature product services in the industrial Internet field, and has worked with partners to launch practical digital solutions in various segments. In the past eight months of cooperation between Tencent Cloud and ChinaSoft International, the two parties have complemented each other's strengths and have deeply integrated them to jointly help enterprises in their digital transformation and upgrading.
Since the cooperation, Tencent Cloud and Chinasoft International have run into each other and have accumulated experience in many successful projects in the market. Among them, the cooperation in key projects in the government field has achieved key technological breakthroughs, and the project results have been unanimously recognized by the top leaders of both parties.
At present, ChinaSoft International has developed and implemented scenario cases based on Tencent's public cloud TRTC, iPaaS, enterprise WeChat, Tencent Conference, and TCNS, TDSQL, TSF, TKE, Coding and other products, and has cooperated with Tencent Cloud to solve the resource landing and operation The problem of coverage. The "Changsha Cross-Trade Platform" is a benchmark project jointly invested by both parties. Tencent Cloud uses the "Yunqi Base" as the carrier platform to open up Tencent's To B-end product, technology and ecological advantages to help the digital transformation of local enterprises. ChinaSoft International has used it for many years. Operational precipitation and refined operation capabilities of software-related enterprises covering the whole country. With the digital intelligence operation model of "online platform" plus "offline service", in collaboration with Tencent Cloud, it helps regional governments to promote the "cloud, use of data, and intelligence". ", gather industrial ecology, cultivate industrial talents, create industrial benchmarks, promote the deep integration of Tencent Cloud's big data, artificial intelligence and other technologies with the real economy, and accelerate the sinking of digital services to the regional market.
Become the most valuable partner of Tencent Cloud!
In the future, the two parties will further strengthen pre-cooperation such as industry research and joint solutions to lay a solid foundation for more in-depth strategic cooperation and forge ahead.
Tencent Cloud stated that the cooperation between the two parties will help Tencent Cloud take root in the industry, cultivate the region, further polish products, technologies and services, and also help ChinaSoft International realize the productization of its project capabilities. In the future, it is hoped that the cooperation between the two parties can give full play to Tencent Cloud's product advantages and technical advantages, integrate Chinasoft International's industry resources, technology and experience, and jointly plan and build forward-looking digital solutions to help more enterprises transform and upgrade.
ChinaSoft International stated that it hopes to have in-depth cooperation with Tencent Cloud. During the project delivery stage of key industries (government affairs, finance, cultural tourism, education, etc.), ChinaSoft International can serve as a partner for Tencent Cloud product implementation and customized services, and build with Tencent Cloud. Joint solutions and products. At the same time, on the basis of closer cooperation, expand cooperation in products such as Tencent Cloud, Smart Retail, Tencent Map, Tencent Medical Classic, and Qidian.
The two parties plan to carry out more in-depth cooperation in the second half of the year, summarizing and accumulating reproducible solutions and professional service capabilities based on existing projects, and focus on realizing the expansion of smart cities, cultural tourism parks, education, and government affairs.
The changes that cloud computing has brought to IT and the entire commercial market are no longer empty talks. Traditional enterprises have been able to achieve fundamental transformation in the cloud era. Large enterprises have gained a steady stream of vitality in the cloud. Small and medium-sized enterprises can obtain opportunities and development in the market faster through the cloud. In the future, ChinaSoft International will work closely with Tencent Cloud to create better public cloud services and jointly contribute to the rapid development of China's digital economy.
China Software International (00354.HK) gains 1 million shares held by controlling shareholder and chairman Chen Yuhong.
source
https://cj.sina.com.cn/articles/view/5115326071/130e5ae7702001gegj
September 01, 2021 22:55
China Software International (00354.HK) announced that on September 1, 2021, the company received a notice from its controlling shareholder, chairman and executive director, Dr. Chen Yuhong, stating that it had A total of 1 million common shares of the company were acquired on the open market on the same day. The average price is approximately HK$13.09 per share, and the total amount is approximately HK$13.09 million. The total number of ordinary shares acquired under the equity increase is equivalent to 0.03% of the company's total issued shares on the date of this announcement.
Immediately after the increase in shareholding, Dr. Chen held 378 million shares, equivalent to approximately 13.03% of the company’s total issued shares on the date of this announcement, of which 116 million shares (equivalent to approximately 3.98%) were in accordance with the Securities and Futures Ordinance "Article 317 The agreement to be disclosed is held by other parties acting in concert. The increase in shareholding reflects Dr. Chen's confidence in the company's current and long-term development and business growth.
International Datacasting Taps Verimatrix to Protect Popular Sporting Events Broadcast Across Latin America.
source
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/international-datacasting-taps-verimatrix-protect-154500396.html
Tue, August 31, 2021, 5:45 PM
IDC’s Deployment of Verimatrix VCAS Content Security Ensures Local Broadcasters Comply with Industry Standards.
Verimatrix, (Euronext Paris: VMX) (Paris:VMX),
https://www.verimatrix.com/
the leader in powering the modern connected world with people-centered security, today announced that Ontario, Canada-based International Datacasting Corporation (IDC),
http://www.datacasting.com/
a global provider of products, systems and services for the distribution of multimedia broadband content, selected Verimatrix VCAS video encryption technology
https://www.verimatrix.com/products/vcas/
to protect the airing of valuable sporting events for its broadcasting customers serving the LATAM market.
Verimatrix VCAS fortifies video content from external threats, is easily scalable, and its proven interoperability with subsystem providers (including billing, encoding, middleware and application vendors) make it the modern network security solution of choice for video solution providers such as IDC.
Highly valuable content such as live and recorded sports requires networks to employ rigorous broadcast security measures, requiring vendors and partners to offer dependable, time-tested technology and service. IDC’s selection of Verimatrix’s security for its broadcasters underscores the confidence it has in VCAS. Having previously collaborated with Verimatrix, IDC expects this latest deployment to serve as a potential springboard for additional similar deployments in the region and beyond.
"IDC is pleased to work with Verimatrix to implement encryption technology that’s clearly up to the challenge of protecting some of the world’s most heavily watched content," said Diana Cantú, VP Marketing and Sales for IDC. "Verimatrix is widely recognized as a consistently compliant solution. Plus, the Verimatrix team does an outstanding job of meeting challenging schedule requirements amid increasingly complicated global logistics. Verimatrix remains a key IDC partner for video security projects around the world and we look forward to ongoing collaboration."
"Having been tasked with securing broadcasts of some of the most highly anticipated sporting events on the planet, Verimatrix is a seasoned veteran at providing the requisite assurances that compliance is met," said Asaf Ashkenazi, Chief Operating Officer and President at Verimatrix. "We’re pleased to work with partners such as IDC to bring such adrenaline-fueled content to the masses."
About International Datacasting
Part of the Novra Group (Novra, TSX-V: NVI) International Datacasting Corporation (IDC) is a longtime global provider of products, systems and services for the distribution of multimedia broadband content. The Novra Group of companies includes Novra Technologies, International Datacasting Corporation, and Wegener Communications. The companies in the group are known for a strong focus on applications including: broadcast video and radio, digital cinema, digital signage, and highly reliable data communications.
Visit
https://www.datacast.com/
About Verimatrix
Verimatrix (Euronext Paris: VMX) helps power the modern connected world with security made for people. We protect digital content, applications, and devices with intuitive, people-centered and frictionless security. Leading brands turn to Verimatrix to secure everything from premium movies and live streaming sports, to sensitive financial and healthcare data, to mission-critical mobile applications. We enable the trusted connections our customers depend on to deliver compelling content and experiences to millions of consumers around the world. Verimatrix helps partners get to market faster, scale easily, protect valuable revenue streams, and win new business.
Visit
https://www.verimatrix.com/
Contacts
Verimatrix Investor Contact:
Richard Vacher Detournière
General Manager & Chief Financial Officer
+33 (0)4 42 905 905
finance@verimatrix.com
Verimatrix Media Contact:
Matthew Zintel
+1 281 444 1590
matthew.zintel@zintelpr.com
IDC Company Contact:
Diana Cantu
Vice President, Marketing & Sales
+1 613 596 4120 x2202
dcantu@datacast.com
At the beginning of the golden autumn, traveling with Yongcheng: Ningbo, the digital thematic pavilion is here.
source
http://www.chinasofti.com/news/2253.htm
August 31, 2026
On August 27, the Ningbo Municipal Finance Bureau officially opened the "Digital Special Pavilion", which provides professional consulting services for the full life cycle of the government procurement process. Jiefang will be gradually rolled out in key cities across the country for trial operation, and will use practice to accompany the digital transformation of Chinese government and enterprises.
The Ministry of Finance "Administrative Measures for Government Procurement Demand" Caiku [2021] No. 22 will be formally implemented on July 1, 2021. Among them, Article 11 stipulates that the purchaser may conduct demand surveys through consultation, demonstration, questionnaire surveys, etc., before determining the purchase needs, to understand the development of related industries, market supply, and historical transaction information of similar procurement projects. How to solve the compliance problem of procurement is in front of us.
Digitization/informatization projects can be said to have the dual attributes of engineering and service. In the past informatization project construction, relevant functional units have a certain degree of subjectivity in the construction of informatization, and lack certain data elements or historical cases. In particular, non-standard software is prone to problems such as unclear demand description, difficult price evaluation, and unclear performance acceptance plan.
However, most units lack technical talents in software, which places extremely high requirements on the technical capabilities of purchasers. It is easy to cause problems such as low level of informatization construction, repeated construction, and information islands, which will ultimately affect the quality of informatization project construction. It even led to a large number of complaints after the completion of the project.
Software is the core of digital government construction. The procurement of software projects is different from the procurement of goods. Difficulty in describing clear requirements and unclear acceptance plans are common pain points.
So how does the government's digital transformation avoid risks? How to break the level of knowledge and the number of investigations, and accurately evaluate the procurement targets?
The outline must be pre-defined, and the digital transformation of the government is the same. It should start from the source-procurement.
In the Internet age, to realize the reform and sustainable development of government procurement, big data is indispensable. As a new type of management resource, big data has a large volume of data, a variety of data types, and a fast flow rate. Procurement reform and development have provided new development channels and brought new procurement advantages.
- First, it can reflect the objective reality and needs of the economy and society more accurately, comprehensively, and timely, and avoid the appearance of repetitive and ineffective pseudo-needs;
- The second is to promote the openness and transparency of government procurement through the disclosure of data, improve the joint participation and procurement efficiency of all parties in government procurement, and strengthen social supervision;
- The third is to focus on the overall analysis of data, traceable to the source, so that the government procurement supervision and management department can more objectively capture the current situation and predict the future, and improve the scientific nature of decision-making;
Therefore, big data technology has broad application prospects in the field of government procurement, and making full use of big data is of vital importance to the reform and development of the government procurement system and the construction of electronic government procurement.
Chinasoft International Jiefang has many years of practical experience in the field of "Internet + government procurement". All the time, Jiefang has been actively exploring scene innovations in the integration of government procurement and new technologies such as big data, knowledge graphs, and artificial intelligence. The full-process professional consulting services in the mid- and post-harvest processes accompany the government's digital transformation, helping purchasers to achieve "clear needs, reasonable prices, proven sources, and proven contracts."
On June 30, Jiefang launched the first "Government Digital Transformation Special Pavilion" in Nanjing, providing professional consulting services and one-stop butler services for the full life cycle of the government procurement process.
Accumulation of energy and growth, on August 27, Ningbo Municipal Finance Bureau officially opened the "Digital Special Pavilion", which provides professional consulting services for the entire life cycle of the government procurement process. Jiefang will be gradually rolled out in key cities across the country for trial operation, and will use practice to accompany the digital transformation of Chinese government and enterprises.
Pre-harvest: demand counseling
Controlling the source of demand is the key first step to ensure the successful closed-loop of government procurement activities. Jiefang has a national government digital transformation case library with high quality cases, and has accumulated more than 1.4 million cases. Based on the knowledge map depiction of historical plans, apply big data + professional consulting capabilities to solve the problem of insufficient professional and technical capabilities of purchasers, provide digital intelligence services such as case description, demand investigation, intelligent sourcing, etc., in order to formulate clear and reasonable procurement requirements and standards The substantive requirements and acceptance criteria of the specification provide objective data reference.
Procurement: convenient procurement
Aiming at the pain points of the traditional government procurement process such as low efficiency, difficulty in evaluating procurement prices, high professional requirements for review, and difficulty in supervision, the "Government Digital Transformation Special Pavilion" provides full online, intelligent, and professional Internet + government procurement services. Innovative service models such as full online procurement, professional requirements sorting, open bid evaluation without meeting, and Internet expert database, realize the effective release of demand and precise supply-demand connection, and improve the efficiency of informatized government procurement management.
In addition, the electronic store model that exists in the procurement of non-standard customized software projects below the limit is not applicable, and the tendering and bidding process is too cumbersome. Through the innovation of the data + platform model, Jiefang has standardized the demand release of non-standard software procurement, supplier matching, bidding plan comparison and selection, forming a compliant and efficient software project convenient procurement process, and improving the procurement of small-rated software projects efficacy.
Post-harvest: performance management
Contracts are not the end of government procurement. Government procurement management needs to continuously run through the performance evaluation after the implementation of the contract and the system goes online. After the procurement, it will also involve many links such as project supervision, test evaluation, project acceptance, operation and maintenance management, and post-project evaluation.
Jiefanghao accumulates Chinasoft International's software engineering project management experience, provides one-stop full-process software consulting services, and realizes project visualization, quantification, and standardization through the "platform + tool" online and offline service model, and innovates government digital transformation projects Performance process management model.
The government's digital transformation is an inevitable choice for the government to adapt to the development of the times, and it is also a complex and arduous task. How to use digital intelligence services to accompany the digital transformation and empower the construction of digital government, Jiefanghao gave its answer: As an assistant to the digital transformation of administrative enterprises, Jiefanghao is committed to building a national professional software industry Internet platform through standardization The service process, advanced management knowledge system, and rich cooperation ecology provide one-stop butler service for government investment in information construction projects.
At the beginning of the golden autumn, traveling with Yongcheng, empowering digital intelligence, escorting transformation.
This year, Jiefang will also be gradually rolled out in key cities across the country for trial operation, with practice to accompany the digital transformation of Chinese government and enterprises, and inject new momentum into the development of regional digital economy. With the digital transformation of administrative enterprises, Jiefang is always on the way.
Ai Xuefeng, Member of the Standing Committee of the Shenzhen Municipal Party Committee and Deputy Mayor, and his entourage visited ChinaSoft International for investigation.
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http://www.chinasofti.com/news/2252.htm
August 26, 2021
On the afternoon of August 23, Ai Xuefeng, Member of the Standing Committee of the Shenzhen Municipal Party Committee and Deputy Mayor, Yao Ren, Deputy Secretary-General of the Shenzhen Municipal Government, Sha Yan, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and General Manager of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Deputy Director of the Shenzhen Local Financial Supervision and Administration Bureau Shu Yumin and his entourage visited Chinasoft International and held discussions with Chinasoft International Board of Directors and CEO Chen Yuhong, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors He Ning, and Senior Vice President Peng Jiang. The two sides held discussions on topics such as promoting the high-quality development of software companies in Shenzhen and exploring the support path of the capital market.
Standing Committee Member Ai Xuefeng pointed out that the current period of strategic opportunities for the rapid development of the software industry, the in-depth integration of software and application scenarios will surely promote the creation of more new models and new formats, and continue to increase the added value of the industry. ChinaSoft International should grasp the pulse of the times, achieve leapfrog development with root technology and other research and development, and contribute to the development of the software industry. ChinaSoft International's return to A-shares can make use of the domestic capital market to better develop. The Shenzhen Stock Exchange will help ChinaSoft International accelerate its pace through enhanced interaction and guidance. At the same time, it is hoped that Chinasoft International will plan a larger development pattern in Shenzhen and penetrate into cutting-edge fields such as technology research and development and innovation. Shenzhen is a strong city in the information industry, centering on the four-in-one information industry of capital, talents, customers, and industrial markets, it will create a broad and inclusive space for innovation and development for enterprises with the city's genes full of vitality and success.
Chen Yuhong first welcomed the arrival of the Standing Committee of Ai Xuefeng and his entourage, and introduced the company's development. The company has been established for 25 years. It has always maintained rapid growth, sustained profitability and persisted in transformation. It has become an honest and developed enterprise. After two years of unremitting struggle, the company's development has begun to take shape. In the third decade, the company is committed to achieving the goal of 30 billion in revenue in 2023 and 100 billion in market capitalization in the two markets, and it will take about 10 years to reach 100 billion in revenue, realizing "one of a kind" in the global IT service market and striving to enter The market value of global software service companies ranks among the top ten. Through three growth curves, build a quality, valuable, and meaningful business portfolio development formation:
- H1 software outsourcing business is exported by "software factory", "digital factory", etc., becoming a high-quality free cash flow business;
- H2 cloud intelligent business is high-speed Growing, positioning the largest independent third-party cloud service provider, digital transformation expert, continuing to deepen the main industries and upgrading solutions, truly liberating IT productivity;
- H3 business force Hongmeng, turning the position advantage into a competitive advantage, becoming the main force in the construction of intelligent Internet of Things Army, deeply participated in the ecological construction of OpenHarmony and AIoT, and opened up the second battlefield of the company's 2C and integrated software and hardware business.
ChinaSoft International is firm, resolute, and insists on being an excellent member of the "New Long March of Innovation and Technology" team. It is also one of the earliest HiLink ecological enablement service providers and one of the initiators of OpenHarmony. It is also the first Huawei Cloud "Together in the Same Boat" partner, and Huawei Cloud Kunpeng Lingyun partners, openGauss open source community members and contributors. Based on OpenHarmony, AI and atomization technology base, ChinaSoft International will combine its own R&D capabilities, service capabilities and business foundations to cooperate in AI capability construction, atomization service construction, promotion and operation, etc., technology complementarity, achievement sharing, and business sharing. Win, and jointly promote the development of AI and atomization. In the future, ChinaSoft International will deepen its “root technology” and give full play to its own advantages and industry-leading role in the national strategic framework such as strong software foundation and technological independence.
ChinaSoft International plans to return to the A-share listing and has now entered the counseling stage, striving to achieve a double increase in performance valuation through financing to promote production, as well as rapid reinforcement of its industrial layout and its own capabilities. Shenzhen is one of the three major bases of Chinasoft International. The company plans to set up an A-share listed company headquarters in Shenzhen. At the same time, it will establish a high-growth innovative business with great development potential in Shenzhen, and strive to achieve a scale of tens of billions of deep output within three years. At present, the blueprint for the construction of four major bases in Shenzhen has been initially formed: the cloud headquarters base and Huawei jointly innovate cloud intelligence and other cutting-edge fields to create a cloud industry highland; the intelligent Internet of Things base builds the core ecology of domestic operating systems and builds the AloT technology highland; high-end talent base will Become a cradle for nurturing independent core scientific and technological talents such as Alot and Xinchuang, and assist Shenzhen's high-end human capital and intellectual capital supply, and build a highland of root technical talents; the ecological investment base plans to establish an industrial investment fund with the government, guiding funds, investment institutions, etc. Ecological capital highland.
The investigation by the research team has added greater confidence and motivation to Chinasoft International's transformation and development. In the future, ChinaSoft International will continue to uphold the values ??of "being honest and determined to be persistent" and believe in the power of "belief". Our goal must be achieved, and our goal must be achieved!
New Video - Mounting the Smart Mirror
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Testing your Teneo Conversational AI Solution with Botium.
source
https://www.artificial-solutions.com/blog/testing-your-teneo-conversational-ai-solution-with-botium
August 24, 2021
We are always looking to strengthen the capabilities of our Teneo platform
https://www.artificial-solutions.com/teneo
by seeking partnerships that help our customers enhance their solutions and boost productivity. Teneo is an open, customizable platform that allows customers to connect with their preferred tools (back-end and front-end systems, channels, RPA, etc.) throughout the different stages of development using Teneo Connectors.
https://developers.artificial-solutions.com/resources/backend-connectors/power-automate
In this article, we are focusing on the importance of end-to-end testing and why it is vital to ensure that chatbots function correctly and meet the expectations that have been bestowed on them. While auto-testing in Teneo allows you to perform quality assurance tasks during the development and maintenance of a Teneo solution, you may wish to perform end-to-end tests before you release your bot to ensure the bot behaves as intended, the answers provided are as expected and the integrations work as anticipated. For this reason, we’ve partnered with Botium.ai
https://www.botium.ai/
to create a connector
https://developers.artificial-solutions.com/studio/test-your-bot/test-your-bot-with-botium
that allows developers to use their product for end-to-end testing solution. Botium is a quality assurance framework that was specifically developed for regression testing of chatbots, including Teneo chatbots.
So, if you want to know more about how to start testing your Teneo chatbots with Botium, this post is for you.
In case you are new to using Teneo, the first thing you need to do is register to get a free sandbox environment at
https://developers.artificial-solutions.com/signup/?utm_source=botium&utm_medium=article0821
o get your first solution up and running you can follow the following tutorial:
https://developers.artificial-solutions.com/getting-started/your-first-solution
After you have your solution running you move on to testing with Botium.
Start testing with Botium
The first step is indeed to log into your Teneo Studio and make sure that you have published the chatbot you’d like to work with. Once you have accomplished this step, you will get a URL that opens the chatbot you have built in a sandbox environment. After that, your Botium Box account is waiting for you to set up the first smoke test.
?? Regression testing
is done to make sure that the new deployments or changes in the conversation flow did not have any negative side effects on the existing functionalities. It is nothing but a full, or partial selection of already executed test cases, which are re-executed to ensure existing functionalities work fine.
In this test type, Botium is testing directly against Teneo, directly against the NLP engine in use, or bot-building platform. This is the advisable starting point for testing conversational AI.
?? Why?
At API level, you can execute enormous test sets in just a few seconds, so the most burning problems will occur at this point. One important difference between traditional Software Testing and Chatbot Testing is the size of the test sets. Talking to a chatbot usually has no barriers (button-based bots are exceptions), as the user can say anything to a bot. This peculiarity might result in infinitely large test sets.
You start by selecting your chatbot channel in our Quickstart Wizard. There’s a card including the logo and description for every technology. Botium supports more than 45 technologies and one of them is Teneo, of course.
So, go for it
Once you have chosen the Teneo channel, you will need to copy the URL from Teneo Studio to connect to your chatbot. It is rather easy to check if the credentials and the connection have been set up, as you can simply say hello to your chatbot, and receive an answer in case everything is working fine. The next step in the Botium Quickstart Wizard is to always compose your tests. For a simple smoke test, you can use the visual test case editor.
?? Be familiar with the capabilities of your chatbot.
Before composing your test, you must be aware of the limitations of your bot, the intents it should recognize and the structure of the conversation flow behind it.
In this case, we know that the demo Barista bot we are currently using is a funny folk and can tell us some jokes. So, we can just simply ask him to entertain us. You can send every request to the bot in clear text, using the visual text case editor. No coding or scripting is required. The same is valid for the bot answer. You can assert for every possible reply, no matter if it’s just text or more fancy stuff, like cards, carousels, buttons, voice etc. We save the test project and execute the tests by hitting the start session button. You have about enough time to take a sip in your coffee until the results arrive on the test cases tab. If the bot replies as expected, then everything is green, the test passes and we get back the joke expected.
To take things from here one step further, we can easily integrate the tests in every continuous integration and delivery pipeline. For every single project created in Botium Box, we are also generating a webhook, curl and cli command that can be triggered from your pipeline.
CI/CD pipeline integration
?? What’s the benefit?
Whenever you do a commit, or any changes in your conversation model or your UI, you can trigger your test project. To showcase this solution, we are using Jenkins, but it is working with every pipeline orchestration tool.
In Jenkins, we create a new item. Click on the freestyle project and define when to execute the tests. Our suggestion is to time these tests when the git repository gets changed, but you can also just add (with cron expressions) a specific time slot. The last thing we have to do in Jenkins is to add a built step. Therefore we could just say execute a shell command and so we go back to our Botium Box and copy the generated curl into Jenkins. Apply and Save! This means that from now on, these tests will be executed (in our case at 8:30), with the results being delivered both back to Jenkins and Botium. This small smoke test is of course far away from an entire regression testing, where we need to cover all possible paths through our conversation model, but a great start!
Let’s take things further with E2E testing
Let’s emphasize our efforts to make test automation fast and easy. For E2E testing we go through our Quickstart Wizard again. As usual, we select our chatbot channel, compose or choose our test sets and tell Botium where to run the tests E2E.
?? The main purpose of E2E Testing is to test from the end user’s perspective by simulating the real user scenario and validating the system under test and its components for integration and data integrity.
You can run these tests in Botium against a browser farm to test all your preferred browser types and versions in parallel. Or, against a device cloud provider, to test on all your clients preferred smartphones and tablets. Botium Box integrates with major device cloud providers. Or, for a simple smoke test it might be already sufficient to use the headless Chrome included in Botium Box. To shake things up, this time we show you how you can compose tests by recording your own voice. After finishing the Quickstart Wizard, Botium Box will open a live chat session. After you have a conversation with your bot, you can just save it as a new test case and execute them anytime you want. Botium also takes screenshots of the conversation, enabling you to have a look at the chat happening in the real environment.
To run the tests E2E, Botium Box will use Selenium and Appium in the background. In spite of that, you don’t need to write a single line of code. Botium will generate all the tests based on your chat recording.
We recently co-hosted a webinar in which you can see a demo of live E2E testing of a Teneo solution using Botium.
To watch it on-demand just click here.
https://www.brighttalk.com/webcast/17594/484772?utm_source=ArtificialSolutions&utm_medium=brighttalk&utm_campaign=484772
"Industrialization + Digitalization", Zhuyou Intelligent Manufacturing Technology Joins Glodon.
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https://finance.sina.com.cn/stock/hkstock/ggscyd/2021-08-24/doc-ikqcfncc4751340.shtml
August 24, 2021 18:22 Sina Finance
On August 24, the strategic cooperation conference between Zhuyou Smart Manufacturing Technology and Glodon was held in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Zhengzhou and Changsha through online conferences. At the meeting, the two parties announced the relevant details of Glodon's shareholding in Zhuyou Intelligent Manufacturing Technology, shared the future cooperation plan of the two parties, and answered questions from analysts, investors, and the media.
Hu Baosen, the controlling shareholder of Zhuyou Zhizao Technology and Chairman of Jianye Group, Liu Weixing, Chairman and Executive Director of Zhuyou Zhizao Technology, Guo Weiqiang, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, Wang Jun, Non-executive Director, Yu Dayou, Chief Financial Officer Official Hu Zhenbang; Chairman Diao Zhizhong, President Yuan Zhenggang, Vice President and General Manager of Investment Management Department Fu Yonghui, Assistant President and General Manager of Innovation Center Zhu Xiaoyu attended the press conference.
Glodon acquires shares in Zhuyou Zhizao Technology and becomes the second largest shareholder.
At the press conference, the two parties introduced the relevant details of the cooperation based on the official disclosure announcements of their respective listed companies.
According to the information, Glodon intends to subscribe for 300 million shares issued by Zhuyou Zhizao Technology through its Hong Kong subsidiary with an investment of 288 million Hong Kong dollars, at a subscription price of 0.96 Hong Kong dollars per share, accounting for 9.67% of the issued share capital of Zhuyou Zhizao Technology after the issuance. After the subscription is completed, Glodon will become the second largest shareholder of Zhuyou Zhizao Technology.
Hu Baosen said that the cooperation between Jianye and Glodon has been around for a long time. As early as 2019, the two sides started cooperation in the construction of enterprise digital platform system and achieved good results. Glodon’s shareholding in Zhuyou Intelligent Manufacturing Technology is a milestone in the cooperation between the two parties from the business level to the strategic level. The two parties will form a new CP in the construction industry of "industrialization + technology", centering on the national "14th Five-Year" digital planning, Macro strategies such as carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, and the transformation and upgrading of the construction industry, aim at the new track of digitalization of prefabricated buildings and start the joint operation of digital business of prefabricated buildings. It is expected that the cooperation between the two parties will bring more valuable and imaginative solutions to the digitalization of China's construction industry, and empower and increase efficiency for the transformation and upgrading of the construction industry and the high-quality development of the real estate industry.
Diao Zhizhong said that if the construction industry wants to get rid of the traditional extensive development model, it needs to be guided by digital technology, with new building industrialization as the core, information technology as the effective support, and the deep integration of industrialization and information technology to create green buildings. The transformation of industrialization and refinement represented by prefabricated buildings, and digital construction is the inevitable direction of the transformation and upgrading of the construction industry. In the era of carbon neutrality and labor shortage in the construction industry, prefabricated buildings, due to their inherent standardization and industrialization characteristics, are the development trend of the industry and are expected to be the first to achieve full digitalization. This time Glodon has joined forces with Jianye Group and Zhuyou Intelligent Manufacturing Technology. It is hoped that through the bond of capital, they will give full play to their respective advantages, and jointly carry out technical co-construction around new design, new construction, and new operation and maintenance in the construction industry. The level of refinement and digitization of the construction industry contributes to the realization of the industrialization, digitization and green development of the construction industry.
New CP in the construction industry-"Industrialization + Digitalization".
Glodon's shareholding in Zhuyou Smart Manufacturing Technology is the first step for the two parties to carry out in-depth strategic cooperation. It is also the first attempt by a construction industry company to form a new CP of "industrialization + digitalization" with a software business enterprise.
As an innovative high-tech enterprise focusing on the entire industrial chain of prefabricated buildings, Zhuyou Zhizao Technology has 44 green building technology parks in 16 provinces and cities across the country. Its business covers PC components, decoration, gardens and other businesses. Its parent company.
Zhuyou Group also has prefabricated building design, construction, smart home and other business links, forming a complete closed loop of the entire smart building industry chain.
Glodon's business covers design, cost, construction, operation and maintenance, supply and procurement, parks, finance, universities, investment and mergers and acquisitions, and other fields, covering tool software, solutions, big data services, mobile apps, cloud computing services, and smart hardware equipment , Industrial financial services and other business forms, has provided nearly 100 professional application products and services for 310,000 corporate customers, participated in the construction of more than 6 million projects, and more than 10 million end users. It is a leading company in the digitalization of the domestic construction industry.
Both parties said that this cooperation is a good attempt for the two parties to collaborate on industry exploration. Glodon has rich software research and development resources and practical experience in the vertical field of the construction industry, and Zhuyou Zhizhi Technology has outstanding performance in the exploration and business application of the entire industrial chain of prefabricated buildings. Through this strong alliance, they will use their respective advantages to explore digital solutions for the prefabricated construction industry, and will provide the industry with more valuable digital products in the future.
Aiming at the new digital track of the construction industry.
At the press conference, representatives of both parties also introduced their respective companies and their next cooperation plans.
In particular, it is worth noting that the focus of the future strategic cooperation between the two parties will be around the digitalization of the construction industry, and "digitalization" is one of the key contents of the national "14th Five-Year Plan".
The National Fourteenth Five-Year Plan pointed out that it is necessary to create new advantages of the digital economy, give full play to the advantages of massive data and rich application scenarios, promote the deep integration of digital technology and the real economy, empower the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, and give birth to new industries, new business models and new models. Strengthen the new engine of economic development; implement the "cloud and use data to empower intelligence" action to promote data-enabled coordinated transformation of the entire industry chain.
As a pillar industry of the national economy, the construction industry has always had a low degree of overall digitalization. Currently, the prefabricated construction industry vigorously promoted by the country has a huge demand for digital products such as operating system development. According to the national plan of "prefabricated buildings occupy 30% of the newly built building area each year", it is foreseeable that prefabricated buildings will be a trillion-scale market. With the further improvement of the national digital policy, the digital development and application of prefabricated buildings The scene is vast.
When introducing the cooperation plan, the business representatives of the two parties also stated that the next step of the digital cooperation between the two parties will cover the entire industrial chain of prefabricated buildings, explore and realize the data integration and series connection of various business ecology, and work together to create a digital overall solution for the prefabricated building industry.
Selected in MSCI China Index and Hang Seng Composite Mid-Cap Index ChinaSoft International has been recognized by global investors.
source
http://www.chinasofti.com/news/2250.htm
August 24, 2021
On August 11, MSCI announced the results of the quarterly assessment of the stock market index for August 2021; on August 20, the Hang Seng Index announced the results of the quarterly review of the 2021 benchmark index and thematic index. The announcements respectively showed that ChinaSoft International Co., Ltd. (00354.HK) was successfully selected into the MSCI China Index and the Hang Seng Composite Mid-Cap Index.
The MSCI index is an investor reference index launched by the American index compiling company MSCI. It is one of the most influential stock indexes in the world and an international stock benchmark widely adopted by institutional investors. According to MSCI estimates, in North America and Asia, more than 90% of institutional international equity assets are based on the MSCI index. According to a Merrill Lynch/Gallup survey, about two-thirds of continental European fund managers use MSCI as their index provider. The MSCI index is also the subject of mutual funds, and is licensed to evaluate funds, research and proprietary products related to the index. The MSCI China Index is designed to measure the performance of large and medium-sized stocks in the Chinese market. Its constituent stocks generally include companies that have operating entities in China, are large in scale, have good liquidity, and have good operating performance and development potential.
The Hang Seng Composite Index is one of the important indexes in the Hong Kong stock market. The index provides a comprehensive Hong Kong market benchmark, covering 95% of the highest total market value of securities listed on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The Hang Seng Composite Index is calculated using the weighted market capitalization method, which can be used as a benchmark for index funds, mutual funds and performance measurement. The Hang Seng Composite Mid-Cap Index is an important sub-index in the Hong Kong Hang Seng Composite Index. According to the existing regulations of Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect, the constituent stocks of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange Hang Seng Composite Large-Cap Index and Hang Seng Composite Mid-Cap Index fall within the scope of Southbound Stock Connect.
Since its listing, ChinaSoft International has continued to grow in performance and its market value has steadily increased, and it has been favored by investors around the world. Relying on its excellent operating performance, huge development potential brought about by cloud transformation, and active market liquidity, the company has successfully selected the MSCI China Index and the Hang Seng Composite Mid-Cap Index in this quarterly adjustment of the MSCI Index and the Hang Seng Composite Index.
In 2021, the company upholds the core values ??of "being honest and determined to be persistent", seizes the opportunities of industrial digitization, and continues to demonstrate the fighting spirit and enterprising spirit of the Chinese Digital Railway Army. The company has been ranked as Gartner's global IT service market share TOP100 for three consecutive years, and its ranking has risen by 8 places over last year to 87, which strongly reflects the value of China's technology-based software and service enterprises. The company's inclusion in the MSCI China Index and the Hang Seng Composite Mid-Cap Index fully demonstrates the wide recognition of Chinasoft International as a leading IT service company in China and the high recognition of the company's growth and business transformation results. The inclusion of these two indexes is expected to bring higher market attention, considerable incremental capital and continuous improvement of stock liquidity to the company.
Looking to the future, the company will continue to cultivate its internal skills, build a quality, valuable, and meaningful business portfolio development formation, upgrade the cornerstone business with the software factory model, build a new growth curve around the cloud intelligence, HarmonyOS and other businesses, and continue to create value for shareholders , Moving forward vigorously towards the goal of a technology-based software service company that is "one of the most in the world", and to become the world's Chinasoft International!
In the first half of the year, it made a huge profit of 8.3 billion. Can ChinaSoft International, which relies on core users, continue to break the game?
source
https://finance.sina.com.cn/jjxw/2021-08-24/doc-ikqciyzm3335707.shtml
August 24, 2021 16:49 Interface News
On the evening of August 23, Chinasoft International, a domestic cloud management service provider, released an interim performance report for 2021 as of the end of June this year.
In terms of fundamental data, during the period, revenue and net profit matched each other, and revenue and net profit achieved new breakthroughs compared to the same period last year.
However, when the Hong Kong stock market opened the next day, ChinaSoft International's stock price opened higher and lowered, and once fell 4.09%.
At present, ChinaSoft International, which focuses on the transformation of cloud services, has made breakthroughs in smart cloud services, and Jiefang's business model is also continuously evolving and upgrading. Not long ago, ChinaSoft International joined hands with Poly and MCC Baosteel to commit to the digital transformation of enterprises to achieve intelligent upgrades. How is Chinasoft International's one-stack path from cloud application to cloud use?
Through this new financial report, you can get a glimpse of the cloud transformation of Chinasoft International, the “domestic IT service brother”.
The transformation of the cloud industry is accelerating, and Chinasoft International relies on "services" to break through
During the reporting period, ChinaSoft International achieved revenue of 8.34 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 37.7%, slightly higher than market and analyst expectations.
The feedback is at the gross profit level. During the period, Chinasoft International's gross profit reached 2.294 billion yuan, a decrease of 39.1% compared to the previous year. What can be found is that the gross profit rate reached 27.5%, an increase of 0.3% year-on-year.
In terms of net profit, during the period, ChinaSoft International's net profit reached 518 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 29%.
At present, ChinaSoft International’s main revenue sources are divided into two parts, Technical Professional Services Group (TPG) and Internet Information Technology Services Group (IIG). During the period, TPG revenue reached 7.374 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 42.2%. IIG revenue was 966 million yuan, an increase of 10.6% year-on-year.
On the one hand, the domestic cloud industry chain structure is changing. In the cloud market, Huawei Cloud’s market share in China’s IaaS and PaaS in the first quarter increased by 2.4 percentage points year-on-year to 10.9%. According to media reports, as of August 6, Huawei Hongmeng users With more than 50 million users, Huawei will increase its user target from 300 million to 400 million by the end of this year. As Huawei's long-term IT service partner, ChinaSoft International may benefit from the rapid growth of Huawei Hongmeng.
In July of this year, ChinaSoft International and Huawei joined hands again, and ChinaSoft International signed a CLA and officially joined the Huawei openGauss open source community.
On the other hand, the number of large customers with service income has grown rapidly. During the period, in the past 12 months, there were 152 large customers with more than 6 million yuan, of which 2,956 were registered government users, and the number of active government users 318 companies, an increase of 52.2% year-on-year, and the steady growth of major customers provided guarantee for Chinasoft International's revenue.
However, ChinaSoft International’s reliance on major customers has not improved, but has tended to increase. In the first half of 2020, ChinaSoft International’s top five customers accounted for 71.3% of revenue, and the top ten customers accounted for 76%. During the reporting period, the top five customers accounted for 72.4%, and the top ten customers accounted for 72.4% of revenue. The ratio is 78.7%, mainly from core users such as Huawei, the government, and financial industry banks.
For ChinaSoft International, which pursues a major account strategy, changes in core customers will affect Chinasoft International’s performance and revenue. The previous divestiture of Honor from Huawei’s system can also illustrate this point well. The major account strategy is more like a one for ChinaSoft International. A double-edged sword.
In addition, sales and service costs account for a relatively large proportion of total revenue. During the period, sales and service costs reached 6.047 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 37.1%, accounting for 72.5% of total revenue. This also means that Chinasoft International is still facing the situation of "high investment for high growth" to a large extent. At present, The competition in the cloud market has changed. Whether ChinaSoft International can continue to undertake the "investment for growth" strategy will still need time.
In addition, in the cloud management service market, the competition faced by Chinasoft International cannot be underestimated. Recently, IDC released a report on the market share of China's third-party cloud management services in 2020. Chinasoft International ranked second with a market share of 6.8%, but Accenture firmly occupies the top position in the market.
How does ChinaSoft International "stack" the 100 billion track?
In order to change the status quo, as early as 2018, Chinasoft International has begun to develop cloud intelligent business. Now, the certainty of cloud intelligent business has become the second growth curve of Chinasoft International. In March of this year, ChinaSoft International participated in SaaS company's six-degree human and billion yuan financing, which was also interpreted by the market as ChinaSoft International's further deployment of cloud intelligent business.
According to IDC's latest "China Cloud Professional Service Market Tracking (2020H2)" report, the company ranks first in the two market segments of the cloud professional service market, "Cloud Migration Service" and "Cloud Development Service".
Based on the financial report, during the reporting period, ChinaSoft International pointed out that the main growth driver of service revenue was the rapid development of cloud intelligence business. As of the end of June, revenue from service revenue reached 8.259 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 38.3%.
On the one hand, the demand for the cloud in the entire market is expanding, especially in the park, retail, automotive, government, and financial industries. Take the park industry as an example. At present, ChinaSoft International has cooperated with more than 270 smart park ecological partners and 128 hospital park ecological partners. Service.
In order to meet the needs of customers in industries such as parks and retail, ChinaSoft International has established a closer ecological cooperation relationship with Huawei Cloud, becoming the first overseas SaaS business partner of Huawei Cloud in the Middle East.
In fact, the cloud intelligence business is also an extension of Chinasoft International's own business. The deployment of intelligent cloud business has certain basic advantages. During the reporting period, the total number of employees of Chinasoft International reached 83,178, which is an increase of 22.3% compared with 67,992 in the same period last year. It can also reflect the R&D strength of ChinaSoft International from the side.
In addition, the future development potential of the cloud market is constantly being released. According to industry data, in 2019, companies will probably migrate about 20% of their applications to the cloud, but by 2025, companies will migrate 85% of their applications to the cloud. In this way, the development space of the cloud service market is extremely broad.
As a cloud player, Alibaba Cloud has taken the lead in achieving profitability for several consecutive quarters, providing confidence for the development of domestic players. On August 3, Alibaba announced its latest quarterly financial report. Among them, Alibaba Cloud’s quarterly revenue was 16.051 billion yuan and adjusted net profit expanded to 340 million yuan.
However, the cloud intelligence market faces no less competition than the cloud management service market. Take the smart park track, IDC pointed out that in 2019, China's smart park digital investment exceeded 160 billion yuan, and the compound annual growth rate of this figure will exceed 20% in the next three years.
In addition, the annual expenditure on cloud research and development and investment is huge. China Telecom plans to spend 59.7 billion yuan in cloud-related investment by 2023. For Chinasoft International, if it wants to accelerate the pace of cloud intelligence, Related research and development and investment are inevitable.
It should be noted that the growth of cloud intelligence has not been converted into income very well, in other words, there is no ideal realization effect. Cloud intelligence business belongs to IIG. During the reporting period, IIG business accounted for 11.58% of total revenue. The rapid development of cloud intelligence has not been well transformed into revenue growth.
Concluding remarks
In the new round of financial reports, ChinaSoft International can be said to have delivered an answer that exceeded expectations. Although the market ranking has not changed during the period, it ranks first in the industry in terms of market growth rate, but it depends on core major customers or ChinaSoft International’s future. Disadvantages of development.
As of August 24, among the 17 relevant constituent stocks, only Chinasoft International, Mobvista, Fubo Group and Flow Holdings are still in the rising stage. This may indicate that the capital market is optimistic about the long-term potential of Chinasoft International.
With the development and iteration of a new generation of information technology, in the post-epidemic era, my country has further strengthened its determination to develop a digital economy from policy and strategy levels. The pace of digital transformation in various industries has accelerated significantly, and the demand for IT services has shown an increasing trend, serving as a track For the first-tier players, ChinaSoft International still has the ability to "Nuggets" in the future.
WIMI Announces the Establishment of The Holographic Metaverse Division, Laying out the Metaverse Underlying Holographic Technology Research And Development.
source
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wimi-announces-establishment-holographic-metaverse-100000162.html
Tue, August 24, 2021, 12:00 PM
WIMI Hologram Cloud (NASDAQ: WIMI), a leading holographic AR application technology provider in China, today announced the establishment of the "Holographic Metaverse Division" to develop the underlying Metaverse holographic technology and to explore the "next generation Internet".
Metaverse reflects human beings' exploration of the essence of things and the origin of the universe, and their pursuit of an idealized world. The essence of "Metaverse" is an open virtual world, which requires the support of hardware and software conditions to serve many users through the Internet with high coverage and excellent network quality, so as to ensure the basic operation and content production of this virtual world. WIMI set up holographic Metaverse Business Division mainly to develop the hardware and software of the underlying holographic technology and further expand the application of holographic technology in the Metaverse scene.
1. In terms of Metaverse software technology, WIMI embedded holographic AR content into virtual applications based on imaging detection and recognition technology, template matching and detection technology, video processing and recognition technology, holographic 3D layer replacement technology in imaging recognition and dynamic fusion processing technology in imaging tracking. WIMI's holographic AR content and holographic imaging services based on image detection, recognition, template matching, dynamic image fusion and replacement will generate commercial value in Metaverse commercial applications.
2. In terms of Metaverse holographic applications, WIMI has a comprehensive holographic IP equity content library, and virtual holographic content covers from 3D models to holographic virtual products. WIMI owns a total of 4,654 holographic virtual IP rights that can be used in WIMI's holographic AR products and solutions, covering a wide range of categories, including holographic anime, virtual live streaming, virtual idol and virtual social. WIMI's virtual assets will generate business value in Metaverse.
3. In terms of Metaverse holographic hardware, WIMI has launched its holographic XR head-mounted display product "WIMI Hologram SoftLight", which has been licensed by FFC and approved to enter the US market. This accelerated iteration in image color management, interfacing devices, and the feel of the wearing experience will lay the groundwork for WIMI in the Metaverse headsets market.
WIMI has developed industry-leading holographic AR technologies such as 3D visualization and a comprehensive Software-as-a-Service ("SaaS") platform. WIMI can facilitate the visualization of high-resolution photorealistic product renderings on a pixel basis. The Company's holographic AR business customer base covers a wide range of industries, including advertising, entertainment, education, and telecommunications. With the widespread use of Metaverse, WIMI expects the holographic cloud industry toexperience exponential growth in turn.
Since commencing its commercial operations in 2015, WIMI has evolved into a leading provider of comprehensive holographic cloud solutionsin China. The Company has established sophisticated systems to develop holographic AR technologies, produce and store holographic AR content, and commercialize AR-based holographic services and products. In China, as of December 31, 2020, WIMIowned195registered patents covering technologies for image processing and display, model input or output, and 3D modeling,325 registered software copyrights, and over 4,600pieces of ready-to-use AR holographic content that is of the highest quality and an industry-leading grade of simulation.The Company's revenues for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020,were RMB766.0 million (US$117.4 million), representing an increase of approximately 140.0% from RMB319.2 million in the fiscal year 2019, and it launched its semiconductor business in the second half of the year.
About WIMI Hologram Cloud
WIMI Hologram Cloud, Inc.(Nasdaq: WIMI), whose commercial operations began in 2015, is a holographic cloud comprehensive technical solution provider that focuses on professional areas including holographic AR automotive HUD software, 3D holographic pulse LiDAR, head-mounted light field holographic equipment, holographic semiconductor, holographic cloud software, holographic car navigation and others. Its services and holographic AR technologies include holographic AR automotive application, 3D holographic pulse LiDAR technology, holographic vision semiconductor technology, holographic software development, holographic AR advertising technology, holographic AR entertainment technology, holographic ARSDK payment, interactive holographic communication and other holographic AR technologies.
For more information, please visit
http://ir.wimiar.com/
China Software International (00354) interim profit attributable to shareholders increased by 29% year-on-year to 518 million yuan.
source
https://finance.sina.com.cn/stock/hkstock/hkstocknews/2021-08-23/doc-ikqcfncc4572915.shtml
At 21:50 on August 23rd, 2021 Zhitong Financial Network
China Software International (00354) announced the results for the six months ended June 30, 2021. The group achieved revenue of RMB 8.34 billion, an increase of 37.7% year-on-year; company owners Attributable profit was 518 million yuan, an increase of 29% year-on-year; basic earnings per share were 18.92 cents.
2021 is the implementation year of the company's strategic plan SP301, a new beginning for the company to "draw a blueprint to the end", and also a year for the company to tackle tough problems. In the post-epidemic era, in the face of new opportunities in the digital economy, the company is united, calm and honest, to achieve sustained and stable business development. The company's interim net profit increased by more than 30%, a new high since its listing. The company's technical service and solution business is progressing steadily, the cloud intelligence business is developing rapidly, and Hongmeng and other new businesses are ready to go. Toward the third ten-year development plan, the company is determined to persevere, continue to surpass, and gather The majestic power before!
During the reporting period, the company's cloud intelligence business accelerated its development. The company firmly adheres to the strategic positioning of "cloud management and cloud native, understands the cloud and understands the ecology", launches the multi-cloud management platform CloudEasy, builds cloud intelligent service capabilities covering the full life cycle, and provides customers with cloud consulting, cloud brokerage, cloud migration, cloud Management, industrial cloud operation and maintenance and cloud native services, the customer base has covered biomedicine, manufacturing, education, pan-Internet and other value industries.
During the reporting period, IDC, a world-renowned information industry research institution, released "Insights into China's Cloud Professional Services Market, 2020H2", and the company ranked fourth, among which "cloud migration services" and "cloud development services" in the cloud professional services market Both market segments ranked first. At the same time, the company's cloud products and cloud solution businesses have achieved rapid growth in many areas such as parks, finance, telecommunications, retail, transportation, and education.
What Are the Benefit’s of Capstone’s Fitness Mirror vs. Subscription Models.
source
https://capstoneconnected.com/smart-mirror-workout/
August 20, 2021
SMART MIRROR WORKOUT
Part LCD and part mirror, Capstone’s smart mirror functions as an interactive home fitness device that you can use to quickly and easily stream on-demand exercise classes. As you work out, you’ll be able to see your reflection to double-check your form. Not only will you get a broad range of full-body classes for any fitness level that you can take in the comfort of your own home, but it also doubles as a full-length mirror that offers a modern and sleek design. But, what sets Capstone’s smart mirror workout apart from subscription-based models?
Read on to find out.
1. Touch Screen Capabilities
Many smart mirrors that offer workouts don’t have touch screen capabilities. However, Capstone’s smart mirror workout does. It allows you to quickly and easily flip through workouts, ask questions, and see your answers displayed across the screen. What’s even better, you can find out all about the weather or commute as you do your workout without losing your spot.
If your average subscription workout mirror offers the ability to check on the weather or your commute, it typically pauses your workout to bring these things up. While this isn’t a dealbreaker, it can disrupt your workout routine and make it take longer to finish.
2. Multiple Profiles
When you buy a subscription-based workout plan to use with your smart mirror, it’s typically meant for one person. This means that it can be hard to get customization options to suit different fitness styles if one person predominantly uses it and someone at a different fitness level comes in and tries to find a suitable workout.
Capstone’s smart mirror workout plan gives you several different profiles that you can set up and access using voice technology through the Hub. You can switch back and forth between them as you need, and you’ll get tailored workout plans based on your preferences and fitness levels. These profiles are also secure, so you don’t have to worry about accidentally going into someone else’s profile and screwing up their chosen workout videos or categories.
3. Bluetooth Pairing
Even though your average smart mirror has come a long way in recent years, many of them still don’t offer the opportunity to pair with your phone through BlueTooth. While this may not be a dealbreaker for you, it can be handy when you have to leave the room and realize that you forgot to pause your workout. Instead of going back, you can pause it over BlueTooth and keep going to your destination.
If you don’t have this feature in your smart mirror, you’ll have to do a lot more manually. For example, you’d have to pause your workouts by physically pushing the pause button and pushing the button again to start them. This can waste a lot of time that you could be using to work out, and you may not get the full benefits of the mirror this way.
4. Not Locked Into Certain Video Amounts or Types
When you purchase a subscription to a smart mirror workout session, you could end up locked into certain videos or styles. If you want to change or get access to more videos, you could find yourself buying a higher subscription tier or looking for add-ons to help make your workout more fulfilling. While this does work, it can quickly make it more expensive than you originally bargained for, especially if you have several people using it.
When you use Capstone’s smart mirror workout, you don’t have to worry about subscription tiers. Just having the mirror gives you access to thousands of different workout videos that range from amateur to professional levels. You can also do yoga one day, cardio the next, and a high-intensity workout to get your blood flowing in the morning before you take on the day. You won’t pay more because your preferences or wants change either, and each profile can take advantage of this fact.
5. Thin Cast™ Technology
Capstone’s Thin Cast™ technology gives you the ability to pair your smartphone and control and gain access to all of the apps or widgets on your smartphone. So, you can sync up a playlist to go with your morning workout to keep you motivated and on-task, and you can share your smartphone screen to the mirror without it storing any of your sensitive data. So, if you want to work out and look at something on your phone without breaking your concentration, this mirror allows this.
On the other hand, most subscription-based smart mirror services don’t allow you to share your smartphone’s screen, apps, or widgets with the mirror. They’re separate devices, and there’s no way to feasibly swap out screens. So, you have to stop your workout each time you want to look at your phone to check something. This can get annoying, especially if you’re waiting for something important that requires periodic checks.
6. Access Your Voice Assistant
Finally, Capstone’s smart mirror workout lets you access your preferred voice assistant while you have it on. You can easily tell your voice assistant to check the weather, change out your music preferences, search online, check the local news, double-check your commute, and much more. What’s even better, you can do all of this while keeping your workout rolling along smoothly. The answers will display on the side of the mirror.
When you get a subscription-based smart mirror, it may not allow you to connect with voice. So, you have to stop whatever workout you’re doing to search for the relevant information. Again, this may not seem like a big deal at the time, but it can be very frustrating when you’re short on time, and you need to slip a workout in before you run out the door for the day.
Try Capstone’s Smart Mirror Workout Today
If you’re looking for a high-tech and responsive smart mirror to take on a host of morning tasks and allow you to squeeze in a workout, this is one to try. You’ll gain access to thousands of workouts for all levels, and you can work out wherever the mood strikes you.
Advantages of a Touch Screen Mirror Explained.
source
https://capstoneconnected.com/touch-screen-mirror-capstone-connected/
August 13, 2021
Today, every device seems to come with a ‘smart’ version of it available. There are smart TVs, smartwatches, smart speakers, smart fridges, and even smart lighting. One interesting device to consider is a smart mirror with a touch screen.
A Smart Mirror is a two-way mirror that has a display built behind the glass. The display with a touch smart mirror can show you anything on the surface of the smart mirror. This includes the weather forecast, current time, upcoming appointments, news feed, and much more. These mirrors come in all sizes ranging from full bathroom mirrors to small table mirrors.
If you’re wondering whether or not you should purchase one of these products for yourself and what the benefits are of having a touch screen mirror, this is for you.
We’ve rounded up the biggest benefits for you below.
1. Longevity
Even though smart mirrors have been around for a few years, this is still a relatively expensive purchase. However, the sheer longevity of a touchscreen mirror is a huge bonus to help offset the initial costs. They typically last longer than devices or computers with other input peripherals like a mouse and keyboard. Some touchscreen products can last for hundreds of thousands of touches. So, you’ll get several years of use out of it once you buy it.
2. Increased Productivity
You could notice a positive increase in your productivity after you purchase a touch smart mirror. You can conveniently and easily perform a range of tasks on your smart mirror, and this can boost your productivity levels. For example, you may answer and see emails as you get ready in the morning, check your presentation or notes, and check-in with your team. This can make you a more valuable team player, and it can allow your business to yield better profits.
3. Ease of Use
One large advantage a touch screen has over other devices with different input methods is the ease of use. The traditional mouse and keyboard combination is very familiar, but reaching out and touching icons on a screen is a very short learning curve. This includes people who don’t come from a computer-heavy background. This interface can reduce the time you spend sorting through tasks since this interface requires less concentration to use than a keyboard and mouse.
4. Speed
A touch screen mirror increases the speed at which you go through tasks. When you pick up a mouse or touch a trackball, there is always a few seconds where you have to find the pointer, adjust your movements to match the mouse acceleration, and more. A touch screen lets you pick icons directly without worrying about controlling the horizontal movements of the mouse on a vertical computer screen. This can reduce your response time by as much as 20%, and this allows you to get through processes faster.
5. Assistive Technology
A touch screen mirror is very valuable when it comes to accommodating any user who has a physical issue that could make using a traditional keyboard and mouse hard to use. For example, users who have arthritis could find it challenging to type on a standard keyboard or use a mouse. By being able to directly access any icons, you need on your screen could be much easier for someone with arthritis or physical challenges.
6. Very Responsive
Most devices with this type of screen are very responsive, and this includes to the lightest pressure touches that trigger the touch command. However, some devices are much more responsive than others. For example, the most responsive devices on the market are capacitive devices. This allows you to hover your finger over the device without actually touching the screen to trigger your chosen command. Resistive devices aren’t as responsive, but they’ll typically register your touch with very light pressure.
7. More Available Commands
You’ll usually get more commands with this type of device than you’ll get with a non-touchscreen device. A lot of touchscreen devices give you multi-touch technology that allows you to pinch the screen to zoom in or out. This is one of the most popular commands that multi-touch technology supports. A touch screen mirror also allows you to have multiple users with secure profiles that you can switch through using voice commands. So, multiple people can work at one time without a problem.
8. Durability
Different types of touchscreen technology offer a large range of protective features. The screens that power this technology typically have a glass or a hard surface with a coating on it. This material type makes them very easy to clean between uses without causing any damage, and multiple people can use it, and you can clean it between uses without a problem. The sealed surface is also very durable and resistant to wear and tear, even with heavy use.
9. Versatility
A touch screen mirror is a very versatile product, and this allows you more freedom that you wouldn’t get with other computers or devices. For example, you can hang this mirror up in your bathroom without worrying about it getting damaged by moisture, heat, or humidity. You also don’t have to set aside a large amount of space for it since you can mount it directly on the wall without a problem.
Try a Touch Screen Mirror Today
These mirrors are quickly gaining in popularity with households around the world. No matter if you want to check the commute, local weather, or take a glance at your emails while you’re getting ready, having one of these devices allows you to do all of this and so much more. They’re intuitive, responsive, and very easy to use.
You can look around at some of the higher-end products on the market and see which one will benefit you the most. You can buy it, mount it on the wall or set it on a tabletop, and start using it right away to see all of the ways it can benefit you.
Glodon acquires a 33% premium in Zhuyou Zhizao Technology (00726.HK).
source
https://cj.sina.com.cn/articles/view/5115326071/130e5ae7702001fz6w
August 20, 2021
On August 20, Zhuyou Intelligent Manufacturing Technology Group Co., Ltd. (stock code: 0726 HK), a listed section of Zhuyou Group, issued an announcement stating that Zhuyou Intelligent Manufacturing Technology intends to cooperate with Glodon Technology Co., Ltd. signed an equity subscription agreement. Glodon intends to subscribe for 300 million shares issued by Zhuyou Zhizao Technology through its Hong Kong subsidiary with a capital of 288 million Hong Kong dollars, at a subscription price of 0.96 Hong Kong dollars per share. It accounts for 9.67% of the issued share capital of Zhuyou Zhizao Technology after the issuance.
It is worth noting that as of the close of the market on August 20, the share price of Zhuyou Zhizao Technology was HK$0.72, and the purchase price (HK$0.96 per share) exceeded the current share price by 33%.
The 2021 semi-annual report of Zhuyou Zhizao Technology shows that for the year ended June 30, 2021, the company achieved operating income of HK$594 million in the first half of 2021, a year-on-year increase of 48%; gross profit of HK$170 million, a year-on-year increase of 185%, net Profits increased by 185% year-on-year; mid-year surplus funds were HK$490 million, a substantial increase of 94% year-on-year; the main business income of PC components and patent licenses reached HK$498 million, a year-on-year increase of 35%, showing solid performance Growth trend.
In addition, the announcement also pointed out that Glodon is a leading company in the construction engineering information market in China. The business cooperation and synergy potential between the two parties is huge, which may generate higher economic and operational efficiency and increase investment returns. The announcement disclosed that the two parties agreed that the 90 million Hong Kong dollars in the raised funds will be used for digitalization and software development related to the construction industry.
Public information shows that Glodon’s business covers design, cost, construction, operation and maintenance, supply and procurement, parks, as well as finance, universities, investment and mergers and acquisitions, and other fields, covering tool software, solutions, big data services, mobile apps, cloud computing services , Smart hardware equipment, industrial financial services and other business forms, has established more than 80 subsidiaries around the world, serving customers in more than 100 countries around the world, and has provided nearly 100 professional application products and services to 310,000 corporate customers.
Zhuyou Intelligent Manufacturing Technology is an innovative high-tech enterprise focusing on the entire industrial chain of prefabricated construction, and is also the first listed company in the prefabricated construction industry. The company's main business is prefabricated construction, smart gardening and smart decoration. It has deployed 44 smart digital factories in 46 provinces across the country. The company has always adhered to the development strategy of "leading technology", has the industry's world-leading five core technology systems, has mastered core technologies such as BIM, Internet of Things, big data, and artificial intelligence in the field of smart construction. The number of independent research and development patents has consistently ranked first in the industry. One.
"Accelerating digital development and building a digital China" is an important part of the country’s 14th Five-Year Plan. With the in-depth advancement of new-type urbanization and construction industry supply-side reforms, the future development prospects of digital construction industry are broad. The joint entry of ministries and enterprises may mean that the start-up of the new track of digital construction in the construction industry has begun.
The third-party cloud management service market is growing steadily.
source
http://www.chinasofti.com/news/2243.htm
August 20, 2021
IDC recently released the "Report on China's Third-Party Cloud Management Service Market Share, 2020". Data shows that China's third-party cloud management service market has maintained steady growth, with a market size of US$680 million, a year-on-year increase of 21.4%. ChinaSoft International ranked second with a market share of 6.8%, and its market size increased by 40.1% year-on-year. It ranked first among all manufacturers in terms of growth rate, and was recognized by the market for its strong service capabilities and growth vitality.
The enterprise's demand for the cloud has gradually evolved from simply using and managing the cloud, thereby enabling business development and innovation. As the enterprise's focus shifts to the application level and the company's overall strategic level, this requires cloud management services Businesses need to have full life cycle services from the overall project planning and consultation of customers to the cloud to deployment, migration, and operation and maintenance.
ChinaSoft International has built a CloudEasy series of cloud service product platforms covering the entire chain of "cloud, cloud management, and cloud native" for enterprises, and has built a full life cycle cloud management service capability, and continues to make efforts in the cloud management service market.
CloudEasy CBP cloud business platform provides rich cloud service operation capabilities for IDC, pan-government, and industry customers. Through pre-integrated multiple business models, organizations can quickly have multi-cloud unified operation capabilities; CloudEasy CMP cloud management platform realizes enterprise multi-cloud management through one-click management , Improve the efficiency of cloud resource management and operation and maintenance; CloudEasy CAP cloud application platform simplifies the digital construction process of customers through open "building blocks" thinking, and accelerates business innovation.
While actively building product and service capabilities, ChinaSoft International continues to explore ecological co-construction. As the first partner of HUAWEI CLOUD to help each other in the same boat, HUAWEI CLOUD partner competence centers are deployed in nearly 20 provinces and cities, and the cumulative number of service providers exceeds 3,000. It is the first to become a strategic partner of Tianyi Cloud, providing integrated cloud access and rich resources for government and enterprise customers. Enterprise cloud services; in cooperation with Tencent Cloud, the implementation of service capabilities will be introduced to Tencent Cloud Qianfan Zhongtai as a standard product. In addition, ChinaSoft International is also making continuous efforts to build multi-cloud service capabilities around AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud to expand overseas markets.
After the baptism of the epidemic, the third-party cloud management service market in China will continue to maintain a strong growth trend in the future. IDC predicts that the compound growth rate of the market will exceed 40% in 2020-2025. ChinaSoft International and Huawei Cloud are walking together, entering the core track of China's cloud service market, and co-constructing Kunpeng and Hongmeng ecosystems with Huawei and other partners. Facing the future, ChinaSoft International will continue to strengthen its own advantages in cloud services, join hands with more ecological partners, integrate emerging technologies such as 5G, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things, to empower customers in an all-round way with ecological power.
Series: Four perspectives you shouldn’t miss when selecting a Conversational AI platform – #2 Tool Selection.
source
https://www.artificial-solutions.com/blog/series-four-perspectives-you-shouldnt-miss-when-selecting-a-conversational-ai-platform-2-tool-selection
August 19, 2021
As part of a series, Daniel Eriksson, Chief Innovation and Customer Success Officer at Artificial Solutions, gives insight on important aspects of a conversational AI platform
https://www.artificial-solutions.com/teneo
that buyers often overlook. In this second post, he will focus on the importance of language support and localization when choosing the ideal Conversational AI platform.
Language Support & Localization
What is “language support”?
What does language support really mean in the conversational AI world? It is actually an important question to think about before evaluating a CAI-tools.
A conversational bot’s output – what the bot is saying – is almost always written by the implementor. It is like a manuscript written by your team that the bot follows. There can be variations of output generated by the bot that allows for a little more natural conversation, but most clients have a bot for a specific domain or purpose, so the degrees of freedom are fairly small. What the bot is saying to the users is largely designed by the bot development team. Therefore, the bot’s output is very controlled. So, in terms of output – language support does not mean that much – it can simply be that the specific language characters do not become garbled in the output. To help with the output, a bot development tool might have libraries available for some generic output like social talk and standard responses.
In short – conversational language support has very little to do with what the bot is “saying to” your users.
Language support is almost entirely about how the bot can support and map INPUT for a specific language. Can the bot accept Cyrillic characters without spitting out an error message? Can the bot split a sentence in Japanese to identify the verbs, nouns and adjectives? Can the bot, without training, classify words or phrases in a Spanish sentence?
What is important for a bot developer is that the language supports help them build bots for a specific language. So can the bot platform for a specific language “accept an input and annotate (add metadata)” so that the developer can make use of this to design a good conversational bot experience.
Different conversational AI platforms might claim to support German. But for one platform it can mean “the bot accept German characters” and for the other “the bot has an extensive annotation of words, phrases, concepts, entities, and pre-built knowledge in German”. Always try to read behind the simple description of a products language support. And think about what languages
https://www.artificial-solutions.com/blog/artificial-solutions-expands-conversational-ai-platform-84-languages
your company need to deploy bots in.
What is “localization” and how is it valuable?
Most companies today want to roll out successful conversational bot implementation in more than one language. This happens from different reasons. Sometimes businesses operate in countries or regions like Switzerland with several official languages, or they want to expand their market and deploy a bot in a neighbouring country. You can even say that deploying the same bot in two different channels like phone and Facebook messenger might require two different “languages” or at least tonalities.
Now here comes the tricky part – how do you develop and maintain a bot which is MOSTLY the same but in two or more languages? Do you just copy it and try to maintain two or more parallel solutions? Anyone who has tried this knows that this is a recipe for failure, or at least very inefficient and resource demanding way of working.
One solution to this problem is called “localization”.
Localization means you can create a master solution and then localize it for each specific language/region. The localized solution is linked to the master solution so that updates and changes can be propagated (under change control) to the local solutions.
Localization is not only about languages. If the same conversational bot flow needs to support two different back-end systems for two different regions – then localization should support that feature as well. You need to be able to make variations to the local implementation, without losing the benefit of the link to the master solution.
For most companies with an international outlook, consider the benefits of requiring your conversational AI development platform to support localization. Think about what languages support and variations you need long term, and make sure the toolset you chose gives your room to grow.
Author: Daniel Eriksson
Website: https://www.artificial-solutions.com/
Daniel Eriksson joined Artificial Solutions in December 2020 as Chief Innovation and Customer Success Officer. He has 15 years of Business Development and Technology Leadership experience, the last 7 of which has been spent in the automation and Conversational AI space. Daniel has a Master of Science in Engineering Physics at the Royal Institute of Technology as well as Masters in Business and Economics at the Stockholm School of Economics. He lives in Stockholm, Sweden.
Zhuyou Zhizao Technology's interim results released: operating income increased by 48%, net profit increased by 185%.
source
https://cj.sina.com.cn/articles/view/2311077472/89c03e6002001qdfr
August 12, 2021 20:40 The Voice of Securities Daily
On August 12, Zhuyou Group's listed company segment-Zhuyou Zhizao Technology Group Co., Ltd. (stock code: 07726.HK, hereinafter referred to as "Zhuyou Zhizao Technology") held a 2021 interim results conference, and disclosed at the meeting The results of the 2021 interim performance of Zhuyou Zhizao Technology were reviewed, and the questions that investors were concerned about were answered. Guo Weiqiang, executive director and chief executive officer of Zhuyou Zhizao Technology, and Hu Zhenbang, chief financial officer, attended the press conference.
The picture shows Guo Weiqiang, executive director and chief executive officer of Zhuyou Zhizao Technology.
Steady improvement in performance
Net profit increased by 185% year-on-year.
From the perspective of financial data, Zhuyou Zhizao Technology achieved operating income of HK$594 million in the first half of 2021, a year-on-year increase of 48%; realized gross profit of HK$170 million, a year-on-year increase of 51%, and net profit a year-on-year increase of 185%; mid-year balance of funds was 4.9 Billion Hong Kong dollars, a substantial increase of 94% year-on-year; the main business income of PC components and patent licensing reached 498 million Hong Kong dollars, a year-on-year increase of 35%.
The steady growth of core financial indicators such as revenue scale, profitability, and capital reserves indicates that the company has continued to improve in terms of growth, stability and risk resistance.
The steady growth of performance in the first half of the year was mainly due to the correct corporate strategy. Under the guidance of the smart home smart manufacturing strategy, Zhuyou Smart Manufacturing Technology has firmly established the corporate mission of smart building a better life and the corporate positioning of "Smart Building Total Solution Service Provider" , With "new situation, new thinking, new model and new growth" as the general work policy, comprehensively promote the construction of the entire industrial chain of prefabricated buildings. At the same time, give full play to the company's scientific and technological research and development advantages and the professional capabilities of the entire industry chain, and continue to promote the realization of business performance goals and the steady growth of various core indicators.
Significant operating results
The scale effect is prominent.
It is worth noting that in the first half of the year, Zhuyou Intelligent Manufacturing Technology has achieved good results in factory operations through focusing on operations and promoting high-quality development. The company's new business growth points have been tapped, and the scale effect is becoming increasingly prominent.
In terms of factory operation, Zhuyou Smart Manufacturing Technology signed a new PC contract of 1.568 billion yuan in the first half of 2021, a year-on-year increase of 369%; the factory's output in the first half of the year reached 154,600 cubic meters, a year-on-year increase of 24%; the factory’s on-hand order reserve was 549,100 cubic meters , A year-on-year increase of 73%; TOP30 customers accounted for 32% of PC orders, and successfully won the bid for the annual centralized procurement of 9 units including China City Alliance, China Construction Third Engineering Bureau, China Construction Eighth Engineering Bureau, Zhengzhou Vanke and Hunan Poly, which is a performance increase Provided a strong guarantee; 4 commercial concrete stations in Dengfeng, Ruyang, Queshan and Yuxi were put into operation smoothly, contributing new business growth points.
In terms of scale effect, Zhuyou Intelligent Manufacturing Technology continued to exert its efforts in the entire industry chain. In the first half of the year, the company achieved a total contract value of 2.601 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 477%, of which the newly entered decoration and garden business in the second half of 2020 achieved a contract value of 5.19 100 million yuan. The scale of the factory layout is steadily advancing. In the first half of the year, 1 new investment agreement was signed (Shipeng, Foshan), 1 new asset-light factory (Renqiu, Hebei), and 3 new production factories (Dengfeng, Qijiang, Huidong) were all realized. Profitable, with a total of 18 production plants (including Tongxu Decoration Industrial Park). As of June 30, 2021, the company has deployed 44 green building technology parks in 16 provinces and cities across the country.
Carrying the banner of the industry
Juli Digital Intelligence and Ecological Platform Construction.
As a "intelligent building overall solution service provider", Zhuyou Intelligent Manufacturing Technology insists on "leading technology". In the first half of the year, a number of cutting-edge achievements in the industry were launched, and the effect of digital intelligence empowerment is obvious. The “Thirteenth Five-Year” national key R&D project undertaken by the company passed the acceptance of the expert group. Among them, the subject of "Automatic Combination Forming Technology and Equipment for Wall Panel Components Reinforcement Framework" was evaluated by the review expert group as "the overall results of the project reached the international advanced level"; MES2.0 was launched in 5 factories, which greatly improved operation efficiency; Intelligent mold arrangement system 1.0 realized a 75% increase in operation efficiency. The parent company successfully held the awarding ceremony and opening ceremony of the national post-doctoral scientific research workstation. The company was awarded 4 honors such as the small giant enterprise in Hunan Province and the specialized and new small and medium-sized enterprises in Henan Province.
In addition, in the first half of the year, Zhuyou Smart Manufacturing Technology also held the Zhuyou Home Smart Manufacturing Ecological Conference based on the overall development trend of the industry’s entire industrial chain. The industry leader is the first to explore a complete industry ecosystem platform and promote industry cooperation and win-win”, which has received wide attention from the industry.
Focusing on future development, Guo Weiqiang, executive director and chief executive officer of Zhuyou Zhizao Technology, said: “The national macro-control policies put forward new requirements for real estate development companies and also pose new challenges to the construction industry. The country’s 14th Five-Year Plan is in progress. The'green ecology' indicator and the national carbon peak and carbon neutral strategic goals have brought unprecedented development opportunities to the prefabricated construction industry. Zhuyou Smart Manufacturing Technology will adhere to the'Fourth' under the guidance of the Smart Home Strategy Big focus' (focusing on R&D breakthroughs, focusing on design leadership, focusing on scientific investment, focusing on organizational efficiency), while doing a good job in business operations, continue to build an ecological cooperation platform for the whole industry chain to collaborate and win-win, through the "technology sharing, standard co-construction , Industry’s win-win approach, and work with companies in all sectors of the industry to promote the coordinated development of the entire industry chain; continue to explore and apply green buildings and digital intelligence technologies to help China’s new urbanization and prefabricated Contribute to the achievement of its carbon peak and carbon neutral strategic goals."
ChinaSoft International and MCC Baosteel Unlock a New Model of Enterprise Digital Transformation.
source
http://www.chinasofti.com/news/2241.htm
August 16, 2021
Under the macro vision of Industry 4.0 and Made in China 2025, smart manufacturing has become an inevitable trend in the development of the manufacturing industry. If my country is to develop from a big steel country to a strong steel country, the digital transformation and upgrading of the steel industry as a pillar industry of the national economy is particularly important.
As the only core subsidiary of MCC Group with metallurgical operation services as its core business, MCC Baosteel provides full-process, all-weather, full-industrial chain, and full-lifecycle metallurgical operation services to nearly 30 domestic and foreign steel companies. In order to ensure the implementation of digital transformation, MCC Baosteel and ChinaSoft International recently signed the "Digital Transformation Strategic Cooperation Agreement" at the China Metallurgical Operation Service National Team Theme Pavilion. Bai Xiaohu, Member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee and Vice President of China Metallurgical Group, attended the signing ceremony. Wang Zhenzhi, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of MCC Baosteel, delivered a speech. Cooperation agreement.
ChinaSoft International and MCC Baosteel have a deep insight into the development trend of digitalization, combined with their respective business characteristics, and explored an enterprise digital transformation and upgrade route with intelligent operation as the core. This is a successful practice and model innovation in the current industrial digitalization field.
ChinaSoft International has deeply explored the digital transformation needs of steel companies, taking the main bottleneck of the operation and maintenance business as the breakthrough point, and guided by intelligent maintenance and intelligent diagnosis, based on the intelligent maintenance mode and intelligent diagnosis technology innovation of the whole process information, to realize the maintenance from the scene And fault diagnosis depends on the transformation of planning and experience to relying on the status of equipment and knowledge system; the transformation from the post-disposal of emergencies and emergency resources to real-time visualized accident handling and command decision-making.
At the same time, it integrates enterprise cloud, data, business process engine and other content, establishes the main intelligent operation platform to provide comprehensive capability support for the overall digital service, and forms the digital base on which the intelligent operation business depends to meet the needs of various intelligent business applications. Realize an intelligent business model and service system centered on data assets.
ChinaSoft International actively cooperates with MCC Baosteel to jointly carry out intelligent operation and maintenance research. Based on the intelligent operation and maintenance main platform under the new IT governance system, it has opened up multi-dimensional information domains such as finance, human resources, production, and office management, and established The enterprise digital base of "integration of industry and finance, comprehensive management and control". And on this basis, build an intelligent digital pipeline from equipment condition monitoring, fault intelligent diagnosis, maintenance site management and control, to realize the informatization, standardization, and digitization of the entire production and maintenance project; complete the intersection of video monitoring, remote command, and big data analysis Docking, realize the overall visibility, control, and manageability of the process of the production site, and improve the on-site management and emergency response capabilities; technical support for the construction process based on BIM, VR, AR and other technologies. Through intelligent and digital transformation, gradually realize the transformation of manufacturing enterprises from "treating the disease" to "preventing the disease", forming a unique intelligent operation and maintenance system, building the core competitiveness of the enterprise, and higher quality steel Corporate customer service.
ChinaSoft International firmly believes in the company's sustainable intelligent and digital transformation as the track, with the goal of forming a reproducible and scalable intelligent operation of the steel industry, and by continuing to promote the construction of intelligent operation, to build a complete structure and operational level Significantly improved, an integrated intelligent operation system with a complete intelligent foundation provides strong support and guarantee for the intelligent, high-quality and sustainable development of steel enterprises, and also contributes to the intelligent operation of the industry and the industrial chain.
Refined and intelligent operation management of manufacturing enterprises is the core demand of digital transformation, and it is also an important opportunity for enterprises to transform and optimize digital business processes. Based on enterprise digital transformation and upgrading and related system construction and operation with intelligent operation as the core, ChinaSoft International will gradually realize the standardization and digitization of enterprise intelligent operation, effectively support the digital transformation of the industry, and unlock a new model of enterprise digital transformation.
Inagene and Aspiria team up to improve mental health care for post-secondary students.
source
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/inagene-aspiria-team-improve-mental-100000897.html
Mon, August 16, 2021, 12:00 PM
With student mental health issues on the rise from COVID-19, effective treatment has never been more important as students return to campus
Canadian pharmacogenetic (PGx) testing provider, Inagene Diagnostics Inc., has partnered with Student Assistance Program provider Aspiria Corp., a CloudMD company, to provide post-secondary students with more personalized mental health support as they return to school this fall. The pandemic-driven mental health “echo pandemic” has significantly hit Canadian youth and after more than a year of uncertainty, social isolation and missed milestones at home, students need access to the right support tools to succeed both academically and personally in the coming, critical years of their lives.
“Students are returning to in-person or hybrid learning following a 17-month long period of stress, with many facing new or worsening symptoms of depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD),” said Eric Rubel, Vice President, Clinical Experience at Aspiria Corp. “Together with Inagene, we can offer students a clearer path to the treatment of these conditions, providing both the tools and resources they need to better manage their mental health. Expanding our services to offer PGx testing helps us ensure that we are providing students with effective, personalized care to help speed recovery.”
Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, the prevalence of positive screens for major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and probable PTSD reached record levels, and were over three times higher among young adults than among older adults.
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/210318/dq210318a-eng.htm
If not treated quickly and effectively, students can soon find themselves in a discouraging downward spiral of worsening symptoms, medication “trial and error,” and troublesome side effects, all of which can negatively impact academic performance. Poor medication experiences can also drive treatment adherence issues and present the risk of students resorting to self-medicating with street drugs or alcohol. With reports of record suicide attempts and substance abuse issues fueled by the pandemic,2 many parents are particularly concerned as their children return to school or leave home for university this fall.
Every individual is unique in how they respond to different medications. Studies show that up to two out of three individuals fail the first treatment prescribed for mental health conditions like depression and anxiety, leaving them spending weeks, months or even years in a cycle of “trial and error” with multiple drugs and doses.2 “But with innovations in genetic testing, this doesn’t have to be the case,” said Nancy White, CEO of Inagene Diagnostics Inc. “With PGx testing, students can gain insight into which medications will be most compatible with their DNA. The test report acts as a personalized roadmap of which drugs and doses are likely to work best and which to avoid, enabling more targeted and personalized treatment.”
“Youth struggling with depression and anxiety coming out of a tough year deserve the best chance for a speedy recovery,” says White. “A personalized treatment plan can make the difference between a schoolyear spent struggling with ongoing symptoms and side effects, and doctor visits, or a year spent focusing on re-connecting with friends and achieving academic success.”
Aspiria takes a personalized approach to student assistance programs and counselling services, starting with an extensive assessment process that tailors the plan to each individual student, matching them with a therapist in less than 5 business days. Incorporating PGx testing to complement Aspiria’s counselling services further enhances the personalized approach, helping to get to the right, holistic treatment plan faster to speed recovery.
About Inagene Diagnostics Inc.
Inagene™ Diagnostics Inc. is a CLIA accredited Canadian pharmacogenetic testing company located in Toronto. Inagene’s Personalized Insights™ tests focus on providing comprehensive and reliable genetic tests to guide drug selection and treatment. Learn more at:
https://inagene.com/
About Aspira Corp.
Established in 2003, Aspiria Corp. is a mental health solution-based company that provides Employee and Student Assistance Services to over 750 organizations in the employer and education sectors. Servicing over 1 million employees, students, and families, Aspiria is known for its quality services, excellent customer service, and high value it provides to its clients. Learn more at:
https://aspiria.ca/
About CloudMD Software & Services
CloudMD (TSXV:DOC) is revolutionizing the delivery of healthcare by providing a patient-centric approach, with an emphasis on continuity of care. By leveraging healthcare technology, the Company is building one, connected platform that addresses all points of a patient’s healthcare journey and provides better access to care and improved outcomes. Through CloudMD’s proprietary technology, the Company delivers quality healthcare through a holistic offering including hybrid primary care clinics, specialist care, telemedicine, mental health support, educational resources and artificial intelligence (AI). CloudMD’s Enterprise Health Solutions Division includes one of the top 4 Employee Assistance Programs in Canada and offers one comprehensive, digitally connected platform for corporations, insurers and advisors to better manage the health and wellness of their employees and customers. CloudMD currently services a combined ecosystem of over 7,000 psychiatrists, approximately 4,500 therapists and counsellors, approximately 4,000 psychologists, over 22,000 family physicians, over 34,000 medical specialists, over 1,500 allied health professionals, over 500 clinics, and over 5 million individuals across North America. Learn more at:
https://investors.cloudmd.ca/
Note to Editors:
For further information please contact:
Samantha Campana, Agnostic
scampana@thinkagnostic.com
Transcript from the webcast - Smart Mirror Update.
source
https://sec.report/Document/0001575705-21-000538/
Published: 2021-08-16 15:04:28
Submitted: 2021-08-16
Filing Agent: Premier Financial Filings LLC
Period Ending In: 2021-08-13
Operator
Greetings, and welcome to Capstone Connected Smart Mirror Update.
As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.
It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Amy Brown, Corporate Secretary for Capstone Companies, Inc. Thank you, Amy. You may begin.
Amy Brown
Thank you, Operator and good morning to everyone. On the call today is Capstone's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Stewart Wallach. During today's call, Mr. Wallach will be sharing an update on the Capstone Connected Smart Mirror Program.
As you are aware, we may make forward-looking statements during today's presentation. These statements apply to future events which are subject to risks and uncertainties, as well as other factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from where we are today.
With that, I'll turn it over to you, Stewart.
Stewart Wallach
Thank you, Amy and good morning to everyone. I appreciate you joining me today.
As I've stated in the past, your Capstone management strives to communicate as openly and honestly as possible. At all times our communications are framed by real information that is both substantive and material. I felt today's brief webcast was in order, as communications subsequent to our May 18th webcast have been sporadic and have triggered speculation regarding our Smart Mirror Program availability.
At that time, we expected deliveries would be right around the corner. The testing phase was the only hurdle line before us, and it was anticipated this would be completed such that shipments would commence at the end of Q2. We obviously missed that milestone as the testing laboratory, which operates both in China and Thailand, were significantly impacted by severe COVID outbreaks.
The governments are reactive to any sign of COVID activity because vaccines are limited and quarantining is really their primary defense. If they elect to shut down a region, it happens immediately and with little notice. We have lost four to six weeks of factory time over the past few months. Currently, the factory is operational, but on a limited workforce.
While delays were incurred, we were not idle. We continued with development and initiated manufacturing and assembly to the extent allowable prior to receiving the formal approvals. For the record, the testing and certification process was stated to be five weeks in duration. However, due to the outbreaks in these regions, 12 weeks have passed. We have been advised this week, the product testing is in the very last stage and the required factory inspection will immediately follow.
Based on this most current information, it is anticipated that shipments will commence before the end of August. We will, regardless of the cost, fly in the first round of inventory as previously committed to. As the largest Capstone shareholder, I'm acutely sensitive to the frustrations that investors are all experiencing with the delay of the product launch. Rest assured, your management has never lost sight of its goals and have taken proactive steps to maximize the program potential for the balance of 2021.
In addition to the testing timelines, supply chains have been impacted and logistics, costs, and space availability have presented challenges as well. To help mitigate the supply chain bottlenecks going forward, we have placed component order as well in advance, which will enable us to produce an estimated 3,000 mirrors in Q3. Depending on the customer demand in the weeks ahead, we are prepared to further commit to long lead time components for an additional 2,000 mirrors for Q4 production.
Frankly, there is no playbook for the adversity we have faced as a company during the pandemic. Many companies have simply closed their doors as they face defeat in these difficult times. I think is important for all of us to recognize that the Company has not only survived this global crisis, but is on the verge of launching its most impressive innovation in the Company's history. The fact that we are soon to enter the smart home market with our Capstone Connected Smart mirrors is at the very least commendable.
We are well-positioned to take our place in the 21st century technology arena and look forward to focusing our energies and growing the Company's revenues and increasing shareholder value. Keep in mind the market we are entering is explosive. The management remains optimistic and enthusiastic because the program potential is clear.
I have stated these facts before, but I think they bear repeating. Revenues in the smart home segment amounted to approximately $85 billion in 2020. Revenues in the smart home segment is expected to show an annual growth rate from 2018 to 2022 of approximately 18% resulting in a market volume of an estimated $140 billion in 2023. Household penetration in 2018 was 7.5%. It is expected to hit 19.5% by 2022.
While there remains a great deal of uncertainty in the North American retail marketplace, consider this, if only one half of 1% of the North American fixed broadband subscriber households were to purchase a smart mirror, that would represent 500,000 mirrors. You can do the math. This is what keeps us motivated even in the most difficult business conditions we have ever faced.
Over the past couple of months, we have continually received inquiries regarding Capstone Smart Mirror availability, which prompted today's webcast. I would like to take this opportunity to address some of those inquiries in the hopes that sharing this information at this point in time will serve to balance expectations.
Let's get started, Amy.
Amy Brown
I am proud to be an investor and also concerned about possible delays caused by COVID Thailand lockdowns. Nobody has a crystal ball to know how long those could last. However, with that said, can you shed some light on, one, how they are affecting the shipments and certifications of your products and official launch? Two, what is the backup plan if those delays were to last for several weeks or months?
Stewart Wallach
All right. Thank you for the inquiry. Regarding your first point, the effect on the shipments and certifications. As I mentioned earlier, the certification and testing has run approximately seven weeks longer than scheduled.
On a positive note, we have been able to open direct communications in the past week with the testing laboratories and have been assured that we are being treated on a priority basis and nearing the end of their process. While we don't believe a backup plan will be necessary, we are also in discussion with a second assembly facility located in China. Keep in mind we own our molds and component inventories. So, transitioning production is an option, if necessary.
Amy Brown
The next question. With the cost going up on just about everything, including computer chips, shipping costs, etc., do you think you will be able to maintain the current selling price?
Stewart Wallach
That's a very good observation and an appropriate question. Let's take a look for a moment at the market today. Although the mirror company and Echelon Fitness Mirror are producing single application mirrors for fitness purposes only, they are setting the bar in many ways for mirrors with embedded technologies.
While our mirror will allow for fitness use, it is far more capable as it emulates a tablet and smartphone environment. That being said, the fitness mirrors range from approximately $900 to $2,000. There are simply no other companies at this time directly competitive to our product. So, our pricing model was based on what we believe would be appealing and affordable for mainstream America.
Currently, the products in our Capstone connected website are $699 and $899 respectively. Our costs could fluctuate due to significant transportation increases, but I don't foresee exceeding $799 and $999 respectively even calculating for the worst case scenarios.
Amy Brown
Okay. Next question. I love the direction your company is going, but the lack of communication from official PRs is concerning to me and lots of other investors. We would all appreciate more official company statements, even if that doesn't mean the official mirror release, just some communications from the Company other than having to email you guys for information. Thank you for all that you are doing and we both want the same end goal. I want your company to succeed and grow, but that requires the official company statements more than every few months.
Stewart Wallach
Thank you for the kind words and your continued support. As I mentioned earlier in the discussion, I am acutely sensitive to the frustration brought on by the delays. I have always prided myself on being transparent and open, but at the same time have been averse to fluff PR and non-substantive communications. It is for this reason I have always avoided stock promotion companies. I believe in strong business fundamentals, derived from discipline management, planning, and execution.
Accordingly, while I have been eager to speak to the shareholder community, I simply have not had a comfort level providing updates as matters are so dynamic and continually changing. While we are a seasoned organization, the smart relaunch is very much like a start-up and has been challenging every step of the way. I do appreciate your comments and I pledge to do better with communications going forward.
Amy Brown
Does there appear to be any hope of an end to the shutdown that will allow us to resume business in Thailand in the near future?
Stewart Wallach
Okay. A few things to point out. Our commitments in Thailand to facilitating our product launch have not in any way been compromised. Our financial commitments, manufacturing commitments, long range supply planning, are all conducted by U.S. Management. The team in Thailand gets its direction from the U.S. and at this point is standing by locked and loaded. We are operational at factory level and all suppliers are now meeting our order requirements.
Amy Brown
Okay. Great. Next question. We read about chip shortages that impacted the auto industry, smartphone companies, etc. Have Capstone's delays been caused by these shortages in addition to COVID? Also, when will you start up your advertising, which has been on hold for the past few months?
Stewart Wallach
We were very proactive the past several months on purchasing long lead time components as I mentioned earlier. We have made substantial financial commitments well in advance of production to ensure a flow of components for the balance of the year.
As I mentioned in the webcast, the customer demand that we experience in the next few weeks will help us determine what further commitments we will make. In short, if 2,000 to 3,000 mirrors are essentially pre-sold, we will definitely ramp up purchasing to avoid disruption for future production.
Our website is now updated to accept pre-orders and a system has been put in place that will notify the pre-order customer when product is available and their credit card will be required at that time only. The pre-order visibility will help us to plan our advertising campaigns as well.
Our goal is to be cost-effective and drive sales activity, which does not far exceed current production capabilities. Our Google Ad placements will resume the beginning of September commensurate with the flow of product.
Amy Brown
Okay. Great. Next question. Is there a chance that you can find some other factories and other parts of the world that have not been affected by the COVID virus? Maybe they can distribute the mirrors.
Stewart Wallach
Without going into details at this point, we have engaged the consultant firm, to evaluate and propose manufacturing of the Smart Mirror Program in another region of the world, much closer to home.
The project is underway and is extensive, as it has to consider, not only manufacturing, but supply chain support as well. I would expect we would have a full assessment within the next 60 days.
Amy Brown
Okay, and this is actually the last question.
I am sure it is frustrating to try to manage such an exciting business in such difficult times. I for one, am glad that the Company seems to have kept its focus and look forward to its success being reflected in its future share value. Has insider ownership remained stable?
Stewart Wallach
Short answer is yes.
We have had many longtime shareholders that were in a position to profit from their early holdings the beginning of 2021. Some of these shareholders have been with us for 5, 7, 10 years. Myself and Dr. Postle, who are the two largest shareholders in the Company, have not sold a single share of stock to date.
Once again, I'd like to thank you all for participation in today's call. I hope that this gives you a better idea of our current standing and will serve to encourage you to remain supportive. We are managing the situation in every possible way. We will pass the finish line shortly, and I believe we will look back at this painful period with a sense of pride, having accomplished our goals as set forth pre-pandemic. Thanks again.
On a very last note, if you were interested in owning a Capstone smart mirror, I would urge you to visit our website, book a pre-order, because these inventories are going to turn over very quickly.
Thank you, and have a good day.
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's teleconference. Thank you for your participation. You may disconnect your lines at this time and have a wonderful day.
FULL Quarterly report Form 10-Q Capstone Companies, Inc
source
https://sec.report/Document/0001575705-21-000537/
Published: 2021-08-16 15:01:30
Submitted: 2021-08-16
Filing Agent: Premier Financial Filings LLC
Period Ending In: 2021-06-30
Please read the 60 pages Report at:
https://sec.report/Document/0001575705-21-000537/
Excerpts from the report
- Our business operations and financial performance for the period ended June 30, 2021 continued to be adversely impacted by COVID-19, which, in part, contributed to the poor performance of our traditional LED product line in the first two fiscal quarters of 2021 and the lack of revenues from the new Connected Surface products. In Thailand, the Delta variant of COVID-19 has recently surged which disrupted our overseas OEM’s and delayed some of the Smart Mirror certification testing. This has resulted in shipment delays of the company critical Connected Surface Devices. The Company reported a net loss of approximately $574.6 thousand and $1.074 million for the three and six months ended June 30, 2021, respectively, compared to a net loss of approximately $657 thousand and $1.254 million for the three and six months ended June 30, 2020, respectively.
- On April 5, 2021, the Company entered into five separate securities purchase agreements (“SPAs”) whereby the Company privately placed an aggregate of 2,496,667 shares of Company common stock for an aggregate purchase price $1,498,000 (transactions being referred to as the “Private Placement”). The five investors in the Private Placement consisted of four private equity funds and one individual – all being “accredited investors” (under Rule 501(a) of Regulation D under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, (“Securities Act”). The $1,498,000 in proceeds from the Private Placement will be used mostly to purchase start up inventory for the Company’s new Smart Mirror product line, for a major online e-commerce fulfilment company, and the remainder for advertising and working capital.
- The Company developed a smart interactive mirror for residential use, which was launched at the Consumer Electronics Show in early 2020 but its release to the retail market has been delayed due to product development delays at our suppliers, resulting from the impact of COVID-19 pandemic. The development of the smart interactive mirror or “Smart Mirrors” is part of the Company’s strategic effort to find new product lines to replace or supplement existing products that are nearing or at the end of their product life cycle. These products are offered either under the Capstone brand or licensed brands. The Smart Mirrors launch was announced in February 2021, but because of operational delays and regional lockdowns resulting from the recent upsurge in the Delta variant of COVID-19 in Thailand, the product has not shipped as of June 30, 2021 but is scheduled to start shipping in the third quarter ending September 30, 2021.
- Stock Purchase Agreements
On April 5, 2021, the Company entered into a Private Equity Placement with five separate securities purchase agreements (“SPAs”) whereby the Company privately placed an aggregate of 2,496,667 shares (“Shares”) of its common stock, $0.0001 par value per share, (“common stock”) for an aggregate purchase price $1,498,000. The five investors in the Private Placement consisted of four private equity funds and one individual – all being “accredited investors” (under Rule 501(a) of Regulation D under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended,(“Securities Act”). The $1,498,000 in proceeds from the Private Placement will be used mostly to purchase start up inventory for the Company’s new Smart Mirror product line, and the remainder for advertising and working capital. Under the SPA, each investor is granted five-year piggyback, ‘best efforts’ registration rights with no penalties. The Shares are ‘restricted securities” under Rule 144 of the Securities Act and are subject to a minimum six month hold period. Based on representations made to the Company, the five investors do not constitute a “group” under 17 C.F.R. §240.13d-3 and have purchased the Shares solely as an investment for each investor’s own account. No individual investor owns more than 2% of the issued and outstanding shares of common stock.
The Private Placement was required to raise needed working capital to purchase U.S. domestic inventory, to support the Company’s new Smart Mirror product line that will be sold online in the second quarter 2021. The Company engaged Wilmington Capital Securities, LLC, a FINRA and SEC registered broker to act as a placement agent to assist to raise capital through a private placement from one or more accredited investors. As compensation for their services Wilmington was paid 7% of the gross proceeds or $104,860 as a placement fee. The placement fee was offset against the $1,498,000 proceeds and the net amount of $1,393,140 increased the Company’s additional paid in capital as presented on the accompanying condensed consolidated statement of stockholders’ equity statement as of June 30, 2021. In addition the Company issued to Wilmington as consideration for their placement fee services, warrants equal to 8% of the shares issued or 199,733 warrants. The warrants can be exercised for five years from date of issuance, exercisable at a price per share equal to 110% or $0.66 of the price per share paid by the investors.
- The Company is a “penny stock” company under Commission rules and the public stock market price for our common stock is impacted by the lack of significant institutional investor and primary market maker support. Investment in our common stock is highly risky and should only be considered by investors who can afford to lose their investment and do not require on demand liquidity. Potential investors should carefully consider risk factors in our SEC filings. Increases in the public market price of the common stock in first fiscal quarter of 2021 is not indicative of potential performance of the common stock in the public market.
The Company’s common stock lacks the primary market maker and institutional investor support to protect the public market from being unpredictable and volatile.
- With the global resurgence of the Delta variant of COVID-19, the Company’s manufacturers both in Thailand and China have experienced sporadic regional lockdowns causing production delays for Connected Surface products. With the same virus now becoming the dominant variant in the United States, the future impact on the retail marketplace remains uncertain, which places uncertainty on the timing of the Company’s new retail programs that are planned to be introduced later in the year, which could result in further reduced revenue and continued losses. Further delays in the shipment of Connected Surface products to consumers and distributors could have a significant impact on the ability of the Company to continue to withstand the multiple challenges of a declining LED product line, delay in shipping the new product line and the ongoing impact of COVID-19 pandemic.
- Our expectation is that the new portfolio advancing in 2021 appeals to a much larger audience than our traditional LED lighting product line. The new Connected Surfaces portfolio is designed to tap into consumer’s ever-expanding connected lifestyles prevalent today. The products have both touch screen and voice interfacing, internet access and an operating system capable of running downloadable applications. The average selling prices will be comparable to that of tablets and smartphones, expected retails to start at $699.00, with the goal to deliver exceptional consumer value to mainstream America. Whereas, during the day your smartphone/tablet keeps you connected, whether it is work or personal, now when entering your home, Capstone’s new Connected Surfaces products will enable users the same level of connectivity in a more relaxed manner that does not require being tethered to these devices.
- Last year, the Company expanded its investment and commitment in social media marketing. With our Company’s plan to shift its focus to on-line commerce in the first half of 2021 and thereafter, its social media presence will be key to the Company’s growth initiatives. The analytics derived from testing various messaging on social media platforms (i.e., Facebook Ads, Google Ads) has validated consumer interest in the Smart Mirror program. Based on the results from the Smart Mirrors product rollout, the Company’s social media marketing efforts may be revised or expanded. Additional capital may be required to fully exploit an effective social media and e-commerce effort to support the company-critical Smart Mirrors product launch. As stated, the Company is new to social media and ecommerce marketing on the current contemplated scale.
- On July 2, 2021, the Board of Directors (“Board”) resolved that the Company required a purchase order funding facility to procure additional inventory to support the online Smart Mirror business. The Board resolved that certain Directors could negotiate the terms of a Purchase Order Funding Agreement for up to $1,020,000 with Directors S. Wallach, J. Postal and E.Fleisig, a natural person. The Definitive Agreement is currently being finalized and should be completed by the end of August 2021 or earlier.
- Net Revenues
Net revenues for the three months ended June 30, 2021, were $0, a decrease of $907 thousand as compared to the second quarter 2020.
Net revenues for the six months ended June 30, 2021, were approximately $438 thousand a decrease of $617 thousand or 58.5% from approximately $1.1 million in the same period 2020.
For the three months ended June 30, 2021 international sales were $0 as compared to $126.4 thousand or 14% of revenue in 2020.
For the six months ended June 30, 2021 international sales were approximately $296 thousand or 68% of revenue as compared to $227.1 thousand or 22% of revenue in 2020.
- Gross Profit and Cost of Sales
Gross profit for the three months ended June 30, 2021 and 2020, was $0 and $35.0 thousand, respectively, a reduction of $35 thousand from the previous year. Gross Profit as a percent of revenue was 0% in the second quarter 2021 as compared to 3.9% in 2020.
Gross profit for the six months ended June 30, 2021 and 2020, was approximately $128.6 thousand, and $69.2 thousand, respectively, an increase of $59.4 thousand. Gross Profit as a percent of revenue was 29.5% in the period 2021 as compared to 6.5% in 2020.
During the three months ended June 30, 2021 and 2020, the Company provided approximately $0 and $301 thousand, respectively of marketing allowances. The promotion allowances in 2020 was for a new item launched in the stores at a time the COVID -19 pandemic was starting to surge in the U.S. These funds were made available to assist with the in store sell through during a period that foot traffic declined. The impact of that allowance was to reduce net revenue and gross profit for the three and six month period in 2020.
- Net Loss
For the three months ended June 30, 2021 the net loss was approximately $574.6 thousand compared to a net loss of $657.1 thousand in the same period 2020, a reduction of $82.5 or 12.6%.
For the six months ended June 30, 2021 the net loss was approximately $1.074 thousand compared to a net loss of $1.254 million in the same period 2020. The net loss reduction of approximately $180 thousand resulted from various factors. As our LED revenue is dependent on customer orders issued many months in advance, this revenue shortfall continued to be driven by the uncertainty felt by retailers, as to the short and long-term impact on the U.S. retail market of COVID-19 resulting from the reduction of consumer foot traffic in brick and mortar stores.
During the three month ended June 30, 2021, the Smart Mirror products have been going through final laboratory testing and certifications. The Company has placed purchase orders and made deposits with our overseas factories for the initial Smart Mirror inventories, however, due to a surge of the Delta variant of COVID-19 in Thailand and China resulting in regional lockdowns, this has caused product testing delays resulting in a delay in the shipment of the initial inventory which we had anticipated for the latter period of the second quarter, 2021.
For the three months ended June 30,2021, $0 revenue in the second quarter had the biggest impact to the loss of $574.6 thousand.
- The Company as of June 30, 2021, and December 31, 2020 was debt free except for accounts payable and accrued liabilities.
How Does the Capstone Connected Smart Mirror Work?
source
https://capstoneconnected.com/smart-mirror-how-it-works/
August 6, 2021
A smart mirror is typically something a lot of people associate with sci-fi movies. It’s not a surprise that the thought of this technology captures the imagination since it will allow for traffic reports, weather updates, reminders, and more to pop up while you go about your morning routine.
The Capstone Smart Mirror was first showcased at a tech show, and it was a big hit with show attendants. The mirror comes loaded with Google Assistant, and it helps the mirror operate flawlessly, no matter what you want it to do. The hands-free feature ensures that you can complete your morning routine before stepping out the door fully informed about your day.
Say “Hey Google” to Start Things Off
The built-in Google Assistant allows you to seamlessly move through Google’s suite of products hands-free when you use this smart mirror. You can easily download apps from the Google Play store, manage your Google Drive files to get a start on work assignments, and check your morning commute with an updated traffic report while you brush your hair or teeth. Also, this product comes with touch screen technology that allows you to type right on the mirror. So, you have the ability to message your family, friends or respond to your urgent work emails.
Multi-User Capability
You don’t have to keep this smart mirror to yourself. The Voice Control Function can tell between six different voices to move through different Google accounts, depending on who is talking at the moment. You won’t have to take time to log in and out of these accounts, and it keeps each user’s data available only to them to ensure privacy and security.
Function and Form Seamlessly Collide
The Capstone Smart Mirror has a very modern and sleek design that can blend perfectly with a huge range of interior decor styles. You can stand it on your vanity or hang it like a traditional mirror, or you can easily put it on a tabletop surface so you can get ready anywhere in the house while you multitask. You get smart capabilities with more traditional functionality with this product, and it’s what made people so excited about it. With this product, being tethered to your smartphone while you’re home is a thing of the past.
Control Through a Centralized Connected Hub
When it comes to managing this technology, you do so using the Capstone Connected Control Hub. If you have a high-end tablet, it works very similarly to this. At the core, this Hub is a touchscreen system that lets you log into your messaging apps, check the traffic reports, access your playlists, get into Google Drive, and much more when you connect it to your Wi-Fi.
As a bonus, you can easily put the Hub in a convenient spot and connect from any room in your home while experiencing the smart mirror’s smart function range. The Hub works with any other Capstone Connected Home products that the company is going to roll out shortly. The Hub will create a system that you can manage through this centralized device when you sync it with other connected products.
The Hub integrates into the mirror using a docking feature. It allows you to access anything that you’d be able to get to using a smartphone or tablet. You can use it to set up playlists, messaging apps, social media profiles, Google Drive, documents, and more using Wi-Fi.
You’ll get the ultimate digital experience in the comfort of your own home. It has Thin Touch Cast and Thin Touch built into the mirror, and this is Capstone’s easy-to-use technology. There are two experience levels available, and you can pick from Smart 1 and Smart 2.
You’ll get a stylish and innovative design with the Thin Cast Smart Mirror, and it has a huge amount of features that lets you get into and use your favorite applications. It will power from any standard 110-volt outlet, or you can get a battery power pack to make it portable. This gives you a very versatile project that is very user-friendly.
How the Capstone Mirror Works
One of the first decisions you’ll have to make with this product is which suite you want to use. Which one you pick will decide how it works for you. There are two suites to choose from, and we’ll outline them for you below.
Full Touch Screen Control Suite – Smart One
If you pick this suite, you get complete display control using touch screen technology. You get several applications pre-installed on this suite that allows you to check your email, traffic report, time, and weather at a glance. This display also allows you to expand it to your favorite applications, and you can download them and use them without a problem.
This suite lets you check all of your social media channels directly from the product. You can browse YouTube, check your daily calendar, add events and set reminders, and stream your favorite live feeds and fitness videos on demand. There are no subscription fees or hidden costs to worry about either.
You can set your preferred browser like Opera or Firefox to download apps, view live feeds, listen to music, surf the internet, or listen to music. You can check your commute times, get a traffic report, or get the best directions to your destination. There are news sources you can use to stay up-to-date, and you can pair your BlueTooth devices like headphones to the mirror.
Android or iOS Experience Suite – Smart Two
If you want to use this suite, you’ll have to go into mirroring and finding casting capabilities in your phone. You can share anything on your smartphone with your mirror using Thin Cast technology. Also, any user on your Wi-Fi network can share their phone screen with the smart mirrors without worrying about security.
When it’s in proximity, the Thin Cast feature on this suite lets you use your phone to access whichever voice assistant you use. So, you get hands-free operation in both suites to make it more convenient to use at any point during the day.
The Capstone Smart Mirror Comes Packed with Features
If you’re considering adding a new piece of technology to your home or office, consider this product. It’s user-friendly and packed with wonderful features that can help you plan your day and access your favorite media.
Citi: China Software International reiterates its buy rating target price rises to 18.5 Hong Kong dollars.
source
https://finance.sina.com.cn/stock/hkstock/hkgg/2021-08-11/doc-ikqcfncc2208087.shtml
August 11, 2021 12:29 Sina Hong Kong Stocks
Citi issued a research report saying that it reiterated China Software International "Buy" rating, the target price was raised from 13.1 Hong Kong dollars to 18.5 Hong Kong dollars, and 2021-23 revenue and profit forecasts were adjusted to 0 %-3%.
According to the report, it is estimated that the company's revenue growth in the first half of the year will be slightly better than expected, and profit growth will be rapid, mainly due to the expansion of gross profit margin. Considering the acceleration of Hongmeng's user adoption and the recent increase in cooperation with Huawei, it is believed that the company's business is fast increase.
The bank said that in terms of interim results, its revenue is expected to increase by 33% year-on-year to RMB 8.06 billion (the same below), and gross profit margin is expected to improve year-on-year. However, part of the impact is offset by the increase in marketing expenses. Net profit will rise 37% year-on-year to 550 million yuan. According to media reports, as of August 6, Huawei Hongmeng has more than 50 million users. Huawei will increase its user target from 300 million to 400 million by the end of this year. It is believed that Hongmeng’s main partners include ChinaSoft International.
Zhuyou Intelligent Manufacturing Technology (00726.HK) interim net profit rose 209.8% to HK$26.288 million, gross profit margin reached 28.6%.
source
https://cj.sina.com.cn/articles/view/5115326071/130e5ae7702001fn96
August 11, 2021 20:47 Gelonghui APP
Zhuyou Zhizao Technology (00726.HK) announced its interim results. For the six months ended June 30, 2021, the company's revenue was HK$594 million, a year-on-year increase of 47.6%; gross profit was 170 million In Hong Kong dollars, a year-on-year increase of 51.3%, gross profit margin increased to 28.6%; profit attributable to company owners was 26.288 million Hong Kong dollars, a year-on-year increase of 209.8%, and basic and diluted earnings per share were 0.94 HK cents.
In the first half of 2021, the Group benefited from the accelerated implementation of the prefabricated construction industry support policies across the country to promote market demand growth and the rapid expansion of prefabricated PC component production capacity. The business scale has achieved significant growth and business and operating efficiency have been greatly improved.
During the period, the group's sales revenue increased by about 47.6% year-on-year to about HK$594 million, of which the sales revenue from prefabricated building components was about HK$445 million, an increase of 26.5% year-on-year, and the revenue from new business decoration and garden services was about HK$63.72 million.
QUARTERLY REPORT APRIL TO JUNE 2021
source
https://www.investors.artificial-solutions.com/quarterly-report-april-to-june-2021
August 10, 2021
Please read the full Report at:
https://www.investors.artificial-solutions.com/quarterly-report-april-to-june-2021
Till now a total of 10 new videos were released today.
source
https://www.youtube.com/user/capstonesecurity/videos
Powering On & Connecting to Wi-Fi
New Product video "A Smart Mirror Built for Everyone"
source
Artificial Solutions boosts Conversational AI Platform, Teneo, with seven new connectors.
source
https://www.artificial-solutions.com/blog/artificial-solutions-boosts-conversational-ai-platform-teneo-with-seven-new-connectors
August 9, 2021
Artificial Solutions® (SSME:ASAI), a leading specialist in enterprise-strength Conversational AI,
https://www.artificial-solutions.com/conversational-ai
announced today that seven and new back-end connectors have been added to their award-winning development platform, Teneo, including HubSpot, Sabre, Shopify, and Automation Anywhere among others.
Teneo Connectors
https://www.artificial-solutions.com/blog/artificial-solutions-launches-teneo-connectors-to-deliver-chatbot-super-powers
are pre-built integrations that extend Teneo applications with a wide range of channels and back-end systems/APIs. These integrationst allow Teneo developers to reduce development time to value for conversational bots and agents, enhancing their Conversational AI solutions with greater intelligence and capabilities. This goal goes along with the company’s crusade to help chatbot developers speed up implementation, increase team productivity and ensure project scalability, across different industries and in up to 86 languages.
The Integration Manager in Teneo Studio also allows technical developers to produce new integrations that support the development of conversational applications by less technical users. Thanks to this module, business users with no technical skills may simply “drag and drop” those re-usable blocks of functionality into their Conversational AI flows.
Teneo integrations are developed in Java and can make use of existing Java classes/libraries if necessary, so there are basically no restrictions as to what Teneo can integrate with. In addition, the Analytics suite within Teneo allows developers to easily integrate with enterprise business intelligence (BI) tools for performance tracking and visualization purposes.
“We are delighted to expand our stack of Teneo Connectors and make them available to our large developer community; these will help teams boost their chatbots’ capabilities and deliver more intelligent responses based on the back-end actions, requests and processes executed by their solutions”, says Andreas Wieweg, CTO of Artificial Solutions.
Teneo Connectors earned Artificial Solutions recognition as a market leader for Conversational AI in the latest Provider Lens™ Intelligent Automation report published by ISG a few months ago, as well as a recognized by Gartner as a Tech Innovator in the Conversational AI space.
The new additions to Teneo’s existing back-end connectors
https://developers.artificial-solutions.com/resources/backend-connectors
are:
- HubSpot: https://www.hubspot.com/
https://developers.artificial-solutions.com/resources/backend-connectors/hubspot-crm
The HubSpot connector showcases how to integrate a Teneo solution with the HubSpot REST API. The example flows in the solution demonstrate how tickets can be retrieved, as well as how to create, update, delete and/or filter tickets on HubSpot.
- Freshservice: https://freshservice.com/
https://developers.artificial-solutions.com/resources/backend-connectors/freshservice
The Freshservice connector allows developers to create Teneo bots that will create and manage tickets via the Freshservice API. The connector contains an integration with Freshservice and example flows to create, read, update and delete support tickets.
- QuickBooks: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/global/
https://developers.artificial-solutions.com/resources/backend-connectors/quickbooks
The QuickBooks connector provides all the necessary building blocks to integrate a Teneo connector with the QuickBooks REST API. The example flows in the solution demonstrate how to authenticate users, as well as how to retrieve, filter, create, update and delete invoices on QuickBooks.
- Shopify: https://www.shopify.com/
https://developers.artificial-solutions.com/resources/backend-connectors/shopify
The Shopify connector includes all the necessary integrations to connect a Teneo solution with the Shopify REST API. The example flows in the solution demonstrate how products can be retrieved, as well as how to filter, create, update or delete products on Shopify.
- Sabre: https://www.sabre.com/
https://developers.artificial-solutions.com/resources/backend-connectors/sabre
The Teneo Sabre Connector allows Teneo Developers to easily implement conversational experiences within the travel domain that are powered by Sabre APIs. Travel Agencies can utilize the Teneo Sabre Connector to create online booking assistants for their agents and consumers.
- Automation Anywhere: https://www.automationanywhere.com/
https://developers.artificial-solutions.com/resources/backend-connectors/automation-anywhere
The Automation Anywhere connector shows how to use a Teneo bot to manage Robotic Process Automation (RPA) workflows using Automation Anywhere. The solution contains an integration with Automation Anywhere and an example flow to start a job on Automation Anywhere’s RPA platform.
- Power Automate: https://emea.flow.microsoft.com/de-de/
https://developers.artificial-solutions.com/resources/backend-connectors/power-automate
The Power Automate connector showcases how to connect a Teneo bot with a flow created in Power Automate. The solution contains a Power Automate integration and an example flow that can be used to send an email in Outlook via Power Automate. As the integration source code is embedded in the solution, it can easily be extended or used as a starting point for new methods.
Earlier in 2021 Artificial Solutions added eight connectors to Teneo’s existing back-end connectors:
- ServiceNow: https://www.servicenow.com/
https://developers.artificial-solutions.com/resources/backend-connectors/servicenow
the cloud computing platform helps companies manage digital workflows and automated experiences for enterprise operations. The connection between a Teneo solution and a ServiceNow REST API can link conversational AI solutions to retrieve incidents, create, update or delete incidents on ServiceNow.
- Blue Prism: https://www.blueprism.com/
https://developers.artificial-solutions.com/resources/backend-connectors/blue-prism
the integration with Blue Prism’s Robotic Process Automation (RPA) technology will allow enterprises to be more agile and cost-effective by automating mission-critical processes and allowing human agents to focus on more complex and business-driven issues. By integrating with Teneo, these automations can now be easily connected directly to end-users through a natural language interface in multiple languages to maximize the benefits of RPA sequences and conversational AI applications.
- Contentful:
create, manage, and distribute content to any platform. This connector can link your Teneo-powered bot with a content management system built in the Contentful platform.
- Freshdesk: https://freshdesk.com/1
https://developers.artificial-solutions.com/resources/backend-connectors/freshdesk
the cloud-based customer support software can now integrate with Teneo to connect conversational AI capabilities with authentication, ticket retrieval, contact agents and ticket management.
- Monday.com: https://monday.com/
https://developers.artificial-solutions.com/resources/backend-connectors/monday-dot-com
the project management tool enables organizations to manage tasks, projects, and teak work more efficiently. This Teneo backend connector can use conversational bots to perform end-to-end tasks such as the retrieval of items from dashboards or grouping, adding, and filtering items. As in most of Teneo’s connectors, the source code of the integration is embedded in the solution, it can easily be extended or used as a starting point for new methods.
- Zoho Desk: https://www.zoho.com/desk/
https://developers.artificial-solutions.com/resources/backend-connectors/zoho-desk
as a context-aware customer service software that promotes self-service and cross-functional processes, Zoho Desk’s back-end integration with Teneo’s solution contains methods for authentication and the retrieval, filtering, creation, updating and deletion of tickets., with the possibility of extending new methods.
- Jira Software: https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira
https://developers.artificial-solutions.com/resources/backend-connectors/jira-cloud
the widely used agile project management software can integrate with Teneo to use conversational bots for authentication and ticket management.
- Zendesk: https://www.zendesk.com/
https://developers.artificial-solutions.com/resources/backend-connectors/zendesk-support
this connector’s integration with Zendesk support allows for Teneo bots to let end-users create and manage support tickets with Zendesk’s customer service software.
Additionally, for organizations that operate across many regions or countries, and require enterprise conversational agents and conversational user interface (CUI) deployments in many languages, Artificial Solutions support a unique functionality for a rapid rollout and scaling of multilingual solutions, as well as efficiency of maintenance and consistent quality experience for users. The functionality, Master/Local, typically enables an enterprise to reuse up to 80% of the original content.
Software-defined automotive Chinasoft International joins hands with Tsinghua University, China National Automobile Zhilian, and China National Automobile Intelligent Control to explore new directions for the development of intelligent networked vehicles.
source
http://www.chinasofti.com/news/2240.htm
August 9, 2021
On August 3, Professor Li Keqiang, the director of the State Key Laboratory of Automotive Safety and Energy of Tsinghua University, the National Intelligent Connected Vehicle Innovation Center (China National Automobile Intelligent Alliance) & the chief scientist of China National Automobile Intelligent Control, visited Chinasoft International for visits and exchanges. Chen Yuhong, Chairman and CEO of Chinasoft International, Tang Zhenming, Executive Director and Senior Vice President, He Ning, Executive Director and Vice Chairman of the Board, Xiong Yong, Senior Vice President and Chief Digital Officer, and CTO Motor of Cloud Intelligence Business Group accompanied the reception. The two parties conducted in-depth discussions on the development status and technological innovation of intelligent connected vehicles, and the direction of software-defined automotive technology, and explored the technical framework proposed by Tsinghua University. Chinasoft International cooperated with China National Automobile Zhilian and China National Automobile Intelligent Control to promote China's standard intelligence. The development of the industrialization of connected automobiles.
Professor Li Keqiang gave an in-depth introduction to the development status and technological innovation of intelligent networked vehicles. At present, countries are accelerating the improvement of policies and regulations for intelligent connected vehicles, and promote the rapid iterative development of intelligent connected vehicle technology. my country issued the "Smart Vehicle Innovation Development Strategy", based on high-tech and industrial development requirements, combined with national conditions, to create a "Chinese solution" for the innovative development of intelligent networked vehicles. Full support. my country’s development of intelligent networked vehicles urgently needs five basic platforms:
- cloud control basic platform,
- high-precision dynamic map basic platform,
- vehicle terminal basic platform,
- computing basic platform, and
- information security basic platform.
Among them, the cloud control system is the traditional car roadside and cloud With the expansion of the system, the technical carrier and responsible body of the system are still on the car side. In the future, we hope to join hands with Chinasoft International to unite this platform with Hongmeng, and support different operating scenarios based on edge regional centers to empower the development of intelligent networked vehicles.
During the talks, Chen Yuhong affirmed the potential of multi-party cooperation. In the context of software-defined automobiles, software will completely cover the entire life cycle of automobiles, creating a huge space for software to empower intelligent connected cars, and software will become the next source of profit for the automotive industry. Chinasoft International previously joined hands with Beijing Institute of Technology and China FAW to jointly establish the Intelligent Connected Vehicle Collaborative Innovation Research Institute, and cooperate in the field of intelligent connected vehicles to carry out multi-level and all-round strategic cooperation such as talent training, scientific research, platform construction and achievement transformation. Achieve collaborative innovation and common development; join hands with China FAW to sign an enterprise digital transformation strategic cooperation agreement, plan and formulate related digital strategies, and promote the digital transformation of China's automobile industry. It is hoped that through this in-depth exchange, we can jointly explore the possibility of cooperation. As an important part of Chinasoft International's "Five-Year Plan", smart cars are also the direction of our saturation investment. Through previous practice, we continue to explore high-margin, large-scale business cooperation models for the ToB and ToC markets. It is hoped that through this exchange, multiple parties can carry out more in-depth cooperation and joint innovation.
During the meeting, focusing on the "integration of cloud control basic platform and Hongmeng ecology", "adaptation of standard middleware", and "cutting in with business cooperation to promote strategic cooperation" and other key points, Tang Zhenming, He Ning, Xiong Yong and overseas Chinese The leaders of Auto Zhilian and Guoqi Intelligent Control had in-depth communication and contributed constructive views to the future cooperation path.
Smart car business is an important development direction of Chinasoft International. At present, the company has invested more than 1,500 R&D personnel to build 7 smart car research and development bases across the country, focusing on
- smart electric,
- smart cockpit,
- smart driving,
- smart network and
- smart car cloud. Research and development. As a top university in China, Tsinghua University’s theory in the field of intelligent connected vehicles will play a guiding role; the National Intelligent Connected Vehicle Innovation Center is a national core think tank for the construction of intelligent connected vehicles. Industry partners, build a Chinese standard computing basic platform ecosystem, develop and implement computing basic platform products, and implement solutions in China.
ChinaSoft International will use this meeting as an opportunity to explore the tripartite cooperation model in depth. Based on the anticipation of market demand and the insight of user characteristics, Chinasoft International will give full play to complementary advantages, achieve in-depth cooperation in the overlapping areas of capabilities, and strive to open up automotive software. Hardware technology has transformed "simple car sales" into "car sales and services", becoming a mainstream player in software-defined cars, contributing wisdom and strength to the digital transformation of the traditional auto industry and the comprehensive forging of "Chinese brands".
Q2 2021 Earnings Call Transcript - Westport Fuel Systems Inc. (WPRT).
source
https://www.fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2021/08/06/westport-fuel-systems-inc-wprt-q2-2021-earnings-ca/?source=eptyholnk0000202&utm_source=yahoo-host&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=article
Aug 6, 2021 at 10:31PM
WPRT earnings call for the period ending June 30, 2021.
Contents:
- Prepared Remarks
- Questions and Answers
- Call Participants
- Prepared Remarks:
Operator
Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the Westport Fuel Systems second-quarter 2021 results conference call. I would now like to turn the conference over to Christine Marks, Westport's investor relations representative.
Please go ahead.
Christine Marks -- Investor Relations
Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to Westport Fuel Systems second-quarter 2021 conference call, which is being held to coincide with the press release containing Westport Fuel Systems financial results that was distributed yesterday. On today's call, speaking on behalf of Westport Fuel Systems is chief executive officer, David Johnson; and chief financial officer, Richard Orazietti. You are reminded that certain statements made in this conference call and our responses to various questions may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S.
and applicable Canadian securities laws, and as such, forward-looking statements are made based on our current expectations and involve certain risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. So you're cautioned not to place undue reliance on these statements. Information contained in this conference call is subject to and qualified in its entirety by information contained in the company's public filings.
I'll now turn the call over to you, David.
David Johnson -- Chief Executive Officer
Thanks, Christine. Good morning, everyone. Thanks for joining us to review Westport Fuel Systems results for the second quarter of 2021. This is David Johnson speaking.
Richard Orazietti is also on the line with me today. I'm speaking to you from our headquarters in Vancouver, British Columbia, which has experienced record-setting temperatures this summer and rampant forest fires that have claimed lives and devastated homes and families. Beautiful British Columbia isn't as beautiful is meant to be. And we aren't alone flooding and other extreme weather events have affected people around the world in Europe, Brazil, India and China, just to name a few.
The climate crisis has never been more evident and the need for action from every sector of society is increasingly urgent. As a society, we really aren't having enough success in the face of this epic environmental challenge. Meanwhile, society's needs for transportation continues to increase, but the earth and humanity urgently need transportation will be much, much cleaner. That means each vehicle must be cleaner and we need to produce, sell and drive those cleaner vehicles.
We must dramatically shift the mix of what we drive to clean transportation technologies. Scale is critical. And to be crystal clear, the so-called scale we're talking about here, is 100 million new cars and trucks that are produced and sold and put into use each year globally. And it's also the 1.4 billion vehicles that are already on our roads today.
And so to achieve scale on a global basis, we need clean transportation to also be affordable. Governments can't incentivize us to scale. California and the United States have been trying for decades, Europe is trying now. The U.S.
Federal EV incentives of $7,500 per vehicle for the first 200,000 units sold by each manufacturer were a substantial incentive. Consider that just three major OEMs making and selling a combined 600,000 federally subsidized battery electric vehicles cost U.S. taxpayers $4.5 billion. And yet, sales are so far from significant in global automotive terms.
Of those 1.4 billion vehicles on our roads today, battery electric vehicles are not even 1%. In the Netherlands, we have another recent example, Tesla's market share in the Netherlands was nearly 7% in 2019. So far this year, Tesla's Dutch market share is less than 1%. A precipitous fall, incentive sell away and so did sales.
Affordability doesn't just matter. Affordability is the key. It's the key ingredient in the other kind of sustainability that is economic sustainability. Slightly obscured by headlines and article after article about the future EVs and fuel cells is the growing success of Westport Fuel Systems right now.
Our business is growing because our products are available now, they're affordable now, and they're effective at reducing CO2 emissions now. And with the increasing availability of renewable fuels, including the potential of green hydrogen, our path forward is clear. We're making a difference today and our future contributions will be critical to delivering the global response to our environmental challenges. Our HPDI business continues to see strong growth in Europe.
Today, Europe is our main market. And with there, we see the combined impact of growing infrastructure, fuel prices that support increased use of clean fuels and are available now products. In Europe today, low carbon gastrous fuels are less expensive than high carbon gasoline and diesel, and these deals are readily available from a large and growing infrastructure. In Europe today, there are more than 40,000 LPG stations, more than 4,000 CNG stations, and there's more than 400 LNG stations and the station counts are continuing to increase.
You can find great data at NGVA Europe's website
https://www.ngva.eu/
as well as from other trustworthy resources. Other markets are on a similar path. China is leading the way. India and Africa are following Europe's and China's lead and North America holds great potential.
Westport Fuel systems is well positioned. Our goals are significant and we're on track despite COVID. We're seeing fleets adopting cleaner fuels and seeking out viable solutions that dramatically reduce carbon emissions. We offer those solutions today and the market is increasingly recognizing our solutions deliver.
They're clean, they perform and they're affordable. So while we're pleased with the recovery in our forward-looking growth trajectory, all of us are still looking to live with COVID and the COVID-induced supply chain disruptions that continue to ripple through our industry and marketplace. Semiconductor supply shortages remain a headwind for the automotive industry, including our business. While we anticipate that the microchip supply chain disruptions will persist into 2022, we do expect an improving trend in the second half of this year.
I'd like to draw your attention to a few highlights in the second quarter and provide a few market insights, then Richard will take you through a more detailed review of our Q2 financial performance. We had record revenues in Q2, up 135% compared to the same period in 2020, and the recovery trend sequentially over several quarters is encouraging, up 10% this quarter versus the first quarter of 2021 and up 56% in the first half of this year versus last year. Revenues was $84.7 million in the first quarter compared to $36 million in Q2 of last year. Net income was more than $17 million, driven by sales growth combined with a tax recovery just shy of $9 million and a gain on acquisition of Stako of nearly $6 million.
Stako, by the way, has been immediately accretive to our Westport Fuel Systems bottom line. We're thrilled to welcome our key numbers in Poland to Westport Fuel Systems. In addition to strong revenues in our heavy-duty OEM segment, sales in our independent aftermarket and light-duty OEM businesses recovered in Q2 from the impact of COVID-19 as compared to the same period last year when societies and our customers first experienced COVID-related lockdown. We ended the quarter with $106 million in cash and cash equivalents, including the gross proceeds of $115 million from our publicly marketed equity offering completed in June.
We've positioned the company for growth and we're investing in the development of our next-generation products. Overall, our business is growing from a solid foundation and our longer term outlook is very positive. We have a fabulous and committed team and excellent product portfolio, growing sales to global customers across the full range of transportation applications through both aftermarket and OEM channels. It's the right recipe to achieve our mid-decade goal of $1 billion to profitable sales.
Our joint venture with Cummins is nearing the 20-year mark. Together, we've enjoyed a very successful partnership, and together, we have demonstrated that natural gas engines deliver in demanding trucking applications. Our JV is scheduled to end this year and that leaves us with several potential pathways forward. Discussions are ongoing, but there's no definitive conclusion to announce today.
If the joint venture ends and we go our separate ways, both partners will maintain full and equal access to all of the JV's intellectual property. Meanwhile, you'll note that our current HPDI customers are global OEMs that can more easily launch existing products into a new geography in a company that don't yet have HPDI products fully developed. The opportunity in North America is significant and HPDI offers more performance, more efficiency and the ability to be use today's renewable natural gas resources and also future green hydrogen. HPDI's real-world benefits, both environmental and economics, are being demonstrated every day on European roads by thousands of commercial vehicles and generating raved from drivers to fleet operators.
In the U.S. last week, the highly anticipated infrastructure bill was released, largely disappointing EV advocates. The original funding target of $15 billion was cut in half. The encouraging news is that low carbon and zero-emission spending got a massive boost of $7.5 billion with allocations specifically for hydrogen, propane and natural gas stations.
Alternative and gaseous fuel infrastructure continues to be built out in the U.S. and around the world, with more customers accessing natural gas or renewable natural gas. Suites like Amazon and UPS aren't waiting for technology breakthroughs, they're acting now to reduce carbon and our clean transportation solutions are saving the money. This is just the beginning for North America.
We believe the performance and the environmental and economic sustainability benefits of our products will help the market further develop and flourish. The market in China is massive and promising for Westport Fuel Systems. China is the global leader for natural gas trucking. It's the largest LNG refilling infrastructure in the world and the most natural gas field trucks on the road today.
As one of the largest suppliers of natural gas engines in the world, our Weichai-Westport joint venture currently supplies leading commercial vehicle OEMs in China. Last fall, our joint venture with Weichai Power secured certifications for the WP12 natural gas engine equipped with HPDI 2.0. And we've recently seen notification that vehicle certification has also been secured. In March of this year, we announced a co-investment agreement to expand the HPDI injector manufacturing footprint into China.
Also in March, we announced amended agreement terms for the supply of at least 25,000 HPDI systems in China through 2024. This represents a significant increase in the minimum volume compared to our 2018 agreement. Last month, the Chinese government announced they will increase the use of natural gas in their overall energy mix from 8.7% last year to 12% by 2030, a 38% increase. This is a strong endorsement for the continued usage, a reliant on natural gas moving forward in the world's most developed natural gas fuel trucking market.
The foundations are in place. Multiple OEMs are working to integrate HPDI equipped engines into their trucks and bring those trucks to the market. We're confident that HPDI equipped trucks will enable substantial market growth in China, increasing the share of natural gas in the Chinese trucking market beyond today's already significant 10% market share. Westport Fuel Systems looks forward to being part of that growth.
Growth of HPDI today leads directly to the future of clean transportation, green hydrogen. Today, hydrogen component sales represent a small but critically important and growing part of our business. Using hydrogen in an internal combustion engine is not a new idea. Hydrogen in a spark-ignited IC engine has been consistently disappointing with low power, low efficiency and real-world performance challenges.
In contrast, high-pressure direct injection of hydrogen, enabled by our patented proprietary HPDI systems is a demonstrated solution. We demonstrated with our HPDI fuel system just this year. Hydrogen HPDI is a game changer. Let me quickly review our accomplishments with hydrogen HPDI already this year.
In January, we announced our project with Scania to develop their engine with hydrogen HPDI. In February, we published with AVL a paper detailing how IC engine using hydrogen with HPDI offers a more affordable path than fuel cells for long-haul trucking applications. In March, we announced the successful demonstration of hydrogen with HPDI, which you can see today and hear today on our YouTube channel. In April, we presented in the industry our results showing hydrogen HPDI offers the highest para density, improved efficiency and is the most robust approach for using hydrogen in internal combustion engines for hedge duty applications.
And just last month in July, we announced the collaboration with TUPY and AVL to develop a highly efficient hydrogen internal combustion engines for heavy goods transportation. The collaboration aims at combining advanced materials and casting technologies with our patented HPDI fuel system. Hydrogen IC engine with HPDI offer not only high performance, high-efficiency and lower total cost of operations, but they also offer other critical advantages for OEMs and suppliers. Our solution enables the reuse of existing factory capacity for engines, drive lines and vehicles.
We'll use existing engineering know-how and draw on existing supply chain and we'll avoid creating new sustainability issues with respect to the supply and recycling of precious and rare earth metals. Therefore, we're confident that HPDI has a long runway from natural gas today, through biogas today and onto green hydrogen tomorrow. We believe hydrogen IC engines provide a compelling future for long-haul transportation and others are starting to share our conviction. I'll give you two recent examples.
In a recently published paper, the World's Hydrogen Council has shown that from the total cost of operations perspective, hydrogen can become the most competitive low carbon solution in more than 20 applications by 2030, including long-haul trucking. The McKinsey paper published in June confirms that hydrogen combustion will fulfill an important role at harnessing established technologies and supply chain. As a leading expert in managing gas fuel and the inventor of HPDI, Westport Fuel systems is uniquely capable to lead the way with green hydrogen and transportation applications. Westport Fuel Systems have been at the forefront of the shift to cleaner, low carbon and cost competitive alternative fuels for transportation.
We continue to remain devoted to the decarbonization of transportation sector and the critical need to deploy scale, carbon mutual solutions. Now, over to Richard for more detail on our Q2 results.
Richard Orazietti -- Chief Financial Officer
Thank you, David. As David described earlier, we had another good sequential quarter of financial results with record revenues of approximately $85 million, which were 135% higher year over year, driven mainly by the ramp-up of HPDI product sales and the continued recovery of sales volumes in our light-duty OEM and independent aftermarket businesses. The Stako acquisition also contributed $2.3 million in revenue since the close of the acquisition on May 30, 2021. The year-over-year comparisons to the second quarter of 2020 are somewhat overstated due to the severity of the pandemic impact on our operations and those of our customers that suffered through plant shutdowns and other social distancing measures last year.
Nevertheless, the results do reflect the positive recovery and demand for our products, especially a promising outlook for our HPDI technology. Gross margin increased year over year to $15.7 million and a gross margin percentage of 19%, mainly due to higher sales volumes despite headwinds from the ongoing semiconductor shortages and supply chain issues. Gross margin percentage improved due to the recovery in higher-margin aftermarket sales volumes and also higher year-over-year sales volumes to our initial HPDI launch partner, including some higher-margin development work. Another positive result for the quarter was the continued performance of the CWI joint venture.
Our equity income from CWI was $8 million, an increase of $4 million year over year, primarily due to the recovery in sales volumes from the impact of COVID-19 and also a $1 million tax recovery. Net income for the quarter was $17.2 million compared to net income of $3 million for the same quarter last year. The $14.2 million increase in earnings reflect the positive traction in our sales volumes across the businesses in the current period and the increase in income from the CWI joint venture. Net income also benefited from some extraordinary items this quarter.
We recognized the bargain purchase gain of $5.9 million on the acquisition of Stako. We were able to acquire the business for less than its fair value due to the seller's interest in divesting their non-core LPG business. On another positive development, we recognized an $8.9 million tax recovery related to an Italian government COVID-19 tax relief program that allowed us to step up the tax basis of some of our Italian assets to increase tax depreciation and thus lower taxes. This quarter, our adjusted EBITDA was $6.2 million, which was comparable to the same period in 2020.
However, as a reminder, adjusted EBITDA in the prior-year second quarter included a $7.7 million insurance recovery related to a $10 million charge for a field service campaign for the replacement of a pressure release device recorded in the first quarter of 2020. Excluding the insurance recovery, adjusted EBITDA increased by $7.7 million, mainly due to the better performance described before. Now, turning to the operational performance of our business segments. Our OEM revenue for the current quarter was $53.1 million compared to $19.1 million for the prior-year quarter.
The significant improvements in revenues were driven by higher year-over-year HPDI product sales to our initial OEM launch partner. Despite challenges of the global semiconductor shortage, production did ameliorate in the second quarter compared to the first quarter. Further, sales volumes of our light-duty OEM, our delayed OEM and electronics businesses are also recovering to pre-COVID-19 levels. The impact of COVID-19 was significant in the prior-year period, which caused plant shutdowns combined with lower light-duty OEM sales to German and Russian OEMs.
We expect to see continued growth in our heavy-duty business and improvements in the light-duty OEM business in the second half of the year. Clearly, the higher sales volumes drove an improvement in gross margin year over year in absolute dollars. Excluding the onetime $7.7 million insurance recovery, gross margin increased by $5.7 million year over year. This quarter we generated a small operating loss of $3.4 million as we continue to invest in the development of our HPDI technology, and our sales volumes are still relatively modest and growing.
As sales volumes grow, the profitability of HPDI will improve through economies of scale on production through our supplier network. Turning to our independent aftermarket. Revenue for the current quarter increased 87% to approximately $32 million compared to the prior-year quarter, primarily due to the general economic recovery from COVID-19 and the related shutdowns in April and May of 2020. Gross margin increased by $5.5 million this quarter to $8.5 million for a gross margin percentage of 27%.
This improvement in gross margin was driven by higher year-over-year sales volumes. Although we were able to generate better sales volumes, the increasing sales mix to lower margin emerging markets which provide a significant opportunity for growth to Westport Fuel Systems and the challenging recovery in Western Europe has challenged on margins. We expect continued improvement in our aftermarket revenues in the second half of 2021, but temper expectation due to the ongoing global shortage of semiconductors, which could impact the independent aftermarket business. Turning now to our liquidity.
Over the past year, we have made significant strides in improving the strength of our balance sheet and liquidity to fund our business plans. Our cash position increased by approximately $96 million since the beginning of the year to $161 million. The increase during the past quarter was primarily the result of the marketed equity offering completed in June, partially offset by a $7.5 million payment of the royalty payable to the Cartesian Group and other debt service. The marketed equity offering in June successfully raised $115 million and approximately $108 million net of transaction costs.
The offering generated a lot of interest and was oversubscribed by numerous institutional investors in North America and Europe and retail investors. The board, the executive management and our largest shareholder all participated in the offering. The funds raised from the offering were a major step to support our growth of Westport Fuel Systems. They invest in capex to expand production capacity in research and development for HPDI technology, acquire bolt-on businesses like Stako with complementary capabilities or technologies to existing businesses and also to further strengthen our balance sheet.
We also continue to manage our debt profile to align the cash flows from our businesses to our investment plans. During the quarter, we refinanced a EUR7.5 million loan with UniCredit in the second quarter under the Decreto Liquidita program maturing in 2027 that we announced to you earlier this year. We're also negotiating with our partner, Export Development Canada, to refinance our term loan and COVID-19 bridge loan into a long-term credit facility to support funding of our HPDI technology, commercialization and research and development. We received waivers from EDC to defer principal payments on the term loan in COVID-19 bridge loan due in June and July of this year, respectively, to September of 2021 in anticipation of renegotiating the new agreement.
We are very appreciative of the support and relationship with EDC and this refinancing would be another significant step to bolstering our liquidity to fund our growth. With that, I would like to turn it back to you, David
David Johnson -- Chief Executive Officer
Thanks, Richard. Looking forward, not only are we optimistic, but we're committed to deliver. We expect continued post-COVID recoveries in markets around the world and continuously increasing demand for transportation. We also see continued regulatory and societal pressure for clean transportation and the persistence of the economic fundamentals that mean only affordable solutions can scale in a way that is meaningful in both automotive and environmental terms.
For Westport Fuel Systems, we're well positioned and expect growth in all our businesses, but especially growth of HPDI in existing markets, launch of HPDI in new markets and the development of HPDI for hydrogen with existing and new partners. I'm proud of our team and of all of their efforts remain focused on our objectives in the challenging conditions we faced during the last year and a half. We're well positioned to continue meeting the market in gaseous fuels and believe we have the best team, technology and partners to secure the sizable opportunities ahead. With that, I'd like to turn it back to the operator for your questions.
- Questions & Answers:
Operator
Our first question comes from Eric Stine of Craig-Hallum. Please go ahead.
Eric Stine -- Craig-Hallum Capital Group -- Analyst
Hi, David. Hi, Richard.
David Johnson -- Chief Executive Officer
Good morning.
Richard Orazietti -- Chief Financial Officer
Good morning.
Eric Stine -- Craig-Hallum Capital Group -- Analyst
Good morning. So maybe just starting on HPDI. And I just want to clarify, so did you say that second-quarter volumes did improve sequentially. And then also, would just love your thoughts on some expectations, obviously, very bullish, but some expectations for the second half of '21 maybe versus what the run rate you had in 2020.
David Johnson -- Chief Executive Officer
Yeah thanks for the question, Eric. Well, we're -- as you mentioned, we had the sequential growth already this year, quarter over quarter. Obviously, I say, year-over-year growth in Q1 year-over-year growth in Q2, which, of course, is like the COVID time, but also the continued growth. So fundamentally, this is a product launch that started a few years ago and continues.
The goals for the industry and the world really drive our business. So in Europe, for example, in 2025, the remains is 15% reduction in CO2. And as that goal comes closer and closer, we expect the volumes to continue to ramp in response to trying to meet that goal by our need customer, but also by other customers. So I think we're on a very good path, and we do expect that continued growth through this year and into the coming years.
Eric Stine -- Craig-Hallum Capital Group -- Analyst
Got you. And then maybe just transitioning to China, you've been waiting on vehicle certification for quite some time. I mean, anything you can discuss in terms of when you actually might start to see volumes given that when you do, I would think that the ramp maybe is gradual for a couple of quarters, but then can be pretty significant.
David Johnson -- Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. I think you characterized it correctly. We expect to see a launch. We may expect to see volumes grow.
And the market in China is a huge market, as I've pointed out regularly. They're already in China having a 10% market share of natural gas vehicles and that's a spark-ignited engine. So it's like a 10x kind of performance with gaseous fuel vehicles in China versus what we have in North America. So -- and the market is three or four times larger than North America.
And so we're really well positioned. Weichai Power is a great partner of ours. Our joint venture is doing excellent in the market in spark-ignited product. And when we're able to add and bring HPDI to that marketplace, we expect a really strong response because it offers that improved performance, improved efficiency and really nothing to be taken away from the fleet driver and the truck driver and that really reflects back on what we see in the market today in Europe, where basically, HPDI is winning versus spark-ignited product because of its superior performance.
And so we expect a really important development for ourselves and for our partners in the Chinese market as HPDI launches.
Eric Stine -- Craig-Hallum Capital Group -- Analyst
Got it. Maybe last one for me, just on hydrogen. Anything you can discuss about the pipeline now that you've got Scania in-house at least for a development agreement. You've had a number of data points in progress here.
Anything you can share on the pipeline.
David Johnson -- Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. From our perspective, we've shared what we can in terms of actual mains and results and outlook. But fundamentally, I think the important big picture is that we've already demonstrated very clearly and brought to date with the marketplace showing that hydrogen with HPDI is super effective. It's a great solution.
It's a great way to use hydrogen. It's a great way to use HPDI. So the combination is really fantastic. And we expect that really to accelerate the progress of bringing HPDI in the marketplace for natural gas, for biogas and for hydrogen as a function of time as those fuels become increased and available.
So yeah, we think it's a really important part of our portfolio and our technical capability to respond to the future green hydrogen fuel capabilities.
Eric Stine -- Craig-Hallum Capital Group -- Analyst
OK, thanks a lot.
David Johnson -- Chief Executive Officer
Thanks, Eric.
Operator
Our next question comes from Rob Brown of Lake Street Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Rob Brown -- Lake Street Capital Markets -- Analyst
Good morning.
David Johnson -- Chief Executive Officer
Good morning, Rob.
Richard Orazietti -- Chief Financial Officer
Good morning, Rob.
Rob Brown -- Lake Street Capital Markets -- Analyst
Just sort of following up on the European HPDI growth. If you -- you expect -- I think you said expect improvement in the back half. Are you seeing pent-up demand maybe from supply chain issues that are going to alleviate or are you -- where are you seeing the demand growth in the back half of the year? And how do you first half?
David Johnson -- Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. So general trend, which has played out since we launched. It's been a nice growth trend with a volume growing quarter after quarter. One thing that's very frustrating for all of our shareholders and the investor community is not being able to see that in detail.
We look forward to breaking that out in some detail in the future when we have more customer volume to aggregate in the show. But fundamentally, there have been some constraints in the marketplace in the first half of the year that despite those we've still grown. And those constraints are related to all the supply chain shortages, which includes microprocess, as we mentioned, as well as other materials and just a pent-up demand and a residual COVID effected the marketplace globally and certainly still in Europe. So all those factors, we think, have been a headwind for ourselves and our customers.
And then our results are up and we expect that as those headwinds ease, whether it's COVID or supply that the market will continue to grow. And that's just on the foundation of the fact that it's a better product and a response to both the customer demand and regulatory requirements. And as I mentioned in the comments earlier, the key ingredient for all of the things that we bring to the marketplace to have cleaner transportation is their affordability. And you can read a customer testimonial after customer testimonial in Europe saying that the trucks performed really well and the trucks save needs money.
And that combination is the perfect set of ingredients for success.
Rob Brown -- Lake Street Capital Markets -- Analyst
And then on the North American market, you talked sort of alluded to some activity there. How do you see that developing? What's your approach to enter the North American market with HPDI?
David Johnson -- Chief Executive Officer
I think it's something that's truly important in this equation is the fact that the world of commercial trucking and heavy-duty engines for commercial trucking is supplied by just a handful of companies around the world that make and sell the best majority of the product and all these companies basically are global. So our current partners are global OEMs. They have brought and are bringing HPDI to the marketplace in their home market. And I think having done that then that offers the opportunity to expand to markets around the world and that includes North America.
Clearly, the North American market has historically been a little bit slower to develop with natural gas and market share around the world in places like China and Europe, for example. And that's primarily due to the fuel price dynamics in North America, where that fuel price differential isn't as significant and it's as persistent historically as it has been in other markets. So I think that's an important part of the equation. So we're really excited about the opportunity in North America based on the need from an environmental perspective and the effectiveness of our product to respond to that factor.
So we see companies that have made the analysis of natural gas in trucking in North America, leaning forward and buying more and more and shifting their fleet. But we're expecting that will increase in the future as ESG requirements and societal demands and regulations and fuel price dynamics modify over time and get more and more European and Chinese, like in the North American market.
Rob Brown -- Lake Street Capital Markets -- Analyst
Great. Thank you for the color. I'll turn it over.
David Johnson -- Chief Executive Officer
Thanks, Rob.
Operator
Our next question comes from Colin Rusch of Oppenheimer. Please go ahead.
Colin Rusch -- Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. -- Analyst
Thanks so much guys. Could you give us an update on where you're at now with the HPDI for hydrogen testing and risking? Have you begun those tests full in? Are you still doing preparation work? What's the latest on that front?
David Johnson -- Chief Executive Officer
So our projects are proceeding. So we have engines in the test cell doing work. And as we develop results that we're able to share and as our customers allow us to share, we've been sharing that with the marketplace. So we did a presentation of our own results in Vienna in April that we referred to earlier.
And we have an upcoming presentation in Venice, Austria in early September. And so we'll continue to bring that news to the marketplace as it becomes available. For us, development of hydrogen HPDI is an ongoing effort on our own R&D dollar as well as with our customers' projects as announced Scania and TUPY and AVL. These are really, I would say, meaningful developments, important developments.
And for us, very exciting, because it's moving on to this next fuel of the future of greenfield for transportation. And our results already are very exciting. So yes, as we have more to share, we'll certainly be sharing. You can count on us to do so.
Colin Rusch -- Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. -- Analyst
Thanks so much. And then with the potential for adding in new HPDI customers on the natural gas side because of the runway that you provide into hydrogen. Can you talk about the benchmarks that those customers are looking for before they would move forward with you guys on the natural gas side from the hydrogen testing?
David Johnson -- Chief Executive Officer
I think the real question, Colin, is when do our customers make announcements, right? The business of developing engines and bringing into production in -- for any technology, including ours, is a multiyear activity, where we engage with customers as we did with our lead customer in Europe and our customer in China many years ago, and we need to developing the test cell and we need to develop new vehicles. And so this is a multiyear activity. And in many cases, as of a vacation with our lead European customer, the announcements don't come in direct alignment with what's actually happening. So I apologize for that.
It's just the way it works in our industry. And we're looking forward to being -- hearing and seeing the announcement from our customers as they grow ready HPDI.
Colin Rusch -- Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. -- Analyst
That's helpful. Thanks so much.
David Johnson -- Chief Executive Officer
Our pleasure.
Operator
Our next question comes from Amit Dayal of H.C. Wainwright. Please go ahead.
Amit Dayal -- H.C. Wainwright & Co. -- Analyst
Thank you. Good morning, everyone.
David Johnson -- Chief Executive Officer
Good morning.
Amit Dayal -- H.C. Wainwright & Co. -- Analyst
I have -- Hi, David. Has the COVID sort of impacting the recovery process, made any difference in the historical seasonality. We typically see the fourth few quarters the strongest for you guys. Because of what has transpired over the last 12 months, should we anticipate any change to have some that revenue gains plays out at least.
David Johnson -- Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. I think I understand your question about how does COVID and seasonality fit together. To me, it's a simple, super position. So can we just add the two effects together.
I don't think there's any fundamental change in the seasonality of our business. And a clear example that we control is in the month of August, coming up the next couple of weeks, we have our typical Italian holiday period. And so we'll close the factories for a couple of weeks. And of course, we'll continue to do business, but there is this drop in supply in the month of August.
It always happens for us. And the second quarter tends to be a strong quarter. Fourth quarter tends to taper off a little bit. But some of these trends and our seasonality are changing as the mix of our business changes from heavily reliant on aftermarket to more of a mix of OEM and aftermarket.
We've talked and put up the results, so you can see it as the mix between OEM and aftermarket. We break that out in our financial analysis. You can see what that mix looks like. And as we increasingly become an OEM business and a Tier 1 supplier to those OEMs, that seasonality will change more to an automotive as opposed to consumer products.
Meanwhile with respect to COVID, that has been an affect in the marketplace. I would say not so much on the heavy truck side, although there's been other supply side challenges that have been induced by COVID I believe and other factors, of course. So to me, you kind of have to do a little math and kind of make the forecast on what you think the COVID effects are and what's the seasonality is and how it changes between aftermarket and OEM to try and get an idea of how all those effects are coming out in our results. Fundamentally, the backdrop of all that are going to be the foundation of all that, is the fundamentals of our business, clean affordable technology and need for those new marketplace.
So we do see this growing business and that's why we're excited to have another quarter -- another record quarter, and we look to look to more in the future.
Amit Dayal -- H.C. Wainwright & Co. -- Analyst
And just one more from me. With this Cummins contract coming to an end potentially in December, for renewal, I guess, is there a potential strategy to fill gap from those contributions if the relationship does not continue?
David Johnson -- Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. So we have quite a few additional alternatives. And of course, our business is global. It's not just a North American business.
Our business is varied in terms of market segments we address. And so frankly, we see growth across all of our different geographies, product segments. Of course, HPDI is an important part of that. We think HPDI has an important role to play in North America as the market continues to develop.
So yes, there's lots of different opportunities to back fill in the case that our joint venture wind up as is currently contracted to do. But we're also continuing to have the discussions with our partner around other alternatives and what might happen in the future. So yeah, stay tuned. So as we have some news, we'll share it with you.
Amit Dayal -- H.C. Wainwright & Co. -- Analyst
Got it. And maybe -- sneaking one last one, sorry. How many customers for HPDI do we have accredited at the end of the year?
David Johnson -- Chief Executive Officer
So I think the way I count is that we have the customer that's in production in Europe. We have the customer that has a production in China. And then we have the two customers that we've announced that are developing hydrogen HPDI with that. And so one is, I would say, not a typical OEM customer, our partnership with TUPY and AVL.
But certainly, we think and they think leads to customers that bring hydrogen HPDI in the marketplace. So those are kind of four announce. I don't have any more announcements on that, but you can imagine that we have other projects that aren't announced. So that's just the way the business works.
Amit Dayal -- H.C. Wainwright & Co. -- Analyst
OK, thank you.
David Johnson -- Chief Executive Officer
Thank you.
Operator
Our next question comes from Jeff Osborne of Cowen and Company. Please go ahead.
Jeff Osborne -- Cowen and Company -- Analyst
Yeah. A lot of my questions have been answered. A couple of clarifications. Just on China, I thought the -- in your prepared remarks, you said they had certification.
But then to Eric's question, you didn't. I thought they received batch 344 certification in mid-June.
David Johnson -- Chief Executive Officer
So we found in the public domain some announcements of vehicle certification. So we know those steps have been completed and we can reference them in a public way. And so that's what has happened and as we mentioned in my earlier remarks.
Jeff Osborne -- Cowen and Company -- Analyst
Got it. So once you have that certification, you then need to get designed into a truck OEM. Do you have any sense in working with them that it's actually being marketed or sold?
David Johnson -- Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. So these are the announcements, Jeff, that we have to lead to our customers. But basically, the certification that's been achieved is both the engine cert, if we did, our joint venture did last year and then our customers are doing the vehicle search and we've seen those published in China. So we know those have been achieved.
So with that, basically, then the next steps are basically on to the marketplace. But again, these are the announcements that will come from our JVs customers benfit truck OEMs, not from us.
Jeff Osborne -- Cowen and Company -- Analyst
Got it. And then how is the expansion in China with your manufacturing partner there? Is that up and running? Do you have the capacity to meet the agreement that you've extended through 2024 or can you remind us on how...
David Johnson -- Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. Thanks for asking this. It's really important that we have made these investments and are putting the equipment into place. That's a this year activity and that will support the ramp that we forecast in the Chinese market.
We have a long-standing partnership on our fuel injector with BorgWarner and we're excited about this development and making the investment necessary to support the marketplace. So it's happening now, and the capacity will be available to support the launch trip that we expect. That's our business. We put the best in place, so we get the port of the ramps that we even forecast and expect and understand from our customers.
Jeff Osborne -- Cowen and Company -- Analyst
Got it. Then I had a question on the hydrogen side. You mentioned the performance of HPDI versus spark-ignited and you saw similar trends with nat gas, with torque and whatnot. But my understanding is I thought hydrogen with engines, as you indicated in your prepared remarks, has been tried for years.
One of the challenges I thought was embrittlement of the hydrogen molecule into the metal itself where it sort of diffuses into the metal. Is there anything unique about HPDI that would avoid that problem or can you talk about what embrittlement trends have been in terms of performance and measuring NOx and SOx with the various different tests that you've done with Scania?
David Johnson -- Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. So glad to talk about that. So we are in this phase and you can tell from our announcements with both Scania, AVL and TUPY that we need to go do some work and actually develop the product all the way to production. The initial demonstration that we've done show the clear promise and potential of the fundamentals of the combustion system.
But as you know well and everybody on the call should really understand the world of commercial trucking, the first priority of every tractor is to make sure that their truck always runs and has its long durability for thousands -- hundreds of thousands of kilometers and miles. So that long-term durability is something that we need to develop and demonstrate. And quote unquote the hydrogen embrittlement challenge, which is a real material science type challenge, is still to be, let's say, fully addressed. I don't anticipate any problem to do that, but yes, we have to go do it.
And so that's some of the work that is ahead of us still. I can't say it's fully solved, but at the same time, I can also say that so far our tests have no issues identified. But it's a real plan and we need to work on it and that's engineering work that would be done.
Jeff Osborne -- Cowen and Company -- Analyst
And just a follow-up on that hopefully a non-technical question, but the intent is to allow the installed base to use this. So there's no augmentation of the metals within the engine block versus you could avoid embrittlement by using different materials, but is that correct? The idea would be to upgrade existing nat gas engines to something greener.
David Johnson -- Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. I really don't expect this to be a retrofit activity. In other words, we're not going to pull a truck into a shop and change injectors and fuel systems into hydrogen just like we don't take a diesel truck today and pull it into a shop and turn it to an HPDI. The business of making engines for long-haul trucking is an OEM business, and I expect it to remain an OEM business.
And so we'll develop the hardware that has the fuel injection system as well as the engine hardware and make whatever necessary changes are required in order to produce a product that customers can count on and that delivers the benefits that we've already demonstrated with hydrogen and HPDI.
Jeff Osborne -- Cowen and Company -- Analyst
Perfect. Thanks for the clarification. I appreciate it.
David Johnson -- Chief Executive Officer
My pleasure, Jeff. Good to hear you.
Operator
Our next question comes from Mac Whale of Cormark Securities. Please go ahead.
Mac Whale -- Cormark Securities -- Analyst
Hey. Good morning, gentlemen. Just a question on long-term goals. David, you mentioned the profitable sales target mid-decade, what -- in broad strokes, what would the segmentation and gross margin look like under that scenario? What is it just that you're aiming to achieve or think you can achieve on that profitable sales target?
David Johnson -- Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. Thanks for asking. So this goal that we've set for mid-decade to have $1 billion in revenue is not just a revenue goal, but also includes a 20% gross margin on our business in total. And then in terms of how does that business develop, we see growth across all our segments.
Richard mentioned earlier, some of the developments we're seeing of our aftermarket business in developing markets around the world in places like Algeria and Egypt and India. And so as we look at our full suite of business, really, we will hit on all cylinders, so to speak, to build that $1 billion book of business with the profitability that we can be proud of. And so that's the plan and the outlook for our growth of our company. Of course, a key ingredient in that is the growth of HPDI from one product in one market with one customer to a product that's selling broadly around the world, China being next, North America after that and then more and more OEMs at the hydrogen future starts to hit the road with our technology.
Mac Whale -- Cormark Securities -- Analyst
And then following up on that or maybe linked to that. On the hydrogen side, so I suppose the hydrogen portion of that is sizable because you get investment on infrastructure and development along the cost declines for hydrogen, let's just suppose all that happens. Do -- what level of spend do you foresee sort of on an annual basis? Is this like a -- is it a $10 million a year sort of tax, is it $25 million? Is it like -- can you just give an idea of what the next sort of four or five years will require in terms of spend on getting that commercial?
David Johnson -- Chief Executive Officer
Yes. So I think the key ingredient here, actually, in terms of spending going forward, I would say, is not so much on the R&D side. Of course, there is some spending. We'll continue to invest in new products and that's part of our road map and business plan.
But I would tell you that the bigger spend is getting the capacity in place to grow and support our customers as more and more HPDI customers adopt the technology and then follow their own launch and growth curves. And so that would be the bigger part of the spend. And yes, I don't have figures to share with you, but as I mentioned, we see a relatively modest curve of spending going forward, not some huge capital need that anybody needs to bake into a model.
Mac Whale -- Cormark Securities -- Analyst
OK. And then just lastly, on the future of the JV. Is there -- and perhaps if it's available online, just point me to that, but is there details on how the roll-off would occur like in terms of -- like is there a stipulation that one partner buys out the other or that you have to share in the roll-up cost or anything of that nature that's available?
David Johnson -- Chief Executive Officer
So a decade ago, when we signed the current JV agreement, we did post that as one of our material agreements and filed that with some reactions. But basically, the fundamental structure of that is all laid out in the agreement. The question that everyone is asking and we don't have an answer for it today, but we'll have to into the future is, will there be any change that that we'll just follow that formula. So yes, we can point you to that document, so you can come up to speed on what the current agreement says.
Mac Whale -- Cormark Securities -- Analyst
OK, great. Thanks guys.
David Johnson -- Chief Executive Officer
Thank you.
Operator
Our next question comes from Eduardo de Jambin from the webcast. His question is any sale of HPDI in South Africa or Australia? And what about HPDI in off-road applications, any update?
David Johnson -- Chief Executive Officer
Eduardo, good to hear you. Thanks for your question. So generally speaking, we have our business with our lead European customer and they are a global OEM, as you well know, and consider markets around the world as potential markets for HPDI. I can't go into any geographic details.
That's their business, not ours, but we're certainly pleased to support them as they investigate the opportunity for HPDI in the market. In terms of off-road markets, we certainly see an opportunity there. This has been something that Westport Fuel Systems from the Westport innovations days has proceeded and investigated. And certainly, there are opportunities.
As a general premise, I see those to be kind of right in this time frame kind of as a follow-on activity to on-road. So in my experience industry, on-road trucks leads with technology and off-road comes as a follow-on. So we certainly see that as an opportunity and we recognize in industries like mining, for example, there is a big push to clean up the, let's say, industrial side and the internal combustion engine side of their business to move toward greater and lower carbon technologies like ours.
Operator
Our next question from the webcast comes from David Douglas. What is the true state of play with Weichai and Cummins? If not yet, when will we know is date certain, if neither is likely to come to fruition, what is the plan going forward?
David Johnson -- Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. So I think we've covered this quite well, David. And while I appreciate the question. We're offering in this call the state of play and that is we have a joint venture with Cummins.
It's scheduled to end at the end of this year and we're in discussions with our partner on alternatives to that ending. And if there's some change, we'll certainly announce it in -- when we have that conclusion. The same is true with our partner, Weichai. We've been very transparent about what's happening to the best of our ability.
And when we have some more news, we'll share that. So you might recall that we signed a new agreement with Weichai earlier this year, committing to the business and an increased volume of now 25,000 systems at a minimum through 2024. And meanwhile, the market in China and our partner are poised to bring HPDI to that market. So we, yes, we're excited about the future and anxious and eager as you are.
Operator
Our next question from the webcast comes from Charles Orensky. Your European -- is your European partner also stressing its future of electric trucks? How long is that away and it seems they're not interested in hydrogen? Any comments are greatly appreciated.
David Johnson -- Chief Executive Officer
So I can read what you can read in terms of what our partner is doing in Europe. And then in addition, I have kind of the insights into how we see the HPDI growth curve of that partner in Europe. And I think, broadly speaking, across the industry, including our lead partner in Europe, everybody is kind of placing their bets and not putting all their eggs in one basket, right? So I would tell you from just observing the industry as you can also that people are making bets on fuel cell, people are making bets on battery electric. And I guess the big picture from my perspective is that recognized that these truck manufacturers, all of them make a full breadth of offerings to the marketplace from transit vehicles for intercity that carry relatively light loads and doing a lot of stop and go to long-haul trucking.
And in some cases, they're also offering off-road equipment. So it's a full range of applications. And what I would point you to is that over a long period of time, I'm talking the full century of the development of the internal combustion engine and our industries for automotive and off-road and propulsion systems, that there's always been a diversity of solutions that applies in the marketplace. It's never been one thing that solves all our needs from a motorcycle to a long-haul truck to an earth moving equipment in a mine in any geography around the world.
And so these diversities of solutions have evolved over time as technology has evolved over time and as the requirements in the marketplace has evolved over time. So just to put a point on it, a real clear example is basically before World War II, all engines for almost everything were spark-ignited gasoline, petrol engines. Post-World War II, we saw the real development and proliferation of the diesel engine and trucking, and now basically, all trucks are diesel engines, quote unquote all like 98% and all cars quote unquote and roughly speaking, almost all of them are gasoline engines. And so you have this split of the market.
And as we go forward, OEMs are investing in a suite of technologies and there's going to be a mix of those technologies going forward. What I can clearly point to is that the mix of natural gas and trucking has grown very strongly in very specific segments, and it's continued to grow in Europe and better technologies like ours that are affordable, we'll win at the end of the day. And so that, to me, is the overall picture that I can put to.
Operator
Our next question is from the webcast from James Warner. Are there penalties if wage does not meet the HDPI purchase goal of 25,000 units by the end of 2024?
David Johnson -- Chief Executive Officer
Not so much penalties, James, but actually, there the contract we've signed is very similar in form of the contract you signed back in 2018, and that is they're committed to buy a minimum of 25,000. So it's this kind of they're committed to making these purchases at a certain price. And the only question is, what is the curve of those purchases that ends up a 25,000 systems purchased by 2024.
Operator
Our next question from the webcast comes from Peter Wong. Will HPDI two in North America require LNG infrastructure first?
David Johnson -- Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. So very interesting question, Peter. Thanks for asking. Basically, at the engine, the fuel that we're injecting into the engine with our HPDI system is basically, I would say, mid-pressure.
It's not liquefied, it's a gas. And so we can run HPDI with a gaseous fuel system, with the CNG fuel system. We don't need an LNG fuel system. And so both options are possible for us.
Today, in the marketplace for both Europe and China, we're bringing to market an LNG system. And the reason we bring in LNG system is that LNG is a much more dense form of natural gas and therefore, you get better range. So it's really about the application. So if you want to apply HPDI in an application that doesn't have a longer range, you can use CNG or you can use more tanks of CNG.
And in the North American market, as you know, it's very possible to put a back of cab, tank system and have plenty of CNG. And so we definitely see that as an option for HPDI in North America and CNG HPDI option.
Operator
This concludes the question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Christine Marks for any closing remarks.
Christine Marks -- Investor Relations
Thank you and thank you everyone for joining us today. If you do have any follow-up questions, please feel free to reach out to us at the Westport Fuel Systems investor relations team. Thank you again for your interest in Westport Fuel systems, and have a wonderful day.
Duration: 60 minutes
Call participants:
Christine Marks -- Investor Relations
David Johnson -- Chief Executive Officer
Richard Orazietti -- Chief Financial Officer
Eric Stine -- Craig-Hallum Capital Group -- Analyst
Rob Brown -- Lake Street Capital Markets -- Analyst
Colin Rusch -- Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. -- Analyst
Amit Dayal -- H.C. Wainwright & Co. -- Analyst
Jeff Osborne -- Cowen and Company -- Analyst
Mac Whale -- Cormark Securities -- Analyst
@Uran - Thank you...
Westport Fuel Systems Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:WPRT).
source
https://www.americanbankingnews.com/2021/08/06/westport-fuel-systems-target-of-unusually-high-options-trading-nasdaqwprt.html
Aug 6th, 2021
Westport Fuel Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:WPRT) (TSE:WPRT) was the target of some unusual options trading on Friday. Stock traders purchased 12,113 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 605% compared to the average volume of 1,718 call options.
WPRT stock traded up $1.13 during trading on Friday, hitting $5.04. The company had a trading volume of 696,496 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,914,799. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $4.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $781.35 million, a P/E ratio of 125.78 and a beta of 2.22. Westport Fuel Systems has a fifty-two week low of $1.46 and a fifty-two week high of $12.95.
Westport Fuel Systems (NASDAQ:WPRT) (TSE:WPRT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 6th. The auto parts company reported ($0.02) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $76.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.20 million. Westport Fuel Systems had a return on equity of 5.08% and a net margin of 1.83%. Westport Fuel Systems’s quarterly revenue was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year.
Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Westport Fuel Systems in the first quarter valued at approximately $47,212,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Westport Fuel Systems by 2,253.6% in the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,177,360 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $22,845,000 after purchasing an additional 3,042,360 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new position in shares of Westport Fuel Systems in the 2nd quarter valued at $9,583,000. Voloridge Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Westport Fuel Systems by 266.0% in the 1st quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 814,544 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $5,857,000 after purchasing an additional 591,975 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DAVENPORT & Co LLC bought a new position in shares of Westport Fuel Systems in the 1st quarter valued at $4,154,000. Institutional investors own 23.80% of the company’s stock.
About Westport Fuel Systems
Westport Fuel Systems Inc engineers, manufactures, and supplies alternative fuel systems and components for use in transportation applications worldwide. It operates through Original Equipment Manufacturer, Independent Aftermarket, and Cummins Westport Inc (CWI) Joint Venture segments. The company offers alternative fuel systems and components, which include a range of alternative fuels, such as liquefied petroleum gas, compressed natural gas, liquefied natural gas, renewable natural gas, and hydrogen; and independent aftermarket, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and delayed OEMs, electronics, current and advanced research and development programs, supply chain, and product planning activities.
Westport Innovations (WPRT) Surpasses Q2 Earnings and Revenue Estimates.
source
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/westport-innovations-wprt-surpasses-q2-231511510.html
Zacks Equity Research - Fri, August 6, 2021, 1:15 AM
Westport Innovations (WPRT) came out with quarterly earnings of $0.07 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of $0.04 per share. This compares to earnings of $0.02 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items.
This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of 275%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this maker of natural-gas engine technology would post a loss of $0.02 per share when it actually produced a loss of $0.02, delivering no surprise.
Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates three times.
Westport, which belongs to the Zacks Automotive - Original Equipment industry, posted revenues of $84.7 million for the quarter ended June 2021, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 21.58%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $35.96 million. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates four times over the last four quarters.
The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call.
Westport shares have lost about 29.3% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 17.2%.
What's Next for Westport?
While Westport has underperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock?
There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately.
Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions.
Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Westport was unfavorable. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to underperform the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus EPS estimate is breakeven on $87.25 million in revenues for the coming quarter and breakeven on $345.43 million in revenues for the current fiscal year.
Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Automotive - Original Equipment is currently in the bottom 18% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1.
Why the future of transportation is hydrogen.
source
https://www.h2-view.com/story/why-the-future-of-transportation-is-hydrogen/
By Joanna Sampson on Aug 04, 2021
Trials of hydrogen-fuelled internal combustion engines are underway in the world today. Westport Fuel Systems and Cummins are both testing the technology to accelerate the decarbonisation of commercial vehicles.
Jeremy Clarkson, former Top Gear presenter and current star of The Grand Tour, wrote in his latest The Sunday Times column that he is now finds himself “consumed with the idea of using the familiar technology but tweaking it to run on hydrogen instead of petrol, so that the only waste product is water”.
“The internal combustion engine (ICE) has been around for more than a hundred years. We are all familiar with it and we are now very good at making it reliable and cheap,” Clarkson wrote in The Times.
Whether a hydrogen-fuelled ICE or hydrogen-powered fuel cell, can hydrogen halt the charge to battery-electric vehicles?
With a battery-electric vehicle, your whole experience is different to what you are used to today driving a conventional petrol or diesel car.
My brother recently bought a Tesla Model 3. It takes him eight to 12 hours to charge it to full capacity at home or if he visits a Tesla Supercharger, he can add around 200 miles of range in about 15-20 minutes – a Tesla Supercharger basically offers a faster charge. He can get about 350 miles to a full charge, he has range anxiety.
Last week, I went in a hydrogen-powered fuel cell car for the first time during a visit to ITM Power, a Toyota Mirai. The Mirai refuels in three to five minutes and has a range of around 400 miles – just like the petrol car I drive today – except the only emission is water.
Just to be clear a hydrogen fuel cell car is still an electric car. If you’re not familiar with how a hydrogen fuel cell car works, in the Mirai, electricity is produced from a reaction between hydrogen and oxygen. You fill up with hydrogen fuel, in the same way as you buy petrol or diesel at a filling station. The fuel is contained in high-pressure tanks and fed into a fuel cell stack, where the hydrogen and the oxygen found naturally in the air react with each other and generate electricity. The Mirai has a ‘H2O’ button on the dashboard which when you press it, the water comes out of the exhaust.
And the whole experience of refuelling a hydrogen car at a hydrogen station is exactly the same as refuelling at a petrol or diesel station today; it’s still with a classic fuel pump and takes three to five minutes. I got the chance to visit two hydrogen stations in the UK last week – ITM Power’s brand new station at Tyseley Energy Park in Birmingham and the company’s wind hydrogen station in Rotherham.
The number of hydrogen refuelling stations worldwide has more than doubled in the past five years, marking the path towards more widespread commercial deployment. In 2020, 107 hydrogen stations went into operation worldwide, according to H2stations.org, an information service of Ludwig-Bölkow-Systemtechnik (LBST) – more than ever before. 29 new stations opened in Europe, 72 in Asia and six in North America.
H2stations.org says at the end of 2020, there were 553 hydrogen stations in operation worldwide, with concrete plans in place for an additional 225 station locations.
Hydrogen has moved beyond being a research curiosity, it’s not just a scientific concept anymore. Hydrogen cars, buses, trucks and trains are out there in the world today, along with the accompanying infrastructure. With the likes of Jeremy Clarkson writing about it in the press, public interest is increasing, and the general public will play an important role in which technology leads the green movement, as the drivers of the economy.
Whilst there is a place for both battery-electric and hydrogen technology for passenger cars, hydrogen is the only forward for decarbonisation of other modes of transport; there simply isn’t, and won’t, be enough batteries to electrify everything, and that’s without bringing the grid into it.
The Conversation reports battery production capacity currently under construction will allow the production of the equivalent of 40 million electric vehicles annually by 2028. In 2019, the world produced nearly 100 million cars, vans, buses and trucks and there’s around 1.4 billion motor vehicles in the world today.
Even at the projected 2028 level of battery production capacity, The Conversation estimates it would take 35 years to replace this global vehicle fleet with electric models, which is not fast enough to avoid the worst consequences of climate change.
Is the future hydrogen or is it battery-electric? Get in touch and let us know your thoughts.
BIT & Chinasoft International OpenHarmony Special Training Camp officially opened.
source
http://www.chinasofti.com/news/2237.htm
August 5, 2021
On August 2, 2021, BIT & Chinasoft International School-Enterprise Innovation Practice Project (OpenHarmony Special Training Camp) officially opened. This event was co-sponsored by BIT Computer School, BIT Information Technology Innovation School, and ChinaSoft International, and was strongly supported by the Open Atom Open Source Foundation. This training camp focuses on OpenHarmony technology in the full-scenario, full-connected, and full-smart era, through the joint implementation of practical courses by schools and enterprises, and cooperates with universities to build an integrated innovation and cultivation system of "teaching, learning, production, research, and use" to create innovative and guiding talents , To form a benign industrial talent cultivation system. The opening ceremony was presided over by Zhou Liming, director of the Xinchuang Education and Research Center of the Institute of Science and Technology, Xue Jingfeng, Vice Dean of the School of Computer Science, BIT, Wu Changgao, Dean of the School of Information Technology Innovation, BIT, Gan Yu, General Manager of the BG Planning Department of Chinasoft International Intelligent Internet of Things, and Open Atom Wang Guan, Minister of Education and Training of the Open Source Foundation, Zhu Qigang, head of the Ecological Construction Group of the Open Harmony Project Group of the Open Atom Open Source Foundation, and other leaders and experts attended the opening ceremony. There are more than 40 outstanding master students from the School of Computer, Optoelectronics, and Information College of Beijing Institute of Technology. Participated in this special training camp with undergraduates.
Dean Xue Jingfeng gave a speech for the opening of the special training camp. He first thanked ChinaSoft International and the Open Atom Open Source Foundation for their strong support of the school-enterprise summer innovative practice project. Dean Xue said that in today's "software defines the world, intelligence leads the future", computer software is the soul of social development, and the core of development lies in intellectual resources and talents. The school has always regarded the cultivation of high-level top-notch innovative talents as very important. Work, and in recent years have achieved very good results in innovation competitions (such as Internet +, Challenge Cup and other events), which is inseparable from the school-enterprise summer innovation practice project held every year. The special training camp extends the content of the textbook through lectures and practical training by enterprise experts, combines the needs of the enterprise and the industry, and enriches and perfects the knowledge structure and practical and innovative abilities of the students. At the same time, Dean Xue hopes that the students can learn and communicate with the outstanding experts of the company in this training camp, improve their practical skills, cultivate a team spirit that is not afraid of hardship and tiredness, and the ability to innovate and refine, and strive to achieve good results.
Wu Changgao, Dean of Xinchuang College, first analyzed the background of the vertical era and the horizontal international situation and national policies, and pointed out that the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution is not only a strategic “opportunity”, but also a great “crisis”. The information industry has developed rapidly in recent years, but it is mainly in the application field, and it is very weak in the fields of basic hardware (chip manufacturing) and basic software (operating system, database, middleware). To achieve independence and control in the field of information technology has risen to the national strategic level, and it is also the sacred mission of our young students. Dean Wu then gave an overall introduction from the perspectives of OpenHarmony positioning and OpenHarmony's technical features. OpenHarmony will become a new engine for domestic basic software, leading the domestic software industry into a new stage of development and getting rid of dependence on foreign basic software. At the same time, Dean Wu encouraged the students to study and practice earnestly in the next two weeks of special training camps, and devote themselves to this great technical field in the future, in this great era, to create great value and achieve extraordinary lives!
Zhu Qigang, head of the ecological construction group of the Open Harmony Project Group of the Open Atom Open Source Foundation, introduced OpenHarmony. The Open Atom Open Source Foundation accepted the code for the basic capabilities of smart terminal operating systems donated by Huawei in September 2020. The open source project is named OpenAtom OpenHarmony. Its vision is: to create an open, global, innovative and leading distributed operating system for multiple smart terminals and all scenarios, and to build a sustainable open source ecosystem. Zhu Qigang pointed out that after three open source & closed source wars, open source has become a common development model and has penetrated into the information age in all directions. Now open source has achieved extensive coverage in the industry, and deep collaboration and open source have become an advanced production method. , I hope that students will actively join the open source community, grow in the open source community, contribute their talents in the open source community, and achieve the future.
As the platinum donor of the Open Atom Open Source Foundation and the organizer of this special training camp, Chinasoft International sent a team of experts to lead the teaching of this special training camp. Mr. Gan introduced that ChinaSoft International has established a RISC-V chip platform intelligent IoT system research and development team, continues to contribute source code to OpenHarmony, and takes the AIoT full-stack solution leader as its strategic goal, and implements the full-stack intelligent IoT enablement Service strategy. In the future, ChinaSoft International will continue to promote the northbound ecological mobile Internet industry upgrade, using atomic services as an opportunity to explore new business models such as the northbound joint operation of the intelligent Internet of Things, and build an intelligent Internet of Things with all things connected in the south, and continue to expand in the south. To smart IoT hardware terminal products. Mr. Gan emphasized that ChinaSoft International, as an important manufacturer of full-stack intelligent IoT solutions, also warmly welcomes all students from BIT to join us and head towards the sea of ??stars in the future.
After the launch of this special training camp, the model of "theory + practice + innovation" will be adopted. The courses will be jointly taught by experts from ChinaSoft International and the Open Atom Foundation, allowing students to systematically learn the current popular OpenHarmony technology from south to north, and personally Participate in the practical operation of enterprise practical projects, open up a new path for career development, and become a high-tech talent that promotes the development of the Internet of Everything industry.
AR used in the Tokyo Olympics, will set off a new wave of technological era.
source
https://min.news/en/sport/34f68714563cfcb785d0bf720c9ec03d.html
August 5, 2021 05:42:02 HKT
After being postponed by the coronavirus pandemic for one year, the Tokyo Olympics in Japan will be held as normal this year. Recently, the well-known newspaper "USA Today" published two AR experience articles and showed the debut of the two brand-new events of skateboarding and sports rock climbing at the Olympics.
According to the British Immersive Technology: Venture Capital Report, despite the economic uncertainty caused by the epidemic, nearly two-thirds (64%) of the 50 British investors surveyed believe that VR/AR investment will be in the future One year increase.
The report listed new breakthroughs in the field of immersive technology (XR), including VR, AR, MR, haptics, and spatial computing. Asha Easton, head of Immerse UK, said: “This report shows that the UK is vigorously promoting immersive technology. The UK economy is expected to benefit from it, and now is the best time for investors to invest."
In addition, the report mentioned a VR tactile human-computer interaction platform that supports medical professionals and doctor-patient users to conduct VR medical collaboration training, and implement immersive fitness courses based on the family as a unit.
Easton also said: "The venture capital highlighted in this report shows the huge potential of XR technology in a range of cross-industry applications ranging from media and entertainment to medicine, manufacturing, education, and training."
After experiencing the enthusiasm of 2016, the VR/AR industry has been silent for several years. Right now, various signs indicate that the industry is showing a fiery momentum again.
First of all, Facebook has been increasing its AR technology. Today Facebook officially announced that it will add experimental support for the Passthrough API in the next version of the Quest development SDK update. This feature allows Unity developers to build AR experiences and features in applications on Quest 2.
Beginning in September last year, the company announced that the creators will be able to create AR effects for Messenger and Portal in 2021. The company has also invested heavily in AR and VR equipment, and reportedly has nearly 10,000 employees working in its reality laboratory department. Zuckerberg claimed that they are currently developing the company's first AR glasses and are cooperating with luxury brand Luxottica to adopt the specifications of the Ray-Ban series. The glasses are expected to be launched in 2021.
Besides, although Apple did not launch AR devices at the recent WWDC21 development conference, Apple plans to release its first wearable head-mounted display device in 2022, which is very similar to Facebook's Oculus Quest. However, Oculus Quest is just a VR headset, and Apple is developing a headset that integrates VR and AR. The price of this product may exceed US$900, and it is aimed at high-end audiences.
Then, on May 19, after Google launched the upgraded AR (augmented reality) Google Maps and Starline real-time holographic 3D video conferencing technology at the I/O 2021 conference, it released the ARCore 1.24 version of the AR toolkit. This update will bring developers the original in-depth API, environmental recording and playback API, these new API will help unlock more AR application scenarios, and accelerate the AR application development cycle.
When Microsoft MR director Alex Kipman was interviewed by foreign media, he also revealed HoloLens 3 information. As a listed company in the holographic AR industry, WiMi Hologram has a high global reputation. The holographic AR value industry chain with great potential for expansion.
It is understood that WiMi Hologram focuses on holographic cloud services, mainly focusing on vehicle AR holographic HUD, 3D holographic pulse LiDAR, head-mounted light field holographic equipment, holographic semiconductor, holographic cloud software, holographic car navigation and other professional fields, covering from holographic car navigation AR technology, 3D holographic pulse LiDAR technology, holographic vision semiconductor technology, holographic software development, holographic AR advertising technology, holographic AR entertainment technology, holographic ARSDK payment, interactive holographic communication and other holographic AR technologies. It is a holographic cloud integrated technology Solution provider.
SenseTime's mission and vision is "Insist on originality and let AI lead human progress". The company independently developed and established the world's top deep learning platform and supercomputing center, and launched a series of leading artificial intelligence technologies, including face recognition, image recognition, text recognition, medical image recognition, video analysis, unmanned driving and remote sensing Wait. SenseTime has become the largest AI algorithm provider in Asia.
As the world's leading artificial intelligence platform company, SenseTime is the first "intelligent vision" national new-generation open innovation platform for artificial intelligence designated by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China.
The city-level AI smart cultural tourism solution is a mixed reality platform based on SenseTime's industry-leading 3D high-precision map reconstruction technology, spatial perception computing, and full-field centimeter-level end-cloud collaborative positioning technology. It aims to create a fusion of virtual and real, smart and efficient A new urban-level cultural tourism space. The solution can be applied to various cultural and tourism scenarios, focusing on the construction of large-scale cultural and tourism infrastructure such as digital and intelligent city exhibition halls, smart scenic parks, smart transportation hubs, smart shopping malls, etc., providing indoor and outdoor AR navigation guides, AR interactive experiences, AI Various tools and services such as personalized recommendation and immersive AI digital intelligence space meet the needs of users for transportation, sightseeing, culture, education and entertainment, dining and leisure, shopping and consumption, and social communication.
The city-level AI smart cultural tourism solution brings a richer, more visual and innovative cultural tourism interactive experience to urban residents and tourists, and enhances the differentiated competitiveness and brand value of the urban cultural tourism industry. Welcome to consult smart cultural tourism solutions and jointly promote the construction of smarter cultural tourism projects!
Artificial Solutions signs multi-year agreement with Circle K to provide Conversational AI applications.
source
https://www.artificial-solutions.com/blog/artificial-solutions-signs-multi-year-agreement-with-circle-k-to-provide-conversational-ai-applications
August 3, 2021
Circle K, part of the Global Fortune 500 retailer Alimentation Couche-Tard, selects Artificial Solutions’ Conversational AI-platform
https://www.artificial-solutions.com/conversational-ai
to support omni-channel customer experience in multiple languages.
Artificial Solutions, a leading specialist in enterprise-strength Conversational AI, announced today that Circle K has renewed its agreement to run its Conversational AI deployments on the award-winning Teneo platform, to continue to provide support for customers and employees of its convenience retail outlets in the US and Scandinavia.
Conversational AI is used by Circle K to support customers through three solutions in North America and Europe:
- Kay, Circle K´s website chatbot, the one stop shop for finding the nearest location, deals and rewards.
- Circle K US car wash app.
https://www.circlek.com/circle-k-carwash
- Voice bot for North American stores, that handles inquiries done via call lines, about fuel delivery times.
“Conversational AI enables us to make our customers lives a little easier every day by serving their needs more efficiently. Working with Artificial Solutions has had significant benefits; Teneo has allowed the internal Conversational AI-team to build solutions faster, so that we can continue to focus on delivering exceptional customer experiences”, said Edgars Ozolnieks, Senior Manager – Digital Customer Service Solutions at Circle K.
For their deployments, Circle K is taking advantage of Teneo’s unique master-local feature. The main solution was built in English, and then exported to Swedish, Danish and Norwegian, repurposing 80% of the initial solution.
Circle K is one of the leading convenience store chains globally, and this partnership with a power-house retailer is a major validation for our technology,” said Per Ottosson, CEO at Artificial Solutions.
For further information:
Per Ottosson, CEO, Artificial Solutions
Email: per.ottosson@artificial-solutions.com
About Circle K and Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc.
Couche-Tard is the leader in the Canadian convenience store industry. Circle K is its global brand outside of Quebec, Canada. Couche-Tard is a global leader in convenience and fuel retail, operating in 26 countries and territories, with more than 14,200 stores, of which approximately 10,800 offer road transportation fuel. With its well-known Couche-Tard and Circle K banners, it is the largest independent convenience store operator in terms of the number of company-operated stores in the United States and it is a leader in the convenience store industry and road transportation fuel retail in Canada, Scandinavia, the Baltics, as well as in Ireland. It also has an important presence in Poland and Hong Kong. Approximately 135,000 people are employed throughout its network.
For more information on Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. or to consult its Unaudited Interim Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements and Management Discussion and Analysis, please visit:
https://corpo.couche-tard.com/fr/