2 12 月, 2020

NanoBridge Semiconductor, Inc. secures series A financing from Japan Industrial Partners and NEC for launching full-scale business

TOKYO, Dec 2, 2020 - (JCN Newswire) - NanoBridge Semiconductor, Inc. (NBS), which designs and manufactures advanced circuits and conducts IP-licensing sales using NanoBridge(1), a resistance-change switching technology for semiconductors, today announced that it has issued series A preferred stock to Japan Industrial Partners, Inc., NEC Corporation (TSE: 6701), and other companies to raise approximately 130 million yen.NBS is a venture company established by NEC researchers in September 2019. NanoBridge is a technology to control the creation or destruction of nanometer sized metal bridges in a solid electrolyte through the application of voltage, thereby realizing on and off-switch status. It is attracting attention as an ideal technology for FPGA(2) and memories that can repeatedly rewrite circuits. This is because NanoBridge consumes less power, as it does not require power to maintain an on or off status, and is highly resistant to both radiation and extreme temperatures. NEC has an established history of promoting the commercialization of NanoBridge, and decided to transfer NanoBridge-related intellectual property to NBS and conduct a spin-off in order to further drive the growth of this business. Through this fundraising, NBS will demonstrate its technologies in areas where radiation resistance is essential, such as aerospace and communications infrastructure. At the same time, NBS will develop a broad range of NanoBridge businesses for domestic and international manufacturers, such as IoT device and automobile manufacturers, while aiming to achieve sales of 5 billion yen in 2025. "The discovery of the atomic switch, based on the movement of atoms rather than electrons, was a major breakthrough in basic science," said Richard E. Dyck, Director, Japan Industrial Partners, Inc. "The team at NanoBridge, after two decades of skilled and focused engineering, has transformed this breakthrough into the realm of practical application. It is exciting to see the NanoBridge atomic switch can now be manufactured economically and in volume, on standard production equipment.""Under the Mid-term Management Plan 2020, NEC is strengthening its business development capabilities and commercializing competitive technologies," said Osamu Fujikawa, Senior Vice President, NEC Corporation. "We have invested in NBS to support the enthusiasm of our researchers for taking on new challenges and driving the advancement of outstanding NEC technologies into the worldwide marketplace."(1) NanoBridge(R) is a resistance-change type switch developed by NEC together with the National Institute for Materials Science. By controlling the creation or destruction of bridges formed by metal atoms in a solid electrolyte through the application of voltage, its resistance changes significantly, functioning as a wiring switch. The switch's resistance value is maintained even when the power supply is turned off, giving it non-volatility. Circuit non-volatility is an effective way to achieve reduced power consumption in ICT devices and systems. NanoBridge(R) is a registered trademark of NEC.(2) Field Programmable Gate Array. Logic LSI design technology for rewritable field programmable gate arrays.About NanoBridge Semiconductor, Inc.NanoBridge Semiconductor, Inc. (NBS) was established in 2019 in Tsukuba, Japan, to "Deliver ICT applications everywhere with Nanobridge technology." NBS provides low-power and rad-hard programmable AIoT terminals and nonvolatile memory through NanoBridge. At NBS, customers come first. NBS strives to build deep relationships with customers and works together for opening up a New Normal Society. For more information, visit NBS at new windowhttps://nanobridgesemi.com/. About Japan Industrial Partners, Inc.Japan Industrial Partners (JIP) is a private equity fund management company established in 2002. JIP has strong track records in supporting strategic carve-outs that realize growth potential and encourage autonomous growth. JIP's main philosophy in investing in Japanese companies is to realize continuous growth of the business by bringing better products and services to the users and customers and by creating a productive and rewarding work place for its employees. About NEC CorporationNEC Corporation has established itself as a leader in the integration of IT and network technologies while promoting the brand statement of "Orchestrating a brighter world." NEC enables businesses and communities to adapt to rapid changes taking place in both society and the market as it provides for the social values of safety, security, fairness and efficiency to promote a more sustainable world where everyone has the chance to reach their full potential. For more information, visit NEC at https://www.nec.com. Copyright 2020 JCN Newswire. All rights reserved. www.jcnnewswire.com

27 11 月, 2020

Fujitsu Develops Virtual Router Acceleration Technology to Deliver Ultra-High-Speed Packet Processing Performance

TOKYO, Nov 27, 2020 - (JCN Newswire) - Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. today announced the development of technology to accelerate virtual routers, which play a major role in the functionality of networks in virtual environments.Figure 1: High Speed Packet Addressing Control TechnologyFigure 2: Hybrid Memory Management TechnologyServer virtualization, which concentrates multiple applications and the infrastructure functionality of network processing in a general-purpose server environment, is spreading beyond datacenters to the field of edge computing, including wireless base stations and Mobile Edge Computing (MEC)(1). The technology also proves useful in areas including societal infrastructure with applications like traffic management, and in entertainment, where it can be used to deliver viewers content like sporting events. As data volumes increase and systems become increasingly complex, however, the CPU resources required for packet processing in a virtual network increase. This reduces the number of applications that can run on a single server, and leads to lower server aggregation rates.To resolve this issue, Fujitsu Laboratories has now developed technology to accelerate packet address control, which had been a performance bottleneck, while also offloading the processing of router functions in the virtual network to field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs)(2). This speeds up packet processing performance eighteen-fold compared with existing virtual routers, while reducing the use of CPU resources to about one thirteenth that of existing technology.With this technology, Fujitsu Laboratories will deliver high performance virtual networks with a low computational burden, supporting the digital transformation of companies by improving server utilization efficiency for businesses that will use large volumes of data in the 5G era.Development Background and IssuesServer virtualization, which concentrates multiple applications and network processing functionality using a virtual environment on a general-purpose server, is becoming increasingly common and widespread as digital transformation progresses. Moreover, by accelerating digital transformation within a wide variety of companies, new services are also being created that link applications together. Against this background, the volumes of data handled by these applications is trending upwards, leading to issues of increasing network complexity and increased computational burdens.As networks grow increasingly complex and computational burdens increase, issues have arisen with improving packet processing performance in the virtual routers that are essential to flexible network structures, as well as with reducing the CPU resources used for network processing, in the effort to deliver efficient server virtualization. By resolving these issues, it will become possible to increase the number of applications that can run on a server, as well as decrease the number of servers needed for a system, reducing investment costs for customers.About the Newly Developed TechnologyFujitsu Laboratories has now developed technology to offload the burden of virtual router functionality from the CPU to FPGAs, alongside technology to increase the speed of packet addressing control. This will not only increase network performance, but will also significantly reduce the CPU resources used for network processing.1. High Speed Packet Addressing Control TechnologyPreviously, high-speed processing was conducted by subjecting all packets to the same processing, without changing the order of the packets. If the order of the packets were to change in the input or the output of the virtual router processing, that might lead to applications resending packets, which would lower quality and increase the burden on the system.With this technology, packet sequence information is stored separately from the packets in the pipeline. Consequently, in address search processing spread over multiple stages, when the results of an earlier search render subsequent searches unnecessary and a packet bypasses those searches, it can be rapidly recombined with the other packets in the pipeline in the proper order based on the packet pipeline sequence information. Combined with the pipeline duplication, this technique reduces memory access while maintaining high pipeline processing speeds. These technologies improve packet processing performance.2. Hybrid Memory Management Technology of Lookup TablesFujitsu Laboratories has developed technology to automatically switch between the high-speed, low-capacity memory within the FPGAs and the high-capacity external memory, without pausing address search processing. In address search processing, multiple tables are searched to determine the address. As the number of connections increases, the amount of memory used by the lookup tables increases and the free space in the internal memory becomes insufficient. When this happens, this technology can synchronize lookup tables with relatively low access frequency, relative to their size, with external memory in the background, automatically switching to lookup tables in external memory without stopping search processing. This enables stable packet processing performance, limiting access to external memory, even in cases such as large-scale systems, where there are many communication destinations, and large lookup tables become essential.EffectsAn evaluation of the effects of this offloading on a general-purpose server was conducted using this technology, which was deployed on Intel Stratix 10 MX FPGA featuring high-speed HBM2(3) memory using Tungsten FabricTM, an exemplary open-source virtual router. Two servers connected with 100Gbps ethernet ran four virtual machines each, and communications were conducted between each virtual machine to test the performance of the virtual routers. The results showed that packet processing performance, which was 13.8Mpps using existing methods, was increased to 250Mpps, or about an 18-fold increase. In addition, the number of CPU cores used was reduced from 13 cores to 1 core.Using this technology, it is now possible to increase application server density. This will support the digital transformation of customers from the foundational level, improving server utilization efficiency in infrastructure business areas that use large volumes of data in the 5G era, particularly in base stations and MEC for carrier businesses, such as, for example, making it possible to operate a video distribution service for a stadium with fewer servers.Future PlansFujitsu Laboratories will continue to improve the performance and expand the functionality of this technology, as well as conducting further evaluations based on customer digital transformation use cases, with the goal of commercialization during fiscal 2021.(1) Mobile Edge Computing (MEC)Technology primarily used in mobile communications networks that delivers reduced latency and a more distributed burden for core networks by conducting data processing using servers and storage distributed to locations such as base stations.(2) Field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs)Field programmable gate arrays are large-scale semiconductor devices for which logic circuits can be rewritten.(3) HBM2The memory that is built into the same package as the FPGAs which is capable of transfer data at high-speed and high-capacity.About FujitsuFujitsu is the leading Japanese information and communication technology (ICT) company offering a full range of technology products, solutions and services. Approximately 130,000 Fujitsu people support customers in more than 100 countries. We use our experience and the power of ICT to shape the future of society with our customers. Fujitsu Limited (TSE:6702) reported consolidated revenues of 3.9 trillion yen (US$35 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2020. For more information, please see www.fujitsu.com.About Fujitsu LaboratoriesFounded in 1968 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Fujitsu Limited, Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. is one of the premier research centers in the world. With a global network of laboratories in Japan, China, the United States and Europe, the organization conducts a wide range of basic and applied research in the areas of Next-generation Services, Computer Servers, Networks, Electronic Devices and Advanced Materials. For more information, please see: http://www.fujitsu.com/jp/group/labs/en/. Copyright 2020 JCN Newswire. All rights reserved. www.jcnnewswire.com

18 11 月, 2020

Hong Kong Firms Maximise Digital Opportunities to Go Global

HONG KONG, Nov 18, 2020 - (ACN Newswire) - With the COVID-19 pandemic showing no sign of abating, how can Hong Kong, a city famous for its ability to respond rapidly, harness technology to create new opportunities? Organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) and the Hong Kong Electronics & Technologies Association (HKETA), the Symposium on Innovation & Technology 2020 invited experts from various sectors to offer insights into the latest developments, covering topics such as future technology trends, artificial intelligence (AI), 5G and cloud applications, the "new normal" for businesses and the latest developments in pharmaceutical technology. Speakers shared their experience in using technology to solve problems, and introduced new ideas that could lead to future opportunities.Nim Cheung, Chairman of Symposium on Innovation & Technology Organising Committee; Charles Mok, Honorary President of Hong Kong Information Technology Federation; Lo Wai-kwok, Legislative Councillor (Engineering); Marcos Chow, Partner & Head of Technology Enablement at KPMG China; and Timothy Tam, Head of Public Policy and Government Affairs (Hong Kong) at Google, sharing insights at the 'Symposium on Innovation & Technology 2020'. (L-R)Marcos Chow, Partner & Head of Technology Enablement at KPMG China, said enterprises are being driven to digital transformation due to the pandemic.Timothy Tam, Head of Public Policy and Government Affairs (Hong Kong) at Google, said Hong Kong enterprises are generally optimistic about the development of artificial intelligence.The symposium, running under the theme "A New Connected World Beyond the New Normal", is one of more than 20 webinar sessions being organised as part of Autumn Sourcing Week | ONLINE, a virtual trade fair that has attracted 2,600 exhibitors from 33 countries and regions, featuring the latest products from 11 industries.Alfred Sit, Secretary for Innovation and Technology of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), said in the opening speech at the symposium that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused substantial disruption to almost every aspect of our daily lives, adding that innovation and technology (I&T) has played an important role in helping to contain the spread of the disease and make it easier for everyone to observe the necessary social distancing measures. Mr Sit mentioned that over the past 10 months or so, the HKSAR Government has widely adopted I&T applications to support anti-epidemic work on many fronts, including the "StayHomeSafe" app, electronic wristbands, the "LeaveHomeSafe" app and more. He also highlighted how the launch of commercial 5G services by mobile network operators in April this year is paving the way for the beginning of the 5G era in Hong Kong.Summarising the results of KPMG's CIO Survey 2020, Marcos Chow, Partner & Head of Technology Enablement at KPMG China, outlined the new reality for global business. He said that enterprises are being driven to digital transformation due to the pandemic, leading to the widespread acceptance of home-based work, which in turn can expand the scope of talent recruitment and reduce geographical constraints. At the same time, the risk of a talent shortage has become the most pressing problem for global companies, with skills in the areas of network security, organisational management and corporate structure being in short supply.Hong Kong e-commerce firm eyes global expansionWhen it comes to technology, HKTVmall, a Hong Kong-based online supermarket and shopping mall platform, is poised to move from being a technology user to becoming a technology provider. Looking back at the company's experience over the last seven years, Ricky Wong, Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Hong Kong Television Network Limited, said the company recorded losses for five years until it emerged as the sole service provider in the business. The key for HKTVmall was to make good use of existing technology before developing its own technology and systems. "This is where value comes from," he said. The platform has collected consumer data from local customers over the years and laid the foundation for its digital ecosystem, developing different business opportunities according to consumers' needs and preferences. These include services such as an e-wallet, a shopping app targeted at seniors, a food takeaway platform, and products such as financial products and electronic insurance.Mr Wong said the platform plans to consolidate its broad experience and provide a one-stop turnkey solution for businesses around the world interested in developing online supermarkets or shopping platforms. He added that the company would open up its data bank to the public in the future, with information such as sales transactions, user traffic and logistics records becoming accessible to peers, academics and banks to promote the development of the local electronic ecosystem.Innovative technology brings about opportunities, but governments and industry must work together to drive positive development. In October, Google Hong Kong released "Smarter Digital City 3.0", which detailed Hong Kong people's readiness to accept AI. Timothy Tam, Head of Public Policy and Government Affairs (Hong Kong) at Google, said that Hong Kong enterprises are generally optimistic about the development of AI, but have concerns about issues such as investment return, knowledge and human resources. He expects that policymakers will have to invest resources to incentivise businesses to develop AI solutions. Charles Mok, Honorary President of the Hong Kong Information Technology Federation (HKITF), reminded companies to be mindful of customer privacy and network security, and to use and retain relevant information in a proper way.Professor hopes for more production of reusable disinfection equipmentAlongside business opportunities, the symposium addressed public concerns regarding treatment and prevention during the COVID-19 pandemic. Yuen Kwok-yung, Chair of Infectious Diseases in the Department of Microbiology at the University of Hong Kong, joined the event to share his views on the current situation in relation to the pandemic. He said that the effectiveness of antibodies being developed worldwide is still uncertain, noting that the cost of developing a neutralising monoclonal antibody has been high, while the cost of convalescent plasma antibody titres is lower.In terms of virus prevention, Prof Yuen hoped that manufacturers would use sterilised materials to produce reusable personal protection equipment to handle various infectious diseases. He pointed out that although the source of the new coronavirus could not be confirmed at present, viruses were found in poultry markets in 2003 (SARS), 2013 (H7N9 avian influenza) and 2019 (new coronavirus), so the design of poultry markets needs to be improved. Attention should also be paid to the design of domestic sewerage systems to avoid virus transmission incidents such as those in Amoy Gardens in 2003, Hong Mei House in Cheung Hong Estate and Heng Tai House in Fu Heng Estate in 2020.The HKTDC is running Autumn Sourcing Week | ONLINE from 16 to 27 November, featuring the latest products from different industries including electronics, houseware, lighting, outdoor lighting, eco tech, gifts and premiums, toys, baby products, stationery, optical and watches and clocks. The virtual fair serves as a one-stop online sourcing platform to keep small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) connected with global buyers and help create business opportunities across various sectors.WebsitesAutumn Sourcing Week | ONLINE: https://asw.hktdc.comhktdc.com Sourcing: http://sourcing.hktdc.comPhotos download: https://bit.ly/3lKlXBRAbout HKTDCThe Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) is a statutory body established in 1966 to promote, assist and develop Hong Kong's trade. With 50 offices globally, including 13 in Mainland China, the HKTDC promotes Hong Kong as a two-way global investment and business hub. The HKTDC organises international exhibitions, conferences and business missions to create business opportunities for companies, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), in the mainland and international markets. The HKTDC also provides up-to-date market insights and product information via trade publications, research reports and digital news channels. For more information, please visit: www.hktdc.com/aboutus. Follow us on Twitter @hktdc and LinkedIn.Contact:Janet Chan, Tel: +852 2584 4369, Email: janet.ch.chan@hktdc.org Copyright 2020 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. www.acnnewswire.com

15 11 月, 2020

BYD Debuts DM-i Hybrid Technology and 1.5L Xiaoyun Engine

Eric Li, Deputy General Manager of BYD Auto Sales (Middle) presenting tech details of Xiaoyun Engine.The new highly efficient 1.5L plug-in hybrid engine, is specifically built for the DM-i hybrid technology. With a Brake Thermal Efficiency (BTE) of 43%, it stands as the world's highest thermally efficient gasoline engine in production. The engine's immense fuel efficiency easily meets China's newest national emissions standards, while also providing a distinctly smooth and quiet driving experience.The DM-i Hybrid Technology - Bold new advances for a more fuel-efficient worldIn the Chinese government's recent New Energy Vehicle Industry Development Plan (2021-2035), NEVs are expected to account for 20% of the total sales of new vehicles in China by 2025. Among these, the path for PHEVs shows immense potential.By leveraging its Dual Platform strategy, BYD's dual-mode (DM) hybrid technologies - the DM-p and the DM-i - further enhances the competitiveness of PHEVs against traditional fuel vehicles.The DM-p platform, with a focus on exceptional performance, provides a power output that surpasses large fuel cars. This has drawn the interest of consumer groups that strongly care about environmental protection and sustainable lifestyles, while also holding high expectations for driving experiences.New models with the DM-i hybrid technology will see a wide array of improvements, including further reductions in fuel consumption, faster acceleration, smoother and quieter rides, and more environmentally-friendly electric power. When compared to traditional fuel cars, vehicles equipped with DM-i hybrid technology stand out as superior products with their enhancement of driving experiences while being less reliant on fossil fuels. In addition, the prices of models with the DM-i hybrid technology are similar to the cost (tax and fee included) of fuel vehicles of the same type from outside of China. This is positioned to be a significant shift in the competition between PHEVs and fuel vehicles, impacting consumer and market perceptions of NEVs.Eric Li, Deputy General Manager of BYD Auto Sales, said, "BYD has always insisted on self-reliance to build its core technology. With our advantages in new energy technologies, we have achieved major breakthroughs in several key areas. The DM-i hybrid will rigorously accelerate the replacement of traditional fuel cars with new energy vehicles."The Xiaoyun engine - Hardcore technology for premium thermal efficiencyPowering the ultra-high thermal efficiency of the Xiaoyun is a multitude of innovative technical features, allowing it to reach its world-leading 43% BTE.The Xiaoyun boasts an ultra-high compression ratio (CR) of 15.5, an increased B/S ratio, an Atkinson cycle for improved combustion efficiency, an Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) system, a series of friction-reducing measures and an engine control system that is uniquely optimized for high thermal efficiency targets.In addition, the Xiaoyun engine takes full advantage of the electrification of plug-in hybrid models, electrifying accessories and removing the traditional front-engine accessory drive system, further reducing wear and tear and improving efficiency.For the first time ever, BYD has implemented split cooling technology for an engine. Through on-demand cylinder head and cylinder block temperature measurements, this enables precise and accurate cooling for the Xiaoyun engine to reach optimal running temperatures. By mitigating heating losses, this shortens the length of warming up the engine after a cold start by 15-20%, reducing fuel consumption and carbon emissions during the process.To dramatically improve noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) performance, the engine has specially-optimized designs for the crankshaft, bearings, cylinder block, intake manifold, oil pan, timing cover, cylinder head cover and other components of the plug-in hybrid system.About BYDBYD Company Ltd. is one of China's largest privately-owned enterprises. Since its inception in 1995, the company quickly developed solid expertise in rechargeable batteries and became a relentless advocate of sustainable development, successfully expanding its renewable energy solutions globally with operations in over 50 countries and regions. Its creation of a Zero Emissions Energy Ecosystem - comprising affordable solar power generation, reliable energy storage, and cutting-edge electrified transportation - has made it an industry leader in the energy and transportation sectors. BYD is listed on the Hong Kong and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges. More information on the company can be found at http://www.byd.com.ContactsIn Asia-Pacific: Richard Lipr@byd.com;tel:+86-755-8988-8888-69666In North America: Frank Girardotfrank.girardot@byd.com; tel: +1 213 245 6503In Europe: Penny Pengpenny.peng@byd.com; tel: +31-102070888BYD Company Ltd. Copyright 2020 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. www.acnnewswire.com

9 11 月, 2020

XanPool Launches XanPay – New and More Efficient form of Payment Routing

Reducing Cross Border Routing and Settlement Costs For Payment Service Providers and Their Merchants. Hong Kong - Hong Kong-based Fintech Company XanPool (the "Company") having just raised raised it's US$4.3 million in a Pre-A financing last quarter, is pleased to announce that it has launched its latest, product XanPay. XanPay is a unique payment routing technology that utilizes the Company's proprietary C2C-routing-technology and its network of Digital Currency Liquidity Providers to enable cross-border payments between payment service providers, merchants and their customers. XanPay's software allows its partners to instantly route and settle their cross border payments without any custody risk, simply by integrating with XanPay's REST API. What this means in practice, is that payment service providers that use XanPay's routing technology, are now able to settle their merchant payments instantly, at minimal cost. Whereas conventional payment routing requires long settlement times – from days to weeks – to clear payments between merchant and customer. The Company is currently already integrated with over 20 payment service providers and merchant acquirers in Asia, helping them route cross border payments in seconds instead of days, without taking custody of their customers' funds throughout the entire process. XanPay's routing technology currently supports over 15+ countries and currencies including but not limited to Hong Kong S.A.R., Pakistan, Bangladesh, Russia, China, Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, India, and Vietnam, connecting the currencies and local payment methods of over 50% of the world's population into a single software stack. Commenting on the XanPay launch, Daniel De Weyer, previously the Global Clients Director at SWIFT (the world's oldest and most established payment routing company), now having joined XanPay full time, said, "I'm incredibly excited about the XanPay product. Having worked for over 20 years at SWIFT, I instantly saw the value of XanPay's C2C-rounting-technology alongside the usage of Digital Currencies. I have big ambitions for XanPay, and am excited to grow it into an organization with global capabilities making it the go to routing provider for local, regional and global clients". Evonne Tan, Business Manager at XanPay, said, "Our aim is to offer our business partners and merchants the quickest and most affordable infrastructure for the routing of money across the region (to enable cross-border payments); The interesting thing about XanPay's infrastructure is that the more businesses use it, the faster and cheaper it becomes. This occurs when our C2C network volumes increase, which allows us to optimize our network liquidity better." Merchants in Asia are encumbered by legacy payments routing institutions, intermediaries, and infrastructure, forcing these merchants to have to contend with high costs and long settlement periods. Digital Currencies routed through XanPay's C2C network can enable instant, cross-border routing and settlement, cutting out a lot of middlemen. Such as, for example, a Bangladeshi merchant will be able to accept Singapore dollars with Paynow, while receiving Bangladeshi Taka into his bank account within a few minutes. Jeffery Liu, Chief Executive Officer at XanPool, and Daniel De Weyer, Director of Banking Relationships at XanPool are available for interviews. Media contact Company: XanPool Contact: Fred Tan, Marketing & PR Manager Phone: +852 5334 3110 (for Whatsapp Only) Website: https://xanpool.com/ -------------------------------------------------------- The article is provided by a third-party content provider. SEA PRWire makes no warranties or representations in connection therewith. Any questions, please contact SEAPRWire/at/gmail.com Sectors: Top Story, Daily News SEA PRWire: PR distribution in Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore & Malaysia)

9 11 月, 2020

Fujitsu Develops New Tech for Quantum-Inspired “Digital Annealer”, Achieving Megabit-class Performance for Large-Scale Combinatorial Optimization Problems

KAWASAKI, Japan, Nov 9, 2020 - (JCN Newswire) - Fujitsu Laboratories Limited, in collaboration with the University of Toronto, has successfully developed a new parallel search technology to help achieve megabit-class performance for large-scale problems, representing an important technical milestone for its Digital Annealer. Fujitsu's Digital Annealer is a unique computing architecture that rapidly solves combinatorial optimization problems too large and complex for conventional technologies. Figure 1 Real world problems and scale in bitsFigure 2 Outline of the new technologyFigure 3 Outline of the production schedule problem and the results obtainedThe current, second-generation Digital Annealer Cloud Service, available to customers since May 2018, delivers performance at 8,192 bits to offer users a powerful tool for solving optimization problems in fields including logistics, finance, medicine, and manufacturing. As applications in a variety of industries continue to grow, however, a need continues to exist for a technology that can handle problems at an even larger scale in order to solve a broader range of complex, real-world problems. With this challenge in mind, Fujitsu Laboratories has successfully demonstrated the world's first practical solution on the scale of one megabit for an Ising machine(1) with its Digital Annealer, applying a new parallel search technology. Fujitsu Laboratories aims to contribute to solving real-world problems by integrating this technology into its Digital Annealer, furthering expanding its ability to solve large-scale combinatorial optimization problems in a variety of fields.Development Background and ChallengesWith the acceleration of DX initiatives in the corporate world, users in many industries and disciplines increasingly face situations in which they need to quickly find the optimal solution among various combinations of factors in the real-world, including in manufacturing, logistics, disaster prevention, and new drug development. In order to resolve these practical challenges, it has become necessary to solve combinatorial optimization problems on the scale of one megabit. This remains difficult owing to the fact that obtaining an effective solution in a limited time causes an exponential increase in computational complexity. For instance, in the manufacturing field, large-scale optimization is needed to streamline production, including for scheduling complex manufacturing processes that differ from part to part across an entire plant, taking into account resources such as personnel and equipment, and delivery dates. In the logistics field, it is necessary to not only optimize distribution plans on a regional scale, but also to draw up large-scale plans covering the entire country.Newly Developed TechnologyFujitsu Laboratories has extended its Digital Annealer architecture to develop a new parallel search technology that achieves high performance in solving large-scale problems. Fujitsu Laboratories has demonstrated the solution of a one megabit scale problem with the Digital Annealer leveraging this technology. The features of the newly developed technology are as follows.1. Adaptive parallel search technology for large-scale problemsDigital Annealer achieves high search performance by constructing a basic optimization module with a high degree of parallelism that repeatedly performs an update bit search to transition from a certain state to a more optimal state. In order to solve large-scale problems, Fujitsu Laboratories has developed an adaptive parallel search technology that performs multi-bit update in the early stage when a rapid energy drop is expected due to multi-bit update, and switches to single-bit update to increase the solution search accuracy in the converging stage.2. Cooperative Search Technology in Multiple Server ParallelTo solve large-scale problems that cannot be handled by a single server, Fujitsu Laboratories has developed a technology to solve large-scale problems with multiple linked servers while ensuring consistency in overall solutions. By dividing a large problem into multiple subproblems and assigning them to multiple servers, the solution of the subproblem is shared among the servers, and the local search at each server is appropriately controlled while grasping the state of the overall solution. A large-scale solution system using this technology has made it possible to solve one megabit class large-scale problems.OutcomesFujitsu Laboratories applied the new technology to solve the problem of determining the production schedule for a small batch of a wide variety of servers. To solve this problem, it's necessary to consider complex constraints including work order, worker skill level, break times, and equipment availability. The number of bits in the problem is determined by the number of discrete tasks, the number of workers, the number of pieces of equipment, and the number of time slots, and is very large. In this example, the test was conducted under the conditions of 100 tasks, 12 pieces of equipment, 13 workers, and 65 time slots, and the total number of bits was 1,014,000 bits. By applying the new technique to produce the solution, Fujitsu Laboratories successfully confirmed the solution of a practical problem at the one megabit level (Figure 3).Future PlansFujitsu Laboratories will apply the newly developed technology for the Digital Annealer to help solve various large-scale combinatorial optimization problems in the real world, contributing to the streamlining of the development of new drugs, nationwide transportation and delivery plans, strategies for resolving traffic congestion in urban areas, and work shift planning suitable for the new normal era.(1) Ising Machine an ising machine is a machine that solves combinatorial optimization problems represented by an ising model.About Fujitsu LaboratoriesFounded in 1968 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Fujitsu Limited, Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. is one of the premier research centers in the world. With a global network of laboratories in Japan, China, the United States and Europe, the organization conducts a wide range of basic and applied research in the areas of Next-generation Services, Computer Servers, Networks, Electronic Devices and Advanced Materials. For more information, please see: http://www.fujitsu.com/jp/group/labs/en/. About Fujitsu LtdFujitsu is the leading Japanese information and communication technology (ICT) company offering a full range of technology products, solutions and services. Approximately 130,000 Fujitsu people support customers in more than 100 countries. We use our experience and the power of ICT to shape the future of society with our customers. Fujitsu Limited (TSE:6702) reported consolidated revenues of 3.9 trillion yen (US$35 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2020. For more information, please see www.fujitsu.com. Copyright 2020 JCN Newswire. All rights reserved. www.jcnnewswire.com

19 10 月, 2020

WIMI’s Dr. Guo Songrui: Holographic technology and light fields

BEIJING, Oct 19, 2020 - (ACN Newswire) - Holography comes from the Latin vocabulary, and its meaning is: all, compound. According to the current common knowledge in mainstream technology filed, holography specifically refers to "holographic technology", which is a technology for reproducing diffracted light emitted by objects. Holographic technology uses the principle of interference to record the light wave messages of the object, and uses the principle of diffraction to reproduce the light wave messages of the object, helping users to store all the light information of the object. Thus, the observer can observe the different positions of the object in all directions, and the stored light information records all the light distribution in the three-dimensional space. Therefore, holographic technology is also a kind of optical storage and reproduction technology.The earliest holographic technology was discovered by Denise Gabor (1900-1979), a Hungarian physicist, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1971. However, this technology was first used in electron microscopes to record and display electronic holograms. The earliest use in the field of optics was after the invention of laser technology in 1960.The holographic recording is different from ordinary photography. An ordinary camera only records the intensity of the object's light field. The hologram records the intensity of the reference light and the object light after interference. When it needs to be reproduced, it is only necessary to use the reference light to show the amplitude of the object light that fully characterizes the object information.The hologram production process uses a laser. The laser beam is strictly split 1:1 by a beam splitter. One beam of light shines on the surface of the object to be photographed, and the other beam directly shines on the photosensitive film (holographic dry plate). Moreover, this light is also called the reference beam. When the object beam is reflected by the object, its reflected beam is also irradiated on the film, completing the hologram shooting process.There are several major characteristics of holograms: 1. Omni-directional information recording. The holographic picture records the omnidirectional and comprehensive illumination information of the object, so that the object can be observed from different angles during observation. 2. Learning the whole picture from the parts. When part of the holographic picture is damaged, the whole picture of the object can still be seen from the remaining part. 3. The amount of stored information is huge, and multiple holographic photos can be recorded hierarchically on the holographic film. Moreover, they will not interfere with each other when displaying the picture.Based on the characteristics of holograms mentioned above, the application prospects of holograms are quite broad, but it is not an easy task to collect light fields to form a hologram in the early stage of technological development. Early technical methods were either expensive, such as using the aforementioned laser to irradiate objects, or using camera arrays; or collecting information was limited and inefficient, for example, the light field acquisition systems based on a fixed turntable. After 2000, with the development of digital camera shooting technology and light field shooting technology gradually attracted the attention of researchers, the light field collection technology of the single camera came into being. Until now, the light field collection technology has truly reached the civilian level.The common light field shooting techniques are divided into two categories: integral imaging and aperture coding imaging.Integral imaging is achieved by adding a microlens array or a micromirror array in front of the sensor to realize the collection of images of the light field viewpoints in different directions. There are more well-known integral imaging devices, including the lens array lens launched by Adobe, the Pelican lens array camera on the mobile phone, the Lytro light field camera, the R series light field camera of Raytrix, and so on.The shooting based on the compressed light field is to add an optical mask between the camera lens and the sensor to achieve compression encoding of the light entering the camera aperture. The more well-known equipment is the prototype of the light field camera developed by Babacan et al. They proposed to use the method of encoding mask and programmed aperture to capture light field viewpoints in different directions, which can obtain light field with high spatial resolution.The microlens array has the advantages of low cost and small size, but its disadvantage is that the image resolution loss is serious. The coding imaging technology has the advantages of small size, no loss of resolution, but its advantages are low signal-to-noise ratio and low light field quality.From the perspective of the development of light field cameras, encoding-based light field acquisition equipment breaks the mutual restriction between angular resolution and viewpoint image resolution. The redundant information in the light field can be removed through machine learning, and the light field can be restored from a small amount of information. In the future 4K era, the advantage of not losing resolution will be the focus of this technology.In the near future, when light field acquisition equipment develops to a sufficiently high resolution, as well as has fast enough acquisition speed, and cheap, the light field data, as a kind of rich media data, is stored in a large amount of non-overlapping data that can be passed through a single point. The complete picture of data information will become a new data treasure house for data scientists to research and mine. In particular, unexpected achievements may be obtained in many fields, such as holographic recognition, holographic payment, holographic authentication, and so on.Guo Songrui:Doctor of Computer Science and Technology Engineering from Hunan University, studied mixed reality and augmented reality technology at the State Key Laboratory of Scientific Computing of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and participated in the research and development of multiple key projects.About WIMI Hologram Cloud Inc.WiMi Hologram Cloud, Inc. (NASDAQ: WIMI), whose commercial operations began in 2015, operates an integrated holographic AR application platform in China and has built a comprehensive and diversified holographic AR content library among all holographic AR solution providers in China. Its extensive portfolio includes 4,654 AR holographic contents. The company has also achieved a speed of image processing that is 80 percent faster than the industry average. While most peer companies may identify and capture 40 to 50 blocks of image data within a specific space unit, WiMi collects 500 to 550 data blocks. For more information, please visit http://ir.wimiar.com/.WIMI Hologram Cloud Inc.Name: Tim WongE-mail: pr@wimiar.comTele: +86 10 89913328 Copyright 2020 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. www.acnnewswire.com

15 10 月, 2020

WIMI’s Dr. Guo Songrui: The development and application prospect of holographic technology: light field collection

BEIJING, China, Oct 15, 2020 - (ACN Newswire) - Holography comes from the Latin vocabulary, and its meaning is: all, compound. According to the current common knowledge in mainstream technology filed, holography specifically refers to "holographic technology", which is a technology for reproducing diffracted light emitted by objects. Holographic technology uses the principle of interference to record the light wave messages of the object, and uses the principle of diffraction to reproduce the light wave messages of the object, helping users to store all the light information of the object. Thus, the observer can observe the different positions of the object in all directions, and the stored light information records all the light distribution in the three-dimensional space. Therefore, holographic technology is also a kind of optical storage and reproduction technology.The earliest holographic technology was discovered by Denise Gabor (1900-1979), a Hungarian physicist, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1971. However, this technology was first used in electron microscopes to record and display electronic holograms. The earliest use in the field of optics was after the invention of laser technology in 1960.The holographic recording is different from ordinary photography. An ordinary camera only records the intensity of the object's light field. The hologram records the intensity of the reference light and the object light after interference. When it needs to be reproduced, it is only necessary to use the reference light to show the amplitude of the object light that fully characterizes the object information.The hologram production process uses a laser. The laser beam is strictly split 1:1 by a beam splitter. One beam of light shines on the surface of the object to be photographed, and the other beam directly shines on the photosensitive film (holographic dry plate). Moreover, this light is also called the reference beam. When the object beam is reflected by the object, its reflected beam is also irradiated on the film, completing the hologram shooting process.There are several major characteristics of holograms: 1. Omni-directional information recording. The holographic picture records the omnidirectional and comprehensive illumination information of the object, so that the object can be observed from different angles during observation. 2. Learning the whole picture from the parts. When part of the holographic picture is damaged, the whole picture of the object can still be seen from the remaining part. 3. The amount of stored information is huge, and multiple holographic photos can be recorded hierarchically on the holographic film. Moreover, they will not interfere with each other when displaying the picture.Based on the characteristics of holograms mentioned above, the application prospects of holograms are quite broad, but it is not an easy task to collect light fields to form a hologram in the early stage of technological development. Early technical methods were either expensive, such as using the aforementioned laser to irradiate objects, or using camera arrays; or collecting information was limited and inefficient, for example, the light field acquisition systems based on a fixed turntable. After 2000, with the development of digital camera shooting technology and light field shooting technology gradually attracted the attention of researchers, the light field collection technology of the single camera came into being. Until now, the light field collection technology has truly reached the civilian level.The common light field shooting techniques are divided into two categories: integral imaging and aperture coding imaging.Integral imaging is achieved by adding a microlens array or a micromirror array in front of the sensor to realize the collection of images of the light field viewpoints in different directions. There are more well-known integral imaging devices, including the lens array lens launched by Adobe, the Pelican lens array camera on the mobile phone, the Lytro light field camera, the R series light field camera of Raytrix, and so on.The shooting based on the compressed light field is to add an optical mask between the camera lens and the sensor to achieve compression encoding of the light entering the camera aperture. The more well-known equipment is the prototype of the light field camera developed by Babacan et al. They proposed to use the method of encoding mask and programmed aperture to capture light field viewpoints in different directions, which can obtain light field with high spatial resolution.The microlens array has the advantages of low cost and small size, but its disadvantage is that the image resolution loss is serious. The coding imaging technology has the advantages of small size, no loss of resolution, but its advantages are low signal-to-noise ratio and low light field quality.From the perspective of the development of light field cameras, encoding-based light field acquisition equipment breaks the mutual restriction between angular resolution and viewpoint image resolution. The redundant information in the light field can be removed through machine learning, and the light field can be restored from a small amount of information. In the future 4K era, the advantage of not losing resolution will be the focus of this technology.In the near future, when light field acquisition equipment develops to a sufficiently high resolution, as well as has fast enough acquisition speed, and cheap, the light field data, as a kind of rich media data, is stored in a large amount of non-overlapping data that can be passed through a single point. The complete picture of data information will become a new data treasure house for data scientists to research and mine. In particular, unexpected achievements may be obtained in many fields, such as holographic recognition, holographic payment, holographic authentication, and so on.Guo Songrui:Doctor of Computer Science and Technology Engineering from Hunan University, studied mixed reality and augmented reality technology at the State Key Laboratory of Scientific Computing of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and participated in the research and development of multiple key projects.About WIMI Hologram Cloud Inc.WiMi Hologram Cloud, Inc. (NASDAQ: WIMI), whose commercial operations began in 2015, operates an integrated holographic AR application platform in China and has built a comprehensive and diversified holographic AR content library among all holographic AR solution providers in China. Its extensive portfolio includes 4,654 AR holographic contents. The company has also achieved a speed of image processing that is 80 percent faster than the industry average. While most peer companies may identify and capture 40 to 50 blocks of image data within a specific space unit, WiMi collects 500 to 550 data blocks. For more information, please visit http://ir.wimiar.com/.WIMI Hologram Cloud Inc.Name: Tim WongE-mail: pr@wimiar.comTele: +86 10 89913328 Copyright 2020 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. www.acnnewswire.com