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Travelzoo Reports Second Quarter 2024 Results

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2 months ago

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NEW YORK, July 25, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Travelzoo® (NASDAQ: TZOO):

Revenue of $21.1 million, consistent year-over-yearConsolidated operating profit of $4.0 millionNon-GAAP consolidated operating profit of $4.8 millionCash flow from operations of $3.1 millionEarnings per share (EPS) of $0.23

Travelzoo, the club for travel enthusiasts, today announced financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2024. Consolidated revenue was $21.1 million, consistent year-over-year. In constant currencies, revenue was $21.2 million, up from $21.1 million year-over-year. Travelzoo’s reported revenue consists of advertising revenues and commissions, derived from and generated in connection with purchases made by Travelzoo members, and membership fees.

Net income attributable to Travelzoo was $2.9 million for Q2 2024, or $0.23 per share, compared with $0.17 in the prior-year period. Net income attributable to Travelzoo from continuing operations was $2.9 million for Q2 2024, or $0.23 per share, compared with $0.17 in the prior-year period.

Non-GAAP operating profit was $4.8 million. Non-GAAP operating profit excludes amortization of intangibles ($88,000), stock option expenses ($0.7 million) and severance-related expenses ($30,000). Please refer to “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” and the tabular reconciliation below.

“We will continue to leverage Travelzoo’s global reach, trusted brand, and strong relationships with top travel suppliers to negotiate more exclusive offers for members,” said Holger Bartel, Travelzoo’s Global CEO. “With more than 30 million members, 8 million mobile app users, and 4 million social media followers, Travelzoo is loved by travel enthusiasts who are affluent, active, and open to new experiences.”

Cash Position
As of June 30, 2024, consolidated cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash were $13.2 million. Net cash provided by operations was $3.1 million.

Travelzoo North America
North America business segment revenue remained consistent year-over-year at $14.1 million. Operating profit for Q2 2024 was $3.7 million, or 26% of revenue, compared to operating profit of $3.8 million in the prior-year period.

Travelzoo Europe
Europe business segment revenue increased 1% year-over-year to $6.0 million. In constant currencies, Europe business segment revenue increased 1% year-over-year. Operating profit for Q2 2024 was $512,000, or 9% of revenue, compared to operating loss of $239,000 in the prior-year period.

Jack’s Flight Club 
Jack’s Flight Club is a membership subscription service in which Travelzoo has a 60% ownership interest. Revenue from unaffiliated customers increased 9% year-over-year to $1.1 million. The number of premium subscribers increased 19% year-over-year. Jack’s Flight Club’s revenue from subscriptions is recognized ratably over the subscription period (quarterly, semi-annually, annually). Non-GAAP operating profit for Q2 2024 was $25,000. Non-GAAP operating profit excludes amortization of intangibles ($59,000) related to the acquisition of Travelzoo’s ownership interest in Jack’s Flight Club in 2020.

New Initiatives
New Initiatives business segment revenue, which includes Licensing and Travelzoo META, was $23,000. Operating loss for Q2 2024 was $184,000.

In June 2020, Travelzoo entered into a royalty-bearing licensing agreement with a local licensee in Japan for the exclusive use of Travelzoo’s brand, business model, and members in Japan. In August of 2020, Travelzoo entered into a royalty-bearing licensing agreement with a local licensee in Australia for the exclusive use of Travelzoo’s brand, business models, and members in Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore. Under these arrangements, Travelzoo’s existing members in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and Singapore will continue to be owned by Travelzoo as the licensor. Travelzoo recorded $7,000 in licensing revenue from the licensee in Japan in Q2 2024. Travelzoo recorded $11,000 in licensing revenue from the licensee in Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore in Q2 2024. Licensing revenue is expected to increase going forward.

Members and Subscribers 
As of June 30, 2024, we had 30.8 million members worldwide, consistent with June 30, 2023. In North America, Travelzoo had 16.1 million unduplicated members as of June 30, 2024, down from 16.2 million as of June 30, 2023. In Europe, Travelzoo had 9.2 million unduplicated members as of June 30, 2024, consistent with June 30, 2023. Jack’s Flight Club had 2.2 million subscribers, including premium subscribers, as of June 30, 2024, consistent with June 30, 2023.

Discontinued Operations
In March 2020, Travelzoo decided to exit its Asia Pacific business and operate it as a licensing business going forward. Consequently, the Asia Pacific business has been classified as discontinued operations.

Income Taxes
A provision of $1.3 million for income taxes was recorded for Q2 2024, compared to an income tax expense of $1.1 million in the prior-year period. Travelzoo intends to utilize available net operating losses (NOLs) to largely offset its actual tax liability for Q2 2024.

Share Repurchase Program
During Q2 2024, the Company repurchased 800,000 of its outstanding common stock.

Looking Ahead 
For Q3 2024, we expect growth in revenue year-over-year, albeit at a smaller pace than in 2023. However, there could be unexpected fluctuations. We also expect for Q3 2024 higher profitability year-over-year. For 2025, we expect substantial growth in revenue as a result of additional revenue from membership fees.

In December 2023, we announced the introduction of a membership fee for Travelzoo beginning January 1, 2024. We recognize membership fee revenue ratably over the subscription period. Legacy Travelzoo members as of December 31, 2023, which represent more than 95% of members, are exempt from the fee during 2024. Therefore, we do not anticipate membership fee revenue from these members before 2025.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures
Management calculates non-GAAP operating income when evaluating the financial performance of the business. Travelzoo’s calculation of non-GAAP operating income, also called “non-GAAP operating profit” in this press release and today’s earnings conference call, excludes the following items: amortization of intangibles, stock option expenses and severance-related expenses. This press release includes a table which reconciles GAAP operating income to the calculation of non-GAAP operating income. Non-GAAP operating income is not required by, or presented in accordance with, generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America (“GAAP”). This information should be considered as supplemental in nature and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the financial information prepared in accordance with GAAP. In addition, these non-GAAP financial measures may not be the same as similarly titled measures reported by other companies.

Conference Call
Travelzoo will host a conference call to discuss second quarter 2024 results today at 11:00 a.m. ET. Please visit http://ir.travelzoo.com/events-presentations to

download the management presentation (PDF format) to be discussed in the conference callaccess the webcast

About Travelzoo
We, Travelzoo®, are the club for travel enthusiasts. Our 30 million members receive exclusive offers and one-of-a-kind experiences personally reviewed by our deal experts around the globe. We have our finger on the pulse of outstanding travel, entertainment, and lifestyle experiences. We work in partnership with more than 5,000 top travel suppliers—our long-standing relationships give Travelzoo members access to irresistible deals.

Certain statements contained in this press release that are not historical facts may be forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements may include, but are not limited to, statements about our plans, objectives, expectations, prospects and intentions, markets in which we participate and other statements contained in this press release that are not historical facts. When used in this press release, the words “expect”, “predict”, “project”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “estimate”, “intend”, “plan”, “seek” and similar expressions are generally intended to identify forward-looking statements. Because these forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, there are important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements, including changes in our plans, objectives, expectations, prospects and intentions and other factors discussed in our filings with the SEC. We cannot guarantee any future levels of activity, performance or achievements. Travelzoo undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this press release.

Travelzoo
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations
(Unaudited)
(In thousands, except per share amounts)

Three months ended

Six months ended

June 30,

June 30,

2024

2023

2024

2023

Revenues

$         21,141

$         21,128

$    43,126

$    42,729

Cost of revenues

2,520

2,880

5,160

5,571

Gross profit

18,621

18,248

37,966

37,158

Operating expenses:

Sales and marketing

9,386

10,142

17,984

19,438

Product development

603

518

1,169

1,008

General and administrative

4,621

4,315

9,211

8,728

Total operating expenses

14,610

14,975

28,364

29,174

Operating income

4,011

3,273

9,602

7,984

Other income, net

176

479

315

829

Income from continuing operations before income taxes

4,187

3,752

9,917

8,813

Income tax expense

1,267

1,091

2,772

2,469

Income from continuing operations

2,920

2,661

7,145

6,344

Income from discontinued operations, net of tax

—

2

—

—

Net income

2,920

2,663

7,145

6,344

Net income (loss) attributable to non-controlling interest

(7)

37

(18)

45

Net income attributable to Travelzoo

$           2,927

$           2,626

$      7,163

$      6,299

Net income attributable to Travelzoo—continuing operations

$           2,927

$           2,624

$      7,163

$      6,299

Net income attributable to Travelzoo—discontinued operations

$                —

$                  2

$           —

$           —

Income per share—basic

Continuing operations

$             0.23

$             0.17

$        0.54

$        0.41

Discontinued operations

$                —

$                —

$            —

$           —

Net income per share—basic

$             0.23

$             0.17

$        0.54

$        0.41

Income per share—diluted

Continuing operations

$             0.23

$             0.17

$        0.54

$        0.40

Discontinued operations

$                —

$                —

$           —

$           —

Net income per share—diluted

$             0.23

$             0.17

$        0.54

$        0.40

Shares used in per share calculation from continuing operations—basic

12,895

15,275

13,191

15,485

Shares used in per share calculation from discontinued operations—basic

12,895

15,275

13,191

15,485

Shares used in per share calculation from continuing operations—diluted

12,976

15,337

13,300

15,557

Shares used in per share calculation from discontinued operations—diluted

12,976

15,337

13,300

15,557

 

Travelzoo
Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets
(Unaudited)
(In thousands)

June 30,
2024

December 31,
2023

Assets

Current assets:

Cash and cash equivalents

$             12,567

$            15,713

Accounts receivable, net

13,220

12,965

Prepaid income taxes

998

629

Prepaid expenses and other

1,726

1,461

Total current assets

28,511

30,768

Deposits and other

223

1,115

Deferred tax assets

3,102

3,196

Restricted cash

675

675

Operating lease right-of-use assets

5,873

6,015

Property and equipment, net

499

578

Intangible assets, net

1,686

2,091

Goodwill

10,944

10,944

Total assets

$             51,513

$            55,382

Liabilities and Equity

Current liabilities:

Accounts payable

$               5,212

$              4,546

Merchant payables

16,708

20,622

Accrued expenses and other

4,217

3,658

Deferred revenue

3,207

2,044

Income tax payable

1,070

766

Operating lease liabilities

2,389

2,530

Liabilities from discontinued operations

24

24

Total current liabilities

32,827

34,190

Long-term tax liabilities

6,323

4,681

Long-term operating lease liabilities

6,342

6,717

Other long-term liabilities

376

911

Total liabilities

45,868

46,499

Common stock

124

136

Tax indemnification

(9,537)

(9,537)

Note receivable from shareholder

(1,753)

(1,753)

Additional paid-in capital

—

439

Retained earnings

17,083

19,508

Accumulated other comprehensive loss

(4,951)

(4,607)

Total Travelzoo stockholders’ equity

966

4,186

Non-controlling interest

4,679

4,697

Total stockholder’s equity

5,645

8,883

Total liabilities and equity

$             51,513

$            55,382

 

Travelzoo
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
(Unaudited)
(In thousands)

Three months ended

Six months ended

June 30,

June 30,

2024

2023

2024

2023

Cash flows from operating activities:

Net income

$            2,920

$            2,663

$     7,145

$     6,344

Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities:

Depreciation and amortization

175

467

558

945

Stock-based compensation

688

432

783

828

Deferred income tax

(12)

30

(27)

(38)

Loss on long-lived assets

—

10

—

10

Net foreign currency effects

(14)

(36)

(11)

(33)

Provision of loss (net recoveries) on accounts receivable and refund reserves

26

(117)

(7)

(829)

Changes in operating assets and liabilities:

Accounts receivable

(150)

3,516

(385)

3,888

Prepaid income taxes

(390)

610

(327)

1,017

Prepaid expenses, deposits and other

(49)

2,325

533

2,485

Accounts payable

(295)

(1,072)

713

(2,393)

Merchant payables

(1,101)

(4,013)

(3,779)

(8,604)

Accrued expenses and other

478

(534)

1,450

377

Income tax payable

224

234

278

234

Other liabilities

556

600

753

1,419

Net cash provided by operating activities

3,056

5,115

7,677

5,650

Cash flows from investing activities:

Proceeds from repayment of note receivable

—

74

—

113

Purchases of property and equipment

(48)

(46)

(83)

(157)

Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities

(48)

28

(83)

(44)

Cash flows from financing activities:

Repurchase of common stock

(6,557)

(4,684)

(10,429)

(4,870)

Exercise of stock options and taxes paid for net share settlement of equity awards

—

(299)

—

(299)

Net cash used in financing activities

(6,557)

(4,983)

(10,429)

(5,169)

Effect of exchange rate on cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash

(73)

211

(311)

382

Net increase (decrease) in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash

(3,622)

371

(3,146)

819

Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at beginning of period

16,865

19,826

16,389

19,378

Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at end of period

$          13,243

$          20,197

$   13,243

$   20,197

 

Travelzoo

Segment Information from Continuing Operations

(Unaudited)

(In thousands)

 

Three months ended June 30, 2024

Travelzoo North

America

Travelzoo
Europe

Jack’s
Flight Club

New
Initiatives

Consolidated

Revenues from unaffiliated customers

$       14,015

$         6,004

$         1,099

$              23

$          21,141

Intersegment revenues

119

(53)

(66)

—

—

Total net revenues

14,134

5,951

1,033

23

21,141

Operating profit (loss)

$         3,717

$            512

$            (34)

$          (184)

$            4,011

Three months ended June 30, 2023

Travelzoo North

America

Travelzoo
Europe

Jack’s
Flight Club

New
Initiatives

Consolidated

Revenues from unaffiliated customers

$       13,642

$         6,462

$         1,011

$              13

$          21,128

Intersegment revenues

491

(575)

84

—

—

Total net revenues

14,133

5,887

1,095

13

21,128

Operating profit (loss)

$         3,753

$          (239)

$              97

$          (338)

$            3,273

Six months ended June 30,
2024

Travelzoo North

America

Travelzoo
Europe

Jack’s
Flight Club

New
Initiatives

Consolidated

Revenues from unaffiliated customers

$       28,288

$       12,584

$         2,199

$              55

$          43,126

Intersegment revenues

74

29

(103)

—

—

Total net revenues

28,362

12,613

2,096

55

43,126

Operating profit (loss)

$         8,155

$         1,894

$          (133)

$          (314)

$            9,602

Six months ended June 30,
2023

Travelzoo North

America

Travelzoo Europe

Jack’s Flight Club

New Initiatives

Consolidated

Revenues from unaffiliated customers

$       28,209

$       12,540

$         1,959

$              21

$          42,729

Intersegment revenues

682

(766)

84

—

—

Total net revenues

28,891

11,774

2,043

21

42,729

Operating profit (loss)

$         8,269

$            218

$              52

$          (555)

$            7,984

 

Travelzoo

Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Information

(Unaudited)

(In thousands, except per share amounts)

Three months ended

Six months ended

June 30,

June 30,

2024

2023

2024

2023

GAAP operating expense

$   14,610

$   14,975

$   28,364

$   29,174

Non-GAAP adjustments:

Amortization of intangibles (A)

88

389

405

787

Stock option expenses (B)

688

431

783

827

Severance-related expenses (C)

30

56

30

95

Non-GAAP operating expense

13,804

14,099

27,146

27,465

GAAP operating profit

4,011

3,273

9,602

7,984

Non-GAAP adjustments (A through C)

806

876

1,218

1,709

Non-GAAP operating profit

4,817

4,149

10,820

9,693

Media Contact:
Investor Relations:
ir@travelzoo.com

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SOURCE Travelzoo

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Technology

The pioneered intelligent airborne detection technology by State Grid Zaozhuang Power Supply Company

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53 mins ago

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September 29, 2024

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ZAOZHUANG, China, Sept. 29, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — The traditional manual detection is likely to be made towards the phase A in the lower layer; while the intelligent airborne detection is actually made towards the phase A in the upper layer. This represents the comparison result for the discharge hidden danger of the No. 23 tower insulator of the 10 kV cement plant line in the 110 kV Tendong Substation outgoing line by different detection methods, yet the accurate judgment brought by the innovative application of unmanned aerial vehicle airborne ultrasonic partial discharge detection technology.

By the end of August 12, the application of the self-developed UAV airborne ultrasonic partial discharge detection technology by State Grid Zaozhuang Power Supply Company has reached a year, during which, a total of 450 unmanned aerial vehicles were detected, 63 hidden hazards of partial discharge were identified, leading to a reduction of 37 equipment failures, the reduction of the power distribution network fault outage rate by 68%, and improving the power supply reliability rate to 99.982%.

According to Zhang Jianhua, Director of the Operation and Maintenance Department of Zaozhuang Power Supply Company, this technology is initiated in China, rewriting the tradition and passivity of power distribution network partial discharge fault investigation by hearing voice manually over a long time, and leaping into the era of intelligent imaging diagnosis. As the capillaries of the large power grid connecting thousands of households, the current average height of the distribution network tower is 15 to 18 meters, and both the insulators and cable heads on the top of these towers are important detection parts, the improvement in traditional manual detection methods is badly needed. To this end, they, by boldly integrating UAV with local imaging inspection technology, used the advantages of UAV multi-angle close-range inspection to carry out partial discharge inspection, innovated and broadened the technical dimension of aerial patrol, took the lead in enabling accurate collection of voiceprint local release data, and completed demonstration of putting the technology into practical application.

Innovation is not as simple as one plus one, the technology research took a year. Since June 2022, by means of hardware structure transformation and multi-algorithm fusion optimization, they have successively overcome a range of problems such as the inability of traditionally partial discharge inspection to lock the discharge part, the partial discharge detection of UAV propeller noise interference, and the geographical conditions of inspection, and enabled the high-quality and efficient partial discharge imaging detection of the power distribution network. In July 2023, the technology was put into trial use, and later in December of the same year, it was inspected and accepted by the State Grid Shandong Electric Power Company.

During the trial use, the Zao Zhuang Power Supply Company, by giving full play to its advantages as being directly managed and operated by State Grid Corporation of China, coordinated 162 power distribution network lines, and allocated 35 UAVs for the seven power supply centers affiliated to it in a unified manner, and trained 26 drone pilots. Beyond that, it repeatedly carried out technical verification and optimization in the trial use, reducing the time to inspect the base tower 1 from 25 minutes to 15 minutes, indicating an efficiency improvement by 1.8 times compared to the traditional manual inspection, making the accuracy reach 100%.

Instead of revolving around the tower, staring at the equipment for a long time, and being anxious but unable to do anything, Li Yanlin, the specialist staff from Operation and Maintenance Department of Zaozhuang Power Supply Company expressed the pleasure that thanks to the intelligent airborne detection technology, the partial discharge failures found in the power distribution network could be eliminated as soon as they are identified, leading to the great transformation of the operation and maintenance of distribution network from “eliminating present problems” to “preventing them before they are present”, and the formation of a sound situation of intelligent operation and maintenance.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/the-pioneered-intelligent-airborne-detection-technology-by-state-grid-zaozhuang-power-supply-company-302261739.html

SOURCE State Grid Zaozhuang Power Supply Company

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Technology

KT Corporation and Microsoft Take ‘Giant Step’ to Accelerate AI Innovation in Korea

Published

53 mins ago

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September 29, 2024

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Five-year, multi-billion-dollar strategic partnership to drive AI transformation for more than 650 thousand businesses and 17 million consumers across Korea 

Korea-customized AI model collaboration, including OpenAI’s GPT-4o through Azure OpenAI Service, to enable emerging AI use cases for different industry verticals   

KT and Microsoft collaborate on Korean sovereign cloud solution development and market launch to drive cloud and AI innovation for the public sector and regulated industries 

KT will launch a new AX-specialized service company delivering Microsoft-powered AI transformation service to enterprise customers  

KT and Microsoft to further partner for AI ecosystem development and joint R&D, through initiatives including an AX co-innovation center and a Microsoft Research collaboration  

SEOUL, South Korea and REDMOND, Wash., Sept. 29, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — KT Corporation and Microsoft today unveiled a five-year multibillion-dollar partnership, which includes an investment from KT in the areas of Artificial Intelligence (AI), cloud technologies, and IT business, and a resource commitment from Microsoft in the areas of infrastructure and people. Through this partnership, the companies will propel KT’s AI and ICT (AICT) transformation, and accelerate the advancement of AI services and innovation in Korea. 

Following the agreement in June, KT and Microsoft have engaged in ongoing discussions to strengthen ties and outline key areas of collaboration and support. This strategic partnership is expected to drive progress in five pivotal areas: Development of customized AI solutions for Korea, delivering Korean sovereign cloud solutions, the establishment of an AI transformation (AX)-specialized service company, AI R&D capabilities advancement across Korea and KT’s AICT transformation. 

Developing Customized AI Solutions for Korea
KT and Microsoft will engage in engineering collaboration to develop a customized version of GPT-4o and explore developing a customized version of Microsoft’s Phi family of small language models, with KT’s extensive set of high-quality data around Korean culture and industries. These models will be used for both KT’s internal and consumer-facing applications such as customer service chatbots, and also for building industry-specific AI solutions for B2B customers across industry verticals to best serve the needs of Korean consumers and businesses. KT will leverage Microsoft Copilot Studio and Azure AI Studio to develop custom AI agents aimed at differentiating customer experiences. KT plans to expand the development and utilization of KT-custom AI agents not only for consumer use cases in education, healthcare, and in-vehicle infotainment, but also for business applications. Importantly, Microsoft and KT will collaborate closely on further evolving KT’s Responsible AI framework to help ensure the delivery of safe AI services for the Korea market. 

“We are delighted with the partnership between KT and Microsoft, which presents a valuable opportunity to enhance our digital competitiveness,” said Shinhan Bank, a leading financial group in Korea. “By utilizing the KT GPT model, specialized in Korean language and financial services, we aim to deliver innovative AI-driven services to the domestic financial consumers.” 

Delivering Korean sovereign cloud solutions
KT and Microsoft are partnering to develop and launch Secure Public Cloud services, which is KT’s sovereign cloud solution built on Microsoft Cloud for Sovereignty for Korean-regulated industries. KT will drive its Secure Public Cloud business with support from Microsoft, enabling public sector and regulated industry customers to use new platform capabilities for securing data and workloads, providing access to the latest cloud and AI features available on Azure and helping them comply with local privacy and regulatory requirements. 

Accelerating AI transformation through AX-Specialized service company 
KT will establish a new AX-specialized service company to help businesses in Korea transform with the latest AI innovation. The forthcoming KT’s AX-specialized service company will provide advanced Microsoft Cloud and AI expertise and solutions to the Korean market, with plans to expand to broader markets, including ASEAN. Microsoft will support this initiative over the next three years with professional consulting resources to build core practices and capabilities for the new entity. 

Advancing AI R&D capabilities across Korea
Microsoft will support KT in establishing a co-innovation center aimed at accelerating Microsoft technology-driven AI transformation in the Korean market. This center will help businesses build, develop and prototype new AI solutions with Microsoft technology and KT’s AI specialists. Furthermore, KT will invest in fostering new AI startups and developing a partner ecosystem to support nationwide AI transformation. Microsoft will support this initiative by providing Azure credits and technical expertise. For the future of technology collaboration, KT and Microsoft Research (MSR)’s research leaders and business visionaries will explore high-impact research initiatives in network modernization, AI for healthcare, and industry AI adoption and further collaborate with leading academic institutions partnering with KT. 

Accelerating KT’s AICT Transformation with organization-wide upskilling
KT will migrate and modernize existing IT workloads including mission-critical applications, to Microsoft Azure while developing a new data platform and AI services powered by Microsoft Fabric and Azure OpenAI Service. This collaboration will enhance KT’s overall IT infrastructure, making it more agile, resilient, and secure, driving innovation and elevating the customer experience through intelligent automation. KT also intends to deploy Microsoft 365 Copilot and GitHub Copilot, for all KT employees and developers to supercharge productivity of the entire business. Microsoft will assist KT in equipping more than 19,000 employees with cloud and AI skills and enabling more than 5,800 AX specialists to lead a successful transformation through KT group-wide skilling and co-engineering support. 

“The partnership with Microsoft presents a pivotal opportunity, not only for technological collaboration but also for expanding Korea’s AI foundation and driving transformative innovation across industries and daily life,” said KT CEO Young-Shub Kim. “Leveraging this strategic partnership, we aim to rapidly evolve into an AICT company with unparalleled competitiveness in domestic and global markets.”  

“Our strategic partnership brings together KT’s industry expertise with the power of our entire tech stack, from Azure AI to Microsoft 365 Copilot,” said Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO of Microsoft. “Together, we will help accelerate the AI transformation of Korean organizations across the private and public sector and build new AI-powered experiences for millions of consumers.”

About KT Corporation
KT Corporation is a leading company in Korea’s telecommunications and ICT industries. By building an AX innovation platform based on differentiated AI, Big Data and Cloud competitiveness, and offering it with outstanding network infrastructure, KT is driving evolution into an AICT (AI and ICT) company.

About Microsoft 
Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) creates platforms and tools powered by AI to deliver innovative solutions that meet the evolving needs of our customers. The technology company is committed to making AI available broadly and doing so responsibly, with a mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. 

For more information, press only:
Microsoft Media Relations, WE Communications for Microsoft, (425) 638-7777, rapidresponse@we-worldwide.com

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SOURCE Microsoft Asia

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Siemon Validates Interoperability of AI-Ready Fiber Cabling with NVIDIA™ InfiniBand™ Hardware at IBTA Plugfest

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4 hours ago

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September 28, 2024

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Siemon is pleased to announce that its AI Ready fiber optic cabling solutions passed all system interoperability tests with NVIDIA InfiniBand hardware.

WATERTOWN, Conn., Sept. 28, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — The Siemon Company, a global leader in network infrastructure solutions, successfully participated in the 41st InfiniBand Trade Association (IBTA) Plugfest for InfiniBand and RoCE, held at The University of New Hampshire – Interoperability Lab from April 15th to May 3rd. This year’s Plugfest marked a significant milestone with the IBTA introducing new system interoperability testing that included optical transceivers and fiber cabling from various manufacturers for the first time. This rigorous testing program establishes compliance to industry specifications and real-world interoperability, ensuring a robust ecosystem of InfiniBand and RoCE products.

“These test results provide assurance to our customers that Siemon’s AI Ready fiber cabling performs flawlessly within NVIDIA AI network designs, supporting both switch-to-switch and switch-to-server applications”

Siemon is pleased to announce that its AI Ready fiber optic cabling solutions passed all system interoperability tests with NVIDIA InfiniBand hardware.

“These test results provide assurance to our customers that Siemon’s AI Ready fiber cabling performs flawlessly within NVIDIA AI network designs, supporting both switch-to-switch and switch-to-server applications,” stated Gary Bernstein, Siemon’s Sr. Director of Global Data Center Sales.

The System testing was done with NDR 400G and NDR 200G traffic using NVIDIA switches, ConnectX-7 adapter cards, multimode and singlemode transceivers, and Siemon’s multimode and singlemode MTP fiber cabling solutions, including trunks, jumpers, and patch panels.

The IBTA will publish their InfiniBand Integrator’s list soon, listing specific hardware and Siemon components used in various configurations.

For inquiries regarding this testing or Siemon’s AI-Ready solutions, please contact your local Siemon representative.

For more information on Siemon Generative AI Solutions, please visit www.siemon.com/ai.

Media Contact

Brian Baum, Siemon, 1 8609454200, brian_baum@siemon.com 

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SOURCE Siemon

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