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IBM and WWF-Germany to Build New AI Solution to Support Conservation of Keystone Species

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ARMONK, N.Y., Aug. 12, 2024 /CNW/ — Today, IBM (NYSE: IBM) and the World Wide Fund For Nature – Germany (WWF) announced they will work together to explore developing a new solution to support the monitoring of keystone species, starting with the critically endangered African forest elephant.

Combining IBM’s expertise in sustainability and technology with WWF’s extensive experience in wildlife conservation, the new solution will be designed to utilize AI-powered visual inspection to enhance elephant tracking, supporting the accurate identification of individual elephants from camera trap photos. The goal of this solution is to help support key conservation efforts of African forest elephants, which have been shown to increase carbon storage in their forest habitats .

In the future, this technology may also be used by organizations to assess the financial value of nature’s contributions to people (NCP) provided by African forest elephants, such as carbon sequestration ‘services’, recognizing the important role they play in maintaining healthy ecosystems.

The African forest elephant has experienced an over 80% decrease in their populations in recent years due to habitat loss and poaching in the Congo Basin. As businesses work to address climate change, supporting nature restoration can play a critical role in reducing carbon emissions in the atmosphere.

By harnessing the power of technology to track and value natural capital, organizations can unlock new opportunities to support climate change mitigation efforts, while also identifying new sustainable finance investments.

“At IBM, we strive to make a lasting, positive impact on the world in business, our environment, and the communities in which we work and live. Our collaboration with WWF marks a significant step forward in this effort. By combining our expertise in technology and sustainability with WWF’s conservation expertise, we aim to leverage the power of technology to create a more sustainable future.” – Oday Abbosh, Global Sustainability Services Leader, IBM Consulting

As part of this collaboration, IBM Consulting worked with WWF to explore opportunities for innovation, aligning WWF’s conservation initiatives with IBM’s sustainability and technology expertise. IBM’s own software, IBM Maximo Visual Inspection (MVI), will be used in this collaboration. Leveraging MVI’s AI-powered visual inspection and modeling capabilities, the solution aims to analyze images from camera traps and film to identify individual African forest elephants with greater accuracy. Currently, the use case focuses on head and tusk-related image recognition, similar to a fingerprint for humans.

“Our technology will play a crucial role in streamlining the process of identifying and accounting for the individual elephants. This is an exciting new use of IBM software, which in combination with our consulting services and WWF’s deep knowledge of the natural world can help create new ways to accelerate organizations’ sustainability efforts.” – Kendra Dekeyrel, VP of ESG and Asset Management at IBM

In addition, the two organizations aim to leverage IBM Environmental Intelligence to detect above-ground biomass and vegetation levels in specific areas where the elephants are present. This will enable more accurate predictions of the elephants’ future locations to better quantify the NCP services they provide. Ultimately,this will help the process of quantifying and tokenizing the value of carbon services provided by the African forest elephant, providing organizations with insights they can use to further drive sustainability efforts.

Harnessing the power of natural capital for sustainability

IBM and WWF are committed to exploring innovative products and services to help organizations harness natural capital to accelerate their sustainability progress. 

The concept of natural capital refers to the world’s stocks of natural assets, including geology, soil, air, water, and all wildlife. These natural assets provide a range of ecosystem services and NCP, which are the direct and indirect ways nature contributes to human well-being.

For instance, a single African forest elephant, roaming freely in its natural habitat, can increase the net carbon capture capacity of the forest by almost 250 acres. This is equivalent to removing from the atmosphere a year’s worth of emissions from 2,047 cars. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), this can translate into a dollar value of up to $1.75 million per elephant, considering the carbon sequestration and other ecosystem services it provides.

“Counting African forest elephants is both difficult and costly. The logistics are complex and the resulting population numbers are not precise. Being able to identify individual elephants from camera trap images with the help of AI has the potential to be a game-changer. With AI, we will be able to monitor individual animals in space and time, giving us more robust and detailed population estimates and allowing for performance-based conservation payments, such as wildlife credits. The spatial data will also show us where these elephants choose to move – thus enabling us to protect these wildlife corridors.” – Dr. Thomas Breuer, WWF Germany – African Forest Elephant Coordinator

ABOUT IBM IBM is a leading provider of global hybrid cloud and AI, and consulting expertise. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. More than 4,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and consulting deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s legendary commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service. Visit www.ibm.com for more information.

Media Contact:
Lily O’Brien
IBM
lilyobrien@ibm.com

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SOURCE IBM

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PolyAI partners with OpenTable to offer enterprise restaurants and diners reservation support using voice AI

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September 23, 2024

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LONDON and NEW YORK, Sept. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — PolyAI, a pioneer in voice AI solutions for customer experience and service, today announced a partnership with OpenTable, a global leader in restaurant technology, expanding PolyAI’s guest-led voice assistants to enterprise restaurants. Locations that opt in will be able to take reservations over the phone, answer questions, gain visibility in customer trends, and deliver on-brand experiences – all while alleviating staff time and resources.

This alliance delivers PolyAI’s lifelike voice AI to help restaurants tackle challenges around staffing and provide consistent hospitality, even off premise. In a survey conducted by the National Restaurant Association, 62% of operators said their restaurants did not have enough employees to support existing demand. With onsite staff focused on in-house patrons, restaurant groups routinely miss between 30-60% of phone calls to their front of house (per PolyAI customer data) – meaning missed revenue opportunities and equally valuable customer touch points.

Never miss another call, thanks to PolyAI and OpenTable

With this strategic partnership, OpenTable’s global network of restaurants will be able to integrate PolyAI voice assistants, built using generative AI and spoken language technologies, to assist their diners in seamlessly booking and managing reservations over the phone, during and outside of operating hours.

“We know how tightly restaurants manage their guest experience and this can be even more complex for our partners doing business at scale,” said Susan Lee, Chief Strategy Officer at OpenTable. “We have, and continue to invest in, technology that pushes boundaries and enhances hospitality and our integration with PolyAI is a new way we can drive efficiencies for our restaurants, and diners.”

For larger operators, this partnership enables numerous iterations of voice assistants to cater to the unique needs of multi-location and multi-brand portfolios, while providing PolyAI’s proven enterprise-grade assurances around availability, security and data protection.

“We have extensive experience deploying voice assistants to hundreds of locations for some of the largest restaurant groups in the world, helping operators resolve up to 70% of calls over the phone without the need for additional staff,” said Michael Chen, VP of Strategic Alliances at PolyAI. “This strong connection with the restaurant industry started right from the earliest days of PolyAI. We’re thrilled to deepen that further and work with OpenTable to help even more restaurant operators attract more diners, streamline operations and maximise revenue.”

The journey starts at the Integration Marketplace

OpenTable restaurants will be able to request an integration with PolyAI via its Integration Marketplace, which powers 150+ integrations among the most widely used restaurant software. Beyond managing reservations over the phone, PolyAI’s guest-led voice assistants also offer operators a powerful new channel for implementing consistent brand experiences that can deliver greater personalisation, more proactive revenue and upsell as well as offer new ways of collecting diner feedback and tracking customer satisfaction.

About PolyAI

PolyAI is a leading provider of AI-powered voice assistants. Their customer-led voice assistants are used across industries within global companies where B2C conversations are crucial, like Whitbread, Greene King, Caesars Entertainment and FedEx. PolyAI’s award-winning voice assistants have earned renown for their ability to understand natural language and provide quick, accurate and helpful responses. Hear more about what they’re bringing to the market by visiting poly.ai

About OpenTable

OpenTable, a global leader in restaurant tech and part of Booking Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG), helps more than 60,000 restaurants worldwide fill 1.7 billion seats a year.  OpenTable’s world-class technology empowers restaurants to focus on what matters most – their team, their guests, and their bottom line – while enabling diners to discover and book the perfect restaurant for every occasion.

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VeriPark Receives Microsoft Business Applications 2024/2025 Inner Circle Award and Joins Partner Advisory Council

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September 23, 2024

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LONDON, Sept. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — VeriPark, a Microsoft Solutions Partner in the Financial Services Industry, has been selected for the Business Applications 2024-2025 Microsoft Inner Circle and the Microsoft Financial Services Partner Advisory Council.

Participation within Inner Circle is based on sales achievements that rank VeriPark in the top echelon of Microsoft’s Business Applications global network of partners. Inner Circle members are known for performing at a high-level by delivering innovative solutions that help organizations excel.

Ozkan Erener, CEO VeriPark: “We are honored to once again be recognized by Microsoft for our commitment to driving digital transformation for our clients. Partnering closely with Microsoft allows us to harness the latest technologies to revolutionize the Financial Services Industry. This recognition highlights the success of our collaborative strategy and execution.”

VeriPark first joined Microsoft’s Inner Circle in 2011 and has since provided innovative solutions that help financial institutions achieve a competitive advantage. By leveraging Microsoft’s platform, VeriPark continues to offer unparalleled services and solutions to its clients.

“Partners achieving the Inner Circle demonstrate an exceptional impact helping customers accelerate their AI and digital transformation with Dynamics 365 and Power Platform,” said Peter Jensen, Microsoft Business Application Partner Strategy Lead. “Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program partners who achieve the Business Application Inner Circle distinction stand out for their deep AI, Cloud and Industry knowledge.”

Additionally, VeriPark’s selection for the Financial Services Partner Advisory Council highlights its role in shaping Microsoft’s financial services strategies and product roadmaps. As a PAC member, VeriPark will provide feedback on Microsoft’s financial services solutions and gain early insights into future roadmaps.

About VeriPark 

VeriPark is a global solutions provider enabling financial institutions to become digital leaders by placing Customer Experience at the core of digital transformation. VeriPark’s Intelligent Customer Experience suite delivers world class customer journeys on digital and assisted channels.

With its main offices located in the United Kingdom, Europe, North America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, VeriPark helps financial institutions to enhance customer acquisition, retention and cross-sell capabilities. Their proven, secure, and scalable solutions cover Customer Engagement, Omni-Channel Delivery, Branch Automation, and Loan Origination. VeriPark collaborates with clients, crafting innovative technology strategies and solutions, that impact millions of people daily, bringing the promise of digital transformation to life.

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Huawei Updates FTTO 2.0 and Releases New Scenario-based Products, Driving Campus Networks to Wi-Fi 7 Era

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September 23, 2024

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SHANGHAI, Sept. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — During HUAWEI CONNECT 2024, Huawei updated fiber to the office (FTTO) 2.0 and launched a series of new scenario-based products for industries such as education, healthcare, and hospitality. The next-generation green 10G all-optical network oriented to Wi-Fi 7 accelerates fiber-in copper-out and contributes to campus intelligence.

“In the Wi-Fi 7 era, Fiber-in Copper-out is a must for campus networks, and FTTO 2.0 commercial use is accelerating. Huawei is willing to work with customers and partners to seize opportunities in optical business, achieving a win-win future for campus intelligence.” noted Gavin Gu, President of Enterprise Optical Business Domain, Huawei.

Huawei’s FTTO 2.0 solution achieves a simplified architecture with the number of network layers cut from three to two, active to passive transition, 30% lower energy consumption, and 80% less cabling. Based on XGS-PON Pro and Wi-Fi 7 technologies, this solution supports 12.5G/25Gbps to rooms, 10Gbps to APs, and 2.5Gbps to desktops. The hard slicing technology enables multiple services to be carried over one network, reducing the TCO by 30%. This helps enterprises build green, ultra-broadband, and simplified campus networks.

At the session, Huawei released a selection of FTTO 2.0 products for various scenarios and industries.

In the education industry, Huawei launched the industry’s first high-density ultra-10G optical terminal Huawei OptiXstar P884E for smart classrooms. Meeting the requirements of high-density and high-bandwidth access scenarios, this product implements 12.5G/25Gbps to classrooms and 2.5Gbps to desktops. For dormitories, Huawei launched the industry’s first 8-port Wi-Fi 7 optical AP OptiXstar W617E, which supports unified wired and wireless access for a room with 8 students. For education metro networks, Huawei launched the edge optical gateway Huawei OptiXstar E853E. Supporting remote PON port deployment, closed-loop local service forwarding, and flexible configuration, the Huawei OptiXstar E853E meets the access requirements of all services in campuses such as primary schools and kindergartens.

For hospital wards, Huawei launched the industry’s first 10G ceiling-mounted Wi-Fi 7 optical AP Huawei OptiXstar W817C, whose seamless roaming technology enables mobile ward rounds.

For hotels, Huawei launched the next-generation three-in-one Wi-Fi 7 optical AP Huawei OptiXstar W827E-3, which supports unified access of wired, wireless, and telephone services so that one ONT can carry all services in each guest room over one fiber. In this way, it provides ultimate Wi-Fi 7 network experience at a lower cost and improves the positive feedback rate of guests.

For factory workshops, Huawei launched the small-sized industrial optical terminal Huawei OptiXstar T602E, which supports guide rail installation and fiber to the machine without extra cabinets, allowing for flexible capacity expansion. By helping to build a reliable and flexible advanced industrial network for smart factories, the product improves the quality and efficiency of factory production.

Huawei’s FTTO solution has been put into commercial use in more than 9000 campuses around the world. In addition, Huawei’s 50G POL solution that supports hard slicing has also been put into commercial use.

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SOURCE Huawei

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