Hyperloop technology part of European Union Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 10 -- The European Commission (EC) has just released the European Union (EU) Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy and hyperloop is explicitly identified as a game-changing mobility technology.

The strategy and action plan outline how the EU will reduce transit-related greenhouse gas emissions by 90 per cent by 2050 as part of the Green Deal and ensure that the EU has clean, fast, smart, and accessible mobility systems for all.

“I applaud the European Commission for its bold and ambitious climate strategy,” said Virgin Group Founder, Sir Richard Branson in a statement.

“I believe Virgin Hyperloop can play a strong role in helping to achieve Europe’s sustainability goals by offering a system that has zero direct emissions and will transform the way people travel across the continent.”

By combining an ultra-efficient electric motor, magnetic levitation, and a low-drag environment, hyperloop systems can carry more people than a subway, at airline speeds, and with zero direct emissions.

With the goal to be safety certified by 2025 and begin commercial operations by 2030, the 100 per cent electric Virgin Hyperloop system could play a key role in helping achieve the European Green Deal’s climate-neutrality objective.

Virgin Hyperloop is the only company that has successfully tested hyperloop technology with passengers, launching the first new mode of mass transportation in over a century.

-- BERNAMA

AirTrunk introduces Singapore's largest independent, most efficient data centre

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 9 -- Asia-Pacific hyperscale data centre specialist, AirTrunk has opened the doors to Singapore’s largest independent data centre, with an industry low Power Usage Effectiveness, making it the most efficient facility in the country.

The state-of-the-art 60+ megawatt (MW) data centre, AirTrunk SGP1, is set on 1.5 hectares in Loyang, close to the Changi North Cable Landing Station for strong international connectivity.

With over 20,000 square metres of data hall area, the scalable campus is designed for hyperscale customers, supporting their rapid growth in Singapore and throughout South East Asia.

It is AirTrunk’s first Singaporean data centre and a key part of the company’s growing Asia-Pacific platform. The campus opens today with its first 30 MW phase, which will soon be followed by a second phase already under construction to cater for strong customer demand.

Airtrunk Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Robin Khuda, said SGP1 supported some of the largest technology companies in the world.

“Hyperscale data centre demand in Singapore has been fuelled by increased cloud adoption in the region, further accelerated by COVID-19. Our customers continue to grow their digital footprint across the Asia-Pacific region and need the supporting critical infrastructure,” he said in a statement.

The fast delivery of SGP1 demonstrates AirTrunk’s ability to move quickly at the behest of this customer demand. It was delivered in just over a year with no lost time injuries despite over 1,000 people working more than 1.6 million work hours in total.

AirTrunk also opened its 20+MW Hong Kong facility today in an unprecedented double data centre launch.

-- BERNAMA

AMINVEST RECOGNISED WITH TWO AWARDS FOR PRS ACHIEVEMENTS BY PRIVATE PENSION ADMINISTRATOR MALAYSIA

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 9 (Bernama) -- AmInvest has been honoured with two Private Retirement Schemes (“PRS”) awards by Private Pension Administrator Malaysia (“PPA”), namely the Top Achiever for PRS Assets Under Management (“AUM”) Growth and Top Achiever for PRS Member Growth as part of its Growing PRS Together 2019 – Recognising Excellence Awards (“Awards”).¹

 
“Our Awards recognise the efforts by eight PRS Providers in growing the PRS industry throughout 2019,” said Mr. Husaini Hussin, Chief Executive Officer of PPA.
 
PPA is the central administrator for PRS. PPA is a body approved by the Securities Commission Malaysia and established to administer and promote the growth of the PRS industry, as well as, protect PRS Members’ interest.
 
Under the PRS AUM Growth category, AmInvest was awarded for recording the highest AUM growth of around 38% among PRS Providers for the one-year period up to end December 2019. Within the PRS Member Growth category, AmInvest was the top achiever with a growth in members of about 16% over the course of the year.

http://mrem.bernama.com/viewsm.php?idm=38884

Pickering Electronics inks distributor partnership with Wiselink in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 9 -- Pickering Electronics, the reed relay company which has pioneered miniaturisation and high performance for over 50 years, has signed a distributor partnership agreement with Wiselink, covering Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

Wiselink places strong emphasis on delivering the best to its customers. The company acts as a supply channel partner for over 35 suppliers and more than 2,500 OEM and CEM customers in various industries.

“Wiselink is a proactive partner for us in this important region, dedicated to excellence and customer satisfaction,” said Pickering Chief Executive Officer, Keith Moore, in a statement.

Pickering is known for its innovation in reed relays which use instrumentation-grade reed switches with vacuum-sputtered ruthenium plating to ensure stable, long life up to 5x10⁹ operations.

Formerless coil construction and SoftCenter™ technology also help to increase reliability and robustness, while the use of Mu-metal magnetic screening (either external or internal), enables ultra-high PCB side-by-side packing densities with minimal magnetic interaction, saving significant cost and space.

In addition, Pickering’s reed relays are 100 per cent tested for all operating parameters including dynamic contact wave-shape analysis with full data scrutiny to maintain consistency.

More details at www.pickeringrelay.com.

-- BERNAMA

UVD Robots to deploy 200 autonomous disinfecting robots in Europe hospitals

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 8 -- UVD Robots and Blue Ocean Robotics was selected by the European Commission Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (EU Commission) to supply 200 of its autonomous disinfecting robots to European Union hospitals fighting the Coronavirus.

UVD Robots’ tender ranked first in the EU Commission’s review of disinfecting robots evaluating technical excellence and maturity of technology, quality of approach in deployment, response time in technical support and maintenance, and overall value.

UVD Robots are now being deployed in the first 10+ EU countries with more to follow.

“With EU funds, the European Commission is buying 200 disinfection robots, which will be delivered to hospitals across Europe to help disinfectpatient rooms. We do all we can to support hospitals and patients in these difficult times. And more will follow,” said President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, in a statement.

“With this order, we are going even further to help protect healthcare staff, patients and relatives at hospitals at a critical moment,” said UVD Robots’ parent company, Blue Ocean Robotics Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Claus Risager.

Meanwhile, UVD Robots CEO, Per Juul Nielsen said: “We are thrilled that our UVD Robots were selected by the EU Commission, which we believe to be the largest order of service robots of its kind.”

The UVD Robot disinfects against viruses and bacteria on surfaces and in the air, reducing disease transmission by killing 99.99 per cent of bacteria and microorganisms within approximately 10 minutes in a patient room.

UVD Robots is a unique brand of one of the world's leading groups in the development of professional service robots, Blue Ocean Robotics, that also includes the brands GoBe Robots and PTR Robots.

-- BERNAMA

Singapore-based Claritas HealthTech acquires Integrated Health Ventures

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 7 -- Singapore-based Claritas HealthTech Pte Ltd (Claritas) has acquired Integrated Health Ventures Pte Ltd (IHV) in Singapore and its associated company in India.

“Having worked with both teams in IHV and Claritas, I am confident we will have a slew of combined products that will delight our provider clients with a robust and yet affordable solution to extend clinical images at their fingertips, for effective diagnosis,” said Claritas CIO, Dr Vas Metupalle.

IHV has an extensive network of hundreds of hospital and diagnostic centre clients for their proprietary teleradiology platform in several developing regions including India, Africa and Southeast Asia.

According to a statement, CMIE healthcare platform from IHV is a well architected teleradiology platform with several use cases in diagnostic radiology and nuclear medicine. 

This includes a patented lossless image compression algorithm (Adaptive Binary Optimization, ‘ABO’ ), which allows for advanced AES 256 bit encryption on all types of images.

Claritas has been working on a complimentary platform to add value to radiology centres with an easy booking solution for physicians to send imaging requests to these centres and gain access to images and reports with a web and mobile friendly viewer.

Together with IHV’s platform, the overall solution will be promoted as tRAD. The scalable, end to end medical imaging offering also leverages google health api for interoperability with hospital platforms.

More details at www.claritashealthtech.com.

-- BERNAMA

Young Malaysians Send In Over 7,000 Entries For The Maybank Foundation - Perdana Leadership Foundation Writing And Photo Contest 2020

PUTRAJAYA, Dec 2 (Bernama) -- Judges of the Maybank Foundation – Perdana Leadership Foundation ‘Empowering Youth for a Better ASEAN’ Writing and Photo Contest 2020 are in for a tough time as the contest, themed “Climate Action”, attracted over 7,000 written and photographic submissions from young Malaysians as of its closing date of 30 November 2020. Open to all Malaysians between the age of 13 and 23, the contest invited works of short fiction, essays, as well as photographs. Written entries range from dystopian sci-fi to serious reflections on environmental issues, while Instagram entries with the theme “Save the Environment” depict images that ranged from lush landscapes in need of protection to endangered wildlife. This year’s contest judges include fiction authors Tunku Halim, Hanna Alkaf, Arman Jazee, and Tina Isaacs, non-fiction authors Khairul Abdullah, Lydia Teh, Alexandra Wong, and Johan Irwan, professional photographers Che Ahmad Azhar, Trisha Toh, and Mahen Bala, academics Dr Salinah Ja’afar and Dr Hasmidar, teacher Cikgu Hailmi, as well as TV talk show host Terrence Dass. With the many creative entries submitted by our young leaders, they now face the daunting task of determining the contest winners! Tan Sri Nik Mohamed Nik Yaacob, Executive Director, Perdana Leadership Foundation, said, “Given the challenges of Covid-19 and multiple movement restrictions, we are delighted by the response of the contest, especially from secondary school students. Through this contest, we hope to encourage critical thinking on the very pressing issue of the environment, as well as emphasise the continued importance of communication skills to good leadership. We thank all entrants for their submission and thank also the parents, teachers, and lecturers who encouraged their students to take part." With more than RM150,000 in cash and prizes such as iPads and e-book readers up for grabs, the contest offers Malaysian youth the chance to articulate their visions of the future whether through stories, essays, or photos. This is the third Perdana Leadership Foundation and Maybank Foundation collaboration and the second time that we are inviting fiction and photo submissions, making it one of the few contests for young fiction writers and photographers in Malaysia. “Despite the many challenges we have faced this year, we are pleased that many young Malaysians were able to express their ideas concerning the issue of climate change which will impact the future of our planet. Maybank Foundation is a strong supporter of initiatives that encourage creativity and empowerment of the youth. We believe that this writing and photo contest will inspire our young leaders to contribute and be a part of the change-makers for a better nation. We look forward to meeting the winners soon!” said Encik Shahril Azuar Jimin, the CEO of Maybank Foundation. The contest ran from April to November 2020. Throughout the contest period, numerous articles and videos were produced as part of its initiatives in raising awareness on the Climate Action as well as guiding young participants on the principles of good writing and photography via various digital platforms. The results of the contest will be announced in February 2021 and a prize giving ceremony will be organized in March. For more information, visit www.empoweringaseanyouth.com. http://mrem.bernama.com/viewsm.php?idm=38842