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Gallaudet University to Host First CREST Fest to Advance Equity and Deaf Representation in the Field of Sign Language Technology


Credit: Lorna Quandt

An avatar teaches American Sign Language inside virtual reality

Our hope is that CREST Fest and those supporting it can help to ensure a future where new technologies are designed and built with meaningful involvement from deaf sign language users.

Gallaudet University will host the first-ever CREST Fest June 14 through July 23, 2021. The purpose of this six-week virtual festival is to celebrate sign language technologies and advance equity and deaf representation in the field. Hosted by Gallaudet’s CREST Network, a National Science Foundation-funded initiative, CREST Fest is free to students, researchers, academics and developers throughout the world.

The inaugural CREST Fest is designed to provide a forum for learning and will feature several keynote presentations by prominent leaders from computer science, animation, accessible computing, and other related fields. Other offerings will include discussion forums and a CREST Ambassador program for deaf and hard of hearing high school and college students. Please visit CREST Fest for registration and event details.

CREST Fest will address many important issues and emerging technologies, including:

● Accessibility in virtual reality (VR)

● Three-dimensional (3D) modeling and animation of signing characters

● Signing avatars

● Automated sign language production

● Ethics in sign language technology development

Sign language technologies include tools developed for sign language translation, sign language instruction, and sign language in virtual and augmented reality. The tools include emerging technologies such as virtual human avatars, gesture recognition, machine learning, computer vision, and wearable sensors.

“We are very excited to be hosting CREST Fest,” said Melissa Malzkuhn and Dr. Lorna Quandt, founders of the CREST Network. “This is the first event of its kind with a stellar lineup of guest presenters. We hope this will serve as a catalyst for greater equity and deaf representation in our field. A lot of research being done today in the sign language technology fields is being done without appropriate leadership from deaf people. Our hope is that CREST Fest and those supporting it can help to ensure a future where new technologies are designed and built with meaningful involvement from deaf sign language users.”

Jenny Lay-Flurrie, Microsoft’s Chief Accessibility Officer and a member of the Gallaudet University Board of Trustees, will deliver the event’s featured keynote address. Additional keynote presenters include Myles de Bastion, CymaSpace; Dr. Richard Bowden, University of Surrey; and Dr. Julie Hochgesang, Dr. Raja Kushalnagar, and Jason Lamberton all with Gallaudet University. CREST Fest also will feature a “Hot Topics in Sign Language and Technology” community forum featuring several distinguished panelists: Mohamed Alwazer, KinTrans LLC; Joaquim Amado, World Deaf Tech; Catherine Bentley, KinTrans LLC; Dr. Danielle Bragg, Microsoft; Dr. Joseph Hill, Rochester Institute of Technology; Alfred Sonnenstrahl, Deaf Seniors of America; and Dr. Christian Vogler, Gallaudet University.

The CREST Ambassador program is a virtual six-week program for deaf and hard of hearing high school and college students designed to jump-start their involvement in the field of sign language technologies. Eleven students from around the world have been selected to participate in the 2021 Ambassador program and will receive an “inside track” to special CREST Fest programming. They also will be paired with mentors to support their professional development within the field.

CREST (Cultivating Research and Equity in Sign-related Technology) Network is a global collaborative professional network dedicated to promoting deaf-led research and innovation for the advancement of emerging technologies related to sign language. Funded by the National Science Foundation and housed within Gallaudet University’s Center for Visual Language and Visual Learning (VL2), CREST is focused on increasing the inclusion of deaf and hard of hearing students and researchers in the development of sign-related technologies to bring added benefits to those who use signed languages as a primary form of communication.

Gallaudet University, federally chartered in 1864, is a bilingual, diverse, multicultural institution of higher education that ensures the intellectual and professional advancement of Deaf, hard of hearing and Deafblind individuals through American Sign Language and English. The university enrolls over 1,600 students in more than 40 undergraduate majors and many master’s and doctoral programs. It also conducts research in various fields, including brain imaging, educational neuroscience, education, linguistics, psychology, Deaf history and culture, and Black Deaf history and culture.

Media contacts

The Durkin Agency

Alana Cowan

alanacowan5@gmail.com

Gallaudet University

Robert Weinstock

robert.weinstock@gallaudet.edu

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Cirrascale Cloud Services Broadens Deep Learning Cloud Offerings with World’s Most Powerful GPU for AI Supercomputing


Customers deploying the world’s most powerful GPUs within Cirrascale Cloud Services can accelerate their compute-intensive machine learning and AI workflows better than ever.

Cirrascale Cloud Services®, a premier cloud services provider of deep learning infrastructure solutions for autonomous vehicles, natural language processing, and computer vision workflows, today announced its dedicated, multi-GPU deep learning cloud servers support the NVIDIA® A100 80GB and A30 Tensor Core GPUs. With record-setting performance across every category on the latest release of MLPerf, these latest offerings provide enterprise customers with mainstream options for a broad range of AI inference, training, graphics, and traditional enterprise compute workloads.

“Model sizes and datasets in general are growing fast and our customers are searching for the best solutions to increase overall performance and memory bandwidth to tackle their workloads in record time,” said Mike LaPan, vice president, Cirrascale Cloud Services. “The NVIDIA A100 80GB Tensor Core GPU delivers this and more. Along with the new A30 Tensor Core GPU with 24GB HBM2 memory, these GPUs enable today’s elastic data center and deliver maximum value for enterprises.”

The NVIDIA A100 80GB Tensor Core GPU introduces groundbreaking features to optimize inference workloads. It accelerates a full range of precision, from FP32 to INT4. Multi-Instance GPU (MIG) technology enables up to 7 instances with up to 10GB of memory to operate simultaneously on a single A100 for optimal utilization of compute resources. Structural sparsity support delivers up to 2X more performance on top of the A100 GPU’s other inference performance gains. A100 provides up to 20x higher performance over the NVIDIA Volta® and on modern conversational AI models like BERT Large, A100 accelerates inference throughput by 100x over CPUs.

Also available through Cirrascale Cloud Services is the NVIDIA A30 Tensor Core GPU, which delivers versatile performance supporting a broad range of AI inference and mainstream enterprise compute workloads, such as recommender systems, conversational AI and computer vision. The A30 also supports MIG technology, delivering superior price/performance with up to 4 instances containing 6GB of memory, perfectly suited to handle entry-level applications. Cirrascale’s accelerated cloud server solutions with NVIDIA A30 GPUs provide the needed compute power — along with large HBM2 memory, 933GB/sec of memory bandwidth, and scalability with NVIDIA NVLink® interconnect technology — to tackle massive datasets and turn them into valuable insights.

“Customers deploying the world’s most powerful GPUs within Cirrascale Cloud Services can accelerate their compute-intensive machine learning and AI workflows better than ever,” said Paresh Kharya, senior director of Product Management, Data Center Computing at NVIDIA.

Customers are already using the NVIDIA A100 80GB GPUs on the Cirrascale Cloud Services platform and the A30 will be available for use by end of Q2 2021. Interested customers and partners can visit https://cirrascale.com or call (888) 942-3800 to sign up for service.

About Cirrascale Cloud Services

Cirrascale Cloud Services is a premier provider of public and private dedicated cloud solutions enabling deep learning workflows. The company offers cloud-based infrastructure solutions for large-scale deep learning operators, service providers, as well as HPC users. To learn more about Cirrascale Cloud Services and its unique cloud offerings, please visit https://cirrascale.com or call (888) 942-3800.

Cirrascale Cloud Services, Cirrascale and the Cirrascale Cloud Services logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cirrascale Cloud Services LLC. NVIDIA, the NVIDIA logo, and NVLink are trademarks or registered trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation. All other names or marks are property of their respective owners.

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RTB House Collaborates with Oracle Moat to Measure and Boost Ad Campaign Performance, Reshaping the MarTech Landscape in a Cookieless Future


RTB House is a global company that provides state-of-the-art marketing solutions for top brands and agencies worldwide

“Our collaboration with RTB House enables advertisers to leverage advanced attention metrics to see how consumers are engaging with ads across channels and devices, build and deliver more effective campaigns, and ultimately drive better business outcomes.” – Mark Kopera, Head of Product, Oracle Moat

RTB House, a global company that provides state-of-the-art marketing solutions for top brands and agencies worldwide, today announced a collaboration with Oracle Moat Measurement, enabling the company to provide precise ad measurement and transparency across the company’s video and display advertising solutions. Oracle Moat’s precise measurement tools combined with deep learning can boost campaign performance significantly.

Oracle Moat delivers solutions that are critical to measuring ad effectiveness: verification and attention, reach, and frequency, as well as real-time lift measurement. To date, RTB House has been able to monitor the results of its video and display branding campaigns on multiple levels. However, the integration with Oracle Moat opens up even more precise metrics for advertisers to track and assess their campaigns.

“With endless media choices across a multitude of platforms, advertisers are under more pressure than ever to provide transparency and insights around campaign performance,” said Mark Kopera, head of product, Oracle Moat. “Our collaboration with RTB House enables advertisers to leverage advanced attention metrics to see how consumers are engaging with ads across channels and devices, build and deliver more effective campaigns, and ultimately drive better business outcomes.”

The first integration tests have shown that, in relation to Oracle Moat benchmarks, campaigns run by RTB House deliver above benchmark impression quality in a brand-safe environment. By providing access to hundreds of metrics, the company can assure clients that every impression drives value.

RTB House’s first-party data-based Full-Funnel Marketing Solutions utilize deep learning to recognize a consumer’s stage within the sales funnel in real-time, resulting in relevant communication with users. With a modern approach to marketing communication, marketers are empowered to build more durable brand awareness and deeper connections with customers at every stage of the consumer’s path-to-purchase.

“RTB House believes that deep learning technologies will play a vital role in the future of online advertising,” said Łukasz Abgarowicz, head of new products, RTB House. “By collaborating with measurement providers such as Oracle Moat, we aim to provide our customers with independent proof that our deep learning-powered advertising solutions perform better than anything else on the market, both now and in the cookieless future.”

About RTB House:

RTB House is a global company that provides state-of-the-art marketing technologies for top brands and agencies worldwide. Its proprietary ad buying engine is the first in the world to be powered entirely by Deep Learning algorithms, enabling advertisers to generate outstanding results and reach their goals at every stage of the funnel.

Founded in 2012, the RTB House team comprises 750+ specialists in over 30 locations around the globe. It serves more than 2,000 campaigns for clients across the EMEA, APAC, and Americas regions.

After successfully deploying Deep Learning into 100 percent of its algorithms in 2018, RTB House has continued its research in the field of AI. The AI Marketing Lab and Creative Lab were set up as new divisions of the company focused on inventing and advancing MarTech products. As a result of their work, in 2020 the company introduced AI Full-Funnel Marketing Solutions and Awareness Streaming Video Ads, lifting brand communication to the next level.

About Oracle:

Oracle offers integrated suites of applications plus secure, autonomous infrastructure in the Oracle Cloud. For more information about Oracle (NYSE: ORCL), please visit us at http://www.oracle.com.

Trademarks:

Oracle, Java, and MySQL are registered trademarks of Oracle Corporation.

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Simfoni Expands Management Team with Proven Leaders


Logo for Simfoni

Simfoni hires successful procurement technology executives on the heels of achieving significant growth milestones

“Having products that deliver an instant ROI makes Simfoni special, and it’s clear that the market is realizing this,” said Jason Stern, CEO, Simfoni Analytics.

Simfoni, the next generation digital solutions provider for procurement analytics and spend automation, today announced two key additions to its senior management team: Mike Wigg has joined as Chief Operations Officer and Kyle Muskoff as Head of Sales.

“It’s been an amazing year for Simfoni, with significant growth in our customer base and the addition of successful procurement technology executives,” said Jason Stern, CEO, Simfoni Analytics. “Having products that deliver an instant ROI makes Simfoni special, and it’s clear that the market is realizing this.”

In the past 12 months, Simfoni has achieved a number of notable growth milestones:

  • Added 23 new enterprise customers
  • Total company Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) has increased by 256%
  • MRR in Spend Analytics is well above 325%
  • In addition to adding key leadership positions, Simfoni has made a number of key hires, increasing its headcount by 35%

Simfoni fuses next-generation technology, content and expertise to offer the world’s most accessible Spend Intelligence and Automation platforms. Simfoni’s unique Pay As You Save™ option removes the barriers typically associated with eProcurement solutions, reducing customer risk and investment while providing best-in-class results. Simfoni leverages AI technology to boost efficiency and automate the Analysis process, driving unparalleled value for its customers.

“Simfoni has massive potential to drive the industry forward,” said Mike Wigg, COO, Simfoni. “I initially joined the company because I was impressed by their dynamism, clarity, and ability to offer a full-service solution to clients, and I continue to be amazed by the accomplishments of their positive, professional and committed team.”

Mike Wigg has held senior level sales and operational roles at several start-ups and early-stage companies, most recently serving as Chief Operating Officer at Rosslyn Data Technologies, an AIM-listed Cloud Data Analytics SaaS provider. While at Rosslyn, Wigg was responsible and accountable for all operational activities, including Project Management (Internal & External), Duty Management Support & Implementation, Data ETL, RPA, Internal and External Support, Training (Internal & External) and ISO Compliance. Outside work, Wigg is an enthusiastic private pilot with a love of vintage aeroplanes (particularly bi-planes) and he shares a DH82a Tiger Moth with his partner, Amanda, who is also an adventure pilot.

“Simfoni is on the forefront of promoting and supporting the vision of recognizing Procurement as a strategic element of any organization,” said Kyle Muskoff, Head of Sales, Simfoni. “The Simfoni platform goes beyond traditional procurement technology platforms by providing spend visibility along with the tools to control it. I’m convinced that the company’s data-driven approach will revolutionize the industry and am excited to be part of it.”

Kyle Muskoff brings over two decades of experience with enterprise-level digital platforms, specifically focusing on eProcurement and eCommerce applications. Prior to Simfoni, Muskoff served as Chief Revenue Officer for BuyerQuest, where he developed a go-to-market strategy that grew the company’s top-line revenue by over 40% and led to a successful acquisition. Before that, he held strategic positions at a number of leading technology companies, including Rosetta, Robert Half technology and Texas Instruments.

To learn more about Simfoni, please visit the company’s new website at https://simfoni.com/.

About Simfoni

Simfoni provides Spend Analytics and Spend Automation products to leading global enterprises. The Simfoni platform utilizes machine learning and artificial intelligence to accelerate and automate key aspects of the procurement process, saving customers time and money and paving the way toward supply chain sustainability. With offices in the USA, Europe and the Middle East, Simfoni works with its customers and the wider vendor community to improve vendor diversity and achieve strategic CSR objectives. For additional information, please visit https://simfoni.com/.

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Kajeet to Unpack Newly Released FCC Emergency Connectivity Fund in Free Informational Webinar Series


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WHAT

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently unveiled final rules to its Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF) program. Funded by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, the program allocates $7.17B to schools and libraries to purchase laptops, tablet computers, Wi-Fi hotspots and broadband connectivity for students, school staff and library patrons in need during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On June 8, Kajeet senior vice president and general manager of education, Michael Flood, will break down the ECF program and reveal how schools and libraries can leverage it to expand broadband and device access.

The following week, on June 15, Flood will dive deep into transportation use cases and share how the ECF can also be leveraged to support mobile Wi-Fi access, specifically on school buses and library bookmobiles.

WHEN & WHERE

Webinar: New FCC Funding for Schools and Libraries

Date: Tuesday, June 8, 2021

Time: 3:00 p.m. – 3:45p.m. ET

To register for this free event, please visit: https://utm.guru/udp28

Webinar: New FCC Funding for School Transportation

Date: Tuesday, June 15, 2021

Time: 3:00 p.m. – 3:45p.m. ET

To register for this free event, please visit: https://utm.guru/udp29

About Kajeet

Kajeet provides optimized IoT connectivity, software and hardware solutions that deliver safe, reliable and controlled internet connectivity to students, enterprises, state and local governments, and IoT solution providers. Kajeet is the only managed IoT connectivity services provider in the industry to offer a scalable IoT management platform, Sentinel®, that includes complete visibility into real-time data usage, policy control management, custom content filters for added security and multi-network flexibility. Whether to enable digital access that ensures student success, empower companies to connect and control devices in the field, or offer support and a platform to launch a complex mobile solution, Kajeet is trusted by many to make powerful and flexible wireless solutions easy. Kajeet is available for hybrid and multi-network access across all major North American wireless networks, globally in 24 other countries, and on multiple licensed and unlicensed networks. Kajeet holds 36 U.S. patents in mobile technologies. To learn more, visit kajeet.com and follow on Twitter at @Kajeet.

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As Edge Applications Multiply, OpenInfra Community Delivers StarlingX 5.0, Offering Cloud Infrastructure Stack for 5G, IoT


StarlingX

With market research indicating that about 70% of compute will be moving towards the edge over the next five years or so, we foresee continued strong adoption and investment in StarlingX community activity.

StarlingX—the open source edge computing and IoT cloud platform optimized for low-latency and high-performance applications—is available in its 5.0 release today. StarlingX combines Ceph, OpenStack, Kubernetes and more to create a full-featured cloud software stack that provides everything carriers and enterprises need to deploy an edge cloud on a few servers or hundreds of them.

New features in StarlingX 5.0 include:

  • edgeworker nodes, which enable customized operating systems near and at the edge
  • security enhancements
  • improvements to orchestration and automation
  • upgrades to and containerization of integrated open source components

***Download StarlingX 5.0 at https://opendev.org/starlingx***

StarlingX is in production, driving top 5G deployments

T-Systems and Verizon rely on StarlingX for their edge and production vRAN use cases, and a growing set of organizations are also evaluating the project for production deployment.

“It’s been exciting to see the tremendous increase in StarlingX community activity, not only in terms of commercial adoptions and evaluations but also with respect to investments in the project by many different organizations and individual contributors,” said Paul Miller, chief technology officer, Wind River.

“We’re also seeing now, as a result of early market adoption of this open source stack, the use of StarlingX in edge computing and industrial IoT solutions,” Miller continued. “With market research indicating that about 70% of compute will be moving towards the edge over the next five years or so, we foresee continued strong adoption and investment in StarlingX community activity. As an original contributor to the code base and a strong supporter of the project, we are encouraged to see business being driven by StarlingX. The kind of ecosystem development we’re seeing around StarlingX is exactly what you want to see in a thriving open source community.”

Key Features of StarlingX 5.0

To further support the low-latency and distributed cloud requirements of edge computing and industrial IoT use cases, the community prioritized these features in StarlingX 5.0:

  • Support for ‘edgeworker’ nodes, a new personality distinguished from ‘worker’ nodes. Edgeworker nodes are usually deployed close to an edge device, such as an I/O device, a camera, a servo motor or a sensor, to manage host-based enrollment. The ‘edgeworker’ personality is particularly suitable when users want a lightweight approach, deploying only a few agents on the nodes. With edgeworker nodes, users can enroll new operating systems and new server classes, which expands the possibility for new StarlingX use cases.
  • Support for Nvidia GPUs, enabling operators to do additional offload for those particular workloads that require GPU interacting, such as machine learning or other image-based processing.
  • Support for FPGA image update orchestration. FPGA and acceleration are important features of edge systems. The new FPGA image update orchestration feature in StarlingX 5.0 improves operations, supporting automation across the distributed cluster. This gives users the option to deploy FPGA with orchestrations that are automated from end to end.
  • A PTP notification feature to further extend StarlingX’s support of Precision Time Protocol. Operators can now receive notifications about the PTP state and take action in case the system time is no longer in sync with the PTP clock source, which is critical for time-sensitive applications.
  • Vault integration for secret management, a security focused feature. Users want the ability to store and access secrets securely. These secrets can include credentials, encryption keys, API tokens and other data that should not be stored in plain text on a system. Vault, an open source project, provides the ability to encrypt and store secrets with access control via a range of authorization and access policy configurations. Vault’s features include dynamic secret generation, data encryption, leasing and renewal, revocation and audit/logging. The integration of Vault improves StarlingX’s security posture and encryption capabilities while maintaining manageability.

Other additions to the new version include:

  • Improvements to certification management to enhance automation
  • Containerized Ceph storage by using Rook
  • Support for Net-SNMP v3 for the fault management service
  • CephFS for cluster storage
  • Container Image Signature Validation

Learn more about these and other features of StarlingX 5.0 in the community’s release notes.

OpenInfra Community Drives StarlingX Progress

The StarlingX project launched in 2018. Since then, there have been more than 10,000 commits from over 260 authors. Today’s 5.0 release added 1100 commits from 105 developers to those total numbers. The StarlingX community is actively collaborating with several other groups such as the OpenInfra Edge Computing Group, ONAP, Akraino and more.

After initial code for the project was contributed by Wind River and Intel to the Open Infrastructure Foundation, the active community of support for StarlingX has expanded to include 99Cloud, FiberHome, and China UnionPay, among others. China UnionPay, China Unicom, T-Systems and Verizon have become early adopters of the software.

Community Accolades for StarlingX 5.0

“The StarlingX community is continuously making significant progress,” said Shuquan Huang, technical director, 99Cloud Inc. “We’re excited to see StarlingX 5.0 is available with a lot of enhancements and new features. StarlingX will be the key to meet the requirement of edge computing, and it’s time to use the latest StarlingX platform to build your edge cloud.”

“The StarlingX 5.0 release is a new stage for edge computing,” said Wang Hao, senior software engineer, FiberHome Enterprise. “There are some great features that have been introduced to the platform to enhance edge computing security and bring more flexibility to different types of nodes that will extend StarlingX’s application to more edge scenarios. Fiberhome will continue to focus on edge computing techniques and work with the StarlingX community to bring more values to our users.”

Project Resources

About StarlingX

StarlingX is the open source edge computing and IoT cloud platform optimized for low latency and high performance applications. It provides a scalable and highly reliable edge infrastructure, tested and available as a complete stack. Applications include industrial IoT, telecom, video delivery and other ultra-low latency use cases. StarlingX ensures compatibility among diverse open source components and provides unique project components for fault management and service management, among others, to ensure high availability of user applications. StarlingX is the ready-for-deployment code base for edge implementations in scalable solutions. StarlingX is an Open Infrastructure Foundation project. http://www.starlingx.io

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Martello Launches Global Partner Program Enabling Microsoft 365 Digital Experience Monitoring Services for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises


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The small and medium enterprises who rely on these trusted advisors can now achieve the benefits enjoyed by large enterprises using Martello DEM to reduce downtime, improve employee productivity and maximize their return on the Microsoft 365 investment.

Martello Technologies Group Inc., (“Martello” or the “Company”) (TSXV: MTLO), a leading developer of enterprise digital experience monitoring (“DEM”) solutions announces the launch of its channel partner program and welcomes partner LDI to the program. Martello’s partner program allows managed service providers (MSPs) and value-added resellers (VARs) to bring the benefits of Martello’s Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams digital experience monitoring platform to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). LDI, a New York-based leader in the supply, sale and service of digital office technology with more than 7,000 small and medium sized enterprise customers, has joined the program.

Martello’s partner program, which includes training, automated service-level agreement (SLA) management and co-marketing is designed to help partners provide value added services with complete visibility of Microsoft 365 and cloud/hybrid service delivery. Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams are now widely used by businesses, but limited visibility into cloud service performance and the complexity of hybrid service delivery create challenges managing solution performance and user experience. This partner program creates a significant opportunity for partners in the global Microsoft ecosystem to provide more value to their customers, centered on delivering user experience monitoring and optimization to enhance their SLA offers.

Microsoft partners are crucial providers of Microsoft 365 to SMEs that account for more than 60% of the global workforce. There are more than one million enterprises using Microsoft 365 globally, and Gartner forecasts that by 2024, 50% of them will use a third-party software tool to monitor the Microsoft 365 experience, up from less than 10% in 2020. Partners at any stage of cloud maturity, supported by a dedicated Martello partner manager, can easily improve their Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams customer offering and develop new revenue streams with Martello digital experience monitoring and optimization. The partner program is expected to increase the number of Microsoft users on Martello’s DEM platform through FY22.

LDI provides digital office technology to 7,000 clients in over 30 states. Their clients operate in the legal, accounting, higher education, not for profit and healthcare sectors and typically have 150-300 employees. Throughout their 20 years in business, LDI has evolved to meet the needs of their clients, and today they have developed a strong ecosystem of vendors that allow them to bring unique value to cloud communications and managed IT services: “Partnering with Martello Technologies brings us unique new tools to differentiate from competitors and drive additional services revenue as part of our collaboration and communication offering to clients”, said Robert Handel, Senior Director of LDI Cloud Services. “Martello’s DEM solutions strengthen the world-class service we bring to our clients, by enabling our team and our clients to proactively view, monitor and resolve issues related to Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams performance and user experience.”

“We’ve built a partner program that will give any Microsoft partner a simple and cost-effective path to revenue from value-added digital experience monitoring and optimization services”, said Mike Danforth, VP global sales and partnerships at Martello. “The small and medium enterprises who rely on these trusted advisors can now achieve the benefits enjoyed by large enterprises using Martello DEM to reduce downtime, improve employee productivity and maximize their return on the Microsoft 365 investment”.

Martello DEM for Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams

Martello’s DEM solutions monitor the performance and user experience for Microsoft 365, with a focus on the popular Microsoft Teams video conferencing application, which is used by more than 500,000 businesses globally. Synthetic transaction monitoring of Microsoft 365 and Teams provides pre-event alerting of performance issues, together with correlation of performance and status data from integrated IT service monitoring tools and cloud platforms including AWS and Google Cloud. Together, these capabilities provide unique insight into the entire IT infrastructure supporting Microsoft 365 performance from end-to-end. Martello will strengthen this offering in 2021 for the partners in its program with real user monitoring, which monitors actual user activity, regardless of where the user is located, and active network path monitoring, which provides a clearer picture of the network path taken by every Microsoft action.

Partners interested in joining the partner program can reach Martello’s partner team at partners@martellotech.com.

Related Resources

About LDI

LDI is a technology company celebrating more than 20 years as a leading provider in the supply, sale and service of digital office solutions. LDI integrates the core capabilities of multifunction devices, managed print, production print, Managed IT Services, Pro AV and Unified Communications to solve business challenges. LDI enjoys direct relationships with the world’s most respected manufacturers and employs a consultative approach to enable our clients to evolve with emerging technologies. Learn more at myLDI.com.

About Martello Technologies Group

Martello Technologies Group Inc. (TSXV: MTLO) is a technology company that provides digital experience monitoring (DEM) solutions. The company’s products provide monitoring and analytics on the performance and user experience of critical cloud business applications, while giving IT teams and service providers control and visibility of their entire IT infrastructure. Martello’s software products include unified communications performance analytics, Microsoft 365 end user experience monitoring and IT service monitoring and analytics. Martello is a public company headquartered in Ottawa, Canada with employees in Europe, North America and the Asia Pacific region. Learn more at http://www.martellotech.com

This press release does not constitute an offer of the securities of the Company for sale in the United States. The securities of the Company have not been registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, (the “1933 Act”) as amended, and may not be offered or sold within the United States absent registration or an exemption from registration under the 1933 Act.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any state in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information can be identified by words such as:”anticipate,” “intend,” “plan,” “goal,” “seek,” “believe,” “project,” “estimate,” “expect,” “strategy,” “future,” “likely,” “may,” “should,” “will” and similar references to future periods. Examples of forward-looking information contained in this news release include, among others, statements with respect to the aim to increase the number of Microsoft users on Martello’s DEM platform through FY22; and plans to strengthen Martello’s offering in FY22 with real user monitoring, and active network path monitoring.

Forward-looking information is neither historical fact nor assurance of future performance. Instead, they are based only on our current beliefs, expectations and assumptions regarding the future of our business, future plans and strategies, projections, anticipated events and trends, the economy and other future conditions. Because forward-looking information relates to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of our control. Our actual results and financial condition may differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking information. Therefore, you should not rely on any forward-looking information. Important factors that could cause our actual results and financial condition to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking information include, among others, the following:


  • continued volatility in the capital or credit markets;
  • our ability to maintain our current credit rating and the impact on our funding costs and competitive position if we do not do so;
  • changes in customer demand;
  • disruptions to our technology network including computer systems and software, as well as natural events such as severe weather, fires, floods and earthquakes or man-made or other disruptions of our operating systems, structures or equipment;
  • delayed purchase timelines and disruptions to customer budgets, as well as Martello’s ability to maintain business continuity as a result of COVID-19;
  • and other risks disclosed in the Company’s filings with Canadian Securities Regulators, including the Company’s annual information form for the year ended March 31, 2020 dated December 24, 2020, which is available on the Company’s profile on SEDAR at http://www.sedar.com.

Any forward-looking information in this news release is based only on information currently available to us and speaks only as of the date on which it is made. Except as required by applicable securities laws, we undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking information, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.

Financial Outlooks and Future-Oriented Financial Information

To the extent any forward looking information in this press release constitute “financial outlooks” within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation, such information is being provided as certain estimated financial metrics and the reader is cautioned that this information may not be appropriate for any other purpose and the reader should not place undue reliance on such financial outlooks. Financial outlooks, as with forward looking information generally, are, without limitation, based on the assumptions and subject to various risks and uncertainties as set out herein. The Company believes there is a reasonable basis for the expectations reflected in the financial outlooks, however these expectations may not prove to be correct and the Company’s actual financial position and results of operations may differ materially from management’s current expectations and the information provided in this press release.

Ghislain Lefebvre Join Whip Media as Vice President of Sales, France and Benelux


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“Ghislain has a track record of driving sales and customer success through data and technology that make him the perfect person to lead our exponential sales growth in those markets,” -Paul Hastings, Whip Media’s SVP of Global Sales

Whip Media, the leading enterprise software platform and data provider to the world’s largest entertainment organizations, announced today that Ghislain Lefebvre has joined the company as Vice President of Sales, France and Benelux. He reports to Paul Hastings, Whip Media’s SVP of Global Sales.

In his new role, Lefebvre will lead Whip Media’s sales and client acquisition efforts for its data and content licensing solutions in France and Benelux. He is based in Whip Media’s Paris office.

Lefebvre joins Whip Media with more than fifteen years of experience in advertising technology and sales.

He most recently served as Client Partner for EMEA for Oracle and led the development of its advertising platform, the Oracle Marketing Cloud, in the region.

“Ghislain has a track record of driving sales and customer success through data and technology that make him the perfect person to lead our exponential sales growth in those markets,” said Paul Hastings, Whip Media’s SVP of Global Sales. “I’m thrilled to welcome him to our rapidly expanding team.”

“Whip Media’s industry-leading content performance tracking, data solutions, and entertainment technology provide a significant advantage to content providers, broadcasters, and operators in today’s media environment,” said Lefebvre. “I’m excited to expand our footprint in this dynamic market and help entertainment companies to make their business more efficient thanks to our unique data and technology.”

Before Oracle, Lefebvre held senior Sales Management roles at a variety of premium SaaS and enterprise software providers covering the French market.

Lefebvre’s appointment comes during a time of rapid growth for Whip Media across all areas of its business. This growth speaks to a significant market opportunity and demand for Whip Media’s enterprise Content Value Management (CVM) platform and proprietary global data and insights. The company’s growing roster of clients is comprised of more than 50 of the biggest media and entertainment companies including all major Hollywood studios, top broadcasters, and the largest global MVPD operators in the world.

About Whip Media

Whip Media is transforming the global content licensing ecosystem with a market-leading enterprise software platform that centrally connects data, processes and teams throughout the digital distribution journey. Powered by proprietary data and predictive insights, we enable the world’s top entertainment organizations including Disney, Warner Bros., Hulu, NBCU, Paramount, Sony, Lionsgate, BBC, HBO, AT&T, T-Mobile, Liberty Global, Discovery, and Pluto TV to efficiently distribute, control and monetize their TV and movie content to drive revenue and direct-to-consumer growth. The company’s newest innovation, the Whip Media Exchange is a next-generation content marketplace that makes global film and TV content licensing faster and more efficient. For more information, visit http://whipmedia.com.

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Stefan Leipold CEO of STARK introduces new Magnetic Privacy products Designed for Microsoft Surface devices


Nothing is as powerful and contagious as the human idea and the willpower behind it

One year ago, STARK started working closely with the Microsoft “Designed for Surface” development team to design and create the Magnetic Privacy Screens for the Microsoft Surface devices (US Pat. US09829669). “Especially during Covid, many people grew accustomed to working remotely, using laptops or tablets” as noted by Stefan Leipold, CEO and Founder of STARK. Blue-Light exposure is one of the features STARK products reduce by over 50%.

STARK’s products are super thin and can stay attached to the Surface device. Products are also compliant with the Microsoft “Zero Gab Technology” of the Microsoft Surface Laptop 3/4 devices, while the Surface Pen functions as promised.

Not only do STARK’s products reduce the blue-light effect, but they also provide a 4-way privacy function, both horizontal and vertically. The anti-glare coating reduces reflections of light. In comparison to similar products available in the market, the Designed for Surface label guarantees products are tested and proven by Microsoft not to damage any Surface device, nor interfere with any sensors, or functionalities. This ensures users can enjoy the full performance of their Microsoft Surface device.

The following models are supported by STARK’s new magnetic privacy screens:

Microsoft Surface Go2

Microsoft Surface Pro 5/6/7/7+

Microsoft Surface Laptop 3/4 13” and 15”

Another reason companies look to STARK is to keep personal and corporate data safe, especially now that people are allowed to socialize and work in public again. In the last 12 months alone, cyber-security threats have increased by 400%, causing tremendous financial damage to corporations, governments, and individuals.

Having a privacy screen on a mobile device is essential in 2021, at a time when 80% of all work and internet access is done on-the-go from portable devices. Aside from keeping your Microsoft Surface device always up-to-date and having good protection installed on your device, a privacy screen should always be part of the first line of defense against Cyber-security threats.

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Zappix Launches Agent Assist Solution to Accelerate Contact Center Interactions


Zappix Launches Agent Assist Solution to Accelerate Contact Center Interactions

Zappix Launches Agent Assist Solution to Accelerate Contact Center Interactions

We are happy to launch Agent Assist — our latest service helping agents to better serve customers while they are on the call. This service will help to greatly accelerate agent interactions, a key aspect of our mission to transform the user journey during contact center interactions.

Zappix Launches Agent Assist Solution to Accelerate Contact Center Interactions

Zappix, the leading AI-Powered Mobile On-Demand Customer Service and Visual IVR solutions provider, announced it has launched an Agent Assist solution aimed at reducing Average Handle Time and improving the time to successful resolution.

The new Agent Assist Solution enables agents to deliver various digital and visual assistance tools directly to customers via text message. The text message is sent by contact center agents using the Agent Assist console and contains a link to a Zappix On-Demand App that simplifies and accelerates the customer service interaction. The solution allows users to complete a form, securely complete payment transactions, view video FAQs, download documents, upload photos and videos to agents and CRM databases, or other standardized customer service processes.

The solution can also streamline internal communication between intra-company resources whenever agents need to correspond with other members or branches of the customer service team.

“We, at Zappix, continuously expand our product portfolio and strive to deliver the best customer experiences possible,” said Yossi Abraham, Zappix president. “We are happy to launch Agent Assist — our latest service helping agents better serve customers while they are on the call. This service will help to greatly accelerate agent interactions, a key aspect of our mission to transform the user journey during contact center interactions.”

The speed of Zappix automation and ease of use for customer service agents is producing significant benefits for businesses and consumers, including:

Accelerated time to resolution — the agent assist solution helps callers complete interactions faster via automation, and empowers agents to handle multiple interactions or processes at once, reducing average handling time (AHT) and time to resolution

Enhanced service — by leveraging the power of digital visual interfaces, the solution improves experiences like FAQs and customer guidance with engaging videos and helpful pictures, compared to occasionally cumbersome voice channel alternatives

Supplemental services — the ability to download documents directly from on-demand web-apps accessed and leveraging the full power of smartphones via the solution unlocks additional services for callers like geolocation, further accelerating the customer service experience

Reduced inbound call volumes — callers who have received assistance via the Agent Assist solution can reuse the link in the original text message to revisit on-demand, automated services without ever interacting with a live agent, preventing future calls to contact centers and lowering inbound call volumes

The Zappix Agent Assist solution is already accelerating live customer service interactions. By automating important steps in the customer service journey, the Zappix solution aims to reduce the average handle time of calls by more than 50%.

About Zappix

Zappix delivers AI-powered Mobile On-Demand Customer Service Solutions: Visual IVR, On-Demand Apps, Outbound Engagement and Robotic Process Automation (RPA). The cloud-based solutions improve the customer journey during contact center interactions. The open platform enables workflow automation, rapid deployments, and seamless integration to back-end systems (CRMs, ERPs, etc.), and IVRs, and provides a comprehensive Analytics Suite.

The Zappix solution provides significant benefits and ROI: reducing costs by increasing containment rates for contact centers, improving customer experience and Net Promoter Score (NPS), creating new revenue opportunities using targeted promotional banners and automation of revenue-generating use-cases.

To learn more about Zappix, go to http://www.zappix.com.

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