Category: MENA

LeddarTech’s LVF-E’s “B” sample featuring an embedded ECU introduces an unprecedented industry-first solution that brings high performance and reliability of low-level fusion to the entry-level ADAS market

QUEBEC, June 28, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — LeddarTech^®, an automotive software company that provides patented disruptive low-level sensor fusion and perception software technology for ADAS and AD, is pleased to announce that “B” samples of its LeddarVision entry-level ADAS L2/L2+ highway assist and 5-star NCAP 2025/GSR 2022 low-level fusion and perception software stack optimized for the TDA4VM-Q1 (8 TOPS) processor from Texas Instruments are now available.

The LeddarVision Front-Entry (LVF-E) product, formally released in late 2022, was designed for customers seeking to develop entry-level ADAS safety and highway assistance L2/L2+ applications. Introducing the “B” samples brings exciting advancements to LVF-E powered by a Texas Instruments (TI) TDA4VM-Q1 processor. By leveraging these “B” samples, LVF-E delivers substantial cost and performance benefits for low-level fusion, paving the way for accelerated L2/L2+ systems adoption. In addition, this breakthrough effectively reduces the sensor and processor requirements, making it more accessible and efficient for widespread implementation. The LeddarVision Front-Entry solution also marks the first design where TI’s highly integrated and cost-efficient TDA4x processor family has been featured in a low-level fusion solution.

Benefits

• Higher Performance:
  • Doubles the effective range of the sensors, allowing high-performing ADAS targeting 5-star NCAP 2025 and GSR 2022 standards with lower sensor and system costs.
• Lower Costs:
  • Reduced hardware requirements: An industry-first being enabled with a single 1 to 2-megapixel 120-degree front camera and two short-range front corner radars in a 1V2R configuration.
  • Efficient implementation on the TDA4VM-Q1 platform achieves one of the lowest system costs for L2/L2+ entry-level ADAS without sacrificing system performance.

Visit LeddarTech’s LVF-E product page for more information and to request a demo.

“OEMs and Tier 1s strive to enhance the affordability of ADAS. LeddarTech achieves this by reducing the sensor count and costs, simplifying systems and lowering processor costs while delivering high-performance low-level fusion (LLF) and perception in an auto-grade ECU. Demonstrating the compatibility of low-level fusion with TI’s TDA4VM-Q1 processor is a powerful market statement. The availability of ‘B’ samples of our LVF-E software stack showcases a cost-effective perception solution using LLF, marking a significant milestone for LeddarTech’s technology on the popular TDA4x family of processors,” stated Charles Boulanger, CEO of LeddarTech.

About LeddarTech

A global software company founded in 2007 and headquartered in Quebec City with additional R&D centers in Montreal, Toronto and Tel Aviv, Israel, LeddarTech develops and provides comprehensive perception software solutions that enable the deployment of ADAS and autonomous driving (AD) applications. LeddarTech’s automotive-grade software applies advanced AI and computer vision algorithms to generate accurate 3D models of the environment, allowing for better decision making and safer navigation. This high-performance, scalable, cost-effective technology is available to OEMs and Tier 1-2 suppliers to efficiently implement automotive and off-road vehicle ADAS solutions.

LeddarTech is responsible for several remote-sensing innovations, with over 150 patents granted or applied for that enhance ADAS and AD capabilities. Better awareness around the vehicle is critical in making global mobility safer, more efficient, sustainable and affordable: this is what drives LeddarTech to seek to become the most widely adopted sensor fusion and perception software solution.

Additional information about LeddarTech is accessible at www.leddartech.com and on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

Contact:
Daniel Aitken, Vice-President, Global Marketing, Communications and Investor Relations, LeddarTech Inc. Tel.: + 1-418-653-9000 ext. 232 [email protected]

• Investor relations website: https://investors.leddartech.com
• Investor relations contact: Kevin Hunt, ICR Inc. [email protected]
• Financial media contact: Dan Brennan, ICR Inc. [email protected]

Leddar, LeddarTech, LeddarVision, LeddarSP, VAYADrive, VayaVision and related logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of LeddarTech Inc. and its subsidiaries. All other brands, product names and marks are or may be trademarks or registered trademarks used to identify products or services of their respective owners.

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 8865494

AI-powered Intelligent Director enhances connection and optimizes the conference room experience for hybrid work, using multiple cameras to give every participant their own space in Zoom Meetings

SAN JOSE, Calif., June 27, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Today Zoom Video Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZM) announced the launch of the award-winning Intelligent Director for Zoom Rooms. For hybrid meetings with a Zoom Room, Intelligent Director uses AI and multiple cameras to provide the best image and angle of participants in the room so remote participants can see each person clearly, even in large conference rooms.

“As more people return to the office, it’s no longer enough to deliver the best remote worker experience; every business needs a solution to deliver the best hybrid meeting experience,” said Smita Hashim, chief product officer at Zoom. “Even with some employees in the office, oftentimes other team members are dispersed, so meeting equity and inclusion become more important than ever. Intelligent Director is the solution that can bring employees together, regardless of location, so they can truly connect face-to-face.”

Intelligent Director is specifically designed for medium- to larger-sized rooms and helps avoid the “bowling alley effect.” Intelligent Director can individually frame up to 16 participants in a Zoom Room using multiple cameras, choosing the best video stream via a Zoom-designed AI, and send that stream to the gallery view of the Zoom Meeting.

An evolution of Zoom’s Smart Gallery feature, which uses a single camera and AI to give each person in a small to medium-sized room their own space in a Zoom Meeting, Intelligent Director takes this same technology to the next level for larger conference rooms.

For bigger meeting spaces, it is easier to be hidden by others when only using a single camera, so Intelligent Director’s multi-camera configuration and use of video AI technology provide meeting equity to everyone in the room, selecting the best view of each individual, even if they move around or turn their heads. Remote participants can now have face-to-face conversations with each Zoom Rooms participant, allowing in-room participants to be seen and heard.

Intelligent Director is made possible through the support of Zoom’s hardware partner ecosystem. Manufacturers, including Apple, AVer, Dell, HP | Poly, Intel, Logitech, and Yealink have supported Zoom with the computer, controller, and camera solutions necessary to produce this major advancement.

About Zoom
Zoom is an all-in-one intelligent collaboration platform that makes connecting easier, more immersive, and more dynamic for businesses and individuals. Zoom technology puts people at the center, enabling meaningful connections, facilitating modern collaboration, and driving human innovation through solutions like team chat, phone, meetings, omnichannel cloud contact center, smart recordings, whiteboard, and more, in one offering. Founded in 2011, Zoom is publicly traded (NASDAQ:ZM) and headquartered in San Jose, California. Get more info at zoom.com.

Zoom Public Relations
Lacretia Taylor
[email protected]

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 8865322

New York, June 22, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — New research supported by the Open Society Foundations shows that increasing delays in resolving sovereign debt crises in some of the world’s poorest countries are significantly adding to the human cost of defaults—cutting economic growth, reducing life-expectancy, and worsening child mortality rates.

The analysis, The Human Costs of the Failing Global Debt System, builds on research published last year that showed how going into default leads to economic and human damage that worsens over subsequent years.

Sovereign debt defaults occur when countries fail to pay their debts on time. This can be interest or principal payments to domestic or international creditors. This typically forces a renegotiation of lending terms. The research looked at data from 131 sovereign debt defaults around the world since 1900.

The new paper’s authors, economists Clemens Graf von Luckner and Juan P. Farah-Yacoub, conclude that, in addition, the longer it takes a country to reach a new agreement with its creditors, the greater the increase in human costs:

• When a country’s debt crisis is resolved in less than three years, infant mortality ten years after a default is declared as 2.2 percentage points higher than would have been expected. But when the default continues for more than three years, the difference rises to a staggering 11.4 percentage points higher.
• For the countries studied, on average, life expectancy ten years after default drops by more than one year relative to where it would have been without the default.
• In addition, the shortfall in the rate of increase in real economic output per capita (against what it could have been without default), jumps by 2.5 percentage points in the first year of default, against what it would have been had there been no default. It then continues to grow by 1.5 percentage point on average each year thereafter. Over a decade the gap grows to roughly 14.5 percentage points.

The findings underline the grave damage being caused by the failure of the existing global financial system to deliver prompt resolution to countries in default due in part to the involvement of an increasingly complex mix of creditors—including international financial institutions such as development banks, commercial banks, sovereign lenders including China, and private commercial creditors.

The report also highlights the case of Zambia, which defaulted on its external debt in November 2020 under the economic strains of the Covid pandemic. It has yet to secure a comprehensive debt agreement among all of its public and private creditors and the International Monetary Fund, with its total debt now estimated at over $18 billion.

The authors of this new report calculated that, based on a calculation using Zambia’s birth rates in 2016, the country’s current debt default would result in an additional 3,079 annual deaths of infants before their first birthdays by the year 2030, if the default is prolonged further.

Mark Malloch-Brown, president of the Open Society Foundations, said: “The findings here starkly illustrate how a dysfunctional global financial system is causing tragic but entirely avoidable human suffering. The leaders meeting in Paris need to commit to the urgent reforms the world needs to face both deepening poverty and the worsening climate crisis.”

The Open Society Foundations, together with a broad range of civil society groups, are pushing for the leaders gathered at the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact in Paris to commit to policies that will significantly reform the international debt restructuring process to allow for a just and sustainable resolution to a country’s default delivered in a timely manner. These steps include:

1. States establishing a clear process with firm timetables for getting agreement to “cure” defaults—no more three years in limbo like Zambia.
2. The IMF must more aggressively use its authority to “lend into arrears”—which means they can launch their funding support program to indebted countries even if some creditors refuse to accept new debt relief terms. These hold out creditors loans would not get paid, but everyone else participating does.
3. Private creditors (including sovereign bond holders) should not be allowed to refuse to accept debt settlements that creditor countries agree to, and then expect to be paid with the benefits of that relief, or to use the courts to get full repayment. In the United States, the New York State legislature has before it legislation that would end this practice.
4. The International Financial Institutions need significantly more funding from the Global North to give them the resources needed to properly fund recovery from defaults and allow the economic growth needed to avoid defaults in the future.

Office of Communications
Open Society Foundations 
(212) 548-0378
media@opensocietyfoundations.org

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 8862959

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, June 22, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — FreedomPay, a global leader in Next Level Commerce, announces a partnership with Visa to integrate Visa’s network tokenization capabilities within FreedomPay’s global identity and tokenization framework. The true omnichannel global tokenization product will provide network tokens across card brands, helping to keep merchants compliant with cross-border and in-region data and privacy regulations, while helping merchants qualify for lower interchange rates for certain Visa network tokenized transactions.

“With the growing number of connected devices, changing consumer behaviors and shifting privacy regulations, the benefits of utilizing network tokens are many. Using the Visa Acceptance Platform, Visa has the scale and flexibility to seamlessly provision them for FreedomPay’s clients around the globe, helping to improve customer experience, improve authorization rates and reduce fraud,” said Bill Dobbins, SVP, Head of Acquiring and Enablement at Visa.

Network tokenization will also help streamline the customer journey, providing a seamless experience across borders and merchant locations. The new capabilities will be integrated into FreedomPay’s larger identity suite, offering a 360-degree view of the customer to the merchant, creating a more personalized checkout experience through data-driven loyalty and incentives.

“FreedomPay is trusted by the largest brands across hospitality, retail, F&B and more to provide repeatable and scalable next level solutions for security, data management and compliance, and to create a personalized and seamless customer journey around the globe,” said David Knowlton, CTO at FreedomPay. “By partnering with Visa for network tokenization, FreedomPay will provide merchants with more flexibility and geographic coverage, including in harder-to-access regions, when managing customer and card data.”

Additional features will also be supported without any changes to the merchant’s systems such as supporting card on file use cases with digital wallet taps as well as token life cycle management.

About FreedomPay

FreedomPay’s Next Level Commerce platform transforms existing payment systems and processes from legacy to leading edge and enables merchants to unleash the power of pay. As the premier choice for many of the largest companies across the globe in retail, hospitality, lodging, gaming, sports and entertainment, foodservice, education, healthcare and financial services, FreedomPay’s technology has been purposely built to deliver rock solid performance in the highly complex environment of global commerce.

The company maintains a world-class security environment and was first to earn the coveted validation by the PCI Security Standards Council against Point-to-Point Encryption (P2PE/EMV) standard in North America. FreedomPay’s robust solutions across payments, security, identity, and data analytics are available in-store, online and on-mobile and are supported by rapid API adoption. The award winning FreedomPay Commerce Platform operates on a single, unified technology stack across multiple continents allowing enterprises to deliver an innovative Next Level experience on a global scale. www.freedompay.com

Jennifer Tayebi
Hill+Knowlton Strategies for FreedomPay
+1 734 395 0780
jennifer.tayebi@hkstrategies.com

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 8862332

The 6,000 km rally over 10 days took place in February this year, starting in France and concluding in Morocco, with the aim of helping underprivileged children in Africa.

PARIS, June 22, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Deriv, one of the leading online brokers, has been actively participating in humanitarian efforts that are aligned with its core values of being reliable, fair, transparent, and responsible. Earlier this year, Deriv sponsored a team of two young professionals who successfully completed the 4L Trophy rally, an annual humanitarian car rally that raises funds for the cause of underprivileged children in Africa.

The 4L Trophy rally started in France and ended in Morocco, covering a 6,000 km journey over 10 days. It required participants to drive through challenging terrain, navigating their way through various checkpoints. A long journey for a noble cause: deliver stationery and textbooks for underprivileged children along the way.

Deriv humanitarian ride through the desert in Morocco.

“The challenges of navigating unfamiliar terrain, camping in the middle of nowhere, and crossing the finish line were thrilling and rewarding,” Clement David, one of the drivers sponsored by Deriv, said. “But what made the experience truly special was the opportunity to make a difference in children’s lives by delivering much-needed school supplies.”

Deriv supports humanitarian drive in Morocco during the 4L Trophy rally.

Jean-Yves Sireau, founder and CEO of Deriv, said: “Deriv’s participation in the 4L Trophy rally is a testament to our commitment to making a positive impact on the communities we serve. We believe in supporting causes that empower individuals and communities to thrive, and education is a critical component of that.”

“We believe that businesses have a responsibility to give back to society,” added Sireau. “Through our philanthropic efforts, we hope to inspire other organisations to do their part in making the world a better place.”

Deriv supports humanitarian drive in Morocco during the 4L Trophy rally.

The 4L Trophy rally is just one example of Deriv’s involvement in humanitarian initiatives. Earlier this year, the company had also donated 11 boxes of clothes to Fundacion Unidos por Cristo (Asunción, Paraguay), a residential home that provides comprehensive care to children and adolescents at risk.

To learn more about Deriv and its humanitarian initiatives, follow Derivlife and the company’s Instagram account.

About Deriv

Deriv started its journey in 1999. Its mission since has been to make online trading accessible to anyone, anywhere. Deriv’s product offering includes intuitive trading platforms, over 200 tradable assets (in markets such as forex, stocks, and cryptocurrencies), unique trade types, and more. Deriv embraces its commitment to the community, elevating its humanitarian initiatives to new heights across its network of 20 offices spanning 16 countries.

PRESS CONTACT
Aleksandra Zuzic
[email protected]

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/84da82a4-68fe-4100-b936-f179348cbb9e
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GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 1000826460

WALLDORF, Germany, June 22, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — SAP Fioneer, a leading global provider of financial services software solutions and platforms, has announced the launch of its Fioneer SME Banking Edition. The solution will enable banks and neobanks to offer banking capabilities in a digital-first and data-driven approach, tailored to the financial needs of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) – a historically underserved market segment.

The SME sector is a vital component of the global economy, accounting for 99% of UK and EU businesses and employing approximately 16.4 million and 84 million people respectively.* Despite making up a significant proportion of GDP and the workforce, SMEs have traditionally struggled to access financial services that meet their unique needs, as the perceived risks and costs associated are deemed too high.

Fioneer SME Banking Edition addresses these challenges by connecting banks to external data sources such as Open Banking, central company registry, e-commerce and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) data, to form actionable insights that significantly help SMEs to stay ahead. This will give SMEs clear transparency about cashflow and provide insight to the banks and enable e.g. smart funding options, offering more variety and increasing the number of businesses banks can serve.

As a unique end-to-end solution, Fioneer SME Banking Edition covers front-to-back capabilities and seamlessly integrates with any core banking system. It enables banks to offer services that go beyond traditional banking products such as loans and deposits. Banks will be able to broaden their offering with embedded services and stronger financial advice directly for SMEs. The solution can also be easily integrated and connect to ecosystems via pre-configured APIs.

Charlie Platt, Managing Director of Banking at SAP Fioneer, comments on the launch: “SMEs represent the lifeblood of the economy, and it is critical that they are able to access the financial services they deserve. Through our SME Banking Edition, banks will be able to create commercially viable, unique and better banking experiences for SMEs that will help them to stay ahead in a challenging economic environment.”

“The introduction of our Fioneer SME Banking Edition significantly strengthens how banks interact with SMEs. Utilizing our proven technology, we’re facilitating banks to better serve SMEs in a dynamic economic landscape. Drawing inspiration from the B2C market, we’re empowering banks to elevate their service offerings for SMEs,” adds Dirk Kruse, CEO of SAP Fioneer.

*Business population estimates for the UK and regions 2022 (UK Government), Statista 2022

About SAP Fioneer

SAP Fioneer was launched in 2021 as a joint venture between global technology leader SAP and entrepreneurial investor Dediq to become the world’s leading provider of financial services software solutions and platforms.  With a broad ecosystem of partners, over 800 financial services customers and more than 1,000 employees, SAP Fioneer is a global business present in 17 countries across Europe, North and Latin America, Middle East and Asia-Pacific.

By combining the speed and agility of a start-up with the proven capabilities of a best-in-class software company, SAP Fioneer enables banks, insurance companies and challengers to run, transform and grow while meeting their need for speed, scalability, and cost-efficiency through digital business innovation, cloud technology, and solutions that cover banking and insurance processes end-to-end.

For more information, visit www.sapfioneer.com. Follow SAP Fioneer on Twitter and on LinkedIn.

Press enquiries:
[email protected]

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 1000826504