Retail News CRM

Tag: Alibaba Cloud

  • Alibaba Opens Brazil Data Centres to Target South American AI Demand

    Alibaba Opens Brazil Data Centres to Target South American AI Demand

    Alibaba Group launched new data centres in Brazil to provide artificial intelligence computing capacity across South America. The facility marks the Chinese tech conglomerate’s latest infrastructure push outside its domestic base.

    The investment brings Alibaba’s cloud division into direct competition with Western infrastructure providers across Latin America. Local enterprises and developers gain direct access to the group’s AI model deployment tools and cloud compute services without routing data through North American server hubs.

    Expanding Cloud Infrastructure Outside Asia

    Alibaba has focused its overseas cloud strategy on emerging markets where digital infrastructure demand outpaces local supply. While the group built its initial international presence across Southeast Asia and the Middle East, South America represents a fresh expansion corridor for its enterprise AI suite.

    Building local data centres cuts latency for enterprise clients in Brazil and neighbouring economies. It also satisfies regional data residency requirements, a critical hurdle for financial institutions, retailers, and public sector clients adopting generative AI software.

    Competition for Global AI Workloads

    For retailers and consumer platforms operating across Latin America, the facility adds capacity for real-time customer analytics, logistics routing, and automated recommendation engines. Chinese cross-border e-commerce platforms active in the region also rely on low-latency cloud infrastructure to process transactions and handle merchant inventory.

    The expansion tests whether Chinese cloud architectures can win market share in South America against entrenched US infrastructure operators. The next milestone will be client onboarding across regional enterprise accounts as the new server zones go live.

  • Lancôme uses Alibaba Cloud Technology for Chinese New Year promotion

    Lancôme uses Alibaba Cloud Technology for Chinese New Year promotion

    Lancôme has teamed up with Alibaba Cloud, the cloud computing arm of Alibaba Group, to launch its Chinese New Year campaign in Hong Kong. The partnership leverages Alibaba Cloud’s cutting-edge technologies and Lancôme’s bestin-class beauty offerings to bring consumers the warmest festive wishes with fun and engaging experiences.

    As a leader of the beauty industry and a pioneer in adopting technology-enabled customerengagement, Lancôme has worked with Alibaba Cloud to create an augmented reality (AR) game for customers.

    The game, alongside a Lancôme pop-up store in Harbour City, Hong Kong, enable customers to engage with an online and offline brand experience during the Chinese New Year anywhere in the city, at any time. Lucky consumers will be able to bring home limited edition Lancôme products and special gifts.

    “Lancôme is glad to partner with Alibaba Cloud to engage with our consumers in Hong Kong using the most advanced data technologies. One of the brand’s priority is to build ‘Beauty-tech’ leveraging the latest innovations to transform our campaign and offering our customers better interactive experiences. We are excited to see these technological advancements helping us to create a modern Chinese New Year with better understanding of the consumer behavior and eventually with great business uplift with high conversion,” said Lee Sue Jong, Brand General Manager, Lancôme Hong Kong.

    “We are excited to partner with Lancôme to foster the digital transformation of Hong Kong’s retail industry. Our technologies not only offer innovative ways of engaging consumers, but also help Lancôme better understand customers’ needs using data analytic tools,” said Leo Liu, General Manager of Alibaba Cloud Hong Kong, Macau and Korea.

    Lancôme will spread joy and good wishes across the city for the coming Year of the Pig with thehelp of Alibaba Cloud’s image search technology and cloud services. Consumers can participate in a Lancôme-branded AR game on their smartphones. Those who find and capture augmented reality images of Lancôme’s signature beauty product Genifiques on their smartphone will be invited to send their seasonal wishes for a chance to win a selection of prizes.

    Alibaba Cloud Image Search is an intelligent service based on machine and deep learning. It enables end-users to take a screenshot or upload an image to search for desired products and fulfill other search requests.

    Alibaba Cloud’s cloud-based technology is part of the Alibaba Operating System, a holistic onestop solution to accelerate the digital transformation for corporations. With strong cloud-computing capabilities, the infrastructure is able to deliver insights and analytics instrumental to better satisfying customer needs and growing their business. New Retail, a strategy that drives innovation around online and offline solutions, is a key interface through which businesses can tap into the Alibaba Operating System.

    The latest collaboration on Lancôme’s Chinese New Year campaign follows L’Oréal Group’s longstanding working relationship with Alibaba businesses across multiple platforms. The beauty company has continuously deepened its use of Alibaba’s ecosystem to meet and create new aspirations from consumers. In terms of grasping the benefits of New Retail, L’Oréal Group was an early adopter of merging online and offline during the 2018 11.11 Global Shopping Festival.

    Lees ook:

  • Alibaba Cloud to Work with Kenyan Ministry to Protect Wildlife

    Alibaba Cloud to Work with Kenyan Ministry to Protect Wildlife

    Alibaba Cloud, the cloud-computing arm of Alibaba Group, and the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife of the Republic of Kenya today agreed to explore a strategic collaboration to deploy Alibaba Cloud’s technology to support the Kenya Wildlife Protection Project. The first project under the collaboration in discussion will take place at a designated area inside the Tsavo East and West National Parks, one of Kenya’s oldest and largest protected area with over 13,500 square kilometres.

    Leveraging Alibaba Cloud’s powerful computing, artificial intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) capabilities; the project will work to protect the park’s endangered elephants, rhinoceroses and lions. “It is our great honour to support the Kenyan government and make a contribution to the country’s wildlife conservation efforts. The collaboration underscores the positive impact that technology, including cloud computing, AI and IoT, can have on the planet and on wildlife protection.” said Simon Hu, Senior Vice President of Alibaba Group and President of Alibaba Cloud. “We look forward to joining our global partners and stakeholders in improving the protection of Kenya’s wildlife and vital ecosystems through technology innovation.” “Wildlife is the main attraction to tourists visiting Kenya. Among the key species attractions are the elephant, rhino, giraffe, and buffalo among others.

    Currently, Kenya has a population of about 35,000 elephants, and about 42% of this population (12,843) elephants occur in the Tsavo ecosystem. In addition, the ecosystem also provide critical habitat for rhinos, giraffe and lions among other species. It is therefore important for the Government of Kenya to use technology to protect wildlife and their habitats in the Tsavo ecosystem”.

    As a country, we are indeed happy to embrace such technology from Alibaba Group to enhance our wildlife security and protection, said Dr. Margaret Mwakima, Principal Secretary from the Kenya’s Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife. Both parties will explore using a wide range of features connected to Alibaba Cloud’s IoT platform for the project. Animal tracking sensors, infra-red trap cameras, smart weather stations, ranger devices and wide-area drones are among the technologies that will be considered to be installed to collect real-time data of the movements and general health of the animals.

    The platform would then analyse the data and predict their behaviour and travel routes, alerting the command center about potential risks or dangers, such as illegal poaching and human-animal conflicts. This could help direct the deployment of ground teams to act more quickly and better manage the park. In addition, both parties will explore ways to combine the local operator’s GSM telecommunications network with government-licensed satellites to build the infrastructure, which could make data transmission more intelligent and less costly, achieving near real-time updates. Advanced hardware would be used as well, such as light-weight solar-powered trackers that are easier for the animals to wear.

    The project in Tsavo is only the first step in exploring the partnership between Alibaba Cloud and the Kenyan Government. The parties have agreed to explore the potential to expand the protection project to more parks across Kenya, and, ultimately, build a nationwide, digital ecological protection platform. Both parties will also explore cooperation in staff training and the development of educational-tourism opportunities in Kenya. This latest initiative follows the visit of Jack Ma to Africa earlier in 2018, as well as the company’s support of a fund to support entrepreneurs in the region.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Alibaba Cloud and OBS Unveil Innovative Cloud Solutions for the Olympic Games

    Alibaba Cloud and OBS Unveil Innovative Cloud Solutions for the Olympic Games

    Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) and Alibaba Cloud, the cloud computing arm of Alibaba Group, announced the launch of OBS Cloud, an innovative broadcasting solution that operates entirely on the cloud, to help transform the media industry for the digital era. Set to be in place for Tokyo 2020, the OBS Cloud aims to offer all the necessary cloud components, in specialized configurations, that can support the extremely demanding content production and delivery workflows of the broadcasting of the Olympic Games.

    Tokyo 2020 will be a game-changer for broadcasters as it showcases new possibilities for the industry by presenting solutions on the cloud. The use of cloud technologies has been gradually adopted for content creation and distribution purposes in broadcasting, however the extremely demanding requirements for volume, speed and latency that are inherent in live sports broadcasting of major events have kept the use of the cloud at a very low level, despite its multiple advantages. Apart from providing inherent flexibility and scalability, the use of the cloud may also help with the limited time frame that broadcasters have to set up, test and commission their on-premises systems. Traditionally, broadcasters of the Olympics have only been able to implement and test their equipment upon arrival at the International Broadcast Centre (IBC) in the host city, and the physical space dedicated to broadcasters on site has always been in high demand.

    As the host broadcaster, OBS can now provide most of the visual and audio assets of the Olympic Games to all Rights Holding Broadcasters (RHBs) through the new cloud platform efficiently, effectively and securely. Broadcasters can also set up their own content creation, management and distribution systems on OBS Cloud, a solution that has been optimized to address the particular needs of the most demanding live multi-sport workflows.

    The proprietary OBS Cloud leverages Alibaba Cloud’s services featuring best-in-class technology infrastructure to create an optimal media broadcasting environment for all RHBs of the Olympics. The OBS Cloud which will run on the most advanced Intel® Xeon® scalable processors, offers a suite of solutions including super computing capabilities, high-speed connectivity directly from the IBC, easily accessible cloud storage considering the demanding Olympic requirements, real-time monitoring, live video and audio broadcasting services and media processing.

    Also announced today was a partnership aimed at advancing the digital transformation of the Olympics and delivering volumetric content over the OBS Cloud for the first time at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. Intel, also an Olympic TOP Partner, will collaborate with Alibaba and OBS to explore a more efficient and reliable delivery pipeline of immersive media to RHBs worldwide that will improve the fan experience and bring them closer to the action via Intel’s volumetric and virtual reality technologies.

    Additionally, the live media service on OBS Cloud allows RHBs to experiment with new program ideas in a secure sandbox environment or conduct interactive event broadcasts, accelerating the digitization of the coverage during the Games.

    After the Games, RHBs will also have the flexibility to move their deployment home or keep the asset within the OBS Cloud for future Olympic events.

    “We are very pleased that Alibaba Cloud has come up with this innovative and powerful approach to Olympic broadcasting. As the host broadcaster of the Olympic Games, we at OBS see ourselves as a leader in transforming the media industry,” said Yiannis Exarchos, CEO of OBS. “Tokyo 2020 will be an opportunity for the International Olympic Committee to champion digital transformation in the media industry, as well as empowering broadcasters around the world with a cloud platform that delivers new possibilities for how the Games are enjoyed by fans around the world.” Joey Tan, General Manager of Global Strategic Accounts and Sports Business Unit, Alibaba Cloud said, “The future of the Olympic Games is in cloud technology and Alibaba Cloud is fully committed to contribute to the digital transformation of the Olympic Games through innovation. This partnership with OBS is an exciting initiative to expand the reach and accessibility of the Olympic Games content and ultimately stimulate a rethink on how the media industry operates in a digital era. We are excited to create a new standard in broadcasting and a more enjoyable experience for audiences around the world during Tokyo 2020.”

    Jay Sankar, CTO and Head of Product of Intel Sports, commented, “Sports fans today are seeking more immersive and engaging experiences. Intel’s partnership with Alibaba Cloud and OBS is aimed at delivering these ground-breaking experiences to Rights Holding Broadcasters and fans in a seamless, efficient manner over the OBS Cloud, powered by the most advanced Intel Xeon Scalable processors”.

    The partnership between Alibaba Group and the International Olympic Committee began in January 2017 when the two parties signed a long-term strategic agreement that will help transform the Olympic Games for the digital era. Alibaba is now serving as the official “Cloud Services” and “E-Commerce Platform Services” partner.

    Lees ook:

  • Alibaba Cloud boosts capacity of Hong Kong data center

    Alibaba Cloud boosts capacity of Hong Kong data center

    Alibaba Cloud has more than doubled the capacity of its data center in Hong Kong to help the company meet glowing demand for cloud services in Asia-Pacific.

    The expanded Hong Kong data center will be used to meet enterprises’ demand for high availability and data recovery and provide greater access to services such as data storage and analytics, enterprise-level middleware and cloud security services.

    The expansion forms part of Alibaba Cloud’s efforts to expand its global network coverage, and follows recent data center openings in Australia, Japan, Germany and the UAE.

    Alibaba Cloud said Hong Kong was selected due to its status as the gateway to China’s economy for international businesses and its region-leading role in terms of cloud adoption – the city scored the highest in the Asia Cloud Computing Association’s Cloud Readiness Index 2016.

    “Since our entry into Hong Kong in 2014, Alibaba Cloud has become one of the largest public cloud providers in the market in less than two years. More companies have come to realize the importance of changing their traditional IT mind-set to embrace the new data technology,” Alibaba Cloud Global general manager Ethan Yu said.

    “We are confident that the expanded data center facility, together with our scalable and secure cloud offering, will better meet the needs of the digital transformation in key local sectors such as hospitality and financial services.”

    Alibaba Cloud’s Hong Kong operations has customers in sectors including financial services, retail, hospitality and media. The company also recently launched anti-DDoS security products together with PCCW Global.

  • Alibaba Cloud to help boost Singapore’s digital economy

    Alibaba Cloud to help boost Singapore’s digital economy

    Alibaba Cloud the National University of Singapore (NUS), and EZ-Link, Singapore’s largest issuer of Contactless e-Purse Application (CEPAS) compliant cards, have teamed up to boost Singapore’s smart computing and data-driven capabilities.

    The three organizations have signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at bolstering the University’s data science curriculum and paving the way for a pilot data analytics project with EZ-Link.

    The collaboration is also aimed at helping build local IT skillsets, meet enterprise demands and support the research and development of advanced technologies in the big data era.

    Ethan Yu, Vice President of Alibaba Group and General Manager of Alibaba Cloud Global said, “Singapore has been a pioneer in fostering innovation and technological disruption in Asia, and we are proud to contribute to the nation’s development through our partnership with NUS and EZ-Link.

    By leveraging the expertise of academia, the government and enterprises, we intend to raise the bar in nurturing talent, business and communities to reach new frontiers of the digital economy.”

    Alibaba Cloud will contribute $500,000 in cloud credits towards the use of its cloud platform and data centres by students and researchers from NUS for academic and research purposes. IT experts from Alibaba Cloud will also offer hands-on lessons on the use of Alibaba Cloud’s platform for NUS staff and students.

    In addition, Alibaba Cloud and NUS will collaborate in the areas of cloud computing, big data analytics, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, quantum computing, and interactive digital media, as well as identifying opportunities for joint research projects and information exchange.

    “NUS contributes to Singapore’s vision of becoming a digital economy through our University’s strengths – creating value through fundamental and applied research, and training the next generation of digital talent,” NUS deputy president for research and technology  Professor Ho Teck Hua said.

    “By working with Alibaba Cloud, a global cloud leader, we can tap into its extensive ecosystem and technology capabilities for these efforts. The partnership with Alibaba Cloud and EZ-Link further demonstrates the close collaboration between academia and industry in solving real-world problems, and will help contribute towards a future, cashless Singapore.”

    Alibaba Cloud and NUS are currently working with EZ-Link to analyze card usage patterns across the EZ-Link card schemes, service touch points, and customer segments to improve customer experience and create better services via real-time insights.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Alibaba Cloud to open new data centers

    Alibaba Cloud to open new data centers

    Alibaba Cloud has announced plans to open four new data centers by the end of 2016 in the Middle East, Europe, Australia and Japan.

    The new centers are expected to boost its data center network to 14 locations, covering key economic centers around the world. The data center in the Middle East, located in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, commenced initial operations today.

    Alibaba Cloud’s expansion aims to provide customers in Asia and worldwide with improved latency and greater access to diverse offerings, including data storage and analytics services, enterprise-level middleware, and cloud security services. The new data centers are expected to support Alibaba Cloud’s growing client base beyond the current 2.3 million.

    Extending its global footprint in the Asia-Pacific, Alibaba Cloud will open a new data center in Sydney, Australia by the end of 2016.

    Alibaba Cloud will bring its most popular cloud services in data storage and processing services, enterprise-level middleware, and cloud security services to the Australian market. A dedicated team will be based in Australia, and build up a cloud ecosystem with local technology partners to drive cloud and big-data business in the region.

    The planned new Japan Data Center, hosted by SB Cloud Corporation, a joint venture between Softbank and Alibaba Group, will meanwhile provide Japanese enterprises with public cloud computing services from Alibaba Cloud.

    With the joint venture, Alibaba Cloud will further expand its cloud computing service platform by leveraging SoftBank’s extensive enterprise customer base in Japan.

    “Alibaba Cloud has contributed significantly to China’s technology advancement, establishing critical commerce infrastructure to enable cross-border businesses, online marketplaces, payments, logistics, cloud computing and big data to work together seamlessly,” Alibaba Cloud president Simon Hu said.

    “We want to establish cloud computing as the digital foundation for the new global economy using the opportunities of cloud computing to empower businesses of all sizes across all markets.”

    Lees ook:

  • Alibaba Cloud, IIPL to support Singapore startups

    Alibaba Cloud, IIPL to support Singapore startups

    Alibaba Cloud and Infocomm Investments (IIPL) have announced plans to collaborate to drive technology innovations in Singapore, built upon Alibaba Cloud’s support network and suite of cloud infrastructure services.

    The announcement was made at the Create@Alibaba Cloud Start-up Contest (CACSC).

    The collaboration will combine Infocomm Investments’ existing initiatives for local startups and technology innovations and Alibaba Cloud’s cloud computing resources.

    It will focus on extending sophisticated networking solutions and big data intelligence to a broader base of Singaporean start-ups under Alibaba Cloud’s first global startup program, Create@Alibaba Cloud.

    Alibaba Cloud will also pave way for start-ups in Singapore to leverage Alibaba Cloud’s ecosystem and to gain access to the China market as well as multiple business network resources and funding opportunities.

    In addition, the collaboration will foster innovative exchanges between Singapore and China’s startup ecosystems by inviting accelerators, incubators, and start-ups in Singapore to participate in startup activities in China and vice versa.

    This marks the start of a long term collaboration between both ecosystems to drive innovation, the companies said.

    “We are very proud to work with Infocomm Investments to build a more robust start-up ecosystem in Singapore,” said Sicheng Yu, vice president of Alibaba Group and general manager of Alibaba Cloud Global.

    “This underscores our on-going commitment to drive technology innovation in Singapore, as well as to support local start-ups in their business growth through our cloud capabilities and extensive support network in both local and global markets.”

    The Create@Alibaba Cloud Start-up Contest (CACSC), organized in partnership with Infocomm Investments, is Alibaba Cloud’s first ever global start-up competition, which is aimed at championing start-ups and maximizing their potential.

    Lees ook:

  • Alibaba Cloud launches IoT platform

    Alibaba Cloud launches IoT platform

    Alibaba Cloud has unveiled a series of new products aimed at expanding its IoT, hybrid cloud, storage and security capabilities.

    At its Shenzhen Summit last week, Alibaba Cloud launched version 1.0 of IoT, its one-stop platform for IoT and cloud computing. The service will provide infrastructure for IoT deployments in areas including medical, energy, smart home and intelligent campus networks.

    IoT Version 1.0 combines an IoT foundation kit, an intelligence dissemination platform and smart device and ecosystem functionality. It is compatible with a range of protocols to allow devices to connect quickly to the cloud and other devices.

    At the event, Alibaba Cloud also launched Apsara Stack, a dedicated cloud platform for hybrid clouds. Apsara Stack can be used to obtain public cloud capabilities in a fully-isolated environment within an enterprise data center.

    For enterprise level database and storage needs, the company unveiled a number of services including data migration, storage engines, access protocols and usage models.

    The company also introduced a concept it calls “light computing”, involving providing a cloud storage application interface that allows users to create “instant-on”data processing applications or modules.

    Finally, Alibaba Cloud revealed it has upgraded its AliCloud CDN to support HTTPS encrypted communication, certificate authority services and other enterprise-class security services.