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St. Patrick's Day weekend is here! What are you gonna do this weekend? Where are you gonna go?, Where's the fun going to be? So stop fiddling with your blarney stone and let's see who is playing where tonight.
Harnessing the power of AI, Microsoft 365 Copilot turns your words into the most powerful productivity tool on the planet SINGAPORE, March 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Microsoft today announced it is bringing the power of next-generation AI to its workplace productivity tools with Microsoft 365 Copilot. Currently in testing with select commercial customers, Copilot combines the power of large language models (LLMs) with business data and the Microsoft 365 apps, to unleash creativity, unlock productivity and uplevel skills. Customers will experience Microsoft 365 Copilot in two ways Microsoft 365 Copilot isn't just a better way of doing the same things. It's an entirely new way of working. Copilot will work alongside Microsoft 365 customers in two ways: First, it is embedded in the Microsoft 365 apps people use every day - Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams and more. The company also announced an entirely new experience: Business Chat. Business Chat works across the LLM, the Microsoft 365 apps, and a customer's calendar, emails, chats, documents, meetings and contacts to do things that people weren't able to do before. With natural language prompts like "tell my team how we updated the product strategy," Business Chat will generate a status update based on the morning's meetings, emails and chat threads. With Copilot, the customer is always in control. Customers decide what to keep, modify or discard. With these new tools, people can be more creative in Word, more analytical in Excel, more expressive in PowerPoint, more productive in Outlook and more collaborative in Teams. "Copilot combines the power of large language models with your data and apps to turn your words into the most powerful productivity tool on the planet," said Jared Spataro, corporate vice president, Modern Work and Business Applications, Microsoft. "By grounding in your business content and context, Copilot delivers results that are relevant and actionable. It's enterprise-ready, built on Microsoft's comprehensive approach to security, compliance, privacy and responsible AI. Copilot marks a new era of computing that will fundamentally transform the way we work." A whole new way to work Microsoft 365 Copilot is seamlessly integrated in the apps people use every day, helping them stay in the flow of work and freeing them to focus more on the task at hand and less on the busy work. Copilot in Wordwrites, edits, summarizes and creates right alongside people as they work. Copilot in PowerPointenables the creation process by turning ideas into a designed presentation through natural language commands. Copilot in Excelhelps unlock insights, identify trends or create professional-looking data visualizations in a fraction of the time. Copilot in Outlookcan help synthesize and manage the inbox to allow more time to be spent on actually communicating. Copilot in Teamsmakes meetings more productive with real-time summaries and action items directly in the context of the conversation. Copilot in Power Platform will help developers of all skill levels accelerate and streamline development with low-code tools with the introduction of two new capabilities within Power Apps and Power Virtual Agents. Business Chat brings together data from across documents, presentations, email, calendar, notes and contacts to help summarize chats, write emails, find key dates or even write a plan based on other project files. Microsoft has built Microsoft 365 Copilot with its existing commitments to data security and privacy in the enterprise, grounded in AI principlesand Responsible AI Standardand decades of research. Copilot's large language models are not trained on customer content or on individual prompts. Microsoft 365 Copilot will deliver enterprise-ready AI at scale. Earlier this month Microsoft announced Dynamics 365 Copilot as the world's first AI Copilot in both CRM and ERP to bring the next-generation AI to every line of business.And now, Copilot is coming to all Microsoft productivity apps - Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, Microsoft Viva, Power Platform and more. Specifics on pricing and licensing will be shared soon. Microsoft 365 Copilot is already being tested with a small group of customers to get the critical feedback required to improve these models as they scale. Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT" @microsoft) enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Note to editors:For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center athttp://news.microsoft.com. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft's Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed athttps://news.microsoft.com/microsoft-public-relations-contacts.
DENPASAR, Indonesia, March 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Ritz -Carlton, Bali is delighted to announce the appointment of Subin Dharman as the new General Manager. Subin brings more than 20 years of illustrious experience in the hospitality industry to guide and nurture the five-star property in Nusa Dua. Subin Dharman - General Manager of The Ritz-Carlton, Bali Subin first started his hospitality journey in the F&B industry as the F&B Supervisor of Sheraton Schiphol, Netherlands. Over the years, he steadily grew and gained prestigious stints in pivotal positions, such as the Director of Food & Beverage at Hotel Missoni in Kuwait, the Executive Assistant Manager of F&B at The Ritz-Carlton Doha in Qatar and The Ritz-Carlton St. Thomas in the United States. In July 2017, Subin's career expanded beyond F&B as he was appointed Hotel Manager at The Ritz-Carlton Jakarta, Mega Kuningan. Less than two years later, he was announced the General Manager of The Ritz-Carlton Jakarta, Pacific Place, where his hands-on approach led the hotel to achieve the Gold Standard of Hospitality for guests' and employees' satisfaction. During his leadership at The Ritz-Carlton Jakarta, Pacific Place, the property was also awarded Best Hotel for Business Travelers in Asia Pacific by CNBC International in 2022. Prior to joining The Ritz-Carlton, Bali, Subin also gained coveted achievements, including being named APEC Luxury GM of the Year in 2022, and appointed Co-Chair for Marriott Business Council in Indonesia. Subin's passion for the hotel industry is rooted in the dynamic nature of the job, including the opportunity to travel and see the world, as well as learning from meeting and interacting with different people from around the world. As a General Manager, Subin is thrilled to inspire and bring out the best in his team. "It is an honor to be at the helm of this exceptional property. Ladies and gentlemen at The Ritz-Carlton, Bali will continue to present the timeless charms of Indonesian hospitality and especially the warm welcome that Bali has to offer." says Subin. "I am excited to commence my new endeavor at this property and I look forward to working together with my team to write a new chapter, as well as showing new and long-time guests what makes The Ritz-Carlton, Bali special." As a husband and father, off the clock, Subin enjoys spending time with his wife and two children. He also has a penchant for fitness training for both physical and mental health, as well as traveling and reading in his spare time. ABOUT THE RITZ-CARLTON, BALI. Built on a sprawling 12.7 hectares white beach front and elevated cliff top settings, The Ritz-Carlton, Bali feature 313 oceanfront suites and villas, enjoying the unobstructed view of the Indian Ocean and the resort's lush garden. Completing the experiences, a glass elevator connects the cliff and the beach-front, five restaurants and bars, The Ritz-Carlton Ballroom and meeting facilities, a wedding chapel, as well as The Ritz-Carlton Spa. Ladies and gentlemen at The Ritz-Carlton, Bali is proudly presents the timeless charms of Indo-Balinese hospitality. ABOUT THE RITZ-CARLTON HOTEL COMPANY, L.L.C. The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C. of Chevy Chase, Md., currently operates 88 hotels in the Americas, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and the Caribbean. More than 30 hotel and residential projects are under development around the globe. The Ritz-Carlton is the only service company to have twice earned the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, which recognizes outstanding customer service. For more information, or reservations, contact a travel professional, call toll free in the U.S. 1-800-241-3333, or visit the company web site at www.ritzcarlton.com. The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Marriott International, Inc. (NASDAQ: MAR)
SINGAPORE, March 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Akamai Technologies, Inc.(NASDAQ: AKAM), the cloud company that powers and protects life online, revealed that Akamai mitigated the largestDDoS attackever launched against a customer based in Asia. In a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, an attacker overwhelms its target with unwanted internet traffic so that normal traffic cannot reach its intended destination. Fig. 1: The attack was intense and short-lived, and was fully pre-mitigated On February 23, 2023, Akamai mitigated the attack which recorded traffic peaking at 900.1gigabits per second and 158.2 million packets per second. The attack was intense and short-lived, with most attack traffic bursting during the peak minute of the attack. Traffic patterns returned to normal after only a few minutes (Figure 1). The attack was distributed across Akamai's scrubbing network, with all 26 of Akamai'sfleet of scrubbing centerswitnessing some amount of attack traffic. However, this was most heavily sourced from APAC (Figure 2), with the top locations being Hong Kong, Tokyo, Sao Paulo, Singapore, and Osaka, and forty-eight percent of traffic in-region. Mitigation strategy To thwart the attack and safeguard the customer,Akamai Prolexic, a cloud-based DDoS scrubbing platform, was deployed to pre-mitigate the assault. The dedicated defense platform, that scales to several times the size of the largest publicly reported attacks, was deployed after an optimized DDoS incident response plan was launched by frontline responders. Over 225 frontline responders across six global locations with decades of expertise mitigating the most sophisticated attacks for the world's largest, most-demanding organizations, were involved to stop the attack. As a result of the proactive defense posture, there was no collateral damage for the customer. "The recent DDoS attack that Akamai mitigated in Asia serves as an important reminder that DDoS continues to be a pervasive threat that organizations here need to pay attention to. DDoS attacks continue to ramp up in the region because virtually every business is an online business today," explained Parimal Pandya, Managing Director, Asia Pacific and Japan, Akamai. "Customer experiences online are negatively impacted when a DDoS attack renders a site inaccessible, and connection is compromised. This inaccessibility jeopardizes consumer trust, and consistent disruptions will see them turning to alternative avenues instead," continued Pandya. Guidance on minimizing DDoS risk In the wake of heightened operational risk, having a proven DDoS mitigation strategy is imperative for online businesses to thrive. To stay ahead of the latest threats, Akamai recommends the following: Immediately review and implement cybersecurity recommendations and guidelines by the local government Review critical subnets and IP spaces and ensure that they have mitigation controls in place Deploy DDoS security controls in an always-on mitigation posture as a first layer of defense to avoid an emergency integration scenario and to reduce the burden on incident responders. Organizations without a trusted and proven cloud-based provider are advised to start their search for one. Proactively pull together a crisis response team and ensure incident response plans are up-to-date, including go-to contacts, and a runbook is available to provide guidance on procedures and operations that needs to be carried out in the event of a cyberattack. "DDoS attacks have increased consistently in APAC, both in size and frequency, over the past couple of years and have become a serious threat to business growth and stability. As organizations across all verticals conduct their business online, attackers seek to disrupt and degrade customer experience and the reputation of these businesses for financial gain," said Dean Houari, Director of Security Technology and Strategy, Asia Pacific and Japan, Akamai. "Specifically, cybercriminals continue to deploy DDoS as part of multi-faceted attacks to divert customer attention from data breaches and ransomware, or to coerce ransom payments. Thus, it is critical that organizations adopt the right DDoS security solution to detect and mitigate attacks at scale, while having the right teams to monitor such attacks, as suggested in the guidance on minimizing DDoS risks," he concluded. About Akamai Akamai powers and protects life online. Leading companies worldwide choose Akamai to build, deliver, and secure their digital experiences - helping billions of people live, work, and play every day. With the world's most distributed compute platform - from cloud to edge - we make it easy for customers to develop and run applications, while we keep experiences closer to users and threats farther away. Learn more about Akamai's security, compute, and delivery solutions atakamai.comand akamai.com/blog, or follow Akamai Technologies onTwitterand LinkedIn. Fig. 2: The attack was distributed across Akamai's scrubbing network, but was most heavily sourced from APAC
Joint venture company acquiring a total of 136 MW of wind assets from US-based GlidePath Power Solutions LLC Strong growth US platform leveraging the combined expertise of ACEN and its partners: Pivot Power Management and UPC Solar & Wind Investments Will generate approximately 360 GWh of wind energy per year, enough to power around 24,000 households and avoid ~127,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions MANILA, Philippines and AUSTIN, Texas, March 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- ACEN, the listed energy platform of the Ayala group, through its joint-venture company, UPC Power Solutions LLC, signed a Purchase and Sale Agreement with GlidePath for the acquisition of a portfolio of eight operating wind projects located in northern Texas, USA. The latest milestone marks ACEN's anticipated entry to the fast-growing US renewables market as it expands its geographic footprint beyond the Asia Pacific region. Announced in April 2022, ACEN, through its subsidiary ACEN USA LLC, formed a strategic partnership with Pivot Power Management (PivotGen) and UPC Solar & Wind Investments LLC to pursue opportunities to acquire operating wind projects in the US, and explore strategies for extending their useful life through preventative maintenance and repowering.The partners share the same vision of building a sustainable energy future with the aim to maximize economic impact while providing environmental benefits for all stakeholders. Patrice Clausse, CEO of ACEN International, said: "We've long set our sights on the US as our next market following our sustained success in the Asia Pacific. We are committed to enact the accelerated green energy transition globally, and these new partnerships ensure that ACEN is well-placed to harness the vast opportunities in the US renewables space." Tim Rosenzweig, CEO, and co-founder of PivotGen, said: "We are excited to announce this acquisition. We look forward to successfully repowering the portfolio so that these projects can continue to deliver clean, renewable power and provide jobs and economic opportunity in local communities." This sale will be subject to regulatory approvals including the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), an independent agency that regulates the interstate transmission of electricity, natural gas, and oil. Related news: ACEN enters partnership to repower wind farms in the US About ACEN ACEN (PSE:ACEN) is the listed energy platform of the Ayala Group. The company has ~4,000 MW of attributable capacity from owned facilities in the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, India, and Australia, with a renewable share of 98%, which is among the highest in the region. ACEN's aspiration is to be the largest listed renewables platform in Southeast Asia, with a goal of reaching 20 GW of renewables capacity by 2030. ACEN is committed to transition the company's generation portfolio to 100% renewable energy by 2025 and to become a Net Zero greenhouse gas emissions company by 2050. www.acenrenewables.com About PivotGen PivotGen (Pivot Power Management, LLC), is a developer of wind and solar energy projects throughout the United States. With a focus on creative problem solving, PivotGen develops new energy generation projects and engineers solutions to refurbish and give new life to older projects. Our team shares a commitment to achieving a sustainable energy future and we are dedicated to maximizing economic impact and environmental benefit for our partners and the communities we work in. https://pivotgen.com DISCLAIMER: This disclosure may contain forward-looking statements that are subject to risk factors and opportunities that may affect ACEN's plans to complete the transaction/s subject of this disclosure. Each forward-looking statement is made only as of the date of this disclosure. Outcomes of the subject transaction may differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements included in this disclosure.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, March 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ --Corporate Comms Connect conference, which took place in Kuala Lumpur from 22 to 23 February, has come to a successful end. Participants of the Corporate Comms Connect conference gathered for a group photo session. Around 150 corporate communication experts and practitioners gathered to discuss every spectrum of corporate communications which has been extremely challenged by digitalization and social unrest. The local event was the first to bring the corporate communication industry together, face-to-face to redefine corporate communication practices in parallel with the communications revolution. It was outstanding to see the mixture of communication leaders from various backgrounds and industries coming together to explore the potential of impactful communication in empowering their organizations. "Corporate communication is a strategic approach to align your business objectives with your communication goals. It's not just about disseminating information, but it's about engaging with your stakeholders in a meaningful and transparent manner" said Y.A.M. Tunku Naquiyuddin ibni Almarhum Tunku Ja'afar, Chairman of Antah Healthcare Group, upon delivering his opening speech and officiating the Corporate Comms Connect conference. The conference has brought together the best and brightest in the corporate communication industry to share their valuable experience and knowledge with the attendees. A total of 15 speakers were featured through 10 insightful keynote speeches and panel discussions where current issues revolving around ESG, CSR, Digital Age Crisis, Fake News, Internal Communications, Future Reporting, DEI, Social Unrest, and Metaverse were thoroughly explained and discussed. Attendees were taking this opportunity to connect with industry leaders and peers to share ideas and build relationships. "Our goal is to provide a platform for communication professionals to connect, learn from each other, and gain valuable insights that they can apply in their organizations.", said Harjit Singh, Managing Director of Interadigm Sdn. Bhd. PR Newswire is the Official Media Partner of Corporate Comms Connect 2023. About Interadigm Interadigm Sdn. Bhd. is a subsidiary of Syarikat Pesaka Antah under the spearhead of Y.A.M Tunku Naquiyuddin Ibni Almarhum Tuanku Ja'afar. Holding more than 12 years of experience in the industry as an HRDCorp registered training provider incorporated by the Ministry of Human Resources, Interadigm offers a high calibre of commitment, quality, and expertise to specialize in conferences, seminars, workshops, and training courses We provide services that are highly focused on top-notch, up-to-date technical and soft skill training and these courses are available around Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa. Founded in early 2010, Interadigm has reached out and established close working relationships across a wide network of international companies, this is inclusive of organizations established as Fortune 500 Corporations. The company is committed to delivering high-quality services and ensuring customer satisfaction by providing customized solutions that meet their needs. For more information on Interadigm Sdn. Bhd., log on to www.interadigm.com