Telia Carrier announced today that the Telecom Infra Project (TIP) and Facebook completed a successful trial of 100G and 200G using Voyager gear on its 1,089km Stockholm to Hamburg route, leveraging technology developed by Coriant, a global supplier of SDN-enabled end-to-end packet optical networking and DCI solutions. Significantly, this demonstrates that 16QAM signalling works effectively over long distances. To help make the world more open and to connect the unconnected, Facebook has contributed Voyager, the industry´s first “white box” transponder and routing solution that will be made available to those in the Telecom Infra Project (TIP). TIP’s mission of reimagining the traditional approach to building and deploying telecom network infrastructure aligns with Telia Carrier’s “Carrier Declarations”, as the company continues to challenge everything, grow its own network organically and be at the forefront of innovation.

Today the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ordered Nationstar Mortgage LLC to pay a $1.75 million civil penalty for violating the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA). HMDA consistently failed to report accurate data about mortgage transactions for 2012 through 2014.

Today’s action is the largest HMDA civil penalty imposed by the Bureau to date, which stems from Nationstar’s market size, the substantial magnitude of its errors, and its history of previous violations. In fact, Nationstar had been on notice since 2011 of HMDA compliance problems. In addition to paying the civil penalty, Nationstar must take the necessary steps this time to improve its compliance management and prevent future violations. 

“Financial institutions that violate the law repeatedly and substantially are not making serious enough efforts to report accurate information,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. “Today we are sending a strong reminder that HMDA serves important purposes for many stakeholders in the mortgage market, and those required to report this information must make more careful efforts to follow the law.”

Nationstar, a nationwide nonbank mortgage lender headquartered in Coppell, Texas, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nationstar Mortgage Holdings Inc. With nearly 3 million customers, Nationstar Mortgage Holdings is a major participant in the mortgage servicing and origination markets. The company and its subsidiaries earn fees through servicing, origination, and other real estate-based services. According to 2014 data, Nationstar was the ninth-largest HMDA reporter by total mortgage originations, the sixth largest by applications received, and the 13th largest by money lent. From 2010 to 2014, Nationstar’s number of HMDA mortgage loans increased by nearly 900 percent. 

The Home Mortgage Disclosure Act of 1975 requires many mortgage lenders to collect and report data about their mortgage lending to appropriate federal agencies and make it available to the public. Federal regulators, enforcement agencies, community organizations, and state and local agencies can use the information to monitor whether financial institutions are serving housing needs in their communities. It also helps direct public-sector investment to attract private investment to areas where it is needed.

Today Alation Inc., the collaborative data company together with Trifacta, the global leader in data wrangling, announced the extension of their partnership. The cooperation aims to deliver an integrated solution for self-service data discovery and preparation that are extremely required elements of modern analytics platforms.

The unified solution leverages deep integration between the two products to drive a seamless experience for the data analyst, no matter which application they start from. Analysts can start to work with data from either the Alation Data Catalog or Trifacta Wrangler Enterprise. No matter where they begin their experience, whether it starts with data discovery or with data preparation, users can access data catalog and data wrangling features within a single interface. The integration tames self-service analytic chaos by providing analysts with a choice of where to start the iterative process of preparing data for self-service analysis.

 “Organizations are embracing self-service analytics but struggle with the distributed nature of self-service analytic projects. Analysts need the tools that allow them to work productively and in a more collaborative manner with data experts – from finding, understanding and trusting their data, to preparing that data for analysis,” said Satyen Sangani, CEO, Alation. “Our partnership with Trifacta enables analysts to accomplish all of that within a single solution across databases and Hadoop – making their work much more efficient.”

 “As the new analytics stack comes into focus, it is critical that best-of-breed products seamlessly work together. To do so, organizations must openly share metadata across applications and users to ensure they can effectively utilize and govern their information,” said Adam Wilson, CEO, Trifacta. “Through our partnership with Alation, we are providing analysts with a seamlessly integrated solution for data wrangling and cataloging that meets the requirements of modern self-service analytics.”

Many enterprises already understand that a productive self-service analytics organization requires more than business intelligence (BI) and analytics tools, including joint Alation and Trifacta customers’ eBay, MarketShare and Munich Re. Analysts must have a deep and wide understanding of the complete lineage of data. They must be able to discover, wrangle, and trust their data to achieve the benefits of self-service analytics.

Today BillingTree unveils that major Community Association software provider, TOPS Software LLC, has partnered to offer integrated Merchant Services and Payrazr Marketplace solutions interfaced via API to its software applications. The new partnership extends a flexible range of card not present (CNP) payment options to TOPS clients and their members, helping streamline and maximize the return of community payments and dues. 

The Payrazr solution suite offers Condos and Homeowners Associations (HOAs) utilizing TOPS Software multiple payment channels (above traditional mailed check acceptance) including online portals and Interactive Voice Response (IVR); with the ability to accept payment by card and e-check/ ACH. These 24/7 self-serve solutions supply residents with more convenient means to securely settle their maintenance and service balances, or set up recurring payments to help avoid late payments. Both offerings include validation of account data and balances along with payment acceptance - freeing staff to focus on other service issues. The integration is estimated to be fully tested and ready for live TOPS clients to begin using in Q3 2017.

"TOPS Software is pleased to be able to present Billing Tree's payment solutions as an option for our community association management clients," said David Black, Director of Partner Relations for TOPS Software. "Collections is a challenge our clients regularly struggle with, and secure, compliant merchant services is an integral part of solving that challenge."

"We are delighted to partner with community association management industry leader TOPS, extending the reach of the Payrazr Marketplace and BillingTree Merchant Services," said Greg Mallin, Business Development Consultant, at BillingTree. "The flexibility and range of options BillingTree and Payrazr Marketplace solutions provide creates more ways for HOA members to resolve community balances; allowing TOPS customers to better manage their payment operations so their customers are happier and their HOAs can drive further revenue."

According to recent analysis of the uninterruptible power supply (UPS) system market, Frost & Sullivan recognizes Vertiv, formerly Emerson Network Power, with the 2017 EMEA Frost & Sullivan Award for Product Leadership.

Vertiv has consistently been mentioned among the top-three global UPS participants because of the exceptional success of its advanced UPS technologies. Its cutting-edge products are perfectly aligned with evolving customer requirements, and boast industry-leading design and scalability. A case in point is the highly innovative Liebert® Trinergy™ Cube UPS, the first static UPS capable of hot-scaling up to 3.4 MW in a single unit, and up to 27 MW when connected in parallel. This power capacity could previously be achieved only by rotary UPS solutions.

A single Liebert® Trinergy Cube solution combines three standard modes of operation and employs an adaptive algorithm based on the quality of the mains to arrive at the best energy-saving mode of operation. In 2016, the company announced enhancements to the Liebert Trinergy Cube UPS, including 200 kW and 400 kW power cores (modules), which increase the product's flexibility and adaptability to diverse power density requirements. It also offers best-in-class average operational efficiency of 98.5 percent using the Trinergy Control, without compromising the seamless protection of the double conversion technology.

Vertiv's AC power UPS portfolio encompasses power ranges from 500 VA to 3.4 MW in a single unit, and provides offline, line-interactive, and online double conversion technologies. Each of its product categories caters to numerous end-user verticals, including niche light industrial applications such as transportation, utility support, healthcare, and industrial processes.

"The company's technology excellence is complemented by its brilliant product positioning and pricing strategy," said Frost & Sullivan Senior Industry Analyst Gautham Gnanajothi. "Over the last year, it launched products with different price points and features, aimed at enhancing efficiency, scalability, power density, and usability.

Tchapper represents a new mobile messaging app, which enables intelligent privacy filters. Today the company has announced the launch of a new kind of privacy feature that allows intimate messages to be delivered simply by shaking your iPhone or Android device. Messages can be deleted by both sender and receiver, or stored in a private messaging cloud. The Tchapper app can also send “flash messages” that disappear after 20 seconds. Tchapper also has privacy features on iMessage, and plans to deliver privacy features on additional messaging platforms, including WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Skype.

Tchapper’s patent-pending technology enables users to encode their messages by shaking their device, so that no one else can see their messages or notifications. Shaking the device, or using the fingerprint sensor, to read direct messages or private messages within a group, can decode messages. Tchapper is currently available in English and French in beta version, with more than 150,000 users, and will soon be available in more than 10 languages.

Developed by Daniele Amsellem, the Tchapper app delivers a new kind of privacy channel for mobile users without restricting them to a single privacy app. Now, all conversations on mobile messaging can be made private with Tchapper, providing greater levels of communication control. The Tchapper interface also creates a new paradigm for messaging, with circles representing communication.

“Our idea was to clearly get privacy right, on the mobile device, and not only on your server, for the first time. Tchapper enables coded messages to be created and stored on your device only, using a filter,” said Daniele Amsellem, founder of Tchapper, and one of a growing number of French female entrepreneurs. “While Facebook Messenger, Kik, or WhatsApp are considering security to compete against Telegram, they completely miss the social privacy needs which begins around us: in the bus, at home, at the office. We have gamified mobile privacy with Tchapper, enabling users to taking control of their interface. Thus, no need to turn your phone around during a meeting, a dinner, or a party. We think that more people will want to ‘shake’ their messages to make them private.”

Prysm, Inc., a leader provider of cloud-based, digital-canvas solutions, today announced it has completed the acquisition of Kaybus, Inc., a leader in secure, cloud-based Knowledge Automation software for enterprises, securing additional enterprise-grade enhancements for Prysm Application Suite.

Integration of the Kaybus development team and technology into Prysm Application Suite is already underway. A wide range of mission-critical enhancements from the acquisition are expected to benefit end users and application administrators across four key areas:

·         Security enhancements - New configuration options and flexible tools for administrators will help ensure adherence to strict enterprise security standards

·         Enhanced language flexibility - New user interfaces and documentation in local languages will encourage adoption among end users during global implementations

·         Robust search functionality - Enhanced search enables specific content searches across Prysm projects and workspaces, using criteria filters to quickly find data and information

·         Enterprise-grade and secure single sign-on – Streamlined approach saves administration time as users leverage sign-on without sacrificing security

The Kaybus acquisition accelerates Prysm’s ability to bring innovative capabilities to market, and new functionality from this acquisition is expected to begin to appear in Prysm Application Suite starting in Q3 of 2017.

“We are very pleased to announce that both the Kaybus technology and the entire Kaybus team are now joining the Prysm family,” said Amit Jain, CEO of Prysm. “The enterprise-grade quality that our customers have come to expect from us will be further enhanced by this acquisition, and we are working quickly to incorporate the many advantages that Kaybus brings to Prysm Application Suite.”

“This is a strategic technology acquisition for Prysm,” explained Ira M. Weinstein, senior analyst and partner at Wainhouse Research. “The Prysm environment excels at helping users create and collaborate across various types of content, and integrating the Kaybus technology into its portfolio will make that content searchable, more easily accessible, and more valuable to Prysm customers.”

Genpact, a global professional services firm delivering digital transformation for clients, acquires Rage Frameworks, a leader in knowledge-based automation technology and services providing Artificial Intelligence (AI) for the Enterprise. 

As part of its strategy to drive both digital-led innovation and digital-enabled intelligent operations for its clients, Genpact is investing in leading technologies, such as AI, that are transforming the way companies in many industries compete. The acquisition of Rage Frameworks advances this strategy, extending the frontier of AI for the enterprise. Genpact will embed Rage’s AI in business operations and apply it to complex enterprise issues to allow clients to generate insights and drive decisions and action, at a scale and speed that humans alone could not achieve. 

“As advanced technologies such as AI fundamentally change the definition of work, the ability for CXOs to find and leverage new solutions that combine the best elements of human expertise and machine intelligence, will be critical to their ability to gain and sustain competitive advantage,” said NV ‘Tiger’ Tyagarajan, president and CEO, Genpact. “In this time of unprecedented change, clients are looking for a different kind of partner – one that is able to combine the latest technological advances and real-world domain expertise with a deep understanding of their business to create meaningful transformation. The addition of Rage enhances our ability to do that and to drive digital-led innovation at scale.”

Rage provides a leading AI platform in cognitive computing that enables large enterprises across industries to leverage advanced AI techniques and simplify automation challenges. Clients use this platform to derive unprecedented real-time insight for a range of mission-critical functions, including automatically reading and extracting data and insights from balance sheets and other financial data, contracts, news, and business reports. They are also leveraging Rage’s solutions for front desk automation, real-time intelligence, and pricing – transforming how commercial lending, policy underwriting, financial statement analysis, investment research, and multi-system reconciliation can be performed.  As a result, clients can address customer needs and market dynamics, manage risk better, differentiate their offerings, and achieve topline growth using AI technologies.