Collaboration aims to enhance development and adoption of real-time, AI-driven solutions in dynamic Korean market

SingleStore, the leading data platform renowned for its real-time capabilities, joins forces with Agile Platform to introduce advanced AI-driven solutions to the Korean market. This exclusive partnership aims to leverage SingleStore's innovative data platform to meet the evolving needs of Korean businesses, particularly in the realm of real-time processing and analytics.

1. Real-Time Data Solutions for Korean Market:

   • SingleStore's real-time data platform is tailored for modern applications, analytics, and AI, catering to the burgeoning needs of Korean businesses.
   • Agile Platform, a data-specialized firm with a strong foothold in the Korean market, collaborates with SingleStore to deliver real-time processing, analysis, and visualization solutions.

2. Strategic Partnership for Market Expansion:

   • Agile Platform, boasting deep market understanding and technical expertise, serves as an ideal partner to facilitate SingleStore's expansion in the APAC region, particularly in Korea.
   • The collaboration aims to enhance SingleStore's market presence and provide Korean businesses access to scalable, powerful data solutions.

3. Adoption by Leading Korean Companies:

   • SingleStore has already garnered significant traction in Korea, with leading companies such as Kakao, POSCO, LG Innotek, and SK Telecom among its esteemed customers.
   • These industry leaders have embraced SingleStore's comprehensive data platform for various use cases, highlighting its relevance and efficacy in the Korean market.

4. Opportunities in Korea's AI Landscape:

   • Korea's commitment to AI innovation, evidenced by substantial investments and a strong patent portfolio, underscores the potential for AI-driven technologies in the market.
   • SingleStore's advanced data platform, coupled with Agile Platform's expertise, presents an unparalleled opportunity to accelerate AI adoption and enhance analytical capabilities in Korean enterprises.

5. Leading Innovation in Generative AI:

   • SingleStore has been at the forefront of innovation in generative AI, garnering recognition as the top-ranked vector database provider in 2024.
   • The partnership with Agile Platform further solidifies SingleStore's position as a pioneer in AI-driven data solutions, poised to revolutionize Korean businesses' data strategies.

The collaboration between SingleStore and Agile Platform signifies a significant advancement in delivering cutting-edge data solutions to Korean businesses. With a focus on real-time processing, analytics, and AI-driven insights, this partnership aims to empower Korean enterprises to navigate the evolving data landscape with agility and efficiency.

Clearspan, a leading cloud communications and collaboration technology provider, today announced the appointment of Jim Machi as Chief Marketing Officer.

Clearspan, a prominent player in cloud communications and collaboration solutions, welcomes Jim Machi as its new Chief Marketing Officer. Machi's extensive background in technology and telecommunications marketing positions him as a strategic asset to drive product innovation and market presence for Clearspan.

1. Rich Experience in Technology and Telecommunications: Jim Machi brings over three decades of experience in product, strategy, and marketing in the technology and telecommunications sector. His tenure includes notable roles at AT&T, Dialogic, Intel, and Sangoma, where he served as Chief Product and Marketing Officer.

2. Strategic Responsibilities: In his role as Chief Marketing Officer, Machi will oversee product management, strategy, engineering, and marketing functions at Clearspan. He will be instrumental in shaping the company's product roadmap, executing growth strategies, and enhancing market presence.

3. Focus on Innovation and Growth: Clearspan's appointment of Machi underscores its commitment to innovation and growth. With a focus on delivering cutting-edge solutions for service providers, enterprises, governments, and educational institutions, Machi's leadership will drive the company's mission-critical initiatives forward.

4. Market Expansion: Machi's expertise in both marketing and product development aligns with Clearspan's goal of expanding its market presence. The company aims to leverage Machi's insights to evolve beyond Unified Communications (UC/UCaaS) and explore new avenues of growth in the dynamic communications industry.

5. Vision for Future Collaboration: Machi emphasizes the importance of multi-modal communication beyond voice, including SMS, social media, and collaboration tools. He envisions leveraging AI to enhance productivity and anticipates contributing to Clearspan's innovative UCaaS platform to meet future market demands.

The appointment of Jim Machi as Chief Marketing Officer marks a significant milestone for Clearspan as it embarks on a journey of innovation and market expansion. With Machi's wealth of experience and strategic vision, Clearspan is poised to strengthen its position as a leader in cloud communications and collaboration technology, driving transformative solutions for its diverse clientele.

IDnow unveils VideoIdent Flex, a pioneering advancement in identity verification, blending AI technology with human expertise to address the evolving challenges of fraud prevention, compliance, and inclusivity in digital identity verification. Designed for the UK market, VideoIdent Flex offers a high-quality, human-led video verification solution tailored to meet stringent regulatory requirements while delivering a seamless customer experience.

1. Human-AI Collaboration: VideoIdent Flex combines live video verification with trained verification experts, providing a hybrid approach that enhances accuracy, reliability, and fraud prevention capabilities. This collaboration ensures genuine customers gain access to digital services while deterring fraudsters effectively.

2. Tailored Compliance Solutions: Customisable configurations enable businesses to meet specific industry regulations and regional compliance standards, ensuring adherence to KYC and AML requirements across various sectors such as financial services, telecommunications, and gaming.

3. Real-Time Fraud Prevention: Advanced fraud detection mechanisms, including AI-driven analysis and manual checks, offer real-time protection against evolving fraud tactics such as social engineering, document tampering, and deepfakes. This proactive approach enhances security for high-risk use cases and individuals.

4. Inclusivity and Accessibility: VideoIdent Flex promotes inclusivity by accommodating diverse customer needs, regardless of age, disability, or neurodiversity. By maintaining a human relationship between businesses and customers, it ensures equitable access to digital services for all.

Industry Impact and Commentary:

Bertrand Bouteloup, Chief Commercial Officer at IDnow, emphasizes the significance of VideoIdent Flex in addressing the complex landscape of identity verification: "Our solution draws on our decade's worth of video verification experience and fraud insights, empowering UK businesses to maintain a competitive edge by offering a white glove service for VIP onboarding."

Bouteloup highlights the importance of adopting a hybrid approach to identity verification, leveraging both advanced technology and human expertise: "This really compounds the importance of adopting a hybrid approach to identity – capitalising on the dual benefits of advanced technology when combined with human knowledge and awareness of social cues."

VideoIdent Flex represents a paradigm shift in identity verification, leveraging the synergy between AI-driven technology and human intuition to deliver unparalleled security, compliance, and inclusivity in digital verification processes. With its tailored solutions and real-time fraud prevention capabilities, VideoIdent Flex is poised to redefine the standards of identity verification in the UK market and beyond.

• Automated and malicious traffic rises for a fifth consecutive year

• Bad bots account for 32% of all internet traffic

• 44% of all account takeover attacks target API endpoints

Thales, in partnership with Imperva, presents the 2024 Bad Bot Report, offering valuable insights into the escalating challenges posed by automated bot traffic on the internet. With bad bots comprising a significant portion of online activity, organizations face mounting risks to their digital assets and operations. This report sheds light on emerging trends and key areas of concern for businesses worldwide.

1. Increase in Bad Bot Traffic:

   • In 2023, bad bot traffic accounted for 32% of all internet traffic, representing a persistent and escalating threat to online platforms.
   • Notable regions with high levels of bad bot traffic include Ireland, Germany, and Mexico, underscoring the global nature of this phenomenon.

2. Emergence of Generative AI:

   • The adoption of generative AI and large language models (LLMs) has led to a surge in simple bot activity, reaching 39.6% in 2023.
   • This technology facilitates web scraping and automated crawling, enabling non-technical users to create automated scripts for various purposes.

3. Rise in Account Takeover Attacks:

   • Account takeover (ATO) attacks increased by 10% in 2023, with 44% of such attacks targeting API endpoints, up from 35% in the previous year.
   • Financial services, travel, and business services sectors were among the most targeted industries.

4. API Vulnerabilities and Exploitation:

   • APIs serve as a popular vector for automated attacks, with 30% of API attacks originating from automated threats.
   • Business logic vulnerabilities within APIs make them susceptible to exploitation, allowing cybercriminals to gain unauthorized access to sensitive data.

5. Industry-Specific Bot Challenges:

   • Gaming continues to face the largest proportion of bad bot traffic, followed by retail, travel, and financial services sectors.
   • Advanced bad bots, capable of mimicking human behavior, pose a significant threat to industries such as law & government, entertainment, and financial services.

6. Evasion Techniques and Residential Proxies:

   • Bad bots increasingly utilize residential ISPs and mobile user agents to evade detection, with residential proxies accounting for 25.8% of bad bot traffic.
   • The combination of mobile user agents and residential IPs enables sophisticated actors to camouflage malicious activity more effectively.

The 2024 Bad Bot Report underscores the growing prevalence and sophistication of automated bot traffic, posing multifaceted challenges to organizations worldwide. As bad bots continue to evolve and proliferate, businesses must prioritize investment in bot management and API security solutions to mitigate risks and safeguard their digital assets effectively. By adopting proactive measures and leveraging advanced technologies, organizations can defend against the escalating threat landscape posed by malicious automated traffic.

Reimagined partner program will better enable SIs to drive growth and profitability, while helping customers realize their full potential with data streaming

Confluent unveils "Accelerate with Confluent," a strategic initiative designed to elevate the role of systems integrators (SIs) in delivering robust data streaming solutions. By prioritizing excellence in Confluent Professional Services, the program aims to empower partners to drive innovation, enhance customer experiences, and capitalize on the growing demand for real-time data processing capabilities.

1. Co-Delivery Approach:

   • Facilitates collaborative engagements between Confluent and certified partners to deliver holistic solutions.
   • Integrates complementary skills to ensure the successful implementation of data streaming projects.

2. Strategic Staffing Enhancement:

   • Incorporates subject matter experts from Confluent partners into ongoing engagements to enhance project velocity.
   • Expands delivery teams and accelerates project timelines to meet customer expectations.

3. Long-Term Data Strategy Development:

   • Empowers Confluent partners to assist businesses in devising comprehensive data streaming strategies.
   • Focuses on establishing a robust framework for sustained success in navigating the evolving data landscape.

Benefits for Systems Integrators:

1. Access to Partner-Focused Opportunities:

   • SIs joining "Accelerate with Confluent" gain access to various opportunities to showcase their expertise.
   • Recent initiatives include the Confluent Migration Accelerator and Confluent Cloud for Apache Flink.

2. Enhanced Collaboration Tools:

   • The updated Confluent Partner Portal facilitates improved collaboration, sales, marketing, and technical activities.
   • Empowers partners with sales and enablement tools to drive joint go-to-market strategies effectively.

3. Early Engagement in Sales Cycle:

   • Partners benefit from Confluent's commitment to facilitating early-stage involvement in customer engagements.
   • Technical resources are made available to ensure readiness in building and delivering tailored solutions.

Testimonials from Confluent Partners:

• Doyle Leabch, North America Head of Integration, EY, highlights the growth opportunities enabled by Confluent's partner program.
• Stefanos Katsios, Division Manager Big Data & Analytics, System Vertrieb Alexander GmbH, emphasizes the value proposition and competitive edge gained through the partnership.
• Siriwat Vongjaukorn, CEO, MFEC Public Company Limited, expresses readiness to scale Confluent practice and drive customer adoption with a differentiated value proposition.

"Accelerate with Confluent" signifies a strategic commitment to empower systems integrators with the expertise and resources needed to drive innovation and deliver exceptional data streaming solutions. By fostering collaboration, enhancing capabilities, and prioritizing customer success, Confluent aims to accelerate the adoption of real-time data processing technologies and empower businesses to thrive in the digital age.

Lumar announces the launch of new site speed metrics in its website intelligence platform, aimed at helping businesses address speed-related issues and enhance overall website performance. By offering actionable insights into page load times, interactivity, and user experience indicators, Lumar empowers digital teams to streamline workflows and improve online engagement, conversion rates, and search engine visibility.

1. Comprehensive Speed Metrics:

   • Includes key indicators such as page load times, cumulative layout shift (CLS), largest contentful paint (LCP), and total blocking time (TBT).
   • Provides detailed insights and actionable data to prioritize and resolve speed-related issues effectively.

2. Integration Across Core Applications:

   • Available in Lumar's Analyze, Monitor, and Protect applications, enabling users to scan, monitor, and prevent speed issues across their websites.

3. Customizable Dashboards and Alerts:

   • Users can create customizable dashboards and receive alerts to track site speed issues over time and ensure proactive resolution.

Use Cases by Team:

1. C-suite and Marketing Leadership:

   • Improving website speed enhances user satisfaction and increases sales, driving business growth and customer loyalty.

2. SEO Teams:

   • Helps improve Core Web Vitals, contributing to better organic search rankings and faster implementation of fixes.

3. UX and Engineering Teams:

   • Alerts team members of slow-loading pages and negative user experiences, facilitating faster issue resolution and improved website performance.

Expansion of Lumar Platform:

1. Unified Website Optimization Solution:

   • Lumar's expansion into site speed metrics complements its existing technical SEO and website accessibility tools, offering a centralized resource for multi-functional digital teams.

2. Customizable Metrics:

   • Provides flexibility to capture specific information from HTML pages, allowing customers to create bespoke metrics tailored to their needs.

CEO Statement:

• Panos Savopoulos emphasizes the importance of website technical health and the goal of Lumar's new site speed metrics to drive real business results by providing actionable insights across technical issues.

Future Plans:

• Lumar plans to incorporate Chrome User Experience Report (CrUX) data, industry benchmarks, and conversion data to further enhance its site speed offering.

• With the introduction of new site speed metrics, Lumar strengthens its position as a leading provider of website intelligence solutions, offering enterprise brands actionable insights to optimize their online experiences and drive business growth.

The partnership expands Agora's focus on media and entertainment with digital rights management (DRM) solutions that safeguard live content

Agora, Inc., a leading platform for real-time engagement APIs, has teamed up with EZDRM, a premier provider of Digital Rights Management as a Service (DRMaaS), to elevate interactive live streaming experiences with enhanced content protection. As the demand for secure digital assets grows in the media and entertainment industry, this partnership aims to provide creators and broadcasters with the tools they need to engage audiences while safeguarding valuable content.

Empowering Secure Real-Time Engagement:

With interactive live streaming gaining prominence, protecting digital assets from unauthorized access, copying, and alteration is crucial. Agora's partnership with EZDRM integrates real-time engagement capabilities with robust content protection solutions, ensuring end-to-end security for live media streaming. This collaboration addresses the growing need for exceptional user experiences while offering creators and broadcasters peace of mind regarding their content's integrity.

Seamless Integration for Exceptional User Experiences:

EZDRM's WebRTC-DRM solution seamlessly integrates with Agora's real-time engagement technology, simplifying the implementation of secure, interactive live streaming content. This integration enables Agora customers to deliver smooth and uninterrupted broadcasts across various applications, including sports broadcasting, real-time karaoke, and more. By combining cutting-edge DRM technology with real-time engagement platforms, Agora and EZDRM are setting new standards for secure live streaming experiences.

Collaborative Innovation for Customer Success:

As part of the partnership, EZDRM will collaborate closely with Agora to define and develop the integration, create reference implementations and documentation, and provide support for customer engagements. This collaborative approach ensures that customers receive comprehensive resources and support to leverage the full potential of secure, interactive live streaming solutions.

Empowering Content Creators and Broadcasters:

The partnership between Agora and EZDRM empowers content creators and broadcasters to deliver captivating interactive experiences while safeguarding their revenue streams and intellectual property. By combining real-time engagement capabilities with robust content protection solutions, this collaboration unlocks new possibilities for live streaming experiences across devices and applications.

Agora and EZDRM's partnership represents a significant step forward in revolutionizing real-time engagement with secure content protection. By integrating cutting-edge DRM technology with real-time engagement platforms, they are enabling creators and broadcasters to deliver seamless and secure interactive live streaming experiences, setting new standards for user engagement and content security in the digital age.

Report reveals 32% of marketers are using AI and 31% plan to use the technology to support print marketing

A recent study by R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company (RRD) sheds light on the evolving landscape of marketing technology (martech). In 2024, 91% of marketers with print programs are strategically integrating print and digital channels, with over half describing their integration as closely coordinated.

1. Embracing Technological Advancements:

   -  AI Integration: 31% planning, 32% already implemented.

   - Web-to-Print Adoption: 39% leveraging advantages such as reduced costs, personalization, and enhanced brand consistency.

   - QR Codes Utilization: 50% of marketers incorporating QR codes for enhanced engagement.

2. Print's Role in Omnichannel Strategies:

   -  Complementary Relationship: Marketers view print as reinforcing digital messaging and driving online traffic.

   -  Effective Strategies: Personalization, cross-channel integration, and brand storytelling are key tactics.

3. Personalization with First-Party Data:

   -  Marketers' Priorities: Over two-thirds (68%) personalize print communications.

   -  Data Sources: Customer feedback, demographics, email engagement, buying history, and location data fuel personalized campaigns.

Marketers are actively innovating to uphold print's relevance alongside digital channels. The evolving print-digital connection, powered by first-party data and technological advancements, promises highly impactful results.