Monthly Archives: April 2021

CINCINNATI, April 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --The Blacks in Technology Foundation, a tech-focused community dedicated to increasing the representation and participation of Black people in the technology industry, and Apprenti, a national leader in delivering registered tech apprenticeship programs to place non-traditional hires into in-demand tech careers, today announced a partnership aimed to increase Black representation across the tech industry.

There currently are three million available tech jobs in America, but the nation's colleges produce only 80,000 computer science graduates each year. On top of that, too many employers only recruit from certain schools, over-rely on college graduates, and generally don't seek to recruit from the broadest pool of available talent. This practice has led to Blacks and other groups being woefully underrepresented in technology roles.

"Both job seekers and companies need to expand their thinking when it comes to job placement and hiring. We're already seeing a shift in IT job requirements away from four-year and advanced college degrees in mathematics and computer science towards practitioner level skills," said Dennis Schultz, Executive Director of the Blacks in Technology Foundation. "The only real question is, can the candidate do the work required? We see Apprenti as a practical solution to the challenge of filling key IT roles."

Together, Blacks In Technology Foundation and Apprenti will collaborate to expose more Blacks to the tech sector, increase access to tech training opportunities and, ultimately, help Black people secure rewarding careers in technology. Over the last five years, Apprenti has worked to build a reliable pipeline for underrepresented groups, bridging the tech talent gap and giving diverse talent with nontraditional backgrounds the opportunity to apprentice at tech and consumer companies. Black people make up 15 percent of all apprentices, and more than 80 percent of these apprentices have been hired on full time.

"While the lack of representation in the tech workforce is well documented, there's still plenty of work to do when it comes to building systems that offer equal opportunity," said Jennifer Carlson, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Apprenti. "Blacks in Technology Foundation is making real progress when it comes to diversifying tech talent, and we're proud to offer a proven program that will strengthen these efforts."

About the Blacks In Technology FoundationThe Blacks In Technology Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit and the largest global community of Black technologists with a combined membership and social media reach of over 50,000. Membership in Blacks In Technology is free. The Blacks In Technology (BIT) Foundation's goal and mission is to "stomp the divide" between Black workers and the rest of the tech industry and to fundamentally influence and effect change. BIT intends to level the playing field through training, education, networking, and mentorship with the support of allies, partners, sponsors, and members.

About ApprentiWTIA Workforce Institute (dba Apprenti) is a 501(c)3 non-profit, delivering registered apprenticeship programs to bridge the tech talent and diversity gaps. By adapting the time-tested model of apprenticeship, Apprenti helps employers meet evolving workforce needs and trains future tech workers with an emphasis on underrepresented groups including women, people of color, veterans, and people with disabilities. Apprenti's programs are industry recognized and federally approved for employers with tech talent needs across the United States. Apprentices receive two to five months of full-time, industry recognized training, then begin one-year of paid on-the-job training with one of the program's hiring partners. Apprenti is partially funded through a U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) contract, as well as other funders nationwide. For more information on how to apply, donate, or become a hiring partner, please visitwww.ApprentiCareers.org.

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The Blacks in Technology Foundation Partners with Apprenti to Increase Black Representation Across the Tech Industry - PRNewswire

April 14, 2021 Curtin University and DUG Technology Ltd have entered into a decade-long partnership to collaborate in the fields of high-performance computing (HPC), education and research.

This partnership between industry and academia will accelerate research areas of national significance, including astrophysics, biomedicine and meteorology. Focusing on the needs of industry, DUG and Curtin will develop green technologies that dramatically reduce the carbon footprint of supercomputing. Creating and realising opportunities for education and training in high-performance computing will also be a high priority.

As part of this agreement DUG will provide:

scalable HPC, storage and archive capabilities; support for HPC education, code onboarding and optimisation; and proprietary DUG Insight processing and visualisation tools to support Curtins involvement in the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Project.

DUG founder and Managing Director, Dr Matthew Lamont, a Curtin graduate, said the agreement highlighted the alignment of DUG and Curtin over several years, and the value that high-performance computing and associated expertise can provide to tertiary institutions.

The alliance is a significant vote of confidence in DUGs technology and a perfect example of our ability to provide cost effective and reliable HPC for the tertiary education sectors specialised research and data analysis needs, Dr Matthew Lamont said. Our solution is unparalleled as we can also provide education, onboarding support, and code optimisation services. Curtins Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research, Professor Chris Moran said Curtin is Western Australias largest tertiary institution and as a research-intensive organisation had a large and growing need for a diverse set of high-performance computing solutions.

Curtin University has been at the forefront of computational and data sciences in Australia for almost two decades, Professor Chris Moran said. The exciting new partnership with DUG will complement the important work Curtin does through the national Pawsey Supercomputing Centre.

The DUG-Curtin partnership has already yielded significant results in radio astronomy and astrophysics, connected to the 2 billion international SKA Project, half of which will be constructed in Western Australia.

DUGs expertise in software engineering and code optimisation, combined with their large-scale supercomputing facilities and the deep expertise of Curtins astronomers, has led to exciting new results in the search for the first stars and galaxies in the early Universe. This requires looking for weak signals that originated more than 13 billion years ago.

Furthermore, using data collected by radio telescopes, DUG and Curtin have co-developed algorithms that can detect and monitor space junk and satellites in Earth orbit. This is increasingly important as the space environment becomes ever more congested and contested.

John Curtin Distinguished Professor and astronomer from the Curtin University node of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, Professor Steven Tingay said Curtins partnership with DUG is advancing both fundamental physics and highly practical applications in the real world.

From looking at the early Universe, soon after the Big Bang, to what satellites in Earths orbit are doing minute by minute, all requires a lot of time on powerful computers, Professor Tingay said.

Over the next decade, DUG and Curtin aim to replicate this success across a range of different research fields, train significant numbers of undergraduate and postgraduate students in high-performance computing, and employ Curtins expertise in renewables to find new energy sources for powering future DUG data centres.

About Curtin University

Curtin University is Western Australias largest university, with more than 56,000 students. Of these, about 26 per cent are international students, with half of these studying at the Universitys offshore campuses. The Universitys main campus is in Perth. Curtin also has a major regional campus in Kalgoorlie, and a campus in Midland, in addition to four global campuses in Malaysia, Singapore, Dubai and Mauritius.

Curtin is ranked in the top one per cent of universities worldwide, with the University placed 9th in Australia according to the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) 2020.

The University has built a reputation around innovation and an entrepreneurial spirit, being at the forefront of many high-profile research projects in astronomy, biosciences, economics, mining and information technology. It is also recognised globally for its strong connections with industry, and for its commitment to preparing students for the jobs of the future. For further information, visit curtin.edu.au.

About DUG Technology Ltd

DUG is a technology company at the forefront of high-performance computing (HPC) with a strong foundation in applied physics. DUGs innovative hardware and software solutions for the global technology and resource sectors enable clients to leverage large and complex data sets.

The Company provides cloud-based high-performance computing as a service (HPCaaS), multi-tiered support for technology onboarding and code optimisation, and integrated services. DUG has offices in Perth, London, Houston and Kuala Lumpur. The company designs, owns and operates some of the largest and greenest supercomputers on Earth. To learn more, visit http://www.dug.com.

Source: DUG Technology Ltd

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DUG Technology, Curtin University Enter Into Supercomputing Partnership - HPCwire

Nokias technology and strategy chief Nishant Batra said the Covid-19 pandemic triggered a fast-paced evolution toward digitalization, with evolutions in cloud and wireless access as two key enablers.

We were all going toward a digital society at a rapid pace, but this is exponentially gaining traction now, said Batra, chief strategy and technology officer at Nokia, during a virtual media round table Tuesday.

He pointed to a 30% increase in overall network traffic in the U.S., businesses shifting work from home policies, and behavioral changes with digital tools in focus and enabled by 5G.

The take up of 5G technology has been one of the fastest compared to earlier generations, and is expected to sustain, Batra noted. For example, he said almost 150,000 sites are being deployed between North and Latin America, with 13 operator 5G rollouts in the regions, and a shift toward standalone 5G. In the U.S., its expected four out of five people will be covered by 5G by years end.

In addition to take up of 5G wireless access, as well as early-stage research on 6G for consumer and enterprise use, the other critical enabler from Nokias standpoint is the cloud and relates to the role of the edge for enterprise.

Batra expects to see a very exciting value chain come up, citing opportunities for workloads, security, infrastructure and real estate all to get the enterprise connected.

RELATED: Nokias mobile network head ready to face open RAN competition

I firmly believe this decade will be about really putting the cloud out there in the far edge and possibly the micro edge to enable the cyber-physical landscape coming together, he said. It is also important that not just we as suppliers, but the entire industry is coming to the realization that the future is in software.

It's also about ensuring that software can deployed in a fast-paced way, focused on the use cases enterprises care about, he added. Part of this involves Network as a Service (NaaS), and a future shift Batra pegged in the next 5 to 7 years, from thinking about the network as delivering service level agreements (SLAs) to providing business outcomes.

Operators are currently building out coverage and capacity with 5G networks, but ahead Batra sees critical networks, hyper local private networks for enterprise and industrial adoption. Those wont take off until software agility is developed, alongside adoption of as-a-service business models, he said during prepared remarks at Nokias virtual event on digitalization in the Americas.

Batra also pointed to continued changes in network architecture.

As 5G evolves towards 6G, disaggregated networks will become the norm, not an exception and we need to be prepared for that.

RELATED: 6G doesnt mean ditching 5G but evolving to next G

Three-fourths of enterprise traffic by 2025 will happen on the edge, he said, citing a Gartner study, with compute moving closer to the use case at the edge, far edge and micro edge. Major cloud webscalers have joined the party and use cases will need to flow end-to-end, which is where Batra said network slicing comes into play.

Network slicing business models

Batra called network slicing a fundamental requirement for monetizing the network.

He firmly believes it will start as a capability-driven business model where slices are segmented and represented to potential buyers based on capabilities applicable for their use cases, be it security or SLAs but very soon evolve to as-a-service.

As a service model, it will then become network slice-as-a-service, essentially.

That business model can then go further, he said, with network slice-as-a-service complemented with exposure to cloud webscalers-as-a-service APIs (with NaaS from operators) to build what Batra said will be outcome-as-a-service, where applications and developers have come to utilize the full marketplace.

RELATED: Nokia partners with AWS, Microsoft, Google for 5G and cloud

For a developer to use the capabilities of the network, then they will have to think about network-as-a-service exposure of the telecoms, and then they would complement that with webscale, possibly a far edge in the enterprise, Batra said. Thats how I believe these use cases will really take off.

Before any of that gets going though, there needs to be a focus on orchestration for the network slices themselves. Network slicing may present new business models, but operators and suppliers are still working to establish the technology, though Batra said community is coming around and getting there.

These slices have to be dynamically cleared and destroyed as needed, he noted. So the orchestration [engine] is a key technology for the marketplace to exist.

When will business models for network slicing come into play?

I believe this will become real in about six to 18 months, Batra said.

RELATED: Dish looks to serve up secure 5G slicing with Nokia software

Nokia just expanded its work with Dish, providing security software for end-to-end network slicing with automation and orchestration a key component. It has also inked 5G and cloud partnerships with AWS, Google, and Microsoft.

Private networks are another major focus for Nokia, which promise their own levels of security and reliability for enterprise customers. The Finnish vendor works both through service provider partners as well as direct to enterprise for private networks.

This month Verizon secured its first European private 5G network customer in a deal with Associated British Ports (ABP) that involves Nokia. The operator launched its private 5G managed service for international customers leveraging Nokias Digital Automation Cloud application platform, which also offers local edge computing.

RELATED:Will private wireless kill network slicing before it even gets started?

When it comes to Nokias focus on private networks versus CSP interest in network slicing, Batra doesnt view them as in conflict.

I see both going together for us, not just one, he said, noting Nokias strong enterprise connections and portfolio, as well as operators systems integration expertise in some cases.

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Nokia technology chief: The future is in software - FierceWireless

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The "Wireless Charging Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2021-2026" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global wireless charging market exhibited strong growth during 2015-2020. Looking forward, the publisher expects the global wireless charging market to reach a value of US$ 25 Billion by 2026.

Wireless charging refers to the process of electrically charging battery-powered equipment or devices without physically connected cables. It works on the principle of inductive power transfer or magnetic resonance in which an electric current is passed between two objects through the use of coils so as to induce an electromagnetic field. It provides a safe, convenient and reliable way to charge and power numerous electrical devices at homes and workplaces.

The various benefits associated with wireless charging, such as ease of handling and mobility, protection from electric shocks, flexibility, etc., are contributing to the growth of the global wireless charging market. Further, the rising proliferation of the Internet of Things (IoT) is boosting the demand for wireless charging as it is a convenient method to power an IoT network. Moreover, integration of wireless charging solutions in automobiles and the increasing applications of wireless charging in the healthcare segment represent some of the other factors that are driving the market.

Companies Mentioned

This report provides a deep insight into the global wireless charging market covering all its essential aspects. This ranges from macro overview of the market to micro details of the industry performance, recent trends, key market drivers and challenges, SWOT analysis, Porter's five forces analysis, value chain analysis, etc. This report is a must-read for entrepreneurs, investors, researchers, consultants, business strategists, and all those who have any kind of stake or are planning to foray into the wireless charging market in any manner.

Key Questions Answered in This Report:

Key Topics Covered:

1 Preface

2 Scope and Methodology

3 Executive Summary

4 Introduction

4.1 Overview

4.2 Key Industry Trends

5 Global Wireless Charging Market

5.1 Market Overview

5.2 Market Performance

5.3 Impact of COVID-19

5.4 Price Analysis

5.5 Market Breakup by Technology

5.6 Market Breakup by Transmission Range

5.7 Market Breakup by Application

5.8 Market Breakup by Region

5.9 Market Forecast

5.10 SWOT Analysis

5.11 Value Chain Analysis

5.12 Porters Five Forces Analysis

6 Market Breakup by Technology

6.1 Inductive Charging

6.2 Resonant Charging

6.3 Radio Frequency Based Charging

6.4 Others

7 Market Breakup by Transmission Range

7.1 Short Range

7.2 Medium Range

7.3 Long Range

8 Market Breakup by Application

8.1 Consumer Electronics

8.1.1 Market Trends

8.1.2 Market Forecast

8.2 Automotive

8.2.1 Market Trends

8.2.2 Market Forecast

8.3 Healthcare

8.3.1 Market Trends

8.3.2 Market Forecast

8.4 Industrial

8.4.1 Market Trends

8.4.2 Market Forecast

8.5 Defense

8.5.1 Market Trends

8.5.2 Market Forecast

8.6 Others

8.6.1 Market Trends

8.6.2 Market Forecast

9 Market Breakup by Region

9.1 Asia Pacific

9.1.1 Market Trends

9.1.2 Market Forecast

9.2 North America

9.2.1 Market Trends

9.2.2 Market Forecast

9.3 Europe

9.3.1 Market Trends

9.3.2 Market Forecast

9.4 Middle East and Africa

9.4.1 Market Trends

9.4.2 Market Forecast

9.5 Latin America

9.5.1 Market Trends

9.5.2 Market Forecast

10 Competitive Landscape

10.1 Market Structure

10.2 Key Players

10.3 Profiles of Key Players

10.3.1 Convenient Power HK Limited

10.3.2 Energizer Holdings, Inc.

10.3.3 Integrated Device Technology

10.3.4 Leggett & Platt, Incorporated

10.3.5 Murata Manufacturing Co. Ltd

10.3.6 Powermatic Technologies Ltd.

10.3.7 Qualcomm Incorporated

10.3.8 Texas Instruments Incorporated

10.3.9 Witricity Corporation

10.3.10 Samsung

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/jg0hme

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Outlook on the Wireless Charging Global Market to 2026 - by Technology, Transmission Range, Application and Region - ResearchAndMarkets.com - Business...

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Beth.Technology, an actively managed tech fund that offers in-depth research and real-time trades, has completed an extensive rebranding initiative to reflect the companys comprehensive services, team-oriented approach, and vision for the future. The rebrand includes a new logo, updated website, and a new name: I/O Fund.

I/O Fund empowers retail investors by offering an actively managed and transparent portfolio alongside institution-level research and real-time notification of entries and exits. The I/O Fund specializes in tech microtrends and has outperformed other popular tech focused innovation funds on the market. I/O Fund competes at the highest level and offers full transparency for individual retail investors.

The I/O Fund also features a free public newsletter with past stock coverage that included Roku at $33, Zoom at $137, and Bitcoin around $9,500. Premium subscribers are notified of even lower entries, such as Zoom at $62, and Bitcoin at $7,700.

With audited returns of 115.5% from May 9, 2020 to Dec. 31, 2020, I/O Fund outperformed popular tech focused innovation funds within the same time frame. The actively managed fund was founded on May 9th, 2020 following the launch of the premium service on July 15, 2019.

This rebrand reflects a significant step forward in our evolution, redefining who we are as a team and as a company, said I/O Fund Founder and CEO Beth Kindig. We evolved from a tech insider with a blog to a full-service fund with an expert team. Our brand is built on credibility, transparency, and industry knowledge. Im proud to offer these benefits and raise the bar on tech analysis for retail investors.

Lead Analyst and CEO, Beth Kindig, uses fundamental analysis at I/O Fund to identify the leaders of the most important tech microtrends. Then Portfolio Manager, Knox Ridley, uses technical analysis to guide entries, exits, risk management, and provide market commentary on the decisions the I/O Fund makes in the actively managed portfolio.

At I/O Fund our goal is to get outsized returnswithout excessive risk-taking by predicting future tech leaders before the run, and spotting periods of market weakness before they happen, Knox Ridley said. We share that knowledge with our readers, alongside real-time entries and exits in I/O Fund, so they see how decisions are made when running a competitive growth portfolio that exceeded the best funds on Wall Street last year. To communicate this expanded vision, the fund needed a new identity. Im extremely proud of our team, and our market-beating results.

For more information about I/O Fund, please visit our website at http://io-fund.com/.

About I/O Fund

I/O Fund is an actively managed fund that offers in-depth research and real-time trades. We specialize in tech microtrends and have outperformed popular tech focused innovation funds since our inception with audited performance results. I/O Fund empowers retail investors by offering a transparent portfolio alongside institution-level research and real-time notification of entries and exits. We also offer a free public newsletter with past stock coverage that included Roku at $33, Zoom at $137, and Bitcoin at $9,500. Premium members are notified of lower entries, including Zoom at $62, and Bitcoin at $7,700.

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Beth.Technology Announces Major Rebrand to I/O Fund - Business Wire

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) Ivy Tech Community College Fort Waynes Automotive Technology Program recently received automotive sheet metal panels valued at approximately $17,000 from LKQ Corporation.

We chose Ivy Tech partially because we were contacted about it in the past, but also because they have a local auto body program that will hopefully graduate individuals who are engaged and want to participate in our industry, said Zach Richter, LKQ General Manager. I personally have attended Ivy Tech and know they are a well-established part of our community.

Ivy Tech Fort Wayne said it will use the donation to give students in auto body and collision repair classes more hands-on experience with real world learning opportunities. In the program, students learn to repair and refinish cars, trucks, vans and golf carts. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics, automotive body workers can expect to earn a median hourly wage of $21.24/hr.

Were grateful for LKQs donation of sheet metal, which will be extremely useful for our students, said Dave Buell, Ivy Tech Fort Wayne automotive instructor. They will learn to prep parts for vehicles, fix dents, prep to prime, prep to paint, and more. These skills will prepare them to enter the workforce directly after graduation.

For more information on the program, visit IvyTech.edu/automotive-technology/ or contact Dave Buell at 260-243-3125 or Bob Huffman at 260-480-4293 or rhuffman10@ivytech.edu

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Ivy Tech receives $17k in sheet metal donation for Automotive Technology Program - WANE

Federal Inspectors General have the crucial task of agency oversight, often handling that job for large agencies while operating on relatively small budgets. To keep up with their responsibilities amid the COVID-19 pandemic, IG offices have had to leverage new technologies and old technologies in new ways over the past year-plus, IG officials explained today.

For the IG offices at both the United States Postal Service (USPS) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), that has included help in overseeing the 2020 election and disbursement of CARES Act funds using a variety of new tools, representatives from both OIGs said Wednesday at an AFFIRM virtual event.

Election Mail

With all eyes on USPS for the 2020 Presidential election, the agency CIO developed an Election Mail application in three days that could be used on both mobile and web browsers to streamline data collection of how processing facilities and delivery units were handling election materials in real-time. This enabled the agency to keep up with oversight duties while limiting the amount of travel.

We knew this election was going to be scrutinized very closely. So, we knew that our project would be very important in that wed have to provide a wide scope of oversight for the Postal Service, Todd Watson, director of Network Processing at USPS OIG, said. We basically leveraged almost an entire organization to help us go out to our local postal facilities and complete observations of what the mail conditions are like there was there any election mail that was delayed at that facility, was the facility following their proper procedures for postmarking ballots, and reporting out in their internal systems.

Overall, the election mail app was pushed out in about a week, Alana Daly, a program analyst at USPS OIGs Network Processing Directorate, estimated. The tool was then provided to about 500 team members, allowing them to complete over 2,000 observations at USPS facilities leading up to, and during, the week of the 2020 Presidential election.

While the quick turnaround allowed USPS OIG to get operational quickly, Daly said they would not want to have to replicate the process. The type of application is replicable for other functions though, and she offered some ideas that would make the next process smoother.

I wouldnt want to try to build in three days again, or over, and I dont think anyone loves that. But I think just the biggest thing was even more preparation at the beginning, Daly said. So I think time was probably the biggest factor of just building it, and having everything prepped and ready before we actually started implementation.

HHS Funding Spike

For HHS, the pandemic era has been all about healthcare, but also about a tremendous increase in spending.

The OIG at HHS has seen the amount of spending it oversees rise drastically during the pandemic. Before the pandemic, the OIG oversaw around $1 trillion in spending, but, between the CARES Act and subsequent COVID-19 relief bills, that number is now around $2.4 trillion, Renata Miskell, senior advisor to the Chief Data and Analytics Officer at HHS OIG, said at todays event.

As far as how the office is leveraging tech to help with oversight, Miskell explained that most of their projects in that area fall under one of three categories: leveraging cloud to detect fraud, helping boots on the ground, or leveraging AI.

On the first use, Miskell said, there are instances where that provider may be double-dipping, triple-dipping, or they might be inappropriately receiving those [PPP and other kinds of] funds and so what we did was leveraging our cloud platform, were able to bring in multiple data sources and sort of visualize. Then we could apply our regular sort of fraud flags on those, or risk flags and help our investigators [and] auditors target and look into those instances.

The second use, Miskell noted, was similar to the USPS app, where HHS OIG utilized a mobile app for a program titled Operation Care. Operation Care sent inspectors to over 600 nursing homes and emergency medical service providers to quickly get data in about whether facilities had appropriate Personal Protective Equipment and were following the necessary COVID protocols.

On the AI front, Miskell noted the agency is using the technology to help flag grants, and her colleague Nicole Willis, the chief enterprise architect and director of architecture and transformation in the office of the CIO within HHS OIG, added the agency is also using robotic process automation (RPA) for processes like flagging social media keywords to help detect COVID-19 fraud.

Were trying to balance using what we have, but with bringing in new technologies, Willis said. We had an opportunity to look at robotic process automation, because we have a lot of manual processes, and you could imagine some of these investigations and audits and evaluations can take many, many man-hours. So, we did an experiment with using RPA tool against social media to help identify incidences of COVID fraud, she said, adding, it actually got really successful and saved our workers many of hours.

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Fed OIGs Leveraging Technology to Adjust to Pandemic Landscape - MeriTalk

As the country slowly shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, we in the higher ed world wondered -- with not a little bit of worry -- what its impact would be on our professional lives and the lives of the students we serve.

The pandemic led to some profound changes among college-age students. Many decided they would look for schools closer to home or in state, or became more concerned with the cost of financing a college education. Attending a school located in a pandemic hot spot likewise became a concern. These pivots on the students parts made for a great bit of scrambling on college admissions teams.

After a traumatic spring and summer, the students returned to campus and things began to feel a bit more normal, or at least everyone settled into the new normal. But this was clear: COVID-19 would be a milestone event in the field of college recruiting.

After studying the lessons learned from an unprecedented recruiting season, were left to wonder how admissions teams might reach future students in a more effective, efficient and personalized way.

Theres been a lot of talk about how the business model of higher ed will change in the wake of the pandemic as predicting enrollment becomes more challenging, impacting colleges and universities overall fiscal well-being. According to a report from McKinsey & Company, four-year public institutions reap 26percent of their revenues from tuition and fees, while four-year private nonprofit institutions collect 35percent of revenues from those same areas. But enrollment is changing, making those numbers an unreliable source of revenue.

Data show that students are still showing up to some sort of higher ed institution. Forty-ninepercent of students who have decided not to pursue a full-time bachelors degree still plan to attend part-time or pursue a two-year degree, while 57percent of students who are now considering a full-time bachelors program were previously planning to attend a part-time or two-year program.

New Challenges -- and Opportunities

Thats all to say, admissions teams face a new challenge and fresh opportunities as norms in the higher ed world swiftly change. While theres no way to predict how college-age students might approach higher education post-pandemic, it is foolish to believe that current trends wont have some lasting effects.

One way to tap into new pools of potential students? Personalization and a deeper commitment to applying behavioral technology to the admissions process. The pandemic admissions experience marks a ripe opportunity for higher ed institutions to create a Gen-Z-centric recruiting experience that speaks to the unique needs of students now -- changing economic and geographic preferences, for example -- while continuing to sharpen this strategy in a post-pandemic world.

At the core of the transformation to personalized admissions is the need to adapt to technology that supports it, or what weve come to call intelligent admissions.

Through hyperpersonalization, admissions teams can pivot messaging as students needs change, with emails speaking to individual applicants across geographic, academic and financial segments. And behavioral tech will allow us to do so much more, making it easier for admissions teams to serve students during abnormal cycles while gaining an edge over all. When a students major is known, admissions teams can send the kind of detailed information traditional marketing materials are usually unable to cover. Or they might connect with a future student just ahead of a pivotal recruiting event.

In the future, with the development of the right technology, we might be able to detect what went wrong with a poorly received communication -- subject line? Body copy? -- and apply that learning to new emails and campaigns through an automated system. The end result: admissions pros getting the most out of their software so they can turn their focus on personal relationships with prospective students.

Amplifying Personal Touch

This personal touch becomes all the more important as higher ed rebuilds from the pandemic and the interruptions it caused. Clear communication has been a keystone to success and safety through the pandemic, as it continues to be, and higher ed is better for it. Even now, teams deal with messaging around in-person classes that might go virtual at a moments notice or learning how to connect with new pools of potential attendees. The numbers prove where the students concerns lie: the same McKinsey & Company study mentioned above noted that 52percent of students said conversations with faculty around remote learning or their academic major would make them feel more favorable about a remote fall semester, and 42percent wanted clear communication from their college or university.

For the time being, mainstays like heavily attended in-person open houses and marketing photos of smiling students huddled together in classrooms are out the window. So, beyond email, what tools will enrollment professionals rely on? And for how long -- till the crisis is over or indefinitely?

While there may be no clear answers at the moment, the possibility springs from experimentation. And with students showing a willingness to enroll in a higher ed program, even amid uncertainty, admissions and other higher ed teams can create an enriching college experience for them, which might include online mentoring, virtual clubs and other virtual or hybrid experiences. These possibilities make the need for smarter technology all the more important. The less effort an admissions team must dedicate to writing, designing and managing campaigns, the more time those members will have to look toward how the college experience can be reimagined.

The answer likely wont lie in an either-or scenario, but rather, much like weve seen our lives enriched through practical and transformative advances in various technologies, the tools and strategies we develop at this important moment will lead to a better, more fulfilling college experience for everyone.

Ardis Kadiu is the founder and CEO of Element451, a constituent relationship management platform for higher education admissions and enrollment marketing.

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Pre- and Post-COVID, Technology Is Reshaping Admissions Forever | Call to Action: Marketing and Communications in Higher Education - Inside Higher Ed

This article is part of the On Tech newsletter. You can sign up here to receive it weekdays.

Its time to end the elaborate staged events that are essentially infomercials for new technology products.

You probably know the ones Im talking about. Steve Jobs or the current Apple boss, Tim Cook, paces a dark stage and holds up a shiny slab of circuits to an enthralled audience. Apple on Tuesday teased a planned (virtual) event next week to do the stage-pacing thing for the latest iPads.

Mary Kay-style demonstrations for the 400th edition of an iPad are clearly not the most serious problem in technology or the world. Most people will never even watch these things, thank goodness. But they are an example of how we and tech companies dont stop enough and ask: Why does it have to be this way?

Apples influence has spread these staged product launches and they are mostly overhyped and unnecessary. Elon Musk does them for Tesla cars and brain implants. Media companies have borrowed this trick for hourslong presentations for their plus-sign video streaming services. An infomercial about a website is really a step too far.

The Jobs-esque product demonstrations are also an unintentional signal of how tech companies see their customers. To them, we are blobs with wallets that can be persuaded by the Silicon Valley equivalents of a fast-talking guy on TV hawking a mop.

My biggest beef with these elaborate infomercials is that theyre at odds with what technology is now. Its no longer confined to a shiny thing in a cardboard box. Technology now is the stuff that we dont necessarily notice smarter software that alerts us to hazards while we drive or tech that gives small businesses the power of Amazon. It worms its way into our homes and lives, for better or worse.

Technology is also one of the most powerful forces in the world. And yet tech companies continue to hold product launches with the manic energy of an industry desperate to get noticed.

Whats the alternative? Well, Microsoft on Tuesday published a blog post that described the latest model of its Surface laptop and other products. Spotify also posted on its website about its new experimental gadget thats like a modernized car stereo remote.

The posts explained what the products were, and that was it. Maybe youve heard the line, This meeting should have been an email? Microsoft and Spotify showed that most product launches should be a blog post and a two-minute video.

Im not the first person to write that the staged tech product events that Apple spread everywhere need to go. Even Ive written about it before.

This is old hat for Apple, too. And on Tuesday it did what it has done forever: It released an intentionally vague message about what is expected to be a canned webcast presentation. This achieved its goal. People who care about technology talked about it.

And of course, thats one reason these tech Tupperware parties endure: They get attention. (At least they do for Apple.) Journalists like me are a big part of the problem, too.

But we can just quit doing this. The Microsoft and Spotify products seemed to get noticed and written about on Tuesday even without a two-hour hype machine.

These product launches are a stale habit festering long after its ceased being useful. It shows a lack of imagination from companies that are supposed to be imaginative and a disrespect for us, the customers. It doesnt have to be this way.

Bitcoin is real now. Congrats/Im sorry: Coinbase, which lets people buy and sell Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, is listing its stock publicly on Wednesday. My colleague Erin Griffith explained what Coinbase is, and why its stock listing is a validation for cryptocurrency believers. (Ill have a conversation with Erin about Coinbase in Thursdays newsletter.)

Is Facebook doing more harm than good? The Guardian has been publishing a series of articles about the ways that Facebook is abused by world leaders in countries such as Honduras, Mongolia and Azerbaijan to mislead and manipulate their own citizens. Its a familiar tale of Facebook both giving citizens a voice and silencing them.

Planning vacations is going to be exhausting: My colleague Brian X. Chen has a special pandemic edition of how to use tech to prepare for a trip. Youll probably have to navigate the virus testing rules of your destination and digital documentation for vaccinations.

Lets all look at some pretty fish on the Monterey Bay Aquarium kelp forest video feed.

We want to hear from you. Tell us what you think of this newsletter and what else youd like us to explore. You can reach us at ontech@nytimes.com.

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We Dont Need Tech Infomercials - The New York Times

Shares of Aurionpro Solutions hit a 31-month high of Rs 192.45 after rallying 17 per cent on the BSE in intra-day trade on Thursday on the back of heavy volumes. The trading volumes on the counter jumped nearly three-fold with a combined 470,000 equity shares changing hands on the NSE and BSE, till 02:10 pm.

The information technology (IT) software products company's stock was trading at its highest level since September 2018. In the past six weeks, the stock has zoomed 134 per cent from the level of Rs 82.15 on March 4, against 4.5 per cent decline in the S&P BSE Sensex.

Aurionpro is a leading player in banking and fintech segment offering IP based solutions, which include transaction banking platform, iCashPro+ and lending platform smart lender and ACE platform.

On March 9, Aurionpro Solutions announced the signing of the strategic partnership with Future-Tech, UK for data center design and consultancy projects in India & South Asia.

The management said that Aurionpro has ventured into this business at a right time as Indian Data Centre market is likely to reach $4 Billion. Further, Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the pace of digitisation and as the world is gearing up for the 5G technology, the requirement for the world class Data Centers will increase multi fold. Aurionpro, with its capacity, experience and best resources is poised to tap the immense opportunities in this space, it said.

In a press release, Aurionpro said that it has ventured into the Data Centre building, consulting and hybrid cloud services in recent years and has built a strong team of industry veterans, with over 20+ years of experience in the field, for this purpose.

Aurionpro has also signed up with one of the customers and is providing consultancy and assistance for rolling out of 100 MW Data Centers within next few years. Further, Aurionpro is also providing consultancy to the other industry leaders on Data Centre designs and implementation, it said.

Future-Tech, head quartered in Wokingham, England will bring further specialisation, engineering excellence and direct industry knowledge to the companys established and expanding team within India and South Asia. Future-tech has been engaged on providing more than 3GW of data centre capacity. The Future Tech is involved in the projects ranging from high density and micro-edge environments to multi-MW campuses, the largest so far being more than 270MW, the company said.

The management in 2019-20 annual report said, the IT sector had faced headwinds during the year 2020, however, sharp recovery may be witnessed during the year 2021. The increased digitization and technology adaptation will also boost demand for the enterprise security solutions like ISLA in coming years. Further, in order to boost the economies, impacted due to the pandemic, the governments are expected to boost spending on infrastructure in future. This will boost business opportunities in the smart city and smart mobility space, it said.

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Excerpt from:

This information technology stock has zoomed 134% in 6 weeks - Business Standard