Showing posts with label cloud computing. Show all posts
The Ride-on The Next Cloud Wave at Intersec, Dubai
While the Big Mac index reflects the purchasing power parity between nations, the Intersec's performance reflects Dubai economy.
For the past three years, exhibitors get lesser, and crowds get thinner at Intersec, mirroring the fact of the economic downturn in Dubai. Nonetheless, Intersec, as the most significant security tradeshow and congregation hub in the Middle East and North Africa region, still retains its status with quality leads to offer.
Intersec, as always, connects us with our longtime partners and it was a pleasure meeting Mr Faisal Kan, the CEO of IPTec UAE, Mr Kinan Alfin, the CEO of Link2Tec, Rouaa and Noor Alkhalifa from Ultratech Sudan, Mr Mohan Das Kuttath from Okaz Telecom Saudi, Mr Ibrahim Elshamy from Intelligent Project Qatar, Mr Mahmoud from DLink Kuwait, Benacer Douadi from Safety and Protection Ltd Algeria, and many more to catch up with our latest developments.
One of the discernible trends I have observed, the main exhibition halls that used to be occupied by the surveillance system and CCTV products have shrunk, many famous brands disappear, lost in the fierce competition. Access control products, the once smaller in size if compared to surveillance, has now seized a larger hall space.
This time around, we exhibited FingerTec products; but highlighted our arrays of cloud solutions. It has marked the transformation of our company, from a hardware-driven company to a software-driven, from outright purchase to subscription-based, from standalone simple biometrics product to a cloud ecosystem company.
I'm proud that we come prepared as compared to many market players to ride on the next wave of cloud computing technology advancement. While many Chinese companies still relentlessly showing their perpetually lower price hardware products; we manage to bring forward a cluster of mature cloud products, under the trademark of TimeTec Cloud City, complemented and integrated with easy-to-connect IoT devices.
Many visitors found TimeTec's latest QF Master App awe-inspiring.
We turned a standard Android phone into a face recognition terminal that opens the door. The QF master App scans face for recognition and also scans QR codes for verification. It integrates with the latest TimeTec BLE-2 door controller via Bluetooth communication.
Two parties, one from Saudi Arabia and another from UAE, foresee the massive potential of TimeTec cloud solutions, hence, have proposed joint ventures and investments to foster stronger ties with us. Besides, Assa Abloy of Dubai scheduled a meeting with a prominent housing developer for an integration proposal of the Assa Abloy locks and i-Neighbour cloud intercom system, i-Comm, an integral part of our smart community product, i-Neighbour. And soon, our esteemed distributor of FingerTec, Magnum Connect of Dubai will actively promote TimeTec Cloud solutions with the blessings of the CEO, Mr Nayagam Pillai, to carry this product forward.
February is going to be a busy month for us with proposals to write and follow-ups to make.
Till next time, Intersec.
Teh Hon Seng, Group CEO of TimeTec Group of Companies. Prior to forming TimeTec, Teh led PUC Founder (MSC) Bhd to be listed on MESDAQ (ACE) market of Bursa Malaysia in 2002. Teh initiated the R&D in fingerprint technology in 2000, which later developed into a renowned global brand for commercial fingerprint product known as FingerTec. In 2008, he foresaw the trend of cloud computing and mobile technology, and over the years, he had strategically diversified and transformed its biometric-focused products into a suite of cloud solutions that aimed at workforce management and security industries including smart communities that centered around the cloud ecosystem. Teh has more than 10 patents to his name, and he is also a columnist in a local newspaper and a writer of several books. Thursday, 23 January 2020
Brexit or Bremain? Cloud & DevOps World or IFSEC?
A meet up with UK partners
I witnessed the referendum of UK and it quickly became the historical moment and shocked the world when UK voted to exit the European Union. It happened a day after the Cloud & DevOps World 2016, London. This two-day forum was held at Olympia Exhibition Hall, on the 21st and 22nd of June. Simultaneously or so a three-day Security Exhibition, IFSEC International 2016 was on-going at a much larger exhibition hall in ExCel, London. I have managed to make a visit on its last day, which was on the 23rd, the same day when the Britons casted their votes to mandate on exiting or remaining in EU.
I don't think there’s a need for me to talk about the impacts of Brexit, because it was well taken care of by experts flooding their views in the papers and Internet. I’m just plainly discussing the difference between Cloud & DevOps and IFSEC. If I have to choose, should we remain and partake in Cloud & DevOps next year, or to exit and get back to IFSEC that we left a year ago?
IFSEC is no longer new to those who are actively involved in the security industry. Visiting IFSEC is like meeting some old friends, exchanging pleasantries and gossiping the same old stories. Yes, new products were being introduced every year, like products related to Internet of Things, smart home system, and even cloud technology and Apps, but the vast conventional security products still took up 90% of the exhibition hall. There were hardly any new show-stopping products that manage to create disruptive impacts during the exhibition. In other words there were no WOW moments! No doubt that the trade shows drew larger crowd compared to Cloud & DevOps. However, there were many dull faces that were booth hopping to occupy their time.
Cloud & DevOps World 2016 is a mosaic of Knowledge & Networking Division of Informa PLCC, which operates in the heart of Knowledge & Information Economy. No hush-hush that it is a leading business intelligence, academic publishing, knowledge and event-exploring medium. So forums and exhibitions becomes their main focus just like the auxiliary events.
If we split the cloud technology solutions into 3 main categories, there would be Platform as a service (PaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). If I were to make my two-cents worth wrap up, the show was not equally spread out within the categories. The anticipation to hear from some of the cloud giants like Amazon, Microsoft, and Salesforce were let down, as they did not participate. It was mostly cloud consultancies and service providers exhibiting their cloud management, storage, training, cloud virtualization, optimization assessment, cloud strategy and planning and cloud security. We were proud to take the slice of being the only SaaS provider for our 8 applications in the entire show.
Our partner, Bob Marshall, managing director of CSD Global Group, turned up with his three key personnel and took interest in our new cloud guard tour system, TimeTec Patrol. He also requested a demo account to try on and get familiar with before we could start marketing it. To my surprise, one of the visitors said that he had already created a trial account for TimeTec TA and wants to be our partner. One potential end user with more than a hundred chain stores inquired whether shift swaps are possible in TimeTec TA, which I have told him that it is currently under development. More excitingly we had a very keen company from Turkey who wanted to sign up as our premier partner for I-Neighbour, a residential visitor management system.
I don’t think the response for Cloud & DevOps was overwhelming this year, but we’re certainly happy about cultivating some quality leads. Cloud computing is still in its infancy stage, the exposure and preparation is much more important than making a grand leap in pursuing the sales activities.
I conclude that since we have stridden a giant step to transform ourselves from a biometric product supplier to a cloud solution provider, we now need to establish a cloud platform rather than pinning focus on the existing security market. This whopping huge migration from hardware selling to software subscription clearly firms the need for us to build a Cloud Ecosystem.
We were in London during the Brexit brouhaha
Therefore, between ‘Brexit’ and ‘Bremain’, I made up my mind: See you again in Cloud & DevOps World 2017 in a much larger Exhibition Hall, ExCel, London.
By Teh Hon Seng, Chief Executive Officer
8 Noteworthy FingerTec Developments in 2015
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| Making the transition to cloud is part of the development this year. |
1. FCC Stores FingerTec Data Free on Cloud
Customers’ feedback is gold and through years of customer support, one thing customers are very concerned about is data lost and how to avoid it from happening.
We heard you loud and clear, and starting July 2015, FingerTec customers have an option to store their data in the cloud for 3 months based on the first in, first out rule whenever they register online at http://www.fingertec.com/ver2/english/e_warranty.htm
FingerTec Cloud Center keeps terminal information, transactions data and user data online as backup on cloud and each customer of FingerTec can access FCC at anytime he pleases. Isn’t that an amazing service?
2. Improved Coreboard for Better Performance
The most important part of a car is its engine, and for FingerTec biometrics products, you have to look at the coreboard. This year we introduced the FMM100, the latest that comes with an 800MHz microprocessor, 128MB RAM and 256MB flash memory. The new specifications come with new firmware with enhanced features, greater data compatibility, and improved synchronization capabilities. Machines with this board will have upgraded graphical user interface and attractive designed icons which afford greater personalization and customization of the display style for the user interface, wallpaper, voice, bell schedules, punch state options and shortcut key mapping area. Who wouldn’t want that?
3. IngressVMS Launched
In May 2015, FingerTec launched its very own Visitor Management System, named IngressVMS. This application is tailored to manage visitors of a premise, fully integrated with Ingress Door Access System for a secured visitor management system. With IngressVMS, an organization can filter its visitors effectively, making sure that no security risks are allowed into a premise. IngressVMS is a fully automated web-based system. Try it for free for 30 days at http://www.fingertec.com/newsletter/June2015/fn-06-step.html
4. Powerful Ingress is Getting Stronger
Ingress is FingerTec’s powerful door access software dedicated for FingerTec’s door access terminals. In 2015, extensive research and developments have been carried out to better Ingress in many aspects including features, functions and user experience. Ingress Mobile also has been reintroduced to contain various functions suitable for door access management. Experience amazing Ingress yourself, request for a trial version: http://www.fingertec.com/trialversion/ingress/
5. TimeTecTA is Gaining Momentum
Cloud is the future trend and what’s a better option than to be ready with the solution now. TimeTecTA, our very own cloud solution for time attendance has been getting interests from the market that requires attendance data to be accessible at anytime. Loaded with awesome time attendance features, compatible with many verification methods plus the crucial scheduling and rosters management, TimeTecTA is not only affordable, it’s online; it’s scalable, accessible, secured and reliable. And the good news is, we are giving 10 user licenses worth USD20 per month per account for LIFE! Sign up for an account now and get your licenses free from us!
6. FingerTec OFIS Y is Now ANSI 378 and ISO-IEC 19794-2 Compliant
Benefits of having these standards include enabling development of integrated, scalable and robust solutions, and ensuring the availability of multiple sources for comparable products and of competitively priced products in the marketplace. For those who have these standard requirements, contact us at info@fingertec.com to order OFIS Y.
7. TimeTec Cloud is Cumulonimbus
Because it’s big, it carries weight, and it’s lucrative! TimeTec cloud contains more than just time attendance at www.timetecta.com. In the pipeline, we are at the last stage of TimeTec Patrol, guard patrolling cloud solution, and we will offer TimeTec Leave, TimeTec Hire, TimeTec VMS, i-Neighbour and EpiCamera to complete the cloud workforce management under one roof. Get with the program and get the rainfall when the market is ready to take on cloud! In the meantime, sign-up to your cloud solution of choice at www.timeteccloud.com and you’ll be the first to know when they are ready!
8. FingerTec’s Packaging Gets Eco-Friendlier
We are using Kraft 100% recycled packaging boxes for all our hardware and accessories, which reduces packaging materials by up to half, a big win for us in our book. The new look and design of our Kraft packaging boxes is our way of not only making things easier for our customers but also incorporates eco-friendly measures, a clean and attractive packaging design that not only looks good but goes hand in hand with our Going Green initiative, balancing the packaging needs of our consumers with the best environmental practices. Love the Earth, our home.
We are an organization that always moves forward with the we-can-do-it attitude, and we always find the how-to-do-it ways. We will keep on churning new developments and will find ways to assist and satisfy the market the best we can. Look forward to our latest news in FingerTec newsletter!
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| More news and more developments are on the way! |
4 REASONS TO COMMIT TO CLOUD SYSTEM
The World is Changing Rapidly and Cloud Technology is Embracing the Future
There are many advantages to cloud technology that businesses aren’t capitalizing on just by them merely focusing on the price tag of the service. With cloud service, the price is usually offered per person per monthly basis as compared to the other conventional systems that lump sum all the cost and call it a day. Cloud on the other hand, offers cyclical payments, which intimidates a lot of buyers to commit to a period of time.
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| Cloud technology's environmentally safe system makes the world a better place; think about it. |
However, there is more to cloud technology and what is has to offer for the modern business than meets the eye. The value that cloud services provide is more than the sum of its cost. This article explains on 4 main reasons why cloud should be your clear choice.
ACCESSIBILITY – Time Waits For No Man
In the current world that’s constantly connected, having no access to your business’s data is not an ideal situation. Cloud technology enables the personnel-in-charge to be in charge whenever required without being imposed with accessibility limitations. TimeTec (www.timeteccloud.com) for example, offers a cloud-based solution that collects data, stores it immediately at the cloud server and can be accessed at anytime by authorized individuals without any restrictions of time zones and/or hardware isolation.
TRANSPARENCY – Nothing Is Lost In Translation
When accurate data is available online and users are given customized access rights to the data; it creates transparency amongst the organization in an effective way that will only benefit the business. Nobody who is given the rights to access can claim to not having any information or be ignorant about it, and having the correct information during the decision making time is a big plus for any organization. TimeTec lets the users see their own data and request for corrections whenever needed while the managers can oversee their teams’ performance online and offer remedial actions to avoid further complications.
SCALABILITY – Use Only What You Need
Hardware dependency is counting its days when the cloud technology is introduced because initially, the investment must match your company’s growth and then it should be able to justify when the company continues to grow or downscale. When the investment is huge, having to downscale would mean that the company could suffer losses and when the company grows, more investments are required to sustain a bigger system. The cloud technology releases the users from all those commitments and when scalability is key, you can downsize and grow as often and as comfortable as you like without having to think about the “investment risk”. Tailor your budget to your company’s size to achieve efficacy.
SECURITY – Confidence is Key to Productivity
While security is the major concern by subscribers because by putting the data on cloud, the threat is assumed to be greater due to higher exposure to various elements. Data in cloud is totally secured because the provider is accountable when there is a case of data breach or data collapse, etc. Hence, cloud service provider is securing every corner to ensure the security of the data stored in the server. However, it’s important to select a trusted name of cloud provider to ensure security.
In the era where businesses are racing against time and fluidity of information is crucial, the implementation of cloud technology in an organization is a wise and clear choice.
Subscribe to TimeTec and experience cloud technology in managing your staff’s attendance, scheduling and roster assignment. Get 10 user licenses free for life when your company register an account with TimeTec. Go to www.timeteccloud.com
Developers Take Shelter as Cloud SDK Storms In
Quoted by Neil
Armstrong as he planted his footprint on the Moon, “This one small step for
man, one giant leap for Mankind”, is indicative of a time when a footprint was
an identifying marker. We’ve all witnessed a British investigative film
from the 19th Century, arresting the perpetrator as the
imprints from his shoes matches the evidence from the crime scene. With the
evidence in tow, they travel a substantial distance to store the shoes at a
central location. Now imagine if Neil Armstrong decided to do a cartwheel off
his shuttle and landed on his palms. What would he have said? “One small print
for man, one giant database for Mankind?” Would arresting officers have to
travel to a physical location to give and take evidence? Not with the future
FingerTec is constructing.
Cloud
Applications cannot be complete without the functionalities of a Software
Development Kit. SDKs are frequently referred to as Application Programming
Interfaces (API) although they are variants of the same category. Don’t quite
get it? Think Robocop, his bionics are the API, his organic remains were
“created” by a SDK to interact with his computational parts. Or is it
the other way around?
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| “SDKs or APIs, you are coming with me” |
Developing our SDK
platform required a lot of hard work and careful planning. An echo of Lao Tzu’s
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”, we devised a
blueprint to take us on the ride of a lifetime.
In
alignment with our company’s vision, our Software Development Kit adheres to
the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) standard [1]. The CMMI was
established under the wing of the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) at
Carnegie Mellon University including leading industry and government experts.
TimeTec’s SDK evolution
will be wrought with complexities as we continue our efforts to coax its
maturation, an accomplishment of which we are already victorious. In its
current phase, the Cloud SDKs fundamental functions are authentication,
retrieval and the downloading of data from a majority of existing modules.
Users will be able to view live attendance data. Third party software can be
used to process and filter transaction logs.
The SDK runs on the
standard web services requests (WSDL) and its data are returned in JavaScript’s
Object Notation (JSON) lightweight format. TimeTec works with most programming
languages that employ web services. In addition, our software runs on SSL (HTTPS)
with a 256-bit encryption. We are diligent in ensuring all data communication
to our Cloud is secured.
Developers and programmers are the primary
utilizers of software DKs. However our TimeTec Cloud differs by our aims to
assist our subscribers in enabling a Windows based application to connect
directly to our Cloud, by releasing the Open Source TimeTec Cloud Demo
Application. As an Administrator, you will be able to view attendances without
logging into TimeTec Cloud.
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| I'm open, customize me |
The Demo Application is
a step forward for software enthusiasts. It uses the Metro User Interface [2]
and navigational concepts. We aspire to
provide our subscribers an experience not limited to the web but also from a Windows
based application.
IT Cloud environments are constantly evolving. That’s the beauty of our Cloud Demo App. As an open source application, any customizations can be made to our code without fears of infringement(s) of any Data Protection Acts.
IT Cloud environments are constantly evolving. That’s the beauty of our Cloud Demo App. As an open source application, any customizations can be made to our code without fears of infringement(s) of any Data Protection Acts.
In addition to interests in our Demo
Application, we provide support to our partners by offering sample PHP codes
for their integration, either by a Windows Application or PHP via a web
platform.
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| Easy to understand, Simple to use |
In our second phase,
with a preferable completion date by the end of 2014, we will extend its
capabilities to enable users to modify configurations and perform updates for
all modules. Third party software vendors will be able to perform updates
seamlessly.
By the end of 2015, our
last phase aims to automate tasks, enable batch import & export features,
generate reports and more. Our focus is to automate the process and simplify
workflow.
Unlike most Cloud
Partners who charge a fee for access their Cloud’s SDK, TimeTec’s Cloud SDK is
now offering premium access to all active subscribers for FREE.
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| Believe your eyes. |
If you find yourself in
doubt over TimeTec Cloud SDKs complexities, you can find available resources
including manuals at FingerTec’s Developer Program. As always, we appreciate
feedback, and welcome you to submit your ideas.
References
References
Capability Maturity Model Integration, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capability_Maturity_Model_Integration
Metro (design language)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro_design_language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro_design_language
FingerTec Developer Program, http://www.fingertec.com/developerprogram/timeteccloud.php
By Daryl Choo, Chief Information Officer, FingerTec HQ
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