Tyler O'Neal, Staff Editor GOVERNMENT

Softline wins second place in Microsoft E5 Open Hackathon

Microsoft E5 OpenHack is a space that brings together teams of developers and experts to solve several experimental issues that some customers could potentially have, usually caused by cyber-attacks. The E5 Open Hackathon is another competition where Microsoft has dedicated it to cybersecurity solutions. This time, partners in India and the Asia Pacific worked for four days to create best-in-class security solutions using Azure Sentinel and Azure Security Center.

  • Microsoft 365 is the Company’s premium offering to enable customers to create secure, compliant, and collaborative “Modern Workplaces”.
  • Microsoft relies on their trusted Network of Gold Certified Partners to help customers realize the potential of Microsoft 365 under their specific needs and requirements.
  • The “Microsoft E5 Open Hackathon” is a yearly event meant to accelerate the development of skills in their Partner Ecosystem as well as to showcase some of their most strategic partners in the field within India and the Asia Pacific regions.
  • It being one of Softline’s core strengths, the company presented two teams with a member from the Softline India and Vietnam offices who collaborated to create a cybersecurity solution for a large electronics manufacturer with more than 2000 employees.
  • The challenge was to design a transformation program for the customer's information security system by experts on  Microsoft 365 Defender and Azure Defender technologies as per the Zero Trust model.
  • The competition ended with the jury awarding Softline as the second-best winner at the Hackathon

Softline’s team worked remotely with a large electronics manufacturer with over 2,000 employees. Given the context of an ever-changing threat landscape of global cyber-attacks and the lack of knowledge or tools thereof to detect and prevent them, the realized its vulnerability and the need to act and protect its business.

Softline offered the customer to implement a robust cyber-threat transformation program:

  • The first phase included solution areas to strengthen the client's IT infrastructure without any additional investment.
  • The second phase was to deploy an advanced detection and response system that gathers an in-depth analysis of information.
  • The final stage of implementation included an enterprise visualization tool using Azure Sentinel, which in the future will pre-empt and apprise the organization about possible threats and stay ahead of potential attacks.

“We differentiated our proposed solution by demonstrating how Azure Sentinel’s unique features can revolutionize security operations with assured support from Softline. For organizations that use cloud and artificial intelligence solutions, we have provided a clear action plan so that they can react quickly and decisively, using both built-in and customizable dashboards if a cyber threat emerges,” explains Atul Ahuja, Vice President Asia. “The way technology is evolving today is really amazing. What used to be a long time-consuming task, can now be done in minutes and it keeps improving every second. I’m really proud to say that we’ve received the second-best position at the Hackathon, it clearly demonstrates that we are not just only one of the best and most reliable Microsoft partners in Asia but also that we also have built extensive capabilities in some of the cutting edge technologies that keep us ahead.”

Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence, Weizmann Institute of Science launch joint AI Program

Tyler O'Neal, Staff Editor GOVERNMENT

New collaborative projects will facilitate joint research projects, training programs, conferences, student exchange programs, and more

The Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) and the Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS) have announced the establishment of the MBZUAI-WIS Joint Program for Artificial Intelligence Research (the AI Program). The new program will promote collaborative initiatives in fundamental artificial intelligence research and will explore AI applications in domains such as healthcare, genomics, and more. H.E. Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and Chairman of the MBZUAI Board of Trustees, Professor Eric Xing, President of MBZUAI, and Professor Alon Chen, President of Weizmann Institute of Science

Drawing upon the combined expertise of MBZUAI and the Weizmann Institute, the AI Program will carry out both basic and applied research in Machine Learning, Computer Vision, Natural Language Processing, Computational Biology, Neural Sciences, and more, toward the vision of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). The collaboration will encompass joint research projects, joint training programs, mutual visits, AI conferences and workshops, and student and staff exchange programs.

Professor Eric Xing, President of MBZUAI, and Weizmann Institute President, Professor Alon Chen, inked the new partnership agreement during a virtual ceremony in the presence of officials from both establishments.

H.E. Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and Chairman of the MBZUAI Board of Trustees, attended the event and delivered opening remarks. Speaking on the announcement, he said: "The collaboration between MBZUAI and WIS aligns with our leadership's vision of extending and strengthening bridges of collaboration in the service of our nation and humanity and seeks to enable socio-economic progress through AI innovation. We are confident that partnerships that leverage talent, technological and research capabilities will deliver breakthroughs in AI that will empower the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and contribute towards finding solutions for the greatest challenges we face as an international community – such as COVID-19, food security, and more. MBZUAI is proud to work with leading institutes such as the Weizmann Institute of Science, to bring about a future built on knowledge, sustainability and resilience."

Professor Alon Chen said: "The implications of AI are vast, and will affect every aspect of our lives. Through the MBZUAI-WIS Joint Program for Artificial Intelligence, we are bringing together some of the greatest minds in the fields of AI, natural and exact sciences, with the ambition of extending boundaries and empowering our scientists with access to exceptional resources. Together we will advance AI, discovering new means of leveraging the immense possibilities of this diverse and exciting technology for the benefit of humanity."

Professor Eric Xing said: "Collaborative efforts amongst leaders in the field of AI will enable us to achieve significant progress. The establishment of the AI Program further strengthens our partnership with the Weizmann Institute, laying the foundation to enhance the global AI ecosystem and further advance in areas of science, technology, and higher education. This will provide our students and faculty with access to world-class resources beyond our own University, fostering a culture of international partnership and knowledge-sharing."

Open data on malaria genomes helps combat drug resistance

Tyler O'Neal, Staff Editor GOVERNMENT

This release represents the world's largest resource of genomic data on malaria parasite evolution and drug resistance

Genome variation data on more than 7,000 malaria parasites from 28 endemic countries is released today (24 February) in Wellcome Open Research. It has been produced by MalariaGEN, a data-sharing network of groups around the world who are working together to build high-quality data resources for malaria research and disease control.

This open data release represents the world's largest resource of genomic data on malaria parasite evolution and drug resistance. It provides benchmark data on parasite genome variation that is needed in the search for new drugs and vaccines, and the development of surveillance tools for malaria control and elimination.

Malaria is a major global health problem causing an estimated 409,000 deaths in 2019, with 67 percent of deaths occurring in children under five years of age*. This data resource focuses on Plasmodium falciparum, the species of malaria parasite that is responsible for the most common and deadliest form of the disease. 

The Malaria Genomic Epidemiology Network (MalariaGEN) provides researchers and control programs in malaria-endemic countries with access to DNA sequencing technologies and tools for genomic analysis. Founded in 2005, MalariaGEN now has partners in 39 countries, each leading their own studies into different aspects of malaria biology and epidemiology, with the common goal of finding ways to improve malaria control.

This latest publication represents the work of 49 partner studies at 73 locations in Africa, Asia, South America, and Oceania, who together contributed 7,113 samples of P. falciparum for genome sequencing. At the Wellcome Sanger Institute, each sample was analyzed for over 3 million genetic variants and the data were carefully curated before returning to partners for use in their own research. This paper brings together the data from all the partner studies to provide an open data resource for the wider scientific community.

Dr. Richard Pearson, the co-author from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, said: "We have created a data resource that is 'analysis ready' for anyone to use, including those without specialist genetics training. Each annotated dataset sample includes key features that are relevant to malaria control, such as resistance to six major antimalarial drugs, and whether it carries particular structural changes that cause diagnostic malaria tests to fail. Like the Human Genome Project was a resource for the analyses of human genome sequence data, we hope this will be one of the main resources for malaria research."

One of MalariaGEN's core principles is to provide clear attribution and recognition of all the groups that have contributed to a data resource. In this dataset, each sample is listed against the partner study that it belongs to, with a description of the scientific aims of the study and the local investigators that led the work.

Professor Dominic Kwiatkowski, the co-author from the Wellcome Sanger Institute and the Big Data Institute at the University of Oxford, said: "It has been a huge privilege to collaborate with our MalariaGEN partners around the world to build this data resource. We are proud to see these genomic data being used in publications by our colleagues in malaria-endemic studies and others in the malaria research community. We hope that the new features in this data release will make it accessible to an even wider audience, and our team is now hard at work to produce the next version."

Professor Abdoulaye Djimde, the co-author from the University of Science, Techniques, and Technologies of Bamako, Mali, said: "A quantitative assessment of how malaria parasites respond to public health interventions is key for a successful and sustainable elimination campaign. Over time, this openly available resource will facilitate research into the malaria parasite's evolutionary processes, which will ultimately inform effective and sustainable malaria control and elimination strategies that will be key in ending this devastating disease."