Wi-Fi up to five times faster coming in 2015

Wi-Fi up to five times faster coming in 2015

Samsung Electronics has developed a new way of transmitting Wi-Fi data five times faster than was previously possible. The new technology is expected to be available in consumer devices as early as 2015.

If you've been to a cafe or other public place recently and been frustrated at the slow speed of Wi-Fi, a new breakthrough by Samsung Electronics may soon change that. Researchers at the company have this week achieved the development of 60GHz Wi-Fi allowing transfer rates of 4.6Gbps, or 575MB per second. That is 5.3 times faster than the previous maximum speed for consumer devices (866Mbps, or 108MB per second).

Today's generation of Wi-Fi uses the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz areas of the radio spectrum. The 60GHz band is currently unlicensed and offers major potential, but previous attempts to exploit it have failed to send data over significant distances, due to path loss and weak penetration properties. Samsung has overcome these issues through a combination of millimetre-wave circuit design, a high performance modem and wide-coverage beam-forming antenna. This eliminates co-channel interference, regardless of the number of devices using the same network.

Commercialisation is expected in 2015, with Samsung planning integration into a wide variety of products – including audio visual, medical devices and telecommunications equipment. It will also help to spur the Internet of Things.

“Samsung prides itself at being of the forefront of technology innovation, and is delighted to have overcome the barriers to the commercialisation of 60GHz millimetre-wave band Wi-Fi technology,” said Paul Templeton, General Manager of Samsung Networks UK. “This breakthrough has opened the door to exciting possibilities for Samsung’s next-generation devices, and has also changed the face of the future development of Wi-Fi technology, promising innovations that were not previously within reach.”

To give an idea of the speed: a 1GB movie will take less than three seconds to transfer between devices, while uncompressed high-definition videos could easily be streamed from mobile devices to TVs in real-time without any delay.

Breakthrough in creating DNA-based electrical circuits

An international team has announced "the most significant breakthrough in a decade" toward developing DNA-based electrical circuits.

The central technological revolution of the 20th century was the development of computers, leading to the communication and Internet era. The main measure of this evolution has been miniaturisation: making machines smaller. A computer with the memory of the average laptop today was the size of a tennis court in the 1970s. Yet while scientists made great strides in reducing the size of individual components through microelectronics, they have been less successful at reducing the distance between transistors, the main element of our computers. These spaces between transistors have been much more challenging and extremely expensive to miniaturise – an obstacle that limits the future development of computers.

Molecular electronics, which uses molecules as building blocks for the fabrication of electronic components, was seen as the ultimate solution to the miniaturisation challenge. To date, however, no one has actually been able to make complex electrical circuits using molecules. The only known molecules that can be pre-designed to self-assemble into complex miniature circuits, which could in turn be used in computers, are DNA molecules. Nevertheless, nobody has so far been able to demonstrate reliably and quantitatively the flow of electrical current through long DNA molecules.

Now, an international group led by Prof. Danny Porath, at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, reports reproducible and quantitative measurements of electricity flow through long molecules made of four DNA strands. The research, which could re-ignite interest in the use of DNA-based wires and devices in the development of programmable circuits, appears in the journal Nature Nanotechnology under the title "Long-range charge transport in single G-quadruplex DNA molecules."

Prof. Porath is affiliated with the Hebrew University's Institute of Chemistry and its Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. The molecules were produced by the group of Alexander Kotlyar from Tel Aviv University, who has been collaborating with Porath for 15 years. The measurements were performed mainly by Gideon Livshits, a PhD student in the Porath group. The research was carried out in collaboration with groups from Denmark, Spain, the US, Italy and Cyprus.

According to Prof. Porath, "This research paves the way for implementing DNA-based programmable circuits for molecular electronics, which could lead to a new generation of computer circuits that can be more sophisticated, cheaper and simpler to make."

3D printer is 10 times faster than current models

Hewlett-Packard (HP) has unveiled a 3D printer that it claims will be 10 times faster than current models.

HP has introduced its vision for the future of computing and 3D printing by unveiling its new "Blended Reality" ecosystem. Designed to break down the barriers between the digital and physical worlds, this ecosystem is underpinned by two key advancements:

• HP Multi Jet Fusion: A revolutionary technology engineered to resolve critical gaps in the combination of speed, quality and cost, and deliver on the potential of 3D printing.
  
• Sprout by HP: A first-of-its-kind Immersive Computing platform that will redefine the user experience and that creates a foundation for future immersive technologies.

"We are on the cusp of a transformative era in computing and printing," said Dion Weisler, executive vice president, Printing & Personal Systems (PPS). "Our ability to deliver Blended Reality technologies will reduce the barriers between the digital and physical worlds, enabling us to express ourselves at the speed of thought – without filters, without limitations. This ecosystem opens up new market categories that can define the future, empowering people to create, interact and inspire like never before."

"As we examined the existing 3D print market, we saw a great deal of potential but also saw major gaps in the combination of speed, quality and cost," said Stephen Nigro, vice president of Inkjet and Graphic Solutions at HP. "HP Multi Jet Fusion is designed to transform manufacturing across industries by delivering on the full potential of 3D printing with better quality, increased productivity, and break-through economics."

Multi Jet Fusion is built on HP Thermal Inkjet technology and features a unique synchronous architecture that significantly improves the commercial viability of 3D printing and has the potential to change the way we think about manufacturing.

• 10 times faster: Images entire surface areas versus one point at a time to achieve breakthrough functional build speeds, 10 times faster than the fastest technology in the market today.
  
• New levels of quality, strength and durability: Multi-agent printing process utilising HP Thermal Inkjet arrays that simultaneously apply multiple liquid agents to produce best-in-class quality that combines greater accuracy, resiliency and uniform part strength in all three axis directions.
  
• Accuracy and detail: Capable of delivering fully functional parts with more accuracy, finer details and smooth surfaces, and able to manipulate part and material properties, including form, texture, friction, strength, elasticity, electrical, thermal properties and more.
  
• Achieves breakthrough economics: Unifies and integrates various steps of the print process to reduce running time, cost, energy consumption and waste to significantly improve 3D printing economics.

Sprout – the first product available in HP's Blended Reality ecosystem – combines the power of an advanced desktop computer with an immersive, natural user interface to create a new computing experience. As shown in the image above, this puts a scanner, depth sensor, hi-resolution camera and projector into a single device, allowing users to take physical items and seamlessly merge them into a digital workspace. The system also delivers an unmatched collaboration platform, allowing users in multiple locations to collaborate on and manipulate a single piece of digital content in real-time.

"We live in a 3D world, but today we create in a 2D world on existing devices," said Ron Coughlin, senior vice president, Consumer PC & Solutions, HP. "Sprout by HP is a big step forward in reimagining the boundaries of how we create and engage with technology to allow users to move seamlessly from thought to expression."

Together, HP says these advancements have the potential to revolutionise production and offer small businesses a new way to produce goods and parts for customers. HP aims to invite open collaboration and partnerships in 2015 to further develop its 3D print system, with general consumer availability in the second half of 2016.

DARPA circuit achieves speed of 1 terahertz (THz)

The fastest ever integrated circuit has been announced by DARPA – achieving one terahertz (10¹² Hz), or a trillion cycles per second.

Guinness World Records has officially recognised DARPA's Terahertz Electronics program for creating the fastest solid-state amplifier integrated circuit ever measured. The ten-stage common-source amplifier operates at a speed of one terahertz (1,000,000,000,000 Hz), or one trillion cycles per second — 150 billion cycles faster than the existing world record of 850 gigahertz set in 2012.

“This breakthrough could lead to revolutionary technologies such as high-resolution security imaging systems, improved collision-avoidance radar, communications networks with many times the capacity of current systems and spectrometers that could detect potentially dangerous chemicals and explosives with much greater sensitivity,” said Dev Palmer, DARPA program manager.

Developed by Northrop Grumman Corporation, the Terahertz Monolithic Integrated Circuit (TMIC) exhibits power gains several orders of magnitude beyond the current state of the art, using a super-scaled 25 nanometer gate-length. Gain, which is measured logarithmically in decibels, similar to how earthquake intensity is measured on the Richter scale, describes the ability of an amplifier to increase the power of a signal from the input to the output. The Northrop Grumman TMIC showed a measured gain of nine decibels at 1.0 terahertz and 10 decibels at 1.03 terahertz. By contrast, current smartphone technology operates at one to two gigahertz and wireless networks at 5.7 gigahertz.

“Gains of six decibels or more start to move this research from the laboratory bench to practical applications — nine decibels of gain is unheard of at terahertz frequencies” said Palmer. “This opens up new possibilities for building terahertz radio circuits.”

For years, researchers have been looking to exploit the tremendously high-frequency band beginning above 300 gigahertz where the wavelengths are less than one millimetre. The terahertz level has proven to be somewhat elusive though, due to a lack of effective means to generate, detect, process and radiate the necessary high-frequency signals.

Current electronics using solid-state technologies have largely been unable to access the sub-millimetre band of the electromagnetic spectrum due to insufficient transistor performance. To address the “terahertz gap,” engineers have traditionally used frequency conversion — converting alternating current at one frequency to alternating current at another frequency — to multiply circuit operating frequencies up from millimetre-wave frequencies. This approach, however, restricts the output power of electrical devices and adversely affects signal-to-noise ratio. Frequency conversion also increases device size, weight and power requirements.

DARPA has made a series of strategic investments in terahertz electronics through its HiFIVE, SWIFT and TFAST programs. Each program has built on the successes of the previous one, providing the foundational research necessary for frequencies to reach the terahertz threshold.

3-D haptic shapes can be seen and felt in mid-air

New research, using ultrasound, has developed a 3-D haptic shape that can be seen and felt in mid-air.

Touch feedback technology – known as haptics – has advanced rapidly in recent years. It is now used in a range of applications including entertainment, rehabilitation and even surgical training. New research by the University of Bristol, using ultrasound, has created a virtual 3-D haptic shape that can be seen and felt in mid-air.

This breakthrough, led by Dr Ben Long and colleagues at the university's Department of Computer Science, could improve the way 3-D shapes are used and function as an important new tool in certain situations. It could enable surgeons to explore a CT scan, for example, by enabling them to actually "feel" a disease, such as a tumour.

The method uses ultrasound, focussed onto hands above the device and can be felt. By focussing complex patterns of ultrasound, the air disturbances can be seen as floating 3-D shapes. Visually, the researchers have demonstrated the ultrasound patterns by directing the device at a thin layer of oil so that the depressions in the surface can be seen as spots when lit by a lamp.

The system generates a virtual 3-D shape that can be added to 3-D displays to create a holographic effect that can be seen and felt. The research team have also shown that users can match a picture of a 3-D shape to the shape created by the system. They have already been approached by companies interested in commercialising the technology. At this early stage of development, the level of detail in the virtual objects is limited, but using a greater number of speakers at smaller sizes could improve the resolution of projections.

“Touchable holograms, immersive virtual reality that you can feel and complex touchable controls in free space, are all possible ways of using this system,” says Dr Long. “In the future, people could feel holograms of objects that would not otherwise be touchable, such as feeling the differences between materials in a CT scan or understanding the shapes of artefacts in a museum.”

The research paper is published in ACM Transactions on Graphics and is presented at this week’s SIGGRAPH Asia 2014 conference [3-6 December].

Clothes that can monitor and transmit biomedical info

Researchers at Université Laval in Canada have developed "smart textiles" able to monitor and transmit wearers' biomedical information via wireless or cellular networks.

Credit: Stepan Gorgutsa, Université Laval

This technological breakthrough, described in the scientific journal Sensors, paves the way for a host of new developments for people suffering from chronic diseases, elderly people living alone, and even firemen and police officers. A team under the supervision of Professor Younès Messaddeq created the smart fabric by successfully superimposing multiple layers of copper, polymers, glass and silver.

"The fibre acts as both sensor and antenna," explains Professor Messaddeq, Canada Excellence Research Chair in Photonic Innovations. "It is durable but malleable, and can be woven with wool or cotton. And signal quality is comparable to commercial antennas." The surface of the fibre can also be adjusted to monitor a range of information such as glucose levels, heart rhythm, brain activity, movements and spatial coordinates.

The design is based on hollow-core polymer-clad silica fibres, featuring a thick polyimide polymer overcoat. This enables it to withstand high tensile and bending stresses, mechanical abrasion, extreme heat conditions (up to 350°C), humidity, water, detergent or acidic environments. A patent application has already been filed, though certain elements still need to be fine-tuned before the innovation is ready for commercialisation.

"Of course, the technology will have to be connected to a wireless network – and there is the issue of power supply to be solved," notes Messaddeq. "We have tested a number of solutions, and the results are promising."

Police body cameras can prevent excessive force

Police body cameras can prevent excessive force

The first full scientific study into police body cameras has shown the technology can substantially reduce both excessive use-of-force by officers and complaints against officers by the public.

The first full scientific study of an experiment with body-worn police cameras has been published by the Journal of Quantitative Criminology. The trial was conducted in Rialto, California, during a 12-month period and shows highly promising results. Officers wearing the camera devices witnessed a 59% drop in their use-of-force, while complaints against them fell by a massive 87% compared to the previous year's figures. Police shifts were randomly assigned as experimental (with camera) or control (without camera), totalling over 50,000 hours of police-public interactions.

According to the researchers, when people are being recorded, it generates a "self-awareness" for everyone involved. Knowing a third party could later observe their actions – potentially a legal court, or the public – will cause them to change their behaviour and become less confrontational. This makes body-worn video a "preventative treatment" that could diffuse or even completely stop volatile situations from escalating. It applies to both abusive behaviour towards police and unnecessary use-of-force by police.

Dr Barak Ariel, from the University of Cambridge's Institute of Criminology (IoC): "With institutionalised body-worn-camera use, an officer is obliged to issue a warning from the start that an encounter is being filmed, impacting the psyche of all involved by conveying a straightforward, pragmatic message: we are all being watched, videotaped and expected to follow the rules."

"Police subcultures of illegitimate force responses are likely to be affected by the cameras, because misconduct cannot go undetected – an external set of behavioural norms is being applied and enforced through the cameras. Police-public encounters become more transparent and the curtain of silence that protects misconduct can more easily be unveiled, which makes misconduct less likely."

The trials are now being replicated by 30 forces worldwide – including the Metropolitan Police in London, forces in West Yorkshire, Northern Ireland, Uruguay and elsewhere in the United States. In the wake of several high-profile incidents, the White House earlier this month pledged $263 million in additional federal funding for police training and cameras, with $75 million allocated specifically for the purchase of 50,000 body cameras. New findings are due to be announced at the IoC's Conference for Evidence-Based Policing in July 2015. Early signs appear to match the Rialto success, showing that body-worn-video cameras have a major positive impact on interactions between officers and civilians.

However, the research team is keen to sound a note of caution. Just as with any revolutionary new technology, more needs to be known regarding the full effects and legal ramifications. Before departments are "steamrolled" into adopting them, vital questions need to be answered such as how these devices might influence prosecution outcomes.

"Historically, courtroom testimonies of response officers have carried tremendous weight," says Ariel. "But prevalence of video might lead to reluctance to prosecute when there is no evidence from body-worn-cameras to corroborate the testimony of an officer, or even a victim."

There are also the issues of storage, security, privacy and the vast amount of data captured. While the devices are highly cost-effective at present (analysis from Rialto showed every dollar spent on the technology saved about four dollars on complaint litigations), the sheer level of data storage has the potential to become crippling in the future.

"The velocity and volume of data accumulating in police departments – even if only a fraction of recorded events turn into 'downloadable' recordings for evidentiary purposes – will exponentially grow over time," says Ariel. "User licenses, storage space, 'security costs', maintenance and system upgrades can potentially translate into billions of dollars worldwide."

"Body-worn-video has the potential to improve police legitimacy and enhance democracy – not least by calming situations on the front line of policing to prevent the pain and damage caused by unnecessary escalations of volatile situations. But there are substantial effects of body-worn-video that can potentially offset the benefits which future research needs to explore."

Wireless Power Transmission

- Power transmission methods -

In addition to the capacitive coupling, there are other methods of wireless power transmission, such as electromagnetic induction, magnetic resonance and radiowave.
(Features of capacitive coupling is here.) 

Power transmittion Method	Image	Overview
Capacitive coupling (Murata)		Method of transmitting power by capacitive coupling from opposing plane electrodes
Electromagnetic induction		Method of transmitting power by induced current from a magnetic field between opposing coils
Magnetic resonance		Method of transmitting power over a space utilizing resonance phenomenon based on the same principle as electromagnetic induction
Radiowave		Power is generated from radiowaves received by an antenna.

- Capacitive coupling wireless power transmission technology -
Murata's capacitive coupling wireless power transmission modules have two sets of asymmetric dipoles consisting of active and passive electrodes positioned vertically on the power transmitting and receiving sides.
Power is transmitted utilizing an induction field generated by coupling the two sets of asymmetric dipoles.
This configuration realizes wireless power transmission with high position freedom and efficiency.
Murata holds the patent for this configuration. (Patent #: PCT/FR2006/000614).

Basic configuration for the capacitive coupling power transmission system

Below is a block diagram showing the entire system, which makes use of this technology.
The power transmitting side consists of a power transmitting module and a power transmitting electrode, and the power receiving side consists of a power receiving electrode, a power receiving module and a DC-DC converter.
The power transmitting module includes a power supply circuit, which makes use of Murata's power supply design technology, and a control circuit to provide safety.
The power converted to AC current by the power transmitting module is transmitted to the power receiving side via a capacitor consisting of a power transmitting electrode and a power receiving electrode.
A rectifying circuit and a voltage conversion circuit are built into the power receiving side to provide stable DC voltage to batteries and equipment.

Block diagram

Voltage is converted during power transmission in capacitive coupling. An example of voltage transition is shown below. The wireless power transmission (capacitive coupling) area is high-voltage but small-current; therefore, there is no risk of heat generation.
Murata's own high-voltage safety measures are described below.

Block diagram/Transition of voltage

Murata's own safety measures are applied to high voltage at the wireless power transmission area providing excellent protection.

• Power transmitting modules feature the ability to detect load and transition.
• With the above feature, power transmission is halted if conditions such as the absence of equipment being charged or fully-charged battery are detected.
• When abnormal conditions such as contact by a metal object other than equipment to be charged or a human body is detected, power transmission is also halted.
• If electric discharge occurs, power transmission is halted to prevent smoke emission and fire.

 Murata offers support for structural design around electrodes to ensure the safety of equipment introducing our modules. Here are the areas of support we offer.

• We insulate electrode areas.
• We help with structural design to completely encase electrode areas.

Web-Scale IT

With a constantly increasing amount of data and more complex application requirements, talk about so-called Web-scale IT architecture is on the rise. But what exactly does Web-scale IT mean?

The research firm Gartner introduced the term Web-scale IT in an effort to describe what the fine folks at Internet giants like Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, etc. have achieved in agility and scalability by applying new processes, architectures, and practices. These companies exceed the “scale in terms of sheer size to also include scale as it pertains to speed and agility,” according to Gartner. The research firm also named it one of the top ten strategic technology trends of 2014.

The term, Web-scale IT, is often used in the context of DevOps but it also applies to the underlying IT infrastructure – the system needs to be in a “known good state” to achieve agility at scale. And by now you probably know where we are going with this (hint: we pride ourselves to be the leaders in infrastructure automation).

Can Organizations of All Sizes Benefit From Web-Scale IT Methodology?

Good question and let’s think about this. While most organizations don’t reach the scale of a Google or the scale of a Facebook, they will still benefit from increased velocity that comes with the Web-scale IT approach (if done right). But let’s go even further, thanks to the availability of powerful open source tools like Hadoop, OpenStack, etc., Big Data and cloud techniques are no longer the privileges of hyperscale web properties and became available to enterprises of all sizes. That being said, with all these new tools and capabilities, many sub web-scale enterprises today run some form of Big Infrastructure and that brings new challenges. 

Disruption of the IT Infrastructure As We Know It

The shift to Web-scale IT represents a radical departure from the old ways of doing things in the IT world and as with every disruptive movement, it can be a scary transition. Web-scale IT requires IT professionals to be able to move faster than ever to deploy and manage Big Infrastructure. Infrastructure has become increasingly heterogeneous with commodity hardware, open source software, and home-grown provisioning and management software that make infrastructure difficult to manage at scale. Many steps are still done manually, are inefficient, and error prone.

To do Web-scale IT right, organizations must move to the next level of infrastructure automation, the level that understands the requirements of applications and responds to those requirements in real time – a software defined environment. In a software-defined environment, IT becomes simplified, as well as responsive to shifting requirements and adaptive through automation. Building and managing these systems is the “secret sauce” but it isn’t easy to achieve.

Hyperscale websites have the capital to build their own management tools that automate the management, configuration, and deployment, but that takes resources that enterprise IT infrastructure managers just don’t have. However, they still need automation if they want to achieve their goals. They need a solution that will harness the collection of commodity hardware and open source software, and make it work like a turnkey solution (from bare metal all the way to the applications layer) without the price tag of a proprietary system.

 What Would Such Solution Look Like?

Here at StackIQ we spend a lot of time thinking about how to make the lives of infrastructure managers easier. How can we help enterprises of all sizes to get to the next level of infrastructure automation and benefit from a Web-scale IT approach?

What do you think? To get the discussion started, here are a few characteristics that we believe are key to be successful in this new IT world:

-        Heterogeneous support for all commodity hardware and open source software

-        Capability to build the entire stack from bare metal to the applications layer

-        Modular extensibility of the stack to keep up with ever changing business requirements

-        Simplified deployment with script free configuration

Smart Machine Technologies, Inc.

About Us

Smart Machines is a world-class designer, fabricator and manufacturer of custom-made machinery and build-to-print applications. We utilize the latest technology to conceptualize, design, engineer, manufacture and install solutions from our 85,000 SF facility which is located in Martinsville, VA.

For 32 years we have contributed to the success of companies in a variety of industries including: Brewing, Beverage, Carpet, Environmental, Energy, Food, Film, Furniture, Glass, Mining, Paper, Recycling, Textile, Transportation, Tobacco, and Waste. Our designs and fabrications help companies improve their throughput and competitiveness. We pride ourselves in our ability to integrate new technology in solving customer’s problems.  

A key element to our success has been recruiting and developing superior production craftsmen who are adept at stainless and carbon steel fabrication, on site commissioning, installation, retrofit and project management. Our facility is well equipped to handle small and large fabrications by utilizing overhead cranes up to 35 tons and a high bay area. In addition, our use of 3-D design, world class production techniques and continuous investment in state of the art equipment enables us to assure high quality and on time delivery at an affordable price.

                                                                  Custom Beverage Cooler Retrofit

Our seasoned team of design and manufacturing personnel are ready to assist you with your project, if it is one-of-a-kind or one of hundreds. At Smart Machines we do more than build machinery, we build solutions.

Smart Machines Quality Control Program is capable of meeting the highest quality standards. Our quality control instruments are calibrated accordingly. Our rigid quality practices are outlined in our quality control manuals. Our QC personnel are in our facilities at all times to inspect all parts as they move from one operation to the next. Every employee holds to these rigid quality standards from the time raw material arrives, throughout the manufacturing process and until the project is completed. Workmanship manuals, that address all disciplines, are used by our craftsmen to ensure uniformity in the production of our equipment.

                                                                              Drag-Chain Conveyor With Bath

Safety is of the upmost importance to Smart Machines whether we are working in our facility or on a job site. Safety is an integral part of our agenda. Employees receive refresher courses throughout the year on Bloodborne Pathogens, Confined Spaces, Fire Safety, Hazard Assessment, Hazardous Materials Management, Lock-Out/Tag- Out, Personal Protective Equipment and Welding Safety to name a few.

Our Quality Policy:

• Smart Machines is a team of people working together to furnish our customers with the highest quality product, on-time delivery and affordable price.
• Smart Machines conducts comprehensive internal quality audits to determine the status and effectiveness of the Quality System.
• Support third party quality audits.
• Annual calibration of measuring equipment.
• All quality documents are held for a minimum of (3) three years.
• Certified AWS inspector – American Welding Society
• Use AWS structural welding procedures.
• Implement a standard for continuous quality improvement.
• Smart Machines Quality System is defined in the following controlled documents: Quality Manual, Standard Operating Procedures,
  Work Instruction / Workmanship manual, Customer technical specifications and drawings.
• Inspection and testing is conducted when purchased materials are received, during production, and prior to shipping finished products.

At Smart Machines, we understand that downtime affects your bottom line. All installations are scheduled with the customer well in advance. We work hard to install your equipment with as little downtime as possible.

We share the visions and goals of our customers and are always looking for new challenges. With our combined expertise and experience, we are capable of meeting the demands of our expanding customer base. We pride ourselves in our versatility. Whether your company needs specialty stainless steel conveyors, large capacity product storage silos, product handling systems, massive fiberglass process systems, pasteurizer retrofits, dryer conversions or a custom-made system, is innovative and flexible enough to handle your project.

Project/Product Examples:

• Conveyors
• Pack-out Lines
• Vertical Slicers
• Conditioning Cylinders
• Weighing Conveyors
• Steaming & Heating Tunnels
• Flowcontrol & Proportioning / Sweep Feed - Flow splitter/Proportioning - Feeders
• Roller Sieving & Desanding
• Green Leaf Threshing Systems / Threshers - Counterflow Separators - SWAN & MODSWAN
• Blending & Bulking Silos
• Quality Control Equipment / Quality Control Test Shaker - Quality Control Stem Tester
• Cigarette Maker Feed Systems / Rotadrum Feeder - Rotary Feeder - Discharger
• Group Dust Systems for Cigarette Makers
• Centralised Vacuum Cleaning
• Odor Emission Control / Modular Scrubber - Biofilter - Plasmacat

Context-Rich Systems

 Context-Rich Systems

It’s hard to believe we are in the last quarter of 2014. This has been a tough year for security with household names including Target, Sally Beauty, Neiman Marcus, Michaels, KMart, Dairy Queen and Home Depot all suffering data breaches that exposed their customers’ personal and payment card data. As we all look towards 2015 and our security practices in light of these breaches, Gartner’s recently released top 10 strategic technology trends struck a chord. Two I found particularly relevant to our readers include:

Risk-Based Security and Self-Protection

All roads to the digital future lead through security. However, in a digital business world, security cannot be a roadblock that stops all progress. Organizations will increasingly recognize that it is not possible to provide a 100 percent secured environment. Once organizations acknowledge that, they can begin to apply more-sophisticated risk assessment and mitigation tools. On the technical side, recognition that perimeter defense is inadequate and applications need to take a more active role in security gives rise to a new multifaceted approach. Security-aware application design, dynamic and static application security testing, and runtime application self-protection combined with active context-aware and adaptive access controls are all needed in today’s dangerous digital world. This will lead to new models of building security directly into applications. Perimeters and firewalls are no longer enough; every app needs to be self-aware and self-protecting.

Context-Rich Systems

Ubiquitous embedded intelligence combined with pervasive analytics will drive the development of systems that are alert to their surroundings and able to respond appropriately. Context-aware security is an early application of this new capability, but others will emerge. By understanding the context of a user request, applications can not only adjust their security response but also adjust how information is delivered to the user, greatly simplifying an increasingly complex computing world.

In today’s hacker filled world, context aware security solutions are extremely important as organizations seek to encourage collaboration with employees and non-employees alike, across disparate networks, systems and devices. Solutions that provide sophisticated identity and access management capabilities by looking at users and their context, to dynamically provide secure access to systems, applications and content are necessary to protect your business and most important asset- it’s data.

To add to Gartner’s predicted trend, we also believe that securing the actual content in a collaborative environment offers protection against the less obvious threats – insiders. This approach combines both classification and document level encryption to effectively secure and control content. Using this unique combination of content, context and identify aware security allows you to monitor for all types of content uses across your organization. It offers the most comprehensive approach for secure collaboration.

Export Finance and Documentation.

International market involves various types of trade documents that need to be produced while making transactions. Each trade document is differ from other and present the various aspects of the trade like description, quality, number, transportation medium, indemnity, inspection and so on. So, it becomes important for the importers and exporters to make sure that their documents support the guidelines as per international trade transactions. A small mistake could prove costly for any of the parties.

For example, a trade document about the bill of lading is a proof that goods have been shipped on board, while Inspection Certificate, certifies that the goods have been inspected and meet quality standards. So, depending on these necessary documents, a seller can assure a buyer that he has fulfilled his responsibility whilst the buyer is assured of his request being carried out by the seller.

The following is a list of documents often used in international trade:

• Air Waybill
• Bill of Lading
• Certificate of Origin
• Combined Transport Document
• Draft (or Bill of Exchange)
• Insurance Policy (or Certificate)
• Packing List/Specification
• Inspection Certificate

Air Waybills

Air Waybills make sure that goods have been received for shipment by air. A typical air waybill sample consists of of three originals and nine copies. The first original is for the carrier and is signed by a export agent; the second original, the consignee's copy, is signed by an export agent; the third original is signed by the carrier and is handed to the export agent as a receipt for the goods.

Air Waybills serves as:

      •  Proof of receipt of the goods for shipment.
      •  An invoice for the freight.
      •  A certificate of insurance.
      •  A guide to airline staff for the handling, dispatch and delivery of the consignment.

The principal requirement for an air waybill are :

• The proper shipper and consignee must be mention.
• The airport of departure and destination must be mention.
• The goods description must be consistent with that shown on other documents.
• Any weight, measure or shipping marks must agree with those shown on other documents.
• It must be signed and dated by the actual carrier or by the named agent of a named carrier.
• It must mention whether freight has been paid or will be paid at the destination point.

Bill of Lading (B/L) :

Bill of Lading is a document given by the shipping agency for the goods shipped for transportation form one destination to another and is signed by the representatives of the carrying vessel.

Bill of landing is issued in the set of two, three or more. The number in the set will be indicated on each bill of lading and all must be accounted for. This is done due to the safety reasons which ensure that the document never comes into the hands of an unauthorised person.  Only one original is sufficient to take possession of goods at port of discharge so, a bank which finances a trade transaction will need to control the complete set. The bill of lading must be signed by the shipping company or its agent, and must show how many signed originals were issued.

It will indicate whether cost of freight/ carriage has been paid or not : 

"Freight Prepaid" : Paid by shipper
"Freight collect" : To be paid by the buyer at the port of discharge

The bill of lading also forms the contract of carriage.

To be acceptable to the buyer, the B/L should :

• Carry an "On Board" notation to showing the actual date of shipment, (Sometimes however, the "on board" wording is in small print at the bottom of the B/L, in which cases there is no need for a dated "on board" notation to be shown separately with date and signature.)
• Be "clean" have no notation by the shipping company to the effect that goods/ packaging are damaged.

The main parties involve in a bill of lading are:

• Shipper
  • The person who send the goods.
• Consignee
  • The person who take delivery of the goods.
• Notify Party
  • The person, usually the importer, to whom the shipping company or its agent gives notice of arrival of the goods.
• Carrier
  • The person or company who has concluded a contract with the shipper for conveyance of goods

The bill of lading must meet all the requirements of the credit as well as complying with UCP 500. These are as follows :

• The correct shipper, consignee and notifying party must be shown.
• The carrying vessel and ports of the loading and discharge must be stated.
• The place of receipt and place of delivery must be stated, if different from port of loading or port of discharge.
• The goods description must be consistent with that shown on other documents.
• Any weight or measures must agree with those shown on other documents.
• Shipping marks and numbers and /or container number must agree with those shown on other documents.
• It must state whether freight has been paid or is payable at destination.
• It must be dated on or before the latest date for shipment specified in the credit.
• It must state the actual name of the carrier or be signed as agent for a named carrier.

Certificate of Origin

The Certificate of Origin is required by the custom authority of the importing country for the purpose of imposing import duty. It is usually issued by the Chamber of Commerce and contains information like seal of the chamber, details of the good to be transported and so on.

The certificate must provide that the information required by the credit and be consistent with all other document, It would normally include :

• The name of the company and address as exporter.
• The name of the importer.
• Package numbers, shipping marks and description of goods to agree with that on other documents.
• Any weight or measurements must agree with those shown on other documents.
• It should be signed and stamped by the Chamber of Commerce.
  

Combined Transport Document :

Combined Transport Document is also known as Multimodal Transport Document, and is used when goods are transported using more than one mode of transportation. In the case of multimodal transport document, the contract of carriage is meant for a combined transport from the place of shipping to the place of delivery. It also evidence receipt of goods but it does not evidence on board shipment, if it complies with ICC 500, Art. 26(a). The liability of the combined transport operator starts from the place of shipment and ends at the place of delivery. This documents need to be signed with appropriate number of originals in the full set and proper evidence which indicates that transport charges have been paid or will be paid at destination port.

Multimodal transport document would normally show :

• That the consignee and notify parties are as the credit.
• The place goods are received, or taken in charges, and place of final destination.
• Whether freight is prepaid or to be collected.
• The date of dispatch or taking in charge, and the "On Board" notation, if any must be dated and signed.
• Total number of originals.
• Signature of the carrier, multimodal transport operator or their agents.

Commercial Invoice

Commercial Invoice document is provided by the seller to the buyer. Also known as export invoice or import invoice, commercial invoice is finally used by the custom authorities of the importer's country to evaluate the good for the purpose of taxation.

The invoice must :

• Be issued by the beneficiary named in the credit (the seller).
• Be address to the applicant of the credit (the buyer).
• Be signed by the beneficiary (if required).
• Include the description of the goods exactly as detailed in the credit.
• Be issued in the stated number of originals (which must be marked "Original) and copies.
• Include the price and unit prices if appropriate.
• State the price amount payable which must not exceed that stated in the credit
• include the shipping terms.

Bill of Exchange

A Bill of Exchange is a special type of written document under which an exporter ask importer a certain amount of money in future and the importer also agrees to pay the importer that amount of money on or before the future date. This document has special importance in wholesale trade where large amount of money involved.

Following persons are involved in a bill of exchange:
      Drawer: The person who writes or prepares the bill.
      Drawee: The person who pays the bill.
      Payee: The person to whom the payment is to be made.
      Holder of the Bill: The person who is in possession of the bill.

On the basis of the due date there are two types of bill of exchange:

• Bill of Exchange after Date: In this case the due date is counted from the date of drawing and is also called bill after date.
• Bill of Exchange after Sight: In this case the due date is counted from the date of acceptance of the bill and is also called bill of exchange after sight.

Insurance Certificate

Also known as Insurance Policy, it certifies that goods transported have been insured under an open policy and is not actionable with little details about the risk covered.

It is necessary that the date on which the insurance becomes effective is same or earlier than the date of issuance of the transport documents.

Also, if submitted under a LC, the insured amount must be in the same currency as the credit and usually for the bill amount plus 10 per cent.

The requirements for completion of an insurance policy are as follow :

• The name of the party in the favor which the documents has been issued.
• The name of the vessel or flight details.
• The place from where insurance is to commerce typically the sellers warehouse or the port of loading and the place where insurance cases usually the buyer's warehouse or the port of destination.
• Insurance value that specified in the credit.
• Marks and numbers to agree with those on other documents.
• The description of the goods, which must be consistent with that in the credit and on the invoice.
• The name and address of the claims settling agent together with the place where claims are payable.
• Countersigned where necessary.
• Date of issue to be no later than the date of transport documents unless cover is shown to be effective prior to that date.

Packing List  :

Also known as packing specification, it contain details about the packing materials used in the shipping of goods. It also include details like measurement and weight of goods.

The packing List must :

• Have a description of the goods ("A") consistent with the other documents.
• Have details of shipping marks ("B") and numbers consistent with other documents

Inspection Certificate :

Certificate of Inspection is a document prepared on the request of seller when he wants the consignment to be checked by a third party at the port of shipment before the goods are sealed for final transportation.

In this process seller submit a valid Inspection Certificate along with the other trade documents like invoice, packing list, shipping bill, bill of lading etc to the bank for negotiation.

On demand,  inspection can be done by various world renowned  inspection agencies on nominal charges.