Year: 2023

NTT DATA, a global digital business and IT services provider, Embotech, a software firm that focuses on autonomous driving systems, and Valeo, a company that provides technology advances to automakers, have announced what they call “the next big step” in providing automated parking capabilities.

In a release issued at CES 2023 in Las Vegas, which opened today, the three companies said they have created a consortium called VEN.AI, designed to be the go-to provider for production-ready parking automation with global roll out capabilities.

The consortium combines each company’s core competencies, and the infrastructure-based offering, they added, will have few requirements on the vehicle side, as it guides vehicles via the use of sensors, connectivity (e.g., 5G), and offboard computing to a dedicated parking spot.

“Automated parking solutions can be implemented in a variety of use cases including the assembly plants where vehicles are produced, outbound-logistics distribution parks, depots for vehicle

A veteran communications and telecom analyst has likened what is currently happening to Avaya Holdings Corp. to that of the final downfall of Ottawa-based Nortel Networks in 2009.

Jon Arnold, the principal of J. Arnold & Associates, a Toronto-based independent research firm, said in a recent interview that the trajectory the Durham, N.C. organization is heading in is “very similar to how Nortel ended up – it’s really uncanny. It is not quite as negligent financially, but they certainly have big problems that are going to put them behind the eight ball.”

Avaya, he said, has a short runway – likely a maximum of two quarters – to turn their fortunes around, keep investors on board and maintain their trust and “obviously the trust of customers and channel partners.”

Should that not happen, he said, Avaya, a company that was formed in 2000 when Lucent Technologies sold off its division

A Canadian mining company has acknowledged being hit with a ransomware attack shortly after concluding a deal worth $230 million for the sale of an exploration site in Australia.

Vancouver-based Copper Mountain Mining Corp. said Thursday its IT systems suffered a ransomware attack on December 27th.

That was 12 days after announcing the sale of its Eva Copper Project and its 2,100 km² exploration land package in Queensland, Australia.

The combined cash and considerations value of the deal was initially announced as a total of US$149 million. Three days later that was amended to US$250 million. That included US$129 million (net of withholding taxes) and gross upfront cash consideration of US$60 million, which depends on the discovery of new ore deposits.

It isn’t known if the cyber attack was related to the announcement.

In October, the world’s second-largest copper producer, German-based Aurubis, suffered a cyber attack. “This was apparently