Automated parking offering for car manufacturers launches at CES 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

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Will Avaya end up going the way of Nortel? Analyst says it could happen

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

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Canadian copper mine hit by ransomware

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

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Accenture and AWS deepen years long partnership at re:Invent 2022

Last week at Re:Invent 2022, IT (information technology) services and consulting company Accenture launched Velocity, a jointly funded and co-developed platform with Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Velocity is designed to improve business outcomes by eliminating the challenges associated with building and running enterprise scale applications in the cloud.

“We’re really excited. Really because it’s [Velocity] helping out clients compress that early cloud enablement and labour intensive stuff, how they use capabilities on the cloud and get them quicker on the business transformation they want. And we’re seeing it to be upwards of 50 per cent faster.” said Andy Tay, global lead for the AWS Accenture Group.

Accenture stressed that the development of Velocity is the result of learnings from thousands of projects with AWS over the past 14 years, and the shared vision to revolutionize the time, labour, and cost-intensive work that recurs at the start of every new project

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Legal minds explore risks associated with technology contracts

The signing of a long-term technology agreement is certainly common enough, but according to a group of lawyers with Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP, there is a myriad of legal implications that need to be considered once the physical outsourcing and procurement takes place.

Exactly what those are was outlined recently at the company’s inaugural virtual technology privacy and cybersecurity summit, during an opening panel that focused on risk management in technology contracts.

According to the firm, as “businesses continue to engage in digital transformation, they are relying more and more on outsourcing and technology procurement for additional resources and expertise.”

Moderated by Liana Di Giorgio, senior associate with Norton Rose Fulbright in Toronto, the panel consisted of Janet Grove, a partner from the firm’s Vancouver office who focuses on technology and life sciences, Fahad Siddiqui, a litigation partner based in Toronto, and Nikita Stepin, a business law partner who

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