EMERGING TECHNOLOGY
Borqs | December 20, 2022
Borqs Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: BRQS, “Borqs”, or the “Company”), a global provider of 5G wireless, Internet of Things (IoT) solutions, and innovative clean energy, today announced the Company has received a letter dated December 13, 2022 (the “Letter”) from the Department of the Treasury on behalf of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”) stating that the Company is required to negotiate with CFIUS to fully divest its ownership interests and rights in Holu Hou Energy LLC (“HHE”) due to HHE solar energy storage system and EnergyShare technology for Multi-Dwelling Residential Units (“MDU’s”) being deemed a critical technology and therefore a potential national security risk.
As stated in the Letter, HHE is considered a top ten solar energy storage supplier in Hawaii, has only been increasing its dominant market share, expects to grow at an exponential rate, and focuses on multi-family dwelling units which are common in military housing. Due to Borqs’ IoT software development and hardware sourcing capabilities in China, CFIUS is concerned that through Borqs, the PRC could gain significant visibility and exert influence over HHE’s business operations and get access to HHE critical technology. CFIUS is requiring the Company to design a plan to mitigate all identified national security risks to the satisfaction of CFIUS.
Borqs intends to comply to the requirements from CFIUS and enter into a National Security Agreement with various departments of the U.S. Government with a plan that is effective, monitorable and verifiable to voluntarily divest Borqs’ investment interests and rights in HHE (the “Plan”). HHE’s commercialization of its solar energy storage system and novel EnergyShare technology for MDU’s has enabled the company to open up a new market segment for renewable energy in the USA - likely worth several billions of dollars. In the last year the Company’s MDU development pipeline has reached thousands of individual units in Hawaii alone, with California MDU potential being at least one to two orders of magnitude higher in the coming years. One segment of this new market is for communities of military and other government personnel. The overall MDU opportunity is significant for the company and significant for the USA. Since Borqs’ financial support in HHE starting from October 2021, HHE has signed approximately $50 million in contracts and has a growing pipeline approaching half a billion dollars. We believe this voluntary mitigation will enable the tremendous inherent value of HHE to be realized and that the divestment can be a profitable transaction for Borqs’ shareholders.
The Plan to mitigate will include engaging a nationally recognized investment bank with experience in administering competitive sales and auction processes, assigning and hiring of security and monitoring personnel to directly communicate with CFIUS, immediate and complete removal of all Borqs administrative and technical influence over HHE, immediate voluntary reduction of Borqs ownership of HHE from a majority to a minority position and with the target of divesting all. The Company believes such points will enable the Company to accomplish the divestment in an orderly manner.
About Borqs Technologies, Inc.
Borqs Technologies is a global leader in software and products for the IoT, providing customizable, differentiated and scalable Android-based smart connected devices and cloud service solutions. Borqs has achieved leadership and customer recognition as an innovative end-to-end IoT solutions provider leveraging its strategic chipset partner relationships as well as its broad software and IP portfolio. Borqs’ unique strengths include its Android and Android Wear Licenses which enabled the Company to develop a software IP library covering chipset software, Android enhancements, domain specific usage and system performance optimization, suitable for large and low volume customized products, and is also currently in development of 5G products for phones and hotspots. The Company acquired controlling shares of the solar energy storage system entity, Holu Hou Energy LLC, in October 2021.
About Holu Hou Energy, LLC
Holu Hou Energy, LLC, a Delaware Corporation, brings state-of-the-art renewable energy and energy storage systems to the Single-Family Residential, Multi-Dwelling Unit Residential and Commercial building markets. With operations in California, Hawaii, Wisconsin and Shanghai, HHE engineers proprietary storage system and control platform solutions, including a breakthrough “HHE Energy Share” technology that is key to development of the Multi-Dwelling Unit Residential housing market. HHE is a vital partner for investors and asset owners that are seeking ESG solutions.
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GOVERNMENT BUSINESS
GOVERNMENT BUSINESS | November 29, 2022
Quantexa - a global leader in Decision Intelligence (DI) solutions for the private and public sectors - announced that it has partnered with Vodafone, the technology communications company, to connect scattered and siloed data points across Vodafone to deliver an improved experience for its business customers.
Quantexa’s Decision Intelligence Platform was chosen by Vodafone for its advanced capabilities in data management and customer insights which enabled Vodafone to marry difficult to match data sets across its business and learn more about their customers. As a result, Vodafone can make quick and confident decisions to provide their customers with more relevant offerings and improved service.
Quantexa’s Decision Intelligence (DI) platform was commercially deployed on Vodafone’s new Google Cloud environment and gives Vodafone insight into the interactions a customer has with them, including the products and services customers have purchased. Understanding customers from a 360-degree view will support the organization in giving prompts to the sales teams to drive timely client engagement. The new platform was delivered into commercial use with speed following a completed deal agreement in late Q1 of this year. It will initially be used in Vodafone’s small to medium business customer segments, and Vodafone will extend the platform to include SoHo and large business customers over the coming months.
The partnership started when Quantexa joined Tomorrow Street – a joint-venture between Vodafone and the Luxembourg Government - that connects innovative technology companies, corporate partners, and Vodafone functions to establish and grow new business opportunities.
Quantexa works with clients across several industries including banking, insurance, telco, and the public sector including government. Vodafone is the first company in the UK telecommunications industry to use Quantexa’s ground-breaking DI Platform to improve its customers’ experience.
“We are delighted to be using Quantexa’s state-of-the-art Decision Intelligence Platform to ensure we are maximising the value of data, making the best decisions for our customers, and improving the services we offer. As a technology communications company, we recognise the importance of working with innovative companies in emerging technology categories, like Quantexa. Vodafone’s Tomorrow Street initiative to identify and accelerate innovation, is an exciting programme that we are delighted to work with.”
-Nick Gliddon, UK Business Director, Vodafone.
Vishal Marria, CEO, Quantexa, said, Forward-thinking organizations know they can only make strategic decisions and improve customer experiences using data that can be trusted. The first step is creating a single view of every customer. I’m thrilled that our Decision Intelligence Platform is helping Vodafone create a better experience for its business customers. I’m proud of what we’ve achieved alongside Tomorrow Street in what has been, and will continue to be, a fantastic collaboration. Creating long-term value from data is a focus of leading organizations world-wide and working with a leader like Vodafone in the telco space is an important milestone for the business.
About Quantexa:
Quantexa is a global data and analytics software company pioneering Contextual Decision Intelligence that empowers organizations to make trusted operational decisions by making data meaningful. Using the latest advancements in big data and AI, Quantexa’s platform uncovers hidden risk and new opportunities by providing a contextual, connected view of internal and external data in a single place. It solves major challenges across data management, KYC, customer intelligence, financial crime, risk, fraud, and security, throughout the customer lifecycle. The Quantexa Contextual Decision Intelligence Platform enhances operational performance with over 90% more accuracy and 60 times faster analytical model resolution than traditional approaches. Founded in 2016, Quantexa now has more than 500 employees and thousands of users working with billions of transactions and data points across the world. The company has offices in London, New York, Boston, Brussels, UAE, Malaga, Toronto, Singapore, Melbourne, and Sydney.
About Vodafone in the UK:
Vodafone is a technology communications company that connects people, businesses and devices to help our customers benefit from digital innovation. Our services span mobile, fixed line connections, home and office broadband, and the Internet of Things (IoT). We have a strong track record as a tech pioneer, making the UK’s first mobile phone call, sending the first text message, and making the UK’s first live holographic call using 5G in 2018. We were also the first to start carrying live 5G traffic from a site in Salford, Greater Manchester. As of March 2022, we have 5G in 380 locations across Europe – 141 in the UK and 239 across Germany, Spain, Italy and Ireland. Our 4G network coverage currently reaches more than 99% of the UK population. Today, Vodafone serves more than 18 million mobile and fixed-line customers in the UK. To help deliver Gigabit UK, our full-fibre broadband roll-out programme now covers 26 UK towns and cities, rising to 35 over the coming months through partnerships with CityFibre and Openreach. Our full-fibre services are now available to more than eight million homes across the UK.
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GOVERNMENT BUSINESS,CYBERSECURITY
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency | January 17, 2023
SentinelOne, an autonomous cybersecurity solution provider, recently announced that it joined the Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative (JCDC).
The membership further supports the US Government's strategy to protect the cyber ecosystem and critical infrastructure.
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) founded JCDC in 2021. The collaborative aims to unite the international cyber community and defend cyberspace. SentinelLabs and SentinelOne's autonomous cybersecurity platforms will aid JCDC in collecting, analyzing, and disseminating data on cyber threats.
SentinelOne will lend its insights and support to JCDC's strategic planning and offer advice as part of the partnership. As a result, JCDC will have unprecedented insight into new threats through this collaboration, allowing them to prevent attacks even before they happen. SentinelLabs is a top-tier team of security researchers dedicated to discovering and analyzing critical vulnerabilities, attack vectors, malware strains, and threat actors.
"JCDC goes beyond other public-private partnerships, delivering collaborative engagement between the nation's top cyber minds with a focus on planning, action, and mitigation. With exceptional speed, scale and intelligence, our team and technology will play a crucial role in the organization's continued success. We have partnered closely with CISA for years and look forward to continuing that relationship, helping protect the world's most critical assets and information," said Jared Phipps, SVP of Americas Sales and Solution Engineering.
(Source: Business Wire)
About Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) established JCDC in August 2021 to transform traditional public-private partnerships into real-time private-public operational collaboration and shift the paradigm from reacting to threats and vulnerabilities to proactively planning and taking steps to mitigate them. The company leads the national effort to understand, manage, and reduce risk to its cyber and physical infrastructure. Its multi-faceted mission is home to more than 15 career fields including business administration, cybersecurity, program management, communications, and data science.
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