At dusk on November 9, 1965, all of New York state, parts of seven adjoining states, and the Canadian province of Ontario were plunged into darkness. A heavily loaded protection relay in southern Ontario had tripped out, causing a trip-out cascade when the load was transferred and overloaded other power lines. The blackout was one of the biggest power failures in history and at the height of rush hour, leaving 800,000 people trapped in New York's subway system, delaying millions of commuters and stranding thousands more in office buildings, elevators, and trains.Fortunately, blackouts of this magnitude are rare but blackouts can hit almost any grid and it is an uncomfortable truth that many power networks worldwide are showing signs of strain. The overcapacity needed to ensure security of supply (and keep the lights on) is simply too small, leaving potential blackouts or brownouts on the horizon.These are nightmare scenarios for anyone tasked with keeping critical systems like medical equipment, industrial automation systems, security monitoring systems or transportation running. Infrastructure managers know that a quality UPS buys them something priceless: time. Time to spool up backup generators or to gracefully power-down the system and avoid equipment damage.Asian Power Devices (APD) have a long record at the forefront of professional lithium ion UPS design, where more than 10% of the company's turnover is funnelled to R&D every year:"The professional teams of APD's Uninterruptible Power System Business department have over 20 years of R&D strength, becoming long-term strategic partners with many world-renowned European, American and Japanese companies. We use our strengths in innovative R&D technology to provide customized UPS designs and manufacturing services for our customers," said Peter Hu, General Manager of APD's Uninterruptible Power System Business department.The latest APD lithium-ion UPSs boast a 10-year usage life - over twice that of lead-acid UPS products - and a 53% reduction in size compared to similar products in the industry, which provides reliable protection where it's needed.All APD's lithium-ion UPS product series have UL 1973 and IEC 62133 safety certifications and excellent thermal characteristics, guaranteeing safe operation wherever they are used. This is backed up by a smart battery management system (BMS), with sophisticated dual protection functions and accurate State of Health (SOH) and State of Charge (SOC) estimation algorithms that monitor the operating status of the battery in real-time, improving both system reliability and performance whilst extending battery life.In a hospital environment, infrastructure managers can rest easier knowing that APD's small and light UL 60601-1 certified lithium-ion UPSs are proven to effectively reduce leakage current and electromagnetic interference. This ensures effective protection for their medical equipment, even on small medical diagnosis and treatment trolleys.APD's rich experience has led it to become a long-term partner of many first-tier global industrial control and medical equipment companies throughout Europe, the United States and Japan, using its outstanding customized R&D capabilities. APD has the industry's highest-level safety laboratory where the scope of testing includes helping customers get the swiftest product certifications in the industry, significantly reducing their time to market and winning them 'best quality support' awards and quality excellence awards for many years running.APD's Lithium battery UPS bring customers a fresh experience of small size, long product life and safety. Find yours at https://www.apd.com.tw/en/our-products/apd-lithium-ion-ups/Over the years, APD has become a long-term partner of many first-tier global industrial control and medical equipment companies using its outstanding customized R&D capabilities.All of APD's lithium-ion UPS product series have UL 1973 and IEC 62133 safety certifications and excellent thermal characteristics, guaranteeing safe operation wherever they are used.

Chenbro (TWSE: 8210), a pioneer in the design and manufacturing of own-brand rackmount system, is excited to announce the latest compact 2U JBOD, the DS25224, which supports 24 x 2.5" tool-less SAS or SATA drives, with the 12Gbps redundant expanders. It offers optimal reliability for high-density storage in big data era.Big data and data analytics are driving a continuous demand for storage capacity and the JBOD (just a bunch of disks) array is proving to be a compelling solution for it. Chenbro offers DS25224 to support 24 x 2.5" SATA/SAS drive bays as a primary storage solution. The JBOD is specifically designed to meet the needs of 2.5" HDD/SSD testing environments, which include 3 x 2.5" 8-port 12Gbps SAS/SATA dual path passive BP, a super cool HDD working temperature (<50°C/122°F at 30°C/86°F) and 3 x 80mm hot-swap cooling fans. DS25224 is specifically designed to provide data resilience and accessibility for your computing and storage applications.Equipped with redundant CRPS 1+1, 550W digital power supplies, the DS25224 is designed to guarantee great conversion efficiency regardless of load. This enables a total system power efficiency savings and contributes to greater energy efficiency for performance challenges in demanding environments.Featuring a short-depth design, the DS25224 JBOD is suitable for universal deployment. The 450mm ultra-short chassis is ideal for various environments and perfect for footprint minimization. The JBOD is appearing to enterprises with the demands of big data as it teams up an innovative design with a truly remarkable storage density while it targets software-defined storage, big data, virtualization, and media & content storage.DS25224 is now ready for global sale. For business inquiries, please contact Chenbro regional sales or channel partner. For more information, please visit http://www.chenbro.comAbout ChenbroFounded in 1983, Chenbro (TWSE: 8210) has been the trailblazer in designing and manufacturing of own-brand rackmount system, tower server, and PC chassis for over 38 years. Chenbro is not only qualified by the first-tier server brands and provides OEM, ODM, and JDM services with EMS companies, but also successfully extends its business footprint to datacenters and industrial solutions by continuously investing in technologies and delivers the most trusted server and PC chassis with the highest standard of innovation.Chenbro offers DS25224 to support 24 x 2.5" SATA/SAS drive bays as a primary storage solution

Rapid developments in digital technology continue to invert the ecology of the securities industry. As digital processes within the financial industry continue to accelerate, the ability to manage digital securities platforms has met with ever more tests. MasterLink Securities uses digital innovation to create a high-quality user experience for customers. It also adopts forward-looking actions by working with Chunghwa Telecom IDC to fully tap the synergy of financial clusters, which allows it to provide faster, more stable, and more secure services. As MasterLink makes preparations for the future, it welcomes even faster growth.Within the rapidly changing digital financial environment, digital transformation has become an issue that the financial industry must address. In this field, MasterLink Securities has won multiple awards, including the National Brand Yushan Award and the "2021 Digital Financial Service Award of Commercial Times" for digital information security and it is being a model for digital transformation. Such accolades have confirmed its solid capabilities in digital innovation and development, but also these awards have demonstrated the importance that MasterLink attaches to information security and digital transformation, as well as the investments it has made in these areas.Engaging in digital innovation Striving to create a high-quality, secure digital financial environmentAlvin Lee, Vice President of the IT Department of MasterLink Securities, detailed the digital innovations initiated by MasterLink, from the introduction of RPA into daily business processes to improve corporate competitiveness, developing a convenient, smart, and easy-to-use APP that targets investment pain points of customers, as well as a full range of smart financial management platforms, to the industry's first regular fixed-amount stock deposit platform. All of these innovations make it easier for young people to enter financial management. At the same time, to cater to digital inhabitants, it has introduced smart customer services. At each and every point in its comprehensive set of innovations, MasterLink is creating a high-quality and secure digital financial environment.Digital transformation is both a trend and a major challenge for enterprise IT. Of those challenges, the server room is the central node of digital transformation. For that reason, MasterLink chose to cooperate with Chunghwa Telecom IDC. Lee states that past cooperation between MasterLink and Chunghwa Telecom IDC was mostly in international transactions. However, since the relocation of the TWSE data center in 2016 and the implementation of continuous trading in 2020, MasterLink chose to gradually transfer its server room to CHT Taipei IDC, which is responsible for centralized market trading of securities and futures. The choice has tapped into the power of financial clustering and perfectly realized split-second services.Alvin Lee, Vice President IT Dept. MasterLink SecuritiesFast, stable, and secure improvement Enhancing IT ability for rapid response"The financial industry has very rigorous requirements for data centers. Speed, stability, and security are constant requirements for information systems, and Chunghwa Telecom's stability has always been reliable!" Lee stated. CHT Taipei IDC was built in accordance with the United States Telecommunications Industry Association's TIA-942 Rated 3 certification of telecommunications infrastructure standard for data centers and also obtained the Uptime Institute's M&O Stamp of Approval for server room maintenance. With various smart hands services and Customer Management System (CMS), CHT Taipei IDC has gone beyond the usual space and time constraints of server room management, giving it unquestionable professionalism and quality. In addition, Chunghwa Telecom IDC has an abundance of network energy, providing not only the advantage of flexible bandwidth even when faced with massive surges in transaction volume, but also a faster and better environment at connecting various locations and serving users across Taiwan than private server rooms.MasterLink's current cooperation with Chunghwa Telecom was established as early as 2004 when 412 voice orders began. Over the years Chunghwa Telecom has established a deep relationship with MasterLink on its diverse products, service quality, and technical capabilities. Chunghwa Telecom has undoubtedly reinforced MasterLink's IT capabilities and helped it to create the best quality digital financial service environment.For more information, please visit the website [More IDC Information], [About IDC] or Enterprise Customer Service Hotline: 0800-080-365

Coretronic Corporation (hereinafter referred to as Coretronic Corp), a world leader in digital projectors and LCD backlight panel technologies, has implemented its group transformation plan since 2018 after recognizing the global digitization trend. Coretronic Corp has established eight subsidiaries based on image recognition, AI, perception fusion, and cloud added value services. Among which, Coretronic Intelligent Logistics Solutions Corporation (CiLS), established in April 2021, is positioned as an "intelligent logistics and smart production digital system solutions provider".CY Lin, Chairman of CiLS, stated that Coretronic Corp provides a wide range of products, including parts, modules, smart terminals and systems. It also covers A type factories and V type factories. With its many years of intelligent value adding and transformation experiences, CiLS has become an expert in digital integration and innovative technologies. CiLS provides customized, modularized, and localized services for manufacturing/logistics companies, which include shelf design, automated warehouses, autonomous moving, IoT equipment, management systems, cloud platforms and other integrated factory plans to create cost-effective one-stop solutions. CiLS help internal and external customers to accelerate their digital transformations.Realizing the Benefits of Preventative Maintenance through Sensors and AI AnalysisMaggie Lu, President of CiLS, stated that in the current stage, CiLS is starting with the group's AMR autonomous forklifts, automated guided vehicles, smart sensor modules, AR glasses and other smart terminals, and combining the internal MIS and automation team, to develop the Coretronic Industrial IoT Platform. It assists companies who intend to introduce intelligent manufacturing and logistics. CiLS has created a private cloud platform and collects large amounts of IoT information for AI analysis, realizing the goal of operational improvements. CiLS provides the customers with flexible, customized lightweight solutions, from observing the site and understanding the problems to providing solutions, the process totals around three monthsIn terms of intelligent manufacturing, CiLS can assist customers with the collection and analysis of IoT, Shop Floor Control System (SFCS), MES, ERP and B2B transaction data. Consequently, the user can quickly implement the required smart applications through different interfaces and mobile devices. The iMCS (micro services system) core software architecture was established to realize centralized management and decentralized control, which can collect personnel, process, machine, environment, material, and measurement information. Together with manufacturing dashboards, mobile devices or manufacturing information centers, they system can visualize the status of the entire production line or factory.For example: A metal precision finishing plant felt that the manual recording of equipment and production statuses is time consuming, labor intensive and inaccurate. This delays the collection of manufacturing information and makes it difficult to adjust the production lines in time. With CiLS's assistance in the introduction of smart sensors and the establishment of mold management and material tracking product resumes, the factory can clearly track the WIP and output, establishing advanced scheduling and smart order mechanism that could not be realized in the past.Maggie Lu said, "Through Coretronic Corp's MEMS vibration sensors and AI smart box, we can monitor the health of the machinery. With the further integration of quality analysis, preventative maintenance can be fully realized." By introducing CiLS industrial AI sensor solutions, companies can fully monitor failure symptom of equipment degradation and implement predictive maintenance in right time, reducing maintenance costs and shut-down losses. Key parameters related to quality deficiencies can be accurately identified through cross-analysis and then related problem can be further fixed. Efficiency and output value can be actively improved. Companies no longer need to passively repair equipment after damage.Offering Complete Intelligent Logistics Services through the Integration of Software, AMR and AS/RS DesignsIn terms of intelligent logistics, CiLS can provide automated guided vehicles and forklifts, realizing intelligent identification of storage locations and pallets and autonomous transportation. On the other hand, CiLS provides the intelligent warehouse management system (iWMS). The iWMS can link to ERP, MES and VMS vehicle management systems to fully manage vehicles, barcode scanners, automated equipment, AS/RS automated warehouse systems and other objects. The system is connected to IT and OT, providing a comprehensive integration that is rare in the industry. With integration of information flow and logistics, it can solve the problems of labor shortages, human operational errors, and inefficient usage of storage space.Therefore, functions that required the operation of ERP, such as patterning, material scheduling, material unpacking and material replacement, or searching for storage spaces and monitoring AMR moving operations can be directly operated onsite through a Pad or handheld devices, making the operational performance more agile and precise.Maggie Lu further talked about the example of assisting a factory in the southern Taiwan introduce intelligent logistics in the early stages. In the past, the factory used manual driving forklifts to move products across the factory and onto different floors. It was hard to manage the vehicles, personnel and forklifts. Therefore, CiLS introduced autonomous forklifts into the factory. The forklifts can move and transfer the orders on their own and can ride the elevators autonomously. Combined with the identification of RFID on the boxes, it fully integrates the logistics and information flow data and can link with the ERP system. The factory no longer need to wait for personnel to verify the information in different systems, improving moving efficiency by 25% and information accuracy reached 100%.Overall, besides having the strengths of the core software and intelligent terminals, the CiLS Intelligent Logistics Service works with experts in different fields to help customers design different AS/RS automated warehouses and choose different product picking devices, providing fully integrated services.CY Lin pointed out that due to the pandemic, CiLS has been focused on servicing domestic customers in the first year of company establishment. It targets on precision finishing, plastics injection, PCB and other industries for providing intelligent manufacturing services. Its intelligent logistics service scope focuses on factory logistics. In the next two years, as the development of intelligent terminals (from the introduction of AMR for various moving vehicles or material picking AMR with robotic arms) and sensors (from vibration sensors to other sensors) continues to add the solutions, CiLS hopes to expand the industries and regions of its services to increase higher service value.Coretronic Intelligent Logistics Solutions Corporation (CiLS)Photo: Company

With digital transformation becoming a clear global trend, enterprises in Taiwan are following suit by initiating their own internal digital upgrades. Mega Securities, a subsidiary of Mega Financial Holdings, is one of the enterprises rushing to transform its business model for the digital era by working with consultancy agencies. As the company pushed for growth in trade volume and profits during 2021, it also established a comprehensive digital transformation plan according to its digital needs, business model, and company culture in an attempt to differentiate itself from the competition.Mega Securities Information Department Vice President Chao Hsi-Jui pointed out that the digital transformation is a long-term continuous process. The scope of which goes far beyond the implementation of a single technology or application. A company's culture, organizational structure, and operational processes all need to undergo a transformation to tangibly improve efficiency, optimize customer experience, and even create new business models. A good example of this would be the New York Times, a news company with a long history that has constantly adjusted its organizational structure and human resource allocation to transition from selling physical newspapers to offering online subscription-based services.Likewise, Mega Securities is also committed to achieving a comprehensive transformation, with the company Chairman personally leading the upgrade plan and with support from external consultancy agencies. One of the company's digital transformation objectives relies on Chunghwa Telecom's (CHT) Internet Data Center (IDC) services. Chunghwa Telecom's high-quality IT infrastructure not only allows Mega Securities to smoothly upgrade its workflows and change its company culture, but also serves as a good foundation for the much longer road ahead.Reduced Server Distance for Increased Stock Exchange PerformanceMr. Chao also mentioned that securities trading relies heavily on fast connections with consistent latency. Once a client places an order, an electronic signal is first sent to the securities dealer before being relayed to the exchange; the closer the physical distance between the dealer's servers and the exchange, the faster the transaction can be processed. There are even foreign dealers who spend millions just to cut a few microseconds (one millionth of a second) off of their latency. It is not an understatement to say that speed is one of the key factors in securities exchange. This explains Mega Securities' decision to work with CHT's IDCs.In fact, Mega Securities had already rented space in CHT Xinyi IDC back in 2005. When the telecom provider later decided to construct a new world-class data center in Banqiao District, the company quickly followed suit by transferring their services over to ensure that customers could enjoy access to the lowest latency possible. Currently, all of Mega Securities order placement systems are located in the CHT Taipei IDC. As the trading volume continues to grow year by year, expansion plans have also been implemented to provide customers with even better order placement services.Three Major Advantages Sustain 16-year Long PartnershipIn addition to industry clusters and distance advantages, other factors have also contributed to Mega Securities' extended partnership with Chunghwa Telecom over the past 16 years, namely the telecom provider's comprehensive, professional, and eco-friendly IDC services.First, Chunghwa Telecom not only offers server space rental in its IDCs, but has a complete lineup of network, information security, and smart hands services, providing a complete management and maintenance package. Its smart hands function in particular covers both installation and management, which means it can ease demand for regular and emergency server room maintenance work to reduce the cost and manpower needed in enterprise IT departments.In terms of its professional expertise, CHT Taipei IDC has achieved the ISO 27001 and ISO 14001 certifications; in addition, it is the first data center in Taiwan to obtain TIA-942 Rated 3 and Uptime Institute M&O certifications. It has also obtained a number of certifications in risk management including SOC 1 & 2 Type 2 Reports and PCI DSS, making it the most accredited server room provider in Taiwan. Mr. Chao believes that data centers are a discipline of their own, since professional expertise is needed for determining how much weight can be safely allocated per square meter and installing adequate fireproofing systems. Thanks to Chunghwa Telecom's lineup of external certifications, Mega Securities can further trust the reliability and quality of CHT's IDCs.As for eco-friendliness, CHT Taipei IDC has been certified as LEED Gold by the U.S. Green Building Council with a total Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of less than 1.5, meaning that it is highly energy efficient. Mr. Chao stated, "Working with Chunghwa Telecom has greatly helped Mega Securities keep in line with global ESG trends; our cooperation has been a response to government policies encouraging Taiwan's finance industry players to invest in enterprises with eco-friendly goals."Looking forward, Mega Securities hopes to continue working closely with Chunghwa Telecom as the company undergoes its digital transformation to give customers faster and better securities exchange services.For more information, please visit the website More IDC Information, About IDC or Enterprise Customer Service Hotline: 0800-080-365

Pat Gelsinger, CEO of Intel, said that with the surge of global digital transformation, the four superpowers of Ubiquitous Computing, Pervasive Connectivity, Cloud to Edge Infrastructure, and Artificial Intelligence have become the core elements, and the world has embraced this trend even faster under the impact of the pandemic in the past two years. Intel has a complete set of hardware platforms, software technologies, open architecture, and ecosystem resources that have led many industries in digital transformation. And the digital innovation in the healthcare industry is actively developing at a faster pace, turning people's imagination of technology around and introducing solutions that will help the future.Hospitals around the world currently generate up to 3 terabytes of data per day, accounting for 30% of the world's electronic data, growing even faster than manufacturing, financial services and media, but less than 3% of that content is fully analyzed. Intel works with many medical and academic institutions around the world, in the Americas, Europe and Asia, and with health and life science leaders to turn this big data into meaningful and actionable insights and provide cutting-edge technology to remove obstacles on the road to smart healthcare.Intel has observed the trends in the healthcare industry and has made them one of the priorities for development. The first is healthcare and payment reform in which the previously universal, volume-based care will be replaced by a value-based care, with each patient treated differently based on symptoms and severity of illness, and priced according to the quality of care. More importantly, healthcare facilities are able to allocate resources accordingly.The next step is the development of more precise and personalized medicine, which caters to the attributes of different patients and provides more tailored treatment. Precision medicine is an obvious example, by using further information, such as blood/DNA analysis, imaging, tissue biopsy, etc., to provide patients with personalized medical treatment, as well as post-healing and post-surgery related assessment and care, and even in-home or telemedicine services.Patients can experience a series of personalized services and feel the quality of services of medical institutions, thus improving the doctor-patient relationship, strengthening the interaction with patients, enhancing the satisfaction of medical services, and avoiding the "Consumerization" of the healthcare industry. Of course, all of this requires a transformation toward digitization, software definition, and multiple/hybrid clouds, as well as increased agility, data security, and patient privacy, as the foundation for advanced analytics and smart healthcare.In Taiwan, we have a globally prestigious healthcare system, a historical foundation of electronic medical record databases, and a strong focus on the information and communication industry, making Taiwan well suited to be a pioneer in smart healthcare. Recently, Intel and the Institute for Biotechnology and Medicine Industry (IBMI) signed a four-year alliance memorandum of understanding (MOU), hoping to bring Taiwan's medical experience and solutions to the world by combining Intel's innovative and superior technology with global marketing and communication resources.Intel has recently partnered with ASUS and Taipei City Hospitals to build mobile medical carts that allows multiple doctors to see patients simultaneously through secure cloud transmission and better mobility. In addition, Intel has also worked with Cisco and LEOSYS to build a high-speed computing AI center for Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, providing the high-performance computing resources required by the lab and hospital. At the recent Healthcare EXPO Taiwan 2021, Intel also introduced the OWL (cOllaboration Without Limit) digital pathology platform with Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital and Wistron Medical Technology, using OpenVINO toolkits to accelerate AI image processing up to 5 times faster.Looking ahead to the next decade, Intel believes our opportunity has never been greater. By unlocking computing and data insights and integrating corporate responsibility strategies, we are using the power of common good to create value and social impact. In the spirit of the RISE (Responsible, Inclusive, Sustainable, and Enabling) strategy and goals for 2030, Intel is committed to create a smart healthcare technology ecosystem in Taiwan with an international perspective.Grace Wang, VP and GM, Sales, Marketing, and Communications Group, Intel TaiwanPhoto: Company

The exponential growth of e-commerce, especially during the pandemic, is changing the way the fashion industry works. Furthermore, smart manufacturing could help textile and apparel manufacturers improve operational efficiency and sustainability. This was the focus on the fourth and final day of the 2021 World Digital Textile Forum, hosted by the Advancement Association for Digital Textile (AADT) on Nov. 19.The last day of the forum featured two experts. First was Paloma Hsieh, the head of business development at Amazon Global Selling in Taiwan. Next was Jill Lai, associate managing editor for DIGITIMES Asia.Returning to host the final day of the forum was Nicole Chan, chairperson of the AADT.Evolution of e-commerce in fashionHsieh started her presentation by pointing out that 2020 was the first year since the 1960s that worldwide retail revenue dropped. At the same time, retail e-commerce sales witnessed significant growth, benefiting from the new norm as a result of the pandemic. In fact, from January 2020 to June 2020 traffic from online shopping websites worldwide increased by 36.6%."By the end of 2020, the total e-commerce sales worldwide was over US$4 trillion, which accounted for 18% of all retail sales," Hsieh explained. It is forecast that e-commerce will account for at least a quarter of total retail sales by 2025. "This is definitely something that cannot be ignored and online is something the industry needs to start focusing on," she added.Currently, the apparel and accessories sector of online retail holds the second-largest share in terms of retail e-commerce sales in the US at 20.7%. Additionally, the online sale of fashion products worldwide is expected to reach US$953 billion by 2024, at a compound annual compound growth rate of 12.7%.In talking about apparel on Amazon, Hsieh used the "Amazon Coat" story as an example of social media influence on e-commerce sales. In the winter of 2018, a coat from Orolay, an unknown China-based brand, suddenly became the season's viral "it" coat thanks to social media. Years later in 2020, Hsieh noted that the coat still sold more than 10,000 pieces in two days during its Prime Day sales event."The relationship between fashion and e-commerce, that the branding and the brand value could actually come from all the different formats such as KOL and social media, it could all contribute to sales and create trends," Hsieh said. "Nowadays the brand value building is a lot of different pieces. Value for money is as important as value for quality."Hsieh also identified several changes in fashion shopping trends. She pointed out that consumers now put more emphasis on product practicability and functionality. Consumers now expect product design to meet their actual demands as opposed to simply looking good. Today's shopper is also paying close attention to social media and is easily influenced by popular social media trends. Furthermore, new stay-at-home, work-from-home and healthy lifestyles are increasing the demand for home dress and sports and healthcare-related products.Regarding how Amazon Global Selling supports sellers and their products, Hsieh explained unlike regular crossover commerce where a product goes from factory to exporter to importer to distributor to the retail channel to consumer, manufacturers can go direct to the consumer through Amazon.One of the benefits of this is being able to collect first-hand customer feedback to better understand consumer needs. "That is something that is very important and all echoes back to sharing quick reactions and how to stay close to your customer," she said."Eliminating the middle channels, we have invested a lot in seller support in the past few years. In the last year, alone Amazon Global invested over US$18 billion to create over 250 new tools and services to support our seller partners in four different areas: selection, operations, compliance and shipment," Hsieh explained.When it comes to Taiwan-based sellers, Hsieh pointed out that the number has tripled on Amazon Global Selling since 2017.To support sellers in and from Taiwan, Amazon Global Selling has established a brand incubator in Taiwan to prepare the next generation of e-commerce talent, support seller needs, and support Taiwan brands. Hsieh also talked about the service provider expansion, which supports Taiwan sellers for logistics, taxes and customs. "This is something we have been investing in and working on in the past year, and something we will continue working and focusing on in the coming years. Our vision is to empower Taiwan brands to expand globally. This includes our fashion brands and apparel," Hsieh added.Accelerating the manufacturing digital journeyLai shared information gathered by DIGITIMES regarding how manufacturers in Taiwan have accelerated their digital journeys. The survey, which was conducted earlier this year, surveyed 627 manufacturers, all of which have over 100 operators in their factories. Industries surveyed include technology and non-technology sectors and focused on the automation and intelligence level of these manufacturers."We found that only 17% of the companies have over US$360,000 investment in intelligent projects. That includes IT, automation and intelligent equipment," Lai said. "The rest of the manufacturers, especially the smaller ones, their budget is usually lower than US$36,000."While these numbers are slightly higher than last year, according to Lai, this shows that the attitude of small manufacturers has become more conservative; however, the overall budget for intelligent projects this year is still higher than last year.The survey followed the ISA 95 standard and used the enterprise control system hierarchy model, which divides the information system of smart factories into 5 levels. Levels 1 and 2 deal more with the automation of individual manufacturing equipment, level 3 production and operations, level 4 production support, and level 5 corporate governance.Overall, adoption of levels 1,2 and 5 are higher than levels 3 and 4, the survey found. This shows that adoption of automation equipment, network data acquisition and ERP systems is higher, but lower for systems such as quality inspection, defect detection and supply chain and warehouse management.Lai suggests that manufacturers find a way to integrate these 5 levels. "If we can form a really good integrated system, I think we can form a good business model," she opined.Lai also pointed to the fast adoption of new technologies such as AI, 5G, IoT and data analysis. While the adoption of edge computing and AI is starting to pick up slowly, she noted that industrial robots are now widely adopted with cobots and automated guided vehicles coming next.In terms of digital transformation, the survey found that 32% of companies have set up full-time projects for it. On the other hand, 41% have yet to start digital transformation projects. "From the survey, we tried to understand what is the major obstacle for digital transformation, especially for manufacturers. This year, the major obstacle is technical talents. But last year it was insufficient budget and resources," Lai highlighted.So what really triggers companies to do digital transformation? According to Lai, the pandemic is a major driving force due to the manpower constraints and demand changes it has caused. As a result, manufacturers are looking to use intelligent services or systems to address these problems. "But I don't think that goes far enough," Lai said. "I would suggest all manufacturers to really be determined, to be consistent in their digital journey, no matter if the market demand right now is increasing or decreasing. It needs your determination to make it happen."Reducing waste and increasing efficiencyHsieh believes that digitalization is definitely something that could help reduce waste. "I think digitalization here goes beyond data analysis and beyond inventory management," she said.Going global is one suggestion Hsieh has for not only expanding channels but reducing waste. "When we talk about fashion and apparel, there's seasonality, but when you go global, the global market voids your seasonality. There is always winter somewhere on earth, and there's always summer as well. Going global provides a marketplace where you can promote your product year around. This is something that has been a nightmare for the fashion industry, but e-commerce can help with this," she added.Lai explained that addressing levels 3 and 4 of the hierarchy model could help address inventory waste issues. "Level 3 is more about production automation and is driven by data analysis so that manufacturing can ultimately do quality inspection and defect detection...Level 4 is an extension of level 3. For example, scheduling automation and how to help predict demand...If you want to check the stock status, you need to know about your warehouse automation, and if you want to make your inventory in time, you need to make your supplier understand your information. So everything needs to be clearly integrated."Wrapping up the first annual World Digital Textile ForumTo close the final day of the World Digital Textile Forum, Victor Chao, CEO of Frontier.cool, the event co-organizer, stated that he hopes the forum can help brands and suppliers enter the new world of digital textiles."Frontier's role is to accelerate this process to enable the new world of digital textile to take shape more quickly and allow more people to enter the new world of digital textile without fears or barriers," Chao said.On behalf of the AADT, the day's moderator Nicole Chan closed the event by emphasizing the benefits of digital textiles on zero-waste fashion, sustainability and customization."Only by deepening the digitalization of textiles and expanding digital textile applications horizontally will we be able to truly bring fashionable textiles to a new level," Chan concluded.The final day of the inaugural World Digital Textile Forum focused on the digitalization of the fashion industry, covering smart manufacturing trends related to fashion e-commerce and the emergence of the digital fashion textile ecosystem.

The disruption of the last two years has spawned some clear trends that are already having profound effects.One is the rapid growth of remote working. A perusal of tech industry job vacancies, where a substantial number now offer remote working as part of the package, shows this is a trend set to continue.Another trend is AIoT devices, where machine learning algorithms are allowing IoT devices to use gathered data to independently analyze, learn, develop insights and make decisions. There are around 30 billion IoT-connected devices, set to increase to 75 billion by 2025. The role they play in society will only escalate when combined with artificial intelligence.To properly support the types and level of network traffic that a growing user base generates network upgrades must be properly designed. Design means secure on-boarding of new equipment without the degradation in the quality of service that an ad-hoc approach to expansion can induce. This includes stable, clean power.The network power supply must be a team player if network equipment is going to deliver. Peace of mind comes from knowing your network power supply partner has a long track record and a hard-earned reputation to protect.Asian Power Devices Inc. (APD) has been making industry-leading power supplies for more than twenty years and has long-standing partnerships with major global network equipment suppliers to help deliver dependable network performance, safety, and environment-friendly efficiency; all confirmed by internationally recognized certifications.High availability can be delivered through current-share and power ORing, so high-power systems like blade servers can share multiple power supplies for flexibility and redundancy in N+1 configurations. Stable, low-ripple power delivery is ensured, even to loads with large instantaneous current requirements, though peak current capacities up to 300% of maximum.To guard from over voltage and over current events, APD builds in multiple protections including surge protection that complies with ITU-T K.21 standards. This can be augmented to [DM] 6kV /6kV [CM] specs as per IEC-61000-4-5; Level-5, for areas with electrically noisy public grid systems or that experience more extreme weather conditions with a higher probability of lightning strikes. Static discharge is also brushed off with level 4 IEC (61000-4-2) ESD protection to 8kV contact/15kV air gap.APD's power supply products have optimized heat dissipation and anti-electromagnetic interference structures, backed by thermal protection against over-temperature conditions. They easily meet North American DOE Level VI and EU CoC Tier 2 energy efficiency standards, guaranteeing lower running costs and environmentally friendly operations.What sets APD apart in the industry? That's probably best answered by Rax Chuang, General Manager of APD's Power System Business department: "R&D is the proudest asset of APD; it is also the core value of APD. More than 10% of the company's turnover is appropriated to the R&D fund each year, with an R&D team of over 500 members that leads the industry."APD has the industry's highest-level safety laboratory where a broad scope of testing is carried out to stay ahead of regulations and assist customers in obtaining swift product certifications, significantly reducing their time to market. For example, APD's years of experience debugging FCC Part 68 certification problems translates into rapid solutions for networking customers to gain that FCC Part 68 passes plus ISN tests for things like interference on telecommunication ports.For more information on how APD can help you exploit growing network trends faster, visit https://www.apd.com.tw/en/Asian Power Devices Inc. (APD) has long-standing partnerships with major global network equipment suppliers to help deliver dependable network performance.APD Networking Power Supply

In today's fast-paced fashion industry, mass production models cannot keep up. That is why it is important that supply chains digitalize and shift toward more on-demand, real-time production models. This was the focus of the third day of the 2021 World Digital Textile Forum, hosted by the Advancement Association for Digital Textile (AADT) on Nov. 18.Day three featured two fashion technology experts. First up was Taime Koe, CEO and co-founder of Six Atomic, a Singapore-based AI-driven apparel supply chain solution provider that provides automation technology for the fashion supply chain. Next was Mark Russell, co-founder and COO of Infinity Innovation, a provider of comprehensive and customizable digital supply chain solutions for the fashion industry.Paul Chan, chief amazement officer of Hanin Enterprises, a Hong-Kong-based D2M and on-demand service provider, served as the moderator for day three of the forum.Be part of real-time fashion or be left behindKoe began by addressing the problems with the traditional pull model in today's rapidly changing fashion industry. Pointing out that the lead time is too long, "It means that brands would have to make decisions today and hope that months from now their investment would still be on-trend in consumers' minds."However, in today's social-media-driven world, trends do not work this way and brands know it. Now, new trends can emerge on an hourly basis from social media apps like TikTok. This also means that consumers today expect that brands can keep up with and meet their fast-changing demands."Within the last decade, leading brands have been in a race to be the fastest," Koe said. This started with fast fashion brands like Zara in the 1990s to today's real-time fashion era brought on by Shein. Shein has managed to reduce lead times to an astonishing three days, from an already "fast" lead time of three weeks during the fast fashion era.This is all made possible with the digitization of tons of data. By collecting data at every step, Koe pointed out that Shein is able to make more informed data-driven decisions that help achieve a higher chance of retail success, as well as reduce waste and inefficiencies."They analyze consumer data, predict demand, as well as adjust production on the fly. All the vendors and manufacturers in their network provide very transparent feedback to the brand Shein itself so that they can make decisions very quickly," Koe said. This provides Shein with a huge advantage over competitors who are less efficient at this real-time production model.Koe also believes that end-to-end integration needs to happen at every single step of the supply chain. This is where Six Atomic shines.Six Atomic can help brands and suppliers achieve real-time fashion through integration and automation. One of their core products uses an algorithm to generate garment patterns automatically within a few seconds.Six Atomic's solution breaks down every part of the garment such as collars, patterns, cuffs, etc., to create a modular library. The starting point for the library can be pre-existing patterns provided by the brands or pure algorithms. According to Koe, this library is capable of creating millions of unique SKUs. From there, materials can be selected, seam allowances can be customized, and sizes can be selected. When the designer is ready to generate the pattern, all they have to do is click a button and the pattern is generated automatically by the algorithm in the backend and ready to download, reducing this process to a few seconds instead of hours.Koe highlighted that pattern files come with adjacent file formats that contain rich metadata on the pattern, as well as relationships between pattern pieces. "When the adjacent file is opened in a 3D visualization software like Browzwear, once the file is exported the relationship between pattern pieces is also imported. This means that the 3D visualization of this pattern can be simulated with one click of a button, instead of having a designer or pattern maker manually simulate it," she explained.So, how can textile suppliers and manufacturers get ready for real-time fashion? The primary thing is to digitize data for integrations, according to Koe."As you can see, data is extremely important in every part of the process to make this real-time fashion vision possible," she said. Data for textile suppliers include data for design, such as fabric thickness, color, pattern and quality of materials. It also includes data for 3D simulations, including the accurate scan of the fabric, texture, weight and physical properties that the 3D software would need to simulate an accurate representation. Data for automated pattern generation includes the stretch, shrinkage property, width for pattern nesting, as well as directional design. There is also data for sourcing so that brands know the pricing, inventory and availability, as well as shipment lead times.Once brands have this data, they have the option to integrate with digital textile databases, like Frontier.cool.More large brands have already started catching up with this digital transformation and are bringing in more automation. Suppliers that are more open-minded to change are inviting automation and digitalization into their supply chain and are being brought in by brands to lead this journey, Koe added."Real-time fashion is already a reality as we can see with Shein. More and more brands have made improvements in their supply chain efficiency to move in this direction. So it's your choice whether you will evolve with the rest of the industry or be left behind," she concluded.Kickstarting digital transformation in supply chainRussell began by addressing five basic principles being addressed by digitalization and the digital entities being created in the industry, which include reduced barriers to digital entry, decentralization, decoupled value chains, the importance of data, and technological eco advantage.Regarding customer expectations, Russell pointed out that there is a massive shift in terms of what the consumer is looking for. "Everybody talks about push and pull models. I think as we talk more about pull models, there are expectations from customers in terms of moving away from mass production into enabling brands to purchase on a micro-season, almost month by month basis," he said. In fact, on-demand solutions and a degree of personalization are also starting to show up with a lot of brands.As the industry moves into digital processes, it has been able to look at real-time data. Russell believes that the need for "less is more" is working directly with on-demand solutions. Getting data on a real-time basis and month-by-month basis is key to how a brand positions its raw materials, affecting everything from ratio information in terms of what it used to cut traditionally, which was all based on assumption. Now he says there is a lot more information about styles and colors that are selling, as well as size ratios, that are quite impactful.However, when it comes to engaging and trying to figure out a brand's existing digital footprint and where they want to be, there is a lot of confusion. This confusion is centered on what to do with the type of technologies available and how to make sense of and string them all together to make a real end solution."Everybody is looking at 3D for product creation, in terms of taking a lot of time and cost out of the front end and making the decisions a lot easier and faster. I think that becomes more relevant nowadays due to the inability for people to travel," Russell said. "Enabling digital transformation takes a big, deep dive into really understanding the existing digital maturity of the company and where it sees itself..and can be a bit of a challenge depending on the brand."Russell pointed out that digital adoption is embraced and widely accepted by SMEs and smaller companies. The struggle lies in big retail, possibly because they are not as digitally savvy as the younger brands. A lot of big retail brands have traditionally built processes and systems around push models. Trying to move from a push to a pull model can be very challenging.The path to digital transformation first requires the digital partner to assess the customer's digital footprint. "It is very important to see where they are, what's in place and how they're using it," Russell said. Next comes the development of a digital maturity model. This focuses on how the business is transformed and operates to increase its competitive advantage through digital initiatives. This is followed by identifying the points of differentiation through digital strategy, defining a clear roadmap to enhance business efficiency and effectiveness, and finally building a culture to support digital maturity."There is a very set process in terms of how that's implemented. A lot of people want to run before they can walk. It's very important for brands and companies to understand that there are key processes and strategies involved," Russell explained."Within Infinity, we've made it a point that we want to ensure the system and digital assets that we operate facilitates everything from big retailers, SMEs to smaller brands and what we classify as non-apparel," Russell said.The third day of 2021 World Digital Textile Forum focuses on "Fashion’s Digital Transformation in Supply Chain: Now or Never", discussing why it is important that supply chains digitalize and shift toward more on-demand, real-time production models.

The importance of digital textiles in today's garment industry cannot be overstated. That is why it is important that the supply chain also digitalize. This was the focus of the second day of the 2021 World Digital Textile Forum, hosted by the Advancement Association for Digital Textile (AADT) on Nov. 18.Day two featured fashion technology experts including Amon Shalev, CEO of virtuality.fashion; Sharon Lim, co-founder and co-CEO of Browzwear; Renate Eder, chief commercial officer of Vizoo; and Wayne Fan, chief strategy officer of Frontier.cool.Ben Hanson, editor-in-chief of The Interline, a leading fashion technology news outlet, served as the moderator for the second day of the forum.eFashion impact on the supply chainKicking off the round of day-two discussions, Shalev focused on eFashion adoption in the fashion industry and its impact on the supply chain.Shalev pointed to the effects of COVID-19 on the fashion industry as a catalyst for the rapid growth of eFashion and adoption of digital assets."What we've seen in the last 1.5 years is really tremendous. It's a direct result of the substantial increase in online shopping and shop closures, which in turn accelerated digital product development, increased online shopping, and forced brands to start presenting new collections and products in virtual showrooms," Shalev said.He went on to explain the importance of connecting product development and consumer-facing digital retail. "If you look at the new supply chain where everything is being connected using 3D assets, it all starts from digital product development. Already at this stage, there is a demand to have digital materials in top quality. As the next step, the products are being presented online in cloud-based virtual showroom solutions," he added.New digital fabrics should also be integrated with PLM (product lifecycle management) systems. As a result of this new supply chain, the industry is seeing mass customization where products can be produced on a more demand basis, all of which is supporting online sales increase.Shalev also highlighted how 3D can be offered as a service online in three steps. The first step is uploading minimal materials such as sketches, technical packages and digital fabrics to the 3D visualization service. From there a basic 3D prototype is created to show the client how the 2D materials have been translated into 3D. The last step is a high-resolution, full-color rendering that is presented in a virtual showroom.This type of platform allows everyone from the production side, designers, suppliers, buyers, marketing, product management, etc., not only to collaborate but to blend production and sales."Anyone who is a player in this industry should consider digitizing and facilitate seamless integration with existing processes and workflows. This is very critical," Shalev emphasized. "We should synchronize digital materials at the very beginning of the supply chain and make sure that it will integrate with the rest of the production processes, sales and marketing."Creating an agile supply chainWhen it comes to digitalizing, Lim posed the question: is it about speed or agility?"When we look at digital connectivity and the transparency it brings, the impact it should have is agility. It should make supply chain partners, brands and retailers agile. Agility is not speed. Agility is really about our ability to slow down, stop and turn quickly," Lim said.Although the pandemic has pushed the industry to change in the last two years, she acknowledged that change as the result of a crisis is always difficult.Lim's company Browzwear is in the business of not just inventing the 3D true-to-life engine, but also engaging with the industry in 3D workflow. Being able to create a true-to-life digital twin is necessary if the industry is going to change.While in the past the garment industry was not digitally ready for applications like virtual try-on to engage the consumer, today, various parts of the industry utilize true-to-life 3D garments for design and development.Lim also explained how changing business models to use 3D can create more profitability. She used the example of a company whose sales went from US$8 million down to US$2 million in revenue; however, they were now highly profitable because they were no longer marred by inventory."They managed to pivot themselves into a sell-then-make model. And when you can do that, that's where profitability happens," she said.From a long-term perspective, digitalizing a business should not be about doing digital for the sake of digital. Instead, companies should evaluate how what they want to do impacts their revenue, cost and risk."As new applications come into the market, what you're sharing, the agility to move into sell-and-make, it's not a one-day journey," Lim reminded. Companies must measure what has high impact on their revenue, cost and risk, and continue building, integrating and optimizing to bring about digital transformation."When you build connectivity, when you build transparency, that's what digital brings to you. It brings you agility. And agility is not just about survival. It's about bringing you new growth," Lim said.The importance of digital materials to digital product creationAs a 3D material visualization company, Vizoo understands how important high-quality digital materials are to digital product creation (DPC).Eder explained that digital samples are not created from scratch, but created from many components. "There is this foundation of components, fabrics and trims to do 3D design, which is based on libraries. If you don't have those libraries on hand, your process is very slow and you risk that it fails," she said.According to Eder, digital components should be sitting with the supplier in order to make it work. This should ideally result in a smooth workflow between the supplier and the brand.There is a lot of ROI for factories and suppliers once digital materials have been created. Eder says her company hears from brands that when looking for new suppliers they prefer suppliers with digital capabilities. "More and more brands are benchmarking their suppliers saying what is the digital capability you can offer us, is there 3D sampling, can you digitize materials. So I think a lot of suppliers feel this push that there is this demand now," she said.But it is important to recognize that it is not only the brands pushing the suppliers saying they want 3D design and digitized components.In fact, having digital files enable companies to quickly generate product previews using materials and allows for print and color variation. "We work with a supplier who has up to 50 iterations of their key accounts in terms of color variation. Doing this virtually, cuts this down to a minimum, so in the end, this results in not only cost-savings but also time-savings," Eder said.Many suppliers understand digitalizing is a competitive advantage. The awareness is definitely there, according to Eder. In fact, from a sales perspective, Vizzo sold 80% to brands two to three years ago. Now they have a 50:50 ratio between brands and suppliers.Vizoo also has clients switching to digital swatch books, which makes it easy to share online with different audiences. "Digitizing materials at the very beginning and sharing this data in your company with your clients generates the biggest ROI," Eder said.Progression of DPC strategiesToday, the concerns brands have when it comes to DPC are changing. In the past, Fan said brands were concerned about touch-and-feel and color. Now, he says brands are asking, "How do we scale? How do we connect the disconnects between the digital solutions? How do we use a single source of truth that is real, from source, and take it all the way through its product lifecycle and used - it could be plugged into PLM, it could be in 3D, or it could be in e-commerce. How do we take that and have a seamless connection the whole way through?"Fan also pointed to the importance of collaboration, noting that when stakeholders continue to work in a silo form it is difficult to maximize the return on collaboration. "When we really open up our doors and share the data and assets, and then really have those assets be exchanged among upstream and downstream between stakeholders, I think that's how eventually the collaboration can be maximized."Challenges to the adoption of digital materialsWhile there are several challenges standing in the way of widespread adoption of digital materials, some of the main challenges are simply communication and education.Eder pointed out that many suppliers still see digitalization as an additional workload or an additional service. If brands really want to push digitalization, they must communicate their commitment to it to suppliers.Fan believes that more stakeholders must be encouraged to join in on the conversation, as more standards are being developed. He also pointed to the need for more services to run alongside digital solutions."I think if there were more services out there, it could really make things lighter on the brand side and the supply chain side...At a macro level, it's compatibility across different solutions. And at a micro level, it goes back to the solution ecosystem and interoperability. If we have an asset or a material that can be used across different systems, whether that's a brand or a factory when they try to put together a combination of solutions, I think it would make their lives much easier," Fan said.The industry should also be investing in proficiency. "Everyone should be investing in its people to learn and then take ownership of the process changes. If people themselves are not skilled enough to think or to develop new processes, where is the process going to come from?" Lim asked.Right now, processes are being dictated by brands and retailers because oftentimes supply chain partners do not have people skilled enough to be able to lead this. "But this is the year 2021, it's really time to overcome this challenge by investing in your people's digital skills and knowledge," Lim concluded.Speakers on the second day of the 2021 World Digital Textile Forum