Tag Archives: software

Digital Immunity: Your Software’s Superpower in a Connected World

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Five worthy reads: Digital immune systems—your first line of defense  against cyberattacks - ManageEngine Blog

In our digital age, where cyber threats loom large, Digital Immune Systems (DIS) are like superheroes for software, shielding it from bugs and security threats. This powerful approach not only makes software resilient but also ensures a seamless user experience. Let’s dive into what DIS is all about, why it matters, and how you can strengthen your software’s immune system.

Digital Immune System Decoded: DIS is like a shield, swiftly protecting software from bugs and security breaches. Its goal is clear: make applications resilient, reduce business risks, and, most importantly, keep users happy. By 2025, organizations investing in DIS are expected to cut downtime by 80%, a testament to its crucial role in keeping operations smooth.

Essential Components of DIS:

  1. Observability: Transparent systems are resilient. Observability means real-time monitoring, catching and fixing issues on the fly, making user experiences better.
  2. AI-Augmented Testing: Let AI handle testing independently, identifying issues early without human intervention.
  3. Chaos Engineering: Controlled disruptions in testing, preparing teams for real-world challenges.
  4. Auto-Remediation: Applications that can fix themselves, ensuring uninterrupted service without human help.
  5. Application Security: Safeguarding the software supply chain with security measures and strong version control.
  6. Site Reliability Engineering (SRE): Balancing speed and stability for a fantastic user experience.

Why DIS Matters for Software: DIS not only reduces business risks but also boosts software quality. Real-time threat detection, continuous monitoring, and meeting security requirements ensure a proactive defense against cyber threats.

Linking Digital Immunity to Software Quality: Automated testing and continuous monitoring, integral to DIS, ensure fast and top-quality software releases. The aim is to make software immune to bugs and vulnerabilities right from the start, ensuring efficiency and performance.

Achieving a Healthy Digital Immune System: Automate code changes, increase testing coverage, and leverage technology like APIs. Sauce Labs, with its testing solutions, helps identify risks quickly and securely.

In a Nutshell: In our digital-heavy world, DIS is your software’s superhero. Investing in a robust digital immune system protects your digital assets, ensures smooth operations, delights users, and fortifies software quality.

Opinion: This insightful information about Digital Immunity brilliantly demystifies the complex world of software development, making the concept accessible and highlighting its pivotal role in safeguarding against cyber threats. The clear breakdown of key components and their real-world significance, coupled with practical tips for achieving a robust Digital Immune System, empowers you with actionable insights. In a landscape where digital security is paramount, this piece not only underscores the importance of DIS but also serves as a valuable guide for organizations aiming to fortify their software against evolving threats.

Questions for Readers: How do you think Digital Immune Systems will evolve as our digital world keeps growing, and what extra steps would you recommend for safeguarding software development against new threats?

Resources: What is Digital Immune System? | Overview of Digital Immunity (site24x7.com), What Is A Digital Immune System? (saucelabs.com), Digital Immune System and its Key Compoenents (xenonstack.com), What Is a Digital Immune System and Why Does It Matter? (gartner.com), chat AI bing

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High-tech mine planning

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Many industries are digitalizing their work processes. For large and complex projects such as those in mining, the availability of new technologies has enabled companies to better identify sustainable and cost-efficient methods for ore extraction.

Deswik is a leading provider of mine planning solutions, with a portfolio including software for computer-aided 3D mine design, scheduling, operations planning, mining data management and geological mapping.

Deswik software is used by a range of mining professionals, including mining engineers, geologists, surveyors and production superintendents for a range of tasks throughout the mine planning process.

Deswik’s integrated solution seamlessly links mine design and scheduling tasks. Data and workflows are streamlined across teams and systems, enabling management of design solids in the CAD platform. Any changes are dynamically reflected in their associated scheduling tasks in real-time.

The Mining Data Management solution (MDM) is also integrated with the CAD graphical platform, and assists in preserving data integrity and minimizing uncertainties by providing a single source of truth for the entire technical services team. By working with the same information, mines can better facilitate scheduling and shift planning to achieve the critical path.

Calliope Lalousis, Chief Operating Officer at Deswik

Calliope Lalousis, Chief Operating Officer at Deswik, explains that among the software’s strengths are the integration between Deswik’s core products and task-specific modules, along with powerful visualization tools and end-of-month compliance to plan reporting. “Our optimization tools enable users to rapidly generate and evaluate multiple scenarios to extract the highest possible value from the ore deposit, thereby minimizing risks and maximizing the Net Present Value,” she says.

Knowing how to plan for closure and manage waste from the early stages of the mining lifecycle can prove to be a huge advantage for managing risk

“An optimized plan allows for more sustainable and profitable operations with a more efficient extraction process. Good mine planning, however, is not possible unless considered within the context of final mine closure and relinquishment. Knowing how to plan for closure and manage waste from the early stages of the mining lifecycle can prove to be a huge advantage for managing risk, given the costs and environmental constraints involved in mining projects.”

Overall:

The information effectively highlights the crucial role of digitalization in mining, with a focus on Deswik’s leading mine planning solutions. It succinctly describes Deswik’s software portfolio, emphasizing integration capabilities and seamless linkage between mine design and scheduling tasks.

The piece provides a clear understanding of how Deswik’s software benefits various mining professionals throughout the planning process. It emphasizes the integration of the Mining Data Management solution with the CAD platform, highlighting data integrity and a single source of truth.

Also underscores the importance of mine closure planning and waste management from the early stages of the mining lifecycle, showcasing a forward-thinking perspective on industry challenges.

In summary, Deswik providing a concise and positive view of advancements in the mining sector through digitalization.

Resources: Digital mining (home.sandvik), chatGPT
Images:
https://www.home.sandvik/contentassets/6bdb74a47c7940aa97a12fb1bf303cb4/deswik-digital-mining.png?width=1600&height=900&rmode=crop&rsampler=bicubic&compand=true&quality=90&v=1695122778&hmac=6fc2b084bcccdd7eab1b4f793a4a39a063d8b20831f3669e09919e483fc84ec8 , https://www.home.sandvik/contentassets/7f2afe09d44d4cf0b3cefb0bca4f96db/deswik-calliope.png?width=1600&height=900&rmode=crop&rsampler=bicubic&compand=true&quality=90&v=1695122901&hmac=36cdb1a2ef1d1c4363c0939793aa088ecfd2daef1ead30cd64c4622efd70b153

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The Russian operating system “Phantom” was brought to testing after 12 years of development from scratch

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The main version of the Phantom operating system is ready for trial projects, and a full release is scheduled for the end of 2022. Dmitry Zavalishin, the main developer of the system, said this in an interview with CNews. Zavalishin has been working on the system since 2010 together with employees of the DZ Systems holding, whose first company he founded in 2005.

The “Phantom” system differs from classic Windows, Linux and macOS – it uses persistent virtual memory, managed code and global address space.

Persistent virtual memory implies the “continuity” of process execution and high reliability of data storage. Applications “do not see” reboots and shutdowns, from their point of view, the system works non-stop and constantly saves all data changes. The user does not need to take care of saving files and backups himself – even a crash will not damage them. There are no files in Phantom at all – instead of them, the system operates with objects that are directly accessible by pointers.

Managed code protects each object and prevents the programmer from manually working with memory – this immediately cuts off most of the errors and vulnerabilities that damage user data and allow viruses to spread. Classical systems protect only processes from each other, while literally anything can happen inside them.

The global address space provides maximum program execution performance. Classical systems divide memory into kernel space and user space – the core of the system (the central part that controls all resources) works in the first one, and user applications work in the second. During operation, the system has to switch between these spaces millions of times per second, which is bad for performance. “Phantom” is spared from these switches – all processes interact with each other through the direct transfer of references to objects. In a classic system, this is an extremely dangerous approach, but not in a managed code system.

The main niche of “Phantom” is embedded systems – the control of industrial equipment and household appliances, the Internet of things and other tasks where Linux now dominates. DZ Systems is working on porting the Phantom to the Genode framework, a special “strap” for microkernel operating systems that allows you to run regular Linux programs. This version should be released by the end of 2022.

In the future, Zavalishin and his colleagues plan to transfer Phantom to the seL4 microkernel in order to mathematically check the entire system and prove the absence of errors and vulnerabilities in it. This will create the basis for building extremely reliable and secure software systems.

Source:

https://www.tinkoff.ru/invest/news/744662/

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“Solar panels can generate more electricity if to make them turn”

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Idea that made an ordinary engineer a millionaire.

American entrepreneur Ron Corio has made a multibillion-dollar business in the production of trackers for solar panels.

Trackers – the mechanisms that move the panel towards the sun throughout the day, turned out to be a real gold mine. For decades, improving the devices that were once interesting to people, Ron Corio, provided his company with a capitalization of $4.6b.

Early in 1985 company named Wattsun Corporation, which developed low-cost solar “flat plates” needed a solution to place it in different angles. Ron Corio was the man for the job that started developing multi-tilt angle and eventually purchase shares of Wattsun in 1989, forming Array Technologies, Inc. as the world’s first solar tracking manufacturer in 1992.

The trackers were installed worldwide, but due to the market occupied by coal and other resources with huge deposits, the sun did not cause much demand. However, after the 2000s solar energy began to become a reality and Array started to grow significantly, winning tenders and constantly maximizing land occupancy.

Array’s main product is the DuraTrack system, which rotates photovoltaic panels on a single north-south axis throughout the day to follow the sun. Large-scale solar energy projects are usually arranged in consecutive ” rows “that form an”array”. The array can have dozens of rows with more than 100 solar panels in each row.

At the moment, Array Technologies is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of ground-mounted systems used in the solar energy business. Trackers increase the initial cost of a solar project but allow the panels to generate more energy compared to a fixed-tilt mounting system. Over the life of the project, this results in significantly lower level energy costs.

Sources:

https://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/news/2020/10/15/array-technologies-closes-

https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/array-technologies

https://ir.arraytechinc.com/

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Quantum power

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We all heard about supercomputers that are bigger than some houses and make enormous calculations. Also term of artificial intelligence or machine learning is getting popular. Slowly we are living in a world driven by data and all actions are made by programs.

In order to make more advance operations and use more sophisticated technology we need something different than another bigger computer. Than comes quantum computer

What is a quantum computer?

Our computers work in regular way. They can store information as 1 or 0 states called bits. Simply it means that when we have more data we use more bits and so on. Quantum computer works differently. It stores memory in a superposition of classical states and the basic unit of it is called qubit. They are in an indeterminate state between 0 and 1. It allows to make calculations much faster and efficient, but it’s not the biggest advantage of a quantum computing. Every qubit is connected in some way to other qubits and effect on each other within one computer. It means that there is a much shorter way for information to get through, than in classical computers. It enables to extremely shorten the time needed for all sort of difficult operations. However due to it’s a different state, qubits can sometimes fail and have errors, so they need to be constantly checking each other. It is said that a quantum computer can make calculations that would take 10 thousand years of today’s most powerful computer to solve, in just a few minutes. It opens a way for science and technology to work in completely new fields with a new great power to use. It will be crucial in fields like space travel, machine learning or data science. On the other hand, it is unlikely to be used in every household instead of classic computer.

The first one

Just a few weeks ago it seems that we have a breakthrough point for this industry. Google claimed to create a first fully working quantum computer in the world. The processor that operates this computer is called Sycamore. It works with 53 qubits. When it would be expanded to 70 qubits the biggest computer in the world would need to be the size of a city to reach it’s power. IBM is also working on it’s own project with quantum computing, but it is the Google which is the first. We don’t know yet how to use it for something particular, but we it is powerful.

 

References

Quantum computing’s ‘Hello World’ moment

https://www.ibm.com/quantum-computing/learn/what-is-quantum-computing/

https://ai.google/research/teams/applied-science/quantum/

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/hands-on-with-googles-quantum-computer/

https://www.wired.com/story/why-googles-quantum-computing-victory-is-a-huge-deal-and-a-letdown/

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Apple acquired motion capture technology used in Star Wars

Reading Time: 2 minutesApple acquired a startup Faceshift, who developed a widely used motion capture technology. Rumors about buying the company from Cupertino Faceshift were before, but now Apple has officially confirmed the purchase, according to TechCrunch.

The publication writes that Apple has not confirmed the deal direct text, but the company voiced its standard response to the case of the purchase: “From time to time Apple buys smaller technology companies. And we generally do not discuss our goals and plans”.

Company Faceshift, founded in 2012, is located in Zurich. It motion capture technology is actively used in scientific research, computer games and film industry in particular, for the filming of the latest Star Wars.

motion-capture

Faceshift is the author of the method of animation characters and objects without the use of markers. This technology requires no special costume or sensors, that is the actor was for the camera in any clothes. Markerless motion capture is especially convenient when shooting the fights, falls, jumps and other complex movements, during which markers may be damaged.

Faceshift has consumer software solutions, including Faceshift Freelance and Faceshift Studio. Sales last stop after the company was bought by Apple. With this program you can create characters and export them to the software for 3D-animation.

It is unknown what the purpose of the acquisition of Apple. In addition, company from Cupertino have patents on the technology of motion capture, face recognition and augmented reality, which Apple acquired earlier along with three other European companies working in this field – PrimeSense, Polar Rose and Metaio. The media speculated that the company uses the acquired technologies in the new generation Apple TV.

More info on a company : Here

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