Tag: swiss

Appian gets a slice of a Swiss bank roll

Posted on June 14, 2017 by - News

CCRAB109_swiss-roll_s4x3.jpg.rend.hgtvcom.616.462Appian has been selected by the Swiss Bank Vontobel, to sort out its “digital transformation strategy” across all business divisions.

Vontobel is using Appian’s low-code application platform to improve customer’s experiences and make its business methods to more efficient and agile.

Appian claims it can accelerate the development of powerful enterprise applications with virtually no coding. The platform combines process management, data management, native mobility (online and offline), collaboration, content management and other flash techniques.

The platform is being used by 1,000 of Vontobel’s 1,700 employees, across the company’s European offices, as well as in North America. Vontobel’s three main business areas – asset management, private banking and investment banking – are actively using the Appian platform.

Appian’s low-code platform will streamline Vontobel’s customer onboarding/client configuration processes, contribute to an automated risk analysis process, and manage compliance while also assessing the suitability of a product based on a specific customer investment contract/strategy. Founder and chief executive officer at Appian Matt Calkins said that Vontobel will showcasing the power of digital transformation in the banking and finance industry.

“With the Appian Platform, the company is empowering its employees to create unique enterprise applications that can improve customer experiences, streamline business processes, and increase efficiencies. Customers like Vontobel continue to validate the value our platform brings as companies transition into digital businesses.”

UK digital finishing equipment reseller bought by Swiss

Posted on May 26, 2017 by - News

POPE-SWISSGUARD/WOMENUK digital finishing equipment reseller and distributor Zünd Plotting Systems (UK) has been bought by the Swiss-based Zünd Systemtechnik AG.

The deal means that Zünd UK will now be an official subsidiary of Zünd Systemtechnik.

Zünd UK was founded as a privately owned Zünd reseller in 1993 but shares were sold to Zünd Systemtechnik by its former owner and managing director Tim Taylor.

Taylor remains as UK commercial director and a new managing director, former Hybrid national sales manager Stuart Cole, began in the role in mid-March.

Cole said changes had been taking place steadily behind the scenes to make the transition “as easy as possible”.

He said: “The relationship between Zünd UK and Zünd Switzerland was incredibly strong before this and all this has done is further strengthen that relationship and the commercial ability of the company, but in the outside world nothing really changes.”

Zünd UK is expanding and will hire four to six additional staff in the engineering and sales departments.

“We’ve had some significant growth in sales over the last few months and the requirements are there to continue that growth and support those customers to the levels they need,” added Cole.

In a statement last week, Zünd chief executive Oliver Zünd said: “We are delighted to be able to welcome Zünd Plotting Systems (UK) to our global group of companies. Working with our newest subsidiary, we look forward to strengthening our position in the UK market and continuing to expand our customer base.”

Based in St Albans, Hertfordshire, Zünd UK distributes and resells Zünd’s digital cutting systems, modules and tools to the UK market.

Swiss buy Clearswift to get into the UK

Posted on December 23, 2016 by - News

swissWhile Brexit might see EU companies departing the UK it seems the Swiss are going the other way.

Theale-based security specialist Clearswift has been acquired by a Swiss firm RUAG which wants to expand its reach in the UK

Apparently, the outfit was impressed with the strength of the firm’s channel network which aided the sale.

From the start of next year Clearswift’s products will fall under the RUAG Defence cyber security business unit, which will be headed by Dietmar Thelen.

The Clearswift acquisition gets a firm with around £23 million in revenues and 140 staff focused on data loss prevention and a well-developed UK channel.

CEO of the RUAG Defence division Markus Zoller said that Clearswift’s global partner network and customer base in conjunction with its analyst-recognised solutions will play a key role in the growth of the RUAG Defence cyber security business unit.

“We are aiming to become a principal solution and service provider for organisations of all sizes and across all verticals, including local and national government organisations, financial institutions and critical infrastructure providers,” he added “By combining our expertise in network defence with Clearswift’s data loss prevention and gateway solutions we will further boost our efforts to make RUAG Defence one of the leading cyber security specialists.”

RUAG has a core business in aerospace and defence, has offices across Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Sweden and in the US and has been selling into the UK.
No one is saying how much the outfit paid for the British firm.

Police seize Swiss druggie robot

Posted on January 20, 2015 by - News

Robbie_Forbidden_PlanetA Swiss art project entitled “The Random Darknet Shopper” has been spending $100 in Bitcoins to buy random products off the Darknet.

The project used a Darknet-surfing robot and apparently managed to buy 10 ecstasy tablets and a bogus Hungarian passport scan.

The London-based Swiss artists !Mediengruppe Bitnik – Domagoj Smoljo and Carmen Weisskopf  wrote on their blog that the robot’s artistic habits did not impress Swiss coppers.

After the exhibition in Switzerland closed,  the public prosecutor’s office of St. Gallen seized and sealed their work with the purpose of “impeding an endangerment of third parties through the drugs exhibited by destroying them.”

The artists describe their medium as the use of hacking as an artistic strategy and say that they programmed The Random Darknet Shopper to answer the basic human questions like what does it mean for a society, when there are robots which act autonomously?

They are also curious to see who is liable, when a robot breaks the law on its own initiative.

Apparently the artists have discovered that it is them.

“We are the legal owner of the drugs – we are responsible for everything the bot does, as we executed the code. But our lawyer and the Swiss constitution says art in the public interest is allowed to be free,” they said.

Swiss prosecutors have yet to decide that point. But it does seem that the robot managed to have an interesting stash of illegal goods. This included a counterfeit pair of Diesel jeans, A Sprite stash can that you can hide drugs or cash in, a decoy letter, a baseball cap with a hidden, remote control, mini video camera, and a platinum Visa card, a carton of Chesterfield cigarettes from Moldavia and a master set of fire brigade keys.

 

Swiss watchmakers rubbish Apple’s designs

Posted on September 16, 2014 by - News

Swiss Watches the BrandThe Swiss watchmakers, who Apple believes it will put out of business, have mocked Jobs’ Mob’s poor design efforts.

Luxury giant LVMH’s watch guru and industry legend Jean-Claude Biver told AFP  that he expected a bit more from Apple and he was a bit disappointed.

Biver said the gadget, which will be released early next year, is not the “revolutionary product” it claims to be.

The timepiece, with its square touch-screen face and curved edges, lacks “sex appeal” and is too feminine, he said.

But Biver went a bit further and rubbished the abilities of Apple’s hallowed design team, saying it looked like it was done by students in their first semester.

With pricing set to start at $349, Apple’s watch will not be playing in the same league as the Swiss watchmakers who dominate the luxury end of the market.

Jerome Bloch, who heads the men’s fashion unit at Parisian style agency Nelly Rodi, said Swiss luxury watchmakers had nothing to fear and comparing Apple’s new device to many Swiss watch offerings was like comparing a Mini Cooper with an Aston Martin.

Biver added that luxury was eternal, it is perennial and  not something that becomes worthless after five years. Apple watches were “doomed to become obsolete”.