24 Agencis, 20 Transports Groups and Cooperatives Push for PUV Modernization

Wazzup Pilipinas!

The PUV Modernization Program, a long overdue reform in the road-based public transportation system, got government agencies, transport groups and cooperatives to work together for the first time.

At least 24 government agencies and 20 transport groups and cooperatives from all over the country showed their support for the program during the launch held at Camp Aguinaldo yesterday. Given program's scope and range, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) sought the assistance and support of relevant agencies and groups to move the program forward.

DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade especially thanked transport groups for working with the government instead of rallying in the streets. Groups such as Federation of Jeepney Operators and Drivers Association (FEJODAP), 41. 1-United Transport Koalisyon (1-UTAK), Alliance of Transport Operators d Drivers Association of the Philippines (ALTODAP), and Coalition of Operators, Drivers, Employees, Atbp. (CODE-X), and ACTO expressed their support during the launch.

“Kung kami lang po, hindi namin kaya. Kailangan sama-sama ‘yung mga mananakay, operators, at drivers na makiisa sa magandang layunin ng programa. At kung mabigyang katuparan ang programang ito, pangako sa inyo, tuluy-tuloy ang dayalogo at pag-uusap. Kung may mga punto at bagay-bagay na dapat pag-usapan at baguhin, pag-uusapan natin ‘yan at babaguhin,” Tugade told reporters after the launch.

He also allayed fears that the program will affect the livelihood of PUV drivers and operators.

“Ang administrasyong ito, pabor sa anumang kabuhayan. Pero dapat lang, ang kabuhayan ay hindi kikitil ng buhay,” said Tugade referring to the many accidents involving old and dilapidated public utility vehicles.

Hitachi Data Systems Wins Two VMware Innovation OEM Partner of the Year Awards

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Hitachi Data Systems (HDS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE:6501), today announced that it has been honored as a winner of two VMware Partner of the Year awards in the Innovation OEM Partner category for its exceptional efforts both globally and in EMEA at the VMware Partner Leadership Summit 2017.

The two awards recognize the company’s accomplishments in 2016, including unprecedented year-over-year revenue growth and continued integration between Hitachi Unified Compute Platform (UCP) offerings and VMware vSphere, vSAN, vRealize and NSX solutions. Furthermore, with its next-generation Programmable Data Center concept, HDS enables customers to consume IT and data services from both traditional and cloud-native workloads, addressing the needs of the entire application portfolio. 

“Digital transformation requires a modern, agile IT environment to take advantage of emerging trends and requirements. In collaboration with VMware, we’ve focused on engineering new ways to deliver capabilities that meet customer business objectives, reduce business risk and anticipate future customer needs. We appreciate the recognition for all that we’ve accomplished over the past year and look forward to expanding upon that success with VMware to help customers realize the power of their data for both today and tomorrow,” said Mike Walkey, senior vice president, Global Partner Organization, Hitachi Data Systems.

“For years, VMware and HDS have worked together to help customers on their transformation journey. In 2016, we raised the bar for our partnership with VMware in EMEA and globally. Our successful collaborations have resulted in a digital platform that offers flexibility, agility and a point from which customers can achieve outcomes above and beyond infrastructure modernization,” said Steve Furniss, vice president, Solutions and Products, Hitachi Data Systems EMEA.

“VMware is pleased to recognize this year’s Global Partner Innovation Award winners, which are given to a select group of partners for their exceptional efforts in 2016,” said Ross Brown, senior vice president, Worldwide Partners and Alliances, VMware. “VMware is proud to seeHitachi Data Systems win these awards and we look forward to our continued collaboration.”

ePLDT VITRO Makati and Clark: The Only Data Centers in PH with Global Tier 3 Certificate

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Companies are highly dependent on IT in delivering mission-critical services. With this, it has become a standard for colocation providers to design their data centers with high availability and efficiency in mind to ensure that their customers’ businesses are at their optimal state.

ePLDT, Inc., with its ongoing efforts to push for business resilience through its network of data centers, recently announced that its two flagship VITRO Data Centers in Makati City and Clark, Pampanga are the first and only in the country to receive the ANSI/TIA-942 Rated 3 Design Certificate. The standard is based on all physical infrastructure like site location, fire safety, architectural, electrical, mechanical, security, telecommunication and other critical data center requirements.

The guidelines set by ANSI/TIA-942 emphasized the redundancy design of the data centers to ensure the highest availability during unplanned maintenance and infrastructure expansion. This means that ePLDT’s data centers in Makati and Clark have a concurrently maintainable site infrastructure where each of its components—including all the circuit breakers, panel boards and power strips—can be removed, replaced or serviced without affecting the operations of colocation customers.

“Choosing the right data center that supports the growth trajectory of local businesses is a critical decision for owners,” said Nerisse Ramos, Chief Operating Officer of ePLDT Group. “Because of that, we designed our data centers based on the latest best practices in the industry, putting a premium on the business resiliency needs of today’s businesses in the country. To receive such certificate means that the data centers adopted international infrastructure design yet are flexible enough to suffice the needs of local businesses.”