Cloud computing vs mainframe

Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung reported that Vietnam used to stay in the global Top-50 best countries as to telecoms infrastructure. Sadly, now its position downgrades to the Top-100 list. After a short time heavily investing in telecommunications facilities, most enterprises in the field focus more on price competition. They seem to forget that a cease in technological investment means a foreseen loss, since the telecoms demands of the public change the most rapidly. The Minister firmly stated that 2020 must begin a new and more enthusiastic investment cycle for telecoms and digital infrastructure in order to establish all necessary platforms for the national digital transformation process to happen successfully. He added that Vietnam aims at coming back to the global Top-50 list. Lately, major telecoms companies in the nation have experienced various kinds of changes, from quantity to quality, business models to development strategies. Maintaining their traditional commercial activities in the aspects of Internet, mobile and landline network provision, Vietnamese telecoms giants like VNPT, Viettel, MobiFone simultaneously invest much of their capital in cutting edge technologies and digital facilities to become the true providers of multi-platform digital technologies. The most serious obstacle of the digital transformation process is to switch business and management models, to upgrade the level of the human resources, and to include new telecom-unrelated services based on the digital platform. This challenge requires the application of advanced technologies such as Cloud Computing, Big Data, IoT, and AI. “Vietnam has just begun its initial stage of a digital economy. The market is still quite large, and opportunities are there for all who are wise enough seize the chance. At the moment, the total expense of businesses in the nation for IT is around VND69,000 billion (approx. US$3 billion), while the total national budget …

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The Hanoitimes - Fintech – the fusion of finance and technology – could be a game-changer for inclusive economic growth amidst the pandemic. Financial technology (fintech), or the fusion of finance and technology, has emerged as a new model for financial innovation. Fintech covers a constellation of complementary technologies—including mobile networks, big data, cloud computing, distributed ledger technology, artificial intelligence (AI), and data analytics—that jointly shape a broad swathe of operations in the financial industry. In India, mobile phones are being used to create “human ATMs” that provide greater access to fintech services. Photo: Ravi Sharma The past few years have witnessed the rapid growth of investment in fintech. It has already left its imprint on a wide array of financial services, including microfinance, blockchain, payments, personal finance, digital banking, insurance, wealth management, capital markets, money transfers, and mortgages. The role of fintech in improving financial inclusion comes to the fore during big economic shocks such as the Covid-19 pandemic. The poor suffer disproportionately during such shocks. Their hardship is exacerbated by lack of access to financial services, and they often do not have online bank accounts. Authors: Donghyun Park is Principal Economist, Economic Research and Regional Cooperation Department, ADB. Shu Tian is Economist, Economic Research and Regional Cooperation Department, ADB. …

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According to a survey recently conducted by the US Federal Reserve (FED), the economy in four out of 12 regions of the US seems to be “at a standstill” or registering modest growth, while the economy in four other regions began to fall sharply last month. The economy in four other regions started to decline deeply in November. In its biannual report, the FED said that even in regions that recorded growth, economic activity was still at a lower level compared to the pre-pandemic period. In the context of the US continuously setting new records regarding the number of new infections and deaths each day in recent weeks, the labour market has also witnessed negative signals. A newly released report by the ADP Research Institute shows that US private-sector job growth in November fell to its lowest level since July, with employers adding only 307,000 new jobs. A senior ADP leader stated that although November saw an increase in the number of new jobs, the pace of job growth continued to slow down. The figure of 307,000 new jobs last month was only equal to 40% of the number recorded in September, proving too few to help the US recover the 19.7 million jobs lost in March and April. Commenting on the “gloomy picture” of the world’s largest economy, the FED said that the US is undergoing its largest wave of COVID-19 with the number of new infections per day skyrocketing, even at a higher level than the worst days recorded in last spring, forcing local governments to re-impose restriction measures and pushing the economy into more difficulty. Meanwhile, a growing number of economists are concerned that the danger of the health system breaking down before the pandemic ends could push the US economy into a “dual crisis” in 2021. Given the “dark cloud” overshadowing the economy, US politicians are stepping up with solutions to save the economy from slumping further. Speaking before the US House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services recently, Chair of the FED …

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