A big, bold night at Acer ePinnacle Awards 2015

Jason Chen, Chief Executive Officer of Acer, Inc., introduces the Acer Liquid Jade Primo under the Liquid Jade series of the global tech titan’s smartphone products and is the world’s first full PC phone.

Everything went bold and big, and all who were present went  high spirited as Acer Philippines, Inc. feted its top distributors and resellers during the 2015 edition of the Acer ePinnacle Awards, Acer’s annual awards rites in honor of its top sellers.

It was grand and swanky as guests went in their best and boldest black attire at the upper-class Chaos Club of Crown Hotel Manila in Parañaque City. The Acer ePinnacle Awards, now on its 8^th year, have always been the perfect venue for the top IT giant to thank its partners for making the global tech brand remain a top IT brand in the Philippines despite stiff competition from other more established brands.

Entitled “Bo1d. Celebrating 10 Years of Leadership,” the event was the ultimate “time to shine” for a few distinguished Acer partners who, for the past year, exuded exemplary performance in rising above challenges and be able to successfully prove themselves in terms of sales performance, unmatched marketing strategies, and innovative and truly customer-centric customer efforts in selling Acer’s world-class, top-notch products.

Acer Philippines Sales Director, Sue Ong-Lim (left), Acer Philippines General Manager, Manuel Wong (2nd from left), Jason Chen, Acer Inc. Chief Executive Officer (2nd from right), and S.T. Liew, Acer Smartphones Global President (right), poses with representatives of MSI-ECS Philippines (center), who were one of the major winners under the Distributor of the Year category during the Acer ePinnacle Awards 2015.

Among the major winners under the prestigious Distributor of the Year category were Bridge Distribution, Inc., who won a total of four “Distributor of the Year” for Consumer Desktops, 2-in-1 devices, Projectors and Commercial Business, MSI-ECS Philippines as “Distributor of the Year” for Tablets and Smart Phones, and Techtron Systems Corp., who won as “Distributor of the Year” for Consumer Notebooks and Consumer Monitors.

A special highlight of the awards was the selection of the “Fiercest Male and Female Awards” for the two guests who are dressed boldly for the night. The Fiercest Male award went to James Tan and April Dabasol was the Fiercest Female.

Acer Philippines Sales Director, Sue Ong-Lim (left), Acer Philippines General Manager, Manuel Wong (2nd from left), and Jason Chen, Acer Inc. Chief Executive Officer (right), poses with representatives of Bridge Distribution, Inc. (center), who were one of the major winners under the Distributor of the Year category during the Acer ePinnacle Awards 2015.  

Acer Philippines General Manager Manuel Wong thanked Acer Philippines’ partners and distributors for another highlight year for the tech titan and for making Acer the top Notebook brand for 10 years and 7 years in Commercial Notebooks. “Thank you once again for making Acer a top brand in the Philippines. With your partnership with us, we will all work hard because we have more to do, and more to achieve. Let’s all achieve to become better and brighter as we continue to be partners with you.”

Meanwhile, Acer Inc. Chief Executive Officer Jason Chen, who was a special guest and keynote speaker for the event, showcased what’s in store for Acer customers around the world in terms of their newest and boldest innovative devices designed to change the world’s perception of Information Technology.

It was also the first time that the global CEO attended any award-giving event anywhere in the world where Acer operates, thus giving Acer Philippines that unprecedented, singular distinction.

For a complete list of winners of the Acer ePinnacle Awards, go to www.acer.com.ph, follow Acer via Twitter (twitter.com/acerphils) or www.Facebook.com/AcerPH. 

AMD Takes 83% Share of Global VR System Market, Driving Leading VR Experiences for Consumers and Developers

AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) recently announced at the 2016 Game Developer Conference that the company will underscore its dominance of the global virtual reality systems market. It revealed new advances in hardware and software to further the reach of VR, and unveiled its new GPU certified program that simplifies adoption of VR technology for consumers and content creators.

“AMD continues to be a driving force in virtual reality,” said Raja Koduri, senior vice president and chief architect, Radeon Technologies Group, AMD. “We’re bringing the technology to more people around the world through our efforts to expand the VR ecosystem with VR i-Cafés in China, new Oculus Rift and HTC Vive headsets, and a wide variety of content partners in gaming, entertainment, education, science, medicine, journalism and several other exciting fields.”

AMD is also making VR more easily accessible to consumers and content creators with its GPU certified program featuring the new “Radeon VR Ready Premium” and “Radeon VR Ready Creator” tiers. Its forthcoming Polaris GPUs and award-winning AMD LiquidVR™ technology will simultaneously advance groundbreaking VR-optimized graphics.

Expanding the VR ecosystem

• Leading market share – AMD is powering the overwhelming majority of home entertainment VR systems around the world, with an estimated 83 percent market share.¹ This share is driven in part by AMD technology powering VR-capable game consoles installed in millions of homes globally.
• Powering the premium VR headsets of 2016 – AMD is partnering with the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive Pre headset manufacturers to ensure the Radeon™ ecosystem is ready to take advantage of their hugely anticipated launches this year.
• Collaborating to develop new form factors – AMD is working with Sulon Technologies Inc. on the Sulon Q™ headset, the world’s first and only all-in-one, tether-free, “wear and play” headset for virtual reality, augmented reality, and spatial computing. Powered by Radeon™ graphics and leveraging AMD’s LiquidVR™ technology for smooth and responsive AR and VR experiences, the Sulon Q™ headset allows users to effortlessly enhance the real world through augmented reality applications, and seamlessly transitions from the real world to virtual worlds.
• Powering premium VR experiences beyond gaming – AMD is collaborating with leading organizations to illustrate the power of VR outside of gaming, working with companies in healthcare, entertainment, education, media, training and simulation, among others. AMD is already seeing fruits of the efforts in projects including General Electric’s “The Neuro VR Experience” experience simulating brain activity, The Smithsonian Museum’s “First: The Story of Orville and Wilbur” experience, and incredible storytelling in VR through a recently announced collaboration with the Associated Press.

Advancing technology to power premium VR experiences

• Showcasing next-generation VR-optimized GPU hardware – AMD demonstrated for the first time ever the company’s forthcoming Polaris 10 GPU running Valve’s Aperture Science Robot Repair demo powered by the HTC Vive Pre. The sample GPU features the recently announced Polaris GPU architecture designed for 14nm FinFET, optimized for DirectX® 12 and VR, and boasts significant architectural improvements over previous AMD architectures including HDR monitor support, industry-leading performance-per-watt 2, and AMD’s 4th generation Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture.
• Growing adoption of GPUOpen’s LiquidVR™ technology – AMD LiquidVR™ technology helps address obstacles in content, comfort and compatibility that together take the industry a step closer to true, life-like presence in VR games, applications and experiences. Today AMD LiquidVR™ technology is being used across the VR software stack by headset manufacturers, including Oculus, HTC, game engine developers and content creators.

Simplifying VR adoption for consumers and content creators

AMD recently announced its new GPU certified program for VR, allowing OEMs, system builders, and AIB partners to instantly communicate to consumers which certified Radeon™ products can be used to deliver exceptional VR experiences with the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive headsets.

• “Radeon™ VR Ready Premium” solutions for exceptional VR experiences–Certified Radeon™ R9 290-class graphics cards and higher, and systems built using those cards, are now eligible for the “Radeon™ VR Ready Premium” seal.
• “VR-optimized systems like the HP ENVY Phoenix is specifically configured with the quality, performance and computing power to enable amazing virtual experiences,” said Kevin Frost, vice president and general manager, consumer personal systems, HP Inc. "HP is working with AMD to deliver the VR-ready HP ENVY Phoenix tower for a seamless out-of-the-box experience. With the Radeon™ VR Ready Premium program, it will help customers to take the guess work out of selecting the right VR capable graphics.”
• “Radeon™ VR Ready Creator” solutions for VR professionals, experience designers, and developers –The “Radeon™ VR Ready Creator” seal signifies unprecedented performance and industry-leading innovation that empowers VR content creators and experience designers with incredibly powerful and capable development tools. Featuring an upcoming graphics card with AMD’s LiquidVR SDK (software developer kit), the “Radeon™ VR Ready Creator” designation signifies the ultimate performance for both content creation and consumption for VR professionals.

About AMD

For more than 45 years, AMD has driven innovation in high-performance computing, graphics, and visualization technologies ― the building blocks for gaming, immersive platforms, and the datacenter. Hundreds of millions of consumers, leading Fortune 500 businesses, and cutting-edge scientific research facilities around the world rely on AMD technology daily to improve how they live, work, and play. AMD employees around the world are focused on building great products that push the boundaries of what is possible. For more information about how AMD is enabling today and inspiring tomorrow, visit the AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) website, blog, Facebook and Twitter pages.

Intelligent Mobile Access Selection Simplifies Smartphone Use for Vodafone

Vodafone Germany, in cooperation with Cisco and Chemring Technology Solutions, has completed a trial demonstrating how smartphone users can more easily access the Internet via a Wi-Fi or mobile data connection, thanks to a new intelligent mobile access solution solution.

This innovative solution aims to ensure that customers always use the best available access technology. To achieve this, the solution can switch between the mobile and Wi-Fi networks, depending on which provides the best user experience, based on time or location, as well as the load on the mobile or Wi-Fi networks. This also avoids common issues when logging into portals, as well as slow or inactive Wi-Fi connections. This approach will make poor Wi-Fi connection a thing of the past.

Selection of the best access technology is based on intelligent algorithms and rules which take into account location, time and current measurements on the customer’s smartphone. Furthermore, it includes historical data, which makes it possible to make a decision based on congestion trends. Customers are also able to set preferences to, for example, connect automatically to his or her preferred Wi-Fi at home or in the office.

The pilot ran in three German cities, leveraging Network Intelligence Software from the Cisco Policy Suite and intelligent device software for Android and iPhone smartphones from Chemring Technology Solutions. The intelligent device is responsible for applying the policy rules, as well as ensuring the connection quality by running performance measurements of potential Wi-Fi and mobile networks in the background. These measurements report back to the network in order to identify trends for the different hotspots. Furthermore, the intelligent device takes care of the login process to Wi-Fi hotspots.

This helps Vodafone, a provider of fast, high-performance fixed and mobile networks, push ahead with the integration of its mobile and Wi-Fi infrastructure. Customers would benefit from simpler, trouble-free use of their devices while maintaining the same high, stable connection quality.

Acer Philippines Celebrates Success Across the Board: PCs, Notebooks, Displays, Smartphones

Acer is celebrating success across multiple product lines in the Philippines. Acer has led the notebook market for a decade (2006-2015) with between 28-35% market share, and has been the leader in total PCs for seven consecutive years (2009 – 2015) with 15-21% market share, according to data by IDC.

In the display product category, Acer monitors grew steadily last year to reach a high of 21.6% market share and No. 1 ranking in Q4’15 (IDC[2]); while Acer projectors ranked No. 2 with 30% market share in full year 2015 (PMA Research).

Furthermore, Acer smartphones, endorsed by popular local movie star Toni Gonzaga, have been growing quickly and shipped as nearly many units as its notebooks in the Philippines in 2015.
Acer’s strengths in the Philippines lie in its effective product-mix strategy, close collaboration with long-term channel partners, a dedicated and passionate team who deploy fresh and innovative marketing campaigns to grow the business year by year.

About Acer
Established in 1976, Acer is a hardware + software + services company dedicated to the research, design, marketing, sale, and support of innovative products that enhance people's lives. Acer's product offerings include PCs, displays, projectors, servers, tablets, smartphones and wearables. It is also developing cloud solutions to bring together the Internet of Things. Acer is celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2016 and is one of the world’s top 5 PC companies. It employs 7,000 people worldwide and has a presence in over 160 countries. Please visit www.acer.com for more information.