ZEISS UNVEILS HYBRID 3D X-RAY MICROSCOPE FOR MULTI-SCALE IMAGING

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 15 (Bernama) -- ZEISS, a technology enterprise operating in the fields of optics and optoelectronics, has introduced ZEISS VersaXRM 5 Insight, a hybrid 3D X-ray microscope designed to help researchers and engineers analyse samples faster.

Combining X-ray microscopy and microCT in a single platform, the system provides multi-scale imaging, guided workflows and automated artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled reconstruction for non-destructive 3D imaging.

In a statement, ZEISS Microscopy Head of the X-ray Microscopy Field of Business, Nicolas Gueninchault said the system enables users to work more efficiently while balancing throughput, resolution and ease of use, adding that it also helps protect valuable samples while providing 3D imaging capabilities.

ZEISS VersaXRM 5 Insight combines large field-of-view and high-resolution imaging in one system, allowing users to inspect larger samples, zoom into regions of interest and capture detailed 3D images without changing hardware configurations or interrupting workflows.

The system combines the throughput, flexibility and efficiency of microCT with the detailed imaging capabilities of laboratory-based X-ray microscopy, enabling a unified workflow for imaging large-scale structures and fine internal features while preserving sample integrity.

ZEISS VersaXRM 5 Insight features Resolution at a Distance (RaaD), which enables high-resolution imaging of small features and internal defects within larger samples. The technology reduces the need to cut, trim or refixture samples, helping users save time, reduce preparation errors and protect delicate or difficult-to-reproduce specimens.

The system also features ZEN navx, an intuitive software environment with intelligent guidance and sample-aware navigation that simplifies setup, supports sample-specific imaging decisions and helps protect samples and the system.

ZEISS VersaXRM 5 Insight supports applications across materials research, industrial inspection and life sciences, including failure analysis, internal defect detection, part quality inspection and 3D visualisation of biological structures across multiple scales.

The system also supports in-situ and 4D studies in materials research, as well as root-cause analysis of semiconductor and electronic packages and yield improvement in manufacturing and quality assurance applications.

-- BERNAMA

EMGA ARRANGES US$80 MLN CLUB LOAN FOR UZBEKISTAN’S IPAK YULI BANK

 

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 15 (Bernama) -- London-based Emerging Markets Global Advisory LLP (EMGA) has led a US$80 million club loan financing for Uzbekistan’s Ipak Yuli Bank, funded by OeEB, CDP and Allianz Global Investors (AGI). (US$1 = RM4.07)

“We are pleased to be the lead arranger in structuring this latest facility for Ipak Yuli that was aimed at further building their SME, Gender and Green portfolios.

“Our close relationship with Ipak Yuli as well as each of these DFIs has been integral to the successful execution of a complex transaction,” said EMGA Head of Investment Banking and Managing Director, Sajeev Chakkalakal in a statement.

Meanwhile, Ipak Yuli Bank Chief Executive Officer, Umidjon Khakimov said the transaction further strengthens the bank’s cooperation with EMGA and establishes partnerships with new international institutions.

“The transaction further diversifies our funding base and enables us to expand our support to clients and businesses in Uzbekistan,” added Khakimov.

Established in December 1990, Ipak Yuli is a joint-stock commercial-innovation bank in Uzbekistan providing banking services to individual entrepreneurs, small and medium-sized businesses, state organisations and institutions, and corporate customers.

OeEB has been operating as the Development Bank of Austria since March 2008, while CDP is Italy’s official Development Finance Institution and National Promotional Institution, financing sustainable development, international cooperation, infrastructure and business growth in emerging and developing markets.

AGI is a global investment management firm with offices in 21 locations worldwide and is owned by the global insurance and financial services group Allianz.

-- BERNAMA

Mavenir Celebrates Four Award-Winning Entries at Light Reading's 2026 Leading Lights Awards

Awards recognize leadership in NTN innovation, IoT connectivity, network modernization and energy efficiency 


RICHARDSON, Texas, Sept 15 (Bernama-GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mavenir, the cloud-native network infrastructure provider building the future of networks, today announced it was featured in four award-winning entries at Light Reading's 2026 Leading Lights Awards, highlighting the company's leadership in non-terrestrial networks, cloud-native core innovation, network modernization, and energy efficiency. The awards recognize outstanding achievements and innovation across the global communications industry. 

Mavenir received awards in two categories:

• Most Innovative Satellite or Non-Terrestrial Network Product or Solution for the Mavenir Full-Stack NTN Platform. Judges commended the platform for enabling satellite-terrestrial integration across GEO, MEO and LEO environments while supporting 3G through 5G services on a converged core architecture that treats non-terrestrial access as a native network capability rather than an overlay.
• Outstanding Use Case: IoT, jointly with Deutsche Telekom IoT GmbH, for Remote Packet Core for Connected Cars. The solution keeps the control plane in Europe while enabling localized traffic breakout in North America, addressing latency, transit costs, and data sovereignty requirements for global connected vehicle services. The live production deployment supports connectivity for more than one million connected vehicles worldwide, demonstrating how cloud-native packet core technology can scale to support mission-critical IoT services while meeting stringent operational and regulatory requirements.

"These awards highlight Mavenir's commitment to solving some of the industry's most important connectivity challenges," said Pardeep Kohli, President and CEO of Mavenir. "Our Full-Stack NTN Platform is helping operators extend connectivity beyond traditional terrestrial networks, while our Remote Packet Core deployment with Deutsche Telekom IoT GmbH demonstrates how cloud-native core technology can securely connect more than one million vehicles worldwide while meeting the demanding performance, scalability, and regulatory requirements of global IoT services. These wins reflect the real-world impact of our technology and the strength of our collaboration with customers."

Mavenir was also a key technology partner in two award-winning Deutsche Telekom initiatives:

• Outstanding Use Case: Network Modernization & Automation for the Horizontal Telco Cloud initiative. The program replaced fragmented network silos with a shared, cloud-native platform spanning more than ten German data centers. Mavenir contributed complete cloud-native solutions, including a converged 4G/5G packet core with proven network slicing applications. These solutions use GitOps-based automation and Kubernetes capabilities to help create a scalable foundation for future network innovation.
• Outstanding Use Case: Energy Efficiency & Sustainability for Full Stack Energy Efficiency. The initiative achieved up to 65% off-peak energy savings in the 5G core network, without a hardware refresh. Mavenir's cloud-native 5G Core software and energy-aware automation capabilities helped enable dynamic scaling of resources to reduce energy consumption and CO₂ emissions while maintaining network performance, supporting Deutsche Telekom's vision of a "zero bit & zero watt" core.

"These awards highlight two of the industry's most important imperatives: building more agile networks and operating them more sustainably," added Kohli. "We congratulate Deutsche Telekom on these achievements and are proud that Mavenir technology helped power both projects. By combining cloud-native architecture, intelligent automation, and energy-aware 5G Core software, we're helping operators modernize their networks while delivering measurable efficiency and sustainability gains."

Light Reading's Leading Lights Awards 2026 full list of winners: https://www.lightreading.com/optical-networking/light-reading-s-leading-lights-awards-2026-the-winners

About Mavenir

Mavenir is enabling intelligent, automated, programmable networks through the development of telco-first, cloud-native, AI-by-design software solutions for mobile operators. The company’s deep telco domain expertise has been proven through deployments with 300+ operators globally in over 120 countries, which together serve more than 50% of the world’s subscribers. Mavenir combines its deep telco experience with the cloud and IT expertise and data science skillsets essential to solving real customer challenges. Its proven software solutions are AI by design, delivering the AI-native future and operators’ evolution to TechCos. For more information, please visit www.mavenir.com.

Mavenir PR Contacts:
Emmanuela Spiteri
PR@mavenir.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/7ee11b01-f063-4fa2-8558-3f834be5d83f 

SOURCE: Mavenir Systems, Inc.

AM Best Sees Steady Prospects For China’s Non-Life Insurance

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 7 (Bernama) -- Global credit rating agency, AM Best has maintained its stable outlook on China’s non-life insurance segment, citing improved regulatory oversight, new growth opportunities and ongoing digitalisation and innovation.

The Best’s Market Segment Report, “Market Segment Outlook: China Non-Life Insurance”, said that enhanced regulatory oversight, particularly for non-motor lines such as property and liability, is expected to support pricing discipline, strengthen distribution practices and promote prudent market conduct.

New growth opportunities are also emerging from initiatives under the nation’s latest five-year plan, which focuses on technology finance, green finance, inclusive finance, pension finance and digital finance, as well as the expanding Chinese Interest Abroad business, despite moderating gross domestic product (GDP) growth and slower premium growth in traditional non-life business.

“For Chinese Interest Aboard business, while expansion may enhance China non-life insurers’ geographical diversification over time, it is important to note that insurers could also be exposed to unfamiliar risks that require advanced underwriting skills and robust risk management systems to protect against large financial losses,” said AM Best associate director, analytics, Lucie Huang in a statement.

Meanwhile, its director, analytics, James Chan said the industry’s priorities are increasingly shifting towards sustainable profitability and operational efficiency, supported by accelerated digitalisation and innovation.

“Beyond traditional reinsurance support, they are also adopting proactive risk reduction measures to better manage exposures, while enhancing the client experience and improving post-disaster response,” he said.

The report said investment returns have driven the China non-life segment’s bottom line, while underwriting margins remain thin amid intense competition.

Although underwriting profits are largely concentrated among large insurers that benefit from economies of scale, some smaller local insurers have achieved favourable underwriting margins by focusing on niche market segments.

At the same time, concerns over China’s economic momentum have emerged amid lower GDP growth forecasts, prompting insurers to shift their focus from top-line growth to bottom-line protection and operational efficiency.

-- BERNAMA

AM BEST: REGULATORY INITIATIVES, ECONOMIC EXPANSION DRIVE MALAYSIA’S NON-LIFE GROWTH

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 10 (Bernama) -- AM Best has maintained a stable outlook on Malaysia’s non-life insurance segment, citing regulatory initiatives and economic expansion, which are driving robust premium growth and increasing insurance penetration.

The stable outlook on Malaysia’s non-life segment is also supported by de-tariffication of motor and fire insurance, as well as measures curbing medical inflation. However, it remains vulnerable to developments in the external environment.

The Best’s Market Segment Report, “Market Segment Outlook: Malaysia Non-Life Insurance”, stated that motor and fire insurance anchor the market, together accounting for more than 65 per cent of total non-life premiums.

In a statement, the global credit rating agency said pricing has progressively shifted towards a more risk-based approach since phased liberalisation of tariffs for these lines began in July 2016.

Over time, AM Best expects de-tariffication to drive product innovation, improve service quality, align pricing with underlying risks and enhance market efficiency, although it may pressure underwriting margins over the intermediate term.

“Malaysia’s non-life insurers continue to maintain healthy underwriting profits through disciplined underwriting and effective pricing strategies, supporting the industry’s long-term sustainability,” said AM Best senior financial analyst, Sin Yee Chuah, adding that the segment remains poised for continued growth.

The rating agency added that Malaysia’s non-life segment reported an improved underwriting profit in 2025, with a healthy combined ratio in the low-to-mid-90 per cent range, reflecting sustained underwriting discipline that supported profitability.

Malaysia’s economy continues to be supported by resilient domestic demand, particularly household consumption and investment, while strong demand for electrical and electronics exports and continued investment in data centres provide additional support.

The report also noted that a pilot phase of the recently introduced RESET Strategy, which introduced a standardised base medical and health insurance/takaful plan with a co-payment feature, is targeted for the second half of 2026, with full rollout expected by early 2027.

In addition, climate change is projected to increase the frequency and severity of extreme weather events, presenting floods as a persistent tail risk for insurers and exposing the segment’s profitability to greater volatility.

-- BERNAMA

GENERAL ROBOTICS ADVANCES ROBOT DEPLOYMENT WITH SELF-ENGINEERING GRID PLATFORM

 

GRID, the robot intelligence platform from General Robotics, auto‑engineers the full lifecycle of a complex pouring skill — from creation and testing to deployment and real‑world evaluation in a biolab.

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 10 (Bernama) -- General Robotics, a company developing an intelligence layer for physical artificial intelligence (AI), has advanced its GRID robot intelligence platform to automate key stages of robot deployment, reducing the time and specialised expertise needed to bring robots into production.

The company in a statement said GRID can now use AI to automate processes ranging from robot onboarding and AI model integration to the creation and deployment of new robotic skills.

General Robotics founder and chief executive officer, Ashish Kapoor said the platform brings robotics knowledge spanning research, software, AI models, simulations, data and hardware into a single agent-first system, enabling intelligence to compound with each deployment.

The latest development has reduced robot onboarding time from one month to as little as two hours, while model ingestion has been cut from three days to as little as 20 minutes. Skill transfer across different robot form factors now takes as little as 1.5 hours, while new skill creation and deployment can be completed in as little as two days.

General Robotics said GRID uses knowledge graphs to convert each deployment, task, model and failure into structured, reusable intelligence while protecting customer data and intellectual property.

The platform supports robots from different manufacturers and form factors, allowing customers to select systems suited to specific tasks. Its growing ecosystem includes industrial robotics maker FANUC and bimanual mobile manipulation company Galaxea Dynamics.

The company said GRID customers include global companies in automotive manufacturing, port operations, energy generation and food and beverage production, as well as government agencies.

General Robotics said the robotics industry faces shortages of specialised talent and a fragmented development stack that requires bespoke integration of software, communications protocols and programming systems, limiting the transition from pilot projects to production-scale deployments.

GRID is designed to address these constraints through a modular library of robotic skills, foundation models and classical techniques that can be used across different robot types and applications.

The latest version of GRID can determine the skills required for a task, select and combine relevant models and approaches, create and run simulations, and deploy and monitor AI skills. The platform then uses real-world performance and failures to determine further refinements, creating a continuous development loop across connected robots and tasks.

-- BERNAMA

SHENZHEN FORUM ADVANCES ASIA-PACIFIC MEDIA COOPERATION

 

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 7 (Bernama) -- The Asia-Pacific Media Forum in Shenzhen has brought together more than 400 representatives from over 220 media organisations, think tanks, government bodies, diplomatic missions, United Nations (UN) agencies and international organisations from 42 countries and regions.

Themed “Building a Path to Shared Prosperity for the Asia-Pacific Community: Media Consensus and Action”, the forum focused on strengthening regional media cooperation ahead of the 33rd APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting, which China is scheduled to host later this year.

The event resulted in several new cooperation mechanisms, including the establishment of the Asia-Pacific Media Partnership Organizing Committee and the signing and exchange of media cooperation documents.

It also saw the launch of the “Gather in Shenzhen, Create a Better Asia-Pacific” Media Cooperation Initiative, which focuses on technology sharing, joint content production and professional training, as well as the release of the Shenzhen Consensus, according to a statement.

Under the technology pillar, Shenzhen plans to establish the Asia-Pacific Digital & Smart Media Intelligence Shenzhen Center to promote exchanges in digital media technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI) and the OpenHarmony ecosystem.

For content collaboration, the forum launched the “Witness Miracles, Seek Solutions” programme, which invites media organisations from across the region to jointly develop and broadcast reporting projects using Shenzhen as one area of focus.

The initiative also includes a Training Base for Asia-Pacific Youth Media Professionals, which is expected to host media professionals, particularly those under 45, for study visits, exchanges and training programmes.

The Shenzhen Consensus calls for greater regional cooperation in areas including digital transformation, AI, green development, media exchange and multilateral trade, while encouraging greater dialogue and mutual understanding across the Asia-Pacific.

-- BERNAMA