tibco expands middle east commitment to help leading companies drive innovation and grow their businesses

TIBCO Software Inc. (NASDAQ: TIBX) today announced it is expanding its support for customers in the Middle East with the opening of a new regional office in the emirate of Dubai. TIBCO first established a presence over five years ago and has continued to grow its customer base throughout the region.

TIBCO’s expanding success in the financial services, transportation, government and telecommunications markets is providing the momentum to open its new office.  Current customers include Doha Bank, Emirates Airlines, Emirates Bank, Ministry of Hajj, National Bank of Kuwait, Borouge, Doha Securities Market, QTEL and Dubai Internet City.

The Middle East is an important high-growth region for TIBCO, with many new opportunities for investment and partnerships. TIBCO most recently was a title partner of the annual World Economic Forum on the Middle East where the foremost global political, business and cultural leaders gathered to explore the region’s future.

“This region serves as an intersection for many components of the global economy, and continued innovation combined with the need for increased global collaboration will continue to drive business change,” said Ram Menon, executive vice president, Worldwide Marketing at TIBCO. “We have enjoyed over five years experience in the region.  Our customers will benefit greatly from direct contact with TIBCO and the localized expertise that it can provide. We are looking forward to building upon the important relationships we have in the region to enhance our on-the-ground service capabilities and help our customers achieve their business growth objectives.”

This increased commitment positions TIBCO for growth in the region with immense demand for business-driven solutions that seamlessly enable collaboration to drive true business innovation.  Two key examples are: Saudi Arabian Ministry of Hajj, which has used TIBCO’s technology to streamline the processes for pilgrims travelling to Makkah by speeding visa approvals and seamlessly integrating service providers and travel wholesalers. Emirates Bank, which has significantly improved customer service using TIBCO’s technology to help eliminate complexity in its IT environment by enabling the sharing of customer information between multiple applications.

TIBCO is focused on enabling its customers to leverage and extend the capabilities of their information technology assets. Harnessing the latest business analytics, business intelligence and complex event processing technologies, TIBCO is helping companies obtain a real-time view across their business operations, gaining an actionable understanding of situations as they arise and enabling them to quickly adapt and seize opportunities.

TIBCO has a proven track record in the region, working extensively with customers in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Iran and Kuwait, as they choose TIBCO to provide a real-time infrastructure platform to optimize their business.

About TIBCOTIBCO digitised Wall Street in the '80s with its event-driven "Information Bus" software, which helped make real-time business a strategic differentiator in the '90s. Today, TIBCO's infrastructure software gives customers the ability to constantly innovate by connecting applications and data in a service-oriented architecture, streamlining activities through business process management, and giving people the information and intelligence tools they need to make faster and smarter decisions, what we call The Power of Now®. TIBCO serves more than 3,000 customers around the world with offices in more than 20 countries and an ecosystem of over 200 partners. Learn more at www.tibco.com.# # #TIBCO, The Power of Now, and TIBCO Software are trademarks or registered trademarks of TIBCO Software Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. All other product and company names and marks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners and are mentioned for identification purposes only.

New study could help unlock 'game-changing' batteries for electric vehicles and aviation

Significantly improved electric vehicle (EV) batteries could be a step closer thanks to a new study led by University of Oxford researchers, published today in Nature. Using advanced imaging techniques, this revealed mechanisms which cause lithium metal solid-state batteries (Li-SSBs) to fail. If these can be overcome, solid-state batteries using lithium metal anodes could deliver a step-change improvement in EV battery range, safety and performance, and help advance electrically powered aviation.

One of the co-lead authors of the study Dominic Melvin, a PhD student in the University of Oxford's Department of Materials, said: 'Progressing solid-state batteries with lithium metal anodes is one of the most important challenges facing the advancement of battery technologies. While lithium-ion batteries of today will continue to improve, research into solid-state batteries has the potential to be high-reward and a gamechanger technology.'

Li-SSBs are distinct from other batteries because they replace the flammable liquid electrolyte in conventional batteries with a solid electrolyte and use lithium metal as the anode (negative electrode). The use of the solid electrolyte improves the safety, and the use of lithium metal means more energy can be stored. A critical challenge with Li-SSBs, however, is that they are prone to short circuit when charging due to the growth of 'dendrites': filaments of lithium metal that crack through the ceramic electrolyte. As part of the Faraday Institution's SOLBAT project, researchers from the University of Oxford's Departments of Materials, Chemistry and Engineering Science, have led a series of in-depth investigations to understand more about how this short-circuiting happens.

In this latest study, the group used an advanced imaging technique called X-ray computed tomography at Diamond Light Source to visualise dendrite failure in unprecedented detail during the charging process. The new imaging study revealed that the initiation and propagation of the dendrite cracks are separate processes, driven by distinct underlying mechanisms. Dendrite cracks initiate when lithium accumulates in sub-surface pores. When the pores become full, further charging of the battery increases the pressure, leading to cracking. In contrast, propagation occurs with lithium only partially filling the crack, through a wedge-opening mechanism which drives the crack open from the rear.

This new understanding points the way forward to overcoming the technological challenges of Li-SSBs. Dominic Melvin said: 'For instance, while pressure at the lithium anode can be good to avoid gaps developing at the interface with the solid electrolyte on discharge, our results demonstrate that too much pressure can be detrimental, making dendrite propagation and short-circuit on charging more likely.'

Sir Peter Bruce, Wolfson Chair, Professor of Materials at the University of Oxford, Chief Scientist of the Faraday Institution, and corresponding author of the study, said: 'The process by which a soft metal such as lithium can penetrate a highly dense hard ceramic electrolyte has proved challenging to understand with many important contributions by excellent scientists around the world. We hope the additional insights we have gained will help the progress of solid-state battery research towards a practical device.'

According to a recent report by the Faraday Institution, SSBs may satisfy 50% of global demand for batteries in consumer electronics, 30% in transportation, and over 10% in aircraft by 2040.

Professor Pam Thomas, CEO, Faraday Institution, said: 'SOLBAT researchers continue to develop a mechanistic understanding of solid-state battery failure -- one hurdle that needs to be overcome before high-power batteries with commercially relevant performance could be realised for automotive applications. The project is informing strategies that cell manufacturers might use to avoid cell failure for this technology. This application-inspired research is a prime example of the type of scientific advances that the Faraday Institution was set up to drive.'

Study: Omega-3 may help develop baby's gut

Pregnant women may already be taking prenatal vitamins, but some may want to consider adding omega-3 fatty acids, too, according to new research. A woman's body doesn't make omega-3s, so she has to get them elsewhere, like in a supplement or through diet. Salmon is a highly recommended healthy omega-3 food for pregnant women. Mercy Medical Center pediatrician Dr. Ashanti Woods said new research shows omega-3s may benefit a developing baby's brain, heart, eyes, and now, even gut health.