DataSoft& NEC jointly held First ever
‘Proof of Concept of NFC Based E-money Solution’ in Bangladesh
Datasoft Bangladesh in association with NEC Japan has successfully organized the first ever ‘Proof of Concept of NFC based E-money Solution’ in Bangladesh at the city’s popular coffee shop, Crimson Cup, Dhanmondi. Through this system, the customers will be able to purchase coffee or other goods just by touching their NFC enabled payment card. No Need for swiping magnetic strip or input of PIN is required. It will make transactions faster and less complicated for both the merchants and consumers. Higher officials from NEC, Japan &DataSoftwere present on this occasion. In the next phase this solution will be implemented in chain retails shops and fashion houses in cooperation with leading banks.


Microsoft Bangladesh to take the lead
in data revolution with SQL Server 2016
Local organizations to leverage new ways to access and analyze their data at optimum speed to take the lead with a data driven strategy.
Microsoft launched the latest SQL Server 2016 in Bangladesh recently as the first step of joining the data revolution which keeps advancing across Asia Pacific region.
SQL Server 2016 represents a huge leap forward for the data platform with faster transactions and queries, advanced analytics, and new hybrid cloud scenarios. The launch celebrates the democratizing of access to insightful data and to the intelligent insights that can be derived from it.
Welcome Speech by Sonia Bashir Kabir, Managing Director, Microsoft Bangladesh and Talked about Microsoft Vision on Data Platform as well as overall activity of Microsoft Bangladesh Limited.
Speaking at the launch, Rena Chai, Marketing and Operation Lead, Microsoft South East Asia, “We have entered into an era where data has become the new electricity for business reinvention. The ability to analyze massive amounts of data at will and even to predict future outcomes that used to be understood by just a few of the largest enterprises are now accessible by everyone. At Microsoft, our mission is to enable users to navigate this disruption. SQL Server 2016 stands as an industry-leading, secured platform that will help Bangladesh organizations to utilize their data to achieve the best outcomes. This can also help accelerate plans for a digital Bangladesh”
SQL Server 2016 is the first born-in-the-cloud database. It delivers breakthrough mission-critical capabilities in scalability, performance, and availability for most important online transaction processing (OLTP) and data warehousing workloads. The powerful capabilities such as Always Encrypted and Role Level Security – were first tested in Azure by hundreds of thousands of customers and billions of queries. Microsoft’s newest database management platform also delivers a comprehensive, on-premises, enterprise-ready business intelligence (BI) platform that helps organizations to transform complex data into actionable insights.
Organizations and different industry verticals across the globe alike want more insights to transform their businesses and services. Microsoft recognizes this shift and has integrated SQL Server 2016 with the tools and resources required to be ahead of today's revolution curve.
Delivering his keynote, Sanjay Patel, Sales Director, Microsoft South East Asia said, “With upgrades in customer value spanning performance, security, performance, advanced analytics, and mobility, there are many reasons to celebrate about SQL Server 2016. This is no longer just a database, but a comprehensive data platform designed to power tomorrow’s apps that are both mission critical and intelligent. It empowers you and your apps to be disruptive in your own industries with the power of data today. With the correct components to power the transformation of this data revolution, SQL Server 2016 will support Bangladesh enterprises to leverage the power of data to reinvent themselves as well as their businesses.”
Microsoft SQL Server 2016 integrates R language within their analytics to help people solve the most challenging problems in fields from computational biology to quantitative marketing. By removing the ETL process, Microsoft has created what they call a Mission Critical Intelligence that allows data to be stored, retrieved and analyzed in a single platform without needing to transfer the data from a source. SQL Server has everything built-in from Business Intelligence to Advanced Analytics, making this easier to use and costing less for the end user.
Among other speakers, MJ Ferdous, Solution Specialist, Microsoft Bangladesh explained about Latest SQL Features and Benefits.

SPA Releases 2015 Smart Payment Card Shipment Figures
The Smart Payment Association (SPA), the trade body of the smart payments industry, on of April last released the findings from its annual review of the smart payment cards market.

Data collated by the SPA from its members reveal 2060 million payment chip cards were shipped globally in 2015. This represents an increase of 34% on last year’s figures.
The gathering pace of EMV migration in the United States played a major factor in the uplift of worldwide shipment figures. In 2015, SPA members report making 570 million smart payment card shipments to the US - a two-fold increase on 2014 numbers. High volume shipments in China are contributing too with a 27% growth versus previous year.
Demand for contactless payment cards continued to surge in geographies where the technology already has a foothold. In 2015, 56% of all smart card shipments globally (excluding the Americas) featured contactless technology – a 24% growth as compared to the year before.
As in previous years, much of this increase was driven by demand in Europe and Asia. Last year, 53% of all cards shipped in Europe were contactless, while in the Asia Pacific region an impressive 74% of cards featured contactless technologies.
Andreas Strobel, President of the SPA, commented :“These figures demonstrate how EMV is now a truly global, established, secure and interoperable infrastructure. SPA reported the first billion of smart payment card shipments in 2011 and it took the industry only 4 years to deliver the second billion.
Crucially, the data also reveals how fast the adoption of EMV-standard technology in the United States took off in a significant way in 2015, as issuers proceeded at full speed with the implementation of EMV migration.
Consumer demand for faster and more convenient ways to pay proved the driving force behind a further steep growth in contactless shipments in Europe and Asia. With EMV adoption powering ahead in the US, issuers are in a unique position to make the jump directly from ‘swipe and sign’to ‘tap & go’ to everyone’s benefit : customers, merchants and them as well.”
For more analysis of the contactless market drivers and benefits, read the SPA White Paper ‘An Overview of Contactless Payment Benefits and Worldwide Deployments - Food for thought for US issuers’ April 2016 at www.smartpaymentassociation.com under Publications.
The SPA’s analysis of 2015 payment trends also highlights the growing significance of Dynamic Data Authentication (DDA), the technology which provides smart payment cards with high levels of protection against modification of data and card cloning. In 2015, 76% of all cards shipped featured DDA technology – an increase of 46% on the previous year. Figures gathered by the SPA from its members also confirm that DDA adoption proceeded steadily in all global territories.
The detailed figures compiled by the SPA also reveal smart payment cards based on open operating systems reached 70 % of total market share in 2015, a significant 58% growth on previous year’s figures.