Rakuten wesentlich besser als Rocket
https://disclosure.spglobal.com/ratings/en/...ew/type/HTML/id/3186625
By TTG Asia
Posted on 5 June, 2024 12:34
Rakuten Travel is having a Super Sale, offering travellers savings of up to 50 per cent off travel bookings to Japan.
From now to June 20, the sale features high discount coupons and discounted hotel rates, including half off flash coupons – capped at 50,000 yen (US$321) – available for a limited time, with a limit of two coupons per customer.
Additionally, an exclusive 20 per cent off coupon (capped at 20,000 yen) for selected Japanese hotels will be available. Customers can apply either type of coupon on top of discounted hotel rates.
https://www.ttgasia.com/2024/06/05/...ns-wonders-with-rakuten-travel/
By Sean Cao June 3, 2024
Cashback shopping platform Rakuten has launched an exclusive membership program for designer brands to help them connect with select customers.
The program – Rakuten+ – offers brands access to the most loyal and active shoppers of designer fashion on the platform, the company said.
These shoppers will earn at least 10 per cent cashback on participating brands and retailers. Brands can then leverage such incentives to grow their audiences, boost sales, and engender loyalty.
https://insideretail.us/...es-membership-program-for-designer-brands/
June 06, 2024
Rakuten India once again hosted its flagship tech event, Rakuten Product Conference, at Rakuten Crimson House Bengaluru, boasting an extravagant lineup of internal and external speakers, including Rakuten India CEO Sunil Gopinath, Rakuten Group CDO Ting Cai, Indian venture capitalist and Silicon Valley entrepreneur Vani Kola, and Microsoft India's Country Head, Ranjani Mani. Check out the video to find out more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfFsAxyZRnU
June 05, 2024
Thrilled to have Vijay Tewari (Head of Product Management for Google Cloud) share how Google Distributed Cloud is addressing the growing need for compute and storage at the edge, especially with the rise of AI applications. Learn about the innovative solutions and comprehensive platform that our successful partnership with Google Cloud brings to the table – enabling customers to deploy, operate, and manage AI-based applications efficiently.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33OJVnEBpqs
SAN MATEO, Calif., May 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Rakuten, the leading Cash Back shopping platform, announces Rakuten+, an exclusive membership program built entirely for designer brands that will connect them with select, highly engaged Rakuten members. As the company's first-ever paid membership offering, Rakuten+ will offer brands unparalleled access to the most loyal and active shoppers of designer fashion on the platform. These curated shoppers will earn at least 10% Cash Back on participating brands and retailers year-round, providing designer brands with a unique opportunity to leverage elevated Cash Back to grow their audiences, incentivize everyday shopping, and engender lifelong loyalty.
At the core of this offering is the Rakuten member who is proven to deliver incremental sales for designer brands. A recent Rakuten study found that Rakuten was solely responsible for a 29 percent increase in shoppers for a leading luxury department store. The study proves that without Rakuten, that 29 percent increase would not exist. Higher Cash Back rates also directly correlated with increased average order value (AOV) and repeat purchases.
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/...e-shoppers-302159175.html
By Brooke Frischemeier Head of Product Management, Unified Cloud Rakuten Symphony
June 4, 2024
Over the history of data centers, we have seen trends come and go from on-premise, to client-server, to distributed systems and every possible term thrown in front of the word cloud, each of which is marketed as “the next big thing.” We have seen these changes and upgrades driven by numerous technological advances that created better business models, driven by facilities cost, Wide Area Networking (WAN) price-performance, mobile networking, chip-sets economy of scale, staff out-sourcing, data center repatriation and the list goes on and on. Fortunately, these models, along with their own lessons and gains are incremental, and it has led us to modern-day edge computing for many key verticals including retail, finance, AI/ML, Industry 4.0 and content delivery, just to name a few.
How enterprise edge changes the paradigm
Edge computing seeks to revolutionizing how data is analyzed, processed, stored, and acted upon. It represents a significant departure from the conventional cloud-centric approach by shifting compute resources closer to the data’s source, all the way to the "edge" of the network, closer to the user. This fundamental change to processing locality is ushering in a new era of responsiveness, efficiency, and scalability, with Kubernetes playing a key role in delivering this transformation.
At its core, edge computing is about decentralizing and distributing computing power and data processing, moving it from centralized cloud data centers, closer to the source of the action. In edge computing, data is processed and analyzed locally, without the need to send it over costly, slow WAN links, to central, far away data centers. This proximity to data sources significantly reduces latency and data bloat, ensuring real-time or near-real-time responses while reducing capital and operational expenses. It’s a win-win.
What are the key characteristics of edge computing?
Real-time processing: As we alluded to earlier, real-time processing is the hallmark of edge computing. It enables applications to make instant decisions based on data from sensors, cameras, and other sources, supporting smart cities, logistics, manufacturing and Internet of Things (IoT).
Reduce latency: Another challenge of the past has been latency, the bane of numerous applications over the years, and it is one of the most critical areas edge computing is helping to reduce. With edge computing we can drastically reduce round-trip response time and do so predictably. Many applications, such as augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR), autonomous vehicles, and remote experts require minimal latency to provide safe, seamless and immersive user experiences.
Data localization: With edge computing, data stays closer to its source, reducing the need for extensive data transfers and optimizing bandwidth usage. Data localization is particularly advantageous for remote or bandwidth-constrained locations. This in turn builds on lower latency/response times, by capitalizing local actions in industry, enterprises, content delivery and interactive networks.
Decentralized compute: Since edge computing decentralizes computational resources, distributing them across the network, it adds efficiency, fault tolerance and availability to the user experience. Centralized cloud services are vulnerable to network outages and latency fluctuations. Edge computing enhances reliability by allowing applications to continue functioning even when connectivity to the cloud is disrupted.
Scalability: Not all centralized clouds can be easily expanded upon, especially when you own and operate it yourself. Edge computing architectures are inherently scalable, as additional edge nodes and resources can be easily added, accommodating increased workloads and data volume.
Bandwidth optimization: Lastly, edge computing enables bandwidth optimization. Since data can be processed and reduced by edge applications, it reduces the strain on network bandwidth. Furthermore, it reduces the total amount of data that needs to be stored in a central data warehouse, reducing the costs of networking and storage resources.
In conclusion, edge computing is a transformative computing paradigm that brings data processing and decision-making closer to where it's needed most. With Kubernetes facilitating the orchestration and management of edge workloads, it is poised to play a pivotal role in enabling real-time, scalable, and responsive applications across a wide range of industries and use cases.
Kubernetes for the win!
Kubernetes has emerged as a compelling solution for edge computing due to several key factors that make it well-suited for managing distributed resources. Kubernetes comes with key set of advantages that align with the unique requirements and challenges posed by edge computing.
Kubernetes is an orchestration system designed to manage containerized workloads. Containers are lightweight, portable, and conducive to microservices architecture. This enables one to scale with a lower footprint and do so much faster, significantly reducing the latency of time-to-scale. This positions Kubernetes as a natural fit for edge devices with resource constraints. And leverages containers, promoting efficiency and rapid deployment to disparate locations.
Efficient operations
Kubernetes excels in delivering simplified and predictable orchestration, reducing the complexity of deploying and scaling applications across geographically dispersed locations. Its ability to provide a unified management plane for diverse pipelines, over edge resources, simplifies the operation of what can be complex edge ecosystems.
Kubernetes not only solves many technical challenges associated with the edge, but it also lends itself to streamlined operations integrates into modern GitOps solutions. GitOps is a modern approach to software delivery and infrastructure management that leverages version control systems like Git as the source of truth for both application code and infrastructure configurations. In GitOps, changes to the system are made by updating Git repositories, and automated processes continuously synchronize the desired state of the system with the actual state, ensuring consistency and reducing manual intervention. This declarative and automated approach to operations improves efficiency, transparency, and the ability to maintain and scale complex systems.
One challenge of edge computing is consistent deployment and operations over heterogeneous infrastructure. When an organization rolls out hundreds or thousands of branches, it doesn’t happen overnight and the actual build can change over time. Kubernetes mitigates this problem by enforcing consistency in deployments across edge nodes, reducing the risk of configuration drift and enhancing reliability. It supports application portability and facilitates non-disruptive rolling updates and rollbacks, crucial for maintaining edge systems with minimal downtime.
Kubernetes brings with it built-in service discovery and easy to use load balancing mechanisms, that ensures edge devices can locate and communicate with services effectively, enhancing overall system performance and streamlining service chaining. Its extensibility and customizability enable tailoring to specific edge computing requirements, accommodating the diverse range of edge devices from small sensors and gateways to edge servers.
Last, Kubernetes is a great solution for brownfield solutions and as an intermediate step to solution on the step to full-blown Kubernetes as it can support both containers and legacy Virtual Machines (VMs), typically running legacy VMs faster than the legacy hypervisor-based systems they currently run on. So, there is no need to wait for your current applications to become containerized or even go end-of-support before they do so.
Other key technical advantages
Rapid scalability is essential in edge scenarios where workloads may vary significantly. Kubernetes addresses this need with automated scaling capabilities, allowing applications to seamlessly adapt to changing demands, ensuring optimal resource utilization.
Kubernetes promotes resource efficiency, a critical aspect in edge environments where resources are often limited. It optimizes resource allocation, minimizing wastage and ensuring efficient usage of available compute, memory, and storage.
With Kubernetes, operators designed for lightweight installation on edge devices, management becomes simplified. Kubernetes can also be integrated with observability tools, allowing monitoring of edge deployments, which is crucial for resource utilization and application performance insights.
Security is paramount in edge computing, particularly in sectors like healthcare and manufacturing. Highly functional Kubernetes distributions offer robust security features, including Multi-tenancy, Roles Based Access Control (RBAC), network policies, and pod security policies. This, in turn, can be coupled with state-of-the-art Kubernetes storage solutions that support data encryption art rest and in motion.
Not all Kubernetes solutions are created equal
While there may be more than one Kubernetes distribution that ticks all of the right boxes, it is important to remember it is not just what you do but how you do it. When evaluating a Kubernetes solution, it is important to consider the following:
How well does your solution support for mission critical and money making stateful applications including: content delivery, AI/ML, Security, finance and Industry 4.0 applications?
Does it provide application aware storage that allows one to unify data protection and disaster recovery of both applications and data into a single motion?
How does it optimize not just your platform footprint, but your data footprint?
Is it easy to use and does not require a PhD in Kubernetes itself as well as extensive command line operations. If it’s not easy to use, does it delay your deployments and lifecycle time to outcome?
Is it policy driven and support a set it and forget operations mode?
How securely, efficiently and easily does it implement resource sharing and unified operation of VMs and containers, eliminating operations and resource silos?
Is your vendor really willing to support both or is this just a bait and switch that can end up keeping you on your legacy VM solution longer?
Is your solution lightweight with full functionality?
Since many legacy Kubernetes distributions are enormous and lightweight solutions like K3s hamstring functionality and observability, find one that starts small, stays small and guarantees all of the same functionality at the edge that you enjoy at the core.
How does your vendor provide supporting operations and orchestration solutions that facilitate bare metal to service rollouts and lifecycle management?
https://symphony.rakuten.com/cloud/blogs/...enterprise-edge-computing
By Brooke Frischemeier Head of Product Management, Unified Cloud Rakuten Symphony
June 4, 2024
Over the history of data centers, we have seen trends come and go from on-premise, to client-server, to distributed systems and every possible term thrown in front of the word cloud, each of which is marketed as “the next big thing.” We have seen these changes and upgrades driven by numerous technological advances that created better business models, driven by facilities cost, Wide Area Networking (WAN) price-performance, mobile networking, chip-sets economy of scale, staff out-sourcing, data center repatriation and the list goes on and on. Fortunately, these models, along with their own lessons and gains are incremental, and it has led us to modern-day edge computing for many key verticals including retail, finance, AI/ML, Industry 4.0 and content delivery, just to name a few.
How enterprise edge changes the paradigm
Edge computing seeks to revolutionizing how data is analyzed, processed, stored, and acted upon. It represents a significant departure from the conventional cloud-centric approach by shifting compute resources closer to the data’s source, all the way to the "edge" of the network, closer to the user. This fundamental change to processing locality is ushering in a new era of responsiveness, efficiency, and scalability, with Kubernetes playing a key role in delivering this transformation.
At its core, edge computing is about decentralizing and distributing computing power and data processing, moving it from centralized cloud data centers, closer to the source of the action. In edge computing, data is processed and analyzed locally, without the need to send it over costly, slow WAN links, to central, far away data centers. This proximity to data sources significantly reduces latency and data bloat, ensuring real-time or near-real-time responses while reducing capital and operational expenses. It’s a win-win.
What are the key characteristics of edge computing?
Real-time processing: As we alluded to earlier, real-time processing is the hallmark of edge computing. It enables applications to make instant decisions based on data from sensors, cameras, and other sources, supporting smart cities, logistics, manufacturing and Internet of Things (IoT).
Reduce latency: Another challenge of the past has been latency, the bane of numerous applications over the years, and it is one of the most critical areas edge computing is helping to reduce. With edge computing we can drastically reduce round-trip response time and do so predictably. Many applications, such as augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR), autonomous vehicles, and remote experts require minimal latency to provide safe, seamless and immersive user experiences.
Data localization: With edge computing, data stays closer to its source, reducing the need for extensive data transfers and optimizing bandwidth usage. Data localization is particularly advantageous for remote or bandwidth-constrained locations. This in turn builds on lower latency/response times, by capitalizing local actions in industry, enterprises, content delivery and interactive networks.
Decentralized compute: Since edge computing decentralizes computational resources, distributing them across the network, it adds efficiency, fault tolerance and availability to the user experience. Centralized cloud services are vulnerable to network outages and latency fluctuations. Edge computing enhances reliability by allowing applications to continue functioning even when connectivity to the cloud is disrupted.
Scalability: Not all centralized clouds can be easily expanded upon, especially when you own and operate it yourself. Edge computing architectures are inherently scalable, as additional edge nodes and resources can be easily added, accommodating increased workloads and data volume.
Bandwidth optimization: Lastly, edge computing enables bandwidth optimization. Since data can be processed and reduced by edge applications, it reduces the strain on network bandwidth. Furthermore, it reduces the total amount of data that needs to be stored in a central data warehouse, reducing the costs of networking and storage resources.
In conclusion, edge computing is a transformative computing paradigm that brings data processing and decision-making closer to where it's needed most. With Kubernetes facilitating the orchestration and management of edge workloads, it is poised to play a pivotal role in enabling real-time, scalable, and responsive applications across a wide range of industries and use cases.
Kubernetes for the win!
Kubernetes has emerged as a compelling solution for edge computing due to several key factors that make it well-suited for managing distributed resources. Kubernetes comes with key set of advantages that align with the unique requirements and challenges posed by edge computing.
Kubernetes is an orchestration system designed to manage containerized workloads. Containers are lightweight, portable, and conducive to microservices architecture. This enables one to scale with a lower footprint and do so much faster, significantly reducing the latency of time-to-scale. This positions Kubernetes as a natural fit for edge devices with resource constraints. And leverages containers, promoting efficiency and rapid deployment to disparate locations.
Efficient operations
Kubernetes excels in delivering simplified and predictable orchestration, reducing the complexity of deploying and scaling applications across geographically dispersed locations. Its ability to provide a unified management plane for diverse pipelines, over edge resources, simplifies the operation of what can be complex edge ecosystems.
Kubernetes not only solves many technical challenges associated with the edge, but it also lends itself to streamlined operations integrates into modern GitOps solutions. GitOps is a modern approach to software delivery and infrastructure management that leverages version control systems like Git as the source of truth for both application code and infrastructure configurations. In GitOps, changes to the system are made by updating Git repositories, and automated processes continuously synchronize the desired state of the system with the actual state, ensuring consistency and reducing manual intervention. This declarative and automated approach to operations improves efficiency, transparency, and the ability to maintain and scale complex systems.
One challenge of edge computing is consistent deployment and operations over heterogeneous infrastructure. When an organization rolls out hundreds or thousands of branches, it doesn’t happen overnight and the actual build can change over time. Kubernetes mitigates this problem by enforcing consistency in deployments across edge nodes, reducing the risk of configuration drift and enhancing reliability. It supports application portability and facilitates non-disruptive rolling updates and rollbacks, crucial for maintaining edge systems with minimal downtime.
Kubernetes brings with it built-in service discovery and easy to use load balancing mechanisms, that ensures edge devices can locate and communicate with services effectively, enhancing overall system performance and streamlining service chaining. Its extensibility and customizability enable tailoring to specific edge computing requirements, accommodating the diverse range of edge devices from small sensors and gateways to edge servers.
Last, Kubernetes is a great solution for brownfield solutions and as an intermediate step to solution on the step to full-blown Kubernetes as it can support both containers and legacy Virtual Machines (VMs), typically running legacy VMs faster than the legacy hypervisor-based systems they currently run on. So, there is no need to wait for your current applications to become containerized or even go end-of-support before they do so.
Other key technical advantages
Rapid scalability is essential in edge scenarios where workloads may vary significantly. Kubernetes addresses this need with automated scaling capabilities, allowing applications to seamlessly adapt to changing demands, ensuring optimal resource utilization.
Kubernetes promotes resource efficiency, a critical aspect in edge environments where resources are often limited. It optimizes resource allocation, minimizing wastage and ensuring efficient usage of available compute, memory, and storage.
With Kubernetes, operators designed for lightweight installation on edge devices, management becomes simplified. Kubernetes can also be integrated with observability tools, allowing monitoring of edge deployments, which is crucial for resource utilization and application performance insights.
Security is paramount in edge computing, particularly in sectors like healthcare and manufacturing. Highly functional Kubernetes distributions offer robust security features, including Multi-tenancy, Roles Based Access Control (RBAC), network policies, and pod security policies. This, in turn, can be coupled with state-of-the-art Kubernetes storage solutions that support data encryption art rest and in motion.
Not all Kubernetes solutions are created equal
While there may be more than one Kubernetes distribution that ticks all of the right boxes, it is important to remember it is not just what you do but how you do it. When evaluating a Kubernetes solution, it is important to consider the following:
How well does your solution support for mission critical and money making stateful applications including: content delivery, AI/ML, Security, finance and Industry 4.0 applications?
Does it provide application aware storage that allows one to unify data protection and disaster recovery of both applications and data into a single motion?
How does it optimize not just your platform footprint, but your data footprint?
Is it easy to use and does not require a PhD in Kubernetes itself as well as extensive command line operations. If it’s not easy to use, does it delay your deployments and lifecycle time to outcome?
Is it policy driven and support a set it and forget operations mode?
How securely, efficiently and easily does it implement resource sharing and unified operation of VMs and containers, eliminating operations and resource silos? Is your vendor really willing to support both or is this just a bait and switch that can end up keeping you on your legacy VM solution longer?
Is your solution lightweight with full functionality? Since many legacy Kubernetes distributions are enormous and lightweight solutions like K3s hamstring functionality and observability, find one that starts small, stays small and guarantees all of the same functionality at the edge that you enjoy at the core.
How does your vendor provide supporting operations and orchestration solutions that facilitate bare metal to service rollouts and lifecycle management?
https://symphony.rakuten.com/cloud/blogs/...enterprise-edge-computing
April 22, 2024
Open RAN is crucial in driving digital connectivity. Explore the benefits of adopting O-RAN architecture with Sandeep Sharma from Tech Mahindra, Harkirit Singh from Smart InfraCo (Ascend Digital Solutions Limited), and Wei Yeang Toh from Intel as they share insights into the growing landscape of O-RAN technology, and provide key takeaways and steps to help service providers and the telecom ecosystem expedite O-RAN adoption.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBA0BLUupzs
Chris White May 21, 2024
https://articlesbase.com/business/...2024-benefits-risks-and-pricing/
Zendaya’s Challengers and Ryan Gosling’s The Fall Guy are two of the hit films fresh from the cinema to arrive this June on Rakuten TV, one of Europe’s leading streaming platforms that enables viewers to rent, purchase or to watch films and entertainment content for free without a subscription.
https://www.atvtoday.co.uk/239017-rtv/
2021: 582,707
2022: -262,068
2023: 724,192
https://global.rakuten.com/corp/investors/financial/data.html
In a significant development in the digital commerce space, Japan's e-commerce market is projected to ascend to new heights, with an anticipated Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) of US$339.6 billion by 2028. The market is poised for a steady increase with an annual growth rate of 7.76% in 2024, followed by a CAGR of 6.98% from 2024 to 2028.
https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2024/...and-Line-Taxi.html
June 11, 2024
The Rakuten Optimism Conference returned to the USA and gathered industry professionals such as advertisers, agencies, and publishing partners in one place to network and celebrate incredible achievements. In this report, hear industry leaders share key messages about AI and affiliate and creator marketing, Rakuten International CEO Amit Patel announce Rakuten+, positive comments and insights from attendees and Golden Link Award winners, and see scenes from the Rewarding Experiences Pavilion, one of this year’s unique event initiatives.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkGwi788Wm8
MAY 14, 2024
On its Q1 earnings call, Mikitani claimed “smooth progress” in turning around the group’s loss-making mobile unit, noting profitability is just around the corner, with a target of EBITDA turning positive by December 2024.
Symphony revenue jumped 55.3 per cent to $118 million.
https://www.mobileworldlive.com/rakuten/...ils-network-quality-gains/
When you combine the power of influencer marketing and the trust and authenticity with the measurement of affiliate, you’re going to get a really strong one-two punch. That’s why Rakuten Advertising has partnered with Mavrck to release its latest Influencer offering.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGqhIbCHqoc&t=45s
Rakuten Mobile has set a goal to reach 8-10 million subscribers by the end of 20242. Considering the current subscriber count and the company’s trajectory, it seems plausible that Rakuten Mobile could achieve this target if the current growth trend continues. However, it’s important to note that these projections are based on the company’s expectations and market conditions, which can change over time.
I believe, the SEC should take a look at this criminals.
June 07, 2024
Thrilled to have Subha Shrinivasan, our Head of Global Services Division, share her strategic vision for customer success, focusing on automation, AI, and seamless integration with Google Cloud. Learn how we're making our customers' lives easier and more efficient with innovative solutions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlZuqHRxOtA