Five Ukrainian IT-companies are in world's Top-10 Software Application Testing Firms

Research Company Clutch, based in Washington, has published the ranking of the best companies in the field of software testing. All in all it is mentioned 25 companies from all over the world.

It is noteworthy that nearly half of the top-10 is represented by Ukrainian outsourcers. They are: N-iX and Eleks from Lviv, Trust Sourcing from Kyiv, eGo Creative Media Solutions from Dnepropetrovsk and IT Craft from Kharkov.

https://clutch.co/developers/testing/leaders-matrix

ALMOST 200 STUDENTS PASSED SUMMER TRAINING CLASSES AT SIGMA SOFTWARE IN 6 MONTHS

July 21, 2015

In the mid-July the summer training classes at Sigma Software Kharkiv and Kyiv offices came to its end. 130 students from Kharkiv National Aerospace University, Kharkiv National Polytechnic University, Kharkiv National University of Radioelectronics, V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University and Kyiv National Aviation University were trained by company`s experts in the fields of .NET and Java. The winter training classes 2015 gathered 65 students, giving a total almost 200 future specialists, who passed practice at Sigma Software.

The students of the 2-4 years of study were invited to receive their first experience, as well as to get acquainted with the current processes and technologies in IT. Sigma Software experts of Senior and Middle levels mentored the students, shared experience. Apart from that, a series of seminars on usability, prototyping, and front-end development were held.

Summer internship is a great opportunity to meet the best students, get to know them personally, and select candidates for the further training. Last year about 100 students took summer training classes at the company, this year the number has already doubled. It will grow even more, as we plan to launch .NET internship in early August for the students of Kharkiv, Kyiv and Lviv universities.

“The number of students, which come at the company is growing every year. It is not only because our company is developing, opening new offices in Ukraine, launching cooperation with new higher educational establishments. It is because the level of the students becomes higher from year to year. We meet a lot of talented minds, who are pleasant to work with,” says Nataly Potapova, Head of Training Department at Sigma Software.

SIGMA SOFTWARE IMPLEMENTED A COMPREHENSIVE INTRANET PORTAL FOR A GLOBAL MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY COMPANY

July 17, 2015

In late June Sigma Software team in cooperation with Sigma IT Consulting has successfully accomplished the development of a sophisticated intranet portal for a leading medical technology company, which delivers innovative products and solutions that contribute to quality enhancement and cost efficiency within healthcare and the life sciences.

The portal is intended for more than 15 thousand Customer`s employees working in over 40 countries. It enables the company`s specialists to review news feed, filtered according to the office location, review colleagues profiles and learn company`s hierarchy, watch video, browse events calendar, upload documents, create and fill in online forms, conduct surveys, look through the job opportunities in different locations and apply by sending own CV. The main content is loaded on a web page dynamically, so the user doesn’t need to wait until the entire page loaded to see the content. This is really important in the areas with low Internet channel capacity.

The portal has a solid and handy search that was implemented as the mix of two Cloud services — Azure Search to search through content and SharePoint Online Search to search through people`s profiles.

The team has been working for four months to deliver the solution by the end of June. Sigma Software specialists used the whole stack of the latest Microsoft technologies, including EPiServer 8.0 and Entity Framework 6, as well as JavaScript frameworks. The portal is hosted in the Cloud and integrated with Customer`s Aсtive Directory.

Responsive design makes it really easy for all Customer`s employees to access the portal anytime and from any device. It is now in the process of deployment. In the future, the Customer plans to add even more useful features to the portal, including a forum.

“Effective information management is one of the strongest competitive advantages for businesses and organizations today. Sigma Software has an extensive experience in developing various intranet and extranet portals. We apply best practices and the latest technologies to make it really easy for our Customers to handle corporate information,” says Anatoly Kochetov, Head of Microsoft Solutions Department at Sigma Software.

Luxoft moved 536 engineers from Russia and Ukraine

The company wants to be closer to customers and to avoid country risk

Offshore software developer Luxoft transported 536 developers from Russia and the Ukraine to Poland, Romania and Bulgaria. This is stated in the financial statements of the company for fiscal year 2015, ended March 31, 2015. In the current fiscal year, the company plans to take out of Russia and Ukraine more employees.

This is a part of Luxoft’s program “Global Upgrade”, which assumes employees to be spread across regions in order to reduce operating and macroeconomic risks. In the long term Luxoft wants to have no more than 25% of the company's personnel in each office, the report said.

In Ukraine today operates 42% of the company's personnel. Last year this share was 49%, while in Russia this figure was reduced to 25% against 30% in the previous fiscal year, according to company statements.

SIGMA HOSTS THE INNOVATION CLUB IN HUNGARY

June 25, 2015

Sigma Software together with Sigma Technology Hungary launched the series of Innovation Club events in Budapest within the framework of Swedish-Hungarian Days 2015. On June 10th, the first Innovation Club dedicated to Usability took place, welcoming the Ambassador of Sweden to Hungary Niclas Trouvé and representatives of business.

Innovation Club is a series of events, where professionals with similar interests and focus meet up to socialize, discuss and share trends and novelties on current hot topics. The first workshop was organized by the Swedish trade and Invest Council Business Sweden, the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Hungary (link is external) and was supported by Sigma, Ericsson and Electrolux.

In today’s fast changing markets, companies need to respond quickly by adapting their technologies, communication, and processes to new demands, services and consumer types. Nowadays, real-life performance and overall user experience of a product or system are not just important, but are key factors for success and even for survival of the products.

On June 10th, over 50 professionals, executives, experts and students have joined the Innovation Club in Sigma Technology Hungary’s office and contributed to lively group discussions on usability, interaction design, lean processes & project management.

The agenda included a keynote speech from Sigma Software expert, Elena Osichkina, Head of Design Department. She was talking about the definition of good design.

“Business goals, technological capabilities, fancy features — everything is quite important when creating a new product or solution, but in the end the users are those who matter. The user is the only person who really knows what is convenient and user-friendly. And we are here to find it out. UX expert is the user’s best friend, whose first goal is to make sure the product meets the main requirements defining user-centered design."

Ms. Osichkina’s speech was followed by the panel discussion, where usability experts shared their ideas about the topic, bringing examples from their respective industries. The session ended with an interactive game. Participants in teams bent to the task of designing the dashboard of a car. The jury evaluated the solutions and selected the winner.

ELEKS’ Wearable Technology Experience Demonstrated at Wearables Europe 2015 Conference and Meetup in London, UK

June 25th 2015

Markiyan Matsekh, ELEKS’ Mobility & Wearables product manager, spoke at premier industry events in the UK, showcasing the wearable technology opportunities for brands, enterprises and consumers. Demonstrations were based on ELEKS’ Apple Watch and Android Wear apps to control Tesla electric vehicles

Lviv, Ukraine, June 25, 2015 --(PR.com)-- ELEKS’ key Mobility & Wearables expert Markiyan Matsekh spoke at two prominent wearable industry events in London on May 27th (Wearables Europe 2015) and 28th (Wearables London Meetup).

The first event brought together innovation, business development and R&D executives to discuss recent monumental shifts in technology interaction, as well as the rapid expansion of wearables into enterprise, industrial and medical use. ELEKS’ presentation focused on smartwatch brand differences. Markiyan showcased ELEKs’ recent successful experiments with applications to control the Tesla Model S via Apple Watch and Android Wear.

Wearables Europe 2015 was followed by Wearables London Meetup, the UK’s principal forum to develop and debate wearable technology. The presenters of the meetup focused on drivers behind wearable technology implementation for businesses. Matsekh discussed ELEKS’ enterprise wearable app development and how those apps boost productivity in day-to-day employee operations and personal scenarios.

SoftServe’s Eugene Borukhovich Joins Rockstart Accelerator Program to Prepare Health Startups for Global Scaling

Amsterdam, 15 Jun 2015

SoftServe’s Healthcare expert Eugene Borukhovich joins the group of mentors of a key healthcare startup accelerator in the Netherlands.

SoftServe announced that healthcare expert Eugene Borukhovich has joined the group of mentors of Rockstart Digital Health Accelerator Program, a 180-days intensive startup accelerator program focused on digital health.

The aim of the Rockstart accelerator is to build, validate and scale digital health startups, as well as help them better understand product design, market fit and business models by enabling the startups to directly work with patients, professionals and other stakeholders. As a mentor Eugene will provide intensive individual mentoring and strategy sessions during the core program.

“I’m excited to have an opportunity to join the group of mentors of the Rockstart Accelerator and share my knowledge and experience with those who are passionate about making a sustainable impact on people’s health. I hope my mentoring and strategy sessions within the program will be helpful in the development of connected and the most accessible digital health ecosystem in the world.” said Eugene Borukhovich, SoftServe’s VP Healthcare, European Markets.

"As Rockstart, we are extremely happy to welcome Eugene as one of our key mentors. Eugene has extensive and in-depth knowledge of the healthcare systems and technologies in Europe and the US. We are very pleased that the startups in our program will be able to leverage Eugene's wide knowledge of health innovation." Maarten den Braber, Program Director Rockstart Accelerator Digital Health.

About Eugene Borukhovich
Eugene Borukhovich is an international expert on healthcare information technology innovation. He is also a member of HIMSS EU Industry Advisory Committee, convened in September 2014 to discuss and collaborate on key Healthcare IT topics. Eugene is a frequent speaker at various healthcare conferences and events, including HxRefactored, Health 2.0, Doctors 2.0 & You, etc. Eugene’s articles and blogs have been published in numerous healthcare resources including SoftServe United, HITECH Answers, mHealth News, CTO vision, MEDCITY News,EE Times, and many more. You can find Eugene on Twitter at @HealthEugene.

UNLOCKING THE HIGH POTENTIAL OF UKRAINIAN-SWEDISH COOPERATION

June 19, 2015
The fourth Sweden-Ukraine Business Forum was held in Kyiv, on June 15-16th.  The goal of the Forum was to highlight Ukraine’s market potential and promote Sweden as an innovative and competitive business partner. The new Ukrainian government gave an update on the reforms implementation, their impact on running business in Ukraine, and upcoming business opportunities in different sectors of the economy.

The forum started on June 15th with the reception given by the Embassy of Sweden. His Excellency Andreas von Beckerath, the Ambassador of Sweden to Ukraine, noted in his welcoming addresses that the trade volume between our two countries could be much higher.

“I find the Swedish community quite optimistic regarding cooperation with Ukraine,” he emphasized. “There are two main reasons why Sweden is giving a closer look to Ukraine today. First is the Association Agreement with European Union that promotes trade, and the second is Ukrainian reform-minded government, supported by Europe.”

One of the greatest Swedish businessmen, philanthropist and the founder of Sigma AB, Dan Olofsson joined the Forum to show support and belief in the future of Ukraine.

“There is a very illustrative quote of Winston Churchill. He once said that pessimists see the troubles in the opportunities. Optimists, on the contrary, see opportunities in the troubles. I think Ukrainian people are optimistic. Despite our two countries have a long history of cooperation, Sweden still can — and should — do more.”

The second day of the Forum started with the press-conference that was followed by the debates panel, dedicated to reforms implementations in Ukraine. The keynote speaker, Minister of Finance Natalie Yaresko, has been speaking about the ways to make Ukraine more attractive for the foreign business:

“The main steps Ukraine should take to attract investments are to stabilize economics and create favorable business conditions.” She noted some of the business-related reforms that have been put in place over the last year in Ukraine, including corruption disabling, court system reformation, steps to energy independence, tax policy review and reducing budget deficit.

The second panel was dedicated to corporate social responsibility as a competitive advantage of companies. Vladimir Beck, Board Member at Sigma Software, was talking about the activities aimed at education and professional development of IT specialists in Ukraine and within the company.

“There are many ways to demonstrate the company`s dedication to social responsibility,” he comments. “Our company pays a great attention to the preparation of young specialists. Yearly about 300 students are engaged in various educational programs Sigma conducts jointly with 12 universities and up to 10 non-governmental educational establishments in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa and Lviv. We offer practical expertise in addition to general education. It`s not possible just to acquire the talent. We need to constantly participate in the ecosystem of the educational system to help this talent grow.”

The last debates panel was called to lighten the effective E-government solutions and their implementation in Ukraine. Michael Lauridsen, Business Development Manager and E-government expert at Sigma, took part in the panel, and mentioned:

“There is no need to invent technologies; these solutions were already implemented in Estonia, Sweden, and other countries. Use their experience and their knowledge. In Sweden, for example, we know the platforms, know the processes, and we would be glad to help.”

The event ended with a series of workshops powered by the partner companies. Valery Krasovsky, Sigma Software CEO, held a workshop “Outsourcing vs IT consulting” to clearly define the difference between these two terms and examine which one is applicable to Ukrainian IT export industry today.

“When the industry started back in 90th, most companies were doing outsourcing. Now the situation has changed. The IT companies have accumulated cross-industry expertise and experience with the market-leading customers in creation of the sophisticated and innovative software products and robust industry systems,” Valery states. “It is no longer the outsourcing. It is a mature and highly competitive IT consulting sector. And this sector is recognized as one of the most perspective in regard to the Swedish-Ukrainian cooperation.”

Playtika wins Social Operator of the Year at EGR NA Awards

April 24, 2015

Tel Aviv-based operator claims headline prize in the social casino categories at inaugural awards for North American RMG and social sector

Caesars Interactive-owned firm Playtika was named Social Casino Operator of the Year at this week’s inaugural EGR North America

Sigma Software starts cooperation with Odesa I.I. Mechnikov National University

May 28, 2015

Sigma Software marks the cooperation start with Odesa I.I. Mechnikov National University. As university partner Sigma Software is going to take part in major activities dedicated to improvement of IT students’ education quality. This is the third educational institution in Odesa to partner with the company. The joint work has already been established with Odesa National Polytechnic University and STEP computer academy.

Information Technology is a very dynamic industry, every day the new technologies are coming. Therefore, knowing the latest trends is crucial for young specialists to stay highly sought on the job market. By contrast, the educational programs in universities are not always updated fast enough to correspond to companies` requirements.

Thus, the cooperation agreement between Odesa National University and Sigma Software foresees actions that can provide students with essential knowledge, valuable enough to be hired in any IT company. This includes educational program updates, regular presentations on trending technologies by the company representatives, drafting curriculum, courses and practice sessions for students of the University with Sigma Software employees as mentors and supervisors.

Eugene Yakovlev, Head of Educational Programs at Sigma Software Odesa office, shares his thoughts:

“Our company is well-known among Odesa students and last year even became a dream company to work in. This was possible due to our continuous work on education improvement in Odesa. We have been cooperating for years with ONPU and STEP academy, supported numerous user groups for students, and provided about 30 students a year with a possibility to have a practice in the company. This year we also supported two big students contests — Golden Byte, organized by STEP academy, and IT-Eureka, held within the Tempus program. We are very happy to start partnership with Odesa National University.”

“Every day more and more universities realize that without cooperation with business it is impossible to prepare professionals who will be in demand on the labor market,” adds Valery Krasovsky, CEO at Sigma Software. “It is very inspiring that business now can influence education quality, which is beneficial both for students and companies. The former can be more confident in their future and the latter can hire well-trained specialists.”

SIGMA SOFTWARE AND LVIV POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY BECOME PARTNERS

June 3, 2015

On May 26-27th the regular Tempus project meeting took place in Lviv. Representatives from Sigma Technology Solutions, Sigma Software, and professors from Linnaeus University and Lviv Polytechnic University gathered to discuss the current status and share plans for the nearest future. During the meeting, Sigma Software and Lviv Polytechnic University signed the agreement on cooperation start according to the "knowledge triangle" model.

The cooperation on the “knowledge triangle” model stands for building a strong link between educational programs, researchers and companies. The agreement foresees the joint work on strengthening university’s educational program. The activities include practical training sessions for students under company’s supervision, their involvement on real projects, competitions aiming to promote the innovative spirit among young specialists.

“We know how to build a successful partnership with a higher educational establishment. For many years we have been working with Ukrainian universities in different cities. For the students of Lviv Polytechnic University the company plans to conduct workshops, seminars, internships and many other activities aimed at helping students to strengthen their practical base. We are looking forward to meeting many bright talents with a strong will to learn and aspiration for growth,” shares Nataly Potapova, Head of Training Department at Sigma Software.

“Our Lviv office was opened last year and since then has been continuously developing. We are happy to start partnership with Lviv Polytechnic University in close cooperation with Linnaeus University and Sigma Technology,” says Vladimir Chirva, Development Director at Sigma Software. “We are always open for communication with future specialists and ready to support the university in order to enhance the level of students training.”

SIGMA SOFTWARE SIGNS COOPERATION AGREEMENT WITH UKRAINIAN CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY

June 5, 2015

In late May Sigma Software has signed the cooperation agreement with the Computer Science department of Ukrainian Catholic University.

Computer Science is a completely new program dedicated to preparing bachelors. It is created in collaboration with the Lviv business community and Lviv IT Cluster. The program will start in the 2015-2016 academic year. It was designed for the students interested to study a lot and willing to constantly develop and get basic skills in IT.

“We consider this program as a new standard of IT education. We attract the best academic staff, including foreign professors, keep main focus on practical skills, and pay great attention to studying English. At the same time we are going to attract IT companies to cooperate and communicate with students, starting from the first year of education. The curriculum was elaborated with the involvement of business representatives," says Jaroslav Prytula, professor at Ukrainian Catholic University.

“Sigma Software has strong partnership relations with many Ukrainian educational establishments in every city, where company`s offices are located. For many years we have been cooperating with Kharkiv and Odesa universities and colleges and accumulated a wide experience. Last year we marked the joint work start with Kyiv National Aviation University. Now we are glad to inform about laying the foundation for mutually beneficial cooperation with Ukrainian Catholic University. Their desire to implement brand new standards of IT education is a very important factor for us,” shares Vladimir Chirva, Development Director at Sigma Software.

The cooperation with the University actually started a few months ago. In fact, in May Sigma Software took part in the Open Door Day at the Computer Science department, which welcomed this year applicants. Company`s representatives talked about the company and the opportunities that the IT industry offers to the future specialists, as well as conducted a small prizes drawing among the attendees.

“At Sigma Software we always support innovating thinking. That is why we are very interested in the new approach to prepare IT professionals that Ukrainian Catholic University announced. I believe this cooperation will be highly beneficial for all the parties — students, University and company,” adds Nataly Potapova, Head of Training Department at Sigma Software.

MASTER OF ORION: A LEGEND REBORN

June 9, 2015

The game which wrote the blueprint for 4X strategy has been reimagined by Wargaming.
Wargaming has charted a course that will take gamers out of the world. Master of Orion, the critically acclaimed sci-fi strategy game, has been reborn.

This reimagining is set to enhance the title’s iconic 4X gameplay of Explore, Expand, Exploit and Exterminate for new and old fans alike. Players can expect a deeply strategic experience where they must utilize brute force, diplomacy, exploration and much more in their bid for victory.

With enhanced visuals, built from the ground up, Master of Orion reimagines galaxies like never before and breathes life into a universe waiting for intrepid explores to conquer. On their journey, players will be interacting with over a dozen diverse races, all with their own quirks and ambitions. It is up to you to shape your gaming experience.

Under the hood, there is a revamped user interface with many great features to aid you in quest. An orchestral score from the original game’s composer is your epic soundtrack on the galactic stage, accompanied by new voice over recordings and user tutorials.

Master of Orion is set to bring Wargaming back to its science fiction roots, which began with the renowned Massive Assault series. The game has been developed by the Argentine-based NGD Studios, including key members from the original Master of Orion, so you know the game will be staying true to its classic 4X gameplay.

WARGAMING TEAMS UP WITH MELESTA GAMES

May 21, 2015

New strategic partnership will help both companies take advantage of the growing mobile market.
Wargaming is proud to announce that it’s joined forces with Melesta Games, a popular mobile game developer from Belarus. This new partnership takes advantage of the booming mobile market and lets us collaborate with an established company. It also means that Wargaming can try out different types of projects to see where the gaming landscape is heading.
With the partnership, Wargaming will share its publishing experience with Melesta Games so that both companies can get the most out of this collaboration. Melesta will continue to create titles for casual and mobile platforms.
Melesta Games is a mobile games developer with a player base of over 11,000,000 people from more than 60 countries around the world. Established in 2007, the studio has built an impressive range of over 20 projects. Their most popular titles are the Toy Defense and Farm Frenzy game franchises.

NetCracker Honored with 2015 TM Forum Excellence Award

NICE, FRANCE — June 2, 2015

NetCracker Technology announced today that it was selected as a winner in the 2015 TM Forum Excellence Awards. NetCracker was recognized in the category of Customer Centricity for its Customer Management solutions.

TM Forum announced the Excellence Awards winners at its flagship TM Forum Live! 2015 conference and expo in Nice, France, during the VIP Gala dinner on Monday, June 1, at the prestigious Palais de la Méditerranée. TM Forum also highlighted the winners during the opening keynote session at TM Forum Live! on Tuesday, June 2.

NetCracker is the leading provider of BSS/OSS as well as SDN/NFV solutions for communications service providers around the world. Its flagship product suite, NetCracker 10, fundamentally redefines the economics of network deployment and management, IT operations, customer experience and service creation and delivery.

“Congratulations to NetCracker for its recognition in the 2015 TM Forum Excellence Awards,” said Peter Sany, President and CEO of TM Forum. “Operational and solution excellence, innovation, and digital industry leadership exemplify the winners of this prestigious award. Our sincere congratulations to NetCracker for its commitment to innovation and taking a leading role in making digital business a reality for the industry as a whole.”

The TM Forum Excellence Awards program, now in its ninth year, acknowledges TM Forum members’ contributions and commitment to developing best practices that take the digital industry in new and innovative directions. Winners are leading service providers and technology suppliers that demonstrate tangible business results and a commitment to the future of the industry through innovation, underpinned by TM Forum’s Frameworx™ suite of best practices and standards.

Miratech Named for Third Consecutive Year in Global Outsourcing 100 List

February 18, 2015

Miratech has been selected by the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals® (IAOP®) for inclusion in The 2015 Global Outsourcing 100® list, in the Rising Star category. This is the third year that Miratech has been named in the list as a top outsourcing service provider.

IAOP publicly released company names for The Global Outsourcing 100 Providers list at the 2015 Outsourcing World Summit® in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. The full lists, including sub-lists, will appear on June 8 in a special advertising feature produced by IAOP in the FORTUNE 500 issue of FORTUNE® magazine.

The 2015 Global Outsourcing 100 recognizes the world’s best outsourcing service providers and advisors. These lists are based on applications received, and judging is based on a rigorous scoring methodology that includes an independent review by an independent panel of IAOP customer members with extensive experience in selecting outsourcing service providers and advisors for their organizations. For 2015, four areas are being considered and judged: Size and Growth, Delivery Excellence, Programs for Innovation, and  Corporate Social Responsibility.

The 2015 judging panel is led by IAOP Chairman Michael Corbett. He says, “Being named to The Global Outsourcing 100 list is no easy task. IAOP is pleased to recognize Miratech for their excellence and achievement.” IAOP CEO Debi Hamill adds, “Buyers understand there are hundreds of qualified service providers and advisors out there, but what they really need to understand now is what makes each exceptional.”

The Global Outsourcing 100 list and its sub-lists are essential references for companies seeking new and expanded relationships with the best companies in the industry. The lists include companies from around the world that provide the full spectrum of outsourcing services—not just IT and BPO, but also facility services, real estate and capital asset management, manufacturing, and logistics. They include not only today’s leaders, but tomorrow’s rising stars.

Miratech CEO Valeriy Kutsyy comments, “We are very pleased that IAOP has chosen to include Miratech in The Global Outsourcing 100 list for the third consecutive year. We believe this honor reflects the high standards we maintain in providing service to our customers, who trust us, and reward that trust with ongoing relationships and greater responsibility.”

ELEKS Develops an Exclusive Android Wear App for Global Advertising Leader Havas

June 10, 2015 - Lviv, Ukraine – ELEKS, a global organization which creates innovative software solutions, created a unique, data-driven Android Wear application for Havas, one of the world’s largest communications groups. The app launched at the AdForum Worldwide Summit.

Havas’ participation in the AdForum Worldwide Summit brought about the need for the app. The summit is a high-profile, biannual advertising industry event for agency search and management consultants. The event, held in London April 15-17, gave ad industry leaders and worldwide business leaders a unique opportunity to share their perspectives and assess global advertising industry trends.

Havas selected ELEKS to develop a comprehensive and customizable real-time event guide app. ELEKS is known for innovative applications such as those for the Apple Watch and Android Wear.

The application itself was designed to work simultaneously on various different smartwatches and allows the watches to communicate with each other without the need for being tethered to Android phones. ELEKS completed the development of the application in just two weeks.

To overcome technical limitations, ELEKS built a server network, connecting 47 Moto 360 smartwatches to the network via Bluetooth. This infrastructure allowed the devices to stay interconnected and to communicate with the outside world without mobile phones. The watch app provided detailed professional and personal information about every summit participant while proposing promising business contacts to meet in a gamified way. The app also offered personalized watch faces and event schedules with immediate updates and notifications.

“It was an absolute pleasure working with the ELEKS team,” said Ben Silcox, Havas Chief Digital & Data Officer. “The thinking, speed, proactivity, support and delivery quality was first rate – a real surprise with a first engagement. I wish every partner we worked with was so service-driven.”

GlobalLogic teams win awards at Intel RealSense App Challenge

Two teams from GlobalLogic got impressive results at Intel RealSense App Challenge, an international contest.

More than 1300 projects from all over the world participated in Intel RealSense App Challenge. There are a few Ukrainian teams among the winners and awarded participants, and two of them represent GlobalLogic’s Ukrainian offices.

Emma App (Emotional Decoration), a project developed by a team from GlobalLogic’s Kyiv office, won a second prize at Intel contest. Based on Intel RealSense camera, this app recognizes emotions, gestures and voices of users, changes video chat’s background simultaneously and adds thematic animation according to user’s current mood.

App development involved solving many challenging problems such as precise recognition of facial expressions, automatic identification of the main object in front of the camera, background selection etc.

Another project, Theatre of Shadows developed by GlobalLogic Mykolaiv team, was awarded with a Trailblazer Recognition award for the creation of an innovative demo that pushed the boundaries of human-computer interaction.


This gaming app recognizes hands in front of the camera and displays their virtual “shadows” on a screen, turning them into animated characters. Although it seems simple, the project took significant efforts in development. The reason is that the standard API of the camera does not provide good recognition of fingers put together and gestures typical for the theatre of shadows.

‘For this reason we decided to use the options which are well-developed, such as foreground selection (hands, actually) with a depth camera,’ Kyrylo Gerasymenko, Theatre of Shadows developer, says.

SoftServe’s Solutions Architect Wins Microsoft’s “Learning at Work Week” Competition

June 03, 2015

SoftServe’s Vadym Fedorov a winner in the annual Microsoft Competition, run by the Campaign for Learning

SoftServe today announced that the article “Learn, Learn and Once Again, Learn!” by Solutions Architect, Vadym Fedorov, won Microsoft’s annual “Learning at Work Week” competition. The theme for this competition, run by the Campaign for Learning, was “Shaping Our Future”, and focused on the vital role of learning and development in building resilient, forward-thinking and creative workplaces.

In his article Vadym discusses the necessity for continual learning for IT-related professionals to gain expertise in the latest technologies, as well as gain hands-on experience. He provided a detailed 5-step plan for keeping IT knowledge up to date and shared useful online learning resources, social networks, web 2.0, communities, and forums for checking the real-life value of this knowledge.

Vadym Fedorov has 12-years’ experience in enterprise application development, as well as 2-years’ experience in Cloud and operations optimization. He is not only a regular blogger on the SoftServe United blog, but also he has numerous articles published in such IT resources as Database, Microsoft TechNet, Computer Technology Review, etc.

“Knowledge acquisition is an important part of every IT expert`s professional development, and I was happy to participate in Microsoft`s Campaign for Learning. At SoftServe, we have access to many internal and on-demand trainings by SoftServe’s corporate IT University, and I was happy to share all the knowledge that I have acquired, with Microsoft’s blog readers.” said Vadym Fedorov, Solutions Architect, SoftServe.

Luxoft Receives 2015 Best Outsourcing Thought Leadership Award

JUNE 1, 2015

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Luxoft Holding, Inc (NYSE:LXFT US), a leading provider of software development services and innovative IT solutions to a global client base, today announced that it has been named a 2015 Best Outsourcing Thought Leadership Awards (BOTL) winner by The Outsourcing Institute, the largest, neutral professional association dedicated solely to outsourcing. The BOTL Awards’ Wall Street Tech Innovation showcases the most innovative work from providers across the outsourcing industry.

“We are very excited to be among the few winners of this prestigious award,” said Pierre Castagne, Managing Director for Financial Services at Luxoft. “Luxoft’s Horizon is a great example of how we combine deep industry expertise with technical skills to create powerful and quick to market Java-based dynamic HTML-5 solutions for customers, which incorporate our know-how within Big Data, User Experience (UX) and Mobility areas. We improve Horizon continuously based on new regulatory requirements and new types of risks to which enterprises must pay attention. Such product development would be impossible without advanced understanding of governance, risk and compliance intricacies by our solutions team and that’s where the value-added element of Luxoft’s service offering as a new generation provider comes into play.”

A judging panel of eight senior sourcing executives from Fortune 1000 enterprises selected Luxoft for its thought leadership piece that exhibited a use case that encompasses innovation, creativity and results. Luxoft is being recognized as a winner in the Real World Use Case - Innovation category. The Awards will be presented at the upcoming Wall Street Tech Innovation Conference being held Tuesday, June 2, 2015 in New York City.

“Luxoft is being recognized for delivering measurable value to its client engagement and helping them thrive in the incredibly challenging Wall Street and BFSI environment with innovative and cost saving solutions,” said Frank Casale, founder of The Outsourcing Institute and producer of the Wall Street Tech Conference. “We congratulate Luxoft and its high-performing service provider team for its visionary client success.”

EPAM Life Sciences Awarded Grand Prize at Bio-IT World Best Practices Competition 2015

May 27, 2015

EPAM Systems (NYSE:EPAM), a leading provider of software product development services, today announced that AccelEpi, a joint EPAM-UCB project, won the Bio-IT World Best Practices Award for Research and Drug Discovery. AccelEpi – Automated Accelerometric Detection of Epileptic Seizures in Rodents – is the first truly transformational technology platform that allows for a non-invasive, routine use of rodent models for research in drug discovery studies aiming at disease modification in epilepsy.

According to Dr. Rafal Kaminski, Head of Epilepsy at UCB, “The exceptional collaboration between UCB and EPAM Life Sciences resulted in an innovative discovery platform known as AccelEpi that accelerates the detection process of epileptic seizures in rodent experiments”. Dr. Kaminski explained that, “With such an innovative system, we may not only test drugs more quickly, but for the first time employ true disease models in antiepileptic drug discovery projects, which enables development of curative or disease-modifying therapies for patients with epilepsy”. In fact, as mentioned by Xavier Van Damme, the project leader, “AccelEpi is an excellent example of how multidisciplinary research involving signal analysis, software and IT infrastructure specialists working together with disease experts enables innovative drug discovery”.

“AccelEpi allows UCB to transition from measuring its drug candidates by their ability to fight induced seizures to proactively monitoring how those drug candidates reduce the rate of natural seizures in more true-to-life conditions,” said Richard Golob, Head of EPAM Life Sciences. “The platform is scaled to monitor up to 64 experimental animals in parallel, which enables running dose-response drug studies in real-time and significantly decreases the cost of experiments”.

Every year, Bio-IT World focuses attention on the critical role of IT in modern biomedical research and highlights platforms and strategies that can be shared across the industry to improve the quality, pace, and reach of science. “We are delighted once again to see such exceptional projects entered in this year’s competition,” said Allison Proffitt, editor of Bio-IT World. “The use of information technology has the potential to reinvigorate the life sciences in so many ways, and the winners of this year’s awards have shown creativity and initiative in applying these tools to problems large and small”.

Infopulse Completes ISAE 3402 Type I Audit

March, 25

Infopulse, a part of Nordic IT group EVRY and a leading provider of IT and BPO Services in Eastern-Europe, is pleased to announce the successful completion of International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE) 3402 Type I Audit. Infopulse has received the report providing evidence that the delivery of services to clients of Infopulse adheres to the highest international standards according to the level of security and controls.

Olga Konovalova Quality and Security ManagementThe ISAE Type I report confirms that the company corresponds to the level of “reasonable assurance” of the internal control system aimed at quality, security, processing integrity, availability and confidentiality of Infopulse IT Professional Services. It has also developed a strong corporate control culture. The report offers an independent opinion that the controls are suitably designed to meet the aforementioned criteria set; organization and design of controls are in line with the requirements of ISO 9001 and ISO 22301; and information security controls are in agreement with the requirements of ISO 27001.

"We are very delighted to complete the audit. We pay much attention to the level of corporate culture regarding security, integrity and confidentiality, so the results of the audit outlined by ISAE 3402 standard are very important for us. It also gives our clients and partners detailed information prepared by independent auditors about established effective controls of Infopulse’s professional services, including IT Operations and System Integration, Software Development and Testing, and Project Management, supported by the management assertion" - said Olga Konovalova, Head of Infopulse Quality and Security department