Latest news with #JohnHiggins
Channel Post MEA
15-07-2025
- Business
- Channel Post MEA
Pega Enters Into Five-Year Strategic Partnership With AWS
Pegasystems has signed a five-year strategic collaboration agreement (SCA) with Amazon Web Services (AWS). The collaboration will empower clients to harness the power of Pega products with AWS advanced generative AI services. This includes leveraging Amazon Bedrock and AWS Transform with Pega Blueprint to accelerate legacy modernization projects, freeing enterprises from time-consuming and resource-draining technical debt and opening the door for agentic automation across enterprise workflows. A recent Pega survey indicates technical debt continues to hold back organizations that increasingly struggle to deliver the digital-first experiences their customers expect. The survey, conducted with research firm Savanta, found that more than two-thirds (68%) of IT decision makers in global enterprises say outdated legacy systems and applications are preventing them from embracing innovative technologies like artificial intelligence and automation. Under this new agreement, Pega and AWS will leverage AWS Transform, which uses agentic AI workflows to automate the full modernization lifecycle, and Pega Blueprint, a cloud-based application that leverages AI agents to accelerate the design and development of Pega-powered workflow applications. Together, this AI-based approach helps clients accelerate their journey to the cloud faster and more efficiently without disrupting critical business functions. This allows them to rethink and replace legacy systems and rapidly deploy the power of predictable AI, agents, and automation to more effectively engage customers, deliver service, and run their operations. Pega will also integrate Amazon Bedrock, a fully managed service, as the primary generative AI foundation powering Pega Blueprint and Pega Platform, an AI decisioning and workflow automation platform used for building enterprise software solutions. Now powered with Amazon Bedrock, clients can securely leverage generative AI large language models (LLMs) from companies including Anthropic, Amazon, Cohere, Meta, and more. With Amazon Bedrock enterprise-grade security controls and governance capabilities, Pega clients can confidently use the power of Amazon Bedrock across the entire app development lifecycle – from requirements analysis to initial workflow design to continual refinement. The agreement affirms Pega's commitment to selling in AWS Marketplace as the preferred transaction mechanism for Pega-as-a-Service, helping to further reduce the time between contract and innovation for clients, while also providing clients with access to financial benefits in AWS Marketplace. Furthermore, this collaboration enables Pega to offer comprehensive migration services and tools that guide on-premises clients through a seamless transition to Pega-as-a-Service. 'By deepening our collaboration with AWS, we're taking another major step in empowering organizations to use generative AI to accelerate their legacy application transformation initiatives,' said John Higgins, chief of client and partner success, Pega. 'It's no longer enough to keep applying incremental changes to legacy systems in the AI era. Clients want to drive strategic business process changes to capture the AI-driven productivity improvements – eliminating technical debt and enabling dynamic and intelligent workflows are significant value drivers for organizations seeking to embrace AI to drive business agility. And that's where we come in. Partners can now differentiate their services by infusing their IP and best practices into Pega Blueprint to transform legacy applications.' 'As a long-standing customer of both Pega and AWS, this timing couldn't be better,' said Manas Kumar Sarkar, vice president enterprise application integration services, Infosys. 'This agreement streamlines the path to integrate the power of Pega Platform and Pega Blueprint into Infosys Cobalt, our industry leading cloud offering built on AWS. We're excited about the value this brings to Infosys as well as to the industry.' 'Generative AI is not only revolutionizing what customers can build in the cloud, but with services like AWS Transform, it's fundamentally changing how quickly and seamlessly they can get to the cloud in the first place,' said Chris Grusz, managing director, technology partners, at AWS. 'Our strategic collaboration with Pega combines AWS AI-powered modernization capabilities with Pega's expertise in enterprise workflow transformation, providing customers with powerful tools to escape technical debt without disrupting critical business operations.'
Otago Daily Times
25-06-2025
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Christchurch's mass public transport plan earns national nod
Christchurch's Mass Rapid Transit project has been named on a list of nationally important infrastructure work. A joint application from Christchurch City Council and NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi on behalf of the Greater Christchurch Partnership has seen MRT successfully make it into Te Waihanga Infrastructure Commission's draft National Infrastructure Plan. The MRT project, which will provide high capacity, frequency, fast, reliable travel, was assessed by a team of independent experts from the commission. It deemed it to be of national importance by meeting New Zealand's strategic objectives, being good value for money, and capable of being successfully delivered. The MRT is a public transport system that would operate on dedicated routes to ensure speed, frequency and capacity. That would likely mean a combination of buses and light rail that would be separated from other traffic - the idea being travel would be faster than other options in and out of the city. Council strategy, planning and regulatory services general manager John Higgins said while inclusion in the draft National Infrastructure Plan does not guarantee funding or political support, the endorsement is still an important step forward. 'Having our MRT work on the list gives central government investment partners confidence that the project has been assessed as having merit by independent experts,' he said. 'It was one of 17 projects nationally to make it through the first round of submissions.' Higgins said the project is in the early stages but would involve a 22km dedicated corridor, with 21 stations connecting Hornby and Belfast via the central city. 'It is a key component of the Greater Christchurch Spatial Plan, which was developed with our Greater Christchurch partners,' he said. 'This sets out the pathway for enabling the Greater Christchurch population to grow to 700,000 residents over 30 years, and towards a million people, cementing itself as New Zealand's second largest city and principal urban area of the South Island.' The next phase of the MRT project, which the council is leading, focuses on developing a Route Protection Detailed Business Case to identify any additional land needed, as well as designating it before construction and advancing the design to define land requirements. A second round of projects is also being assessed for the National Infrastructure Plan and the council submitted the Public Transport Futures programme for consideration. 'This programme includes lower cost improvements to the city's existing bus network and is an essential step towards implementation of MRT,' Higgins said.
Daily Mail
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Snooker party boy no-shows at major tournament as he holidays with new girlfriend instead
An active Snooker World Championship-winning player raised eyebrows after failing to turn up to the first tournament of the new season on Sunday. He was instead pictured with his new girlfriend in a picture posted to Instagram over the weekend just hours before his match was due to begin. Another snap saw the pair tucking into pizzas, with two wine glasses also visible on the table. Luca Brecel opted to skip qualifying at the Wuhan Open in China, where he was scheduled to face Pakistan's Haris Tahir, to spend time with his partner Shawney Demuyter instead. Brecel, 30, won the Snooker World Championship at The Crucible in Sheffield in 2023 with victory over Mark Selby. However, his failure to show up to qualifying in Wuhan saw him having to forfeit the match 5-0. As a result, Brecel will not be allowed to compete at the event - which takes place in the final week of August - and sees him miss out on a winners' prize of £140,000. The Belgian was a notable absentee among a host of recognisable names to have appeared in qualifying, with the likes of John Higgins, Shaun Murphy and Mark Williams all opting to play. Since winning the world title just over two years ago, Brecel has endured a dip in form that has seen him drop to 39th in the world rankings. He has also been open about how he felt under 'a bit of pressure' to perform more consistently after winning snooker's biggest prize. Speaking to The Sun after winning the tournament in 2023, he said: 'I bought two more cars this week, so I went from a millionaire to a non-millionaire. 'It was a conscious decision to buy the cars and maybe feel that bit of pressure again, to recreate the feeling I had of just starting my career.' Brecel has previously shared pictures onto his social media accounts of his Ferrari 488, worth an estimated £350,000. He's also enjoyed trips around the globe and recently admitted that he and his partner have visited '14 countries in four months' as he enjoyed his winnings. During one trip to Dubai, Brecel shared multiple snaps of the couple at high-end restaurant Hakkasan - where dishes can cost up to £300. In the same interview, the 28-year-old also admitted that he's been facing problems with his mindset, as he claimed: 'I didn't go lazy, but I just didn't feel that hunger or motivation going from tournament to tournament. 'I don't like that feeling and I had to change something. I wasn't feeling any pressure any more. I was just playing and if I lost I was happy to be home. It's not a good mindset to have.'
The Sun
22-06-2025
- Sport
- The Sun
Ex-World Snooker Champ maverick Luca Brecel fails to show up for start of season after going public with new girlfriend
LUCA BRECEL did not bother to turn up for the first day of the new snooker season and will miss out on a mega-money Chinese takeaway. The Belgian Bullet has fallen a long way since becoming champion of the world in thrilling style in May 2023. 3 3 3 The 2025-26 baize campaign began on Sunday with Wuhan Open qualifying and Brecel, 30, was due to play Pakistani Haris Tahir. It was scheduled to take place at 2.30pm at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester. Yet Brecel, who has fallen to 39th on the WST list, appears not to have been in the country. So, a 5-0 walkover was awarded to his opponent, who secured a spot in the main draw in the Far East. On Saturday, he posted images of himself with his reported new girlfriend and hours before his match he uploaded a photo of pizzas and two wine glasses. If anything, it suggested he was not necessarily in the mood for break-building. It is another sorry situation for a potting maverick who lives by his own rules. His absence means he will not take part in the Wuhan Open, which takes place in the last week of August and has a top prize of about £140,000. Former world champions Mark Williams, Shaun Murphy and John Higgins all made the effort to play over the weekend despite qualifying being behind closed doors. During the World Championship, Brecel flew to Sheffield, from Holland via East Midlands Airport, on the day of his second-round clash with Ding Junhui. That is because he did not want to stay the night before in a hotel in South Yorkshire. Amazingly, he dominated the opening session 7-1 against Ding even though he had only arrived in the UK a few hours earlier.
Yahoo
22-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The Common Spice You'd Never See In The Queen's Royal Kitchen
The late Queen Elizabeth II ran a tight ship. With some of the world's best chefs at her disposal and strict control over the kitchen at all times, the Queen's personal preferences often dictated what could, and could not be served from the royal kitchen. Case in point: Queen Elizabeth hates garlic, the alluring allium adored around the world, and it was formally banned from any and all royal meals. Yes, you heard that right. Garlic, while beloved as a flavor base for thousands of dishes, was nowhere to be found in the British monarch's culinary routine. That being said, it's not because of its flavor, but rather its odor. In a 2018 appearance on MasterChef Australia, Camilla, then-duchess of Cornwall, confirmed to one of the show's judges, Gary Mehigan, that "garlic is a no-no" in the royal diet since at formal banquets, there will be lots of chatter (via X). It's understandable, as when speaking with diplomats, world leaders, and esteemed nobility, the last thing you would want is for your breath to smell unpleasant. Not only is garlic's odor potentially offensive, but it could also cause some embarrassing moments at the dinner table, at least according to one former chef at Buckingham Palace. "The Queen is a wonderful lady, the royal family are wonderful people but they're missing out on garlic because at Buckingham Palace you don't cook with garlic. I suppose, in case you get the royal burp," John Higgins told The National Post in 2016. Read more: We Asked 14 Celeb Chefs How They Order Their Steak Garlic is just one of the common foods Queen Elizabeth didn't eat. Another allium, onions, were considered off-limits in the royal kitchen, likely for the same reasons as garlic. Unlike garlic, though, onions were permitted from time to time, so long as they were not overpowering in a dish. Outside of alliums, lengthy pastas, such as spaghetti or angel hair, were also frowned upon, due to their tendency to make a mess, as were pizza and burgers without buns. Queen Elizabeth also didn't request starchy or overly heavy side dishes on her plate. Instead, she preferred simple foods in her daily meals, like meat and vegetables. Some foods were barred from the royal family's diet due to concerns over safety. Shellfish — like crabs, lobster, shrimp, and clams — would never be seen on the Queen's plate. This was particularly true while abroad or visiting with world leaders. After all, a royal should never appear under the weather before the general public, and just one bad oyster could sideline an entire week of official duties. The same logic applies for red meats cooked rare. If the Queen's steak was cooked more, there's less of a chance of catching some form of foodborne illness from it. Read the original article on Tasting Table.
