The less bumpy way to ride e-commerce = Rakuten (Seite 629)

[FlankerStan]

Rakuten Ready can help

We have never seen so much change, so quickly. Order for Pickup is now top of mind at every restaurant brand we talk to as it is one of the only options available to keep their businesses running. To do this, brands must make the fulfillment experience as efficient and safe as possible for customers and employees.

If you’re looking for a partner who has experience with brands of all sizes, we can help. Our Rakuten Ready ARRIVE product predicts customer arrival times so employees can optimize order throughput and provide a better, safer (ideally Contactless) fulfillment experience.

Connect with us to understand how ARRIVE can assist your brand through these troubling times.

https://rakutenready.com/resource/contactless-can-differenti…

[ellexi]

Autonomous drones inspect Rakuten Mobile’s new cell towers

In the year 1920, the aviation industry was at a pivotal point. Airplanes had taken off just a few years earlier, and the first world war had propelled the technology to new heights. By the turn of the decade, flying machines had begun to evolve from futuristic airborne wonders to revolutionary practical tools.

100 years later, the drone is undergoing a similar evolution. While drones themselves are not necessarily new, rapid advancements in drone tech have finally seen them adopted by private institutions for practical applications.

In April 2020, Rakuten Mobile announced it would be using drones to conduct inspections of its brand-new network of antennas nationwide, in partnership with airspace mapping company Rakuten AirMap, Inc.

Rakuten Mobile: Pioneering technology

Rakuten Mobile has been dominating headlines again since its full-scale mobile carrier launch in early April. Japan’s newest mobile network operator is using pioneering technology to build the world’s first end-to-end fully virtualized mobile network. The cost and time reductions from this technology have allowed the company to offer a mobile plan that is less than half the price of competitors.

While software and automation are a principal focus, physical antennas are still required to make the connection between Rakuten Mobile’s network and its customers. Rakuten Mobile is building out its network of base stations, starting from Japan’s most populated areas.

Drones can easily reach towers that for human inspectors would commonly require more time and pose physical dangers.

But Rakuten Mobile isn’t letting the constraints of physical hardware get in the way of efficient operations. Drones—loaded with special software—are stepping in to conduct the completion inspections of thousands of new base stations going up around Japan, flying directly to the antennas and making a visual record of the devices from multiple angles.

By eliminating the need for inspectors to physically access the devices, the initiative promises to save an untold number of man-hours and perilous tower-climbing.

Rakuten AirMap has just the tool

The service—called TowerSight—is provided by California-based airspace intelligence outfit AirMap, with whom Rakuten formed the joint venture Rakuten AirMap, Inc. in 2017. In Japan, the venture provides UTM (unmanned traffic management) services and mapping tools for landowners and drone operators looking to safely and legally navigate Japan’s skies.

A virtual representation of the drone’s inspection route on the TowerSight system.

AirMap’s TowerSight system allows companies to leverage off-the-shelf drones to autonomously conduct tower inspections, automatically create 3D reconstructions and record a complete digital portfolio of all owned tower infrastructure. As mobile carriers across the globe build out brand new networks, the company expects strong demand for more efficient inspection workflows.

Two of Rakuten’s most innovative services, combined

Heading up Rakuten AirMap, Inc. is Hideaki Mukai. Mukai has racked up years of experience at the helm of Rakuten Drone, conducting dozens of trials of drone-related services all over Japan, including drone highways over powerlines, delivering supplies to remote islands, sending goods to disaster-struck Fukushima and even making a delivery to a private residence.

Mukai recently led an initiative to deliver groceries to a remote island via Rakuten Drone.

“Conducting the inspections with drones greatly improves the safety and the speed of the process,” Mukai says. “AirMap’s TowerSight system also provides a single platform where Rakuten Mobile can manage its base station site data with a single simple interface.”

The platform allows Rakuten Mobile staff to check on each base station remotely without needing to visit them physically. “This is especially beneficial right now, as we’re all working from home due to the coronavirus.”

The initiative was made possible in part thanks to the team’s extensive experience. “Rakuten has been utilizing drones for delivery since 2016 and inspection services since 2018,” Mukai explains.

“Our experience with drones in Japan and AirMap’s technologies made us a perfect fit to provide such solutions to Rakuten Mobile. Our knowledge of local aviation laws and our network of DSPs (drone service providers) through Rakuten AirMap contributed to the quick launch of the service.”

The age of the drone is upon us

Rakuten Drone has been ambitious with its trial services aimed at the general public, but industrial applications like those of Rakuten Mobile represent a giant leap towards widespread adoption.

“AirMap also provides a product for construction sites and buildings,” Mukai explains. “Utilizing our experience with building inspections using drones, we would like to expand our business to that realm as well.”


Just a speck: A Rakuten drone conducting a ‘drone highway’ test over power lines in rural Japan.

Inspecting high, free-standing structures like antennas and buildings seems a perfect use-case for drone technology. But Mukai hasn’t forgotten about the potential applications of drones in the realm of logistics. “We would also like to strive to realize drone delivery as early as possible as the global need for it is high due to the situation with the coronavirus.”

As serious industrial applications begin to take off, it’s clear that drones have become more than techy toys or futuristic folly. It took 100 years, but—just like the airplane—the drone may have reached that pivotal point.


https://rakuten.today/blog/autonomous-drones-inspecting-raku…

[FlankerStan]

About Japan’s largest marketplace

Rakuten. Japan’s largest marketplace in revenue has more than 100 million members and is strongest in fashion and food. American brands that sell on Rakuten’s platform have their own storefront and product listings. They can also advertise via sponsored product listings and leverage other advertising features on Rakuten, such as coupons, newsletter ads, and banner ads. Rakuten has its own fulfillment service called Rakuten Super Logistics.

https://www.practicalecommerce.com/japan-is-a-enticing-marke…

[FlankerStan]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 63.826.781 von FlankerStan am 28.05.20 08:05:05

Significant opportunity for Alitostar

Intrigued by Rakuten Mobile’s approach, mobile network operators around the world are evaluating whether they can use its streamlined architecture to dramatically lower the cost of deploying and operating 5G. For Altiostar, which is a major contributor to the Rakuten Communications Platform, that represents a significant opportunity. “Operators recognize that their customers want the high performance and low latency of 5G, but they want it at the same price as 4G,” says Dahod. “There has to be a different way, with a completely different supply chain, and the network has to be able to adapt to what the user is doing, which requires a lot of software intelligence.”

https://rakuten.today/blog/rakuten-mobile-partner-profile-altiostar.html

[FlankerStan]

Transforming the Economics of Telecom: Rakuten Mobile and Altiostar reinvent Radio Access Networks (RAN)

3 hours ago

Base stations that make up Rakuten Mobile’s new network in Japan are unlike any others in the world. They are the first anywhere to use a virtualized cloud-native solution developed by Altiostar Networks, Inc., an innovative Massachusetts-based company that is less than 10 years old.

Why is this new technology significant? Unlike traditional base stations, Rakuten Mobile’s minimalist radio masts are largely powered by Altiostar vRAN software hosted on the cloud. That means a new Rakuten Mobile base station can be connected to its network in as little as eight minutes, compared to days or weeks for a conventional setup, dramatically cutting deployment costs. As there is very little on-site hardware, these base stations are also more robust and cost a lot less to run.

The electronic and computing power at mast is minimized, and compute-intensive software and applications have been centralized on commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware, enabling Rakuten Mobile to build redundancy and resiliency that was never possible with conventional architecture.

“If there is an accident at base station, there is no need for an engineer to get access to the site immediately,” says Ashraf M. Dahod, CEO of Altiostar. “We can automatically detect a failure and switch to a back-up, so you have recovery in minutes, rather than days.”

https://rakuten.today/blog/rakuten-mobile-partner-profile-altiostar.html

[ellexi]

Pininfarina entwirft den Rakuten Mobile Concept Store in Shibuya

Pininfarina entwirft das Design eines neuen Concept Stores für Rakuten Mobile, den neuen Mobilfunkbetreiber in Japan, der am 16. Mai im berühmten Handels- und Unterhaltungsviertel von Shibuya, Tokio, eröffnet wurde.
Pininfarina - im Besitz von Tech Mahindra, einem globalen Technologieriesen - hat ein einzigartiges dreistöckiges Geschäft geschaffen. Eine kaleidoskopische Abfolge miteinander verbundener Bereiche ermöglicht es Kunden, sich auf verschiedenen Wegen durch die Innenräume zu bewegen.
Tech Mahindra und Rakuten Mobile arbeiten seit langem mit Telekommunikationsnetzwerkdiensten zusammen. Hier passt Pininfarinas Beteiligung an der Entwicklung von Store Design


https://www.ansa.it/piemonte/notizie/2020/05/27/pininfarina-…

[FlankerStan]

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd made its maiden profit after three years

By NST Business - May 14, 2020 @ 4:29am

KUALA LUMPUR: Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd made its maiden profit in April, after three years of operation.

Rakuten Trade attributed this to activating almost 85,000 trading accounts and handling more than RM12.5 billion in total trading value on Bursa Malaysia since day one of operation.

"As of April 30 2020, Rakuten Trade's retail market share was more than five per cent while the clients' assets under trust exceeded RM1 billion," the company said in a statement today.

Managing director Kaoru Arai said he was positive on Rakuten Trade's growth prospects as it entered its fourth year of business.

Leveraging its "zero contact" platform to increase retail participation on Bursa, Rakuten Trade expects to reach 100,000 active accounts by the end of 2020.

https://www.nst.com.my/business/2020/05/592407/rakuten-posts…

[FlankerStan]

Singaporean Mobile Marketplace Carousell Launches Hong Kong Property Platform

2020/05/25

Carousell, a Singapore-based online marketplace, announced on Monday the official launch of a property listing platform in Hong Kong.

The startup is partnering with Hong Kong companies, including Midland Realty, one of the city’s biggest realtors, to provide listings of local and overseas residential and industrial properties for sale and rent through its Carousell mobile application.

The platform, called Carousell Property, also includes a variety of services, including Home Services (home repairs, moving, renovation), Home & Furniture (furniture, gardening) and Kitchen and Appliances, as well as a chat function to talk directly to merchants.

Since its soft launch in 2019, Carousell Property has seen increasing interest as part of a rise in demand for online shopping. “For a city like Hong Kong that pursues speed and efficiency, shopping on a one-stop marketplace like Carousell Property will help consumers save time,” said Cahill Kei, head of business development of Carousell Hong Kong, in a statement. “The Carousell Property marketplace gives merchants access to more consumers, and makes the entire process, whether you are renting or buying, easy and seamless.”

In addition to Midland Realty, other Hong Kong companies Carousell is partnering with for Carousell Property include moving company Going Moving and co-working company Metro Workshop. Carousell Property said it will be focusing on co-working spaces for the second half of this year.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/rubyleung/2020/05/25/singaporea…

[ellexi]

NICE Actimize’s AML Solutions Chosen by Rakuten Securities to Improve Operational Efficiencies and Reduce Compliance Risk

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200527005348/en/NIC…

[FlankerStan]

DIGITALLY NATIVE BRANDS USING AFFILIATE MARKETING SEE DOUBLE-DIGIT SALES GROWTH

What is affiliate marketing and how can it help direct-to-consumer brands find and win new customers?

https://rakutenadvertising.com/content/direct-to-consumer/?h…