Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/400468
Events 44 maltatoday, Sunday, 19 OctOber 2014 Liquigas Malta extended its support and namesake to Liq- uigas Xplane, a sailing yacht participating in the upcom- ing Rolex Middle Sea Race (RMSR), set to sail on Sat- urday 18 October 2014. The ever-growing popular race, which this year has attracted a record-breaking 123 yachts from more than 20 countries, consists of a 608 nautical mile racecourse departing from Valletta's Grand Harbour. Liquigas Xplane Skipper Se- an Borg, said: "We have been working very hard and the crew has been preparing dili- gently for months. Liquigas Malta's sponsorship serves as a further motivation to achieve a respectable result in our first endeavour. The rigorous drill- ing will help us surpass the challenges we must inevitably face in this race, including nu- merous bends around Sicily and complex meteorological shifts." Liquigas Malta's Operations Manager Jesmar Mifsud said: "Being an island, Malta has a natural affinity with sailing and the silent, wind-powered sport of yachting is a natu- ral transition for a company such as Liquigas Malta which continuously strives to reduce carbon footprint and promote ecologically friendly alterna- tives." The Rolex Middle Sea Race is a highly rated offshore classic, often mentioned in the same breath as the Rolex Fastnet, The Rolex Sydney - Hobart and Newport-Bermuda as a "must do" race. The Royal Malta Yacht Club and the Royal Ocean Racing Club co- founded RMSR in 1968 while 2014 will be its 35th edition. Save for a break between 1984 and 1995, the event has been run annually attracting yachts for all over the world. In recent years, the number of entries has risen sharply thanks to a new organising committee that managed to rope in major sponsors and elevate the race to an interna- tional standing. Microsoft's new price plan on Office 365 aimed at boosting business productivity Go green for one week! "Xeni tal-Belt Valletta" - limited edition chocolate collection by Perugina A recent survey by Boston Con- sulting Group revealed how 62% of employees working in small and medium-sized enterprises use mo- bile devices such as smartphones and tablets to access their email, which is up from 39 percent just three years ago. The research also found that the more technology-ori- ented small and medium businesses using modern technologies such as the cloud grew their revenue 15 percentage points faster than their counterparts using less technology. Based on these potential opportu- nities, Microsoft has released three new Office 365 plans aimed at the small and medium sized businesses. The three new plans - Office 365 Business, Business Essentials and Business Premium bring important additions and enhancements to the Office 365 ecosystem. "This move is intended to bring more flexibility, with the ability to mix and match plans to meet spe- cific employees' needs. In addition, the new plans provide more value by offering additional services like Yammer for social networking within a company," explains Thom- as Hansen, vice president of Micro- soft Worldwide Small and Medium Business. "The increased use of mobile de- vices and cloud computing has cer- tainly had an impact on businesses and on the bottom line. Businesses are realizing that their competitive advantage comes from what they do with technology in and out of the office," states Danijela Zečević, Mi- crosoft's Office Product Marketing Manager for South Balkans. Boston Consulting Group's re- search also found that 42% of SMEs credit cloud and mobile solutions for achieving better customer re- lationships while 40% expect such technologies to increase revenues and profits. Patrick Cutajar from Eyetech Ltd, cloud solutions specialists and Mi- crosoft Gold Partner with Server and Cloud Competencies added "Office 365 is changing the way people interact with each other to be more productive. Sharing a document or a spreadsheet with anyone, on any device, anywhere in the world has become as easy as typ- ing an email. Internal and external corporate communication, makes it easier to collaborate, demonstrate, group meetings and presentations with ease." John Tortell from Jatco Insurance Brokers Ltd added "after the intro- duction of Small Business Server, the new prices on services like Of- fice 365 and Azure show how Mi- crosoft's focus on the Small Busi- ness market has increased a lot, focusing on our needs especially with security and pricing. Office 365 lets companies like ours, plan their expenditure without incurring any capital outflow and using our current hardware and infrastruc- ture and at the same time helps the running of the business by improv- ing the available cash f low." Microsoft is offering Office plans aimed at the growing number of small-business users that rely on more than just one device to get work done. Office 365 Business comes with the full Office appli- cations and 1TB of OneDrive for Business cloud storage to access, edit and share your documents across your Windows PC, Mac, iPad, Windows tablet and smart- phone. Office 365 Business Es- sentials gives access to core cloud services including business class email and calendaring, Office On- line, online meetings, IM, video conferencing, cloud storage and file sharing and much more. Whereas Office 365 Business Premium is a combination of both Office 365 Business and Business Essentials plans. This new line-up, which will eventually replace Microsoft's cur- rent plans for SMBs ref lects the feedback Microsoft received from its SMB customers about how they want to get started and grow with Office 365. The new plans provide new choices, available on any de- vices and including 1 TB of cloud storage, more value with improved features and additional services like Yammer and Active Directory support and innovative f lexibilities that allow you to adapt and en- hance your technology platform as your business grows. Registrations are now open to participate in this year's edition of the European Week for Waste Reduction (EW WR). All private, pub- lic and non-profit entities can participate and seven awards will be given to the best initiatives, with prizes of up to €1000 in grants and cash prizes. The EW WR is an annual event held each Novem- ber which brings togeth- er thousands of waste- themed events from across the continent. Launched in Europe in 2009, the EW- WR came to Malta in 2010 when WasteServ took on the role of local organiser. Locally the event has been increasing in popularity ever since, reaching a peak of 66 waste-themed events held across Malta and Go- zo during the dedicated week last year. Schools in particular have always been very ac- tive in this initiative, with teachers and students alike getting on board to organ- ise a special green event. Waste-free picnics, clean- ups, student competitions and other events are just a few examples of the activi- ties that have been organ- ised in the past. This year schools and other entities are being en- couraged to come up with ideas on the prevention of food waste in particular, given the special theme for the 2014 edition: Stop Food Waste! Participants may choose to celebrate the EW WR by introducing new prac- tices that tangibly reduce food waste on a daily basis, for example through com- posting initiatives, or by organising a 'green week ' event with activities that raise awareness on how we can all contribute towards minimising the amount of food thrown away. Simple ideas include cooking with leftovers, portion control and smart shopping. Participation in the EW- WR is free of charge and entitles all participants to be included in the nation- al promotional campaign linked to this event. As an added incentive, WasteServ will be award- ing grants and cash prizes to the best initiatives or- ganised locally and win- ners will also be nomi- nated for the European Waste Reduction Awards, thus entering the chance to win the prestigious Eu- ropean title from among thousands of participants across Europe. Interested parties must register online by 31 Octo- ber 2014. For more informa- tion: www.wasteservmalta. com/ewwr, www.ewwr.eu, Freephone 8007 2200, ewwr. ws@wasteservmalta.com or facebook.com/WasteServ. In celebration of 450 years since the founding of the capital city of Valletta, Nestlé Malta has launched a collection of six, limited edition, top-quality milk chocolate bars by Perugina, entitled "Xeni tal-Belt Valletta". The wrapping of each delicious bar showcases an artwork by a renowned Maltese artist which draws inspiration from the mag- nificent locations of the historical city. This was announced by Naum Janaki- ev, Nestlé Malta's Managing Director during the launch of the six limited edition chocolate bars at the Museum of Fine Arts in Valletta. The launch event was presided by the Minister for Justice, Culture and Local Government, Dr Owen Bonnici and the Mayor of Valletta, Alexiei Dingli. Mr. Janakiev added that, "today we are proud to present this limited edi- tion of Perugina chocolates bars to the Maltese consumers. We are honoured to see the fruit of our hard work in bringing together the heritage of choc- olate making by Perugina with the Val- letta wealth of culture." The six artists collaborating with Nestlé Malta and the Valletta Local Council on this exclusive project are namely, Josette Caruana, James Vella Clark, Pierre Portelli, Nadine Noko, Antoine Paul Farrugia and Ġanni Pace, who each chose a different scene in Valletta to artistically portray it using a variety of mediums and styles. The artists are honoured to be affiliated with such an internationally renowned brand, and are proud of the artwork they created specifically for the com- memoration of such an important event in Maltese history. The 100g milk chocolate bar itself lives up to the name of its prestigious Perugina brand which has enjoyed an excellent reputation throughout the years, and which is also a favourite of many Maltese. As Joanna Micallef-Farrugia , Senior Group Product Manager at Nestlé Mal- ta explained, "We are very enthusiastic to offer our Maltese consumers a prod- uct which has been created specifially for us Maltese to celebrate local herit- age, support local talent and promote our premium Perugina chocolate. We feel privileged to be collaborating with such talented artists and the Valletta Local Council to commemorate our Capital City's 450th anniversary." The Perugina "Xeni tal-Belt Valletta" chocolate bar collection is available for purchase at leading stores and super- markets in Malta and Gozo. Further information can be obtained on www.peruginavalletta.com Promising Maltese sailing yacht receives Liquigas Malta sponsorship