ePLDT Achieves a Microsoft Gold Competency for Security and Enterprise Mobility Management, and Silver Competency for Project Portfolio Management

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ePLDT Inc., one of the country’s leading enablers of digital solutions in the Philippines, continues to widen its range of Microsoft competencies after having successfully earned three more recently.

Committed to deliver best services to customers as far as Microsoft technology is concerned, ePLDT recently earned its Gold Competency for Security and Enterprise Mobility Management, demonstrating a “best-in-class” ability and commitment to meet Microsoft customers’ evolving needs in today’s mobile-first, cloud-first world and distinguishing itself within Microsoft’s partner ecosystem/ePLDT and Silver Competency for Project Portfolio Management.

To earn a Microsoft gold competency, partners must successfully complete exams (resulting in Microsoft Certified Professionals) to prove their level of technology expertise, and then designate these certified professionals uniquely to one Microsoft competency, ensuring a certain level of staffing capacity. They also must submit customer references that demonstrate successful projects, meet a performance (revenue and or consumption/usage) commitment (for most Gold competencies), and pass technology and/or sales assessments.

To earn a Microsoft silver competency, partners must successfully demonstrate expertise through rigorous exams, culminating in Microsoft certifications. In addition, to ensure the highest quality of services, Microsoft requires customer references for successful implementation and customer satisfaction.

To date, ePLDT currently has Gold Competencies in Cloud Productivity, Cloud Platform, Small and Midmarket Cloud Solutions, Datacenter, and Collaboration and Content and Microsoft Silver Competencies on Messaging and Application Development—with Project Management Portfolio Management, Security and Enterprise Mobility Management competencies being the most recent advancements.

“We at ePLDT have always been committed to help enterprise customers manage their mobile security and compliance needs. The attainment of these Microsoft Gold competencies highlights our continuing pursuit of global-class expertise to enable customers in their digital transformation journey,” according to Jovy Hernandez, ePLDT President & CEO and SVP & Head for PLDT and Smart Enterprise Business Groups.

Having five certified Microsoft 365 (M365) Security Administrators, customers can have confidence that their Microsoft 365 enterprise and hybrid environments are proactively secured, implemented and managed and that security compliance solutions, respond to threats, and data governance are strictly enforced.

This competency is not limited to Microsoft 365 only, as ePLDT also has three Microsoft Azure Security Engineers with subject matter expertise implementing security controls and threat protection, managing identity and access, and protecting data, applications, and networks in cloud and hybrid environments as part of an end-to-end infrastructure.

Marilene Tayag, ePLDT Chief Information Security Officer, says “ePLDT’s investment in completing Microsoft Gold Security Competencies further demonstrates our abilities in Microsoft implementation, management and monitoring security and compliance services for cloud and hybrid environments”.

Meanwhile, achieving a Silver Competency in Microsoft’s Project Portfolio Management will further demonstrate ePLDT’s capabilities to build and deploy an enterprise-wide project management solution to customers. With the Project Portfolio Management competency, ePLDT expands its acumen on designing, building, and deploying Project Management solutions based on Microsoft’s Project for the web the Power Platform.

Nico Alcoseba, VP & Head of ICT Business for PLDT Enterprise, further explains that “the sustained upskilling of employees for Microsoft technology enabled ePLDT to secure these Microsoft Gold Competencies. Our ICT solutions including the Microsoft portfolio are critical to serving our customers, as they continue to redefine their business."

In December, ePLDT was given the Tech Intensity Award by Microsoft Philippines, proving its leadership in the tech industry as it sustains strategic partnerships with technology providers in the business. Within a month, ePLDT was also recognized as one of the Top Cloud Solutions Providers (CSP) Direct Providers in the Philippines and the Number 1 Telco CSP in the country.

LRT-2 East Extension project Inauguration

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LRT-2 commuters going to Pasig, Marikina, and Antipolo can now enjoy a more comfortable, convenient, and faster travel as President Rodrigo Duterte, together with Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Art Tugade, inaugurated the LRT-2 East Extension project on 01 July 2021.Also opened were two additional LRT-2 stations – the Marikina-Pasig and Antipolo stations – which will enable the rail line to accommodate an additional 80,000 passengers. Daily ridership was increased to 320,000 passengers from the previous 240,000 passengers. The rail extension line also cuts the usual three-hour road travel time from Recto, Manila to Masinag, Antipolo to just 30-40 minutes.

President Duterte commended the efforts of the Department of Transportation (DOTr), under the leadership of Secretary Tugade, and its key private sector partners for the completion of the project despite difficulties posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Your efforts and determination show that the government stops at nothing to carry on its mandate, to serve the people’s interest no matter the circumstances,” he said.

“I’ve been saying this over again, I have been redundant about it. This guy [Sec. Tugade] is our valedictorian in law school. Alam ko talaga this guy is marunong, kaya ito ang unang pinakiusapan ko sa journey ko as President. Sila ni Secretary [Mark] Villar ‘yung nag-perform exceedingly well and I thank them. I am really grateful for their services, these are my idol sa gobyerno,” the President shared.

During the ceremony, the President asked Secretary Tugade to give commuters free rides for the first two weeks of the extended line's operations.

On Monday, 05 July 2021, when the extended line opens, passengers from Santolan to Antipolo and vice versa, will ride for free.

Secretary Tugade said the project’s completion has impact on the lives of daily commuters, especially students going to Manila's university belt.

"Ito 'ho 'yung isang alignment ng tren na kung saan ang malaking makikinabang ay ang mga mag-aaral. Kasi po, Mr. President, ito 'hong LRT-2 extension ay babaybay at dadaan sa sa tinatawag natin na University District sa Claro M. Recto. Bago nag-pandemya ang mga estudyante na sumasakay dito sa LRT-2 ay 40% ng total ridership, mga 80,000,” Secretary Tugade said.

“Malaking bagay 'ho ito, sasabihin ko lang kung mararapatin. 'Pag nagbiyahe ka sa C.M. Recto papuntang Antipolo, by land – between 3 to 4 hours. With the LRT Extension, magiging 30 minutes na lang po 'yan. Ang ibig sabihin, maraming oras na mabibigay sa pamilya, pag-aaral at oras sa ating pagnenegosyo,” Tugade added.

Meanwhile, Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) Administrator Gen. Reynaldo Berroya, for his part, said the project fulfills the government's promise to provide commuters with a safe, reliable and efficient mode of transportation.

He added that the LRT-2 East Extension project also took more than two decades before it was realized.

“The need to extend the LRT-2 existing system to Antipolo was seen two decades ago through a study conducted by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The nod was given in 2012 by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) leading to a groundbreaking ceremony held in June 2015 followed by groundbreaking ceremonies in June 2017, and April 2019 for its Packages 2 and 3,” Gen. Berroya pointed out.

On Monday, 05 July, commuters will board a shuttle train that will take them from the line's Antipolo Station to the Santolan Station, and vice versa.

During the line's shuttle operations for the next two weeks, passengers will board at the Antipolo Station or at the Marikina-Pasig Station and alight at the Santolan Station.

From the Santolan Station, passengers will transfer to another train that will take them to the Recto Station (and vice versa).

PLDT Enterprise urges companies to adopt 'zero trust' security against increasing cyber threats

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PLDT Enterprise, the B2B arm of the largest integrated telecommunications company in the Philippines PLDT, promotes the advantages of implementing a zero trust architecture in strengthening businesses' cybersecurity measures amid the increasing demand for cloud and IoT-based (Internet of Things) systems in industries such as healthcare and gaming.

Zero trust security upholds principles of ‘never trust, always verify,’ assumption of breach, and explicit verification as it focuses on the premise that trust is never granted implicitly.

Jojo Gendrano, FVP and Head of PLDT Enterprise Core Business Solutions, said that “despite the innovations brought by cloud technology, security risks are present which could compromise data and potentially cause revenue losses for businesses.”

“Adapting a zero-trust cloud security platform could help institutions strengthen its network security wherein users and devices are always treated untrusted and continual authentication is applied,” Gendrano added.

According to cybersecurity firm Check Point Software, ransomware attacks on organizations worldwide increased 57 percent since January this year and had cost over $20 billion. The report cited the healthcare industry as the sector with the greatest number of attacks globally, with an average of 109 ransomware attack attempts per organization every week.

The gaming industry, meanwhile, has also been exposed to threats including distributed denial of service (DDoS), malware, and credential stuffing among others.

Last year, PLDT Enterprise partnered with NetFoundry for its PLDT Zero Trust Acceleration Platform (PLDT ZAP) which enables businesses to securely connect to business applications and cloud environments over an Internet connection.

Through PLDT ZAP, information from various devices is transmitted as encrypted packets, optimizing user experience while ensuring that data is secure. As the service integrates NetFoundry’s cloud-native zero trust platform, ZAP customers are able to deploy new private network in minutes thereby providing their companies with a competitive advantage in the markets they serve.

“Aside from that, PLDT ZAP is agile, performant, and flexible as it can easily address various solutions such as cloud migration and IoT integration,” Gendrano said.

Gendrano noted that cloud and IoT helped redefine industries such as healthcare by allowing medical institutions to efficiently gather and transmit information for more effective delivery of services.

Likewise, it was also the technology behind cloud gaming and streaming where players can access games through remote servers without the need for specific devices.

For more information on PLDT ZAP, visit https://www.pldtenterprise.com/solutions/internet/zero-trust-acceleration-platform