Monthly Archives: January 2022

News

Free music lessons for frontline NHS and raft of developments at Wrexham studio

A MUSIC studio for disadvantaged young people is making all the right sounds after beginning the year with a flourish.

Since launching last summer, Wrexham Sounds has made huge progress behind the scenes, forging new partnerships, and securing the services of talented freelance musicians and tutors to deliver lessons and activities across the genres.

Despite the challenges of the pandemic – and being unable to open fully due to Covid-19 safety measures – general manager Olivia Gallagher and directors are striding ahead in readiness for when they can open the doors fully and bring music to the lives of young people across the region.

Personal Skills courses have already taken place with learners from Bryn Tirion Hall School in Caergwrle, and parent and toddler activities were well-received in the autumn.

Freelancers are in place to teach piano, drums, guitar, violin, trumpet, DJ and mixing skills and connections have been made with leading organisations including Focus Wales, The Children’s University, WCD Young Carers and EYST.

The team are also celebrating grant support from AVOW – confirmed over the new year – to deliver free music lessons to NHS front line workers and carers, and from the WCVA Third Sector Relief Fund to enhance the services Wrexham Sounds can deliver to local organisations and families who refer children and young people to it.

So, when it is safe to do so and restrictions are eased, the not-for-profit enterprise can finally build on solid foundations and achieve its vision.

“So much has happened in the last six months, we have had an incredible response from the public, schools, local residents, charity organisations and supporters in the private and public sectors,” said Olivia.

“We are yet to become fully operational due to the pandemic and are under the same pressures faced by all organisations, but we are well placed to start delivering when things begin to open up again.”

She added: “There is a light at the end of the tunnel, and we are all confident when the time is right and it is safe to ‘go live’ the studio will be a hive of activity bringing together children and young people from across North Wales and beyond to experience the amazing opportunities we offer  here, including our brilliant tutors and mentors who will no doubt make a big impact on their lives through music.”

Formerly Vic Studios, the not-for-profit organisation moved from the town’s Hill Street to Rhosrobin, where the building underwent a complete transformation.

As well as children and teenagers who will be referred to Wrexham Sounds via a range of local agencies and educators there will be sessions for pupils unable to access music lessons at school.

For more information or to join the team at Wrexham Sounds as a freelance tutor or volunteer, visit www.wrexhamsounds.org and follow them on social media at @wrexhamsounds.

NOTES: Wrexham Sounds is supported by Wales Council for Voluntary Action, Cable Services Ltd, Pan Stone Europe Ltd, The National Lottery Community Fund, Thomas Howells North Wales Educational Fund, Temperance Hall Trust, Wrexham County Borough Council, Yamaha Music Europe, Arts Council Wales, WCVA Third Sector Resilience Fund, The Moondance Foundation, Blakemore Foundation and AVOW.

News, Tech

How to expand business reach with event driven APIs

Written by Menaka Jayawardena, Associate Technical Lead at WSO2

Today, customers increasingly demand access to real-time information like stock prices, train times, etc. and they expect to be automatically informed when something has changed without having to hit the refresh button. Delivering this critical information, as it occurs, is a challenging task for every business. Traditionally, applications required backend servers to fetch the latest information; however, this proved to be inefficient, as it consumes a significant number of resources.

Many APIs that make up the web today are synchronous APIs. The nature of this type of API is a function of the time frame from the request to the return of data and it provides a way to make scheduled requests for resources, data or services when available. Polling is a common approach, but the process of periodical requests to the backends and waiting for responses becomes inefficient over time.

APIs should be designed to allow users to receive a stream of events from the service, instead of polling it periodically. Event-driven APIs or asynchronous (async) APIs can be used to meet this requirement — with mission-critical information pushed to client applications at the time of the event. This provides a much better experience for users.

 

Async APIs vs. REST APIs

REST APIs for core management capabilities and end-user interactions are becoming essential for building both on-premises and cloud-based solutions. RESTful APIs are more flexible, faster, popular, and scalable. They are now favoured over SOAP APIs, which are becoming outdated.

Unlike conventional request/response APIs (e.g., REST and SOAP), asynchronous APIs can send multiple responses to a single request. This can also be in the form of unidirectional or bi-directional communication. Several protocols can be used for async APIs, such as WebSocket, Webhooks, MQTT, and Server-Sent Events (SSE). Most of these protocols support HTTP at the connection creation stage and use a specific channel to transfer the subsequent messages between the client and the server. Also, conventional HTTP verbs (i.e., GET, POST, PUT, etc.) are not valid for these channels.

Another prominent difference between a REST API and an async API is the usage of an event backbone technology (a message broker such as Kafka or RabbitMQ) and topics. The backend services are registered as event publishers and they publish events on specific topics. Client applications are registered as event subscribers to respective topics, to receive those events published by the publisher services. Upon receiving the events, the client performs the required processing and displays it to the user.

Since async APIs and REST APIs are conceptually different, several unique challenges arise when using a conventional system for asynchronous APIs. These include incompatibilities with existing security mechanisms and throttling policies, and problems around capturing analytics data. Handling these challenges via a proper API management solution that fully supports event-driven APIs is a must.

 

Are your Event-Driven APIs secure?

API security can be categorised into authentication and authorisation. Authentication describes who can access which resource, while authorisation describes whether the authenticated user can perform the specific task. In conventional REST APIs, users can be authenticated using user credentials, access tokens, certificate-based authentication, etc. Also, each resource can be protected with scopes and each API invocation can be protected too. However, in asynchronous APIs there are only topics to which the clients and services are subscribed, and the communication occurs through a dedicated messaging backbone; it is a challenging task to secure APIs.

One possible approach to this challenge is by authenticating during the initial HTTP communication. For example, we can secure the initial WebSocket handshake (via HTTP) before creating the connection. It is also possible to enforce authorisation by defining whether the client can publish any events or not.

There are some open endpoints that do not require authentication and authorisation based on particular use cases.

 

Rate Limiting, Throttling and Monetisation

Security, rate limiting, throttling, monetisation and analytics are some of the important factors that an organisation should focus on when exposing its core business functions as APIs. To address these, an enterprise must select the right API management solution.

Much of the time, the end goal of any business that exposes APIs for external parties is to generate revenue. For this, the main requirement is the ability to limit the usage of the API (block the access, reduce bandwidth, etc). API management systems support rate limiting and monetisation for REST/SOAP APIs, using policies based on the request count (requests per second/minute, bandwidth, etc). When the client exceeds the number of requests allowed, the client is blocked for some time.

Protecting backend services from spikes of requests are also handled via these policies, by introducing a request rate limit. But when it comes to async APIs, servers publish the events and applications are the event subscribers. Therefore, conventional throttling policies cannot be applied because server-client events need to be considered.

 

The definition of throttling policies should also be changed. Consider the following:

 

  • Time-based throttling: A client can only be subscribed to the topic for a specific time. After that, the client is disconnected from the server.

 

  • Event count-based throttling: A client can only receive x number of total events. This also can be combined with time-based throttling and create policies (e.g., a count of 10000 events per day).

 

  • Backpressure-based throttling: When the client cannot handle the rate of events it receives, it imposes stress on the gateway to delivering the messages to the client — since it is required to queue the messages and send when the client can accept them. In these situations, the client can be removed from the gateway, to ensure that the gateway is not affected.

 

Why analytics plays a vital role in API management.

Analytics plays a vital role in any API-driven business and helps to make informed decisions, by providing details such as the number of API consumers, most-accessed API resources, latencies, and identifying trends, etc. It should be a mandatory capability supported by an API management product.

In traditional REST/SOAP APIs, an API gateway can capture information such as invoking API resources, backend latencies, geo-locations, etc. These are fetched from the request/response headers.

When it comes to async APIs, capturing this information becomes much more complex, since there are no HTTP requests or responses. What we do have is a set of topics and subscribers. All the messages are sent through a separate channel (server -> client or client -> server) and the gateway should be able to capture the required information. For each subscriber of the API, the gateway should capture:

  • The number of messages being pushed.
  • The TPS variation over time
  • The number of publishing errors
  • Health details about the backend (endpoint)

 

Expanding business reach and adoption

Using event-driven APIs has become key to meeting customer demand and providing a better user experience. Since there are several fundamental differences between REST and async APIs, using a standard API management solution may be challenging. The right API management solution should combine traditional API management capabilities with an event-driven architecture. Moreover, vendors now provide integration software with plug-and-pay and configuration-driven approaches to implement asynchronous messaging patterns. This will provide tremendous value, enabling an organisation to expand business reach and adoption.

News

Fire service continues to unlock value from Panasonic demountable rugged devices

Latest video shows how Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service can access vital information at the scene.

BRACKNELL, UK. 31st January 2022 – When Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service (DWFRS) upgraded its Mobile Data Terminals (MDT) to Panasonic TOUGHBOOK 33 devices in 2018, it was also one of the first fire services in the country to install demountable devices in the rear of the appliances to accompany firefighters when they leave the vehicles. More than three years on and these demountable Panasonic TOUGHBOOK notebooks are regarded as an “operational tool” by the firefighters. DWFRS has over 200 devices in total, with just under 100 demountable devices in its vehicles that it calls Risk Information Tablets (RITs). See the full video story here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwzaVLb1gRU.

DWFRS chose the rugged Panasonic TOUGHBOOK notebook, after evaluating over 20 ruggedised and non-ruggedised devices, because it could evolve to meet future needs – with double the memory, the latest Bluetooth technology for the future addition of third-party peripherals and an integrated RFID reader to enable secure but easy-to-use authentication.

Today, the devices are used for a wide range of applications. They can be used to assist fire crews with detailed schematics of vehicles to help them rescue trapped people, accessing site specific risk information, as well as location information on water pipes and hydrants, alongside tools for carrying out community fire safety assessments. Additional applications include the integration of What3Words for specific locations, access to internal systems for email, video communications and intranets and even a simple screen cleaning application where the screen becomes non-responsive for 20 seconds to allow the user to quickly wipe water and grime from the display.

With the Panasonic devices already ESN-approved, the fire service is also ready for the switch to the new Emergency Services Network as it comes online.

News

Independent Design House launches IDH Housing Design – New director to head up “one-stop-shop” housing division

Independent Design House (IDH), the engineering design consultancy based in the UK, Middle East, and Poland, is following a prosperous 2021 with the launch of a new division: IDH Housing Design. The offering, which is an end-to-end consultancy for all housing design requirements, will be led by newly appointed associate director, Martin Czerniuk, a volume housing design expert based in a new IDH Northampton office.

Czerniuk brings a wealth of residential expertise to the role, with a 35-year career in volume home building, having worked for major house builders including Taylor Wimpey and Bovis. He has a specialism in site layout design from concept and master planning to detailed planning design to fast-track planning approvals and onward to production-enabling packages.

IDH Housing Design will be a multi-disciplinary offering, starting with pre-construction, and covering the entire process. Services include providing site layout design for land viability; through formal planning; technical; procurement and production enabling stages to final sales, working with volume house builders and developers. The move comes at a time when demand for houses has hit an all-time high, according to January 2022 figures from Rightmove.

Founded eleven years ago, IDH works with industry-leading clients such as ISG and Laing O’Rourke Construction Ltd, and offers both temporary and permanent works design; with full 2D draughting and 3D modelling services along with all BIM requirements. Specialisms include design and support for all bridge installation schemes, both steel and concrete, and other steel industry works ranging from structural frame design to connection design and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and further temporary works design, plus full draughting services.

Ian Fernandes-Johnson, managing director of IDH, comments: “No one can deny the last two years have been challenging in construction, but we’ve started the year positively and are incredibly excited to launch IDH Housing Design.

“We’ve been increasingly involved in permanent works and, having supported on residential projects in 2021, this is a natural next step. The team are ready to support Martin as he builds the division, and we will fully benefit from his in-depth knowledge of volume housing design. With further expansion on the cards, 2022 has started well.”

Czerniuk adds; “I am so pleased to join Independent Design House and head up IDH Housing Design from my Northampton office. With considerable resources and my own experience with key housebuilding companies of some 35 years, we’ve got a great base to build from and are already discussing our first projects.

“IDH’s established and expanding multi-disciplinary consultancy is already a market leader in structural and civil engineering design and we aim to become the one-stop-shop consultancy for all housing design.”

Construction, Midlands News, News

House builder digs deep for playground project

A Midlands housebuilder is helping a Worcestershire primary school lay the foundation for a new outdoor learning and eating area.

Horgan Homes responded to a plea for help from Clent Parochial Primary School to remove its existing rotten and unsafe wooden playground so it can install new outdoor tables to be used for outdoor learning and eating for the children.

Workers from the construction company, which is currently working on phase two of its luxury housing development Manor Gardens at Hackman’s Gate and recently secured a new site in Chaddesley Corbett, removed the old apparatus and prepared the ground for the new installation.

Headteacher Elisabeth Hyland said: “The covid pandemic has made it exceptionally difficult to raise any funds for 18 months for essential school equipment, let alone for the playground removal, so we are incredibly grateful to Horgan Homes for doing this work free of charge.

“We believe this new area, that will be developed as a peaceful, sensory and outdoor learning area, is essential to the wellbeing of the children and it’s vital that they have a safe environment. We’d like to thank Horgan Homes for donating its time and can now look forward to getting the new area cultivated.”

Horgan Homes Director Sophie Horgan said: “We love being part of the community around Clent and know that children from the families moving into our homes may well benefit from this new asset.

“Our team really enjoyed their time at the school and we look forward to the grand unveiling when it’s complete.”

Midlands News, News

Derbion secures Jack Wills as latest retail signing

British fashion brand, Jack Wills, has signed a lease for a 2,407 sq foot store at Derbion, the East Midlands’ leading retail and leisure destination.

Planned to open this spring, the Jack Wills store will be the first in the UK to showcase a new look and feel, offering an array of men’s and womenswear, including the brand’s signature heritage-inspired apparel.

The signing follows a string of recent openings at Derbion including FLANNELS, Tommy Hilfiger, Mango and Accessorize, with Frasers set to arrive at the centre later this year.

Michael Boundy, senior asset manager at Derbion, commented: “We’re proud to have secured another high profile brand to Derbion, demonstrating the continued confidence in Derby and our vision for the centre.

“Jack Wills is the perfect addition to complement our strong fashion offer, sitting alongside our recent openings and existing brands including BOSS, Hobbs, Whistles and Zara.”

Last year, Derbion announced a multi-million pound evolution of the 1.3 million sq ft scheme, with a focus on strengthening its breadth of offer across retail, F&B and leisure.

For more information, visit www.derbion.com.

Midlands News, News

£250k remaining for Shropshire projects tackling unemployment

A final call has gone out to Shropshire-based organisations running projects for the unemployed to claim a grant worth up to £20,000.

The ESF Community Grants scheme has supported multiple projects across the county since applications opened in 2020 but there remains a further £250,000 in the pot to support individuals into jobs, training and education.

Applications for the funding close at the end of March.

The grants are being managed by Shropshire-based supported and employment charity Landau in partnership with the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and the European Social Fund (ESF).

Grants of between £5,000 and £20,000 are available through the scheme and are open to organisations that offer activities to improve confidence, promote personal development or facilitate social integration through sports, clubs and support groups.

Sonia Roberts, CEO of Landau, said: “At the start of this scheme in 2020 we had £1.5 million to support organisations across Hereford, Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin and to date hundreds, if not thousands, of individuals have benefited from targeted support from a range of voluntary organisations.

“The grants have made a really positive impact in our communities supporting people in many ways including helping to get them outside more and developing a range of new and varied skills in everything from woodworking and gardening to animal care, bike mechanics and hairdressing.

“With £250,000 left in the pot to fund organisations specifically in the Shropshire region, we’re having one last push to ensure important projects have access to the funding they need.

“The programme is very much about enabling those who have experienced barriers to employment or training to learn new skills, develop confidence and get back to work and we look forward to hearing from those who might be able to help and utilise the funding in positive ways.”

Funding from the Community Grants scheme has enabled Shifnal-based training provider ANTA Education to support people like mum of five Cheryl Dodd back into the workplace.

Forty-year-old Cheryl from Telford had been eager to get back to work in the hospitality sector for some time but she was finding it difficult to secure employment because she lacked self-esteem.

However, with assistance from ANTA, Cheryl was able to complete a Level 2 award in customer service and was supported to build her self-confidence.

A combination of one-to-one mentoring and distanced learning gave Cheryl the boost she needed to finally secure a job and she is now working at a well-known hotel in Telford.

She said: “I feel like I have gained back some confidence in myself that I might have lost along the way, and I have learned that I am still more than capable of doing the things I thought I could, but may have previously doubted myself with.”

Third sector and small organisations with a turnover of less than £8.5 million and fewer than 49 employees are eligible to apply for a grant through the programme.

A grants panel made up of representatives from key local stakeholders will help ensure that the funding reaches projects that can make a real difference to those who need it most.

Charity & CSR, Cleaning & Facilities Management, News

Fabulosa Bolsters Charity Collection with Bliss

Fragrance-led home and lifestyle brand Fabulosa, has announced the expansion of its charity collection with Bliss following exceptional success since its launch and significant consumer demand.

Fabulosa’s unique partnership with the UK’s leading charity for babies born premature or sick saw three exclusive ‘baby-inspired’ fragrances launched in 2021 – ‘Little Violets’, ‘Baby Powder’ and ‘Chamomile Cuddles’, available in a 220ml concentrated disinfectant, shortly followed by a 500ml multi-purpose antibacterial trigger spray.

As the collaboration continues to go from strength to strength, Fabulosa has more than doubled the size of the popular collection of three fragrances with the addition of spray & wear, multi-surface polish, washing machine cleaner, toilet roll, jumbo kitchen roll, and task-specific kitchen, bathroom and glass trigger sprays.

Along with raising significant funds for the charity, the partnership strives to raise awareness amongst Fabulosa’s extensive customer base of the many challenges faced by families whose babies require neonatal care.  Each year in the UK one in seven babies are born requiring neonatal care, equating to 100,000 babies.

Adam Burnett, Group Marketing Director at Fabulosa comments: “The Bliss collection continues to be one of our best-selling product lines and we are delighted to build upon its success by extending our range even further, meeting consumer demand for this popular assortment while importantly raising more funds and awareness for Bliss.

“As a family-run business our charity and community partners are hugely important to us, and in addition to donating our substantial monetary donations, we are committed to releasing regular feel-good products and fragrances to highlight the incredible work of these organisations.”

Law, News, North of England

Managing Partner Mike Leeman Marks 25 Years At Bell Lamb & Joynson Solicitors

The Managing Partner of one of the region’s longest standing solicitors Bell Lamb & Joynson is celebrating his 25th year at the firm.

Mike Leeman, a specialist criminal defence solicitor, joined the award-winning team back in 1996 as a trainee solicitor, before becoming a partner in 2001. He started his current role in 2018 and now manages more than 50 employees across three offices, located in Walton, Runcorn and Warrington.

It’s a time of celebration not just for Mike but also for the company in general as Bell Lamb & Joynson recently marked its 200th year in business.

Mike said: “It has been the most incredible journey for me, and for everyone who works here, as there has been so much change in those 25 years.”

The father-of-two from the Wirral, but now living in Lydiate, has a passion for customer service and building relationships, with a noticeable love for IT, and has helped the firm to become an early adopter of new technologies.

“We were one of the first high street firms to use instant online quotes for our conveyancing services,” he added, “and we have introduced online case tracking as well as a dedicated mobile phone application for clients, estate agents and mortgage brokers. This has led to significant growth in the department and us winning the Client Care Award at the Modern Law Conveyancing Awards two years running.”

Mike first got a taste of working at Bell Lamb & Joynson and its criminal department while studying for his degree in the summer of 1994, working under the guidance of George Sale; one of the area’s most prominent and respected criminal defence solicitors. He quickly excelled and climbed the ladder to become a partner at the firm seven years later, and subsequently the head of the criminal department.

He said: “We have a criminal team of exceptionally talented and dedicated lawyers, with 236 years post qualification experience between them. I was particularly delighted when the team won the Liverpool Law Society Criminal Law Award.”

Mike considers the firm’s dedication to investing in the potential of staff as one of the keys to its success. As Managing Partner, he not only drives the strategy of the firm, but he is also keen on continuing to find new talent, and to implement services and support to help provide genuine progression and opportunities for colleagues in their careers in law.

By offering competitive salaries and a belief in sustainable work, Bell Lamb & Joynson is enjoying a period of sustained growth and are one of the fastest growing traditional high street firms in the region.

Mike added: “The last year has probably been one of the most rewarding and enjoyable of all my time here at Bell Lamb & Joynson. We marked our 200th year, won two awards, and welcomed 17 new members to our team. I honestly cannot wait to see what’s next.”

News

Student ‘task app’ UniTaskr announced as finalist in UK Business & Innovation Awards

UniTaskr, an innovative ‘task app’ that connects businesses and households with students for paid work opportunities, has been named among the finalists for a top industry prize at the UK Business & Innovation Awards 2022.

The firm, which is based in both London and Manchester has made the shortlist in the ‘Best Use of Technology [B2C]’ at event, which aims to promote innovation, adaptability, and enterprise in the UK.

Ranked as the #1 Top Free Lifestyle and Business app via the Apple App Store, UniTaskr was originally established in September 2019 by co-founders Joseph Black and Oliver Jacobs to provide a smart and reliable way to help students generate additional income, whilst gaining valuable work experience across different sectors.

Over the last two years, the young entrepreneurial duo has worked hard to expand both student and business users – having accelerated from 4,000 members, 7,000 tasks and £150K in work opportunities created during 2020, to now having over 190,000 members, 190,000 tasks and an incredible £12 million in opportunities offered in collective income to students during 2021.

As a result, the tech start-up has successfully scaled its monthly recurring revenue to 6 figures and has attracted an impressive £1.25m in pledged funding from angel investors.

The winners of the UK Business & Innovation Awards 2022 will be announced at a virtual awards ceremony on the 9th of February.

Speaking ahead of the event, Joseph and Oliver said: ‘It is a huge honour for UniTaskr to be named as a finalist at this year’s UK Business & Innovation Awards, and we would like to thank the judging panel for recognising the important work we do to support students, businesses and households alike.

“Winning this prize would enable us to strengthen our network, and help even more students in gaining experience and earning money simultaneously, thereby creating a pool of untapped talent for businesses to dive into.’

Headquartered in London with offices in Manchester, UniTaskr now employs a team of 20 individuals and is looking to appoint six additional new hires in the coming weeks.

The UK Business & Innovation Awards aims to recognises the quick thinking, adaptability and creativity displayed by UK businesses, and this year’s event will focus on celebrating those organisations that have shown remarkable resilience and ingenuity throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

For more information, please visit: https://unitaskr.com