Information technology giant Hewlett-Packard announced Tuesday a series of new mid-range storage systems in a bid to increase its presence in the growing storage market for small- and medium-sized enterprises in Korea.The new products include the HP MSA Storage ― equipped with solid state drive caching solutions which the firm claims allow enterprises to boost the speed of data processing ― and a hybrid flash array called HP StorageVirtual 4335 hybrid. A hybrid flash array is an SSD that contain

A new center for creative economy was launched on Monday in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province, in a bid to nurture start-ups in the information technology industry. The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, in partnership with the nation’s top telecom carrier KT, set up the Gyeonggi Center for Creative Economy and Innovation, the eighth of its kind in Korea. This is in line with the government’s renewed commitment to fostering small and medium-sized firms and ventures across industries through c

South Korea’s tech giant LG Electronics is expected to unveil its next flagship smartphone G4 at the end of April, according to sources on Friday.“LG has recently decided the debut schedule for its new marquee phone G4,” said one of the sources who declined to be named. LG Electronics mobile business chief Cho Ju-no also hinted during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona earlier this month that it could unveil the G4 in April. A leaked image of LG Electronics’ G4 (Android Central)Cho also said

South Korea’s Ministry of Strategy and Finance and the Inter-American Development Bank kicked off the annual meetings of the Board of Governors of the IDB and the Inter-American Investment Corp. in Busan on Thursday.Some 3,000 government officials and economists from Korea and Latin America will be gathering at the four-day forum to exchange development knowledge, and discuss ways to boost bilateral trade and technology especially through small and medium enterprises and start-ups in the two reg

The Korea Communications Commission, the state telecommunications regulator, slapped South Korea’s largest wireless carrier SK Telecom with a fine of 23.5 billion won ($21.3 million) and a seven-day business suspension for triggering overheated competition in the domestic mobile network market by giving out excessive subsidies to allure subscribers. The decision came after the KCC started a series of investigations into allegations in January that SKT had been doling out rebates to customers.KT,

Childhood videos of G-Dragon, a rapper of Korean boy band Big Bang, started playing on four video walls ― two on each side of the center stage ― at the start of a preview of his first hologram concert in Dongdaemun, Seoul on Tuesday night.Then, lines of flashing lights appeared on one side of the video screens and converged to form an image of the 26-year old pop star sitting in a gothic chair at center stage.The Korean rapper sang his four biggest hits, including “Crayon,” and “Fantastic Baby,”

Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest smartphone maker, holds the Galaxy S6 First Look runway show in Seoul on Tuesday, in which fashion designers and models introduced collaborations that merge fashion and the tech giant’s upcoming smartphones, the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge. (Samsung Electronics)

Samsung SDI, South Korea’s leading battery maker, said Wednesday that it has inked a memorandum of understanding with Swiss power and automation technology provider ABB for development and sales of energy storage system solutions for microgrids. Samsung SDI chief executive Cho Nam-sung (left) holds hands with Ulrich Spiesshofer, chief executive of ABB, after signing a memorandum of understanding for development of energy storage systems in Switzerland on Wednesday. Samsung SDIAt the signing even

Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest smartphone-maker, said Tuesday it would reinforce its partnership with Microsoft to deliver the U.S. software giant’s mobile services.The Seoul-based tech giant said that a wider range of MS mobile services would be available on its smartphones and tablet PCs in future. As announced during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona earlier this month, some of Microsoft’s cloud-based productivity services, including OneNote and OneDrive, and Internet voice and

Consumers flocked to 1,400 “experience stores” run by Samsung Electronics and its partners, including mobile carriers and electronics retail chains, to get hands-on experience with the tech giant’s upcoming marquee smartphones Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge in South Korea on Monday.Since it is a while before the gadgets’ official release, scheduled for April 10 in South Korea, the store was not built with the aim of creating an eye-catching long line of people waiting to order the handsets at mobile carr

Mobile carriers in South Korea are stepping up their efforts to establish a joint mobile application market to challenge Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store. KT, LG Uplus and SK Telecom’s subsidiary SK Planet said Friday they held a meeting with mobile app developers to discuss the “One Store project” earlier in the day.Around 150 developers participated in the meeting held at SK Planet’s headquarters in Pangyo Techno Valley, Gyeonggi Province, according to the firms.KT, SK Planet and LG U

SK Telecom, South Korea’s largest mobile carrier, announced Friday that it would put SK Broadband, a landline and wireless Internet services provider, under its wing through a share swap.The mobile firm decided at a board meeting on the day to acquire the entire stake of SK Broadband. The two firms are affiliates of SK Group.The telecom firm currently holds a 50.56 percent share in SK Broadband, and the rest of the shares are held by other investors including the National Pension Fund. If approv

 Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest smartphone-maker, announced an advanced version of its mobile security solution, called Trustonic for KNOX, on Friday, aiming to increase its presence in the global enterprise mobile market. The new security solution for mobile devices will be embedded in the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, which are scheduled to hit global shelves on April 10, and will be available for other Galaxy smartphones through updates down the road. Trustonic for KNOX, a result of the co

Samsung Electronics, South Korea’s leading chipmaker, on Thursday announced mass-production of the 128GB 3-bit NAND Flash memory that will be integrated into mid-range smartphones. The announcement came after the company unveiled the high-performance Universal Flash Storage memory equipped in its new flagship smartphone Galaxy S6 and its Edge variant in February. Samsung Electronics’ new 128GB 3-bit NAND flash memory (Samsung Electronics)Industry watchers predict Samsung to take a two-track stra

 A recently reformed telecommunications law has weakened the grip of Korean smartphone makers in their home country and offered a boon for foreign rivals like Apple, market analysts said on Wednesday.The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning and the Korean Communications Commission implemented the so-called Mobile Device Distribution Improvement Act on Oct. 1 last year to fix excessive competition among device makers and network operators.After its implementation, the market share of Cali

BAENGNYEONGDO ISLAND, Incheon ― During the first test call on broadband Long Term Evolution-A networks between the Antarctic Jang Bogo Station and South Korea’s remote northwestern Baengnyeongdo Island on Monday, chief of the Antarctic research center Kang Cheong-yun’s voice was crystal clear over the phone.The successful test was conducted a day prior to the launch of telecommunications firm KT’s broadband LTE-A services on the island which will connect around 5,000 residents and 5,000 naval of

Solar power equipment-maker Astronergy Solar Korea is aiming to make a foray into the photovoltaic power generation market in Southeast Asia. Established in 2009 as a subsidiary of Chinese energy firm Chint Group, the Seoul-based company produces a wide range of solar energy products including modules and inverters, and participating in projects to build a solar energy plant in Korea and foreign markets.“Astronergy Solar Korea, which has been focusing on manufacturing solar cells and modules, wi

From operation of research labs to financial support for small and medium-sized firms, SK Telecom has been pouring its resources into supporting SMEs. Some Korean start-ups, which participated in the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona earlier this month with the help of the telecom firm, have been receiving calls for business partnerships in the global markets.ISL Korea, which produces Bignote, a smart whiteboard solution consisting of a digital pen and a projector, is a beneficiary o

Korean tech giant LG Electronics plans to give tough competition in the high-end large screen smartphone market dominated by Samsung and Apple, with its ace in the hole ― G4 Note, according to sources.The sources said Thursday that G4 may not be the only flagship handset of LG Electronics this year as it has a new phablet, called the G4 Note, in the works. The smartphone-maker has already applied for a trademark of the phablet at the Korean patent office last month.Some market watchers speculate