Masters internationaux EPITA

Webshell to Silicon Valley


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As part of an innovation competition, three EPITA students will travel to California, from June 2  to  8  in order to develop their plans for new computer language. Interview with Thibaud Arnault (EPITA Class of 2012), the project leader.

Thibaud Arnault, Arnaud Richard & Tibor Vass, three students in their fifth year of the major Media and Information Technology (MTI) and Mehdi Medjaoui (INSA Lyon) will travel to Silicon Valley early June. After winning second prize in Innovact Campus Awards, Webshell was selected to join the French Tech Tour, which consists of a series of appointments with companies in Silicon Valley and coaching while in the US by Ubifrance, San Francisco.

Webshell is an open innovation and communication project (PLIC). It is the development of a new computer language facilitating the development of web and mobile applications from existing APIs (application programming interface allowing interaction programs with each other). At stake:  time saving and ease of implementation!


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Why has your project been rewarded?
We have an innovative patented technology, a complementary team, a recognition by a public incubator and a good educational presentation in which we were able to understand both the technological and commercial issues and show our motivation to create our company. After deliberation, the jury found that our project was worthy of winning amongst the 150 submissions and we thank them. These awards mean to us a real appreciation and provide further motivation: we could see the other projects that competed for Innovact Campus Awards, many were very innovative and  high levels. Finally, the French Tech Tour allows us to take our first steps into the Silicon Valley.

What is Webshell?
The idea is to create a powerful language for querying any Web service in the same manner and to make available the language through a very simple service. In our jargon, we call Web APIs such service. With API, sites or applications can exchange data and modify their respective information. For example, when a social network asks you for permission to share your data with a third party application, it uses the APIs of the social network. It is expensive for a developer today to use more than three API. Nonetheless there are over 5800 different APIs and that number is growing exponentially. So we need a way to standardize them, make them interoperable, easily and quickly find them. We believe in open innovation brought by the mixture of these services. We call such a mix, a mash-up of API. Our project is to address this issue. We want to implement all language API Webshell collaboratively so that developers can easily make mashups. On our platform, everything is done to create a community of developers and allow API providers to easily reach this community.

What assessment and what future does there exist for Webshell?
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Today, we are still in private beta and we have already over 150 registered developers on the platform. The early returns are good and the users come back! We do everything we can to deliver the best possible navigation. We will have more returns in the coming weeks. We intend to improve the tools around APIs to become the reference on APIs. We will also organize hackathons with partners to publicize Webshell to more developers. Finally, we intend to be more active on the forums, and various networks. We seek also a passionate community manager. We will export the French technology to Silicon Valley, while continuing to develop partnerships with companies in France.

Discover EPITA's Air Radio

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Interview with Quentin Sanglier (EPITA Class of 2013), treasurer of the Association Air Radio.
 
Air-Radio is the web-radio of the IONIS campus in Kremlin Bicetre. It broadcasts several styles of music from its website and programs, live performances and podcasts on various topics ranging from computer news to commentarie on soccer & rugby games. Its members thrive to continually improve this meeting point for students, both through the media and technically. 
Quentin Boar (EPITA Promo 2013), its treasurer, gave us this interview on the association and its projects.
 
How is life at Air Radio?
 
The local association, which contains a large amount of computer hardware and sound, is a gathering point among all members, including office, as show hosts. When we find ourselves in the local association, talks about life in school subjects and information are rapidly forming at times to become future subjects. Indeed, each student can be part of the association, they can come and discuss or make a little passionnate address on a theme for our listeners.  Air Radio  offers a perfect way to express oneselfs and to share knowledge on what might interest other students.
 
We aim to reach a maximum of listeners and make sure to talk about various topics of interest to reach the largest student base. As we are a public radio Web-accessible by anyone from the site, we intend to promote other organizations and their events. Via the scheduling of  "advertising" messages in collaboration with other associations, we offer other students to participate in the life of the radio via broadcasting their jingles and their sponsors.
 
What skills do you use as part of this association?
 
Programming is a very useful tool in this association. We have several machines allowing us to work on the shows and especially a server that manages the their distribution. The program intervenes to make our job easier and to automate all that airs on the radio. An intranet allows us to easily manage playlists, replay broadcasts, different musical genres, etc..
 
Some operations are still done manually (eg broadcasting a specific music genre) but for this to become automatic, it's only a matter of time: just a member of the radio handles the development of the application or script allowing automated functionality.

What are your plans for the association?

Thanks to programming skills acquired during our studies, we plan to automate the radio, and give as much listening time as possible to the listener. During programs, there is a chat available for listeners where they can participate and give their opinion during a live. We would like to give their speech, by attempting communication software on computer (eg Skype), to participate in the program.
 
Improved management of musical genres is being set up, allowing listeners to know the different time slots during which their favorite artists will be released. In addition, we intend to link a voting system that will allow them to interact much more with us in certain programs.
 
What was your latest biggest success?

he live program "Beatles vs. Rolling Stones" was undoubtedly the greatest achievement of the semester. We are fortunate to have associates in all genres of music, resulting in a large number of ideas and facilitate the organization of programs of Air-Radio. We intend to organize a special Radiohead soon and various commentaries lives of rugby games, soccer tournaments and even online games! In short, the radio is promising and we are quite confident about its future and the loyalty of our listeners.

Apple's Day 2012

This day dedicated to the Apple universe will take place on the school campus Friday, June 1, from 10:00am to 6:00pm.

Organized by EpiMac, EPITA's Mac student association, the event will alternate lectures and workshops for students and professionals alike.
 
On the IONIS Campus of Kremlin-Bicetre, this event will offer the opportunity of participating in multiple activities designed to help discover more and more Apple's universe. You will have the opportunity to attend several conferences on various topics, equally addressing the developer , the user and the enthusiast's scopes of interest. There will also be various booths available throughout the campus. 

On Apple Day both organizers and partners will be pleased to present their activities and to answer participants questions. Finally, you can sign-up in the afternoon for the training Objective-C. Whether you are learning from scratch or hold advanced  knowledge, the trainers will be happy to mentor you.
 
If you would like more details on this event, or already register, please visit the page devoted to it! To keep up to date on the Apple Day and any events EpiMac, follow the association's progress live on Facebook and Twitter.

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At the Heart of Business & Entrepreneurship


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Hubert de l'Estoile (EPITA Promo 1994), Secretary General of the MEDEF, talks about his career, his years at school and projects of the employers for the new generations.
 
Can you trace back your career at the MEDEF?
 
Previously Director of Information Systems (DSI), I switched to Director of Human Resources (HR) in January 2010 before becoming general secretary in September of that year. Between the first two trades, which can seem so different, there are actually several common characteristics. The two main ones are listening and servicing either users or employees.  There is also a strong commitment to the service because in both cases we must find, develop and implement permanent solutions satisfactory to all stakeholders in the interest of the MEDEF. Finally, there is in both cases some technical skilles that require quick learning and daily acquisition of new skills.
 
I do not have any overlap with the previous HRD who was had left several months prior to my arrival. My first task was to meet first the HR team and later their managers and their teams, to listen and make an inventory of expectations. At the same time, I took charge of employee representatives (DUP and HSC). Then came the definition and formalization of a new HR policy, based on equity, personal and professional development and benchmarking, which resulted in an action plan now being implemented.
 
How were your years at EPITA determining?
 
After two years of preparatory course at ESME Sudria, I spent my three years of engineering studies, from 1991 to 1994, EPITA, the "Titian." It is in this building, we called as the "Cruiseship" located Boulevard Hospital, that I discovered the Internet through the exclusive use of email, because at that time the first WWW browser did not yet exist. So I had my first email address in 1992 EPITA! I did not realize the extent of development this new communication technology was going to undergo. We were so few to have an email that it was a challenge to have a penpal and if possible at the other end of the world, the must was a contact in California!
 
I had taken as an option "System & Networks." We worked a lot on IP networks as NOVELL networks were in their infancy. EPITA had and still has I believe a great advantage: access to machines 24H/7. I was appreciative of the confidence that the school gave its students. This freedom and flexibility of work was really appreciable. In return, the projects were very interesting but laborious and I discovered the joys of nights spent by project team to finalize the developments! This has been very rewarding and eye opening: it is through these experiences that I learned teamwork and understood the solidarity needed for a project to come to its  end.
 
EPITA's teaching was so avant-garde and so professional that it allowed me to be chosen to go on cooperation in Southern Africa in order to implement messaging and networks in commercial services of French embassies in the region.

How can the spirit of entrepreneurship can be fostered into the younger generation?

The MEDEF serves business and the entrepreneurship spirit. Its president, Laurence Parisot, has established a commission dedicated exclusively to entrepreneurship. The commission, chaired by entrepreneur Charles Beigbeder, aims to put entrepreneurship as a third career path. A set of tools and actions are proposed and sponsored by MEDEF to develop entrepreneurship, especially among younger generations. First through the transmission of knowledge required of the company. Two comics were made for junior highschool students: "What is Business?" and "Discovering the Company;" a book entitled "The Company: A Key Player in the Company" was released to the attention of highschool students; the game" Journey to the Company's Heart" was created for college students so that they are capable, in three hours and a half, to better understand the business environment.

Follows a more concrete action, for junior highschool and highschool students, the "mini-business" partnership between MEDEF and the association "Investing in Learning." A mini-company gathers a group of young volunteers around an entrepreneurial project. Supervised by a teacher and a professional advisor, the mini-company operates as a limited company and is develops a product or service for marketing. Once a week, mini-entrepreneurs come together to build their project. These sessions include notions of investment, price or cost, community life and citizen ... Students also have the possibility of donating a portion of their profits to a charitable cause. The mini-company allows to introduce young people - 14 to 20 years - in the economy and more particularly to create their business venture in the future.

The Internet: Between Freedom & Security

The anonymity, transparency, freedom and its limits, and internet neutrality were in particular central at the conference on ICT and Geopolitics organized by EPITA last March.  Current issues relating to the evolution of the Internet have been reviewed and analyzed from a social and political angle. Between opening and closing, tolerance and restraint: the question of borders and boundaries was more than ever at the heart of the subject.
 
Topics such as the Arab Spring, the Anonymous or Piracy  were discussed during this conference at EPITA on March 22. Two round tables were on the agenda: the first dealt with the security problems posed by the issues of transparency and the protection of freedoms, the second focused on the challenges posed by the rise of cloud computing, the open source and  open data to businesses and governments and more generally to security professionals. Back on the first debate with fellow guests Pascal Herard, journalist at  www.reflets.info, Jérémie Zimmermann, co-founder of La Quadrature du Net, Frederic Bardeau, founder of  LIMITE for responsible advertising, co-author of "Anonymous" (FYP Editions) and Lionel Auroux, with EPITA's Safety Laboratory System (LSE).

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Lionel Auroux, on the Internet Culture

Internet: a Culture of Freedom
 
Lionel Auroux reminded that Internet conveyed its own culture, after that of the first hackers, "the concept of security does not exist initially. The business of securing the canvas was inconsistent with the original intent. Hence the reaction of the hacker community, technology enthusiasts interested in preserving their identity. Today, the Internet is a haven for freedom of expression within a media system increasingly locked. "  He continued:" The Internet is related to the imaginary adolescent transgression. It is a natural weapon for Generation Y ". For Jérémie Zimmermann, "citizens have appropriated and transformed the Internet into space policy. It is now a question of preserving this area of ​​freedom. The potential outrage created by the Internet is proportional to the violence against freedom of expression. "

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Jérémie Zimmermann, on Freedom of Expression

Internet Under Surveillance?
 
This spirit of freedom consubstantial to Internet hinders governments, particularly draconian and authoritarian governments. Herard Pascal reminds us that "in Tunisia, the authorities in place have not hesitated to resort to censorship, filtering and further to the arrest and torture of cyber protestors, using as scapegoat terrorism, child-pornography, pornography, and defamation. "
The symbol of this policy in Tunisia is the Tunisian Internet Agency (ATI), with to its avail hardware and software that can scan and analyze everything that goes over the network. "Such devices were also in place in the Libya of Qaddafi and in Syria. Hackers have in turn provided themselves with devices to detect rumors and verify their validity,"says Pascal Herard.

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Pascal Herard, on the Tunisian Revolution

A Cyberspace Policy
 
The fact remains that the freedom available on the Internet poses real societal issues. "Too much liberty kills liberty"? The absence of truly effective management of the Internet allows counterfeiting to flourish and threatens the rights of authors and media neutrality. "In response, governments establish legal frameworks such as laws SOPA PIPA and the United States, ACTA and Hadopi in France, and interception technologies," says Zimmermann.

The strategies used by Internet users to fight against the influence of policy and power in the network range from the action of militant bloggers in dictatorships to those of the Anonymous in democracies. Frederic Bardeau describes these as "hacktivists" (to hack, to pirat): "they have no voice, face, structure. They are heirs to a culture of anonymity to own a part of activism, but also the basis of cyberculture, and bearer of tolerance, freedom of expression and meritocracy. Anonymity, liberating and empowering, cannot be judged on its appearance. "

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The actions of the Anonymous recall on those of traditional activists transposed into cyberspace: we can relate the blocking of website such as the suffered by Facebook's  blackout on March 7  to a sit-in or the occupation of a factory for example. Conversely, a spokesman for Greenpeace was able to identify the intrusion made by militants in the Flamanville Central  in physical hacking.
 
Overcoming Conflicts
 
How should the Internet evolve to overcome the debate between control and freedom? Control of Internet remains a critical issue that faces a structural deadlock, identified by Frederic Bardeau: "Internet is a problem of territoriality. Internet is a transnational space in which the Balkanized .com replaces the geographical area."
 
A number of suggestions were made by politicians such as the control end of the chain, parental control, to avoid breaching the private liberties, the concept of open Government, open data, to integrate the political universe in the Internet ecosystem or supervision of service providers to ensure neutrality. Reflection is still far from complete.

Laurent Letourmy (class of 1996): Multi-successful Entrepreneur

Interview with Laurent Letourmy (EPITA Promo 1996), manager and founder of several companies dedicated to the Internet.

Ysance, founded in 2005, is an IT consulting firm in ebusiness, cloud computing, data and big decision making. Novao, founded in 2007, develops and financse companies in the IT and social networks. IsCool Entertainment is the leading French social gaming. Wipolo, social companion and dedicated service by Facebook at the global launch of the Timeline in January 2012, was born in 2008. Milky, agency of record for brands in social media was born in 2012. These companies all have one thing in common: Laurence Letourmy (EPITA Promo 1996) was among their founders or leaders. Interview with a multi-contractor that chains successes.


Can you introduce yourself in a few lines?
 
I'm 38, I am married with four children. I am a computer enthusiast and developer since a very young age. I had one thing in mind: to do my job. EPITA allowed me to accomplish this dream by adding entrepreneurial spirit thanks to my meeting with Thibault Viort (EPITA, Promo 96), which I have been associated with for the last 15 years. We created our first two companies in 1996, performed two initial public offerings (IPO) in 10 years and now head the Novao Company, which employs a hundred people in the IT and social networks.
 
Why becoming an entrepreneur?
 
From the beginning of my career, I enjoyed myself so much on issues combining technologies and new uses. Moreover, it is still my passion. Periods of technological breakthroughs contribute to new production methods, transfer organizations and motivations. The creation or development of projects in the phases of disruption are fascinating. The challenge is everywhere and permanent ...
 
How did your school prepare you for these challenges?
 
The richness of encounters, the organization of education, access to technical means, the density of topics and projects are a good preparation for what awaits us when we  EPITA alumni create companies. We do experience academic stress, which in itself is one of the best preparations ...
 
How is the life of an entrepreneur?
 
You mean the quiet evenings, e-mails that never occur at midnight, hosted services that never send alerts, business plans that are always respected?  It is difficult to go over an hour without thinking about the business and it is not always smooth sailing, but the final balance family / personal / professional is essential. It's one that I favor and which allows me to be ready for any situation.
 
How would you describe the performance or the success of your projects?
 
Our projects are entirely innovative. We measure their performance, not only turnover or results, but also the quality of teams and the strategic positioning of products or services in their market and relative to competition.
 
Which projects trends for your business?
 
Through Novao, my ambition with my associates and our strong financial partnerships (with OSEO) and educational, with the IONIS Education Group, to create the largest ecosystem in technologies and social media in five years. This takes place via strong organic growth at first, but also external and the creation of new activities. Novao is also preparing its presence in the Silicon Valley with a particular interest in Plizy, the latest project from Jonathan Benassaya, founder of Deezer.

President Nicolas Sarkozy Visits EPITA's Digital Campus

Visit of Nicolas Sarkozy and NKM on Digital Campus Education IONIS GroupLe April 14, the President and Minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, former Secretary of State in  Digital Economy, came to meet students.

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Nicolas Sarkozy with the students.

April 14, late morning, the President of the Republic, Nicolas Sarkozy, preceded by the Minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, spokesman of the candidate and former Secretary of State  Digital Economy, came to the Digital Campus of the IONIS Education Group of the Kremlin-Bicetre, which, with 7,000 students, hosts the largest group of students training in the different areas of digital expertise.  EPITA, Epitech, SUP'Internet, e-artsup, ETNA and the web @ academy were represented as IONIS Education Group members.  The Melty Network, media company founded by Alexandre Malsch, Epitech graduate and vice president of the National Council formed a Digital cluster, arises as a dynamic example of digital success.

Nicolas Sarkozy, hosted by Executive Vice President of the IONIS Education Group, Fabrice Bardeche, and Alexander Malsh, could interact with students and was interviewed by the editor of Melty, Pascale Erblon, about his view on education and the digital field. Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet spent some time on the projects presented by students of the Campus.

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Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, attentively taking part in student projects.


During his interview, the president focused on the passion displyed by the students and the importance of digital technology in the companies. He first noted that the digital accounted for 5.5% of national wealth and remains promising sector, resistant to the crisis, with 70,000 jobs unfilled, then continued: "The lesson of life is think in terms of passion. The adventure you live in the digital realm is extraordinary. I see where you mention that you are passionate about. (...) Those who work there are new inventors, new promoters, the strong men of tomorrow. (...) The numerical values ​​of what is shared is like America, a society where everything is possible. (...) For young people, the digital is an accelerator of empowerment and responsibility."

EPITA's 2012 Edition of the International Week


During the International Week, from 10 to 13 April, conferences, workshops, cultural demonstrations and our international education fair will be held on EPITA campuses, to give students in the second year of their Engineering Degree tools and tips to study & work in an international context and thus be able to flourish in today's multicultural world.

Below our featured program:
April 10: Opening Round Table with Partner Universities from 10:00am to 4:30pm (Campus of the Kremlin - Bicêtre)
April 11: Conferences and Country Workshops from 10:00am to 7:00pm (Campus of the Kremlin - Bicêtre)
April 12: Demos and Cultural Exhibition from 1:00pm to 4:30pm (Campus of Villejuif)
April 13: Conferences, Cultural Workshops, Assessment & Closure of 10:00am to 4:30pm (Campus of the Kremlin - Bicêtre)

On the evening of April 13th, the Student Bureau has organized an International Party that will feature multicultural activities in addition to night long music & dance from 8:00pm until dawn).

We thank our partners from China, Canada, the UK & Ireland who are coming to Paris for this special event.

EPITA International Master @ IECHE

EPITA International Master will proudly participate in the 3rd Edition of the International Exhibit & Conference on Higher Education held from April 17th to April 20th in the capital city of Saudi Arabia, Riyad.

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IECHE is organized by the Saudian Ministry of Higher Education.  Its first two editions welcomed over 270 000 visitors and 350 international institutions of Higher Education were present.

Since 2006, France supports King Abdallah's educational reform and currently has 60 cooperation agreements in fields such as Science, Medicine, Liberal Arts, Business, Law, etc.  Our country hosts 1000 Saudi students who benefit from scholarships.

CampusFrance & the French Embassy of Riyad will be present at the event.

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For the its 2012 edition, IECHE counts 460 exhibitors including several EPITA's prestigious partners.


If you are in the region, don't hesitate to come and meet us at our table!

 


LRDE Participates in National Project « TerraRush »

The «TerraRush» project has been selected together with 18 others (including the project « eTourism Augmented Reality » you have read about in our February Newsletter) among over 70 applications. This is the result of the first call for proposals «Scanning technologies and enhancement of cultural, scientific and educational content » within the framework of the Investment Program for the Future launched by the French government.

 

« TerraRush » aims to produce a platform with technological solutions able to:

•   execute complex searches in an important volume of video data ;

•   carry out editing tasks as well as selective and automated transcoding in order to produce new contents that are exploitable for broadcasting, with adaptive formats according to the network capacity and the constantly changing multimedia terminals (from HD to the simplest smart phone videos) ;

•   integrate innovations on the web in terms of new distributed services and applications.

 

This platform will allow us to industrialize the process of indexing video files from digitized rushes (original audio and video documents, that are raw and unedited) thanks to a semi-automated process that facilitates to place new services on the market:

•   sale of extracted program sequences;

•   sale of stock footage;

•   repurposing.

Without this platform many of those rushes (over 150 000 hours) will be destroyed for lack of economic solutions allowing using them. Their holders want to make room for their new HD digital productions. Nevertheless the rushes, witnesses of the years 1970 - 2010, represent a rich heritage and great potential.

 

The new platform will include implementations of sophisticated innovations such as:

•   multimedia search techniques by content (namely based on object recognition and automated classification of sound characteristics and visual features of audio and video data stream);

•   techniques for massive data processing on parallel and distributed architectures;

•   development of innovative Web services intended for content management and broadcasting.

 

The project will last 24 months and brings together the following partners: Capital Vision [http://www.capitalvision.fr/main/?lang=en], Itaapy [http://www.itaapy.com/?language=en], Resonate MP4 [http://www.resonate-mp4.com/], ETIS [http://www-etis.ensea.fr/] and the LRDE [http://www.lrde.epita.fr].

Within this project the LRDE will carry out text extraction in image sequences in order to enrich the databases of rushes. The automatic extraction of text helps indexing the rushes. In the same time, the LRDE will work on removing text from the sequences allowing restoring the original image. This functionality is useful when you want to erase the subtitles for instance, and recover the video sequence.

Keeping up the Cyber Fight

"We must continue the fight" for cyber-activist Lina Ben Mhenni, EPITA received March 3, new technologies and social networks have played a decisive role in the Tunisian revolution.

In her speech to students at EPITA on March 3, in the presence of the journalist and editor of the journal Strategic Forecasting, Nicolas Arpagian, the Tunisian cyber-activist Lina Ben Mhenni reversed a revolution in which new technologies have played a  decisive role. "When the dispute began to dawn, when the revolt of the Gafsa mining region in early 2008, social networks and blogs were not really well known or used by opponents as a means of action to communicate" emphasized the blogger.


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Mobilization by Blogs & Social Networks

For Lina Ben Mhenni, "if the Tunisian revolution began in the street, May 22, 2010, when the Tunisian cyber-activists have issued a first call for protests, represented a turning point. Social networks and blogs started to play a role not only reporting but also awareness and mobilization. This situation is ironic because Internet Education, which increased our influence among the people, was made under Ben Ali, who had encouraged the use of new technologies with its "One Computer per Family" program."
 
The authorities then arranged to meet the threat.  "Internet has gradually been considered a danger to halt priority, says Miss Ben Mhenni. The new media has gradually transformed into a battlefield: censorship of blogs cyber-activist also exerted against their profiles social networks, searches, lynchings, arrests of dissidents, exploitation of some of them, responsible for discrediting others through false rumors."

Internet Turned Into a Battlefield

In response to this repression, cyber-activists have also used media strategies. "We issued a statement falsified the General Union of Tunisian Workers (UGTT) calling for demonstrations, storytelling was used during the self-immolation of Mohammed Bouazizi which catalyzed the revolution in December 2010," recognizes Lina Ben Mhenni. On 2 January 2011, their action is supported by the Anonymous, "hacktivists" international activist for free speech on the internet, attacking government websites.

After the departure of Ben Ali, 14 January 2011, the Islamists came to power in October, the news increased the difficulties for cyber-activism. "While the revolution was confiscated by the Islamists, the risk for cyber-activists today is growing because the ruling majority is less concerned with image problems than was the Ben Ali regime", says the blogger. "Faced with new restrictions, dissidents must become more organized and gather evidence against the regime. The departure of Ben Ali was a starting point and we must continue the fight. "
 
After this intervention, the debate continued with students of EPITA around some refreshments.

 


Cyber-Activism & The Arab Spring

On March 3, Lina Ben Mhenni, Tunisian activist nominated for Nobel Peace prize in 2011, speaks on her role as cyber-activist with the students.

Saturday, March 3, the Tunisian blogger Lina Ben Mhenni, invited by the mayor of the Kremlin-Bicêtre, discussed and exchanged  with students from 6:00pm to 7:30pm in Amphi 4. EPITA. exchanges and discussions were  led by Nicolas Arpagian, editor of the journal Strategic Foresight, at a conference entitled "Cyber-Activism & The Arab Spring". Access was complimentary.

Lina Ben Mhenni.jpgLina Ben Mhenni, nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize 2011, demonstrated her role as cyber-activist during the Tunisian "Arab Spring" and shared  her vision of the role of social networks in the upheavals in this subregion.


Author of the blog A Tunisian Girl, an English professor at the University of Tunis, Lina Ben Mhenni is a cyber-activist who played a key role in the outbreak of the revolution on the Tunisian web. One of the first to upload pictures and testimonials from victims' families in the repression that preceded the fall of President Ben Ali, she also experienced the power of social networks and how their emergence as tools for social and political protest impacts our realities.

 


International Student Voice: Sumit GUPTA

Sumit GUPTA.JPGSumit GUPTA, International Master in Computer Security at EPITA (Class of 2013) reflects on his first semester.

Studying abroad is an experience more than any textbook can teach you. It is about uncovering parts of yourself that you never knew existed. "Getting a Master's in Computer Security from EPITA is a great honor". The entire course is full of experiences which have shaped me into a stronger person to face the challenges of the real world. It enabled me to develop talents which I never knew that I possessed. It brought me into contact with lecturers and guides with an astounding amount of knowledge and personal experience. 

 

During this entire year I got wonderful opportunities to network with distinguished personalities from France and other countries.  I certainly think that this Master's degree and the specialization in computer security have given me the adequate tools to perform efficiently in my future job.

 

 

4L Trophy: the Challenges of a Successful Preparation

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Baptistin Buchet, 22, a student in the final year of the "System, Network and Security" (SRS) specialization of the school will participate in the 4L Trophy as the pilot of the crew EPITA, alongside Vincent Bohly (EPITA - 2012).

 

What is the 4L Trophy?

Over a period of ten days, the 4L Trophy is a 100% student raid, combining good atmosphere and humanitarian actions. The 1,200 pairs or 2,400 students from all over France, travel nearly 7,000 miles through France, Spain and Morocco, driving a legendary car: the Renault 4L. In addition to this particular challenge, each participant will carry two hundred pounds of school supplies and sports clothing for the neediest children of Morocco.

 

What motivated you to participate?

It's been several years since I heard about the student raid. Whenever I met people who had participated in 4L Trophy, their description of the event was so attractive and was so mind boggling that I finally wanted to be part of the future participants.

 

Besides the meetings and sharing, Vincent and I wish to have an involvement full of emotions and achieve our first humanitarian experience. The final ranking will thus remain merely a bonus.

 

How are you and your co-pilot preparing yourselves for this event?

Although the feedback for preparation of 4L Trophy is pretty scary at first sight, it's totally affordable if the motivation and desire are present. The departure of a crew costs about € 6,000. With our limited student salaries, the first logical step is to reach individuals, associations and businesses for financial aid, such as grants or partnerships, to collect such a sum.

 

With Vincent, we have successfully met this challenge in just over seven months. It is the town hall and zoo of Thoiry and EPITA that are now part of our biggest partners. These funds are then used to purchase a Renault 4L and perform related technical preparations so that it can withstand the ups and downs of the Moroccan desert. Currently we are working with our hands dipped in dirty grease.

 

 

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How to balance school and participation in the 4L Trophy?

Many students become discouraged looking at the work required to prepare for a 4L Trophy. It is true that at EPITA our free time is extremely limited. But I can assure you that with proper time management this preparation is quite feasible. So I will try my best to help and motivate future participants by proving that it is possible to balance school and participation in the 4L Trophy.

 

What is the specificity of this year's event?

Each year, the organizers of the 4L Trophy try to improve by learning from past mistakes. This year, the outstanding feature is the location of the big start on 16 February. While it was being done at "Stade de France" earlier, the 1200 Renault 4Ls will this year depart from the Futuroscope theme park to celebrate its 25 years.

 

Questions Raised by the MegaUpload Case

Interview with Mary Moin, a law professor at EPITA

 

On 19 January 2012, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the indictment and arrests of leaders of MegaUpload as well as the complete suspension of its activities. MegaUpload was the most famous streaming platform among Internet users around the world. The announcement jolted the web and caused ripples in the world of press. It is considered as a new bombshell for copyright specialists. Marie Moin, a law professor at EPITA, answers a few questions regarding this resounding issue.

 

Debrideur_Megaupload_1.png 

Streaming - what is legal and what is illegal?

 

In principle, the claimant positions himself as a defender of the author, who has the exclusive control of his work. Any distribution of the work not authorized by the author or the claimant is therefore an infringement. In practice, counterfeiting done without making profits, such as lending or friendly sharing, is punished less severely. The criticism against web-sites like MegaUpload is to have institutionalized counterfeiting and thus, of having made substantial profits. The main criminal charge against MegaUpload is conspiracy, which is equivalent to the French law for criminal conspiracy.

 

What is MegaUpload accused of?

 

MegaUpload claims to be a web host. The legislation states that the host is not responsible for the content that it has on its site a priori, but only if it does not respond promptly after being well informed of the presence of illegal content. It seems that MegaUpload had shown ill-will in the application of this rule. Indeed, the content signaled as illegal was eventually removed but it reappeared shortly after, with the exception of child pornography content. This raises the issue of good faith from MegaUpload when they defend themselves by blaming these reappearances as technical problems.

 

Why was MegaUpload tolerated for so long?

 

To start with, the establishing of MegaUpload was not evident - they were not on U.S. territory. Therefore it was difficult to catch them. Then, all the activities of MegaUpload were not illegal. People who were using MegaUpload for perfectly legal reasons are also finding themselves somewhat punished and it is understood that the decision to stop the site was not taken without a time of reflection. Finally, activities of MegaUpload were difficult to prove and denounce legally. Limiting the duration of viewing was a way to create a mixture between the partial representation of the work and the authorized representation of an extract of a work. Moreover, the nature of the mode of broadcasting as streaming makes it less easy to prove, than that of copying or downloading, since it leaves no visible traces.

 

MGULPolice.jpg 

What are the implications of this case?

 

The first consequence is reopening of the debate on sanctions. The reactions generated are passionate, like Anonymous, these hackers who defend MegaUpload in the name of freedom on the Web and go after the sites of its adversaries. Today, we see that the sanctions for infringement, given the amount of expected gains, are not very high: three years in prison and 300,000 euros fine. This attracts much more than drug trafficking or prostitution, for which the risks incurred are much greater. Then, the case reactivates the discussion on filtering. Does this solution, presented as effective, not have harmful side effects? The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) bill debated in the U.S. in recent months would go further in facilitating the screening procedures. Finally, there is the question of economic solutions to reconcile remuneration of authors/publishers and the freedom of the Internet users. The solution of the global license was refused by the copyright holders. But the functioning mode of MegaUpload may appear as a draft model. Indeed, the site was generating huge profits from online advertising and premium subscriptions made by surfers who wanted to watch the streaming work at once. One can well imagine that in a new legal website, this money could be systematically redistributed to the copyright holders.

 


Semester Abroad: 2nd Year Epiteans on the Global GO!

International opportunities offered by the school are a source of enthusiasm and progress for students in preparatory classes (Year 1 & 2 of undergraduate studies at EPITA).


Students in the Class of 2015 just left. Indeed, at EPITA, during the second semester of second year, all students who wish can go and study abroad in diverse destinations within our partnerships network hence benefiting from specific foreign school and Erasmus programs. Students do not hide their enthusiasm.


The first evidence we collected came from Hervé Droit (EPITA Promo 2015) who has just arrived in Québec to study at the University of Quebec at Chicoutimi. The latter reports, "it's cold but you get used to it very well, snow is everywhere, everyone seems suited to this lifestyle and it is rather exotic for us. On the courses level, it's pretty quiet for now, the exams will start to happen - especially math - so we start the revisions. Regarding the general atmosphere, everything is different here. Attitudes are the opposite of Paris - no thefts, no one shuts his locker in the locker room, open cars - and people are very friendly, always willing to help. The French accent seems to appeal, despite the many clichés that exist - including that of the baguette and the beret. We try to make the most of local activities, snowshoeing, skidoo (snowmobile), and sled dogs. It will also attempt to go to Montreal and New York during Spring Break, after the exam week. "


Finlande.jpg

View of Finland

But it is returning after completing the experience that students are better able to overcome first impressions and talk with greater perspective of their stay. Arthur Bosquette, third year student at EPITA, spent five months last year in Tampere, Finland, with the Erasmus program. He says: "I chose to go to Finland because of the exotic character of the country but also the reputation of Tampere University of Technology, under its Management, Information Technology and Programming . During these five months, I had to carry out written projects similar to those that I will achieve in my career.  I worked with students from many nationalities and explored the city and country. It is the most striking experience the most striking I have ever lived."


For Joel Courtois, director of EPITA, "this experience is for students a considerable human enrichment not only helping them improve in English by immersing them in an English-speaking world, but also participates in their openness, their development adaptability and encourages them to achieve international careers.

Geopolitics and ICT - Information, Beware of Danger!

This symposium organized by the school will be held at EPITA March 22, from 4pm to 7pm. The program of the day will focus on the "Anonymous" and the evolution of careers in security of information systems.
 
The conference "Information Technologies and Communications (ICT) and Geopolitics - Information, Beware of Danger!" organized by EPITA will be held March 22, 4pm to 7pm on the Kremlin-Bicêtre campus in the auditorium of the school. It will consist of two panel discussions moderated by Nicolas Arpagian, editor of the journal Strategic Prospective and gather experts and practitioners in Internet and Computer Security.
 
2EPITA-TIC%20et%20Geo-web.jpgSecurity Threats
Internet users are increasingly comfortable using information technologies. Whether they be employees using personal computers in their business or citizens involved with their own computer in militant action on the Web, individuals develop each day the independent skills to master the many possibilities of digital tools .  Some users are able to become experts able to undermine the safety systems of both firms and states. A new form of fighting ahead emerges ahead.


Anonymous & Hackers vs.  Information Security
The first roundtable, entitled "From Tunis to Hadopi, "Are we all called to become Anonymous? " will be held Pascal Herard, journalist news site Reflets.info, Jérémie Zimmermann, co-founder of La Quadrature du Net and Frederic shingle, the Internet analyst, co-author of Anonymous (FYP Editions).
 
While hackers are present almost daily in headlines, the technologies of electronic surveillance are deployed on a large scale. What are the stakes of this technological race in which some work to increase the diffusion of information while others track communications and seek to mark out every move made on the Web?
 
Transparency vs. Protection of Information Systems
The second roundtable, entitled "Will RSSI leave room for RSI, Responsible for Information Security? "Meet Michel Bellot, the RSSI of Stime, Eric Dean, the RSSI of Generali and Cyril Reinhard, in charge of EPITA's Multimedia & Information Technology major.
 
Do subcontracting, outsourcing and the use of cloud computing-announce the death knell of information system under control from start to finish of businesses and governments? With the movement BYOD (Bring Your Own Device)  do the same tools to access the computer professional who is challenged, while the phenomenon OpenData induces a sense of transparency hardly usual in our Latin culture.  Are we already giving up secure information systems to focus solely on the protection of information?
 
Event Program:
 
4pm: From Tunis to Hadopi: are we all destined to become Anonymous?
- Pascal Herard, journalist, www.reflets.info
- Jérémie Zimmermann, co-founder of La Quadrature du Net
- Frederic shingle, the Internet analyst, co-author of Anonymous
 
5:30pm: Will the RSSI leave room for Information Security Manager?
- Michel Bellot, RSSI, Stime
- Eric Dean, RSSI, Generali
- Cyril Reinhard, Manager Major MTI (Multimedia), EPITA
 
7pm: Networking Cocktail

The conference website

Register
 
Where?

Geopolitics & ICT - Information, beware of danger!
March 22, 2012 4pm - 7pm
EPITA Amphitheatre 4
14-16 rue Voltaire
94270 Kremlin Bicêtre

 

EPITA Trains Charismatic Leaders

Interview with Marie-Laure Doucet, lecturer at EPITA specializing in Personal Development.
 
Can you introduce yourself?


SpecializeMarie_Laure_Doucet.jpgd in the field of Communication and in the field of Personal

 Efficacy (self-confidence, time management, stress management,

 organization, motivation), I specialize in training institutes or prestigious

 schools like Centrale or EPITA, for seven the past years.


At EPITA, I teach 1st year students Management & Personal Team Management as well as public speaking. My passion to convey these concepts is not limited to teaching, I also wrote two small books of popular history and created the Association  Land Com whose mission is to improve speaking skills and develop charisma.
 
What prompted you and keeps you in the way of teaching?
My sources of development merge with my educational goals: to raise curiosity and interest vis-à-vis personal development, to advance my students in the field of communication, whether oral, written or relational, to see or review the ground rules for win-win relationships, to suggest ways to improve personal organization ...


Also, I like to face a demanding audience, who learns quickly and who is quite demanding. I need to feel useful and I reach this goal as my work allows people to better deploy their potential. In short, I feel that in a small way, I have a positive influence on my students, I participate in their educational mission, and I help train young managers to be more operational, more human and happier!

What is your greatest teaching achievement?
My greatest achievement is to have appropriately adapted for schools the 'Terre de Com' method to train and master public speaking. Structured and fun, these workshops offer a variety of exercises and are based on the distribution of appropriate roles to target all participants. From assessments, resolutely encouraging, emerge strengths and areas for improvement adapted to each.


Last year in EPITA, I had to supervise a class of students who all had difficulties with oral communication. Despite their misgivings and fears, they lent themselves to the game. Through the step by step method, encouragement and advice, they could become aware of impaired them, expressive behaviors, and practice until results that were satisfactory.


Their perseverance has enabled them to take a step, that of feeling a certain pleasure in speaking to an audience. The results were more than satisfactory, they all scored between 10 and 15 on a scale of 20.


2developpement_personnel.jpg 
What is your wildest dream terms in pedagogy?
My wildest dream is to organize courses in positive psychology and to ensure follow-up in small groups. Initiated in the United States around 1988 by Martin Seligman, the scientific discipline defines the individual conditions that determine societal and collective happiness. The course on positive psychology has become the most popular on Harvard's campus! Positive psychology is revealed as an art of living with oneself and with others while being an instrument of social change.


At the individual level, it develops the welfare and happiness, creativity, self-esteem, humor, and optimism. At the interpersonal level, it has a great influence on altruism, cooperation, empathy ... Finally, at the social level, it facilitates courage, militancy, mediations ...


Happy students are more motivated, they learn better, fit better and works better, both with his colleagues with the administration than unhappy ones. This training of the future will generate extra performance for students and an additional recognition for schools.
 
In your teaching, what are you passionate about?
What interests me is to pass on what I learn from my experiences, reading and observations. See my students progress gives me a sense of satisfaction because that is where I tell myself that I serve a good cause! Seeing smiling faces, cause clicks, to give practical assistance useful in everyday life is also very rewarding.


What's exciting, too, is to refine my classes, adapt to the public that I have in front of me. Finally, I am very motivated by training myself, that is to say to get rich from interacting with others to learn new things before transmitting then! I am fortunate to do this job that I love in every aspect!

 

EPITA students get down to Hip-Hop

An interview with Romuald Rozan, EPITA - 2012 batch student and creator of the Hip-Hop unit within Episport.

 

Why did you decide to bring Hip-Hop to EPITA?

 

First of all, I wanted to share and extend a passion that I had developed six years ago. I love this dance and everything it represents. More than an art, this dance is a real culture and it provides an absolutely stimulating experience. The Hip-Hop culture includes not only dance and songs but also dressing styles, history and real life experiences.

 

For a geek, Hip-Hop is also a way to reconcile with the body. Dance is a matter of feeling the sensation it represents and you can easily feel it in case of Hip-Hop. Moreover, the mix of technical and unstructured aspect of Hip-Hop makes it really special and pleasing.

 

Hip-Hop is a very expressive dance. It's the urban American style - it comes from the streets and you can feel that right away. This dance helps to let go, to disinhibit, to escape - it takes you into a different world.

 

2Danse2.jpg 

What exactly is the kind of Hip-Hop that you are learning?

 

Hip-hop has a history and there is a revolutionary aspect to it. Several movements, such as Tecktonik, got created from the scratch and gradually developed into a craze.

 

There are many variants of Hip-Hop like popping (including Pop, The Smurf, Boogaloo, etc.), Locking, The New Style, Jazz Rock, Break Dance, Hype, House, Krumping and Top Rock.

 

I am primarily a popper, but in the course of time I am shifting to The New Style - which has fluid, easier movements. The New Style is one of the most famous dances; we can see it in TV videos, involving dancers like Chris Brown.

 

2Danse.jpg 

How are the Hip-Hop classes organized at school?

 

The dance classes are organized as part of the sports association of EPITA known as Episport*. Classes are held once a week at school, on Tuesday evening at 19:00 (with an uncertain duration - around two hours in general). The sessions are open to EPITA students as well as to the students of other schools of Group IONIS such as Epitech, Sup'Biotech, e-artsup and Ionis-STM. Last year there were around 15 students registered, almost all at the beginner's level.

 

During the sessions, we do several exercises on basic movements and then we start learning about the sequence of steps. We try to set up the stage with multiple students and prepare different shows of about 5 minutes each. Participants get trained to perform shows in different events of the school such as the X'mas party or the integration party of Ionis-STM.

 

The sessions also aim to help students learn more about the hip-hop culture. In the middle of March, the most diligent students went to attend the largest international event of Hip-Hop known as "juste debout" (whic translates as 'just standing') at the Palais Omnisport Paris-Bercy. Further, I would also like to hold sessions to show some key movies on the origins of hip-hop.

 

 

* Episport

 

Episport is the office of sports for EPITA, Epitech and Sup'Biotech. This association allows students to participate in sports activities throughout the year. Students have the opportunity to experience team sports (Football, Rugby, Volleyball, Basketball, Handball and Street Hockey) as well as individual sports (Taekwondo, Tennis, Badminton). Weekly trainings are organized by volunteer students and inter-varsity games (FNSU) take place every Thursday afternoon.

A gold medal for France in the International Olympiad in Informatics

 

The 23rd year of IOI (International Olympiad in Informatics) was held in Pattaya, Thailand from July 22 to 29. Two members of the French team, supported by EPITA, were awarded with medals.

 

Paul Kirchner, a secondary school student in his final year, who had already won two bronze medals in previous years, was ranked ninth and won a gold medal for France. Jules Pondard, a secondary school student in his fifth year, was ranked 114th and won a bronze medal. France thus secured its second gold medal at the IOI since the debut of the event in 1996. The last gold medal won for France was secured by Mehdi Bouaziz in 2005, with a similar ranking. In addition to these two gold medals, France has already collected a total of five silver and twenty bronze medals.

 

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Paul Kirchner in yellow, Jules Pondard in white, Mathias Hiron in azure

 

EPITA, the school involved in the competition

Every year - for about one week, around 80 participating countries in the IOI are represented by four students (under 19 years of age) from each participating country. Every participant must solve problems of algorithmic nature in five hours during two events that make up the competition. EPITA has been supporting team France via the France-IOI association, by hosting the French competition (April 30 - May 1), and by allowing the winners to get training in its premises as well as sponsoring their travel.

 

Training by France IOI at EPITA

"The training for the final competition allowed me to gain more speed and agility in solving problems", said Paul Kirchner. "Algorithms and algebra are a passion for me. I started feeling bored during my final year at secondary school, and thus went on to discover the program of first year preparatory classes and worked to solve difficult computational exercises. I also participated in the competition Prologin, during which I got second place this year. I am now going to enter the first year of "Maths-Physics-Engineering Sciences" (MPSI) at Lycee Louis-le-Grand, and I am aiming to enter the Ecole Normale Supérieure d'Ulm to continue my studies in research."

 

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Intensive training with the France IOI

For Mathias Hiron, President of France IOI, "participants at the World Finals are usually bright students, computer enthusiasts who pursue their careers in academic research or in big companies such as Google, Facebook or Microsoft after passing through the Ecole Normale Supérieure or EPITA. "

 

 

2siteIOI.jpg 

A glimpse of the France IOI website

 

Students participating in this challenging competition were trained regularly on the web-site of France IOI, which offers free exercises on IT and algorithms. With 10 years of existence, there are a total of 10,000 registered users and 500 visitors per day. After the publication of a new version of the website this summer there was a significant increase in its attendance: more than 17,000 exercise solutions just during the month of August. Mathias Hiron wants to gradually internationalize the website. At the moment it is available only in French, but soon it will be made available in Spanish, German, Lithuanian and other languages.

 

IOI as a gateway to the future

One of the four participants of the French team, George-Axel Jaloyan, a 15 year old secondary school student, said: "I found the site while solving programming problems (in my case C). Then I started algorithmic exercises, and I was not able to stop afterwards. I discovered a whole community via France-IOI internships. I learnt a lot from this and it was totally rewarding for me. Algorithms are not taught in the traditional curriculum, France-IOI was the cord that connected me to this area. I learned a new way to code, a way to solve algorithmic problems and, more generally - the art of using a research method for a given problem. "

 

 

2ioi2011.jpg 

Candidates at work during the IOI in Pattaya

 

"The benefits of this training were almost immediate - after the first training from IOI France, my math average increased by 2 points, and my ability to find solutions to math problems increased significantly. The IOI represents success of several years of work. This competition opens many doors and will enrich my CV as well as my personal experience. Moreover I feel honored to represent France in an international competition. "

 

For more information log on to the website of the France IOI: www.france-ioi.org

LRDE Participates in a National Project

A toolbox with augmented reality applications for mobile devices to assist tourists before, during and after their visit:

 

eTourisme-Notre Dame.jpg 

The project « eTourism Augmented Reality », has been chosen among over 70 candidates as one of the 18 winners of the first call for proposals «Scanning technologies and enhancement of cultural, scientific and educational content » within the framework of the Investment Program for the Future launched by the French government.

 

This project, planned for 30 months, has a global budget of 7 millions of Euros. The consortium involves two project leaders -- i-Marginal [http://www.imarginal.com/] and CEA-List [http://www-list.cea.fr/ ] --, three start-ups -- LTU [http://www.ltutech.com/], DiotaSoft [http://www.diotasoft.com/] and XediX [http://www.xedix.eu/] -- several research partners -- i-Matériel.Lab [http://imateriel.eu/], Institute for Research and Innovation (IRI) [http://www.iri.centrepompidou.fr/] and LRDE (EPITA) [http://www.lrde.epita.fr] --, and institutional partners such as AtoutFrance [http://www.atout-france.fr], Centre Pompidou [http://www.centrepompidou.fr], La Cinémathèque Française [http://www.cinematheque.fr], Issy Media [http://www.issy.com] and Villa Arson [http://www.villa-arson.org].

 

« eTourism Augmented Reality » aims at inventing intelligent augmented reality dedicated to tourism and cultural heritage.

The goal is to design optimized programs for smart phones and touch pads that provide access to enhanced digital content and allow interaction in real time by using navigation avatars, intelligent 3D object recognition, contextualized data superimposed on the real environment, connection with smart objects... Many solutions helping to guide us, inform us, entertain us, and assist us in various fields of our daily life, particularly designed for tourism and cultural activities.

 

Thanks to a single platform, users of this intelligent augmented reality tool will be able to combine object recognition of art work and architecture, 2D and 3D image registration, analysis of text bodies, overlay of interactive navigation avatars, precise geolocation, indoor and outdoor navigation, text translation in real time...

  

eTourisme-Objet Art.png 

The role of the LRDE within this project is to carry out automatic extraction of text in images on mobile devices. The aim is to use semantic information that has been extracted in order to enhance the data transmitted to the user, either by translating or by completing them. The user can, for example, take a picture of a work of art in a museum with his mobile phone. The application will then extract automatically the name and the description from the image in order to translate the text into the user's language and offer him links to more information on the work. This system will work in spite of the variety of types of the texts (size, font, color,...) and within a reasonable time for a mobile device (low-power, limited memory, ...).

Evolutek secures a third place at IDC Robocon

Four members of the "robotics" association of EPITA, IPSA and Epitech went to the MIT where they attended the IDC Robocon event.

 

For two weeks, from July 25 to August 5, Benoît Reitz (EPITA), Philippe Chassagnard (EPITA), Thomas Bacoup (IPSA) and Sébastien Patour (IPSA) participated in the buildings of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States at IDC Robocon. During the 22nd year of the event, Benoît Reitz's team came third.

 

A competition of endurance in a mythical place

IDC Robocon is an international competition organized by a consortium of the most prestigious universities and schools in the world, in which students from eight countries form joint teams competing under identical conditions of hardware and equipment. During these two very intense weeks the candidates housed in student residences at MIT have barely time to breathe. The program is tough: breakfast at 7 am, conference at 8 am on the problems encountered during the previous day, and team work from 9 am to 11 pm, with only two breaks for meals. They have only Sunday to visit the corners of this famous place.

 

Evolutek Body.jpg 

International Collaboration

For Philippe Chassagnard: "One of the major difficulties of the IDC Robocon is communication. Each of us is placed in a team where he does not know the other members. But we must work with them effectively despite linguistic and cultural barriers. In my team, we did not all work the same way and we had mixed knowledge. We had to overcome these difficulties to build a robot that could stand out. If we were not able to impose ourselves, it is because of operational errors. "

 

It is ultimately the strategy of Benoît Reitz's team that paid off: "Our robot was not the most efficient. But our tactic was to keep preventing our opponents to score points. "

 

Continuing in robotics

If the primary purpose of Evolutek is to prepare its members for the Coupe de France of robotics, in which the association came fifth last year, IDC Robocon has specificities that make this event very useful for students. "During these two weeks, various sessions were held to upgrade the participants on a particular aspect of robotics, said Olivier Widar, the head of the association. For example they might not have had training on the Arduino programming, which is used to control the robot and different types of sensors."

 

Throughout the year, members of Evolutek from EPITA, IPSA and Epitech (all schools of IONIS Group) come together to work on the robot that they will represent to compete at the Coupe de France. Thomas Bacoup, a student at IPSA, extols the virtues of teamwork: "The tasks are divided into three areas: mechanics (mainly IPSA), Information Technology (EPITA and Epitech) and finally Electronics (the 3 schools)". This is an opportunity for students to share their skills and gain a real versatility needed in robotics.

 

Evolutek Tee.jpg 

There is no specialized school of robotics in France. A number of students who go through Evolutek then choose to continue in the field, either by integrating in research laboratories or by joining specialized companies. Two former members of the association - Pierre-Yves Vachot (IPSA - 2010) and Stanislav Rudico (IPSA - 2010) have worked at Aldebaran Robotics. At EPITA, the specialization "Software Engineering and Real-time Systems" and "Cognitive Science and Advanced Computing" potentially lead to robotics. The area of ​​armaments in France is the closest to the field of robotics and provides bright career prospects, notably at institutions like the Directorate General of Armaments (DGA) and companies such as Safran and MBDA.

International Master - Boost Your Career!

After a Bachelor in Mechanical Engineering awarded in Bangalore, India and a transit at  Accenture, Mehul Jain decided for the International Master of EPITA.

 

mehul jain.bmpMehul Jain, after obtaining a Bachelor in Mechanical Engineering in Bangalore, has worked for over two years in India as a junior and senior program at Accenture. He finally decided to take further training by going to France to pursue the International Master at EPITA.

 

Why did you decide to do the International Master at EPITA?

 

I was eager to move up the corporate hierarchy.  I needed to get this additional training that gives me the guarantee of providing excellent technical and managerial level skills.  I also wanted to gain international experience outside India that could bring me the knowledge of methodologies used abroad.

 

On the recommendation of Campus France, I decided to pursue the International Master at EPITA - a school with an excellent reputation among companies and that gives the opportunity to do internships easily - an aspect I was looking for as well.

 

What have you gained during your stay at EPITA?

 

EPITA allowed me to deepen my knowledge of the algorithms, system architecture, fundamentals of programming and design methods. At the same time, I familiarized myself with finance, marketing and managerial concepts of management to work in an international environment with different cultures.

 

 

Your best memory?

 

My most vivid memory is that of snow in December. I had never seen snowfall before so I even requested to skip a class exceptionally during that day to enjoy the experience.

 

snow in paris.jpg 

And regarding your projects?

 

In terms of my projects, my specialization is Information Systems Management (ISM).  As a web developer, I develop websites on behalf of my company. Benefiting from the knowledge gained at EPITA I wish to implement new websites for Accenture in India.

Announcing: EPITA International Master Scholarship for Excellence

 

EPITA International Master, proudly presents the first edition of its EPITA International Master Scholarship for Excellence Program.  This launching batch is made available to all admitted students for the Winter 2012 cohort.

 

Scholarship.bmpFrom March 2012 three stipends will be up for grabs on a merits' base selection for the following:

1st Prize: €3,000

2nd Prize: €2,000

3rd Prize: €1,000

 

[As the Winter 2012 application deadline is fast approcahing, make sure you apply by December 30th to be able, once admitted, to apply to EPITA International Master Scholarship for Excellence Program. 

Questions, comments write to sfe@epita.fr ]

 

IONIS Standby Against AIDS

Over 33 million people worldwide are infected with the AIDS virus. In France, each year more than 6,500 people come to know of their HIV positivity.

 

For the fifth consecutive year, schools under IONIS Education Group are mobilized on the eve of the World Day of Fight Against HIV / AIDS observed on December 1st since 1995.

 

 

2Journee%20Sida.jpg 

During this occasion, schools covered various topics related to the virus such as information, risk awareness, prevention, disease progression and treatment or taking care of the sick.

 

Each institution of IONIS Education Group stepped-in in its own way by organizing lectures, screening films, collection stalls for associations fighting against AIDS (Sidaction, AIDES, or AIDS Info Services).

 


Yohann Richard: an Alumn in Australia

Interview with a graduate from EPITA (Year 2008) working at Thales in the field of air traffic control.

 

What was your career path after graduating from EPITA?

 

I chose to do my graduation internship at Thales Australia in Melbourne. As an intern, I worked on several research and development projects - especially developing tools to improve the effectiveness and use of the testing process.

 

At the end of this internship, Thales offered me an interesting position of a 'Software Integrator' for a project of one of its Australian clients. Most of my work is focused on the development of a new simulator used for training air traffic controllers. Recently I was assigned a similar project for a client in Singapore.

 

What is your position at Thales Australia?

 

Thales Australia in Melbourne works in the field of air traffic control. We develop Information Systems for airports that allow air traffic controllers to ensure the safety of the airspace. These complex systems must enable them to manage various issues related to the movement of different devices, data exchanges etc. It's an exciting environment and a stimulating project.

 

As a Software Integrator, my work includes to make sure that the components developed by different teams operate correctly. It comprises of configuration activities of the system and its middleware, system-level testing, support for development and validation teams - all kinds of interventions and skills mastered during my stay at EPITA.

 

Melbourne 2.jpg 

Why did you choose another country?

 

I wanted to see what life was like elsewhere, in another culture. I chose Australia because we know a very little about this country in Europe.  Australia is full of treasures - lush nature in particular. The social activity here makes life very dynamic and we can interact with many people and professionals from around the world.

 

From a professional point of view, working in Australia also allowed me to strengthen my English skills. In addition, Thales is a French multinational present in many sectors; this allowed me to have a wide range of possibilities with respect to location and career.

 

Fourth edition of the SRS Day

On 25 November, security professionals and students of the specialization "System, Network and Security" will talk about the sensitive subject of computer security.

 

The SRS Day, organized since 2007 at EPITA, is an event open to the public and aims to present the study of topics related to computer security.

 

The fourth edition is sponsored by the company Intrinsec - an expert in computer security and information systems. There will be six lectures delivered during the event - each presented by a group of students supervised by an industry professional.

 

The event will take place at the premises of EPITA on Friday, November 25th from 14:00 onwards.

 

 

SRS_Day_2011.jpg 

Program of the day:

 

- Crisis Management and Advanced Persistent Threat: Symptomatic of the professionalization of cybercrime, the Advanced Persistent Threat is a threat from an entity that has both the capacity and willingness to attack a specific target in order to extract information in the long term. Crisis management during such an attack is totally strategic.

 

- iPhone Mobile Application Security: The market for iPhone applications is a new sector that is growing rapidly in recent years. In this context, various tools and techniques for the evaluation of these applications will be presented. The consequences of a malicious application will be studied under different scenarios.

 

- Security and IT Consumerization: The increasing porosity between the information systems (IS), business and personal devices, called Consumerization of IT, is an issue of growing importance for managers of Information Systems. The purpose of the study is to propose some answers facing the dilemma between security and freedom of the users with respect to the current market offerings.

 

- Database Security: The databases have completely changed the way companies manage information. But security issues related to this phenomenon is all too rarely mastered. After studying the different vulnerabilities, preventive measures will be highlighted to implement defensive measures using case studies.

 

- IPV6 Security - Secure Architecture: IPv6 is back in an active phase of deployment, while the various security issues related to this protocol are still poorly understood. Attacks and prevention methods that can now be implemented for IPv6 will be addressed by understanding several scenarios.

 

- ITES Dashboard: The dashboard "Information System Security" (SSI) is a tool allowing businesses to have a synthetic view of the security situation at different levels, especially decision-making and operational. The methods of preparing such a table will be studied to eventually determine its importance in a concrete case.

 

- Round Table "View on the year 2011 - New Challenges and Prospects of 2012." The round table will compare the views of security professionals belonging to the companies like GDF Suez, Areva, Alstom and Intrinsec.

Loïc Dachary: a Prophet of Liberty

 Loïc Dachary, graduated from EPITA in 1986, is the founder of FSF France - an association for defending free software.

 

2loicdachary.jpgWhy defend free software?

The idea of defending free software is based on a philosophical belief: it is better for humanity to share software than enable people to keep it for themselves. To illustrate this idea, we could effectively use the analogy of mathematics: it would be undesirable and ridiculous to patent an algorithm; no one possesses the Pythagorean Theorem. Free software is relevant at all levels: At the individual level - it allows the software to be shared with parents or friends or to facilitate problem solving via the software. It is of interest at the government level. For education - notably all schools of a country can use free software, study and modify what is inside to help their students develop expertise. At the level of security: a consensus emerged to say that transparency is the best defense against cyber criminals. Free software is however less attractive for businesses, as it is less profitable for them in comparison to the proprietary software because of competition. But companies use proprietary software to force a dependence on their customers and this is why we must absolutely reject this form of modern slavery.

 

What does FSF France concretely do?

FSF France was founded as the first association that I created just a year after I left EPITA, at a time when there weren't any associations bringing together supporters of free software. Today, the role of FSF France is largely supplemented by that of APRIL - an association of which I am an active member. It has 5,000 members and promotes free software to the general public. FSF France has two roles - in addition to that of April - it provides home to projects and defends the rights (of authors of free software) that have been violated.

 

What is the future for free software?

Twenty years ago, we would have never thought that free software would become so advanced. Today, 90% of sales of the software are in the form of service: we are thus already in a situation in which if the proprietary software disappears it will not fundamentally change the economic structure built around the software. On the other hand, the entire infrastructure of the Internet and its operative are open source, which is a major result. It is unclear how one could go back. Now all companies are supporting Free Software, including its enemies. Microsoft has changed its position on the subject. The movement has become global. Free software might be less lucrative straightaway (than proprietary software), but the economy it engenders is still profitable. I wish that APRIL reaches between 10 000 and 20 000 members to have a really strong role. FSF France will then confine itself to a representative role.

 

What did you learn during your training at EPITA?

I was one of the students of the first graduation class of EPITA, i.e. of 1986. At that time, the school was still located in the 18th district of Paris. The main reason I went there was for the big machines that were present at that time. This route played a major role in the development of my enthusiasm for computers. There was a lot of competition, and I was able to make good friends there.

 

 

 

Returning from ERASMUS


Thierry ROBERT.jpgReturning from Spain, Thierry Robert offers us his memories from his ERASMUS semester...

 

"I joined EPITA, after my high school graduation, to follow the 5-year curriculum. At the end of my third year of studies at EPITA, I entered the GISTR major to focus my studies on embedded and real time systems. Then I had the opportunity to do an Erasmus mobility in Spain before my final internship. I chose to do that, because I wanted to find an internship in Spain and the Erasmus exchange program was a good way to prepare myself.

 

I went for 5 months to San Sebastian, one of the three campuses of the University of the Basque Country. I lived there with local students as roommates, which allowed me to practice the Spanish language every day, to learn informal ways of speaking and to learn more about the Basque culture.

 

I also got in touch with a lot of Erasmus students from various countries, which has been a great occasion to discuss about our cultures. I met Germans, Austrians, Americans, Mexicans, Italians, Portuguese, Brazilians, etc. And we all became very good friends!

 

I followed classes from the third year study program. There are a lot of interesting courses mostly among the optional ones. In my opinion the general level of the courses is excellent, especially among the theoretical ones. But in the two practical courses that I chose, the teachers used to give much more time than at EPITA.

 

In addition to this, I followed the Spanish language course. It was really interesting because the university creates level groups and because almost all the Erasmus students of the campus were attending it.

Finally, I can say that I will never regret anything I have lived during my Erasmus mobility. It has been rich of experiences and cultural exchanges."

Alumni Voice: An Interview with Rabih Haddad

Rabih HADDAD.jpg

Leading an active and brilliant career, now alumn, Rabih Haddad took the time to reflect upon his graduate experience at EPITA:

 

1. Introduce yourself in a few words.

I come from Lebanon and I hold a master degree in Electrical Engineering. I arrived to Paris 2 years ago to join the International Master's Program and obtain another master in Information Systems Management after 9 years of professional experience in Project and Product management.

 

2. Why did you choose to pursue an International Master at EPITA?

I joined the IM at EPITA because I was searching for School that provides an international profile with a market related curriculum and high ranking in the French graduate schools. I found the academic curriculum of the IM highly correlated with IT market needs especially in France. Cross-Border Management, BI, CRM, ERP, SCM, KM, ... are good examples of this curriculum.

 

3. Describe your experience at EPITA as a graduate student in the International Master.

The alignment between the market needs and the proposed program serves as a career booster for every graduate. In addition to leading the academic courses in a very trendy way, the school provided us with several multinational extra-curricular activities. These activities enhanced our multicultural management and exposed us to the French way of living. Also, EPITA warm welcoming for International students eases the integration in the French community.

 

4. What strengths have you gained during your studies in Paris?

During my stay in Paris I have acquired strengths in various directions. EPITA has provided a robust academic backbone and my internship in Paris delivered a colored professional experience. Needles to mention the cultural exposure that any person will gain by just living in the 'city of lights'.

 

5. In your experience, what opportunities are available for EPITA students and graduates?

Besides the academics, EPITA students have access on campus to many facilities. There are more than 20 clubs and associations that help the students built their extra-curricular skills and allow them to interact with students from other faculties. In addition, EPITA organizes enterprise forums twice per year for the students to either find internship or an employment.

 

6. If you could recommend EPITA's International Master to a friend, colleague, family member or acquaintance, what keys aspects of your experience would you focus on?

I would say: IT market oriented curriculum, international profile, high ranked among the French graduate schools, up to date technology and computer labs, warm welcome as feeling like you are at home...



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About EPITA

With its inception in 1984, EPITA (Graduate School of Computer Science and Advanced Technologies) is the Engineering School training the best experts who design, develop and improve the future Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The pedagogy of the school focuses on giving students both the fundamentals of Engineering and the highest expertise in the fields of Computer Science and ICT. The International Master's degree delivered by EPITA is accredited by the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research as a "Diplôme National de Master".

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