Impetus Infotech Recognised as Dream Company to Work for in India

Underlining its position as a great place to work, Impetus Infotech (India) Pvt. Ltd., a big data thought leader and a software services & solutions company, was recently ranked 14th in the list of ‘Dream Companies to Work for in India 2016’ at the World HRD Congress. Impetus emerged as one of the leaders in this category which saw over 460 participating companies across multiple industries. This year Impetus was also recognized under two individual categories - Managing Health at Work and Institution Building. The company’s position as a leader in HRD was also bolstered by its VP – Operations & Human Empowerment Group, Sanjeev Agrawal, being named ‘The Most Influential HR Leader’ at the event which took place on February 16 in Mumbai.

The World HRD Congress Awards recognise the efforts of organisations that have demonstrated excellence through their innovative programs, showing clear and measurable business results to drive organizational excellence. All nominations go through a rigorous six step process from receiving the entries to the final rankings. Entries pass through a thorough screening process after which they go to the Academic Council for their review. Once that is done, the entries are further evaluated by a Professional Council. As a fifth step, all shortlisted companies are requested to send their representatives for the Jury round and make a live presentation. After a detailed discussion and analysis, the final rankings are pronounced.

The ‘Most Influential HR Leader in India’ award was decided by the jury after evaluating the credentials and achievements of individuals in the field of HR and the impact that that they have made in their companies, and was only conferred to 100 HR professionals in India. This achievement marked the first time an individual award was won in the HR space by Impetus.

Speaking on the twin achievements, Sanjeev Agrawal, VP – Operations & Human Empowerment Group, said, “I am extremely happy and proud to be a part of the setup at Impetus. It really is heartening to see that our efforts in keeping the employees enthused and committed are being recognised on such a major platform. Being ranked 14^th as a ‘Dream Place to Work’ ahead of several bigger competitors motivates us to do much more for our employees and their experience of working here. Having consistently figured amongst the leaders in the field of HRD; we aim to keep raising the bar with more innovative and employee-centric measures in the future as well.”

“I am overwhelmed by the recognition bestowed on me personally. Being honored at an individual level is doubly inspiring and motivates me further to maintain the healthy and inspiring work culture Impetus is known for,” he added.

This is not the first time that Impetus is being recognised for their employee-friendly work culture. In 2015, Impetus was adjudged as a ‘Dream Company to Work for in India’ in the IT sector and a ‘Dream Company to Work For in Asia’. In 2014, it featured among the 'Top 100 Companies to Work for in India' by The Great Places to Work Institute in partnership with NASSCOM, and was also acknowledged as the ‘5th Best Company for Flexibility & Work-Life balance’. Impetus has been a consistent name in ‘Great Places to Work in India’ list for the past four years.

Kone Innovation in Smart Buildings Gets Lift with IBM Watson IoT

IBM and KONE, one of the global leaders in the elevator and escalator industry, announced the multiyear agreement in which IBM will provide cloud-based Internet of Things (IoT) technologies and services to drive innovation in smart buildings.

Through the agreement, KONE will tap into the IBM Watson IoT Cloud Platform to connect, remotely monitor and optimize its management of millions of escalators, doors and turnstiles in buildings and cities worldwide. The system will analyze vast amounts of data from sensors embedded in equipment helping to identify and predict issues and minimize downtime. Instead of having to call in a service engineer, KONE will be able to predict and resolve selected technical issues remotely by running tests and making commands over the cloud.

”Our partnership with IBM is exciting and it is an important stepping stone to deliver the best People Flow experience,” says Henrik Ehrnrooth, President & CEO of KONE Corporation. ”We operate in a connected world and by working with IBM, new solutions like remote diagnostics and predictability means we will deliver even better services to our customers, and great experiences for the people who use our equipment."

With real-time insight about the operation of its equipment, KONE’s plans to drive further innovation and develop new solutions and services to improve the flow of people in some of the world’s busiest cities and buildings. Using IBM’s open standards-based Watson IoT Cloud platform, KONE plans to allow a vast developer ecosystem via Application Programming Interfaces (API’s) to build new applications to make a smoother, safer and more personalized people flow experience for building users. For instance, community-based systems could help people pre-order elevators during the busiest times of the day or speed up evacuations during emergencies. 

As buildings get taller and taller with the capacity to serve tens of thousands of users simultaneously, there is increased pressure on elevators and escalators to keep people moving smoothly. KONE is leading the way in bringing together technology and innovation to meet the requirements of some of the world’s most ambitious and iconic buildings. Its projects include the Leadhenhall Building in London which features the world’s largest and fastest suite of panoramic elevators; the Makkah Clock Royal Tower Hotel, in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, which is the tallest hotel, clocktower and largest indoor space in the world; and the Jeddah Tower, Saudi Arabia, which at over 1km tall, will be the world’s tallest building when completed.

“Efficient, people-centric cities and buildings are better for business, societies and economies. Central to this is how people move around within them and intelligent systems are poised to make their experience more convenient, intuitive and enjoyable,” said Chris O’Connor, General Manager, Offerings, IBM Watson IoT. “With IBM’s cognitive IoT technologies, KONE is embedding intelligence across its operations and driving a wave of innovation in smarter buildings.”

Fifth Phase of Nasscom 10K Tech Start-Ups - Konnect - Shortlists 200+ Applications

The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) announces the fifth phase of NASSCOM 10,000 Startups ‘Konnect’ and will be impacting applications from technology startups across the country.This phase five is focussed on identifying, supporting, incubating, and accelerating innovative technology start-ups in India.

Sharing his views, Rajat Tandon, Vice President, NASSCOM 10K Startups said, “India is the third largest startup ecosystem in the World with immense talent and innovative startups flourishing each day. With the strong support from mentors, industry experts, investors and VCs, we have successfully created a significant impact on the startup ecosystem of the country. Phase 5 is going to be our biggest Konnect to date as we are aiming to create a greater impact across the early stage startup ecosystem.”

For the fifth phase, NASSCOM has shortlisted 200+ domain centric applications from startups, which will provide a detailed overview of their business idea and the market opportunity. Startups who have applied in the last 4 months are now being considered for Phase 5 shortlisting and for the 10K Nurture program. The shortlisted startups will be pitching to over 100 investors in 6 locations and will have the access to participate in the intensive accelerator pitch and mentoring Konnect sessions. The program has strong support from 50+ industry experts (NIPP) and close to 100 incubator partners. The sessions will start in the first week of March across Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Kochi and Hyderabad.

In its last four phases, a total of 11,000 startups applied,   1,100 shortlisted and 500 have been impacted by way of funding, acceleration and mentoring. Some of their impacted startups include SmartVizX, Lazylad, EnglishDost, Flutura, SeekSherpa, Faircent, Hiree, Sliderule, Vidgyor, CustomerXPS to name a few.

NASSCOM 10,000 Startups, is a startup incubation program whose objective is to create 10,000 domain specific startups in the country by 2020. Phase Four of the NASSCOM 10K Start-ups Konnect had 150+ startup shortlists that went through pitch and mentoring sessions.

Voices for Race Against Rare Diseases Now Draws Attention in India

The Organization for Rare Diseases India (ORDI), a patient centered non-profit organization today announced Race for 7, a unique first of its kind event being held to commemorate Rare Disease Day and draw attention to the needs of rare disease patients in India. The 7km run to be flagged off on 28^th February 2016 at St. Joseph’s Indian High School will target 7000 people to symbolically represent 7000 documented rare diseases matching strides and expressing solidarity with patients.

The primary objective behind Race for 7 is to raise awareness about rare diseases and the needs and challenges of rare diseases patients in keeping with the global theme of Rare Disease Day which is Patient Voice. There are an estimated 70 million Indians or 1 out of 20 Indian who suffer from rare diseases. Almost half of these are children, most of who do not live to see adulthood due to lack of appropriate medical intervention. The scenario worsens due to lack of early diagnosis along with expensive treatment options which pose major hurdles in rare disease management. Race for 7 will raise funds to help ORDI in its mission to improve the health of patients with rare diseases across India through awareness, advocacy, collaborations and information dissemination.

Prasanna Kumar B Shirol, Founder Director, ORDI and the father of a young teenager with a rare disease said, “It is ironic that while the number of patients with rare diseases is increasing every year, there is no treatment for more than 90% of the diseases and patients can, at best, depend only on supportive therapy. Awareness, accessibility and affordability are key needs of patients suffering from rare disease. The Rare Disease Day 2016 theme ‘Patient Voice’ recognises the crucial role that patients play in voicing their needs and in instigating change that improves their lives and the lives of their families and careers. We hope Race for 7 will bring the patient’s voice to the fore.”

Speaking on the occasion Dr. Meenakshi Bhatt, Consultant Clinical Genetics - CHG (Centre for Human Genetics) said, “A rare disease is often referred to as an ‘orphan disease’, since the condition is not likely to be researched or studied, therefore making treatment of the condition much more difficult. We have 22,000 genes in our system out of which 4600 are known to be associated with rare diseases and the list keeps on growing. With limited or no access to proper diagnosis, medical treatment or cure, mortality rate among patients suffering from rare diseases is high.”

“We must remember that rare disease is no longer a ‘rare’ occurrence. Globally, 350 million people are living with a rare disease,” said Dr. Vikas Sharma, Chief Medical Officer, India & Senior Director, Medical Ethics & Research, Quintiles who are key sponsors for Race for 7. “The lack of available treatments leaves patients and their families searching for new options and new hope. We therefore need more investment in rare disease research to develop better and more affordable treatment for patients and help them live qualitatively better lives.”

Rare disease patients who spoke at the media event highlighted the challenges they faced in living with a rare disease. Patients living with a rare disease and their families are often isolated. The wider community can help to bring them out of this isolation was the unanimous sentiment expressed by the patients who appealed for support in creating awareness about Race for 7 and urging the people of Bengaluru to come together for this noble cause and  register for this unique race. It’s a roar against rare.

Danish Collaborative Human-Robots Now Accessible to SME Manufacturers in India

The Danish Ambassador to India, Peter Taksøe-Jensen launched Universal Robots, the Danish robot manufacturer that pioneered collaborative robots, at the Le Meridian, New Delhi. The collaborative robots range was unveiled in a launch event by Esben Østergaard, Chief Technology Officer of Universal Robots, along with Pradeep David, General Manager, India. 

Human-robot collaboration has come of age with collaborative robots (also called co-bots) designed to work with humans and assist them with a variety of tasks. Co-bots help automate and streamline repetitive and potentially unsafe processes thus, ensuring safe work environment while increasing productivity and efficiency. Given these advantages, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are eager to adopt this technology. In a human-machine study conducted by MIT researchers at a BMW factory, it was shown that teams made of humans and robots collaborating efficiently can be around 85% more productive than teams made of either humans or robots alone. Also, the cooperative process reduced human idle time by virtue of its pace-setting ability.

With the goal of making robot technology accessible for small and medium sized enterprises, Universal Robots offers simple, flexible and affordable collaborative robot arms- UR3, UR5 and UR10 named after their payloads in kilos. Having sold over 7000 collaborative robots, and ranked #25 on MIT Technology Review’s 2015 list of the 50 Smartest Companies, Universal Robots continues to revolutionize the way industrial robots work and operate alongside workers. Workers can collaborate with the robots in close proximity on assembly lines with no safety guarding (subject to application risk assessments) The co-bots are easy to program and the first set up takes less than one hour.  They can also be moved easily around the production facility for multiple applications. Flexible ±360 degree rotation of all joints allows usage in confined spaces. Infinite rotation of the UR3 tool is possible for screwing and drilling applications. The co-bots can be floor, ceiling, and wall mounted as required.

Speaking about the launch of Universal Robots in India, Chief Technology Officer, Universal Robots, Esben Østergaard said, “We are delighted to introduce our advanced tools to the Indian market for increasing productivity, quality, and market competitiveness. Our collaborative robots help ease out processes in task driven industries like manufacturing, assembly and food processing. They work alongside their human co-workers to optimize and automate time consuming, repetitive and physically challenging activities in the production flow. We have also seen end users integrate our robot arms in applications and industries that we didn’t initially expect. They have differentiated themselves in the market using our advanced tools innovatively. Universal Robots are being used with innovative applications like Neurosurgery, Bartending, Kiosk-based manufacturing, Physiotherapy, Aviaries, and even as Chef’s assistants.”

“Advanced robotics is now accessible to anybody who wants to increase productivity while maintaining high safety standards. Our smallest collaborative robot is world’s most flexible, light weight, table top robot that has been embraced worldwide especially in the electronics and metal industries. We are growing our channel partner strength in all major locations of the country and will continue to expand our network in the coming years.” said Pradeep David, General Manager of Universal Robots’ India.

“This is a proud moment for Denmark as we continue to establish ourselves as a country that believes in innovation and knowledge export as a way forward in bringing global communities closer. Universal Robots was named one of Denmark’s 30 most important export companies and received the Danish award for fast growth at Digital Gazelle last year. We believe that Universal Robots will enable our interest of supporting growth in various sectors of India with their world leading technology.” said Peter Taksøe-Jensen, Danish ambassador to India.

Lowe’s New Innovation Labs Will Drive Indian Tech-Savvy Startups in Retail Innovations

Lowe’s Innovation Labs (LIL), the disruptive innovation hub of Lowe’s Companies, Inc., announced has the opening of LIL-Bangalore and unveiled its new facility in the heart of Bangalore.  The new lab will house tech-savvy startups that will participate in an intensive 16-week accelerator program and give them an opportunity to partner with Lowe’s and deploy their technology in the U.S. LIL-Bangalore’s primary focus and priority technology areas include augmented and virtual reality, 3D printing and scanning, and robotics.

“Innovation and diversity of thought is at the core of what Lowe’s represents,” said Richard Maltsbarger, chief development officer and president, International, Lowe’s Companies, Inc. “Lowe’s Innovation Labs is revolutionizing the home improvement retail experience in the U.S., and we hope the tremendous talent and vibrant startup community in Bangalore will help us continue building a network of uncommon partners with whom we can co-develop technology.”

Lowe’s created LIL in 2014 to bring together uncommon partners with a commitment to get technology out of the lab and into the real world. Beginning with science fiction prototyping to craft a narrative for the future, LIL collaborates with startups and has introduced projects including the Lowe’s Holoroom, an augmented and virtual reality home improvement design tool, the OSHbot autonomous retail service robot and in-store and online 3D scanning and printing.

“Lowe’s Innovation Labs-Bangalore will provide an open space where startups can interact and rapidly bring customer experience solutions to life through cutting-edge technologies, once thought to be the realm of science fiction,” said Kyle Nel, executive director of LIL. “Bangalore is a dynamic community with world-class tech resources right in the heart of the city making it the perfect launching pad to expand our work in the U.S. and take disruptive technology to the next level.”

LIL-Bangalore will also complement Lowe’s existing Bangalore Global In-house Center (GIC), which has been operating since 2014 and has grown to include more than 400 employees working on technology and analytics solutions.

“Opening Lowe’s Innovation Labs-Bangalore further strengthens our long-term commitment to India. We are confident that it will complement our efforts and further establish India as one of the innovation hubs for the company,” said Lalit Ahuja, acting managing director, Lowe’s India.

LIL-Bangalore is expected to welcome its first round of accelerator startups later this year. For more information, visit lowesinnovationlabs.com/lil-bangalore

Seagate’s Slimmest & Fastest 2TB Mobile HDD Now Empowers OEMs to 7mm Form Factor

Seagate Technology plc, a leader in storage solutions, has announced it is shipping the world’s first 2TB, 7mm hard disk drive (HDD)— the Seagate Mobile HDD. This ultra-high capacity mobile hard drive is the lightest, fastest and most power efficient 7mm drive in the industry, enabling a richer and more rewarding experience for users without compromising demand for laptops that are slim, light, and powerful.

“In an industry first, our engineers have been able to boost areal density to 1TB per platter in a 2.5-inch form factor, allowing our OEM customers the flexibility to design and build virtually any kind of laptop they can envision, with plenty of storage to boot,” said Matt Rutledge, Seagate’s senior vice president, client storage. “Laptops today must satisfy consumer demand for fast computing and high capacity storage capabilities on one hand, while also offering compelling designs and slim styling on the other. With the introduction of Seagate’s new Mobile HDD, laptop manufacturers no longer need to make tradeoffs between these seemingly competing mandates.”

Seagate Mobile HDD

Weighing just 3.17 oz., the diminutive Mobile HDD is 25 percent lighter than the previous generation of mobile hard drives. A smaller 7mm drive frees up valuable space in a mobile device to accommodate additional designed-in features, such as bigger batteries, more memory and better air circulation.

“The drive’s high capacity, coupled with its ultra-slim, lightweight footprint, empowers our engineers to create truly ground-breaking, innovative system designs,” said JH Pan, director of SYS BG business operation department, ASUS. “The new Seagate Mobile HDD is a true game changer, enabling us to create high-capacity, thin and light laptops consumers crave at mass-market price points they can afford.”

Utilizing 1TB per disk, the Seagate Mobile HDD delivers the highest capacity possible in a small 7mm form factor. Compatible with most of today’s mobile computers, the drive’s standard SATA 6Gb/s interface provides for easy integration into existing laptop designs and portable computer upgrades. With up to 2TB of space, the Mobile HDD enables affordable high capacity storage, while supporting over 200,000 photos, 250,000 songs or 124 hours of high definition video. The drive is available in both 1TB and 2TB capacities.

“Data growth continues to explode and as such more and more data is being created and stored on mobile devices,” says Wentao Yang, vice president, global procurement, Lenovo. “Seagate is addressing this challenge head on by introducing the Mobile HDD, an innovative new drive that provides our designers with the freedom to create devices with high capacity in a form factor consumers demand— making it a win win for both of us.”

Fraud Report India 2016 Indicates Identity Theft as Largest Contributor

India – Experian India, today launched the ‘Fraud Report 2016’ showcasing the fraud trends in the banking and financial services industry. This first edition of the report analyses trends for the period between Q1 2014 to Q1 2015 and assigns them into four main categories:

·         incidences arising from fraudulent contact information,

·         fraudulent organization,

·         identity theft or fictitious identity

·         and repeated attempts from already identified individuals

In India identity theft accounts for 77 per cent of the fraud cases in Q1 2015. Amongst various financial products, auto loans, mortgage loans and credit cards have seen the largest number of fraud cases from identity theft represented by 85 per cent of the total detected frauds in Q1 2015.

Frauds due to applicants submitting fraudulent contact information has risen by 3% contributing to 18% of all detected frauds. Amongst, all financial products, consumer loans continue to record the highest fraud incidence rates followed by credit cards. The mortgage portfolio has observed a 50% increase in the fraud incidence rate. 

The Experian report highlights that falsification of address proof is the most popular behavior seen amongst fraudsters, and hiding of adverse credit is the most common behavior especially in the automotive loan category followed by mortgage fraud. In case of mortgage loans, it has been seen that fraudsters also have used false employment status to avail the loan.

The report covers insights into various fraud types across financial products offered in the industry today. In some categories, here has been a significant drop in the recorded fraud cases. Commenting on this, Mohan Jayaraman, Managing Director, Experian Credit Information Company of India and Country Manager, Experian India said, “The decrease in fraud arising from repeated attempts in the category can be attributed to institutions putting in more processes to check against historical fraud profiles and also highlights improved detection techniques by the financial sector. The change in composition of fraud indicates that steps taken by the industry are in the right direction.”

Jayaraman further added, “With the rise of social media and information shared in the public, identity fraud continues to be a threat to the industry. Individuals need to be alert on the information they share publicly as well as be alert to phishing emails and calls soliciting personal details. Fraudsters are well-connected, highly skilled and endlessly resourced individuals. There are several components of fraud – accessing data (hacking), creating fake documentation (identify theft), account takeover (purchasing goods illegally) and distribution (sale of goods or data on the black market), hence, it is important for us to think of fraud as an industry.”

In India, Experian is the only provider of application fraud detection services using National Hunter. Experian National Hunter works in a closed user group format and helps the banking, financial services and insurance sector to prevent fraud and provide timely insight and analysis. The industry recorded savings of Rs 1,173 crore in FY15 due to applications screened using National Hunter. Recently, the Life Insurance Council in India selected Experian to set up the fraud repository framework in India. This development will have life insurance companies join the National Hunter closed user group along with leading banks and NBFCs in India.

Retail Chain Poorvika Chooses Avaya to Enable Faster Collaboration & Knowledge Sharing

Poorvika Mobiles Pvt Ltd., Chennai’s leading multi-brand mobile phone retail chain, today announced implementation of Avaya’s end-to-end communication solutions comprising Video Conferencing, IP Telephony and Networking, across six floors of its new state-of-the-art head office in Chennai. The framework includes network infrastructure Avaya IP phones and wireless access points throughout the building along with video conferencing access enabling collaboration and knowledge sharing from anywhere, anytime.

The consumerization of technology represents a significant challenge for mid-sized, growing businesses which aim to reduce overall costs while keeping up with technological advancements. Poorvika chose Avaya for its network solutions based on its reputation for stability, reliable service and connectivity due to robust & stable network and the ease of management. The solutions will be maintained by Avaya’s partner, SEC communications, which specializes in communication technology, audio and video conferencing, networking and security solutions.

The enhanced high-quality, low-bandwidth video solutions will help Poorvika improve efficiency with employees and drive deeper relationships. Not only this, Avaya’s highly scalable IP phones will keep employees productive, even as they move through the building. Enhanced voice quality will help ensure that they communicate clearly and efficiently. It will also bring new cost savings with an opportunity to extend these solutions to the rest of their retail base in future, which currently comprises over 200 one-stop-mobile-shops across 43 cities in Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry and Karnataka alone.

With over 240 outlets across 43 cities in South India and a workforce of over 3500 knowledgeable and committed professionals, Poorvika serves over 40 lakh satisfied customers. In the years to come, Poorvika aims at setting new benchmarks in innovative world-class mobile retail and has set its sights on emerging as India's largest retail chain for mobile phones and accessories.

Uvaraj, CEO Poorvika Mobiles Pvt. ltd. highlights that, “We were looking for IT and communications architecture which would not only improve efficiency but was also easy to use by our employees. We chose Avaya for its ability to provide a secure, robust platform allowing us to reduce bandwidth costs and at the same time customized to suit our requirements. One of the biggest benefits we’re seeing from the Avaya network is that our very lean IT staff now has more time to spend on other things because we’re spending considerably less time managing the network.”

Vishal Agrawal, Managing Director, India and SAARC, Avaya says, “The most important element in a robust IT architecture is getting everything to work seamlessly without much external management or intervention. And this has also been the single most challenge small and mid-sized companies face in their journey to scale new heights. We’re glad to simplify this for Poorvika and with our full stack of solutions, it becomes immensely easier to manage while minimizing long term IT costs. We hope to be able to extend these solutions to their large retail base in the future

Idea’s High-Speed 4G LTE Services Now Expands into Andhra Pradesh & Telangana

Idea Cellular, India’s fastest growing telecom operator, today announced the expansion of its high speed 4G LTE services across 37 towns of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Within less than two months the company has expanded its 4G LTE service footprint to 20 districts, including major towns of Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Vizag, Warangal, Kakinada, Nalgonda, Kadapa, Kakinada and Tirupathi; covering 18% of the total population of the circle.

In addition to Hyderabad, Idea has today launched its high-speed 4G LTE services in other towns of Kodur, Anakapalli, Kothakota, Jadcherla, Armoor, Narsampet, Renigunta, Rudraram, Palamaner, Narsipatnam, Tekkali, Yellamanchali, Gajwel, Ghatkesar, Pileru, Metpally and Ananthapur. With rapid expansion Idea will launch its 4G services in Nizambad, Karimnagar, Nellore, Kurnool, Khammam, Srikakulam and 78 more towns by end of this financial year, taking the total tally to 121.

Idea Cellular is one of the leading player in the country with over 15.38 million satisfied consumers in Andhra Pradesh & Telangana. Idea provides extensive 2G coverage on superior 900MHz, extensive 3G coverage and has now introduced its high speed 4G LTE services with a wide network coverage.

In December 2015, Idea Cellular had announced the launch of 4G LTE services in all 4 telecom circles (5 states) of South India, namely Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh & Telangana, and Karnataka. Earlier this month, the company launched services across 4 more circles (5 Indian states) – Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Punjab and Odisha, expanding its 4G LTE service footprint to 8 telecom service areas.

According to Ambrish Jain, Deputy Managing Director, Idea Cellular said, “Since the last week of December 2015, Idea has rapidly rolled out its high-speed 4G LTE network to cover 8 major markets in India. By March 2016, our services will extend to 2 more key markets namely, Maharashtra & Goa, and North East, and by June 2016, Idea’s 4G footprint will cover 750 cities across 10 telecom circles.”

Idea Cellular currently holds 1800 MHz 4G spectrum in 10 Telecom circles which cover 50% of telecom market but over 60% of Idea’s gross revenue.

Speaking on the occasion, Sashi Shankar, Chief Marketing Officer, Idea Cellular, “Idea customers with 4G devices in these towns can now start experiencing superfast speeds by simply upgrading their existing SIM cards to new 4G SIM cards. Idea has also partnered with leading handset manufacturers and e-commerce retailers for special data bundling offers on new 4G smartphones.”

Delta India’s Showcases Its Smart R&D Solutions for Energy Management & Automation at Elecrama 2016

Delta India Electronics, a leading provider of power and thermal management solutions, announced, at Elecrama 2016, the expansion of its RandD and manufacturing operations with new facilities in Bangalore and Hosur respectively, in line with its long-term plans to harness the country’s significant long-term growth potential.  Delta India plans to develop smart energy management solutions with industry-leading energy efficiency at its new RandD centre which is expected to create up to 500 engineering jobs within the next 3 years.  Within the next 10 years, Delta’s new factory in Hosur will create up to 20,000 jobs for the manufacturing of power electronics, renewable energy and automation solutions.

James Ng, chairman of Delta Electronics (Thailand), parent company of Delta India, said, “Delta recognizes the potential of India to become a powerhouse in manufacturing and its need for high energy efficiency which is one of Delta’s core competences. We believe our new RandD centre in Bangalore will be instrumental in the creation of innovative and energy-efficient technologies that will support the realization of national initiatives such as “Make in India” and “Digital India”. Delta was one of the multinational companies invited by the Prime Minister of India, the Honourable Narendra Modi, to the opening event of “Digital India” in July 2015.  We expect the Hosur factory to eventually become Delta’s biggest manufacturing base in India.” 

Delta selected Bangalore for its new RandD centre due to the high quality and abundancy of its engineering talent pool for software and hardware development.  This new RandD centre is expected to create up to 500 high-tech jobs within the next three years and focus on technologies such as mega-watt scale power conversion and power quality.  The new plant in Hosur is expected to start operations in early 2017 and will supply the local marketplace with smart, high-efficiency telecom power systems, industrial automation solutions, UPS, renewable energy inverters and converters as well as solutions for display and monitoring.

Dalip Sharma, managing director of Delta India Electronics, remarked, “Delta is recognized as a sustainable enterprise by world-class institutions such as the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) given its commitment to the development of solutions that truly help customers save energy.  Providing telecom networks with green power, enabling energy-efficient and smart manufacturing processes and data centres and even realizing green buildings are part of Delta’s contributions for a better tomorrow”.

“At Elecrama 2016, we exhibit for the first time in India, our entire portfolio of smart solutions with industry-leading energy efficiency for a wide range of sectors such as green energy generation, industrial automation, telecom and even agriculture. Our track record includes the implementation of a smart monitoring solution for ATMs that provides a safe environment for banking customers across India while protecting the banks’ infrastructure.  Also, our PV inverters, featuring the world’s highest energy efficiency of up to 98.7%, support residential, commercial and megawatt-scale projects; our innovative solar trackers increase output by up to 30% versus fixed-mount structures; and our VFD controllers combine with solar power to provide Indian farmers with a clean and energy-saving water pumping solution for irrigation”, Sharma added.

Raisecom Accelerates Its NFV Transformation with Wind River

Wind River, a global leader in delivering software for the Internet of Things (IoT), has announced that networking equipment manufacturer Raisecom is making the move to Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) by using Wind River Titanium Server to develop virtualized small cell gateways.

“The telecommunications industry is making the move towards virtualized network functions to open new revenue opportunities and improve flexibilities and efficiencies,” said Sandy Guo, carrier account director at Raisecom. “Service providers require ‘five nines’ reliability. Our hardware products meet that standard and our virtualized products must meet that requirement as well. Thanks to Wind River, we were able to quickly transition into NFV and get to market faster with a better product, and at a lower cost to our customers.”

As their entry into NFV, Raisecom is virtualizing small cell gateway functions. Carriers employ small cells to offload mobile network data and use radio frequency more efficiently, helping them to extend service coverage and increase network capacity. Realizing that the development of a high-performance NFV platform for their gateways would be too costly and time-consuming, Raisecom turned to Wind River. Using Titanium Server as an NFV infrastructure platform, Raisecom reduced product testing and qualification costs by 20% compared to testing costs for traditional small cell gateway hardware, while decreasing time to market by 30%.

"In order to meet the demands for greater network flexibility, adaptability, and scalability possible with NFV, virtualized services must be delivered at carrier grade levels of performance and reliability," said Paul Senyshyn, vice president of commercial operations for networking solutions at Wind River. "Wind River Titanium Server delivers an NFV infrastructure that provides the carrier grade virtualization to allow the industry to easily and quickly achieve goals such as reducing costs while introducing high-value services via NFV.”

Titanium Server is a carrier grade NFV infrastructure software solution designed to meet the stringent "always on" requirements of the telecom industry. By using Titanium Server, the industry may enjoy the best of both worlds: the rapid service deployment typically found in enterprise networks along with the carrier grade uptime and reliability mandated by telecom networks. Based on technologies using open standards, including carrier grade Wind River Linux, real-time Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM), carrier grade plugins for OpenStack, Data Plane Development Kit (DPDK), and accelerated vSwitch technologies, and optimized for Intel architecture, Titanium Server brings together high performance and carrier grade reliability.

Titanium Server is part of the Wind River Helix portfolio of products enabling IoT advancements, from the secure and managed intelligent devices at the edge, through gateways, across the network, and up into the cloud. Additionally, through the Wind River Titanium Cloud program, Wind River provides an ecosystem that helps ensure the availability of optimized, interoperable solutions that accelerate time-to-market for service providers and telecom equipment manufacturers deploying NFV infrastructure.

Qlik Helps Magma Fincorp Deliver Visual & Customer Behaviour Analysis Platforms

Magma, registered with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as an Asset Finance Company, has been operating successfully in India for over two decades, and is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange. Magma provides a range of financial products including financing of utility vehicles and cars, commercial vehicles, construction equipment, and many others. It also serves customers in the Affordable Housing Finance, General Insurance and Gold Loans segments. The company has around 450,000 customers with 274 branches across 21 states and one union territory, supported by close to 10,000 employees.

With massive amounts of data generated every day from many different sources, Magma was struggling to use Oracle and Microsoft Excel to manage and analyze data across its business. The company was spending an enormous amount of time and resources preparing static reports via Microsoft Excel, which did not provide rich insights for effective decision making. Magma realized it needed an alternative solution that empowers users to consume and analyze data in a faster, simpler, and more intuitive manner. Qlik is the only company that met its requirements, as it delivers a visual analytics platform that lets users see the whole story in their data through its unique associative model.

“We wanted to implement a Business Intelligence solution at the enterprise level in a fast manner and without waiting to have a traditional data warehouse in place. This posed the challenge of preparing data from disparate sources. Qlik provides our business users with an easy to use, searchable and quick to deploy platform to quickly and easily analyze and explore data. It also helps us spot trends, insights in seconds thus helping us to become more agile decision making. We are upbeat about Qlik’s latest innovations like the Qlik Analytics Platform, which will allow us to cater to the data analysis needs of thousands of Magma’s external agents on their mobile,” Manoj K Mishra, Vice President of Technology, Magma.

“We are very pleased with the strategic choice Magma has made in Qlik. We continue to see rising demand from companies that want to transform their business and increase their competitive edge with a powerful and flexible visual analytics platform. With Qlik’s powerful enterprise-class capabilities, organizations can successfully drive data-driven strategies and accelerate their businesses,” said Souma Das, Managing Director, Qlik India.

Ericsson Chosen for Idea’s 4G Rollout Across Various Indian Cities

Swedish telecom gear maker Ericsson has been selected by Idea Cellular to deploy 4G/LTE network in select circles and transform the firm’s existing 2G and 3G infrastructure.

The LTE deployment will cover Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, the North—East and Himachal Pradesh, which serve over 40 million subscribers.

The agreement also includes transformation of Idea Cellular’s existing mobile radio access and core network infrastructure across nine circles for 2G and five circles for 3G.

The company, however, did not disclose the financial details.

“The contract covers equipment, software and a range of professional services, including project management, systems integration and supervisory managed services for 4G/LTE across select circles for two years,” Ericsson said in a statement.

Idea, the country’s third-largest mobile operator, has launched 4G LTE services in eight telecom circles — Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, MP and Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Haryana and Odisha, and is looking to expand to 750 towns across 10 circles by June 2016.

“We are committed to offering our customers the best possible mobile experience. Transforming our 2G and 3G network will enable us to offer optimised mobile data and better smartphone performance while our LTE deployment will take the customer experience on Idea Cellular’s network to the next level,” said Idea Cellular CEO Himanshu Kapania.

Ericsson is present in all high-traffic LTE markets, including the US, Japan and South Korea, and is ranked first for handling global LTE traffic — 40 per cent of the world’s mobile traffic is carried over Ericsson network.

“The latest Ericsson Mobility Report shows that India added more mobile subscriptions than any other region in the third quarter of 2015. These subscribers are increasingly demanding better network quality and superior services,” said Ericsson India Head Paolo Colella.

Agencies