India See Dip in Funding But Eyes 10,500 Startups by 2020: Nasscom Zinnov Report

Even though the Indian startup ecosystem witnessed subdued funding in 2016, the year-on-year growth of startups getting funding grew by 8% in the same period, states a report by IT industry body Nasscom and research firm Zinnov.

Amidst the popular belief of the Indian startup ecosystem’s slowdown, India continues to harbor the third largest start-up base, marginally behind the UK as per the NASSCOM-ZINNOV start-up report titled“Indian Start-up Ecosystem Maturing – 2016”. The report further states that the ecosystem is poised to grow by an impressive 2.2X to reach more than 10,500 start-ups by the year 2020. The report was launched on the side-lines of NASSCOM Product Conclave 2016 in Bengaluru in the presence of C.P. Gurnani, Chairman, NASSCOM; R. Chandrashekhar, President, NASSCOM, Ravi Gururaj, Chairman, NASSCOM Product Council and Pari Natarajan, CEO, Zinnov.

Some of the notable findings of the report include; continued growth in the number of startups in 2016, with Bengaluru, NCR, and Mumbai continue to lead as the major start-up hub for the nation. In terms of vertical growth, investors are looking at domain like health-tech, fin-tech, and edu-tech. With a total funding of approximately US$4 billion, close to 650 start-ups were funded signifying an aware and healthy growth of the ecosystem.

R. Chandrashekhar, President, NASSCOM, said, “The total quantum of funding has come down to 30% during 2016. India has emerged as the third largest startup base and such ventures are poised to grow 2.2 times to reach 10,500 by 2020, despite a perception that the ecosystem in the country has slowed down in the last year."

The report states that the number of tech startups in India is expected to grow by 10-12%, to over 4,750 by the end of 2016, and will give employment to over 2,10,000 people.

"Technology startups are creating a new identity for India, and its technological prowess. Besides, solving India-centric problem these startups are also coming up with cutting edge solutions which are making a global impact," he adds.

When asked about the low ranking of India in the ease of doing business ranking, Nasscom President said it is a hugely worrying issue for the growth of startup ecosystem in the country. India ranks 130th position in terms of ease of doing business.

Ravi Gururaj, Chairman, NASSCOM Product Council, said, “The start-up landscape is undergoing great churn with fast-paced changes happening across the board. Owing to focused funding and a growing need of scaling up capabilities, Indian entrepreneurs will continue to attract global attention due to a perfect mix of talent, technology, traction and transactions. With Indian start-ups now churning out critical services and solutions for large multinationals, riding on the digital revolution which is encompassing the world; the situation for Indian start-ups is only going to get better.’

Further, according to the report, the number of tech start-ups in India is expected to grow by 10-12% to over 4,750 start-ups by the end of 2016. Interestingly over 1400 new startups have emerged in 2016 denoting that that the ecosystem is becoming prudent with both investors and start-up founders focusing on profitability and optimizing the overall spend. With this impetus, India will become home to over 10,500 start-ups by 2020, employing over 210,000 people reveals the report.

Furthermore, incubators and accelerators are playing a substantial role in strengthening the startup community throughout India. The report highlights the significant rise in number of accelerators to improve startups’ outcomes and provide them with a support that they require. With impetus from Government and Corporates, there is a 40% increase in the number of active incubators and accelerators in 2016 with over 140 active incubators, helping entrepreneurs experiment with new ideas by offering them functional expertise and resources. Over 30 new academic incubators have been established under the Government’s ‘Start-up India Stand-up India’ initiative this year. With the country showing signs of increased interest in entrepreneurship, Tier-II/III cities have established 66% of the new incubators.

Unbound by the fear of failure or downturns, a new breed of ‘young’ entrepreneurs is unleashing an incredible wave of start-up movement in the country. The report reveals an increased interest from student entrepreneurs this year. A remarkable growth of 25% has been witnessed in 2016 with 350+ start-ups founded by young students. Median age of start-up founders has reduced marginally from 32 years in 2015 to 31 years in 2016.

Talking about investments, the report states that investors are increasingly looking at opportunities in start-ups in areas other than online retailing. The sentiments are high for ventures in verticals like Fintech, Healthtech, Edutech, data analytics, B2B commerce and artificial intelligence.

NI & IBM Partner to Advance the Industrial Internet of Things

NI, the provider of platform-based systems that enable engineers and scientists to solve the world’s greatest engineering challenges, announced today that SparkCognition is partnering with NI and IBM to collaborate on the Condition Monitoring and Predictive Maintenance Testbed. The goal of the collaboration is to deliver an unprecedented level of interoperability among operational technology and informational technology as organizations search for better methods to manage and extend the life of aging assets in heavy machinery, power generation, process manufacturing and a variety of other industrial sectors.

In a new age of Big Analog Data solutions, users can take advantage of machine learning to harness value from information. They can collect raw data and derive insights to improve operations, equipment and processes. Users can also realize huge cost savings and competitive advantages as artificial intelligence-driven prognostics warn of component failures before they occur, identify suboptimal operating conditions and assist with root-cause analysis.

NI’s open, software-centric platform creates the foundation of the Condition Monitoring and Predictive Maintenance Testbed, which delivers on the opportunities present in machine learning. Customers can apply SparkCognition’s cognitive analytics to proactively avoid unplanned equipment fatigue and failure of critical assets; thus, enhancing system capabilities by gaining advanced insights into equipment health and remediation solutions. These capabilities help increase operational efficiencies and safety, and decrease maintenance costs.

“With IIoT technologies driving vast sensorization of industrial equipment, and massive amounts of data being collected on those assets, the collaboration between NI and SparkCognition powers the complex and intelligent processing of information to produce valuable insights,” said Stuart Gillen, director of business development at SparkCognition.

 “We are excited that our platform can acquire the data and extract the features to drive SparkCognition analytics for IIoT solutions,” said Jamie Smith, director of embedded systems at NI. “Combined with existing technologies in the testbed, the addition of SparkCognition presents new ways to help automate the process of turning sensor data into business insight.”

With this software-defined approach, viewing, managing and refining a broad range of assets stands in direct contrast to the traditional, fixed-functionality methods of the past, which often take too much time, rely on hard-to-find talent and require custom model building for each type of asset.

Nikon’s Array of COOLPIX Series 2016 to Add Spark to the Indian Festive Season

Nikon India, the 100% subsidiary of Nikon Corporation Tokyo, leaders in imaging technology is pleased to announce the launch of the Nikon COOLPIX Series 2016 to brighten season’s celebrations for our customers. The latest addition to Nikon’s extensive offering of point-and-shoot cameras is packed with remarkable new features to create a wonderful photography experience.

Each of the new seven cameras in this year’s COOLPIX series are marvellously designed through Nikon’s relentless pursuit of advanced quality combined with a youthful style and hi-tech innovation. The series offers a collection of a wide range of vibrant compact cameras, which enable you to capture and share your life’s moments effortlessly in all its hues. The cameras present striking capabilities to fulfil all desires of a passionate photographer.

The inspirational Nikon COOLPIX B700, B500, A900 and A300 are powerful image creation devices with the latest inclusion of the SnapBridge feature. This ensures that the COOLPIX series elevates the photographer’s journey with the availability of the all-time smart phone connectivity. Social snappers and visual connoisseurs are just a tap away from sharing and viewing their favorite videos on social media in 4K resolution, shot through the latest Nikon COOLPIX A900 and B700 featuring 4K ultra high definition video capturing capabilities.

Commenting on the announcement, Kazuo Ninomiya, Managing Director, Nikon India said, “We are indeed delighted to bring the new range of COOLPIX series this year. At Nikon, we continue to elevate the bar of technological enhancement and the availability of 120x dynamic zoom feature in B700 camera bears testament to this fact. The new devices in the COOLPIX series ensure that photography enthusiasts are able to capture India’s colorful, vivacious and diverse culture with new perspectives. The new series reaffirms Nikon’s aim of making the skilful art of digital photography accessible to all and the easy mobility of the devices enables them to take spectacular pictures without missing any precious moment.”

Sajjan Kumar, Senior Vice President – Corporate Sales and Strategy, Nikon India said, “At Nikon, we aim to address the ardent wishes of all photographers and the COOLPIX range of 2016 has been launched to foster their innovative skills. With the ever-increasing impact of social media, photography has established itself as the trendiest form of expression among the youth all across the country. Two of the new models also capture crisp details in 4K ultra high-definition. In congruence to this consumer demand, the COOLPIX 2016 series will be available across all Experience Zones in India at an affordable price range. The penchant style that COOLPIX brings makes the devices loved across all age groups, which makes these cameras the first choice amongst all photography enthusiasts.”

The new series includes seven new models in the COOLPIX Series, which comprises cameras with various features like W100 being a waterproof and shockproof compact digital camera. Its compact rounded design, large buttons and intelligent features such as Underwater Face Framing, ensure that every member of the family can capture high quality images and Full HD video at the press of a button. New creative options including Add Cartoon Effect, colorful Stamps and Frame Decorations also aid in cultivating an interest amongst younger users.

The B700 presents an advanced balance of mobility, zoom performance and imaging technology for a vast zoom range. Equipped as the most compact ultra-high-power 60x optical zoom, 120x Dynamic Fine Zoom camera in its class, the B700 with 20.3 megapixels backside-illumination CMOS image sensor enables its owner to capture vibrant scenes and portraits in sharp detail, both day and night.

Conveniently-sized with no compromise on image quality, the versatile B500 supports the reliable image capture of life’s best moments from pet photography, graduation holidays, to surprise celebrations.

With 40x optical zoom and 80x Dynamic Fine Zoom, vast vistas and precise close ups become a breeze to capture, all in a convenient size that is both functional and easy to handle for everyday use.

The A300 is equipped with Target Finding autofocus (AF) to ensure that desired subjects are always in focus. For video creation, HD movie recording is available in 720/30p format with a simple press of a dedicated movie-record button. Users with a preference for handheld shooting are supported by a 4-axis Hybrid VR system which aids in reducing the effects of camera shake for perfectly preserved video memories. Compact and simple without the frills, the A300introduces handy features to capture and frame holiday adventures and precious family times for great photographs. This initial camera in the new 2016 COOLPIX line-up features a reliable NIKKOR lens capable of 8x optical zoom to snap photos of scenic landscapes and fun group shots, video quality aided by 20.1 effective megapixels, HD movie .

Ideal for travelers, the A900 is the perfect small camera to slip in the backpack or a pocket for the user on the go. With 35x optical zoom and 70x Dynamic Fine Zoom, the camera ensures that the user is always poised to capture the perfect shot, whether watching the sun set on a beach, or soaking in a street carnival. For those looking to capture the tiniest details on their travels, the A900 also achieves sharp focus even in macro mode at a distance of approximately 1cm, recording in 720p format and a 16x Dynamic Fine Zoom^*3 for impressive, detailed close-ups all using the simple touch of a button.

The A10 balances functionality and fun for users looking for versatility and value in a camera. Made for all ages, it ensures great image quality and easy shooting with a 16.1 effective megapixels^*4 CCD sensor and a suite of intuitive features. Image creation is supported by a 5x optical zoom so users are never too far away from capturing exciting travel activities or a relaxing afternoon at the park, while also being assured of sharp, vibrant captures with the aid of high-performance NIKKOR lens and a blur-reduction function. These moments can also be preserved with HD movie recording in 720p format with the push of a dedicated movie-record button.

The 2016 COOLPIX range sees the introduction of a “Superlapse” movie function for COOLPIX B700 and A900. With this feature, still images saved from a recorded movie are automatically stitched into a 30 or 20fps fast-motion movie, even while recording in motion, allowing the user to experiment with creative composition or changing landscapes. In addition, bustling cityscapes or picturesque sunsets can be put together for an impressive time-lapse creation with the quick selection of a shooting scene.

The abovementioned seven new cameras are the addition to existing COOLPIX line up which includes, COOLPIX S700, COOLPIX L340, COOLPIX P900 and COOLPIX AW130.

New models MRP & Color variants:

1)      The Nikon COOLPIX B700 is available at MRP of Rs 23,950 across India and comes in black and red colors with a sophisticated and high-quality finishing touch.

2)      The Nikon COOLPIX B500 is available at MRP of Rs 15,950 across India and comes in the exciting colors of red, black and plum, giving the additional flair to an artistic expression.

3)      The Nikon COOLPIX A900 with its premium orthodox camera design comes in the colors of black and silver and is available across India at MRP of Rs 23,950.

4)      The Nikon COOLPIX A300 comes in the playful colors of red, black, silver, pink and decorative red at MRP of Rs 7,950 across India.

5)      The Nikon COOLPIX A10 comes in four stylish colors to capture memories: Red, Silver, Black and Purple

6)      Discover the fun and creativity with the new COOLPIX W100 at MRP of Rs 7,950 in colors of Blue, Yellow, White, Pink, and a new Marine-motif design, available across India.

7)      The A100 flaunts Silver, Black, Purple, Purple Design, Red colors at MRP of Rs 6,450, and is available across India.

Global IoT Summit on Realities and Road Ahead On Nov 9-10, 2016

India Electronics and Semiconductor Association (IESA), the premier trade body representing the Indian Electronic System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) industry, along with, The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE, Bangalore Chapter), with a mission to foster entrepreneurship globally, will be hosting the second edition of IoTNext to co-learn, discuss and debate current IoT (Internet of Things) deployment successes and challenges and as well as deliberate on the  next wave of IoT possibilities on November 9 and 10, 2016 at Hotel Sheraton, Bengaluru.

This year, with the theme “Realities and Road Ahead”, the Global IoT summit will include sessions and tracks on 'Industrial IoT/Industry 4.0’, 'Safe Nation', 'Smart Agriculture and Food', ‘Road Ahead for IoT' and ‘Innovations from India’. Companies like Samsung, Accenture, GE, IBM, Intel, NABARD and many more have already partnered with IoTNext in its 2016 journey. The event will host a developer’s workshop in parallel and showcase top 50 IoT startups from India. For the startup ecosystem, IoTNext will have a panel discussion on how the incubators and accelerators can help the IoT startups with a star cast of hardware/IoT accelerators like SINE (IIT Mumbai), IKP EDEN, NASSCOM Deity IoT CoE and as well as HAX. Benjamin Joffe, General Partner at HAX, the most successful IoT hardware accelerator will be at the event.

The billion dollar startup firm, General Electric will be presenting their IoT platform Predix, Mr. Harish Dave, Deputy Managing Director of NABARD will outline the role of technology in doubling farmer’s income and Cybersecurity for IoT will be explored with insights from Defcon and BlackHat.

 IoTNext will also recognize the most promising start-ups in the Safe Nation, Industrial IoT, Agriculture and Food, Medical/Healthcare and Automotive space. The last date for receiving nominations will be October 28, 2016.  

Applications need to be registered athttp://www.iotnext.org/awards. IoTNEXT 2016 is bringing together an esteemed list of global experts and decision makers from IoT focused system integrators, multinational entities, IT Services companies, network providers, industry leaders, research organizations, IoT startups/entrepreneurs and also, various government representative and decision makers for this two day summit to reflect on the IoT realities and explore possibilities for the future. The Road Ahead session will debate and discuss IoT platforms, cognitive and AI technologies for IoT and Low Power Wireless LAN solutions.

‘Digital India’, ‘Smart Cities’ and ‘Make in India’ are also taking big leaps with the Indian government’s aggressive to drive the growth and development of the nation. The India talent base is also ripe for IoT to take advantage of the IoT growth worldwide in the next 10 years, as it has done so effectively in the IT space.

Speaking about the event, M N Vidyashankar, President, IESA, said, “To ensure India’s leadership in the IoT space, we need to capitalize on the opportunities available in the domestic and global markets and compete with  companies on a global scale and  transform technology companies into successful product and platform developers.”

“Digitizing India is going to create immense opportunities for India’s technology companies, with emerging areas like Smart cities, Smart healthcare, Smart transportation, Smart agriculture etc. The change has started happening with IoT start-ups introducing and familiarizing the market with smart devices. We believe that this is the beginning of India’s IoT revolution. Hence, we expect IoTNext 2016 to identify   areas of growth, leading to a mature IoT ecosystem in the coming years,” he added.

“India is transforming into a digital economy, with IoT being the catalyst. There is no doubt IoT space is growing at an exponential rate and creating a thriving ecosystem around it. The startup culture is now imbibed into IoT sphere and we see 500+ startups adding momentum to the IoT space, particularly the product startups. The IoT Forum has been instrumental since 2014 to build this India IoT ecosystem. IoTNext is the platform to celebrate this success.The IoT Forum has a special focus on AgricTech and IoT Security. We will be formalizing an IoT security taskforce with the CISO platform. ” said Naganand Doraswamy, President TiE-Bangalore.

This event will also host The IoTNext 2016 Awards The awards session, jointly organised by IESA & TiE Bangalore, will focus on IoT Startups highlighting the most innovative IoT products and solutions developed in India. All India based local and global companies that have a direct/formal presence in India or conduct product development in India can participate. The Awards aim to promote and support startups and entrepreneurs in fabless semiconductor and electronic products in the IoT or connected devices space.

 Version 1.0 of IoTNext in December 2015 saw a full house with 750+ delegates, 50+ expert speakers from all around the globe, 50+ innovative IoT startups, MNCs, systems integrators, academicians, government officials and investors engaged over 2 full days. IoTNext was commended for a great mix of high-level overview of state of IoT affairs and vision with ground up, hands-on sessions on actual pilots and deployments. Sharad Sharma and the iSPIRT team launched IndiaStack at IoTNext 2015 and the first public presentation of IndiaStack was a much acclaimed session at the event. Please view the newsletter for IoTNext 2015.

Noteworthy guests for IoTNEXT 2016 include: Marc Carrel-Billiard, Managing Director of Global Technology RnD, Accenture; Shalini Kapoor, Distinguished Engineer at IBM and CTO - IoT Ecosystem Solutions; Sivakumar, Group Head, Agri & IT business, ITC; Sashikant Suryanarayan, CEO, SEDEMAC; and Dileep Mangsuli, CTO, GE Healthcare

TCL Unveils 65-Inch 4K UHD Smart TV on Amazon in India

The world's third-largest TV manufacturer and one of the top TV brand on Amazon, TCL announced its new 65 inch 4K Ultra HD LED Smart TV which is available in the Indian market in exclusive partnership with Amazon.in. Enjoy the Creative Life with the TCL 65” LED Ultra-High Definition Smart TV featuring next-generation 4K technology and a Smart TV platform. Bring UHD into the living room through 4K streaming with HEVC decoding, connecting 4K devices through 3 HDMI ports, or up scaling HD content.  Dual Band 802.11 2x2 Wi-Fi provides instant access to movies, TV shows, music, sports, and news through your favorite apps. TCL UHD televisions reproduce stunning details, all shades of light and natural colors for a truly immersive viewing experience, via 3840x2160 pixels (4x the numbers of pixels on Full HD TVs). It delivers a complete multimedia home theater experience with its endless Smart TV capabilities and breathtaking picture quality.

TCL’s 4K UHD TV represents singular focus on innovation that matters most to consumers, by providing the very best picture quality for the home at an affordable price.TCL gives highly value to the Indian market and expect to bring the premium products and services to the Indian consumers. In order to guarantee the best product quality, TCL exports complete TV sets to India even though it means higher cost compared with local assembly.

Television technology has evolved so much in the last couple of years that it’s easy to get confused between LEDs, LCDs, Smart TVs and the like. As per the Amazon recent report, TCL has become one of the top 3 brands in the TV category for the month of October. Under 32-inch product (TV) category, TCL 32D2900 TV has secured one of the top 3 products of this month. And TCL has become the top 1 brand for the larger screen category.

Commenting on the launch,  Praveen Valecha, Regional Director – TCL India, said, “We are revolutionizing the home entertainment experience with launch of our new 65” 4K UHD Smart LED Television range for the people to discover sharper and smarter cinematic and connected experience. TCL’s focus has always been on providing cutting edge technology at affordable prices. Our latest range further strengthens our commitment to this vision. With the latest range, users now have the best of the world technology and so many features loaded that they’re unlikely to find them all in one television. The attractive pricing further adds to the sheen because great technology must be accessible to millions. With the upcoming festive season and so many auspicious days, we expect a great response to the new TV range.”

Announcing the launch of this device in India, Mike Chen, Country Manager, TCL TMT said, “TCL 65 inch 4K UHD Smart LED TV is featuring an ultra-thin bezel with a modern chrome metallic silver finish, delivers more picture in a sophisticated ultra-slim frame design. Our best and brightest 4K Ultra HD television is proof of TCL’s continuing commitment to deliver the ultimate home entertainment experiences to our customers. We believe that streaming is the future of television. Consumers today want complete control over their entertainment and content consumption, which explains why a growing number of populations now own a smart TV.”

TCL 65 inch 4K Ultra HD Smart LED TV is powered by Cortex-A53 which is one of the most energy efficient and smallest 64-bit processors. The processor while being energy-efficient also delivers extraordinary performance comparable to a high-end smartphone. With the strong “2+2” CPU& “4+2”GPU chipset frame, P1 Series allows you to enjoy a faster and better smart world with great image experience.

Users can enjoy an exceptional streaming experience with popular TV shows and movie productions in their highest quality with GoLive, a global live HD online cloud service provider, for short buffering times with real-time updates. Fast is not fast enough with the motion estimation and motion compensation chip. The Mstar 64 bit MEMC chip is one of the best in the world, enhanced with TCL’s proprietary software algorithm, you can now experience every detail when viewing fast moving, action packed content.

4K Ultra HD: See everything in greater clarity with 4 times the amount of pixels than Full HD TVs. TCL’s UHD televisions deliver stunning details and an ultra-sharp picture quality for a truly immersive viewing experience. Enjoy breathtaking Ultra HD picture quality, with more than eight million pixels for enhanced clarity and detail, as well as the proprietary TCL Creative Pro 4K UHD Up scaling Engine, which allows consumers to view any HD content in near 4K quality.

HRD Technology: HDR delivers greater picture contrast, enhances image details and brings vivid colors to life. HDR signal is an upgrade to the current television programming signal-standard. With whole-process 4K HDR technology, interface, chassis, consequently delivering a wider brightness range.

Ultra Slim Design: Designed to be the envy of many, the segmented body looks slim and light. Framed to fit the creative life, with an overall thickness of 69.6mm, the thinnest part is only 12mm, the design is beautiful both inside and out.

Multiple Multimedia Format: The latest ASIC system adopted by TCL, forms an umbrella of support for a plethora of audio and video formats including the latest coding system, from antenna to USB and various other input channels. The TV supports MP3, WMA, Dolby AC3 and MPEG2, MPEG4 (H.264) Video Coding.

nScreen application: The TCL nScreen application lets users to use their smartphone or tablet as a remote control. It’s simple: just connect the Smart TV to the smartphone or tablet by Wi-Fi and will be able to share photos and videos to view on the superior TCL screen. View your phone's content on your big screen, relax, lean back and enjoy!

Put more TV into less space - The ultra-thin bezel allows the TV to fit more screen into less space, giving you that big picture experience without having to sacrifice screen or wall space. Framed to fit the creative life, the design is modern and neat, fitted with an alloy metal back cover and overall thickness of 69.6 mm with a 178 degree viewing angle, 4000:1 contrast ratio and 16:9 aspect ratios.

Pricing and Availability: The TCL 65” 4K Ultra HD P1 Smart LED TV will be available in India with a special Launch offer at Rs 79,999 on Amazon.in

Lenovo’s Commercial Desktops and Notebooks Feature 7th Gen AMD PRO Processors

Today at the Canalys Channels Forum, AMD debuted the Lenovo ThinkCentre M715 Tiny and ThinkPad E475 and E575, new commercial desktop and notebooks featuring 7th Generation AMD PRO APUs (formerly codenamed “Bristol Ridge PRO”). AMD PRO APUs are built for business, with robust security, reliability, and increased energy efficiency to help protect customers’ IT investments.

“These latest AMD PRO based-systems from Lenovo are optimized for business and deliver increased computing and graphics performance, at levels that meet the highest of customer expectations,” said Jim Anderson, senior vice president and general manager, Computing and Graphics Group, AMD. “These systems combine commercial-grade quality, performance, and stability, with excellent video and audio capabilities, helping ensure businesses are more productive and collaborative. We are thrilled to partner with Lenovo to bring this technology to companies and enterprises around the world.”

“Businesses today are constantly evolving, demanding better performance, security, manageability, and usability from their computers. This is why Lenovo provides innovation both inside and outside our commercial products and works with partners like AMD, who bring a similar focus on giving users the best experience possible,” said Bai Peng, vice president notebook business, PC & Smart Device Business Group at Lenovo. “The ThinkPad E475 and E575 notebooks and ThinkCentre M715 Tiny, based on the AMD PRO processor portfolio, enables businesses to deliver real-world performance and dependability optimized for business’ needs.”

 Enabled by 7^th generation AMD PRO processors the new Lenovo desktop and notebooks help ensure sensitive data and trusted applications remain secure with dedicated AMD Secure Processor technology. AMD PRO APUs meet users’ growing requirements by providing up to 14% more compute performance, up to 22% more graphic performance, and up to 32% more energy efficiency, than the previous generation AMD PRO processors. Open standards and CPU-agnostic DASH manageability allows IT departments to easily integrate and manage systems while the new AMD AM4 desktop infrastructure provides a stable and upgradable platform for the future.

New Lenovo ThinkCentre Desktop

Lenovo is breaking new ground with the ThinkCentre M715 Tiny. Despite being only one liter in size, the ThinkCentre M715 Tiny packs a punch. At 94% smaller than a traditional desktop tower, IT managers can place the tiny M715 almost anywhere with optional under desk, wall, and monitor back mounting options. The 35W 7^th generation AMD PRO processors were designed for ultra-small form factor PCs providing superb compute and graphics performance with excellent efficiency. For example, performance of the new AMD PRO A12-9800E is equivalent to the system performance of the prior generation AMD PRO A10-8750, at close to 1/3 of the power. The ThinkCentre M715 Tiny is a high performance, ultra-compact desktop that can be used almost anywhere.

New Lenovo ThinkPad Notebooks

The new thin and light ThinkPad E475 and E575 provide a superb mix of performance, mobility, and security. Weighing as little as 4.1lbs. (1.87kg) and measuring less than 1 inch (23.7mm) thin the new ThinkPad notebooks offer excellent mobility and excellent battery life for extended productivity. The E475 and E575 offer an outstanding user experience with AMD Radeon™ R5 M430 graphics, enhanced VOIP features, and improved microphones for excellent videoconferencing.

The Lenovo ThinkPad E475 and E575 will be available on November 7. The ThinkCentre M715 Tiny is available on October 31^.

Oxyent Technologies Wins the IBM Smartcamp for Health Tech 2016

IBM in association with T-Hub and Manipal Hospitals,  announced Oxyent Technologies as the winner of its IBM Smartcamp for Health Tech 2016 challenge, an exclusive program aimed at identifying Startups having  cutting edge innovations in the healthcare industry in India. UE Life Sciences and DailyRounds were second and third winners respectively. The event held on October 21, 2016 at T-Hub’s Catalyst building was a great opportunity for the participating startups to present their solutions to a panel of VCs, angel investors, enterprise CIOs, IBM executives and key influencers in the health care domain. The winners were felicitated by BVR Mohan Reddy, Former Chairman of Nasscom at the event.

 IBM SmartCamp, which was held in Hyderabad in association with T-Hub, India’s largest startup Ecosystem player and Manipal Hospitals, is a part of IBM’s Global Entrepreneur program initiative.  The event was aimed at identifying startups in the B2B and B2C space in India who are poised to redefine the healthcare industry through their technology innovations. The winners of IBM Smartcamp will be given access to IBM Cloud credits and can leverage the best of IBM technologies around Cognitive, Cloud, Analytics, Mobility, IoT and Infrastructure as a service. All participants will also get an opportunity to learn from IBM’s senior leadership and industry experts. After the great success of the IBM Smartcamp for Fin Tech challenge, the IBM Smartcamp for Health Tech invited startups which use innovative technology to scale their business and launch products to solve real world problems. 

“IBM Smartcamps are designed and aimed at providing opportunities for startups to get mentorship and work with IBM and industry experts to scale up their business quickly, particularly by taking advantage of cognitive and cloud-based technologies. The focus of IBM Smartcamp for Health Tech initiative was to provide the startups in healthcare an opportunity to showcase their products and get inputs first-hand from various stakeholders,” said Seema Kumar, Country Manager, Ecosystem Development, IBM India and SA. “At IBM, we are committed to empowering the next generation of start-ups that develop solutions to solve the most complex problems in the country. We are bullish on the potential of the Indian startup ecosystem to make effective use of technology to rapidly transform and improve the quality of healthcare solutions in the country.”

The winners were chosen after multiple level of screenings and panel rounds by the jury members. The winners were judged on various parameters like innovative solution, features & demos, ability to scale, team behind the product, and the market size they are addressing with their solution.

The winner of the IBM Smartcamp for Healthtech 2016, Harpreet Singh, Founder Oxyent Technologies said, "As an offering, we are engaged in developing affordable healthcare products focusing on improving the quality of health of children and providing decision support in their clinical practices. Enterprise technologies like IoT, cloud computing, big data and analytics are a pillar to our solution. IBM Global Entrepreneur program provided us free access to world class proven IaaS via Softlayer and best practices of PaaS in Bluemix. As a startup getting technical mentoring from IBM mentors in utilizing best practices in IoT and building on knowledge base of Watson will provide us an opportunity to be a world-class solution provider in child healthcare. The Smartcamp organized by the IBM Global Entrepreneur program provided us a platform to interact with top investors and healthcare domain mentors in India. The valuable insights on improving our offering and scale up techniques received from the mentors will makes us more viable for future investments.  We also had discussions with relevant people in the Healthcare for synergies. It was a fantastic experience we had throughout the Smartcamp and it is even more rewarding to be announced as a winner amongst the best Healthtech startups in India. We are also grateful to T-Hub for giving us such a great learning platform.”

Jay Krishnan, CEO T-Hub expressed, “We are excited to partner with Industry leaders such as IBM and Manipal Hospitals to facilitate events like the Heath Tech Smartcamp Challenge 2016. Such events will benefit startups in the ecosystem working in the area of healthcare innovation. Our mission overall is to lead sector specific collaboration between cutting edge startups and corporates looking for innovations in their domains.”

IBM Global Entrepreneur Program is a startup initiative by IBM which engages with the startups and provides them free cloud credits on IBM Cloud Solutions like Softlayer and Bluemix worth $24,000 for one year. With this initiative IBM also provides technical mentoring, assist the go to market and work with the accelerators of India. The primary focus for IBM through Smartcamp is to identifying the next gen Startups in different industries and helping them scale.

Next in line in the Smartcamp series is the Smartcamp for Smart City to be organized in New Delhi. IBM Global Entrepreneur program is accepting applications from B2B and B2C Startups less than 5 years having innovations around areas like Energy and Utility, Transportation, Sanitation, Water, Citizen Management, Safety and Surveillance. Agritech startups are also welcome. 

HR Staff Discuss Challenges & Opportunities to Manage People at Dun & Bradstreet India- People Leader’s Summit, 2016

 Dun & Bradstreet, the world’s leading provider of global business information, knowledge and insights, succesfully organized “Dun and Bradstreet India- People Leaders’ Summit, 2016” at The Lalit Ashok,  Bangalore on Tuesday October 25, 2016.

The Summit was attended by esteemed mid and senior level HR Professionals and corporate leaders from Indian as well as International organizations. The summit sought to draw insights and share views of HR professionals on the challenges and opportunities related to managing people in the VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity) world.

Speaking on the occasion, Preeta Misra, Director- Learning Solutions, Dun and Bradstreet India, said, “Talent management is the top agenda for business. Millenials are defining the work place strengths. The people team should be involved in all critical activities of an organisation.”

Elaborating on VUCA World,  Amit Chatterjee, Managing Director, Sartorius India Group, said “Growth is a function of our investment in complexity. Individuals makes a choice/decisions companies don’t.In the VUCA world, we need to focus on individuals. When you develop strategy two things are important- implement and have people execute with ownership. We need to take care of perceived needs of employees across all generations, either let them grow inside or for people not wanting to changing let them growoutside the organisation.”

Further throwing light on the professional world, Pavan Kumar, Managing Director, Altair Engineering said “Millennial motivated to fulfill their creative urges. A youngster entering into professional world changes 7 jobs, of which, 5 does not exists. Millennials are motivated to fulfill their creative urges. One should sensitize the management/people to that. Over and above, the main aim should be to work towards mentoring people.”

The Summit concluded with the panel discussion. The eminent panel comprised of Mr. Anup Lewis, Director-HR, Schneider India Private Limited; Ruben Selvadoray, Director- HR, DBOI Global Services Private Limited; Vibha Shukla, Director and Head- HR, SAP India; Srijata Sengupta, Director – Talent Strategy, Accenture – India; Krity Sharma, Head- People, Tesco, Bengaluru; Sashi Kumar, India Head, Indeed.com; Dr. (Lt. Col.) John Chenetra, Chief Operating Officer, Verifacts. And Mathivanan Elangovan, VP and Head Learning, Development, Sify Technologies Ltd.

Personalize Your Diwali Greetings With n-Gage Stickers & Doodles

Diwali, the festival of lights is the most celebrated festival and is the ideal time to meet and greet people whilst exchange greetings and sweets and spread happiness As many of us prepare to celebrate Lord Rama’s victory over Ravana and his return from exile, this year we can mark new beginnings and strengthen our relationships with n-gage.

n-gage, the most Playful and Private messenger has created specially designed greeting cards and stickers for its users to wish their family and friends. Traditional methods of sending greeting cards may have vanished, but in today’s tech savvy generation we have apps that enable us to send electronic greetings cards and stickers. n-gage takes this concept a step further by giving its users the ability to customize their greeting cards and stickers by adding an audio clip, image or hand writing their messages.

The greeting cards and stickers can be personalized by adding an audio clip to reflect your mood on this auspicious occasion.

Ajit Patel, CEO and Founder of n-gage said “We have been in the forefront of innovation with our lifestyle messenger n-gage from the beginning and have been very user centric in our approach. Diwali is a time for us to be close to our family and friends, whilst continue to share moments of togetherness. With the features created within n-gage for sending messages, users will be able to add their personal touch to the greeting cards or stickers they decide to send as a gift to their loved ones this festive season.” 

So, this Diwali why not wish your loved ones using different ways to communicate on n-gage in over 45 different languages. What’s more, when you are lost for words, try Doodle Plus on n-gage. With an extensive color palette, you can draw, sketch and add festive accessories to your chats.

Users can even share their specially designed greeting cards, stickers and doodles to friends and family on various other social platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Emails and SMS, regardless of whether the other person has downloaded the app.*

n-gage enriches user experience by providing features that help you stay connected with loved ones regardless of whether they have a smartphone or not.  The app is available for use on Android, iOS, PC and tablet. Go on; bring out your playful side this festive period with n-gage, the playful messenger.

Smart Phone Like Features for Mahindra’s New EV e2oPlus

By Manu Sharma

India’s pioneer in Electric Vehicles (EV), Mahindra & Mahindra is looking for a bigger play in this segment with the launch of the e2oPlus. The company have loaded e2oPlus with features like a modern-day smartphone that can be powered remotely.

A smartphone app provides information of the car’s status on the battery charge, and even sends a reminder for its various functions. One can remotely lock and unlock the car, start and stop charging, turn the car on and off, switch the air conditioning on and off and even set a schedule using the smartphone app.

Talking to this media, Dharmendra Mishra, Vice President, Head Sales, Marketing and Consumer Care of Mahindra Electric says, “e2o has been designed looking at the present technology lifestyle the youth are used to and so to meet their requirements have packed the car with all modern features.”

Infact, to reduce noise and air pollution in major cities across India, the government is aggressively planning to roll out over 50 lakh electric and hybrid vehicles on Indian roads in the next three years. Mahindra Electric is the only company to roll out pure EV cars in India and has sold about 1.350 cars in Bengaluru, its major market in India.

At the core of the e2oPlus is a collection of connected features that have been developed to make the car both easier and more enjoyable to drive and maintain. Whether it’s remote diagnostics through telematics monitors the e2o on a daily basis giving instant diagnosis of any existing or impending problems or even planning a route, checking the health of the car or remotely cooling the car, the e2oPlus seamlessly integrates technologies to offer functionality and is aptly designed for easy urban computing.

The EV is certainly set to “Redefine the Future of Mobility” as Arvind Mathew, CEO of Mahindra Electric puts it. E2o, the 4-door variant is equipped with a GPS enabled navigation system and an on-board computer that warns you about the car's driving range. The touch-screen monitor is easy to use and very responsive. “The e2oPlus is one of the more advanced cars on Indian roads, with smartphone-controlled features, GPS navigation system and a dashboard-mounted touchscreen, keyless entry, start/stop button, and regenerative braking,” he adds.

The e2oPlus also gets an SOS feature called revive which is being carried over from the e2o that gives you an additional range of 7-10 km if your battery power dips below 10 per cent. This can be activated by a touch of a button or by using

the e2oPlus app on your smart phone besides the mobile app also hosts other features like switching on/off the car's air conditioning, advance infotainment system and even locking/unlocking the car has also made the car smarter.

There are other ingenious technologies that have been incorporated in the e2o such as Sun2Car, and regenerative braking system that further boost the car's range. The Sun2Car, for instance, allows people to charge the e2o using solar energy while it's parked. The regenerative braking technology puts energy back into the car’s batteries and charges them every time the brake is applied or the accelerator is not pressed.

Mahindra e2o is manufactured through processes that do not pollute from the design stage in India's first Platinum certified automobile plant. The facility itself is naturally lit and ventilated, uses LED lights, recycles, gets 35 percent of its power from solar panels and is claimed to be 60-70 percent more efficient than a conventional facility.

Specifications

The car has a lithium-ion battery pack that takes five hours for a full charge  and fast charging takes about 90 minutes. On a full charge, the car can travel for upto 140 km and can achieve a speed of 85 km/hr. Powered by the latest electric drive technology, the e2o can effortlessly cruise through the city traffic.

The car is priced between Rs 6.73 lakh and Rs 9.51 lakh (ex-showroom Bengaluru). The e2oPlus has four variants - P2, P4, P6, and P8. The P4 is priced at Rs 6.73 lakh, P6 at Rs 7.31 lakh and P8 at Rs 9.51 lakh (ex-showroom Bengaluru). However, the company did not disclose the price of its P2 variant, which it said is for fleet owners.