Recent IT Layoffs was Sad, Says Infosys Founder Narayana Murthy

Founder Chairman of Infosys N R Narayana Murthy today expressed sadness over the IT companies laying off their employees as part of their cost cutting strategy.

"...It is sad...," Murthy told in an email reply to a PTI query about recent IT layoffs. Murthy, however, did not elaborate on the matter.

Infosys had announced that it could hand out pink slips to hundreds of mid and senior-level employees as it carries out bi-annual performance review amid a challenging business environment.

The development comes at a time when its peers Wipro and Cognizant are taking similar measures to control costs.

The US-based Cognizant had rolled out a voluntary separation programme for directors, associate VPs and senior VPs, offering them 6-9 months of salary.

Wipro, too, is learnt to have asked about 600 employees to leave as part of its annual "performance appraisal" even as speculations were that the number could go as high as 2,000.

According to executive search firm Head Hunters India, the job cuts in IT sector will be between 1.75 lakh and 2 lakh annually for next three years due to under-preparedness in adapting to newer technologies.

A report submitted by McKinsey & Company at the Nasscom India Leadership Forum said, nearly half of the workforce in the IT services firms will be "irrelevant" over the next 3-4 years.

IT companies have been one of the largest recruiters in the country. However, they have warned that increasing automation of processes would lead to reduction in hiring in coming years.

While the outsourcing model has placed India on the global map, increasing scrutiny and rising protectionist sentiment are also posing challenges for the USD 140 billion Indian IT industry.

Companies are now working towards reducing their dependence on work visas and instead hiring more locals to ensure continuity of work for clients, even though it impacts their margins. 

Agencies

NXP India Technical Symposium 2017 Provides Platform for Nurturing Innovation

NXP India; a world leader in secure connectivity solutions for embedded applications; recently concluded its technical symposium, with hundreds of enthusiastic attendees across multiple NXP sites in India. The symposium highlighted the key trends which are driving the company’s growth such as Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), Internet of Things (IoT), security, automotive, and payments. The inaugural edition of the event was attended by NXP Global leaders such as Lars Reger, Senior Vice president and Chief Technology Officer for Automotive, Richard House, Vice President, Digital Networking Software, and Chris Collins, Senior Vice President, Product and Technology Enablement.

During the three-day symposium, leaders shared their insights on the automotive industry and emphasized on the importance of innovation. There were different themes on each day, from paper presentations on key innovations to special technical presentations from tech streams to global market insights and trends by the global leaders to name a few. Further, a panel discussion was organized on IoT security that was driven and conducted by NXP global leaders and industry experts across India. The leaders discussed various aspects of IoT and highlighted the importance of secured connectivity for the IoT revolution to grow. Furthermore, Prof. M. Balakrishnan, Deputy Director (Strategy & Planning), Professor, Department of Computer Science & Engineering, IIT Delhi, gave the key-note speech on ASSISTECH: Technology Solutions for the Mobility & Education of the Visually Impaired. It highlighted the key role technology plays in improving the life of the differently-abled.

Speaking about the occasion, Sanjay Gupta, Vice President and India Country Manager said: “We were happy to host the Tech Symposium for our talented engineers and grateful to the entire NXP leadership team for their encouragement and immense support. The symposium aimed at providing a platform for our technical community to share knowledge, showcase niche technological developments, mutual learnings and explore avenues for nurturing innovation across multiple levels”.

NXP is a leader in high-performance mixed-signal semiconductor electronics, with innovative products and solutions, and leadership positions in automotive, broad-based microcontrollers, secure identification, network processing and RF power. A top semiconductor solutions supplier to the automotive industry, NXP also has leading positions in automotive infotainment, networking and safety systems. NXP has a broad customer base, serving more than 25,000 customers through its direct sales channel and global network of distribution channel partners.

NXP recently announced its financial results for the first quarter that ended in April 2, 2017, delivering solid seasonal results, with a revenue of $2.21 billion. The first quarter results are a strong step towards the successful integration of Freescale and NXP. With the divestment of NXPs Standard Products group, the overall product portfolio has a sharpened focus on higher growth, desirable margins, and stickier market segments.

Infosys and HP Announce Strategic Alliance to Accelerate Digital Transformation for the Enterprise

Infosys and HP Inc. have launched joint Retail Point of Sale (RPOS) and Enterprise Device as a Service (DaaS) solutions to help businesses accelerate digital transformation as part of the HP Global System Integrator (GSI) Alliance Program. 

The joint RPOS solution offers a digital approach across the supply chain, enabling real-time collaboration between shoppers, retailers and vendors at the point of purchase, providing a true omni-channel experience. The joint Enterprise Device as a Service solution defines and delivers technology-enabled transformations that optimize how organizations acquire, manage and use devices with end-to-end services, enterprise applications, fleet reporting, analytics, insights and more.

“Together, HP and Infosys can improve end-customer experience, while forging deeper, more valuable relationships with joint customers across industries, enabling them to embark on their own business reinvention journeys,” said Jon Flaxman, Chief Operating Officer, HP.

“The launch of the RPOS and Enterprise DaaS solutions validates our joint vision with HP for revolutionizing the retail industry through constant innovation, and deep analytics,” said Sandeep Dadlani, President and Head of Americas, Infosys. “Digital transformation is being steadily embraced by businesses and as this transformation evolves further, we will continue our focus to create newer experiences across industry segments.”

About the HP Global System Integrator (GSI) Alliance Program

In today’s world of rapid technological innovation, companies in every industry must take bold measures to stay competitive amidst constant change. Adopting new technologies is simple in theory, but bedeviling in practice. Companies are dealing with challenges greater than just IT considerations, including broader supply chain, manufacturing and transportation hurdles. 

The HP GSI program has enabled HP and select leading Global System Integrators to co-develop breakthrough solutions available in a choice of consumption models, mirroring the migration from purely transactional to everything as-a-service. The program reinforces HP as vendor of choice for the tools of digital transformation and provides customers the expert guidance they need to thrive on their transformation journey.

Trend Micro to Host Third Annual Capture the Flag Competition in Tokyo

Trend Micro Incorporated, a global leader in cybersecurity solutions, today announced it will host Trend Micro CTF 2017 - Raimund Genes Cup, the third annual Capture the Flag (CTF) cybersecurity competition. Trend Micro CTF targets young professionals in the cybersecurity industry to enhance their practical skills in areas such as cybercrimes, targeted attacks, Internet of Things (IoT) and Industrial Control Systems (ICS).

“Our goal is to support and strengthen the skillset of professionals entering the industry to better prepare and protect against today’s most pressing threats,” said Eva Chen, chief executive officer for Trend Micro. “To accomplish our mission of making the digital world safer for everyone, we must support engineers in developing and stretching their cybersecurity knowledge in these specific, relevant areas.”

The competition comprises an online qualifying event and finals held in Tokyo, Japan. The online qualifier is in a “Jeopardy” format, challenging players to solve challenges in various categories, such as SCADA, IoT and targeted attacks. The top ten teams from the online qualifier will advance to compete in the final, which will be played with a combination of “attack and defense” and Jeopardy formats. The final winning team will be awarded JPY 1,000,000 (approximately US$8,700), Zero Day Initiative Rewards Program points, and automatic qualification for HITCON CTF 2017 Final to be held in Taipei, Taiwan.

Trend Micro CTF 2017 - Raimund Genes Cup - Online Qualifier

·  Dates: June 24-25, 2017 (Game starts at 12:00 a.m. ET, June 24, 2017)

·  Requirements: Participants must be at least 20 years old

·  Format: Jeopardy

·  Venue: Online

·  Team registration: May 23-June 25, 2017

Trend Micro CTF 2017 - Raimund Genes Cup - The Final

·  Dates: November 11-12, 2017 (JST)

·  Requirements: The top ten teams from the online event will qualify and receive travel support for attending the finals. Additionally, winners from Egypt National CTF will compete. Each team may have a maximum of four players.

·  Format: A combination of Attack and Defense and Jeopardy

·  Venue: BELLESALLE Nishi Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan

Prizes:

·  First Place Team:

o    JPY1,000,000 (approximately US$8,700) per team

o    15,000 Zero Day Initiative Rewards Program points per player (these points result in eligibility for benefits, including a one-time bonus of US$2,000)

o    Automatic qualification for HITCON CTF 2017 Final to be held in Taipei, Taiwan

·  Second Place Team:

o    JPY300,000 (approximately US$2,600) per team

·  Third Place Team:

o    JPY200,000 (approximately US$1,700) per team

To register for the online qualifier and for more information about Trend Micro CTF 2017 - Raimund Genes Cup, please visit:www.trendmicro.com/tmctf.

Indiabulls Group Forays Into LED Lighting; Aims for 2-3% Market Share in 2017-18

Indiabulls Group, India’s leading business house with interests in Real Estate, Infrastructure, and Housing Finance has forayed into the LED lighting business.  

Indiabulls Group, continuing with its legacy of constantly reinventing itself, has ventured into the LED lighting business in B2B space, which is currently estimated to be at Rs 6500 Crores market in India. The new venture will be branded as “IB LED” and is getting launched to cater B2B Professional LED Lighting needs in the country.

The new venture would be focusing on LED Professional Lighting for offices, malls, showrooms, factories, industries and housing societies, offering a wide range of LED lighting solutions, with up to 7 years’ warranty.

Speaking about the new venture, Partha Banik, President of IB LED business, said “Indiabulls Group is one of the most dynamic and aggressive business houses in the country and has generated significant shareholder value since inception. The LED lighting business is a natural extension of what we are currently doing. We aim to be amongst the top three LED lighting companies in the country in B2B space with innovative products, solution and creating best lighting experience for our customers. IB LED will be present across all major geographies in India.

We see LED Lighting business as a Service business. With an aim to ease the ‘SWITCH’ from conventional Lighting to LED Lighting, we are offering LED lighting fixtures at Zero upfront cost and pay from the savings of electricity bill over the next 2 years.

IB LED will offer great value proposition for the institutional customers in Office Lighting, Retail Lighting, Industrial Lighting, Outdoor Lighting, City Beautification and Consumer Lighting. The products are designed by in house Product Design and Development Team and manufactured in India, under strict quality assurance to deliver high performance, energy efficient, aesthetically good looking, reliable products to ensure best and zero defect quality products that will be long lasting. IB LED solutions can also be integrated with digital and iot platforms.”

Dun & Bradstreet India- People Leaders’ Summit, 2017 Successfully Held in Bangalore

Dun & Bradstreet, the world’s leading provider of global business information, knowledge and insights, in association with SAP and Skylark, successfully organized “Dun & Bradstreet India- People Leaders’ Summit, 2017” in Bangalore. 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 ‘Building a Culture to Win’.

Speaking on the occasion, Jayashree Ramaswamy, Chief Financial Officer & Company Secretary, Dun n Bradstreet India, said “No company, small or large, can win over the long run without energized employees, who believe in the mission of the organization and how to achieve it, hence the importance of building culture to win for achieving business excellence.”

Elaborating on building the right organization culture, Moushumee Basu Roy, Head- SuccessFactors, SAP India Pvt Ltd. said “A winning culture in the digital era is about engaged employees through modern performance technologies and actionable insights, using ‘simple-to-use, simple-to-run and simple-to-succeed’ HR solutions platforms.”

Further throwing light on the Talent Management, Pavan Kumar, Managing Director, Altair Engineering India said “My talk is a simplistic take on a complex subject. I call them the 5 commandments—articulate your vision well and repeat it often; remember that today’s generation is built on immediate gratification; criticism to be in private and praises to be in public; wide and open communication; and open door policy—of running the company. It starts with a clear understanding of the vision of the company and progresses towards the actual running of the company.”

Chandru Kalro, Managing Director, TTK Prestige Limited also expressed his views and provided insights on how to build a culture within an organization to achieve desired goals.

The Summit concluded with the panel discussion. The eminent panel comprised of Richa Dubey, Director- HR, Schneider India Private Limited; Rituparna Chakraborty, Co-Founder and EVP, TeamLease Services Limited; Sumathi Sampath, Head- Talent Acquisition, Infosys BPO Limited; Amit Kumar, Head – Total Rewards, 3M India Limited and Sujitesh Das, Head- Human Resource, Microland Limited.

IT Sector will Create 25 Lakh Jobs in Next 5 Years: IT Minister

Dismissing reports of a downturn in employment in the country’s IT industry, Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Tuesday said that in the coming four to five years, almost 20 to 25 lakh additional jobs will be created in the sector.

“I completely deny and refute that there is any downturn in the employment in the IT sector. It is robust. Once the digital economy is here, you will see how much it will progress,” the minister said in a press conference convened to highlight the ministry’s achievements in the past three years. 

“Indian IT companies are spread across 200 cities and 80 countries around the world, which provide direct employment to 40 lakh people and indirect employment to almost 1.3 crore people. As the industry is moving forward, it is Nasscom’s assessment that in the coming four to five years, almost 20-25 lakh additional jobs will be created,” he added.

The government is also creating new jobs in the IT sector by setting up more Common Service Centres, launching new schemes under the Digital India programme and opening rural BPOs in semi-urban areas, he said. 

The minister said that in the next five to seven years, India’s digital economy will be worth an estimated $1 trillion, which is almost Rs 600 lakh crore.

In 2016-17, the IT industry added 1.7 lakh new jobs. In the last three years, almost six lakh people have been employed in our IT sector,” he said, adding that the Nasscom said 25 to 30 lakh new jobs will be created by 2025 in the sector. 

Indian IT companies currently serve two-thirds of the Fortune 500 companies and have created 40 lakh direct jobs in India, the ministry said in a statement.

India’s total software production market grew at 9.5% in 2016-17, to reach $ 7 billion, and exports grew 7.8% to reach $2.3 billion. India’s overall domestic IT/BPO sector is expected to grow at 8.5% from 35 billion in 2016, to an anticipated $37 billion in 2017.

Agencies

Samsung’s New QLED TV to help its Premium Segment Grow from 48% to 60% in 2017

Samsung Electronics has launched its flagship premium line-up of QLED TVs in India and showcased its innovative TV, The Frame, with 100 per cent Colour Volume. These QLED TVs will be available in three series, Q9, Q8 and Q7, in 55 inches (138 cm), 65 inches (163 cm), 75 inches (189 cm) and 88 inches (223 cm), starting May 2017. QLED TVs will be priced between Rs 3,14,900 and Rs 24,99,900.

Announcing the national launch of QLED, HC Hong, President and CEO, Samsung Southwest Asia said, 'Samsung’s QLED TVs are ushering in a new era of televisions, with innovations that are ahead of their time. These televisions reflect our global ambition. Samsung has been the world’s biggest television brand for the last 11 consecutive years. We are also India’s top television brand for the last decade and the most trusted brand in the consumer electronics category.'

He said that consumers can pre-book their QLED TVs between May 2 and May 21 to avail the special pre-book offer of a free Samsung Galaxy S8 plus (Gold). 'QLED TV, powered by Samsung’s quantum dot technology, provides true-to-life images that no other TV can match. It empowers you to think about the television in a new way, bringing art and entertainment into new parts of your home. The QLED TV is as beautiful when turned off as it is when it’s on and will help us grow the demand for premium TVs as well as our market share in India even further,' said Rajeev Bhutani, Vice President, Consumer Electronics Business, Samsung India. QLED TVs have been designed with the consumer in mind and focus on addressing three key consumer pain points through solutions known as Q Picture, Q Style and Q Smart.

He said we have a 48% market share in the premium TV segment i.e. above 55 inches in India and now with this launch, we will grow our share to 60% by the end of 2017.

The ‘TV of Light’, a name given to Samsung QLED TV for its delivery of optimal brightness levels and stunning visual experience, is ushering in a new era of televisions and transforming the living room of tomorrow with its focus on the lifestyle TV concept. According to him,QLED TVs achieve 100 per cent Colour Volume, the HDR 2000 functionality brings out hidden details, an Invisible Connection keeps your living room clutter free and One Remote Control offers an intuitive experience.

Along with these, the No Gap Wall-mount and the optional easel-like Studio Stand light up the aesthetics of your home. Fusing a slim, sleek and premium metal body with a nearly bezel-less display, QLED TVs set the tone for exceptional sophistication.

On the occasion, Samsung also showcased its newest innovation – The Frame. Instead of fading to black like a conventional TV, The Frame’s display transforms into a work of art, letting users select from a collection of more than 100 art pieces in 10 different categories, including landscape, architecture, wildlife, action, drawing and more. Paired with numerous options for art layouts and colours, as well as customisable accessory options including interchangeable bezels and an optional Studio Stand, it truly complements the user’s living space.

Infosys Joins the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance for Blockchain

Infosys recently joined the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance that connects Fortune 500 enterprises, start-ups, academics and technology vendors with Ethereum subject matter experts. With rapidly growing interest from across industries, including insurance, pharma, retail, energy, utilities and services sectors to adopt blockchain in an enterprise, this is an important step in Infosys’ journey of working with leading platforms and collaboratively developing this technology with its clients.

As a global leader in technology services and consulting, Infosys proactively invests in emerging technologies and innovation-led thinking with a promise to deliver consistent value to its customers. Many years of blockchain research, development and prototyping have validated the long-held belief that a collaborative approach yields the best results.

 With Infosys’ array of proof-of-concept projects across industry sectors and in financial markets in particular, Ethereum is an extremely promising architecture for smart contracts, scalability, and network security. This allows Infosys to develop robust standards and capabilities enabling this technology to reach its full potential.

Sanjay Agrawal Appointed New Director, Platforms and Solution Group at Hitachi Data Systems India

Hitachi Data Systems Corporation (HDS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. has announced the appointment of Sanjay Agrawal as director of Platforms and Solutions Group, Hitachi Data Systems India. Sanjay will be responsible for the technical direction at HDS and will lead a team of solutions-focused business consultants and technical experts in India to help customers realize business transformation. With over 28 years of industry experience, Sanjay will further strengthen the India Presales team into a niche HDS specialist community to enhance collaboration and share expertise across different regions in India.

“We are very excited to have Sanjay Agrawal as part of our team. His diverse experience across vertical industries, connected with his knowledge in third and fourth platform technologies is critical to our business in 2017 and beyond. Digital transformation and IoT are intertwined and his unique experience will help accelerate our customers’ transformations to leverage data and drive business outcomes,” said Vivekanand Venugopal, Vice President and General Manager for India, Hitachi Data Systems.

”Sanjay’s appointment is a commitment towards our customers to accelerate their digital transformation journey,’’ said Russell Skingsley, Chief Technology Officer, Asia Pacific. ’’With his expertise, Sanjay will further enable the team at HDS India to enhance our cloud, hybrid IT, big data analytics, mobility, IoT and smart cities capabilities.’’

Sanjay brings with him 28 years of industry experience. Prior to joining Hitachi Data Systems, he worked for Hewlett Packard Enterprise for 19 years where he was responsible for various strategic and leadership roles. His last project involved successfully transforming the presales team for next-generation consultative selling, particularly on emerging trends and technologies.

Cisco Survey Reveals Close to Three-Fourths of IoT Projects Are Failing

IDC predicts that the worldwide installed base of Internet of Things (IoT) endpoints will grow from 14.9 billion at the end of 2016 to more than 82 billion in 2025. At this rate, the Internet of Things may soon be as indispensable as the Internet itself.

Despite the forward momentum, a new study conducted by Cisco shows that 60 percent of IoT initiatives stall at the Proof of Concept (PoC) stage and only 26 percent of companies have had an IoT initiative that they considered a complete success. Even worse: a third of all completed projects were not considered a success.

“It’s not for lack of trying,” said Rowan Trollope, Senior Vice President and General Manager, IoT and Applications, Cisco. “But there are plenty of things we can do to get more projects out of pilot and to complete success, and that’s what we’re here in London to do.”

Cisco released the findings at IoT World Forum (IoTWF), an event where Cisco convenes the industry’s best, brightest and most passionate leaders with the goal of accelerating IoT. We surveyed 1,845 IT and business decision-makers in the United States, UK, and India across a range of industries — manufacturing, local government, retail/hospitality/sports, energy (utilities/oil & gas/mining), transportation, and health care. All respondents worked for organizations that are implementing and/or have completed IoT initiatives. All were involved in the overall strategy or direction of at least one of their organization’s IoT initiatives. The goal was to gain insight into both the successes as well as the challenges that are impacting progress.

Key Findings:

1 - The “human factor” matters. IoT may sound like it is all about technology, but human factors like culture, organization, and leadership  are critical. In fact, three of the four top factors behind successful IoT projects had to do with people and relationships:
              - Collaboration between IT and the business side was the #1 factor, cited by 54 percent.
              - A technology-focused culture, stemming from top-down leadership and executive sponsorship, was called key by 49 percent.
              - IoT expertise, whether internal or through external partnership, was selected by 48 percent.

In addition, organizations with the most successful IoT initiatives leveraged ecosystem partnerships most widely. They used partners at every phase, from strategic planning to data analytics after rollout.
Despite the strong agreement on the importance of collaboration among IT and business decision-makers, some interesting differences emerged:

- IT decision-makers place more importance on technologies, organizational culture, expertise, and vendors.
- Business decision-makers place greatest emphasis on strategy, business cases, processes, and milestones.
- IT decision-makers are more likely to think of IoT initiatives as successful. While 35 percent of IT decision-makers called their IoT initiatives a complete success, only 15 percent of business decision-makers did.

2. Don’t Go It Alone. Sixty percent of respondents stressed that IoT initiatives often look good on paper but prove much more difficult than anyone expected. Top five challenges across all stages of implementation: time to completion, limited internal expertise, quality of data, integration across teams, and budget overruns. Our study found that the most successful organizations engage the IoT partner ecosystem at every stage, implying that strong partnerships throughout the process can smooth out the learning curve.

“We are seeing new IoT innovations almost every day,” said Inbar Lasser-Raab, VP of Cisco Enterprise Solutions Marketing. “We are connecting things that we never thought would be connected, creating incredible new value to industries.  But where we see most of the opportunity, is where we partner with other vendors and create solutions that are not only connected but also share data. That shared data is the basis of a network of industries – sharing of insights to make tremendous gains for business and society, because no one company can solve this alone.”

3. Reap the Benefits.  When critical success factors come together, organizations are in position to reap a windfall in smart-data insights.

Seventy-three percent of all participants are using data from IoT completed projects to improve their business. Globally the top 3 benefits of IoT include improved customer satisfaction (70%), operational efficiencies (67%) and improved product / service quality (66%). In addition, improved profitability was the top unexpected benefit (39%)

4. Learn from the failures. Taking on these IoT projects has led to another unexpected benefit: 64 percent agreed that learnings from stalled or failed IoT initiatives have helped accelerate their organization’s investment in IoT.

Despite the challenges, many in our survey are optimistic for the future of IoT — a trend that, for all its forward momentum, is still in its nascent stages of evolution. Sixty-one percent believe that we have barely begun to scratch the surface of what IoT technologies can do for their businesses.

VLCC and CMFRI Wins Exclusive License for CMFRI-Developed Cadalmin ACe Extract

VLCC, a leader in beauty and wellness industry in India, today announced that it has signed a license agreement with theCentral Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), the premier Kochi-based marine research establishment of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Government of India, for exclusive rights to manufacture, market and use Cadalmin Antihypercholesterolemic (Cadalmin ACe) extract. This marine algae based nutraceutical product has been developed after years of intensive research by CMFRI and has been found to be effective in combating dyslipidemia and obesity.

As per CMFRI’s research, Cadalmin Ace provides a unique blend of 100 per cent natural marine bioactive ingredients from selected seaweeds known for their extraordinary medicinal properties, with an eco-friendly ‘green’ technology.VLCC will have the exclusive rights to manufacture and market Cadalmin Ace nutraceutical. VLCC has GMP certified manufacturing facilities in India and Singapore.

This nutraceuticalthat has been developed by CMFRI after years of intensive research and testing.The pre-clinical trial showed no test substance-related general organ or systemic toxicity following long term oral administration of Cadalmin^T ACe. VLCC will be working closely with the CMFRI to source relevant seaweed and manufacture the product as per CMFRI developed technology.

Speaking on the signing of the agreement, Vandana Luthra, Founder, VLCC said, “We are excited that we have received the CMFRI license for Cadalmin ACe. High cholesterol and obesity are lifestyle related diseases that are becoming increasingly common across age groups and lead to many other health problems, including blood pressure, diabetes, and cardiovascular ailments. VLCC has been committed to fighting obesity for decades and Cadalmin ACe, with its high level of efficacy and no side effects, will be instrumental in our next stage of fight against obesity. We are confident that it will be well received by consumers in India and across other countries in the world. ”

Dr.A Gopalakrishnan, Director, CMFRI, said “Cadalmin Antihypercholesterolemic extract is the fourth in the series of the nutraceutical products developed by the CMFRI. Bioactive pharmacophore leads from seaweeds were used to prepare the Cadalmin ^TMAce nutraceutical.  It does not have any side effects as established by detailed preclinical trials and is a natural remedy of obesity and dyslipidemia.”

Dyslipidemia is an abnormal amount of lipids (e.g.,triglycerides, cholesterol and/or fat phospholipids) in the blood.

VLCC has been spreading awareness on anti-obesity and healthy living across the world, for decades. Through its extensive of products and services, it has been transforming lives and helping its customers to get fit and feel more confident. VLCC’s Anti-Obesity campaign has evolved into a larger movement, which has gained momentum as a public health campaign. The brand had also established Orange Pledge,where people could enroll for their commitment to the cause. In November 2016, VLCC celebrated 15 years of Anti-Obesity Day with the ‘Standup India’ campaign – a public awareness initiative that encourages people to be more active in their daily lives through the simple act of standing up.

Schneider Electric Appoints Venkatraman Swaminathan to Lead the IT Division for India Zone

Schneider Electric the global specialist in energy management and automation, today announced that it has appointed Venkatraman Swaminathan as the Vice-President, IT Division – India Zone. He takes over from Nikhil Pathak, who has moved to a new role as the Vice President – Strategy Deployment and Operations, ROW - IT Business at Schneider Electric.  In his new role, Venkatraman will be responsible for driving the growth of the overall IT Business in India.

“Venkatraman has been a vital part of our team where his sales leadership expertise, unique Customer relationship, ability to collaborate with service delivery teams, and most importantly his commitment to client satisfaction has enabled the entire Schneider Electric team to consistently perform above plan, as well as secure many of the largest and most strategic deals", said Anil Chaudhry, Managing Director and Country President, Schneider Electric - India.

On his appointment, Venkataraman Swaminathan, said, “I am excited to take over the new role here at a time when Indian IT sector is going through a transformation. Schneider Electric is uniquely positioned in the Data Centre and IT infrastructure market and our focus as a team is to leverage our strengths, innovative products and growth in the market.”

With over 26 years of experience in the field of sales, service and marketing, Venkatraman brings a wealth of experience in the field, having evolved business critical solutions for spaces like data centers switch rooms, test laboratories etc. The future of datacenter is going to be different in terms of managing power and energy and big data. Venkataraman will be responsible to lead the business towards the New World of Energy, which is safer, more efficient and sustainable with the support of innovative, connected technologies.

IIM B & TCS iON to Facilitate Proctored Exams for Learning Courses on IIMBx

TCS iON and IIM Bangalore also form strategic alliance to create ‘Management Educators Hub’, a unique knowledge sharing platform for management education professionals

TCS iON, a strategic unit of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), a leading global IT services, consulting and business solutions organization, today announced that Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) will partner with TCS iON to facilitate proctored exams for IIMBx MOOC courses. IIMB will leverage TCS iON’s extensive proctored assessment capability to conduct exams across the country. Initially, the exams will be conducted at TCS iON's state-of-the art digital zones in Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata with three examination cycles planned during the year.

TCS iON and IIMB also announced the ‘Management Educators Hub’, a unique initiative that will host specialized collaboration communities in the discipline of management for educators who have a shared passion for continuous innovation in learning and teaching. 

The ‘Management Educators Hub’ will be hosted on TCS iON Digital HUB (www.tcsionhub.in), an online Content Market Place that aims to connect professional institutions and publishers offering rich content with other institutions and individuals who want to learn and upgrade their skills to grow. To start with, IIMB will launch and moderate seven communities on the ‘Management Educators Hub’ focusing on Marketing, Human Resources (HR), Managerial Economics and other key disciplines of management. The ‘Management Educators Hub’ will help foster conversations on innovative teaching methods and collaborate on ideas addressing its challenges and solutions. With an aim to seek participation from all management educations, the Hub will invite educators from business schools across India to be part of this unique community.

Commenting on the partnership,  V. Ramaswamy, Global Head, TCS iON said, “TCS iON is extremely delighted to partner with IIM Bangalore, one of India’s premier institutes for management education and research. In the era of flipped-classrooms, we believe that this collaboration will create a distinctive virtual space with specific focus on adoption of technology to enhance blended classroom learning and other EduTech trends such as outcome-led learning and adaptive assessments. Our effort will be to value add and explore other such avenues to expand our relationship with IIM Bangalore.”

Professor P D Jose, Chairperson MOOCs, IIMBx said, “The entire education system is going through a radical change and is adapting to newer means and methods with the help of technology. As we see growing number of students opting for e-learning, through this partnership we aim at integrating the strengths that both the parties have to serve for the betterment of the students as well as the teaching fraternity. ”

Notion Press’s Scholarink.com Opens New Academic Publishing Platform

Notion Press launches Scholarink.com, India’s first open access academic publishing platform for academic authors to publish their work and make it available in over 100 countries. It is a launch pad for scholars, universities, researchers and research groups to publish their work, thereby providing them with an opportunity to reach wider audiences.

 “Being pioneers in the academic publishing field for over 40 years, we have been instrumental in presenting over 3000 authors to international markets. We realised the importance of publishing for people from the academic and scientific community. Apart from disseminating their findings and learning, publishing their work too plays a significant role in their careers,” says Jana Pillay, Co-Founder and Director of Scholarink.

Scholarink serves as a one-stop solution for all publishing needs. From running plagiarism checks and copy-editing and the overall creation of the book to worldwide distribution, Scholarink’s 150-member team ensures that authors receive the best academic publishing services under one roof.

“Publishing adds credibility to an academician’s profile, but authors are very sceptical about approaching traditional publishers. The reasons are many – exorbitant publishing charges, forgoing of their copyrights, nil or negligent royalty etc. At Scholarink, academicians collaborate with industry experts to bring out academic content of the highest standards. With our wide distribution network, publications are made available in more than 100 countries in both print and eBook formats. The best part is that our authors enjoy the highest royalty rates of 100% of the profits from the sale of their work and all this without letting go off their copyrights,” says Naveen Valsakumar, CEO and Co-Founder, Notion Press.

Scholarink does not stop with just publishing content. We also facilitate the creation of an author brand. “Our goal is to disseminate valuable scholarly works to academicians and laymen alike and at the same time, act as the linchpin that will propel the author’s career. We know what kind of career growth publishing offers to academicians. To address both our goals, we enable Open Access Publishing wherein research findings attain a wider reach, guaranteeing better citations, as well as indexing the content on platforms of repute such as CiteSeerX, Google Scholar and OpenAIRE.” says Gautham Gopakumar, Business Manager, Scholarink.

Notion Press believes in enhancing and making the knowledge available to all, without limitations on using this knowledge to make an impact within their community by providing free access to their published work. 

Global Smartphones Grew 9 Percent in First Quarter of 2017

Global sales of smartphones to end users totaled 380 million units in the first quarter of 2017, a 9.1 percent increase over the first quarter of 2016, according to Gartner, Inc. Mobile phone buyers are spending more to get a better phone, resulting in the rise in average selling prices of types of phone.

The shift in buyer preference is positively affecting Chinese manufacturers such as Huawei, Oppo and Vivo in their strategy to build desirable features at affordable prices. Their combined market share in the first quarter of 2017 accounted for 24 percent, up 7 percentage points year on year.

"The top three Chinese smartphone manufacturers are driving sales with their competitively priced, high quality smartphones equipped with innovative features," said Anshul Gupta, research director at Gartner. "Furthermore, aggressive marketing and sales promotion have further helped these brands to take share from other brands in markets such as India, Indonesia and Thailand."

Samsung's smartphone sales declined 3.1 percent in the first quarter of 2017. "Although Samsung announced that preorders for the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus are up 30 percent year over year, the absence of an alternative to Note 7 and the fierce competition in the basic smartphone segment are leading Samsung to continuously lose market share," said Gupta. "Sales of iPhones were flat, which led to a drop in market share year over year. Similar to Samsung, Apple is increasingly facing fierce competition from Chinese brands Oppo and Vivo, among others, and its performance in China is under attack."

Huawei edged closer to Apple with smartphone sales amounting to 34 million units in the first quarter of 2017. Despite its P9 and P9 Plus being available for more than a year now, both smartphones continued to sell well, positioning Huawei as a dominant brand in the consumer market. "Huawei has now steadily held the third spot in the worldwide ranking of smartphone vendors," said Gupta. "However, pressure is mounting as its counterparts in China are catching up."

Oppo is continuing to catch up with Huawei. With a 94.6 percent increase in worldwide smartphone sales in the first quarter of 2017, Oppo achieved the best performance of the quarter and retained the No. 1 position in China. "Oppo continued to rally sales through a large network of brick-and-mortar retailers, beating market incumbents such as Samsung and Huawei," said Gupta. Oppo's strategy — centered on the camera, fast charging and offline retail — has helped it grow smartphone sales in the international market.

Meanwhile, Vivo sold almost 26 million smartphones and achieved a market share of 6.8 percent, which helped it achieve growth of 84.6 percent in the first quarter of 2017. "Vivo saw growing demand of its smartphones from the emerging markets in Asia/Pacific, including India, where sales grew over 220 percent thanks to its increased brand appeal and high-quality smartphones," said Gupta.

In the smartphone operating system (OS) market, the battle is now clearly between Android and iOS. With other OSs struggling for momentum, Android grew its share by 2 percent. Growing acceptance of Chinese brands in the global markets, led by high-quality smartphones, is driving Android OS dominance. Moreover, with Google's announcement of Android Go — targeted at the entry-level smartphone market — the OS is heading for continued growth.