TKM Announces Management Leadership Change; Masakazu Yoshimura Likely New MD in India

As a part of its management restructuring in India, Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt. Ltd. (TKM) today announced the repatriation of Akito Tachibana, present Managing Director of Toyota Kirloskar Motor and proposed appointment of Mr. Masakazu Yoshimura as Managing Director. The formal appointment of the new Managing Director will be made at the meeting of Board of Directors scheduled on 22nd January 2019.

Masakazu Yoshimura will be responsible for broad leadership and strategic direction of Toyota’s business operations in India. He comes with over 25 years of rich automobile experience in diverse areas covering Product Planning, Pricing, Sales & Marketing, etc., and is equipped to further contribute to the overall success of Toyota’s brand in the region.

Prior to this appointment, Yoshimura was General Manager at Toyota Motor Corporation [East Asia & Oceania Division].

As a keen follower of Toyota’s global best practices and continuous improvement of operations, Yoshimura will continue to guide the company’s vision and values of building the brand synonymous with Quality, Dependability and Reliability - QDR Philosophy.

Commenting on the leadership change, Akito Tachibana, Managing Director – Toyota Kirloskar Motor, said “Thank you very much for the support & cooperation extended to me during my tenure in Toyota Kirloskar Motor. Together as Team Toyota, we have defined Vision 2025 which enabled us to grow India & grow with India. I also sincerely appreciate the TKM Team in India for their active participation in realizing a Safe and Clean company.  Efforts related to continuous improvement & people development initiatives will help in Business Sustainability. It would be appreciated, if you could extend the same level of support to Mr. Yoshimura.

I am really happy to be in India during the phase of evolving changes, but with no change in the warmness of peoples’ heart in India.”

During his India stint, Tachibana was responsible for steering Toyota’s long-term vision for India”, leading to the overall growth prospects through his strategic drive. While setting very high standards with his work, Mr. Tachibana was instrumental in carving out a strong future for Toyota in India.

Speaking on his new appointment as Managing Director of Toyota Kirloskar Motor – Masakazu Yoshimura, said “I am excited to work in the much challenging Indian market. Customers are at the heart of everything we do and we Toyota Team will enhance our efforts to enrich the society further, thus improve the lives of the people. Taking forward Toyota’s core values, I look forward to everyone’s continued support and co-operation, to build on the growing momentum of sustainable operations in the region.”

Fincare SFB Posts 99% AUM Growth; Rs.42.3 Cr Profit in H1, 2019

Fincare Small Finance Bank, poised for a sustained growth with improved fundamentals, has registered a Rs. 42.3 crore profit after tax (PAT) in H1 FY19. The Bank’s gross loans portfolio grew at 99 per cent during the year, to close at Rs. 2,899 Crore, as on September 30, 2018. The Bank has also garnered deposits worth Rs. 1,455 Crore as on September 30, 2018, a growth of 383 per cent y-o-y, with retail deposits comprising 34 per cent of the total deposits.

The Bank has successfully diversified into new asset segments, with secured loans such as loans against property, loans against gold and institutional finance growing at 252 per cent on a y-o-y basis. Secured loans now account for 15 per cent of the gross loans portfolio, significantly above the 8 per cent a year ago. The micro loans portfolio also demonstrated an 85 percent growth during the same period. Asset quality indicators have also shown improvement, with net NPA down to 0.35 per cent from 1.4 percent and gross NPA down to 1.4 percent from 1.9 percent on a y-o-y basis.

Keyur Doshi, CFO of Fincare Small Finance Bank, said, “The H1 results are a reflection of our continued efforts on growth and diversification. We have made considerable progress during this year in growing our secured business, and in building a strong liabilities franchise, as is evident from the growth in both the businesses. We are confident of sustaining this performance in the second half of this financial year as well”.

The Bank has a network of over 500 banking outlets catering to over 12.5 lakh customers across 10 states and 1 Union Territory.

Bosch Phantom Platform to Drive Indian SMEs in Digital Transformation

Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions (RBEI) has launched an intelligent ecosystem platform, with an aim to assist Indian SMEs transition on Industry 4.0 journey. The platform named as Phantom was launched at the Bengaluru Tech Summit.

RBEI President and Managing Director Vijay Ratnaparkhe said Phantom platform will support SMEs to prepare a digital transformation roadmap for their manufacturing plants, machine intelligence and energy analytics.

"Bosch Phantom stands behind the Indian SME sector by significantly improving their machine efficiency which is the cornerstone to secure India's digital future," Ratnaparkhe said.

According to a company statement, it is a retrofit solution that can set up in a few minutes. Phantom gathers machine usage and production patterns for extensive analytics and provides valuable insights on benchmarks, trends, losses and best practices.

RBEI Sales and Marketing Vice-President K Swaminathan said Phantom platform is a powerful ecosystem on the cloud and on-premise that delivers manufacturing efficiency, real time alert and timely actionable insights.

Ratnaparkhe also added that Phantom will help SMEs to kick-start their digital journey, across multiple industries. The German technology giant also plans customised advisory sessions, consulting workshop and a portal for the speedy adoption Phantom platform among Indian SMEs.

Karnataka will Shortly Set Up Innovation Authority: CM Kumaraswamy

Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Thursday said the government will soon set up Karnataka Innovation Authority to further fuel the growth of innovation in the state.

Delivering the inaugural speech at the 21st edition of Bengaluru Tech Summit 2018, the annual technology summit of the state government, he said the government is going ahead with the legislative framework for setting up of the authority.

The government will also set up a Centre of Excellence for the design of tech products in Bengaluru, he added.

He said the Tech Summit is a unique platform for deliberating on innovation and its impact on industry and society at large. 

"The 21st edition of Bengaluru Tech Summit is a celebration of unique eco-system of the state. Government, industry, academia and research and development institutions have partnered and created a unique eco-system here, which has given birth to several startups and innovative ideas," he said. 

Kumaraswamy also pointed out that 65% of the MNCs who have their global in-house centres are from the USA and 37% of the global innovation centres of MNCs are in Bengaluru. "This goes to prove that technology engagement in the State is the bedrock of the strong foundation for investments. Karnataka is indeed the first choice for technology investments, worldwide,” he said. 

Speaking at the event, IT & BT and Industries Minister K J George said Karnataka is the first choice for innovators and global industry leaders to converge and showcase viability of current and emerging technologies. 

Over 200 speakers, 200 startups and global leaders from 11 countries are participating at the three-day tech summit. The inaugural event also witnessed the announcement of 20 winners of the Human Code, a global hackathon held as part of the tech summit. The contest had the participation of 42,000 teams from 68 countries.

French Ambassador to India Alexandre Ziegler announced the launch of French Tech Community in the city for fueling the growth of startups.

"40 companies are represented at the cluster. These companies will help in the digital innovation of the digital transformation of our societies. We want Bengaluru to be the centre of French startup activities which will further flourish in other cities," he said.

Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship Appoints A.M. Naik as Chairman of NSDC

Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship announces the appointment of A.M. Naik as Chairman of National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC). One of the most influential business leaders in the country, aik brings over 50 years of meritorious experience in the infrastructure, engineering and construction sectors. 

The appointment of Naik as Chairman of NSDC underscores the importance attached by the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi to skill development. As the Prime Minister has repeatedly stressed ‘skilling brings a sense of self confidence to the poor.  Matching job creation with industry demand is the key to end unemployment. It is envisaged that in the future, India will be the biggest supplier of workforce to the world.’ 

Currently the Group Chairman of India's biggest engineering and construction conglomerate – Larsen & Toubro Limited (L&T), A.M. Naik is one of the most respected management professionals in the country. His years of successful stewardship have resulted in building L&T as one of the strongest global businesses.

Making the announcement, Dharmendra Pradhan, Hon’ble Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship expressed, “Mr. Naik epitomizes core values of a successful leader - strength, innovation, ingenuity, knowledge and foresight – values that are imperative to the success of any development initiative in today's economy. His standing in the community of industrial leaders will strongly enhance the industry connect. His vast experience will take NSDC to greater heights. I am confident that this organization under his leadership, apart from its engagement in executing skilling modules, should also be a think tank providing direction and necessary guidance for creating a demand based skilling ecosystem in the country.”

Commenting on his appointment, A.M. Naik said, “NSDC has developed a unique model combining skill development with strong industry partnerships. I am pleased at this opportunity to contribute towards our common vision of a high skill, high value added economy that offers opportunity to all.”

Manish Kumar, MD & CEO, NSDC added, “NSDC is privileged that Naik, a person with such vast knowledge and experience, is onboard as the Chairman of the organization.  We believe that his business leadership and experience will powerfully steer NSDC in its next phase of growth.”

In his remarkable career spanning over five decades, Naik has won many accolades.  He was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India's 3rd highest civilian award in 2009 for his outstanding contribution to the economic growth of the country.  Naik is also the Honorary Consul General for Denmark. He was conferred the Danish Knighthood by Her Majesty Queen Margarethe - 2008 and a further honour, the Order of the Dannebrog - Knight First Class in 2015.

Sasken Appoints Calvin Nichols as VP and Head, Automotive Business

Sasken Technologies Ltd., (formerly Sasken Communication Technologies Ltd.), a leading product engineering and digital transformation solutions provider, today announced that it has appointed Calvin Nichols as VP and Head of its Automotive Business to lead the company’s efforts in the Automotive segment.

Calvin has over 25 years of diverse automotive experience having served in roles at Denso, Ford Motor Company, Visteon, Panasonic, BASF, Clarion, and Cohda Wireless in functions such as engineering, sales, marketing, and strategy. Most recently, Calvin was Head of Sales and Business Development at Veniam – an automotive networking start-up.

Welcoming Calvin into the organization, Hari Haran, President - Global Sales, Marketing and Business Lines, said, “For over two decades, Sasken has demonstrated great leadership and expertise as an Automotive service provider and is a preferred partner to several global leaders. In our efforts to expand our reach in this segment, we are pleased to welcome Calvin who will help us accelerate our growth trajectory. He brings the right blend of commercial, strategy, and technical skills to lead the Automotive Business at Sasken.”

In his role, Calvin will focus on creating growth through services and software in the areas of Telematics, IVI, ADAS, and Connected and Autonomous Vehicles. Commenting on his appointment at Sasken, Calvin Nichols, VP and Head, Automotive Business, said, “Software is becoming a key differentiator in automobiles, especially in the Autonomous Car and Infotainment areas. Sasken has established itself as a global expert in this space and I am excited to join the team at a time when this segment has tremendous opportunities on offer. I look forward to delivering strategic value and compelling proposition to our customers in the Automotive space.”

Calvin holds a Postgraduate degree in Business from the University of Notre Dame, an MBA from Eastern Michigan University, and a Bachelor in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Toledo.

Accenture and AWS Extend Transformation with Expanded Services and Dedicated Resources Designed to Accelerate Innovation

Accenture and Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS) has announced newly expanded services and resources led by the Accenture AWS Business Group (AABG) to help clients accelerate their pace of innovation. Built around the continued collaboration between both organizations, the new capabilities deliver industry-proven expertise to help clients achieve business outcomes previously unimaginable.  

Launched in 2015, the AABG combines the resources, technical capability and industry knowledge of Accenture and AWS to help enterprises unlock innovation, drive business value and support growth through cloud adoption and transformation.

The continued investment and expansion of services comes at a time of market disruption for clients demanding deeper capability, established models and methodologies to help scale innovation, and measurable business value. With hundreds of enterprise transformation projects completed, the AABG is now spearheading countless innovation projects powered by new technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), analytics and cloud native strategies. This disruption calls for more capability to help enterprises combine digital innovation with legacy transformation while adopting established industry platforms.

The new innovation accelerator services and dedicated resources consist of: 

A new Applied Intelligence Studio for AWS in Seattle, where clients can access AI specialists from AWS and Accenture to apply AWS ML services, such as Amazon SageMaker, and integrate leading practices more rapidly for burgeoning innovation projects. The AABG team will identify industry- and domain-specific use cases where leading technologies can be applied to help solve key business challenges. For example, the team has already started to enhance Accenture’s existing client solutions on AWS. Among these are a predictive maintenance solution for Japanese telecommunications company KDDI to enable near real-time ML against IoT data, allowing KDDI to better scale its operations for manufacturing clients and offer new pricing models. The solution was developed in collaboration with Accenture’s Applied Intelligence practice.

The development of LaunchPad, an agile network of Accenture and AWS specialists skilled in strategic AWS services, core to quickly enabling digital transformation beyond traditional cost reductions. Steeped with industry knowledge, these specialists are embedded in Accenture Liquid Studios and innovation centers around the world. For example, at the new Liquid Studio in San Francisco, specialists from Accenture and AWS take clients through design-thinking workshops, helping them create project prototypes and incubate industry-specific solutions that can be scaled rapidly on AWS.

Additional tools, templates and leading industry solutions, backed by the collective knowledge of the AABG, to help clients be nimbler and scale services more easily. Among these will be new Industry Solution Incubators to help clients leverage modular, modern platforms that integrate the best of their existing assets with analytics and ML via platform-enabled delivery. For instance, last month Accenture, AWS, and Merck announced a cloud-based informatics research platform to help organizations in the life sciences industry improve productivity, efficiency and innovation in the early stages of drug development. Clients can expect similar solutions targeted at industry-specific challenges. 

The creation of Blockchain Express, which is aimed to be a faster, more cost-effective way for AWS clients who are interested in blockchain services to explore the benefits of distributed ledger technologies (DLT). This cross-industry offering will be a condensed five- to six-week engagement that includes access to Accenture’s specialists and range of services to map out how to drive value from DLT within the enterprise. Additionally, it will include the rapid development of an operational DLT network that will enable companies to accelerate their blockchain adoption journey.

“Our strong business momentum means we can invest more resources to focus on a comprehensive transformation for our clients who are asking for legacy transformation, quick-hitting digital innovation, and industry-focused solutions,” said Chris Wegmann, global managing director of AABG and Accenture’s AWS practice. “Our experience has shown that bringing our best talent forward with cross-team collaboration helps enable a path to success. It’s about combining the power of Accenture and AWS to help clients acceleration innovation at a time of epic disruption across all industries.”   

“The Accenture AWS Business Group provides extensive experience, resources, methodologies, and learnings to help clients rapidly deliver business value and innovation,” said Terry Wise, global vice president of Channels & Alliances at Amazon Web Services, Inc. “Our customers are asking us to help them innovate faster by leveraging new AWS services such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, and analytics.”

To date, the AABG has helped hundreds of clients leverage the full power of AWS. Accenture today announced that ETS, the world’s largest private, non-profit educational testing and assessment organization, has invested in a cloud migration to AWS to meet its digital transformation goals of enabling innovation and driving operational improvements. 

Accenture and AWS had been working together for nearly a decade before forming the AABG in 2015. The AABG extends that collaboration, helping hundreds of clients with their move to AWS — from strategy ideation, to migration, to operation and run — securely and at scale, all powered by AABG’s joint investments in world-class accelerators, centers of excellence and digital skills. To date, the AABG has trained more than 5,000 Accenture technologists and earned more than 2,100 AWS certifications.

Nutanix Xi IoT Brings Cloud Computing Intelligence to the Edge

Nutanix, Inc., a leader in enterprise cloud computing, has announced the general availability of Xi IoT, a new edge computing service offered as part of the company’s Xi Cloud Services. Combining the simplified elegance of core Nutanix solutions with a streamlined approach, Xi IoT eliminates complexity, accelerates the speed of deployment and elevates developers to focus on the business logic powering IoT applications and services.

In 2017, 3 billion enterprise IoT edge devices generated up to 30 times more data (256 ZB) than the 30+ million nodes across public and private cloud data centers. But the current IoT model in which the massive amounts of data on edge devices is sent back to a centralized cloud for processing has severely limited the ability of customers to make real-time, actionable decisions from intelligence gained at the edge. For customers, deriving value from this massive amount of data is rife with latency issues, lack of scalability, lack of autonomy, and compliance and privacy issues.

Unlike traditional IoT models, the Xi IoT platform delivers local compute, machine inference, and data services to perform real-time processing at the edge. Xi IoT Data Pipelines can securely move intelligently analyzed data to a customer’s public (Azure, AWS or GCP) or private cloud platform of choice for long-term analysis. Edge and core cloud deployments all operate on the same data and management plane, so Xi IoT customers have seamless, simplified insight into their deployment. Because Xi IoT provides zero-touch setup and management of edge devices, organizations can eliminate the risk of IoT security breaches due to human error, increase overall efficiency and reduce the cost of operating edge devices across the globe.

“It is critical for enterprise organizations to have an edge strategy to unify, edge to cloud connectivity, to rapidly build IoT applications, and to provide real-time analytics closer to where the data is generated,” said, Ashish Nadkarni, Group Vice President, Infrastructure Systems, Platforms and Technologies, IDC. “For companies looking for a competitive advantage, solutions like Nutanix Xi IoT can help them stay ahead of the market and identify new opportunities to grow their businesses.”

Through Xi IoT, customers can manage all their edge locations through a sophisticated infrastructure and application lifecycle management tool, regardless of platform. Developers can leverage a rich set of popular open APIs to deploy next-generation data science applications as containerized applications or as functions, which are small snippets of code. This can be integrated into existing CI/CD pipelines, allowing them to make changes quickly from a single location. By leveraging this well-known framework, Xi IoT helps IT organizations reduce training, development and testing costs while eliminating the possibility an organization is locked in to one public cloud provider. And because data is processed in real-time at the edge, companies are no longer inhibited by the transmission of data back to a core datacenter for processing, so decisions can be made based on data autonomously and in real-time.

Xi IoT is part of Nutanix’s Xi Cloud Services which is comprised of five distinct services, including Leap, which address the growing challenges of the multicloud era. These services bring together not only the ability to standardize workflows and harmonize operations across environments, but also the ability to blur the lines between clouds, seamlessly utilizing applications and data across multiple clouds for a variety of data protection, application delivery and edge locations requirements.

Offered as part of Nutanix Enterprise, customers can take advantage of:

Xi Leap - Cloud-based disaster recovery (DR) services to protect your critical business applications and data. Leap services are enabled directly in Nutanix Prism for a completely integrated public + private cloud experience.

Xi Frame - unique desktop-as-a-service platform built from scratch specifically for cloud deployment, now integrating role-based access control.

Xi Beam - a multi-cloud cost optimization and governance tool that allows customers to reduce cost and enhance cloud security across platforms, public and private.

Xi Epoch- an observability and monitoring solution for multicloud applications that provides a Google Maps-like view of applications to determine performance bottlenecks and availability issues in any cloud environment.

Masala Time at Comic Con 2018 to be Held at KPTO, Whitefield

The Cast of Mysore Masala were present at the Annual Comic con event which was held in KTPO Whitefield. The team had a 20 minutes stage presence where they got to interact with audience about the movie. The diverse and upbeat audience quizzed the cast on various topics ranging from science fiction to Heritage and its representation in Mysore Masala. The Mysore Masala team also had an inviting booth showcasing the engaging film teaser, film promotion and a massive photo booth.

Comic con is an annually held event which believes in creating events and giving their fans, exhibitors and partners a platform to celebrate their undying love and passion for comics and pop culture. It Exhibits products such as a wide range of comics, novels, graphics, merchandise, toys, games, films, animation etc.

Mysore Masala will be starring some of the biggest names in the Kannada film industry including Anant Nag; renowned theatre personality and veteran actor, who has acted in more than 60 films in various languages. The film will also feature Prakash Belawadi, a senior journalist and a theatre personality who has been associated with some highly-acclaimed Hindi films.

Other than that, the film will see the likes of Kiran Srinivas, Sharmiela Mandre, Samyukta Hornad (best known for acting in critically praised film Oggaranne), and many more. Shooting of the film is completed, the film is slated for an early 2019 release.

Seagate Launches New Data-Readiness Index Shows Global Impact Across Four Industries

The global datasphere1 could grow to 175 zettabytes by 2025, and industries such as Financial Services, Manufacturing, Healthcare, and Media and Entertainment are helping to define this new era of data growth. This is according to an IDC White Paper The Digitization of the World – From Edge to Core, sponsored by global data and storage leader Seagate Technology, which examines impending shifts to the global data model. While Healthcare currently has the smallest share of the global enterprise datasphere among key industries examined in the study, it is primed to grow the fastest, far surpassing the Media and Entertainment sector and matching the Financial Services sector by 2025. The growth reflects advancements in healthcare analytics and imaging technology, as well as the increasing amount of real-time data created in medical care. 

The study, The Digitization of the World – From Edge to Core, assesses data-readiness of the four critical industries that encompass nearly half of the global enterprise datasphere. It does so by using DATCON (DATa readiness CONdition), an index that evaluates management, usage and monetization of data to help inform today’s business leaders on their level of data-readiness. Ranging from 1 (Critical) to 5 (Optimized), DATCON scores are calculated across a number of metrics, including data growth, criticality, security, investment, management, skills and C-level involvement. 

DATCON: evaluating global data readiness by sector
Industries are in various states of readiness and should take action to prepare for, and capitalize on, data growth. Using the DATCON index, the study identifies the most pressing initiatives businesses must consider as they approach 2025:
●        Manufacturing and Financial Services scored the best overall at 3.3 each, representing the greatest use of edge computing in the four industries, with opportunity for blockchain, analytics and AI. 
●        Despite its rapid growth, at 2.4, healthcare has room for improvement as well in data readiness. Survey results indicate blockchain will be important for the industry, but nearly 60 percent lack a strategy or have yet to implement any initiative.
●        Media and Entertainment received the lowest DATCON score of 2.0, showing the sector ripe for advanced data technologies; particularly in data security and data management. 

“We are at the beginning of an era where both data creation and data utilization are forecasted to grow rapidly over the next decade. While some industries are more prepared for digital transformation than others, all businesses need to be ready to act on a solid digital strategy in order to be successful in the data age,” said Dave Mosley, Seagate’s chief executive officer. “Data technologies are becoming central for productivity expansion, data monetization and value-creation. We are excited to be part of this transformation and be a strong supporter to enable these opportunities for the years to come.”

Enterprise out in front 
The enterprise is fast becoming the world’s primary data steward in today’s connected world. The Digitization of the World study predicts that the installed bytes across the enterprise is to represent over 80 percent of total installed bytes worldwide in 2025. This trend will only continue to amplify the data protection responsibilities of companies around the world.  

The cloud is the new core 
Also revealed by The Digitization of the World study, almost half (49%) of the world’s stored data could reside in public cloud environments by 2025. The shift to the public cloud is largely being driven by a world filled with IoT sensors that are constantly capturing, recording, and analyzing data in business environments. With businesses looking to centralize data management and delivery, there is an increased reliance on the connectivity, performance and convenience that cloud services provide. As companies continue to pursue the cloud for increasing data processing and storage needs, cloud data centers are becoming the new enterprise data repository. In essence, the cloud is becoming the new core. 

“While endpoints continue to be the primary location for data creation in the short term, the fastest growth is forecasted to happen at the core and the edge - with more data stored in the core than in the world’s endpoints by 2025. This will be particularly true for major industries as edge computing continues to be a key driver of business-critical factors and digital transformation,” said David Reinsel, senior vice president at IDC.

MCafee Supports Amazon Web Services Security Hub at Launch

McAfee, the device to cloud cybersecurity company, has announced at AWS re:Invent 2018 its support for Amazon Web Services (AWS) Security Hub to help security professionals manage multiple dashboards and data points. AWS Security Hub integrates with McAfee MVISION Cloud to provide a “single pane of glass” overview of an organization’s cloud security posture.

AWS Security Hub is designed to provide users with a comprehensive view of their high-priority security alerts and compliance status by aggregating, organizing, and prioritizing alerts, or findings, from multiple AWS services, such as Amazon GuardDuty, Amazon Inspector, and Amazon Macie as well as from other AWS Partner Network (APN) security solutions. The findings are then visually summarized on integrated dashboards with actionable graphs and tables.

“We are constantly looking for innovative ways to help organizations efficiently monitor, prioritize and respond to security events and provide an added layer of security to the already secure AWS,” said Rajiv Gupta, senior vice president, Cloud Security Business Unit, McAfee. “With the integration of McAfee MVISION Cloud with AWS Security Hub, we’ll be able to allow security operations center personnel to take quicker and more informed actions, ultimately resulting in enhanced security and improved business outcomes.”

By working closely with AWS, McAfee allows customers to build their security and event management ecosystems in an intuitive way with flexibility. With the ability to choose vendors and data points that are most important, organizations can ensure the best usage of AWS tools and trusted partner solutions like McAfee MVISION Cloud. McAfee worked closely with AWS to ensure compliance with Amazon GaurdDuty findings standards to easily integrate information into AWS. To further support this, McAfee MVISION Cloud can be directly purchased from AWS Marketplace.

“As a McAfee MVISION Cloud customer, we can now extend our commitment to AWS with a stronger ability to protect our data,” said Dan Meacham, vice president, Security and Operations at Legendary Entertainment. This relationship will provide us with integrated security solutions that help us resolve more threats faster with fewer resources. The work McAfee is doing with AWS showcases its “together is better” philosophy and reaffirms its commitment to existing customers and prospects seeking a reduction in tools and dashboards.”

“We know the importance of helping customers and organizations more easily identify high-priority findings in order to take action,” said Dan Plastina, vice president, Security Services, Amazon Web Services, Inc. “With McAfee supporting AWS Security Hub, we are able to provide a comprehensive view of security posture without the complication of multiple viewpoints and dashboards.”

AI-Guided Digital Business Takes Center Stage at ThoughtWorks Live India 2018

ThoughtWorks, a global software consultancy, successfully concluded its India chapter of ThoughtWorks Live 2018 in Bengaluru on 29 November.  With this year’s theme being AI-Guided Digital Business, the platform saw leading industry voices share insights and experiences of how to build an AI-first culture, navigate data deluge and measure success in digital transformation journeys.

The event hosted decision-makers, industry experts and thought leaders to discuss and ideate on leading the AI-guided revolution and the need for organizations to realign structures and technology platforms to keep up with the latest advancements. Commenting on the event, Sudhir Tiwari and Sameer Soman, Managing Directors –  India, ThoughtWorks said, “AI is a revolutionary tech that is set to impact humankind by bringing technological singularity to life. An AI-first approach is more relevant today than ever before because of easy access to expansive compute power, overwhelming data, connected systems, and advanced algorithms. Given the possibilities of what AI could do, we need to ensure that AI is inclusive, unbiased and ethical. But, it needs patience. AI has a long way to go before we realize the full extent of AI innovations.”

The event saw an attendance of 123 participants and some renowned individuals as key speakers – Jaspreet Bindra – Digital Transformation Advisor to ThoughtWorks, Crystal Widjaja – Senior VP - Business Intelligence, Go-Jek, Deepak Sharma, Chief Digital Officer, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Dr. Shailesh Kumar – Chief Data Scientist, Reliance Jio and Javagal Srinath – Former Indian cricketer, ICC match referee shared their knowledge and expertise on stage.

Haptik Selected as Part of the Launch of AWS Marketplace for MI at AWS re:Invent 2018

Haptik, one of the world’s leading Conversational Artificial Intelligence (AI) companies, was recently part of the inaugural list of sellers on Amazon Web Services (AWS) Marketplace for Machine Learning, which was introduced at AWS’s annual flagship conference, AWS re:Invent 2018 in Las Vegas. 

AWS Marketplace for Machine Learning allows developers and data scientists to find and procure machine learning (ML) algorithms and models and deploy in Amazon SageMaker. Customers can find and subscribe to hundreds of algorithms and models in AWS Marketplace for Machine Learning. 

Haptik was selected to be a part of the inaugural list of sellers for AWS Marketplace for Machine Learning on the back of consistently delivering seamless Conversational AI solutions. The company has built two models - Named Entity Recognition (NER) and Text Similarity. 

NER is an information retrieval model that helps extract named entities from a given piece of text, which is useful in various tasks such as content recommendations, classification of content online and many more. 

Text Similarity ascertains the resemblance between two sentences and can be useful for a variety of purposes like document matching, searching, deduplication, intent matching, relevance, etc.

Commenting on the association, Swapan Rajdev, Co-founder and CTO, Haptik, said, “It gives us immense pleasure to have been invited as one of the first sellers on AWS Marketplace for Machine Learning. This is a great initiative to help enhance the machine learning community and allow companies to distribute and monetize their models. We are happy to have contributed some of our most advanced models towards this effort and it’s exciting to have this featured at AWS re:Invent 2018, which is one of the most anticipated annual events across all of technology.”

He further added, “The AWS Marketplace for Machine Learning will facilitate instant buyer and seller feedback on various operations, such as product creation, listing, product discovery, subscription, deployment, usage, etc. It is a very concise and transparent product listings space for developers and innovators to reach out to potential customers, thereby allowing for quick monetization of new solutions.”

The sellers will provide a product description, pricing, usage instructions, sample notebooks, and support information. AWS customers can find these products through the Amazon SageMaker console or AWS Marketplace for Machine Learning and deploy them to Amazon SageMaker.

Sasken Tech Appoints Vinita Shrivastava as New Chief People Officer

Sasken Technologies Ltd., (formerly Sasken Communication Technologies Ltd.), a leading product engineering and digital transformation solutions provider, today announced that it has onboarded Vinita Shrivastava as Chief People Officer with effect from November 26, 2018.

“I am delighted to welcome Vinita Shrivastava, who joins the Sasken family today as Chief People Officer,” said Rajiv C Mody, Chairman, Managing Director & CEO, Sasken Technologies Limited. “Vinita is a transformation-oriented HR leader with over 24 years of industry experience. She has been part of the core leadership team of several large trans-national companies, including Harman International Industries (Inc.), Tesco and HCL Technologies,” he added.

Vinita Shrivastava, said, “Sasken is at an inflexion point, poised for significant growth. I am excited to part of Sasken’s 5x5 vision and see immense potential to leverage the talent pool and leadership team’s strength.”

Acer Rocks Mumbai with the Night of the Predator Event

Acer, the market leader in PC gaming in India put on a mega show to thousands of audience in Mumbai at their Night of the Predator event which witnessed the best of e-sports tournament, some of India’s top DJs, street dance competition and COSPLAY.

Acer Predator League India, attracted over 1500 players and 361 teams playing over 160 hours from across India to compete in DOTA 2 and PUBG PC competition with online knockout rounds held in the 1st week of November and across gaming cafes in multiple cities. The India finale of this mega e-Sports tournament with almost 100 gaming PCs set-up on a grand stage was held at the Night of the Predator event which witnessed one of the largest PUBG PC LAN tournaments along with DOTA2 finale which saw finalists from PUBG PC and DOTA2 competed to win the coveted Predator Shield. Team Raptors in PUBG PC and team Signify in DOTA2 emerged as the ultimate winners to represent India and compete for the total prize pool of USD 400000 (INR 2,88,00,000) at the Asia Pacific finals in Bangkok.

The entire atmosphere at Mithibai College Grounds was electrifying with audience ranging from esports lovers, music fanatics to technology enthusiasts who witnessed some of the best e-sports battles, electrifying DJ performance by Zaeden, Lost Stories, Progressive Brothers and Greff along with street dance and COSPLAY. Acer also showcased cutting-edge gaming machines and accessories with the showstopper being the Predator Thronos gaming cave.

The event received fantastic response online reaching over 7 lac people in Mumbai and thousands of people clamoring to be part of this unique carnival. The month leading up to the event generated lot of buzz in the official event pages with contests, engagement with fans and promotions which got huge enthusiasm. The live event broadcasted on Acer social media channels was watched across India by thousands of enthusiastic fans supporting their favorite teams in the hotly contested Predator League finale and enjoying fantastic line-up of artists who performed there.

Acer also launched India’s most exclusive gaming community, the Predator Clan. A platform designed for gamers by gamers and hosted by India’s No.1 PC gaming brand. What better way to launch the community than by one of India’s most celebrated e-sports athlete Ankur Diwakar who represented India at the e-sports tournament in Asian Games. To delight the community members even more Acer is giving away Rs 15000 worth voucher free to purchase an Acer laptop from Flipkart for the first 1000 members.

Night of the Predator was supported by SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Jio, Intel, NDTV and Flipkart who’s invaluable partnership helped us to make this one of the biggest event in our history.

Commenting on this, Chandrahas Panigrahi, CMO and Consumer Business Head, Acer India says, “We are extremely elated at the success of our Night of the Predator event and to announce the winners of this year’s Acer Predator Gaming League finale. Team Signify from DOTA 2 and team Raptors from PUBG PC emerged as the ultimate winners, demonstrating their skill and dedication in their respective games. Acer is overwhelmed at the response received nationwide for our e-sports tournament. DOTA2 and PUBG are the two of the most popular games amongst at present, and we took this as an opportunity to provide a platform for the best teams in India to showcase their talent and represent India at the Asia Pacific Grand Finale. E-sports is being recognized as a serious profession gradually, and Acer being the leader in PC gaming is going all out to support the growth the e-sports. I wish the teams representing India all the best and are very much convinced that they have the potential to even emerge as the winners in the Asia Pacific Grand Finale, scheduled next year.”

Acer Predator Gaming League Grand Finale will be held in Bangkok from February 15 – 17, 2019 and will host the winning teams of PUBG and DOTA2 from across the Asia Pacific countries to compete for the grand prize to be named as the ultimate champion and a prize pool of USD 400000. 

Acer is the No. 1 PC gaming brand in India with the most complete range of gaming devices from laptops, desktops, monitors and gaming accessories line which has earned countless industry awards and accolades for giving a competitive edge to gamers. Our products and the Acer Predator League e-sports tournaments reinforces the commitment of the brand in supporting the gaming industry India.

Panduit Brings Experts to Tackle India’s Infrastructure Challenges at Solution City Conference 2018

Panduit, an industry leader in end-to-end electrical and network connectivity physical infrastructure solutions, concluded its Solution City Conference at The Taj Mahal Hotel in New Delhi, India, on 20 November 2018. The conference offered in-depth insights into projects supporting the case for India’s infrastructure growth and served as an avenue for global experts to discuss efficient ways to tackle infrastructure challenges in the country.

On Tuesday, participants from across India and abroad gathered to discuss and learn from their peers on how to address the infrastructure challenges ailing India. Dr Andrew Staples, Global Editorial Director from The Economist Corporate Network opened the event, breaking down significant key infrastructure growth points in driving the economy, and the challenges that lie within. He noted that as of April 2018, India has 1,332 infrastructure projects underway, each worth at least US$22m and 343 of which are classified as mega-projects. A third of these mega-projects are behind schedule, further adding to costs.

In the panel discussion moderated by Dr Staples on investing in India, Harry Woo, Managing Director, Panduit Asia Pacific, shared how through the years Panduit India has managed to overcome the challenges in their local operations by leveraging the local distribution network, which has been proven to work in their favour.

“India is a land of endless opportunities and with Panduit as a foreign investor, we look towards our strong partner network to share the success. We are good at manufacturing products through our 60 years of innovation and research, to reduce costs and deliver on infrastructure needs. However, it is the expertise of our distribution network that helps us bring our products to market,” Woo said.

“We are encouraged by the conversations we are having with industry and that the work we do is aligned with their needs. Together, we can work toward solving India’s infrastructure challenges and realising a richer economy.”

Furthermore, industry leaders Cisco Systems (India), International Solar Alliance, Sterling & Wilson and Yes Bank participated in separate panel discussions covering digital transformation in transportation, meeting India’s renewable energy demand as well as sustainable investment for the solar industry.

Medvarsity Online Ltd. Awarded for Excellence in Training & Development at ABP Healthcare Leadership Awards 2018

Medvarsity, a pioneer in online medical training has been awarded the 'Excellence in Training & Development in Healthcare Education’ award at the 4th edition of the ABP Healthcare Leadership Awards, 2018, in Mumbai.

Through this, ABP News aims to identify businesses and individuals with various expertise from the field of Healthcare.

The award recognized the company's contribution to strategic training and development in the educational field. Medvarsity has built a portfolio of end to end healthcare training programs for its students, over the period of 18 years . It offers courses specially designed for MBBS Doctors and AYUSH in various advanced skill set which will be beneficial for their career growth to a great extent. Additionally, it also caters to Nurses, Dentists, Physiotherapists, Dietitians, Medical Technicians & Managers as  well, through its exclusive courses.

“Its a privilege and an honour to be recognized as a leader in Healthcare education by ABP News. This award is a testimony to all the work that the team at Medvarsity has put together over the years and the impact we’ve delivered to our students.” said  Gerald Jaideep, CEO, Medvarsity Online Ltd.

With time, Medvarsity has helped empower healthcare professionals from all over the world and takes pride in stating that 20% its students are based out of Europe, Asian countries apart from India, Middle East and Africa.

The award ceremony was held at Taj Lands End in Mumbai on 26th  November 2018 and was attended by brand leaders, department heads, and outstanding contributors and professionals from the healthcare industry.  

ACT Fibernet Joins Hands with Bengaluru Tech Summit 2018 as its Official ‘Fibernet Partner’

ACT Fibernet (Atria Convergence Technologies Ltd.) India’s largest fiber-focused wired broadband ISP (Internet Service Provider), today announced its partnership with Bengaluru Tech Summit 2018 as their official ‘Fibernet Partners’. As part of the tie-up, ACT Fibernet will provide high-speed broadband connectivity at the event that will be held from November 29 to December 1, 2018 in Bengaluru.

Globally recognized as the IT capital of India, Bengaluru stands as the 4th largest technology cluster of the world. In this regard, the Bengaluru Tech Summit aims to showcase Bengaluru’s prowess in technology and innovation. The event will bring together more than 10,000 visitors and over 3500 delegates from across the globe.  To ensure they are seamlessly connected on the digital platform. ACT Fibernet will be providing high-speed wi-fi connectivity backed with world class broadband experience. Additionally, ACT Fibernet will be setting up a stall where visitors will have the opportunity to personally try the futuristic Giga broadband service at the summit.

Speaking on the association, Sandeep Gupta, COO, ACT Fibernet said, “The Bengaluru Tech Summit is one the biggest tech events of India and we are thrilled to be a part of this grand event. It has always been our constant endeavor to support initiatives which helps place Bengaluru as the most progressive city of the country. We are committed to support the event by offering our best broadband services and we believe this will truly add value to the overall experience and success of the event.”

Commenting on the initiative, Mohanram PV, CEO, Bengaluru Tech Summit said, “ACT Fibernet is one of the most trusted internet service providers in the city and we are extremely pleased to have them as our internet partner. Bengaluru Tech Summit is a platform to appreciate technology and innovation. We are confident that with ACT Fibernet’s wi-fi connectivity we will deliver a positive and enthralling experience for all our participants and the attendees at the event.”

ACT Fibernet has always been on the forefront to leverage innovation and technology, as part of which ACT Fibernet recently partnered with the start-up cell of Government of Karnataka to aid the growth of the startup cell and to support Karnataka government’s startup initiative.

NetApp Recognized as a 2018 Gartner Peer Insights Customers’ Choice for Solid-State Arrays

NetApp, the data authority for hybrid cloud, today announced it was named a 2018 Gartner Peer Insights Customers’ Choice for Solid-State Arrays. Gartner defines  Solid-State Arrays as highly automated, guaranteed low latency solid-state storage arrays compared to older larger and slower electromechanical storage array offerings which use hard-disk drives (HDDs).

This latest recognition for NetApp, which is based on reviews from NetApp’s customers, follows its inclusion by Gartner analysts as a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Solid-State Arrays for the third consecutive year. NetApp offers a full range of data products and services for companies to modernize their IT architecture with cloud-connected flash, helping them succeed with resource-intensive Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications and other complex data use-cases.

“We believe being named a Gartner Peer Insights Customers’ Choice reflects our status as the fastest-growing vendor in flash and the overall evolution of our cloud-connected flash storage capabilities,” said Joel Reich, Executive Vice President, Storage Systems & Software at NetApp. “We have a customer-first focus on innovations that make life easier for our users through automated analytics and management of storage with easy integrations to the cloud.”

Gartner Peer Insights Customers’ Choice selections are based on recognitions of vendors submitted by verified end-user professionals. The criteria also consider both the number of customer reviews and the overall user ratings.

Nestlé Introduces India’s First Baked Noodles - MAGGI Nutri-licious

Nestlé India is delighted to introduce India’s first baked noodles - MAGGI Nutri-licious baked noodles using its global food expertise and deep understanding of local taste preferences, that offers a wholesome proposition. This is in continuation with its ongoing direction of “Kuch Acha Pakk Raha Hai”.

The proprietary “baked” technology locks the taste of sweet corn as it bakes it into every strand of noodles. The product also comes with two special taste makers – a dry seasoning that is specially created to deliver taste and a market-first, second seasoning through a flavoured oil that enhances the overall taste.

Talking about the launch, Suresh Narayanan, Chairman and Managing Director, Nestlé India said, “I am very happy that we are introducing India’s first baked noodles. Product innovation and renovation continues to be the core of our business strategy.  This year we have made some important interventions with brand MAGGI. We are committed to enhance the nutrition profile of our products by adding ingredients to our products and using our proprietary technology.  With every new addition to the MAGGI portfolio our objective is to offer more choices to our consumers who are seeking options that resonate with their evolving tastes and preferences. We hope this will be liked as there is goodness of sweetcorn baked in every strand.”

Nestlé also understands that kids eat better when they are involved in the process of cooking at home. New MAGGI Nutri-licious® Baked Noodles with its delicious taste and convenient method of preparation will enable parents to introduce kids to the joy of cooking at home.

MAGGI Nutri-licious Baked Noodles are available across leading supermarkets and mom-and-pop stores in Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kochi.

Acer’s Most Awaited “Predator Thronos”, the God of gaming chairs, launched in India

Acer India, the No.1 PC gaming brand In India, today unveiled for the first time in India, Predator Thronos, the ultimate gaming cave. It is hands down one of the most unique products to hit the gaming market in a very long time. The all new Predator Thronos reimagines the gaming cave for the new breed of gamers. It has a steel structure that's 1.5 meters tall, the chair is adjustable and includes an ergonomic seat design, foot rest, and a cabin that reclines up to 140 degrees.

The Predator Thronos is much more than just a chair. The motorized throne packs leg rests, a mount for three computer monitors, and blue mood lighting galore. It puts the gamer in the game through deep impact vibration, where the chair vibrates upon in-game impact. The overhead brace supports three 27-inch gaming monitors and a space for a Predator gaming PC. Integrated with a Predator PC and triple Predator monitors plus gadgets, the Thronos becomes much more than a gaming chair—it’s a Gamer’s cave.

Commenting on the launch, Chandrahas Panigrahi, CMO and Consumer Business Head, Acer India says “We are extremely thrilled to launch our Predator Thronos, the first ever gaming chair, in India. This innovation is one of a kind from Acer and till date, we haven’t seen any other similar products in the market. Integrated with a Predator PC and triple Predator monitors plus gadgets, the Thronos becomes more than a gaming chair—it’s a gamer’s cave. And we are sure of receiving a positive response towards it from the gamers community.”

The cockpit has numerous parts that are motorized and can be adjusted both horizontally and vertically. The seat also has built-in "rumble" motors that are synced up with in-game effects, making them even more immersive. The Chair comes in menacing dual-tone black with white or blue accents. Also, it is available for pre-orders and pricing on requests based on the configurations. For Order Query mail at AIL.Enquiries@acer.com 

Panduit Brings Experts Together to Tackle India’s Infrastructure Challenges at Solution City Conference 2018

Panduit, an industry leader in end-to-end electrical and network connectivity physical infrastructure solutions, concluded its Solution City Conference at The Taj Mahal Hotel in New Delhi, India, on 20 November 2018. The conference offered in-depth insights into projects supporting the case for India’s infrastructure growth and served as an avenue for global experts to discuss efficient ways to tackle infrastructure challenges in the country.

On Tuesday, participants from across India and abroad gathered to discuss and learn from their peers on how to address the infrastructure challenges ailing India. Dr Andrew Staples, Global Editorial Director from The Economist Corporate Network opened the event, breaking down significant key infrastructure growth points in driving the economy, and the challenges that lie within. He noted that as of April 2018, India has 1,332 infrastructure projects underway, each worth at least US$22m and 343 of which are classified as mega-projects. A third of these mega-projects are behind schedule, further adding to costs.

In the panel discussion moderated by Dr Staples on investing in India, Harry Woo, Managing Director, Panduit Asia Pacific, shared how through the years Panduit India has managed to overcome the challenges in their local operations by leveraging the local distribution network, which has been proven to work in their favour.

“India is a land of endless opportunities and with Panduit as a foreign investor, we look towards our strong partner network to share the success. We are good at manufacturing products through our 60 years of innovation and research, to reduce costs and deliver on infrastructure needs. However, it is the expertise of our distribution network that helps us bring our products to market,” Woo said.

“We are encouraged by the conversations we are having with industry and that the work we do is aligned with their needs. Together, we can work toward solving India’s infrastructure challenges and realising a richer economy.”

Furthermore, industry leaders Cisco Systems (India), International Solar Alliance, Sterling & Wilson and Yes Bank participated in separate panel discussions covering digital transformation in transportation, meeting India’s renewable energy demand as well as sustainable investment for the solar industry.

Pramod Sharma - Executive Creative Director, Rediffusion said, “Tata Commercial Vehicles are the lifeline of India. Be it goods, Ganesha idols or sports felicitation processions, the Tata vehicles carry emotions with them, making them the heartbeat of the country. Our idea stemmed from this insight, executed nicely by Old School Films.”

Tata Motors is at the forefront, promoting Wrestling and Kabaddi in the country through their recent associations with Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) and Pro Kabaddi League (PKL). In some of the biggest non-cricket partnerships of the country, Tata Motors takes pride in extending its support beyond a simple commercial engagement by promoting the sport, encouraging and developing rising sporting talents, enabling them to achieve their aspirations.

Tata Motors Celebrates #DeshKeTruck with a Brand New TVC

Continuing from its association and strong support towards home –grown sports of the country like Kabaddi and Wrestling, Tata Motors, India’s leading automotive company has introduced its brand new TVC “DeshKeTruck”. The film establishes Tata Motors’ range of commercial vehicles as an integral part of a sportsperson’s quest for excellence, helping them hone their skills to pursue success. The vehicles also double up as a symbol of perfection, inspiring every athlete to push their boundaries akin to these commercial vehicles that are unstoppable in the wake of challenges. The film ‘Desh Ke Truck’ has been conceptualized by Rediffusion and executed by Old School Films.

The TVC features players such as Sushil Kumar, Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik, Rishank Devadiga, Monu Goyat etc. among others, from WFI and PKL. It will be promoted during the ongoing Pro Kabaddi League matches, further cascading on to the social media handles with the following hashtags - #DeshKeKhiladi #DeshKeTruck #PKL #WFI. URL to the TVC – Tata Motors Desh Ke Truck TVC

Speaking on the TVC, UT Ramprasad, Head – Marketing and Brand Communications, Commercial Vehicle Business Unit, Tata Motors said, “Tata Motors is the archetype trucking champion of India. In essence - the ‘DeshKeTruck’ positioning embodies our vehicles and the movement of the Indian economy at large. Tata Motors Commercial Vehicle’s association with Kabaddi & Wrestling is our acknowledgment of the undeniable and unstoppable ‘Sportification’ of India through these homegrown sports.”

ExxonMobil Announces Its Association With 2.0 As The Energy Partner

ExxonMobil Lubricants Pvt. Ltd. is set to expand its presence in India, the world’s fastest growing lubricants market, with one of the most exciting brand associations, 2.0. Associated as the energy partner, the world’s leading lubricant brand aims to engage its consumers, trade partners and employees through marketing associations that reflect the Mobil brand promise.

The 2.0. association is first amongst many initiatives under the Farak Laakar Dekhiye brand campaign. The campaign embodies Mobil’s strategy for India and articulates the position of making a difference to things that matter and seeing the change. As a brand, Mobil continues to stay ahead of the curve, through its advanced technology and engineering capabilities to offer better protection - which sets Mobil branded products apart from every other lubricant manufacturer. 

Commenting on the association, Deepankar Banerjee, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of ExxonMobil’s lubricants business in India said,“We are extremely pleased with our association with 2.0. The movie illustrates best-in-class and is synonymous with the Mobil brand promise. This association is just one of the many brand associations we will launch in India. The brand campaign, Farak Laakar Dekhiye, was conceptualized with the Indian subcontinent in mind, promising an array of unique and relevant experiences that lead to stronger brand recognition and curiosity for Mobil products in India.”