thyssenkrupp -Elite Elevators Launch New Home Lift- ALTURA H200

After the successful launch of ALTURA H300 in 2017, thyssenkrupp is back with another marvel of a product for Indian Homes. Introducing the “ALTURA H200” also called the “ALTURA Platinum”. It takes advantage of the state-of-the-art Hydraulic technology perfected from the renowned thyssenkrupp home lifts product portfolio. Built from German engineering expertise and designed with our customers in mind, we can ensure that the ALTURA H200 will deliver a personalised quality solution for your home.

Elite Elevators in association with thyssenkrupp have launched the ALTURA H200 in India, and is set to take Home Elevators standards to a complete new level. The ALTURA H200 comes as a Safety Integrity Level - 3 (SIL-3) certified model and keeps up with the safety and comfort standards of all the designs that are delivered from thyssenkrupp. From excellent proficiency on elevator engineering, thyssenkrupp has developed their latest product range to include components that are manufacturedwith precise attention to detail.

The ALTURA H200 offers numerous configurations and a range of platform sizes for almost every specification required due to its futuristic compact mechanism. The ALTURA H200’s hydraulic technology allows it to be versatile and adaptable with energy efficiency and tailor made designs. Combining German engineering with Italian design, you are sure to have found a solution that is environment friendly, unobtrusive and will integrate beautifully into your home with numerous sophisticated, elegant and stylish options

Elite Elevators has two experience centres, the first of their kind, in Chennai and Bangalore where you can see first-hand the ALTURA H300 model and other products offered by Elite Elevators. We are in the process of launching similar experience centres for ALTURA H200 models in Hyderabad and Mumbai in the near future where you can easily step into the World of Home Elevators.

About thyssenkrupp Access Ltd:

thyssenkrupp is a 200+ year old German goliath, with its wings spread across multiple sectors like automobile, steel, elevation etc. They generate a revenue of around $44 billion annually and are pioneers of technology and innovation in multiple sectors. In 2018 thyssenkrupp officially established themselves as No. 1 Home Elevator selling Company. Established in 2002, thyssenkrupp Elevator (India) installs, maintains and modernizes elevators and escalators in India and Bangladesh. They have a strong presence in various segments, such as residential, office and infrastructure

About Elite Elevators: Elite Elevators is a 6 Year old organization with their headquarters established in Chennai. They’re are official business partners and represent thyssenkrupp Access in India. With more than 500 installations across India, their Home Lifts serves the entire country from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. 

Handwashing Practices Reaches 1,00,000 Madrasa with Dettol Banega Swasth India Paigham-e-Sehat Campaign

Reckitt Benckiser, world’s leading consumer Health and Hygiene Company, after a successful launch of its Dettol Banega Swasth India Handwash Digital Curriculum announces the second phase of the program in collaboration with the All India Organization of Imams of Mosque. The program in its first phase successfully influenced the lives of 1,00,000 children through a holistic hygiene education program.

According to the World Health Organization, poor hygiene practices are believed to be the main cause of death among children under five years. Significantly, primary research showed that there is a huge difference in knowledge (50%), attitude, practice (32%) and behaviour around handwashing among kids in Madrasas. With the initiative we aim to create positive impact on children and ensure we create the shift in knowledge from 50% to 90% in year two.

The program is aimed at gaining mindshare and turn the best hygiene and sanitation practices into natural habits among the school children across various regions in rural India. It is conceptualized keeping in mind the background, acceptance and the current academic curriculum of the kids. The video-based learning program is available for the children in both Urdu and Hindi. In its second phase, the program will improve knowledge.

Salient features of the program:

* Module included as a co-curricular/extra-curricular activity in schools
* Module provides innovative ways of engaging children through text and audio-visual content, training, games, etc.
·         The content of the modules /capsules can be tailored for schools across government schools across peri-urban, rural and backward regions

* Three level of modules are in place for different grades elementary, intermediate and high school
* Modules are available in 7 languages and are translatable in various regional languages

Elated on the launch, Ravi Bhatnagar, Director External Affairs and Partnerships, RB Health India, said, “We are proud of the impact created by the initial year of Paigham-e-Sehat in creating knowledge, behavior, attitude and practice of the hygiene and handwashing across Madrasas. This year we are focusing on driving behavior change through collective community efforts. Consequently, we will execute this campaign in a phased manner to sensitise about 6 crore children in over 5,50,000 madrasas in India, over a period of five years. I strongly believe that this effort would help boost the movement we have gathered to reach the desired goal of overall cleanliness (सफाई) and health (सेहत).”

Commenting on the development, Hon’ble Dr Imam Umer Ahmed Ilyasi, Chief Imam of All India Imam Organization said, “Education is the catalyst to social change and one of the most critical areas of empowerment for children. We are proud to embark phase II of our partnership for Dettol Banega Swasth India Handwash Digital Curriculum. After witnessing the success from phase I wherein the program effectively impacted lives of 1,00,000 children, we are confident that our collaboration will ensure outreach to many more children resulting in a healthier India.”

Innova Crysta and Fortuner Continue to Reinforce Supremacy with Over 50% and 60% Segment Share

True to its reputation of delivering ever better cars, Toyota Kirloskar Motor’s (TKM) legendary products Innova Crysta and Fortuner continued their undisputed  market leadership. With their magnificent design and unbeatable performance, both the Innova Crysta and Fortuner have carved a niche for themselves in their respective segments. Dominating the MPV segment, Innova has sold more than 900,000 units over the years, holding a segment share of more than 40%. Despite a segment degrowth, in the month of February 2020 the Innova Crysta recorded one of the highest segment shares with 52.91% since its launch in 2016. On the other hand, the Fortuner has held a segment share of 54% in the last one year alone. In February 2020, Fortuner recorded the highest segment share of 63.9% as compared to last one year.

Staying strong by its ‘Customer First’ philosophy over the last two decades, Toyota Kirloskar Motor has introduced serval products and services, setting new benchmarks and creating lasting bonds with its customers. While the Innova has been the undisputed leader in the MPV segment, known for its luxurious features, comfort, safety and powerful performance, the Fortuner with its bold design and imposing presence has distinctively given a new dimension to the driving experience, winning hearts across the country.

Commenting on the success witnessed by both the products, Mr. Naveen Soni, Senior Vice President, Sales and Service, Toyota Kirloskar Motor said, “At TKM, we have always strived to listen to our customers’ voice and offer products and innovations that align with their ever-evolving needs. The Innova and Fortuner have been significant milestones in our journey of two decades in India. We are overwhelmed with the sales performance and truly appreciate the phenomenal response we have received from our customers over the years.”

“Thanks to this response and the confidence entrusted in the products, regardless of the ongoing slowdown, both the brands have been able to hold their respective segment leadership and continue to cater to the changing requirements of our customers.” he added.

The Innova often referred to as the segment creator, has maintained a leadership position since its launch in India way back in 2005, continuing to be the most preferred MPVs in the country. Moreover, the 2nd Generation Innova - Innova Crysta also received a warm welcome from the customers during its launch in 2016. Earlier this year, in order to smoothen the transition to BS-VI, TKM introduced the BS-VI compliant Innova Crysta at an introductory offer for limited time period.

Known for its compelling design and strong identity, the Fortuner has achieved a cult status in the SUV segment ever since its launch in 2009. Sought-after for both off-roading and city driving, the Fortuner unbeatable performance and great riding comfort has made it the undisputed choice among SUV owners in the country. Even during the recent degrowth being faced by the industry, Fortuner has continued to hold its segment leadership share in the medium SUV segment.

The Death of Marketing - Medvarsity Online Limited Officially Shuts Down its Marketing Team

On March 1, 2020, Mr. Gerald Jaideep, the CEO of Medvarsity announced on LinkedIn that he is aiming for Medvarsity to grow over 100% this year, and therefore, shutting down his marketing function. It led to debates - both online and offline.

In an era wherein the term marketing is perceived as a fading concept and many organization are bringing a change to their business strategies in order to flourish in the disruptive and evolving ecosystem, the organization took this radical step to set a precedent for other organizations in its niche and bring a shift in the modus operandi by building a team that will formulate newer and innovative ways to drive organizational success.

Exit team marketing, and enter  Team Growth – a group of professionals that will be working to reinvent the organization’s actual potential, take initiatives to provide better services to the end-users and make a simultaneous effort to explore possibilities and untapped opportunities to set new horizons for the growth of the organization. With the technological transformation of the healthcare ecosystem, the approach of education is changing, and the change is translating to the operations at various organizations in the education technology domain. In this scenario, the organization executed management scrutiny to identify the gaps needed to be filled in order to create a better value for the customers, stakeholders, and learners. After identifying the need for a fresh approach to generate business opportunities and to be in alignment with the contemporary trends, the organization recognized the requirement of an incredibly talented team that can leverage the blend of technology and traditional methods to scaleup the impact of the organization on the Indian healthcare community.

“We, as an organization, believe that we have entered the phase III of our mission to impact healthcare through education in which we are looking to take our business to the next level and set goals that will not only pace-up the growth of the business but also provide great value to our stakeholders and learners. In this direction, I believe that Team Growth, being a group of experienced and highly-skilled professionals, is capable of bringing the much-needed transformation in the ways with which we look to grow and achieve our new goals and execute them to bring our initiative to fruition,” quoted Mr. Gerald Jaideep – CEO of Medvarsity Online Ltd.

In the contemporary regime of business, terms such as growth hacker are gaining prevalence and replacing marketer which may be a concept of yesterday soon. Many companies are adopting the growth model and witnessing a significant shift in terms of revenue rise.  Moreover, the latest trends warrant a much more radical approach to achieve the desired results. In this scenario, the organization looks forward to bringing not only change to the operations but also imparting a change in the approach of its people and inspiring progressive thinking in the workforce at large. 

“There are possibilities for business to grow beyond the traditional way of marketing, and the digital education sector has a lot to offer to the players. It was important for us to bring a transition in terms of strategic planning in order to pave a new path to growth for the organization. As Team Growth, we are working to connect the dots of the current business scenario and market trends of online medical education to design strategies that are not only new but also augment the revenues. Through our new methodologies, we look forward to adding value to the vision of the organization, which is making a substantial contribution in the evolution of healthcare in India by providing courses that help the medical fraternity to upskill and propagate career growth,” added Bibhuti Acharya – Associate Vice President, the Head of Growth Team at Medvarsity Online Ltd.

The future foresees a certain enhancement in opportunities for the medical education technology and more so when the education technology industry is growing at a massive rate across the globe. The execution of the growth model in the organization will impart the much-needed pace required to thrive in the current dynamics of the agile business world.

Ansat Chopper to be Equipped with Modules for Transporting Infants

Kazan Helicopters (part of Russian Helicopters/Rostec) received a permission from the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsiya) to equip Ansat helicopters with a special module for transporting neonatal patients. This equipment can be used to provide evacuation and airborne medical care to infants.

Ansat equipped with the neonatal transport module passed whole range of necessary certification tests. During the ground testing stage, the certification team demonstrated the capabilities of the model to conduct emergency evacuation of the crew, medical workers and a neonatal patient. Flight tests evaluated the performance of the module and verified its electromagnetic compatibility with the standard equipment of the helicopter.

The new module was developed together with the Ural Optical and Mechanical Plant (part of Shvabe holding company) specifically for neonatal air transport. The manufacturer of the Ansat medical module, Kazan Aggregate Plant, developed a special platform for the incubator to replace the more traditional stretcher design. No redesign of the helicopter interior was required.

"The capability to install a neonatal medical module for Ansat had been in demand for a long time. Thanks to cooperation of Rostec holding companies and other partners, the helicopter now comes with upgraded equipment, allowing medical teams to continuously monitor the condition of a child, maintain the vital body functions and conduct intensive therapy during the flight," said Managing Director of Kazan Helicopters Yuri Pustovgarov.

The incubator comes with a set of medical equipment, including an artificial lung ventilator, a monitoring unit, an aspirator, and an infusion pump. The neonatal module can be installed optionally on all Ansats equipped with base medical modules.

Ansat helicopters are used for rescue operations in various regions of Russia, the geography of their application is constantly expanding. The development program of the Russian air ambulance fleet has been in implementation since 2017 and is now part of the National Healthcare project.

Ansat is a light multipurpose twin-engine helicopter, serial production of which is deployed at Kazan Helicopters. According to the helicopter certificate, its design allows converting it into a cargo version or into a passenger rotorcraft that can lift up to seven people. In May 2015, a supplement to the type certificate for the modification of the helicopter with a medical module was obtained. Ansat is certified for use in the temperatures ranging between -45°С and +50°С, and in high mountains.

Vedantu Offers Free Access to Live Classes & Content to Students, Parents to Support Uninterrupted Learning Amidst COVID-19

As the pandemic of COVID-19 grips the world, Vedantu, a pioneer in LIVE online tutoring in India is offering support to students, parents and schools in Bengaluru, New Delhi, Kerala and Hyderabad to provide Free access to its complete learning platform. Vedantu will offer Free access to all LIVE classes of Vedantu Master Teachers, Study  Material, Tests & Assignments, LIVE Doubts feature during this outbreak, where students & parents can be rest assured as they can continue their learning from the safety of their homes. Vedantu’s vision is to make the best quality education accessible to everyone and is committed to help students have uninterrupted learning.

Students will get free access to Vedantu’sLIVE Classes, Tests, Doubt Solving, Ample Study  Material, Class recordings & Notes. It will cater to Grades 1 to 12 covering subjects like Maths, Science, Social Studies, Physics, Chemistry etc. Courses for JEE & NEET are available too. Apart from this,  co-curricular courses for all grades such as Turbo Maths, Rocket Pro, Photography, Coding would be made FREE too.

Vedantu's LIVE classes and the entire program can be easily accessed at home from your Mobile, Desktop & Tabs

Vamsi Krishna, CEO and Co-Founder, Vedantu said, “At Vedantu, we believe that best quality education should be accessible to everyone, anytime. We believe Online Learning is a safe option in these risky & uncertain times. The students can study from the safety of their home and avoid travel and public places.  We are constantly working on solutions that will drive evolution, fundamentally changing the pattern of teaching and learning today. We are here to support by  making our platform free during this crucial time. We are closely monitoring the impact of COVID-19 and are here to assist students & schools with all their learning needs.”

Schools across Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kerala can reach out to Vedantu for teaching students remotely. Vedantu’s platform is also available for the schools to ensure that the education is uninterrupted.

About Vedantu:
Vedantu is a LIVE interactive online learning platform for students. It offers individual and group classes delivered by experienced teachers in a LIVE real-time, virtual learning environment. Students also access content, take assessments and get their learning reports on the platform. 150,000 students study LIVE every month on the platform and more than 25 Million users every month from 1000+ cities and 40+ countries access free content, tests, doubts, videos on Vedantu’s platform and its channels on YouTube. To know more about Vedantu log on to https://www.vedantu.com or download the Application on your Android or iOS device.

Sentara Healthcare Partners with CitiusTech to Deploy Data Platform on Microsoft Azure

Sentara Healthcare, one of the nation’s oldest not-for profit health systems, has completed the deployment of a next-gen enterprise data platform (EDP). It provides a single, consolidated view of provider, payer and enterprise information from Sentara Healthcare and Optima Health Plan, a wholly owned subsidiary.

“Sentara is committed to delivering high quality healthcare and innovative services that meet the unique needs of the communities we serve,” said Michael Reagin, Sentara Healthcare senior vice president and chief information and innovation officer. “We collaborated with CitiusTech to develop an EDP that provides us more flexibility and scale to continue meeting the changing demands of our patients, care teams and partners across the care continuum.”

Sentara partnered with CitiusTech, a Microsoft partner, to architect, build and implement its EDP. It leveraged CitiusTech’s BigData solution H-Scale, to deploy an end-to-end data management platform to ingest, curate, transform and reconcile data from five different sources on a daily basis and create a 360-degree view of the patient record. Sentara built a robust enterprise-class system in less than two years gaining benefits of quick time to market along with significant implementation savings.

By implementing a cloud-first strategy, Sentara Healthcare has ensured that the EDP uses HIPAA compliant PaaS service offerings of Azure and can scale for large data volume. This is expected to save close to $1.5 million every year by moving away from an on-premises model.

“Next-gen interoperability and real-time data access have become imperative for healthcare organizations to enhance quality of care and align with value-based models.” Says Rizwan Koita, CEO of CitiusTech. “Sentara Healthcare with its cloud-first strategy has built an industry leading data platform using CitiusTech’s H-Scale on Microsoft Azure to support data-driven performance.”

Gareth Hall, director of business strategy for Worldwide Healthcare at Microsoft said, “Microsoft Azure enabled CitiusTech to deliver a cloud-based enterprise-wide healthcare data management solution. This enabled Sentara to get a holistic view of patient information across their enterprise. CitiusTech H-Scale, combined with Azure, helps customers achieve scale in healthcare data management.”

CitiusTech has further enabled Sentara to leverage aggregated information and generate actionable insights by deploying artificial intelligence and machine learning models at an enterprise scale. This is expected to save approximately $3 million a year through efficiency improvements across the organization.

UL Launches IoT Center of Excellence to Help Innovators Access India and Global Markets

UL, a leading global safety science company, has expanded its Bengaluru facility to help product innovators address compliance and market access challenges in the fast-growing and increasingly complex world of connected devices. The new facility added 12,000-square feet of laboratory space with scope for further expansion, making it one of the most technologically advanced electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), specific absorption rate (SAR), wireless and interoperability testing laboratories in India. The facility, accredited by the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL), enables UL to service a diverse range of products for customers across consumer electronics, information technology, mobile and telecommunications, medical devices, industrial products, lighting and appliances industries.

The three key challenges manufacturers and product design companies encounter are efficient global market access, finding EMC and wireless expertise, and speed-to-market for product launches. The new UL facility offers automated data collection, custom-designed test chambers and fast access to technical experts across a multitude of disciplines. The presence of a semi-anechoic chamber provides local product design engineers and developers, a convenient nearby testing facility. Further, the Center of Excellence (CoE) offers global experience and UL experts advise to companies at every step of the product launch process, from designing to preparing for market access, to help ensure compliance to regulations before and during production.

“India is a top priority market for UL. The Bengaluru laboratory expansion combined with UL’s existing global network of laboratories and engineering talent­­ - offers our customers in India a seamless end-to-end service solution with unparalleled technical expertise, helping them navigate risk and enabling greater speed-to-market for their products and solutions,” said Ghislain Devouge, Global Vice President and General Manager Consumer Technology for UL.

“At UL, we strongly endorse the ‘In India, for India’ strategy, and have been regularly investing in building capability and capacity. This IoT CoE will help the market in multiple ways – first, enabling our domestic customers to develop smarter products, meet regulations and supply to the world; second, assisting our global customers to comply with India regulations and seamlessly access the Indian market; and third, giving confidence to the regulators and players in the ecosystem that they can access best-in-class global knowledge, technical expertise, and seamless service locally,” said Suresh Sugavanam, Vice President and Managing Director of South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa for UL.

In today’s interconnected world, manufacturers who add wireless capability to existing products for industrial, consumer and medical applications must meet the complex and varied wireless regulatory requirements, which can differ by the market. Additionally, when regulations change, manufacturers may have to conduct new testing even if their products were already in the market, such as the Indian Telegraph (Amendment) Rules, 2017, Mandatory Testing and Certification of Telecom Equipments (MTCTE). Put in place by the Telecommunication Engineering Center (TEC), a nodal agency under the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), the regulation requires all telecom equipment to undergo mandatory testing and certification before sale or import for use in India. An Indian accredited laboratory designated by the TEC must carry out the testing and based upon its test reports a certificate is issued by the TEC. UL laboratory in Bengaluru is ready to be designated by TEC, and the expanded facility will further help the industry comply with the MTCTE regime.

POCO X2 Recognised as the Highest-Rated Smartphone on Flipkart

POCO, now an independent smartphone brand, announced that its latest smartphone, POCO X2, has become the highest rated smartphone on Flipkart (for smartphones with over 10k user ratings). Launched last month, POCO X2 has emerged as a clear winner with spectacular ratings and reviews from users for its performance, camera and display. POCO X2 seems to have ticked all the boxes, achieving 4.6 rating points (out of 5) with more than 20,000 user ratings as of 13th March, 2020.

POCO X2 is equipped with a display powered by the RealityFlow 120Hz engine -- a category-first. It has a 20:9 tall-body design wrapped around a 3D curved glass body, which enables a large cinematic screen experience of 16.94 cm (6.67 inch). It is also the first smartphone in India to feature the Sony IMX686 camera sensor that can elevate the photography experience of users.

Commenting on this milestone, Manmohan Chandolu, General Manager, POCO India said, “We are ecstatic with this achievement and want to thank all our customers who have been a part of this new-yet-fruitful journey. Since POCO X2’s launch last month, we have received an amazing response from across all categories of users and I am confident that it is just the beginning. We intend to continue the momentum and keep up with the gusto.”

POCO X2 is available via Flipkart.com.

Product images: POCO X2

Availability

POCO X2 will be available in its next sale on 17th March 2020, 12 noon in 6GB + 64GB, 6GB + 128GB and 8GB + 256GB storage variants for INR 15,999, INR 16,999 and INR 19,999 respectively via Flipkart, with an additional instant discount of INR 1,000 on ICICI credit card and EMI transactions.   

About POCO

POCO is an independent brand born out of Xiaomi in India. Its first product, POCO F1 was launched in August 2018, and since January 2020, POCO has become an independent entity. POCO F1 was India's No.1 smartphone in the ‘above INR 15,000 price segment’ in the online smartphone market as per third party statistics. Currently, POCO has an independent product and marketing team, and shares resources from Xiaomi in terms of supply chain, logistics, manufacturing and after sales.

POCO is a consumer technology brand, based on the philosophy of 'Everything you need and nothing you don't' with a key focus on its POCO fans’ requirements. It's built on relentless pursuit of technology which its fans truly need, thus democratizing decision making and continuous product updates to ensure relevance.

TKM Takes Precautionary Measures to Counter the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Outbreak

In light of the current outbreak of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) and the fight against the epidemic, Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) has taken preventive measures to safe guard health and safety of all stakeholders including: Customers, Employees, and Dealer Partners. TKM has been closely monitoring the evolving situation and responding appropriately in accordance with guidance issued by the Government.

Commenting on the measures taken by the company, Mr. Naveen Soni, Senior Vice President, Sales and Service, Toyota Kirloskar Motor said, “Our first priority is the health and safety of all our stakeholders. As a committed corporate, we are taking all preventive measures to sustain normal business operations. We have created SOPs internally to maintain normalcy at workplace as well as for our partners ensuring hassle-free customer interface. We are actively responding to the changing market conditions and taking countermeasures wherever required to deal with contingencies that may arise in the future.”

Customer convenience

Keeping safety of the customers in mind, the company is developing a 360 degree vehicle display on its website, helping them take a virtual tour of each vehicle and get a better understanding to make an informed purchase decision.

Some of the key activities include:

o  Website (Test Drive & Price List)
o  e-brochure (Product information)
o  Make My Car (Accessory)
o  T-Connect (Service appointment booking)
o  Test Drive & Vehicle Delivery at customers residence
o  Service pick up and drop

Production Preparedness

The company is continuously monitoring the business operations in the country and taking preventive measures to grasp any challenges that may come forth.

Effective measures at Dealerships

Additionally, Dealer Partners are also being encouraged to take adequate precautions and sanitize all the customer touch points at the dealerships. This will help in effectively countering the virus threat, build customer confidence visiting the dealerships and simultaneously, take care of the employees. Further, virtual tools are being utilized as a key platform to share information, and provide services to the customers, at their convenience.

Employee Safety

In order to maintain good hygiene and build an uncontaminated environment at the workplace, TKM has suspended fingerprint biometric attendance system as a preventive measure. Employees are also being encouraged to maintain social distancing, avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth, practice respiratory hygiene, wash hands more often and stay at home if they see any COVID-19 symptoms. The company has also released strict advisory to minimize domestic and restrict international travel to severely affected regions.

India Leading the World in Moving Apps Back On-Prem From Public Cloud

Indian enterprises are leading the charge when it comes to repatriating public cloud workloads, according to a new global study by enterprise cloud computing leader, Nutanix (NASDAQ: NTNX).

The second annual Nutanix Enterprise Cloud Index report compiled by Vanson Bourne, and commissioned by Nutanix, found that 91% percent of India’s enterprises reported having moved, or plan to move, public apps back on-prem. This compared to 73% globally, and 76% in the APJ region.

The report highlights that Indian enterprises are going through a period of adjustment as their understanding and experience with public cloud matures. Many enterprises now realise that public cloud is not the single solution to their cloud strategy.

As cloud decisions have become more nuanced than simply moving to public cloud to save money on upfront capital costs—those initial returns, though substantial, may not persevere long-term, depending on the nature of the cloud workload, the study finds.

This reflects India’s enthusiasm for hybrid cloud adoption, which offers enterprises cloud mobility and agility as well as the ability to integrate multiple clouds, both public and private. For the second year running, Enterprise Cloud Index respondents have selected hybrid cloud as the ideal IT operating model going forward.

In fact, the report shows 42% of enterprises plan to shift the majority of their IT deployments to hybrid cloud, albeit less than APJ (53.1%) and global (51.74%) averages.

“Cloud mobility is a critical factor, as India’s enterprises embrace digitization and decide where to place their workloads. In this fast-changing digital environment, flexibility and security are essential, and Indian enterprises need the ability to match workloads to the best environment at the time.” said Balakrishnan Anantharaman, VP and MD-Sales, India and SAARC, Nutanix.

“Indian enterprises are seeing hybrid cloud as the ideal IT environment that provides this choice. As more Indian enterprises move away from legacy IT systems and adopt cloud architecture the re-allocation of staff and resources, so they can keep pace with emerging technologies, will become a priority.”

For the second consecutive year, Vanson Bourne has conducted research on behalf of Nutanix to learn about the state of global enterprise cloud computing deployments and plans. In mid-2019, the researcher surveyed 2,650 global IT decision-makers about where they're running their business applications today, where they plan to run them in the future, their challenges with cloud computing, and how their cloud initiatives stack up against other IT projects and priorities.

It highlights key data points gleaned from IT professionals in Indian businesses and how they compare to enterprise cloud experiences and plans in other parts of the Asia Pacific-Japan (APJ) region and the rest of the world.

Other key India findings from the report include:

India relies less on traditional data centres than both APJ and the global average.  Only 42% of Indian respondents reported current usage of traditional data centre deployments. This is more than 10 percentage points lower than the global average (52.79%) and more than 11 percentage points lower than the APJ region (53.67%). Within the region, only Japan ranked lower, which reported the overall lowest traditional datacentre penetration (24%) in the world.
India remains enthusiastic about hybrid cloud but is currently lagging its peers. Although India plans to shift the majority of their IT deployments to hybrid cloud (42%) within the next 3-5 years, the percentage of respondents making this claim is lower than both the APJ (53.11%) and the global average (51.74%). Interestingly, however, Indian IT professionals were almost unanimous in agreement (97%) that hybrid cloud represents the ideal IT operating model.
A higher percentage of Indian enterprises envision all of their workloads in one place. Despite their enthusiasm for hybrid cloud, only 13% of Indian respondents said they envision their workloads distributed across multiple clouds. While 46% of Indian enterprises envision all of their workloads in the public cloud, 38% prefer all workloads running in a private cloud.
Lack of internal IT skills and retaining qualified IT staff are both real concerns for Indian enterprises. Indian respondents reported significantly higher-than-average agreement that their enterprises lack the IT skills to meet business demands or to set up a secure, compliant cloud infrastructure. A majority also reported having difficulty retaining IT talent. That’s likely why 97% of respondents stated that they are investing in reskilling their IT teams to keep pace with emerging technologies—far more than averages in APJ (90.66%) and the world (90.94%).

MultiLiving Raises USD 6 Million from Lodha Ventures; Launches Operations in Mumbai

MultiLiving, a unique real estate platform announced raising USD 6 million from Lodha ventures and the launch of its operations in Mumbai. The platform goes live with an endeavor to make lives easier and enriched for the tenants and homeowners and bringing them together in an ecosystem. A new-age gamechanger, MultiLiving enables tenants to rent curated homes with a personal concierge & added services along with ensuring hassle-free management of assets & steady returns for the homeowners. By creating a rental housing ecosystem through technology, MultiLiving endeavours to streamline the home renting and management situation for urban professionals.

A brainchild of a group of IIM and IIT educated entrepreneurs and real estate veterans, MultiLiving was envisioned and established as a breath of fresh air in the country’s dormant residential real estate market. It intends to eliminate the inefficiencies prevalent in the existing rental system. The platform strives to unlock the enhanced rental value of the extremely large residential real estate segment, thereby enriching the lives of both tenants & homeowners in their respective value chains. It curates apartments from the homeowners, performs the quality check & requisite transformation and offers the homes with built-in services to the potential tenants. That said, the platform delivers smarter solutions for both tenants and owners against the traditional rental model.

Speaking on the revolutionary launch, Mr. Pankaj Singh, CEO & Founder of MultiLiving said, “Life of an urban professional is extremely hectic and the stress of finding and managing a home simply adds up to the burden. MultiLiving is an advanced way of owning and renting out a flat where we take care of everything involved in this space so that individuals can reclaim their time and focus on what truly matters. All our apartments are carefully selected in the niche societies and gated communities. We carefully screen every potential tenant who will love and take care of the home like it was their own. However, the final decision stays with the owner.”

Backed & funded by Lodha Ventures – the family office of Mr. Abhinandan Lodha who is also on the board of advisors, MultiLiving aims to serve proprietors who are owners of premium residential properties by ensuring steady predictable returns from their investments and managing the same for long term. Meanwhile, the platform also serves the new age families who are looking to stay on rent by offering them world-class curated homes with intuitive services to make daily life easy and hassle-free. For the potential tenants, MultiLiving ensures a comfortable and convenient lifestyle, which is beyond the average rented space. All its homes are handpicked basis the location, amenities at the society, condition of the house amongst other parameters. They undergo a thorough 50-step quality check process and are also assigned a dedicated transformation team to deliver the property in a 100% top-notch and ready-to-move-in state. All the homes come with a personal concierge to take care of all the daily chores and housekeeping. Tenants also get access to on-demand services like cooking, party planning, travel booking, etc. All these services are managed and monitored through an easy-to-use app.

Meanwhile, for the property owners, MultiLiving promises regular & steady returns. The platform takes charge of finding the tenants as per owners' choice and assure regular rentals. It handles the entire paperwork and monthly rent collection, promising a hassle-free experience to the asset owners. It also covers the owner's property for any accidental damages, regular maintenance fees or unforeseen expenses through MultiLiving’s exclusive insurance policy, the HomeShield Plan. This means the owner will never have to bother about leaking taps, broken A/Cs or similar troubles. The platform also arranges for urgent repairs and ensures routine check-up at no extra cost.

The real-estate firm currently operates in Mumbai with a limited number of curated flats at some of the most premium locations across Mumbai including Lower Parel, Powai, BKC, Kanjurmarg & Vikhroli.

World Obesity Day - More than 13.5 Cr Indians suffering from Obesity

India is the third most Obese nation with more than 13.5 Cr people suffering from Obesity. Obesity is linked to many other commodities such as heart disease, hypertension, sleep apnea, type 2 diabetes mellitus, infertility and PCOD and so on. Obesity affects the overall quality of life of an individual as well as the productivity of a workforce.

Obesity has been associated with an increase in all-cause mortality rates. According to reports, this disease which has reached epidemic proportions reduces life expectancy by 9 years in women and 12 years in men.

On the occasion of World Obesity Day –March 4, 2020, Bangalore Bariatric club and Realize, a patient awareness digital initiative of Johnson and Johnson Private Limited, has organized an interactive press meet to spread awareness about Obesity and its life-threatening impact on overall health of an individual. Realize has been at the forefront of the multi-city #IndiaFightsObesity campaign in an effort to spread awareness about this epidemic that plagues our country.

The event will bring together leading experts from the field of bariatrics and wellness. The keynote speakers for this conference are India’s leading Obesity experts Dr. Shivaram H V, Dr. Moinoddin G and Dr. Sumit Talwar. They will share insights on the growing epidemic of Obesity in India and some of the treatment options.

Key Messages from the event –
 
Obesity is a disease which needs treatment by an Obesity specialist/expert.

Govt is very serious about tackling this epidemic through Ayushman Bharat and #FitIndiaMovement.

In a major relief for those suffering from obesity-related comorbidities, insurance cover is now provided for obesity treatment as per medical advice. Insurance will cover medically advised treatment as per new IRDAI regulation effective October 2020

Urgent need for steps to counter rampant misinformation about obesity & its treatment

Surgery is one of the proven options for 40+ BMI and 35+ BMI with comorbidities.

Stigma associated with Obesity leads to patients not seeking the right treatment and psychological impacts that includes blaming themselves for the condition

Quotes from KOLs –

Dr. Shivaram H V: Obesity has become a “growing and disturbing health crisis”.

It is the fastest emerging life-risking disease and the mother of all other ailments. The 2019 Lancet Commission report has warned that obesity is the first amongst the three biggest threat to humanity (the other two being under- nutrition and global warming) yet there is no concrete action plan to stop this monster. The global surveys, research and studies have all observed that our physical activity is constantly on the decline whereas the mental activity and stress is continuously on the rise. The food intake is on the rise with abundant calories but there is no provision to burn the excess calories in the body. It is possible only by physical activity. Once obesity sets in all the organs of our body need to overwork and finally, they fail giving rise to diseases.

To save mankind from this disaster called OBESITY there is an urgent need to invent ANTI-OBESITY VACCINE, and the government and professional bodies need to work together to achieve this.

Dr. Moinoddin G: The adverse effects of obesity on women's health is overwhelming and indisputable.

Obesity in young women has seen steep increase in trend, 1 in 10 adolescent girls and young women in India are suffering from Polycystic ovarian disease, leading to many related issues such as delay in menstrual cycle or no menses and hirsutism features. Weight reduction can help these young women in reversing the health issues to a great extent. If they are slightly overweight, they can go ahead with diet and life style Modifications and exercise but if their BMI goes above 32.5 then we have key hole surgery option for treating their obesity and related issues.

Dr. Sumit Talwar: People who are obese are at high risk of developing diabetes.

He strongly points out that Obesity and diabetes are closely related. Shockingly, 25% of obese people are diabetics compared to 5% of the general population. There is strong and consistent evidence that losing weight can delay progression from prediabetes to type 2 diabetes and is beneficial in the treatment of type 2 diabetes.

Centuary-Wavemaker Sleep Survey on World Sleep Day Reveals that Average Hour of Sleep has Gone Down in Bengaluru

Highlights

* 38% Bengalorian mentioned that they sleep lesser than 8 hours
* Bengalorian sleep the least on weekends
* Nationally, hours of sleep come down in most of the cities; People slept for 6.76 hours on weekdays and 6.85 hours on Weekends in 2019 against 7.48 hours and 7.66 hours in 2018
* Younger women’s average sleeping hour reduced from 7.70 hour in 2018 to 6.60 hours in 2019 across country
* Higher Income category in whole country sleeping lesser than before; 6.74 Hours on weekends and 6.75 Hours on weekdays in 2019 against 7.68 hours and 7.5 a year in 2018

How important is your sleep? If you ask anyone today on World Sleep Day (March 13th, 2020), whether in urban or rural or to a youngster or a middle-aged, you are likely to hear Sleep is a very essential part of your well-being. However, despite this understanding do we sleep enough or at least peacefully. The answer is ‘NO’ as people in 10 cities across India including Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Kochi, Ahmedabad, Bhubaneshwar, Indore, Vishakhapatnam and Raipur revealed when asked. The survey – In Search of Better Sleep 2020 by Centuary Mattresses and Wavemaker did across various cities to understand attitudes, perceptions, and behaviours around sleep and other issues. It found that it is not only the duration but the quality of the sleep and various factors leading to distractions have been a major concern growing year on year.

Overall, in the 10 cities, the survey found that collectively average hours of sleep have come down in most of the cities. In 2018 people slept 7.66 hours on weekend and 7.48 hours on weekdays which has drastically come down to 6.85 hour on weekends and 6.76 hour on weekdays. This brings forth the fact that majority of the people are not able to sleep for the required 8 hours as per health experts. Looking at the gender-wise sleep duration, the findings are more worrying with the younger women (25-35 years) sleeping for 6.60 hours on weekends and 6.97 hours on weekdays in 2019 which was 7.70 hours and 7.43 hours respectively in the year 2018. Compared to them, the younger male slept for 6.73hours on weekdays and 6.58 Hours on weekends in 2019 instead of 7.66 Hours on weekdays and 7.50 Hours on weekdays in 2018

The duration of the sleep of the people in Section A (higher income) has also reduced to 6.74 Hours on weekends and 6.75 Hours on weekdays in 2019 when compared to 7.68 hours and 7.5 a year in 2018. Whereas there hasn’t been a much change noticed in the case of Section B (Middle income) with 7.46 Hours on weekends and 6.84 Hours on weekdays in 2019 against 7.45 hours and 7.29 hours a year before.

The data suggests that while people are waking up to the reality that sleep is fundamentally important, for most people, achieving quality sleep is still out of reach. The usage of Laptops, Tablets, and Smartphones continues to be the biggest deterrent in sleep on time with 47% people voting for it. Worrying about work and finances related issues also delays the sleep of around 15% people surveyed.

The irregular sleeping hours and the surface have resulted in 42% of respondents in 2019 mentioning having Back pain, grown from 39% in 2018. In fact, due to deterioration in the quality as well as the duration of sleep one out of every fifth person (22%) mentioned that they do not feel rested on most days after waking up. Around 38% also said that they feel sleepy at least 3 times in the daytime during a week.

While Chennai continues to lead the Sleeplessness in the country, Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, and Ahmedabad recorded the issue at the least which was held by Hyderabad in 2018. 

The survey recorded that 45% people are being awake in the night due to either watching shows on TV, Laptops, Tablets, & Phone. The percentage has decreased by 8% with the 2018 survey report recording it at 53%. The usage of the smartphone for checking social media has also come down to 35% in 2019 from 46% a year back. However, work and finance related issues are continuing to be a significant reason for keeping 33% of people awake at night.

According to the survey, close to 95% Bengalorians don’t feel that they had enough rest due to sleep and they continue to feel the same thing throughout the day. The survey found that 54% people sleep late as they excessively work on laptops/smartphones in bed. About 61% people watch shows on their smart gadgets at night. In 2018 Bengalorians had an average sleep of 8.55 hours on weekend and 7.94 hours on weekdays. That has now drastically come down to only 5.98 hours on weekends and 7.45 hours on weekdays in 2019.

While announcing the details of the survey report, Mr. Uttam Malani, Executive Director – Centuary Mattresses said, “This data suggests that while people are waking up to the reality that sleep is fundamentally important, for most people, achieving quality sleep is still out of reach. Various factors are depriving the people of the quality and duration of their sleep. If we want to take sleep seriously and address the social and emotional aspects of poor sleep, we must begin to demonstrate that we can address these problems in both easy and meaningful ways. Centuary, being India’s Sleep Specialist, with this survey wants to raise the awareness of quality sleep and the benefits it offers to the hardworking Indians by using accessible and affordable sleep solutions”. 

Global Debut of Redmi Note 9 Pro Max and Redmi Note 9 Pro Now Also Available in Indian Market

Xiaomi, India’s number one smartphone and smart TV brand, today announced the ninth generation of their Redmi Note series smartphones first in India. With an aim to fuel technological development and adoption locally, Redmi Note 9 Pro series brings support for ISRO’s indigenously developed navigation system, NavIC.

Anuj Sharma, Chief Marketing Officer, Xiaomi India, said “Redmi Note series has been the torch bearer of innovation for everyone. Redmi Note 8 series set new benchmarks continuing the Redmi Note legacy and evolved as one of the most sought after series. In 2019, Redmi Note 8 Pro became India’s No. 1 Quad Camera smartphone and Redmi Note 8 went on to become the No. 1 Android smartphone globally.”

He added, “We are especially excited about Redmi Note 9 Pro Max as we push the boundaries of innovation across hardware and software in its segment. We are especially proud of our deep partnership with ISRO which allows us to bring India’s first navigation system, NavIC, to our Mi fans and consumers. Redmi Note 9 Pro series is built for true Mi Fans and we hope they would appreciate this perfect amalgamation of Aura design, Pro Cameras and Max Performance as we continue to bring the best specs with highest quality at honest pricing.”

Redmi Note 9 Pro Max - Pro Cameras. Max Performance.

Xiaomi India’s best-selling series Redmi Note introduces a Pro Max variant for the first time, pushing boundaries of technological innovation in the segment.

Aura Balance Design

Aura Design, which was introduced with the Redmi Note 7 series sees a paradigm shift with the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max. It features the improved ‘Aura Balance’ design. The 16.9cm(6.67) FHD+ Dot Display with a 20:9 Cinematic Screen brings an immersive experience and the in-display camera on the front eliminates the notch making it Redmi’s largest ever display on a smartphone.

The rear features a quad camera setup that sits snugly on the glass back and the square design enables consistent field-of-view across all the lenses enabling lesser shift in focus while switching lenses.

To further enhance user experience, Redmi Note 9 Pro Max also features the Z-axis linear vibration motor, becoming one of the only devices in the segment to feature it. Z-axis linear motor enables flagship-like haptic experience, with over 150 custom vibration patterns across the UI.

Performance

Powering the new Redmi Note 9 Pro Max is the performance focussed Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G, an 8nm chipset featuring a custom Kryo architecture. It is powered by 8 Kryo 465 cores (2 x Gold – Cortex A76 clocked at 2.3 GHz + 6 x Silver – Cortex A55 clocked at 1.8 GHz), coupled with the Adreno 618 GPU clocked at 750MHz along with Snapdragon™ Elite Gaming. To further enhance gaming and performance, the device features 2x2 MIMO WiFi, enabling upto 2X throughput, better latency, coverage and call clarity.

Xiaomi’s deep partnership with ISRO and Qualcomm Technologies has resulted in a leap with navigational tech bringing NavIC integration with the support of Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G. NavIC is ISRO’s indigenous navigation system, which allows lesser TTF (Time To Fix) and better accuracy across India and 1500km around the Indian subcontinent.

Redmi Note 9 Pro Max features a massive 5020mAh battery while maintaining a slim profile. Redmi Note 9 Pro Max comes with a 33W fast charger in the box.

Camera: Better Quality, More Creativity

Redmi Note 9 Pro Max features a quad camera setup consisting of 64MP Samsung ISOCELL Bright GW1 sensor, an 8MP ultra-wide sensor with a 119° field of view, industry leading 5MP macro sensor and a 2MP depth sensor. The front is adorned by a large 32MP sensor enabling high quality photography, videography and AI Face Unlock.

Redmi Note series has always sought to challenge the status quo with its camera performance and with the new Redmi Note 9 Pro Max, camera software has further improved by leaps and bounds. Users can now shoot selfies in dark environments, thanks to the front camera night mode for the first time in a Redmi smartphone.

To enable creativity and content creators, Redmi Note 9 Pro Max features tools for videography like Super Stabilisation on the rear camera, on both the main and the wide angle sensors. Super Stabilisation enables users to shoot videos with a higher level of stability as compared to EIS. Users can shoot in movie mode which allows for a 21:9 frame in their videos. The 5MP macro sensor enables video recording at 1080p, which is rare in the segment. Kaleidoscope, slow motion video on both the rear and front camera enable users to create engaging content. LOG mode, histogram, focus peaking, exposure peaking on the pro mode allows content creators to go beyond casual video making.
                                                     
Redmi Note 9 Pro - The Performance Beast

Redmi Note 9 Pro carries forward the legacy of the Redmi Note series, bringing cutting-edge performance and refined camera experience to the segment. It is the most competitive smartphone in its price segment featuring the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G.

The 8nm Process Technology enables it to run 1 - 1.5° cooler for sustained peak performance than many other 12nm chipsets. Like the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max, it also brings support for NavIC.

Redmi Note 9 Pro’s 48MP Samsung ISOCELL Bright GM2 sensor builds upon its predecessor to bring true 48MP photography by bringing features like Smart ISO, enabling better results in the toughest of lighting conditions. The 48MP sensor is coupled with an 8MP ultra-wide angle lens, a 2MP depth sensor and a 5MP macro sensor that lets you go as close as 2cm to the subject and support for 1080p macro video. For selfie lovers, there’s a 16MP sensor in the front.

It features the Aura Balance Design which brings Immersive Experience, Impeccable Craftsmanship and Functional Design to Redmi Note 9 Pro. With the side-mounted fingerprint scanner that sits flush on the matt-finish midframe, Redmi Note 9 Pro facilitates a natural approach to unlocking.

Quality

With the highest focus on quality, Redmi Note 9 Pro series feature triple Corning, Gorilla Glass 5, on the front, rear and on the rear camera lenses. It is protected by P2i, splash proof nano-coating technology which protects them from accidental spills, while the reinforced corners provide better resilience to accidental falls.

Availability

Redmi Note 9 Pro Max will be available in three colour variants, Interstellar Black, Aurora Blue and Glacier White in 6GB + 64GB, 6GB + 128GB and 8GB + 128GB storage variants for INR 14,999, INR 16,999 and INR 18,999 respectively across mi.com, Amazon India, Mi Homes and Mi Studios starting 25th March.

Redmi Note 9 Pro will be available in three colour variants, Interstellar Black, Aurora Blue and Glacier White 4GB + 64GB and 6GB + 128GB storage variants for INR 12,999 and INR 15,999 respectively across mi.com, Amazon India, Mi Homes and Mi Studios starting 17th March.

Bentley Systems Announces the Acquisition of GroupBC, UK Leader in Cloud Services for Construction Information Management

Bentley Systems, Incorporated, a leading global provider of comprehensive software and digital twins services for advancing the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure, today announced the acquisition of GroupBC, a leading UK SaaS software innovator. For over twenty years, GroupBC’s and Bentley’s software solutions have been deployed for complementary purposes to improve project and asset information management. The transaction results from GroupBC’s expansion agenda, and Bentley’s investment appetite, for international growth opportunities stemming from the UK’s national initiatives for major infrastructure investment and towards infrastructure digital twins.

GroupBC’s CDE solutions, BC Projects and BC Enterprise+, have been widely applied in the UK for information management respectively across construction and asset estates. Largely due to the UK’s substantiated ROI experience and its global thought leadership, CDEs have become increasingly availed globally in “going digital” for capital projects and resulting assets. In 2019, the UK’s (BS 1192) construction project information management guidelines were largely adopted within the global standard ISO 19650.

Also in 2019, in its inaugural study of the overall market for Collaborative BIM, ARC Advisory Group ranked Bentley’s ProjectWise system as #1 worldwide. The new opportunity is to build on ISO 19650, and GroupBC’s UK information management experience, to advance collaborative BIM, through “evergreen” digital twins, to span infrastructure lifecycles. In combination, Bentley’s iTwin Services will now be leveraged to uniquely connect GroupBC CDEs and ProjectWise CDEs. Through semantic alignment and change synchronization, the resulting digital twins cloud services will securely federate – fully enabling 4D mixed reality and analytics visibility – previously separate CDEs for construction and engineering.

Keith Bentley, Chief Technology Officer for Bentley Systems, said, “Our iTwin cloud services, taking advantage of iModel-based solutions for interoperability, are ideal for federating CDEs. This enables us to assure that the users of our BC SaaS services will benefit from further extending the value of their project and asset information through digital twins. With the help of our new GroupBC colleagues, we will now be able to better serve engineers, contractors, and owners by bringing together their collective IT (information management), OT (operational technologies including reality modeling), and ET (engineering models). I am confident that the resulting improvements in project and asset performance will be consistent with the UK’s demanding but welcome expectations for new ROI breakthroughs from digital twins.”

Simon Horsley, UK regional executive for Bentley Systems, said, “Our many UK users, projects, and owners in common with GroupBC will gain a lot from our joining forces to advance CDEs through digital twins. I have been tasked by Bentley management to help the UK to continue to lead the world in going digital for infrastructure advancement, and our new offerings and colleagues from GroupBC bring essential momentum as we pool resources to meet our market’s expanded ‘infrastructure revolution’ requirements. I particularly welcome to Bentley Systems GroupBC’s co-founders Sanjeev Shah and Stephen Crompton, and CEO Wes Simmons.”

Sanjeev Shah, co-founder of GroupBC, said, “This is a hugely exciting day for our shared accounts and for both our workforces moving forward. The opportunities which arise from bringing our two companies and their respective product portfolios together are enormous, as is the global reach which Bentley can now add for us. Working together we will be even better able to support, through ‘going digital,’ construction and asset lifecycles.”

Stephen Crompton, CPO and co-founder of GroupBC, added, “Bentley is going to provide a great new home for our products to thrive in. GroupBC have always promoted an integrated, best-of-breed approach, and being able to complement our leading software solutions with existing best-of-breed products from Bentley presents a uniquely exciting opportunity for us and our user organizations, opening the door for unparalleled integration between our solutions and bridging the gaps between design, construction and ongoing asset information management.”

Wes Simmons, CEO of GroupBC, said, “Our founders and I would like to thank our equity partner YFM for their visionary support over the last five years. For our GroupBC team, customers, and partners, joining Bentley Systems ensures a future of continued growth, including beyond construction information management through broadly federated digital twins, and international expansion. Here’s to BC CDE and digital twins advancement!”

On ‘World Sleep Day’, Study Brings Cheer To Chronic Insomniacs

Sleep plays a significant role in maintaining our vitality and well being. But unfortunately, a considerable proportion of the population struggle to obtain a good night’s sleep. Poor sleep for at least three nights a week for over a month, despite adequate circumstances to sleep may be called chronic insomnia. Poor sleep has been associated with mood disturbances, irritability and inability to focus, increased road traffic accidents, elevated blood pressure, heart attacks, diabetes mellitus and strokes. There is also a significant association with depression and anxiety. While situational stresses can cause transient sleep problems or insomnia, sometimes there may be a progression to chronic insomnia. It may not be an exaggeration to say that there is no aspect of human wellbeing that is not positively influenced by a good sleep.

Heartfulness Meditation, a spiritual and wellness practice, improves sleep quality of sleep in patients suffering from chronic insomnia - as per findings of a study launched to coincide with the World Sleep Day. 13th of March is marked as World Sleep Day. Interestingly, the study was conducted in an office setting.

Kamlesh Patel affectionately called as Daaji, the guide of Heartfulness said, “How well we sleep and how deeply we sleep determines our state of mind throughout the day. Disciplining our sleep cycle changes our life. Increasing number on sleep studies are all pointing to far reaching benefits of sleep on physical, mental, emotional and recently on spiritual wellbeing of a person. Adequate and appropriate sleep ensures rounded development of an individual and meditation is proving to be an enabler of sleep even for chronic conditions. ”

A recent study published in the Journal of Community Hospital Internal Medicine Perspectives evaluated the effects of Heartfulness Meditation on chronic insomnia.  The study was authored by Jayaram Thimmapuram, Deborah Yommer, Luminita Tudor, Theodore Bell, Cristian Dumitrescu and Robert Davis of Wellspan York Hospital, York, Pennyslyvania, USA.

The study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of Heartfulness Meditation coupled with sleep hygiene to treat chronic insomnia. Chronic insomnia reflects a significant difficulty to either fall asleep or maintain sleep. Most often these problems continue for at least a month and often last for many years.  The results showed statistical improvements in the measures of Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) in Heartfulness meditators. It showed that Heartfulness meditation may facilitate the decrease and eventual cessation of sedative hypnotics in patients suffering from chronic insomnia.

Heartfulness Meditation offered by the Heartfulness Institute is a simple, easy to implement, heart-based meditation practice aimed at achieving a state of inner balance.

The study was conducted over two year period  with 45 patients  enrolled. Of them, 32 patients (71%) completed the entire eight weeks of the Heartfulness Meditation programme.

The results of the study demonstrated improvements in measures of ISI in those participating in a structured Heartfulness Meditation programme along with sleep hygiene. The mean insomnia severity scores decreased by more than half from 20.7 to 10.4.

This is the first study on insomnia using Heartfulness Meditation in an office setting. The meditation programme used in the study demonstrates the potential to improve sleep and wean off hypnotic pharmacotherapy agents in chronic insomnia. Twenty-four participants were on pharmacotherapy for sleep. At the end of the study eighteen of them (75%) were able to come off of them and another 3 (12.5%) were able to reduce the dose. As there are significant side effects that come along with the use of pharmacotherapy for sleep, it is important to explore ways to obtain a good night’s sleep.

The Heartfulness practice in this study involved 30 minutes of weekly guided meditation sessions along with a daily home practice of up to 40 minutes. The evening practice of rejuvenation  that helps in clearing up of the daily impressions of stresses and strains is unique to the practice of Heartfulness.The study also found that Heartfulness Meditation can be easily incorporated into the patient’s lifestyle, is cost-effective, and requires no special equipment. 

Western Digital Powering the Indian Start-Up Ecosystem with ‘Data Innovation Bazaar 2020’

Highlights

* Data Innovation Bazaar in collaboration with Startup India, Invest India, and ecosystem partners - MeitY (Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology), DST (Department of Science & Technology) and TiE Delhi aims at developing a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem in India
* The forum will enable startups to showcase ideas that have the potential to solve key issues of national importance, by leveraging the power of data

Western Digital, a leading worldwide data infrastructure provider, has announced Data Innovation Bazaar TM 2020 (DIB 2020) to support and encourage a vibrant entrepreneurial sector in India. Data Innovation Bazaar 2020 will closely engage with the ecosystem to promote data driven solutions for industries like healthcare, education, financial inclusion, energy & environment, agriculture, smart transportation and smart cities.

Since its inception in 2016, Startup India has now over 25,000 registered startups across the country[1]. Breakthroughs in technology and accessible funding has ensured rapid growth in the startup ecosystem; however, in order to help further scale the industry and address key issues of national importance, Data Innovation Bazaar was conceptualised by Western Digital. The powerful and unique forum will showcase data led ideas that address the key society and national needs and transform the nation. This edition of Data Innovation Bazaar is being hosted in partnership with Startup India and Invest India, and knowledge partners - Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), Department of Science & Technology - Ministry of Science & Technology (DST) and The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE, Delhi).

“We are pleased to continue our engagement and encourage India’s startup ecosystem to scale with Data Innovation Bazaar. With Western Digital’s vision of driving innovation with data, we can touch base with data-driven startups and encourage them to scale further. Invest India has played a vital role in strengthening the ecosystem and these collaborations help achieve the next wave of innovation. Being one of the largest entrepreneurship platforms in India, our large community of stakeholders enables young entrepreneurs to network and cultivate their growth”, said Deepak Bagla, Managing Director & CEO, Invest India.

“At Western Digital, we are committed to driving innovation and transforming the data industry across the globe. Data lives in every aspect of our lives and it’s our imperative to help leverage it to build a better tomorrow. Through the second edition of Data Innovation Bazaar, we aim to encourage the startup ecosystem to help build data-centric solutions, and also play a role in the continued growth of India’s economy.” said Siva Sivaram, President, Technology & Strategy, Western Digital.

“Western Digital has long been at the forefront of game changing innovation and we believe in enabling those who dare to think big about the possibilities of data. Through the Data Innovation Bazaar initiative, we will empower the next wave of innovative startups that will address real-time challenges. Partnerships with the Government and leading Industry Bodies coupled with our own technology expertise will give these innovators the boost needed to take their powerful ideas to greater levels.” said Supria Dhanda, Country Manager and Vice President, Western Digital India.

Data Innovation Bazaar 2020 is open to young entrepreneurs, startups, innovators and students. This edition will focus on three themes across sectors which are:

Data for Social Transformation for the healthcare, education, financial inclusion and energy & environment industry
Innovative Data-Intensive Commercial & Industrial Applications for the agriculture and logistics industry
Connected World Solutions with Data as the Fuel for smart cities, smart videos, connected homes & offices and next generation connected transportation
As part of Phase I of Data Innovation Bazaar 2020, the online application process is open until March 15, 2020 on the Startup India portal. 40 teams will be shortlisted for Phase II where they will showcase and present their ideas. All the shortlisted teams for Data Innovation Bazaar will be given TiE membership. The final winners will be given awards totalling up to INR 22 lakhs. For women entrepreneurs, there is a special prize money of INR 2 lakhs. Additionally, the top 10 teams will be invited to Western Digital's Innovation Boot Camp at the company's Bangalore campus to learn, scale and engage with experts in the industry, academia, investors and Western Digital leadership.

The previous edition of Data Innovation Bazaar focused on education, renewable energy, healthcare, transportation & mobility, and cleantech for which over 520 applications were received. Western Digital’s partnership with Government of India’s - Startup India and Invest India, provides an opportunity for the development of an ecosystem for emerging entrepreneurs and brings together government alliances, businesses and innovators on a unique forum.

ServiceNow Introduces Intelligence – AI and Analytics to Drive New Levels of Productivity for Enterprise

ServiceNow (NYSE: NOW), the leading digital workflow company that makes work, work better for people, today introduced the Now Platform Orlando release, featuring Now Intelligence, a new set of powerful AI and analytics capabilities. With Now Intelligence, ServiceNow empowers enterprises with new insights that enable employees to work smarter and faster, streamline business decisions and unlock new levels of productivity.

Worldwide, companies are focused on delivering great customer and employee experiences. And behind every great experience is a great workflow. That’s what ServiceNow enables. With Now Intelligence embedded into its Now Platform, ServiceNow advances its position as a pioneer delivering practical, purpose-built AI and analytics to the enterprise. Now Intelligence enables employees to quickly and easily make decisions, solve problems, find answers and automate tasks – making their lives at work simple, easy and convenient.

ServiceNow is a strategic digital transformation partner to the world’s largest enterprises, including approximately 80% of the Fortune 500. These enterprises use the Now Platform as their “platform of platforms” to streamline work by integrating siloed, legacy systems and digitizing complex workflows and processes across their organizations. Adobe, Deloitte, Equinix, Red Hat, Nutanix, UnitedLex, whyaye!, Acorio, Autotestpro and Highmetric are examples of companies using the Now Platform to power their digital transformations.

“People should be able to work the way they want to, not the way that most software today dictates they have to,” said Chirantan “CJ” Desai, chief product officer of ServiceNow. “The Orlando release provides powerful new AI and analytics capabilities to help people work smarter and faster. This added intelligence will help people make better decisions via insights and recommendations, helping them predict and solve issues before they become business and customer problems. Now Intelligence built into the Now Platform is a smarter way to workflow, and that enables great experiences and greater productivity.”

With its Orlando release, ServiceNow continues to deliver consumer-grade mobile experiences across the enterprise. And with Now Intelligence, the Now Platform delivers great experiences that:

●       Help people get work done smarter and faster by automatically surfacing context-aware recommendations, predictions and insights to help teams act on the fly.

●       Deliver better self-service experiences with intelligent, “always on” virtual agents across any channel, so customers and employees can quickly get what they need and take action.

●       Better predict issues and automate actions with virtual agents fully embedded in the Now Platform. Customers and employees are now empowered to initiate workflows with dynamic conversations that deliver results by automating requests for quick resolutions anytime, anywhere.

●       Enable better business decisions by driving transparency and alignment at all levels of the organization and providing teams and process owners with valuable insight into real-time patterns and trends so they can make more informed decisions and quickly identify areas for improvement.

 The Orlando release of the Now Platform delivers analytics, intelligence and mobility solutions enhancements across ServiceNow’s IT, Employee and Customer workflows. Key innovations in the Orlando release include:

Analytics Solutions

* Cloud Insights helps IT teams optimize the cost of their cloud assets by making intelligent recommendations on managing usage across business hours, choosing the right resources and enforcing usage policies.

* Advanced Risk Assessments make it painless for an organization’s front line to assess different risks within their daily work, so their second line can effectively adapt to change as they analyze and manage operational and other risks across the business.

* Software Exposure Assessment enables security and IT teams to minimize the potential impact of zero-day vulnerabilities by quickly identifying vulnerable software and related devices and servers, then initiating changes immediately through standard IT workflows.

Intelligence Solutions

* Agent Affinity for Work Assignment allows customer service teams to assign work to the best agent using intelligent context to improve customer satisfaction. This can include assignment to a specific team that always services a specific customer, agents who have served the customer previously, or agents who have experience with related tasks.

* Virtual Agent with Natural Language Understanding updates continue to build off innovations unveiled in the Madrid and New York releases, making it easier to create and maintain NLU models.

* CI/CD supports the use of standard DevOps tools for on-platform development at scale with team development, including enhanced developer collaboration with selective commits and collision avoidance, and simplified deployment processes for faster time to value.

Mobility Solutions

* Mobile Agent enhancements deliver native mobile experiences so service desk agents and operators can resolve issues at any time, through any device. These capabilities are available on ITSM, ITOM and Field Service Management solutions.

* Mobile Branding and Analytics allow customers to configure the Now Mobile enterprise experience in a customer-branded environment, driving deeper engagement, and bring analytics into the services that pre-hires, new hires and employees use most.

* Mobile Targeted Campaigns provide employees with important and relevant information (like 'tax time,' site updates and local IT initiatives) right on their mobile devices using profile information, like department and job type. This proactive approach to employee communications increases satisfaction and reduces calls to the service desk.

Also, ServiceNow is extending the Now Platform to manage DevOps pipelines, connecting developers within IT operations with new insights and automating the manual and time-consuming change approval process. This will enable customers to release features developed off-platform more rapidly while retaining safety. ServiceNow DevOps, which was initially available through the ServiceNow Store, is now available as part of the Orlando release.

“As enterprises continue on their digital transformation journeys, there’s a tremendous need to adapt and implement tools that will help connect these distributed departments,” said IDC’s Research Director of Cognitive and Artificial Intelligence Systems, Dave Schubmehl. “Executives should continue to look for ways to embed more practical AI into their operations, which will not only help them to drive better efficiencies across the enterprise, but also meet the ever-increasing needs of their end-customers.”

3i Infotech’s AI-powered AMLOCK Analytics Helps Organizations Address Money Laundering

3i Infotech Limited (BSE: 532628, NSE: 3IINFOTECH), a global Information Technology company, launched AMLOCK Analytics, its advanced anti-money laundering (AML) solution powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Language (ML), which enables banks and financial institutions to identify complex and hidden AML patterns. It helps organizations to meet their most critical challenge of managing high false positives and provides a holistic view of investigating an alert. AMLOCK Analytics uses various statistical methods and machine learning algorithms to derive analyses and predictions based on institution specific historical data.

 One of the important features of 3i Infotech’s AMLOCK Analytics is the reduction of false positives using risk profiling, through predictive analytics that identifies potential risk and thereby enhances decision making. The solution also provides an insight on the trends followed by customers, based on seasonality and identifies the anomalies based on deviation from these trends, where machine learning helps in customer segmentation. This enables users to investigate effectively by working closely on those groups which are risky or deemed outliers.

Ravikanth Sama, Global Head- AML Practice, 3i Infotech said, “AMLOCK Analytics blends both the traditional rule-based system and the power of Analytics to bring better efficiency & risk focus.  It can be hosted both on-premise and on cloud infrastructure. The solution provides a probability score indicating the chances of closing an alert based on the past actions taken by the users on similar alerts. AMLOCK Analytics improves the conversion rate of Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) or Suspicious Activity Report (SAR), as it dynamically correlates between the alerts in which suspicious transaction reports have been generated and those that have been tagged as false positives by the investigators.”

Balakrishna Peddiraju, Head - Global Delivery & Engineering (AMLOCK), 3i Infotech said, “With increasing money laundering activities and financial frauds witnessed across organizations, there is a pressing need to curb such activities. Our AMLOCK Analytics solution helps detect unknown suspicious behavioral AML patterns, thereby improving operational efficiency. This solution is seamlessly integrated with AMLOCK and embedded with various machine learning and deep learning algorithms. It facilitates intense surveillance and reduces investigation time. It enables better alert triage and smarter investigations by providing astute guidance based on historical patterns for factors such as risk assessment.”

AMLOCK is 3i Infotech’s flagship AML solution that is multi-segmented and used by banks, insurance companies, Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) and mobile wallet companies to proactively detect and manage potential money laundering activities. It is an established global AML solution with over 100 installations across 35 countries. The offerings of the AMLOCK Suite include AMLOCK FCDMS, Financial Crime Detection and Management Solution, which provides end-to-end financial crime management for large enterprises; AMLOCK Lite, which caters to AML requirement of small and medium institutions; and AMLOCK Analytics that brings the latest dimension of Analytics & AI to uncover hidden AML patterns / risks.  AMLOCK was 3i Infotech’s successful application to Chartis Research’s RiskTech100 2020 rankings. The listing positions 3i Infotech among the world’s 100 major players in risk and compliance technology.

Vu Televisions Unveils its New Vu Premium 4K TV Priced at Rs 31,000 for 55 Inches and Available on Flipkart from March 11, 2020

India’s leading premium television company, VuTelevisions — the leader in quality, innovation and design in the television industry is set to launch the VuPremium 4K TV – a TV with unparalleled features at an unbelievable price.Targeted at the new age consumer who seeks innovative and technologically advanced products,Vu Premium 4K TV offers top-of-the-line features and state-of art design at a competitive price. The new range of televisions will be available on Flipkart from Rs.24, 999 onwards.

The company brings the incredible 4K experience at an unbelievable discounted price offer for a limited period for 43 inches priced at Rs 24,000; 50 inches priced at Rs 27,000 and 55 inches 31,000.

The Vu Premium 4KTV range is available in three sizes - 43” (108cm), 50” (127cm) and 55” (140cm). The TVs are equipped with A+ Grade Panel with 400+ nits brightness having Dolby Vision & HRD 10 Support, Dolby Audio with 30W noise cancellation Speakers having DTS Virtual X Surround Sound Technology, Bezel-Less Design, VOD Upscaler, Cricket Mode alongwith the latest Android 9.0 pie, giving a luxury viewing experienceat home.

Commenting on the launch, Devita Saraf, Chairman and CEO, Vu Televisions quoted, “Vu is known for its leadership and innovation in the TV industry over the past 10 years.We have been a customer favourite with over 90% of consumers buying Vu TVs repeatedly and also recommending them to their friends and family. Our promise to the consumer is to provide the best in class product at an affordable price without compromising on quality and service. And today, Vu ushers in the new era of 4K with the launch of the Vu Premium 4K TV”

Adding to this, Ajay Veer Yadav, Senior Vice President - Mobiles, Appliances & Electronics at Flipkart said, “With the growing popularity of 4K displays, we are delighted to launchVU 4K Premium smart TVs on Flipkart. Vu Technologies has been a key partner to bring new consumer experiences in TV viewing for Flipkart consumers. This partnership with VU furthers our vision of making 4K TVs affordable to millions of consumers across the vast demography of India.”

The company has a long-standing association with Flipkart, through which it has sold over 15 lakh TV setsfrom 32” to 75” in size. Furthermore, Flipkart continues to sell VuTVs across 19,000 pin codes, with 5-star reviews for majority of Vu’s products on the platform.

About VU Technologies Pvt. Ltd:

Televisions for the New Age

Vu Technologies was founded in 2006 by DevitaSarafas a luxury technology company and hasannual revenue of Rs.1000 Cr ($130 Million) with over 2 Million TV units sold worldwide. Headquartered out of Mumbai (India) with R&D in Palo Alto, California (USA), Vu is the leader in the premium television segment and the largest manufacturer of 4K TVs in India.

Vu Technologies develops and manufactures televisions for new-age consumers who want to experience the best picture and sound quality, superior aesthetics and advanced computing and content. Vu Technologies product range includes 4K TVs, Android TVs, Large Size TVs and Corporate TVs. The inventions of Vu Technologies include the world’s largest TV – The Vu 100, Vu Swarovski TV, the world’s first computer integrated TV – The Vu Intelligent TV and the Vu Office TV. Vu’s hardware innovations include Pixelium GlassTechnology, ActiVoice Remote with Hotkeys and software innovations include Upscaler Technology and Vu Cricket Mode.

Vu Technologies has 11 offices across India is recognized for the industry’s best customer service with its ISO 9001-certified 24x7 customer support centre.