Asia’s First Hybrid Cloud Now Powered By OpenStack

Rackspace Hosting has launched Asia’s first hybrid cloud powered by OpenStack, the open source cloud computing platform. The new public cloud joins Rackspace’s existing portfolio of private cloud and dedicated solutions to complete the Open Cloud Company’s Hybrid Cloud offering to businesses throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

“We are excited to launch Asia’s first hybrid cloud powered by OpenStack,” said Ajit Melarkode, managing director of Rackspace Asia Pacific. “OpenStack already gives thousands of our customers access to the power of open standards and enables them to enjoy freedom from vendor lock-in as they open new gateways to faster innovation through cloud computing.”

Rackspace identifies India as a robust and upcoming market, seen in their decision to launch the first hybrid cloud in Asia powered by Openstack. The public cloud services market in India is forecast to grow 36 percent in 2013 to total $443 million, up from $326 million in 2012, according to Gartner, Inc. Studies done by Deloitte indicate that organizations that can bridge hyper hybrid clouds with their core systems will be at the forefront to elevate business performance with the next wave of digital innovation.

Scania Invests Rs 250 cr to Set Up Assembly Plant in India

With an initial investment of Rs 250 crore, Sweden's Scania Commercial Vehicles has set up an assembly plant in India to manufacture about 2,500 heavy haulage trucks besides 1,000 inter-city buses and coaches annually at a factory near Bangalore. 

Currently the localisation is 18% for trucks and 100% for bus bodies, the company said, adding that they have plans to increase the locolisation of trucks to over 25% by next year.

The facility first of its kind in Asia will serve as the company's head office and centre for all commercial operations . The operations will consist of final assembly of trucks with bodywork and building of complete coaches along with a service workshop and a central parts warehouse.

"Today marks the beginning of a new era for us in India, and it is our largest industrial footprint in Asia so far," said Martin Lundstedt, president and chief executive, Scania Global.

Scania said that it plans to employ over 800 people at this facility within five years. The unit employees about 198 presently.

The plant will house two manufacturing units- one each for truck assembly and another for buses. The facility will also have service workshop and a central parts warehouse.

Scania had started production of trucks at the new facility during June and production trials have taken place for mining and off-road trucks.

The company plans to start the production of on-road trucks soon followed by bus rollout which is planned for the first quarter of 2014.

The company is bullish on improving highway infrastructure in India and acceptance of international industry practices like hub-and-spoke model.

Scania has been present in the Indian market since 2007 through a partnership with Larsen & Toubro (L&T). The company in India has also forayed into the engines segment with the launch of products for industrial, marine and power generation.

Asian Economies Account For 35% Of The Total Global IT Spend By 2020

Zinnov, a leading market expansion and globalization advisory firm, has announced the release of its latest study on emerging economies titled, “E+ Economies & Winning Strategies”.

The report encapsulates the spending patterns and IT investments of emerging+ economies namely India, China, Malaysia, Indonesia & Philippines which constitute 40% of the total world population.

As per the study, growing economic powers with sizable consumptions will lead the next wave of technology investments. Expanding base of globally competitive large and mid-size enterprises, strong base of growing

domestic micro & small companies, and growth of enabling IT infrastructure are among the key factors for the exponential growth of IT spending in E+ economies.

Enterprise led opportunities in E+ economies is 3 to 4 times of the U.S market, according to the released report. The total number of Forbes 2000 enterprises from E+ economies, are set to grow by 300% by 2020; while the number of U.S enterprises in the list could face a decline. China boasts a strong economy with 95,000 large & mid size enterprises followed by India with 55,000, while U.S stands at 41,000 enterprises only.

The report further states that the strong internet and mobile infrastructure is enabling IT investment growth in E+ countries. As per the findings, E+ economies will have a potential internet user base of 2,256 million by 2020. China with 42% penetration has a current internet user base of 564 million while developed economy of U.S stands at 244 million with 78% penetration. India stands second after China with a 157 million internet user base but with a low penetration of 11% which shows a tremendous growth opportunity.

Smartphone users in E+ economies, is also growing at a strong pace and it is likely to reach 1,795 million by 2020. China leads the E+ with 330 million smartphone users followed by 52 million in Indonesia. India stands

third with 44 million smartphone users. As per the report, increasing data consumption and smartphone penetration is creating newer opportunities in the telecom space.

Speaking about the findings, Praveen Bhadada, Director-Market Expansion, Zinnov, said, ?While the basic IT infrastructure is fast growing in E+ economies, mobile internet is increasingly becoming key as compared to

desktop internet in these countries. Mobile internet VAS revenues are expected to be over $22 Bn by 2016 and presents great opportunity for technology companies?

Further commenting on the Winning Strategies for Emerging Markets,  Praveen Bhadada added, “Technology companies should target large government projects for the next wave of technology investments in E+ economies. While leveraging influencer models can further drive IT adoption in the key sectors, it is important to re-define distribution to

suit the local needs of the customers. Creating an ecosystem for market development and focus on region specific deep consumer insights & localization are must have?s to win these markets.”

Philips Healthcare Honored by Frost & Sullivan

Philips Healthcare has received the prestigious Frost & Sullivan 2013 India Healthcare Excellence Award for the Imaging Company of the year 2013.  Krishna Kumar, President, Philips Healthcare India was presented the award at a ceremony held in Mumbai today.

The coveted Frost & Sullivan India Healthcare Excellence Awards are presented to companies that demonstrate best practices in the Indian Healthcare and Life sciences industry. The awards program follows a rigorous methodology to recognize superior planning and execution of product launches, strategic alliances, distribution strategies, technological innovations, customer services, healthcare delivery services, and mergers and acquisitions. A host of other crucial factors such as leadership, strategy, growth, service, innovation, integration, marketing, financial performance, and development are also considered as part of the award methodology.

Jayant Singh, Associate Director, Pharma and Medical Technology, Healthcare Practice, Frost & Sullivan said "Focus on innovation, quality, and reliability makes Philips the most trusted and a dependable partner of choice for its customers. Unique financing schemes, a comprehensive range of solutions, focus on training, after sales backed by an excellent customer support network reinforced the perception of the company in the eyes of the customer”.

Accepting the award, Krishna Kumar said “The Frost & Sullivan award for Imaging Company of the year is indeed a great honour and it recognizes our efforts towards providing the best in healthcare in India. This recognition inspires us to remain committed to our incremental efforts towards innovation in healthcare technology.”

Philips is currently the market leader in healthcare and is present across 5 categories – Radiology, Cardiology, Oncology, Respiratory Care and Critical Care. Together with its R&D hub, called the Philips Innovation Centre based in Bangalore, the company has been at the forefront of innovation in healthcare, with more than 33 new innovative products being launched recently.  

A New Light Lounge In Bangalore

Philips Lighting India, the country’s leading provider of lighting solutions, unveiled its latest offering, the fourth ‘Philips Light Lounge’ spread across the area of 2000 sqft at Jayanagar in Bangalore. Philips Light Lounge is an experience zone which gives customers a ‘see, touch and feel’ experience of a diverse range of world-class home decorative lighting concepts from Philips like MyLiving, Essential, Lumiware accessories and desk lights in addition to the newly launched chic & stylish LED range for the upcoming festival season. Philips is buoyant about its plans to consolidate its retail presence in Karnataka and South India by opening more Light Lounges and Light Shoppes (Shop-in-shops) by the end of this year.

Speaking on the inauguration, Rahul Taneja – Business Head, Consumer Luminaires, Philips Lighting India said “In line with the continued company-wide focus on consumer lighting, Philips has rapidly increased its retail presence across important cities in India in the last two-three years. We are ecstatic about launching our fourth light lounge launch in Bangalore as we see a huge demand for the home lighting products. The Light Lounge in Bangalore will offer consumers the complete range of Home Decorative Lighting solutions under one roof.”

With the launch of the newest Philips Light Lounge in Bangalore, the company now has 87 Light Lounges in India, in addition to 1050 Light Shoppes in the country. A home is a reflection of one’s personality, tastes and preferences and lighting can make a huge difference to the look and feel of the house. The Philips Home Decorative Lighting range is a unique offering in the market to cater to the evolving lifestyle needs of global Indians. The market for decorative lighting is currently inundated with unbranded cheap imports that do not always satisfy energy efficiency and safety norms. Philips differentiates its offerings through innovation in design, energy efficiency and application of its global lighting application expertise. The product range starts from a price of Rs 575 and extends up to Rs 60,000.

Each Philips Light Lounge will showcase lighting solutions for every application and space within a home, including the living room, bedroom, study, dining rooms, kitchen and bathroom. At the Philips Light Lounge, consumers will receive expert advice in choosing the right lighting design solutions to meet their unique requirements. The new Philips Light Lounge is located at Priority Concepts, 9th Block, Jayanagar, Bangalore.

Handy First Aid AED From Philips

WORLD HEART DAY 2013  

In an initiative to spread awareness on managing Sudden Cardiac Arrests (SCA) and thereby saving lives, a detailed demonstration of the Automated External Defibrillator was organized at the Philips Innovation Campus.The initiative was part of “World Heart Day” that is being celebrated on September 29.

A portable device, AEDs can be used to provide defibrillation to save the life of a person who has suffered from a Sudden Cardiac Arrest. As AEDs come with audio and visual instructions, they can be used by anyone to save a life with the push of a button.The AED analyses the heart rhythm of an individual and on detecting an abnormal rhythm, charges and instructs the user to push the shock button. They are completely safe and there is no risk of injury from an electrical shock.

To demonstrate the usage of  AEDs Philips invited Dr. Mabel Vasanaik, Consultant and Head – Adult Emergency Department, Manipal Hospitals to its campus in Manyata Tech Park. Dr Vasanaik addressed the attendees on Sudden Cardiac Arrests and the role of an AED in managing them before actually demonstrating the usage of an AED. Following the demonstration, Dr Vasanaik addressed queries from the attendees on AEDs, why they are critical and how they should be used to save lives.

“There have been many  instances of deaths due to Sudden Cardiac Arrests (SCA) in Bangalore city and across the nation in the past year alone.Our ambition is to educate civilians on a simple procedure that would help you save another person’s life. Using an AED within the first three to five minutes of a collapse can literally be the difference between life and death for someone experiencing sudden cardiac arrest. With this initiative we would like to encourage government bodies and institutions to have the AED machines placed just like fire safety devices or first-aid kits” said Mr. Srikanth Muthya, Director, Patient Care & Clinical Informatics, Philips Healthcare, India.

Recent cases of deaths by SCA in Bangalore city,  such as that of 24 year old actor Hemanth or the 27 year old footballer Vankatesh  is a clear  indication that the youth is increasingly susceptible to this medical condition.  Various factors such as  family history of coronary artery disease, smoking, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, obesity, diabetes, a sedentary lifestyle etc are the primary causes for SCA.

On the occasion of “World Heart Day” on September 29, 2013, it is time to introspect on taking it upon ourselves to building awareness  of being part of a greater community that helps in saving lives.

The Automated External defibrillator (AED) by PIC is a portable electronic device that automatically diagnoses the potentially life threatening cardiac arrhythmias of ventricular fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia in a patient, and is able to treat them through defibrillation, the application of electrical therapy which stops the arrhythmia, allowing the heart to reestablish an effective rhythm.

With simple audio and visual commands, AEDs are designed to be simple to use for the layman, and the use of AEDs is taught in many first aid, first responder, and basic life support (BLS) level cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) classes.

Innovation For Young Entrepreneurs At SAP Techniversity

SAP hosted the second edition of its youth focused event – SAP Techniversity at KTPO in Whitefield, Bangalore on September 28, 2013. The day-long event witnessed about 5624 students from 348 colleges across India to learn about the latest trends in technology and unwind though a variety of cultural performances.

The technology focused sessions covered a broad range of topics such as ‘The power of SAP HANA’; ‘Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs) and their impact on higher education’; ‘Megatrends shaping the world’; and ‘The future of mobility and cloud computing’. Besides this, students heard from speakers such as M N Vidyashankar, Principal Secretary Commerce and Industries Department, Government of Karnataka; Ravi Venkatesan, former Chairman of Microsoft India; eminent theatre personality, Boman Irani; India’s youngest CEOs, Shravan and Sanjay Kumaran; among others.

“It is important for organizations today to play an active role in developing more readily employable talent. Through the engagements that SAP undertakes, students from across Karnataka are exposed to and educated on the latest trends and technologies that shape the IT industry in our State,” said M N Vidyashankar, Principal Secretary Commerce and Industries Department, Government of Karnataka.

Additionally, SAP unveiled the Student Start-ups on SAP HANA program, aimed to foster a culture of innovation among engineering students. Through the program, SAP educates students on SAP HANA and supporting technologies, and mentors them through the prototype and development phase of their projects. This is in addition to SAP University Alliances (UA) which has already educated over 147,000 students from over 90 schools in India on SAP HANA. 

SAP University Alliances runs several interesting contests for students such as App Rumble India 2013, Global Connected Car Contest 2013, Utility of Tomorrow Innovation Contest and The Ultimate Data Geek Challenge. The App Rumble India 2013 contest was launched in July and received registrations from over 3000 students. In the DemoJam at SAP Techniversity, the final top five teams of this contest will showcase their prototypes to the student audience.

“Education is the key to innovation and social development,” said Ann Rosenberg, Global Head, SAP University Alliances, SAP AG. “SAP University Alliances helps to educate the talent of the future by empowering students to better prepare for a successful career path within the vibrant SAP ecosystem, be it at one of our customers or partners or at SAP itself. In addition, we are responsible for building and driving the Channel for Innovation from the Universities to the SAP Ecosystem and build the new SAP Ecosystem – the talent of the future. We are passionate about early talent and their potential to contribute and extend the SAP innovation story. Students who get to know us better see SAP as cool a company as Google, Facebook, or Apple”.

SAP University Alliances aims to build ‘The Future of Business Driven by SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud’ in which top universities, customers, partners together with SAP share innovations that form the future of business. With that goal in mind, a venture that SAP University Alliances and SAP Labs drive is SAP Osmosis which enables participating students to understand the latest technologies such as SAP HANA, mobility, Cloud, Big Data through knowledge sessions. In the recent past, SAP Osmosis has engaged with students from Tumkur University and National Institute of Engineering, Mysore.

“SAP Labs India believes that through more interaction between the industry and academia, the skill gap that exists can be significantly reduced. Through initiatives such as SAP Techniversity, Student Start-ups on SAP HANA program, SAP Osmosis and others, we want to expose students and academic bodies to the latest trends the industry so that students can better prepare themselves for the corporate world,” said Anirban Dey, Managing Director, SAP Labs India.

Photo caption:(L-R) Anirban Dey, Ann Rosenberg & MN Vidyashankar