Ganesh Murthy Resigns From Mphasis; V. Suryanarayanan Appointed Interim CFO

Mphasis has appointed V. Suryanarayanan as its Interim CFO. V. Suryanarayanan is currently serving as Senior Vice-President & Head- Business Finance & Tax at Mphasis. Current CFO, Ganesh Murthy, will continue in his role till June 3, 2014.

V Suryanarayanan (Surya) is a Chartered Accountant with close to 30 years’ of experience. Surya joined Mphasis in 2009 post Mphasis’ acquisition of AIG System Solutions Pvt. Ltd., a captive of AIG Inc. where he was the CFO. Prior to that Surya was the Chief Financial Officer at Deutsche Software Ltd. a captive of Deutsche Bank. He was also the CFO of Ramco Systems Ltd before his stint with Deutsche Software.

Ganesh Murthy has served as Mphasis’ CFO since July 2009. He is leaving Mphasis to pursue other career opportunities.

“Ganesh Murthy has been a key leader and has been instrumental in enabling our successful transformation. While he is going to pursue other career opportunities, he will remain as our ambassador. I wish him the very best.” said Ganesh Ayyar, Chief Executive Officer of Mphasis, “I am grateful for the learning, experience and relationships I have enjoyed at Mphasis,” said Ganesh Murthy. “I leave with confidence that with the strong foundation that Mphasis has built, the Company will be successful in achieving its strategic objectives.”

                                                                        

Mphasis (an HP Company) enables chosen customers to meet the demands of an evolving market place. Mphasis fuels this by combining superior human capital with cutting edge solutions in hyper-specialized areas. Contact with us on www.mphasis.com.

Gaana's Mobile App Integrates Streaming, Music Videos

Gaana.com, an online music broadcasting service, has launched its upgraded Gaana 4.0 mobile app, integrating music videos and lyrics into its popular music streaming service. With a host of new features, music videos and lyrics integrated seamlessly within the application, the all new Gaana.com app will enable the listeners richer music experience. 

Music videos are integrated throughout the entire 3 million+ songs catalog, indicated with a grey camera icon when available. In addition to in-line integrations of music videos, Gaana has added a music videos section, featuring hand-picked, popular music videos, easily accessible from the home screen of the app.

In addition to music videos, lyrics are now available from the full-screen player on select songs as well. When a song is playing, a user can open the full screen player to see a prominent "lyrics" button. One click more, and lyrics for the song being played are shown, allowing consumers to follow their favorite tunes word by word.

And finally, the entire Gaana UI has gone through a refresh, to improve readability and access to content. Favorites and downloads have also been brought up front, based on user feedback for easier access. And of course, Gaana users' favorite features, like Gaana Radio, Discover, Radio Mirchi, What My Friends are Listening To, etc, are all still available for all users.

Speaking on the occasion, Pawan Agarwal, Business Head, Gaana.com said, “We are delighted to launch the latest upgrade of the Gaana app. We are committed to providing our users with an immersive music experience that they love. The new version 4.0 will not only provide a complete musical experience through songs, music videos and lyrics but also has features an easy to use hassle free interface. This upgrade would certainly redefine the way people experience music on mobile devices.” 

The upgrade is available on both iOS & Android platforms starting today.

500 Million Indian Mobile Broadband Users By 2020

Ericsson estimates that India's mobile subscriber base will grow from 795 million in 2013 to 1145 million subscribers by 2020. Simultaneously, smartphone penetration will grow from 10 per cent or 90 million devices in 2013 to 45 per cent or 520 million devices.

A strong user base and high-speed broadband connectivity will fundamentally change the way people live, interact and do business; with consumers expecting data connectivity at all times, everywhere. 

Mobile broadband usage is on the rise with social media, web browsing and chat driving more than a third of the mobile broadband traffic currently. Video consumption also continues to grow. 

However, ubiquitous mobile broadband experience for users is a challenge at present, with only a third being able to access internet over a mobile broadband network every time they attempt. 

"Consumers' value broadband and their expectations around experience are evolving fast. A few years ago access needs were limited to 'some-time', today it is 'real-time', and it is moving towards being connected all the time with access to high quality content. 

"Smartphones and MBB services are becoming more affordable. As a result, we are seeing the advent of a new Networked Society in India as in other parts of the world that will benefit consumers and businesses alike," said Ajay Gupta, Head of Strategy & Marketing, Ericsson India. 

Users also value superior network performance as they rate network reliability, coverage and speed as the top three parameters for a good mobile broadband experience. 

Operators looking to effectively monetize broadband services and tap future growth opportunities need to significantly invest in scaling network performance in three areas - ensuring network ubiquity, consistent app coverage and new charging models based 'personalization' that address consumer's specific preferences. 

"Consumers today expect ubiquitous and high performing networks everywhere they go. At the same time, different applications being used by consumers require more and more from the networks. 

For example, if social media today is all about sharing images and text, tomorrow it will be all about sharing HD Video in real time. Therefore, to ensure a superior experience for consumers, operators need to ensure quality 'app coverage'. 

"The device experience, the network experience as well as the App experience, together constitute a superior consumer experience," stated Nishant Batra, Head - Engagement Practices, Ericsson India. 

Source: Economic Times

New Roadmap For Intel’s Mobile Processors In India

At a media briefing today, Intel outlined its strategy to accelerate its growth in India, driven by an increased focus on new mobile form factors like 2 in 1s and Tablets. It also showcased a portfolio of these devices available in the Indian market today, offered by various OEMs and developer momentum to drive applications for Intel Architecture based devices.

At the high end of tablets, some consumers are choosing 2 in 1s to get the best of both worlds. 2 in 1 devices represent a new category of computing. OEMs are developing a range of devices that provide consumers with a choice, combining the creation capability of a notebook or laptop and the consumption capability of a tablet into the one device.  At the press briefing, Intel displayed a range of Tablets and 2 in1s from Acer, ASUS, Dell, ECS, HP, Lenovo and Panasonic.

Intel estimates the overall tablet demand in Asia Pacific and Japan will be up 32 per cent Year-on-Year in 2014. In particular, India, Indonesia, Japan and Australia will equate to 59 per cent of tablet demand. Tablet demand in India is forecast at 16% of the Asia Pacific and Japan (ex-China) demand for 2014.

According to Narendra Bhandari, Director-Software and Services group, Intel Asia Pacific and Japan, “there are over 200 million middle-class potential customers in India alone for different screen sizes across different price points. We are seeing a lot of traction in the 7 to 9 inch space here. We are working with our OEM partners to bring Intel-based tablets starting Rs. 10,000. We are also being aggressive in customizing our solutions for the enterprises as well as manifesto driven state governments and working with developers to drive localized applications.”

Intel’s Bay Trail: Multicore SoC Family for Mobile Devices

Based on a new low-power, high-performance microarchitecture “Silvermont,” (announced in May 2013), “Bay Trail” is Intel’s first tri-gate  3-D 22nm quad core SoC and its most powerful processor to-date for tablets and other sleek devices that provide a balance of performance, features and battery life. The flexibility of the Silvermont microarchitecture allowed Intel to deliver multiple variants of the platform to market for the tablet, 2 in 1, entry laptop and desktop and all-in-one (AIO) segments. “Bay Trail-T” is the next-generation 22nm quad-core Intel Atom SoC for tablets and 2 in 1 devices. The “Bay Trail-M” and “Bay Trail-D” parts are for innovative entry-level laptops, 2 in 1s, desktops and AIOs that will be branded Intel Pentium and Intel Celeron. On display at the event was the Baytrail-M based Lenovo Ideapad Flex 10 Laptop and a few Baytrail-T based devices like the Asus* Transformer Book T-100, Dell* Venue Pro 8 tablet and the HP* Omni10.

New Intel Atom Processors-Merrifield and Moorefield

Intel also talked about the upcoming 2.13GHz Intel Atom processor Z3480 (“Merrifield”) that offers the ideal combination of fast, smart performance and long battery life for Android smartphones and tablets. The 64-bit ready SoC delivers best-in-class compute performance for the mainstream and performance segments, and solidly outperforms the competition in compute-intensive application, web application and light media editing performance. Merrifield also delivers best-in-class battery life.

Also coming soon is the next-generation 64-bit Intel Atom processor, code-named “Moorefield” in devices expected to be available second half of this year. Building on the Merrifield feature set, Moorefield adds two additional Intel architecture (IA) cores for up to 2.3GHz of compute performance, an enhanced GPU and support for faster memory. Moorefield is optimized for Intel’s 2014 LTE platform, the Intel XMM 7260, which the company introduced at the Mobile World Congress earlier this year.

Sridhar Joins SapientNitro as Chief Creative Officer

SapientNitro, part of Sapient has announced that KV Sridhar has joined the company as Chief Creative Officer for India. Widely respected as a creative leader in both Indian and global advertising, Sridhar, popularly known as 'Pops', joins SapientNitro to address growing client demand for the agency's unique combination of creative and technology service offerings in the Indian market. Based out of Mumbai, Sridhar will be a member of the global executive creative team and will work alongside Sapient India Managing Director, Rajdeep Endow, as a critical part of the management team leading an expanding business in APAC.

  "Marketers now think differently about brand-consumer engagement and recognize the critical need for strategy, creative and technology to blend together, to move from just creating ads to creating worlds, or as SapientNitro refers to it, Storyscaping," said KV Sridhar. "The canvas has changed in a way that can no longer be constrained in the traditional advertising model. I am thrilled to join SapientNitro as they are leading this change, and redefining what it means to be an agency in today's hyper-connected world."

With a creative career spanning three decades, Sridhar is one of the most respected creative leaders in the Indian advertising industry, and moves to SapientNitro after 17-years as Chief Creative Officer of Leo Burnett - India & Subcontinent. From humble beginnings as a Bollywood film billboard painter to his ascent as a creative visionary, Sridhar is today a regular on Indian and International award juries, and a powerful voice for the future of creativity.  

"Pops, a creative powerhouse renowned for his ability to lead and develop talent and his desire to challenge the status quo, shares our vision for redefining storytelling for an always-on world," said Gaston Legorburu, Worldwide Chief Creative Officer, SapientNitro. "Brands today recognize the need for sustaining consumer engagement across devices and channels to keep pace with the shifting expectations of the increasingly-connected consumer. At SapientNitro, Pops will be a strong contributor to that evolution and will undoubtedly further our ability to create strategic advantage for clients in this incredibly important, rapidly-expanding market."

"I am delighted and honored to welcome a gifted creative leader of Pops' caliber to our leadership team," said Rajdeep Endow, Managing Director, Sapient India. "Pops' creative excellence and his deep expertise in the Indian market will be instrumental to our ability to serve clients in the region for our unique blend of connected capabilities across brand, digital, experience design and technology."  

Sridhar joins the growing number of forward-looking creative leaders who have joined SapientNitro globally in recent years, reflecting the company's commitment to evolve creativity and strengthen our portfolio of services and talent to serve clients in every strategic market across the world. SapientNitro won over 200 creative awards in 2013, including being named Creative Agency of the Year by MediaPost's OMMA Magazine in 2013.

Get Managed Mobility Offering Now In Australia

Mindtree, a global information technology services company, and SAP, market leader in enterprise application software, today announced their first Managed Mobility Offering for the Australia market. Mindtree will deliver SAP mobile solutions in the cloud and with a pay-by-usage model.

Managed mobility services from Mindtree and SAP enable organisations to rapidly mobilize their business with little complexity, minimal set-up time, and zero infrastructure costs. 

Mindtree will offer an end-to-end suite of services including consulting, installation, hosting, and maintenance for the SAP Work Manager application in the cloud. This solution is designed to:

• reduce the deployment time of SAP mobile solutions from months to weeks

• improve efficiency and decision making capability of their field workforce by eliminating paper and improving data capture

• create a more cost-effective IT infrastructure

• mitigate the risk of technology obsolescence

In addition, the companies offer a suite of pre-built ready-to-deploy apps that clients can utilize for business scenarios ranging from enabling payments to managing loyalty points. SAP Customer Loyalty, for example, is a customizable mobile application designed to enable consumer-facing brands to build stronger relationships with their customers, as well as boost customer loyalty, transaction volumes, and conversion rates.

“This managed mobility cloud offering speeds time to market through a low-risk solution that cuts across industries,” said Parthasarathy NS, President and Chief Operating Officer, Mindtree. “Mindtree’s managed mobility offering combines the best of both worlds: Mindtree’s expertise in delivering superior mobile experiences and SAP’s leading enterprise mobility portfolio,” he added.

“Australian businesses are asking for a cloud-enabled mobile offering from SAP to underpin their cloud strategy,” said Greg Miller, Chief Operating Officer, SAP ANZ. He added, “The Mindtree partnership delivers a consumption-based pricing model that allows customers to scale their mobile solutions over time, and enables ongoing mobile innovation. Importantly, it alleviates significant up-front capital expenditure, which is critical for many clients.”

Firms To Help Banks Fast-track FATCA Compliance

Banking analytics, risk and compliance pioneer, iCreate, has announced a strategic partnership with tax information reporting leader, Convey Compliance Systems, Inc., to help global banks accelerate their FATCA compliance initiatives. iCreate’s 8-year track record in banking data aggregation providing analytics, risk and compliance solutions has teamed up with  Convey’s 28-year track record in tax information reporting to bring the global marketplace a solution that is end-to-end and best-in-class for helping financial institutions identify FATCA-impacted accounts and seamlessly manage their reporting and withholding obligations.

iCreate's recently launched Fintellix FATCA Compliance system integrates seamlessly with core banking systems. Fintellix has the ability to run business regulations on consolidated enterprise data and extract reports, analytics and regulatory formats to determine FATCA-impacted accounts. Convey’s Taxport platform then applies the appropriate FATCA rules, generates the returns, and transmits the data from the bank to the submitting authority or to the IRS, depending on the bank location and current IGA status. This seamless “end-to-end” data solution also provides tools to manage the withholding and remittance of payments on recalcitrant accounts. With the combined solution, banks can rest assured that they have the tools they need to efficiently deliver timely and accurate FATCA compliance reporting.

Speaking on the occasion, Anup Pai, COO, iCreate, said, "We are delighted to partner with a category leader such as Convey with their close to 3 decades of specialised expertise in compliance reporting. This partnership would be of tremendous benefit to global Financial Institutions, as well as to regional Financial Institutions that have a substantial US/OECD customer portfolio as they prepare for FATCA compliance as well as the looming CRS guidelines."

Jon Paradis, Vice President of Alliances at Convey added, "We are equally delighted to partner with iCreate who has a deep understanding of banking compliance and a robust compliance platform. Merging these capabilities with Convey’s knowledge and expertise of US tax information reporting and withholding provides a compelling solution for global banks to address their current and future tax compliance challenges."

With an impressive joint list of clients, iCreate and Convey have already helped to improve compliance challenges for a significant number of the largest and most influential banking organizations in North America, UAE, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia, Ghana, South Africa, Philippines, UK, Indonesia, Mauritius, Singapore, Hong Kong and India. Given the broad-sweeping impact of the new FATCA reporting requirements and the combined best-in-class capabilities of each firm, partnering to deliver a seamless FATCA solution was a natural fit.