BT Extends Global Network Contract With Syngenta

BT today announced a seven year extension to its global networked IT services contract with Syngenta, one of the world’s leading agribusiness companies.

BT has worked with Syngenta since 2000, managing all aspects of communications including an integrated IP infrastructure to reduce costs and enable expanded collaboration services.  BT will provide new services to Syngenta under this contract such as wide area network (WAN) optimization, wireless local area network expansion, unified communications support and application performance monitoring.

BT helps Syngenta employees, partners and customers to better communicate and collaborate through secure access for third-parties, remote access for employees, international IP voice services, audio and video conferencing and managed mobility.  BT continues to deliver converged communication services to all of Syngenta’s 28,000 employees in more than 90 countries. 

Martin Walker, Head of Syngenta Business Services, said: “Few companies can offer such world-class, global, innovative and sustainable solutions to help us achieve our ambitious objectives and, in this context, we are pleased to be able to continue our partnership with BT.  The continued use of new technology is helping us increase productivity by making our employees more connected.”

Luis Alvarez, Chief Executive Officer, BT Global Services, said: “Syngenta has ambitious growth plans in key regions that are aligned to BT’s areas of investment such as Latin America, Asia, Middle-East and Africa. We work hard to help our customers orchestrate their networked IT services across multiple platforms and very diverse geographies. We are extremely proud when a global leader such as Syngenta trusts us for such a wide range of services. Together we creatively use technology, helping deliver stunning business outcomes.”

Since 2000, BT has helped transform Syngenta’s infrastructure into one of the most modern corporate networks in the world.

Volvo Appoints Sriprasad as New MD Buses India

Volvo Bus Corporation has appointed VRV Sriprasad as the new Managing Director of Volvo Buses India. Sriprasad has 28 years of experience in the commercial vehicle industry. He takes over from Manish Sahi.

Sriprasad is a highly recognised professional in the Indian Automotive Industry with 28 years in various positions, including direct and retail sales, setting up of green field projects, new brand & product introductions and manufacturing. His recent assignment for six years was with Daimler India Commercial Vehicles. He has also worked for the Eicher Group.

“Sriprasad brings him with an all-round and in-depth understanding of the commercial vehicle market. His passion to contribute to change in the commercial vehicle industry, his commitment to create value for customers as well as for passengers fits very well with Volvo Buses’ mission in India. I look forward to seeing Volvo Buses expand its role in the Indian bus industry in the years to come,” said Akash Passey, Senior Vice-President, Business Region International, Volvo Bus Corporation and Chairman of the Board of Volvo Buses in India.

VRV Sriprasad will report to Akash Passey. He takes over from Manish Sahi, who has taken the position as Director – International Business, Volvo Buses India. Besides current export opportunities in Region International, Manish will also focus on export possibilities to Region Europe and Region Americas. The division aims to contribute 25% of volume into India industrial system and thereby enhancing the profitability of the India cluster. He will operate from both India and Sweden.

Volvo Buses in India today is a market cluster covering the South Asian countries of India, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and the Maldives. At present, exports from the production facility in Bangalore take place to South Africa and future plans include increased spreads to new markets. Recently, Volvo announced introduction of UD Buses for the growth markets, starting first with India in the value segment of the bus market here.

In India, Volvo Buses has a leading share of the high-performance inter-city luxury coaches that connect major cities, and low-floor air-conditioned city buses, which are operating in 15 cities.

SAP's Cloud Transforms Businesses For Better ROI

SAP India, a subsidiary of SAP AG has announced a unified strategy of delivering next-generation cloud solutions to enable customers better manage their critical assets and relationships, namely HR, Finance, Customer and Procurement. 

“The cloud has profoundly changed the way people interact. In enterprises today, IT is required to scale up, provide real-time insights into business and help companies decide, respond boldly and quickly,” said John Ruthven, Senior Vice President, Cloud and Line of Business, SAP Asia Pacific Japan. “As we accelerate the transition to the cloud by offering customers choice, we will bring even more options to help provide enterprises with remarkable business value, radical simplification of their IT landscapes and tremendous competitive advantages.”

SAP in India has infused the cloud DNA, into its business and has seen a surge in the demand from customers of all sizes giving companies the flexibility and choice they need to innovate for growth across their entire business on cloud. SAP hybrid cloud offerings in gaining momentum as Indian companies realize the potential for transforming business capabilities and driving new innovative services.

Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited and Dabur India Limited have been on the SAP Cloud for over a decade have seen significant progress to transact, move, store, process and analyze data in real time. Today, many more organizations have opted the cloud infrastructure including Dr.Reddy's Laboratories Ltd, Shapoorji Pallonji & Co. Ltd., Balasore Alloys, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Max Life Insurance, Asian Paints, TCL Corporation, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and Lupin Limited to name a few.

“Businesses today are exposed to situations beyond cloud that includes managing people, costs and achieving customer satisfaction’, said Rajamani Srinivasan, Vice President & Chief of Staff, SAP India. “With a well-defined cloud road map and customer-first focus approach, SAP is empowering customers to leverage and extend their existing investments with the flexibility of deployment choices,” he added.

Tata Elxsi London’s Studio To Enhance European Market

Tata Elxsi, a leading design company has announced the launch of its new design studio in central London.  The London design studio will help the company enhance its global footprint, access and serve new markets and broaden its talent base.

The London design studio will leverage local design talent and serve customers in the UK, central Europe and Scandinavia. It will also enable access to new customers apart from enhancing relationships and project execution with existing customers.

To celebrate the launch of the new design studio, a gala event was held at St. James’ Court – A Taj Hotel, London on May 12. The theme for the event was ‘Humanizing Technology – Irresistible products and experiences for a world in transition’. Esteemed speakers included – Professor James Woudhuysen – Prof. Forecasting & Innovation, School of Design, De Montfort University, UK, Sir John Sorrell – Chairman, London Design Festival & Co- Chair, The Sorrell Foundation, David Landsman OBE – Executive Director, Tata UK and Nick Talbot – Global Design Head, Tata Elxsi. The event was well attended by senior decision-makers from across industries including key customers of Tata Elxsi, media, representatives from leading design institutions and the government.

Madhukar Dev, Managing Director, Tata Elxsi said, “Products and Services of the future will be driven by technology, and design has a key role in simplifying and enhancing the experience for users. Tata Elxsi is uniquely positioned with its technology and design capabilities to help clients deliver irresistible products and experiences. We are pleased to launch our new design studio in Central London – which is the hub for design. This studio will bring us closer to our customers in the UK and Europe market.”

Said Nick Talbot – Global Design Head, Tata Elxsi, “This studio will help us better understand and address local consumer preferences and needs through design, and serve our customers more efficiently.”

Headquartered in Bangalore, Tata Elxsi has operations across the world, including North America, Western Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and India. The launch of the London design studio is a significant step towards building a truly global design footprint.

Now Enjoy SuperColor True Technology From ViewSonic

ViewSonic is officially announcing the integration of its latest SuperColor Technology into their projector product series, ranging from value to high-end models. SuperColor Technology offers better color reproduction capabilities that can consistently deliver the most accurate colors on each point of the screen. It boosts the quality of projected images to match the image quality of our well-known lines of monitors as well. A leading visual solution provider and color expert, ViewSonic is the first company to apply such advanced color technology into its lines of products, enabling their devices to be used in a wide variety of industries where superior color performance is in high demand. Whether it is for business, entertainment, creative design or in-class lectures, ViewSonic’s visual solutions will enable users to enjoy true-to-life color accuracy in everything they present. 

Equipped with SuperColor Technology, ViewSonic projectors provide outstanding features to offer a better projection and user viewing experience, as well as superior image quality. The features of SuperColor Technology, which includes exclusive 5, 6 and 7–segment projector color wheel designs, advanced digital image processing, and dynamic lamp adjustment technology, allows ViewSonic projectors to reproduce accurate, natural and vividly clear images with expanded color space. Additionally, ViewSonic projectors integrated with SuperColor Technology comes with a ViewMatch color mode that optimizes the color gamma to fit most projection environments without sacrificing image color quality. Users can now project anywhere, anytime without any color tradeoffs.

When it comes to putting an emphasis on sharp definition, and reducing viewer eye-fatigue, ViewSonic projectors with SuperColor Technology provides a perfect solution. Users can now use a projector that automatically adjusts images to enhance the performance of dark scenes while greatly improving the detail in bright images without any color washout. Eye-fatigue from prolonged viewing is also reduced thanks to a more accurate gray scale that enables users to see greater texture in darker images and greater detail in bright-white projected images. Whether it is projecting in a lecture hall, presenting in a business conference room, or sharing in a classroom, ViewSonic projectors with SuperColor Technology are able to provide users with greater flexibility in any setting. Enjoy superior color performances for an unparalleled presenting and sharing experience!

“As a leading visual technology provider and industry color expert, ViewSonic is dedicated to the continuous innovation of its projection technology. In order to provide the most convenient and highly efficient projectors, we have integrated the all-new SuperColor Technology into our projector series” said Vincent Hsu, General Manager of ViewSonic’s Projector Business Unit. “This technology enables users to have the flexibility to project images in every setting – in the classroom, boardroom, auditorium or living room – while still delivering consistently accurate true-to-life colors on the projection screen.” See the difference by sourcing ViewSonic projectors for your organization and enjoying the ultimate viewing experience when presenting and sharing content – anytime, anywhere!

Times of India Upgrades Its Android and iOS Apps

 

Timesofindia.com, India's go-to destination for news across web, mobile and social platforms, releases version 3.0 of their iPhone and Android app.

The latest apps boast of a sleeker design, enhanced user experience and a host of new features. While the iOS app for iPhone & iPod touch gets an entirely new user friendly design, day/night themes, adjustable font size and the ability to zoom in to photos, the new Android app has a contemporary card layout, an expandable widget with choice of section and refresh rate, an additional color theme and the ability to effortlessly switch between Portrait and Landscape modes.

Speaking on the occasion, Puneet Gupt, Business Head, Times of India digital, says – “We have evolved the apps into an entirely new experience based on feedback from millions of our users. Along with the depth and breadth of Times of India’s news coverage, these apps now come packed with a stronger feature set to ensure that staying up-to-date is now an even more pleasant and enriching experience.Version 3.0 apps are our best apps for iOS and Android till date.” 

Other improvements to the apps include visibly faster response, an entire new line of push notifications, complete Election coverage and better handling of memory and space used by the applications.

Version 3.0 apps can be used on iOS 6 and above for Apple users and Android 2.3 and above for the Android platform.

BlackBerry 10 OS Opens To Multiple MDM Platforms

BlackBerry Limited, a world leader in mobile communications, today announced that it will enable mobile device management (MDM) companies to directly manage devices with the BlackBerry 10 operating system.

AirWatch, Citrix and IBM have expressed their intent to be the first companies to work with BlackBerry to enable a more open mobility ecosystem. In doing so, BlackBerry will provide organizations with more options to embrace multi-operating system mobile environments by enabling other MDM companies to manage BlackBerry 10 devices.

According to Gartner, “Mobile device management (MDM) remains a top priority for IT buyers, and investment levels are growing steadily. Competition among players drives commoditization.”[1] Gartner also notes, “Proliferation of and demand for workplace mobility necessitate the need for quality and flexible management tools.”[2] As a result of this demand, BlackBerry is working with the companies listed above to offer customers the most flexible solution to support a broader enterprise mobility strategy.

“Offering the end-to-end secure solutions valued by our customers in government and other regulated industries remains central to our strategy; however BlackBerry understands the opportunity and importance of opening our BlackBerry 10 software,” said Ron Louks, President of Devices and Emerging Solutions, BlackBerry. “This is a natural next step in our enterprise strategy as we seek to provide our customers with maximum choice in how they will meet the full array of employee mobility needs.” 

“The enterprise mobility landscape continues to rapidly evolve, and BlackBerry represents a valued addition to our partner ecosystem,” said Kevin Keith, Director of Business Development, AirWatch by VMware®. “The integration of the BlackBerry 10 operating system into the comprehensive AirWatch Enterprise Mobility Management Platform™ will empower our customers and partners to fully manage any device in their mobile fleet from a single console.”

“At Citrix, our vision is to deliver mobile workspaces to users anywhere, any time and on any device. As an industry EMM leader, Citrix XenMobile extends support to all enterprise devices. We have long supported BlackBerry OS devices, and the new BlackBerry 10 APIs create exciting possibilities,” said Chris Fleck, Vice President of Mobility Solutions & Alliances, Citrix.

BlackBerry will continue to offer its multi-platform EMM solution BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 (BES10), which manages and secures corporate-owned and BYOD BlackBerry, iOS and Android devices. BlackBerry intends to launch BES12 in late 2014, adding Windows Phone 8 support.