Next-Gen, Cloud-based Collaboration App for Team Based Collaboration

Today at Collaboration Summit 2014, Cisco introduced Project Squared, a business collaboration app that combines chat, audio, video, multi-party meetings and content sharing in a single experience that supports the demanding collaboration needs of modern teams.  

Project Squared is Cisco’s answer to the challenges many workers face on a daily basis: Stay connected across devices, time zones, and project teams. Quickly get up to speed on projects already in progress. Share thoughts and ideas with people both inside and outside the company without violating company security requirements.

Project Squared is built upon the Cisco Collaboration Cloud, a new, next-generation platform aligned with Cisco’s Intercloud strategy, to enable these best-in-class collaboration experiences.  In building the Cisco Collaboration Cloud platform, Cisco leveraged the learnings and technologies from its market-leading web conferencing, video telepresence, unified communications, and voice products. 

Project Squared: Gives teams a place to work together, virtually. Project Squared ties the physical conference room to the virtual world unlike anyone in the industry. Teams can download Project Squared, start a room on any topic, and invite others inside or outside the organization to join simply by entering their name or e-mail address. Once in the room, team members can securely share messages, post files, and start voice and video calls. Files are rendered in the cloud and viewable immediately alongside messages – with no download required. 

Powers an agile work style. Project Squared is accessible from nearly any device, with an intuitive design that reduces any learning curve.  Project Squared also works on web browsers, so users can log in from any computer – no VPN or plugins required.   Project Squared leverages mobile notifications so team members are always reachable and users stay connected to important content and messages from anywhere.

Integrates with your other business tools. Project Squared integrates with important business tools such as calendars, Active Directory, WebEx and Box, so teams can be more effective using the tools they already depend on.

Provides security your IT department will love. While Project Squared has consumer-like ease of use, it delivers enterprise IT security through the Cisco Collaboration Cloud platform, which provides end-to-end content encryption. Plus, IT teams can manage Project Squared by asking employees to use their corporate single sign on (SSO) credentials and IT-approved passwords.

Keeps evolving as needs evolve. We’re calling it ‘Project’ Squared for a reason: this is a fast-moving project, and we want your input. You can help shape the future Project Squared experience by giving us your thoughts as you use it. It’s easy to provide your feedback from right inside the app.

Symphony of Cloud Solutions Help AMEA Companies Master Art of Connecting

BT, one of the world’s leading providers of communications solutions and services, today announced new cloud services aimed at supporting the expansion plans of its customers in Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa (AMEA) and helping them orchestrate the most recent technology to deliver great business outcomes.

Backed by its global network infrastructure and leveraging its position as a leading provider of unified communications & collaboration services, BT launches the following new cloud services in the AMEA region:

* BT One Cloud Cisco: a reliable, resilient global platform that features full Unified Communications capabilities, including high-definition (HD) voice, multiparty HD video to improve the impact of virtual meetings, Instant Messaging (IM) and presence, and mobile clients delivered by Cisco Jabber. Global coverage and resilience are ensured through BT’s data centres in the Americas, the UK and Asia Pacific. Those data centres are paired one to another in geographically remote cities to bring additional resilience to services in case of major incidents.

* BT One Cloud Lync: A fully-managed private cloud service with enterprise telephony and video with the standard feature set of presence, IM and conferencing in a single, unified platform.

Both services are available to customers on a pay per user basis.

BT is also launching its Cloud Connect program across AMEA. Customers across the region will now be able to connect directly through BT’s network to various other software-as-a-service providers and to more than 200 third- party data centres around the world. By building acceleration and security features into the network we are now increasing application performance, reducing bandwidth costs and improving security for our customers in the AMEA region. The Cloud Connect program also provides direct connections to BT’s own cloud services, including collaboration and unified communications, IT services and contact management. This reduces costs and speeds up delivery.

BT is also announcing today the availability of BT for Life Sciences R&D in AMEA. BT for Life Science R&D is the first cloud service designed to enable collaboration within the life sciences industry for increased R&D productivity. It is specifically designed to allow organisations active in the life sciences, biotechnology, pharmaceutical and associated sectors to comply with stringent security, regulatory and compliance requirements while accessing the very high computational demands of R&D and adopting the latest in cloud computing, collaboration, and unified communications. The solution is based on the BT Cloud Compute platform and delivered through BT data centres. It has already been deployed with Genome Institute of Singapore and is being rolled out in Japan. 

Kevin Taylor, President, BT Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, said: “We are proud to see our customers leverage the investments we have made in the AMEA region in the last few years. These have included improved network infrastructure, an enhanced product portfolio, strengthened field services, customer showcases and the establishment of service centres in the region. In the first half of this financial year, we have grown our revenue across the region by more than ten per cent and have doubled the value of our new orders compared with the same period last year. We are committed to continue building a healthier business and are continuing to invest in innovative solutions that customers will deploy and combine to deliver stunning business outcomes. In the last few months, those efforts have resulted in extensions of relationships with existing customers such as Deutsche Post DHL, Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, as well as significant new contracts with well-known brands such as Genome Institute of Singapore, JABIL, Singapore Airlines, Williams Lea and WorleyParsons.“ 

New Convertibles from ASUS Transformer Series Unveied

ASUS has announced their all new additions to the Transformer Series – ASUS Transformer Flip Book – a 15.6” innovative laptop with 360-degree rotating touchscreen that flips in an instant for use as a powerful laptop, a responsive tablet, or anything in between; ASUS Transformer T200 – a 2-in-1 ultraportable laptop with 11.6” Tablet; and ASUS Transformer Pad TF103 – a tablet with style, ensuring productivity on the go.

“We are ecstatic about introducing the all new additions to the much celebrated Transformer Series to India. India has been one of the key markets for the entire transformer series. In it our constant endeavour to effectively amalgamate our users’ needs with incredible experiences and deliver in the form of revolutionary hybrids, notebooks and tablets. Bringing these avant-garde devices is our step ahead in assisting the Indian masses to discover and have access to the unconceivable yet highly user friendly devices,” affirmed Peter Chang, Regional Head - South Asia & Country Manager – System Business Group - ASUS India.

ASUS Transformer Flip Book TP550LD

ASUS Transformer Book Flip is a stylish, innovative and affordable 15.6” Windows 8.1 laptop, which features a bright and clear up to Full 1366 x 768 touchscreen with a remarkable hinge design that enables the screen to be set at any angle between zero and 360 degrees. Flip is incredibly versatile, and can be used as a powerful laptop, a responsive tablet, or anything in between. Flip is powered by Intel® Core™ i3 & i5 processors with NVIDIA® GeForce® NV 820M discrete graphics for seamless multitasking and outstanding performance, whether for productivity, entertainment or playing the latest games.

Flip’s touchscreen is incredibly accurate and responsive thanks to its high-precision 6mm-diameter actuators, which are more than twice as sensitive as the 9mm industry standard. Exclusive ASUS Splendid technology gives rich, deep and vibrant colors to ensure a visually stunning experience for any kind of content.

Flip’s incredible design is complemented by superior performance. It uses powerful, energy-efficient for superior multitasking and effortless productivity, while NVIDIA GeForce NV 820M discrete graphics with 2GB of video memory give Flip more than enough graphics power for smooth video playback or playing the latest games.

Instant On technology means that Flip only takes two seconds to resume from sleep, and users don’t need to worry about losing data when in sleep mode for up to 14 days — when the Lithium-polymer battery’s charge drops below 5%, files and data are automatically backed up.

Exclusive ASUS SonicMaster audio gives Flip the best audio experience in its class. Flip has a perfect multimedia partner, with every song, movie or game sounding better thanks to its carefully balanced and dynamic audio.


ASUS Transformer Book T200

ASUS Transformer Book T200 is the beautiful ultraportable that’s also an 11.6-inch Windows tablet. Detach the tablet to work and play anywhere, and dock to enjoy the full-size keyboard, advanced connectivity, and easy-upgrade storage. Style, power and convenience — Transformer Book T200 gives you it all! With up to 10.4 hours of battery life that lasts all day long, you’re free to work or play from dawn to dusk. And ASUS Instant On technology ensures that Transformer Book T200 is always responsive and ready for action! Users will experience outstanding performance from the latest Intel® Z3775 Bay Trail processor. Transformer Book T200 also delivers exceptional graphics performance — with Intel HD graphics that are up to 30% faster than ever before!

Transformer Book T200 is equipped with USB 3.0 connectivity for data transfers that never leave you waiting. And makes you enjoy speeds that are up to 10X faster than USB 2.0!

With a 16:9 ratio, 1366 x 768-pixel HD resolution and in-plane switching (IPS) technology, you’ll enjoy bright, vivid images from literally any angle — that’s 178 degrees of viewing clarity! The stunning metallic finish adds a touch of sophistication. But Transformer Book T200’s premium design is more than skin deep – the keys offer a full 1.9mm for a superior typing experience!

With a built-in 5MP rear and 2MP front cameras Transformer Book T200 is brilliant for keeping in touch via social media, as well as staying on top of coursework! Transformer Book T200 has built-in Miracast® technology that sends your favorite stuff straight to the big screen — wirelessly. Show photos that everyone can see, stream movies in Full HD or even use the tablet as a games controller!

ASUS Transformer Pad TF103

The New ASUS Transformer Pad is a 10.1-inch mobile entertainment tablet with a vivid 1280 x 800 IPS display, the latest high-performance Intel Atom dual core processorand a lightweight optional keyboard dock with USB 2.0. ASUS Transformer Pad’s powerful Intel quad-core processor can easily handle multiple tasks and deliver an immersive gaming experience up to 9.5 hours of web surfing and video playback.

The ASUS Transformer Pad is powered by Intel Atom Z2560 processor (up to 1.6GHz, dual-core) that delivers impressive performance and battery life to keep you entertained throughout the day. The device features ASUS ZenUI which improves on your smart device experience, giving you a brand new user interface that features over 1000 upgrades and enhancements over the standard Android operating system.

ASUS SonicMaster enhances audio and the carefully-engineered dual speakers’ direct sound towards you - the listener - so you experience impeccable sound whether enjoying videos or listening to music! Miracast lets you stream multimedia content from your Transformer Pad to a TV or external display. The new ASUS Transformer Pad gives you stable and faster internet connections thanks to WLAN 802.11 a/b/g/n.

It combines a beautiful trendy cover with a vivid 1280 x 800 display, to create a device you’ll want to show off. Its display uses in-plane-switching (IPS) technology to deliver 170-degree viewing angles with accurate color reproduction, no matter how you view at the screen.

ASUS Splendid video technology optimises images by enhancing color, brightness, contrast and sharpness so that everything you view looks just great. The redesigned ASUS Transformer Pad now weighs 550g and its new design also features a 9.9mm thin for you to carry around easily. The ASUS Transformer Pad has been designed with an exceptionally-responsive, 10-point multi-touch display for an outstanding gaming experience. It comes with 8GB of onboard storage that can be supplemented with up to a 64GB MicroSD card.

ASUS Transformer Pad has a 2-megapixel rear-facing camera that lets you take astounding images; as well as a 0.3-megapixel front-facing camera for clear video chats.

Each ASUS Transformer Series product includes ASUS WebStorage, giving users free access to the most complete platform for online living. With ASUS cloud services, convenience and intuitive is the main priority, offering users easy storage, sharing, and syncing of everything from business presentations to photo albums and favorite multimedia content.

New Intel Sensing Platform Enables Mobile-based Healthcare Application

Intel India showcased its computing prowess and leadership at CeBIT India 2014. On the occasion, it unveiled the Intel Sensing Platform, a unique solution combining hardware, mobile applications, analytics and cloud-based technology that enables mobile-based affordable and personal healthcare management application for masses. Designed to meet the unique consumer needs in India and other emerging markets, this platform can be used by the technology eco-system to create applications for different consumer segments. 

This three-day event had Intel® displaying its latest technology capabilities through its walk -through demo booths on Mobility, Data Center, Internet of Things (IoT) and innovation. Intel India has been actively fueling innovation in India through its strong research & development presence here coupled with its partnerships with the vibrant tech eco-system including government and academia.

At CeBIT 2014 delivering a key note address on Building Tomorrow’s Technologies, the president of Intel India illustrated the significance of technology and computing in catalyzing a truly digital world while enriching the lives of people and transforming businesses. Intel is focused on innovating and harnessing the power of technology to create paradigm shifts in the way people, businesses and government agencies connect and interact, with its goal of delivering amazing computing experiences across a host of smart and connected devices.

Speaking on the occasion Kumud Srinivasan, President Intel India emphasized on how Intel India’s focus on local and frugal innovations led to the creation of the Intel Sensing Platform and said “Intel Sensing Platform is a key innovation for bringing about critical change through enabling an affordable technology solution that can impact masses positively.” She further added“Technology today has become more immersive, perceptive and social; driving richer user experiences and productivity. At Intel, our endeavour is to use technology to improve the quality of life of people across the world.

Echoing the government’s Digital India focus on digital infrastructure, e-governance, utilities, digital literacy and digital empowerment for citizens, Intel India also discussed the growth of the technology landscape in India, focus on innovation & entrepreneurship. The discussion highlighted how technology usage in India is fast catching up and leap-frogging in emerging areas, marked by acceleration in IP creation, digital literacy, emphasis on serving local needs, rising  mobile penetration and social entrepreneurship.

Fighter Pilot Who Engineered a World Record!

The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), a leading professional society for engineering and technology communityhosted its prestigious Lord Austin Lecture in the city yesterday at Infosys Limited, Electronics City. British Fighter Pilot and current world land speed record holder Wg Cdr Andy Green delivered an inspirational and educational lecture on project BLOODHOUND, a supersonic car aiming to set a new world land speed record of 1,000 mph (1,609 kmph).

The lecture witnessed a record audience turnout of nearly 1,000 attendees including school children, college students and professionals from various industries.

The lecture delved upon The BLOODHOUND Project, an international education initiative focused on setting a new World Land Speed Record. It highlighted the key technical challenges of Project BLOODHOUND and also touched upon the key contributions from India, as well as some major potential benefits to India through the BLOODHOUND education programme. Further, Andy emphasised on the team’s preparation to deploy the BLOODHOUND project to South Africa in autumn 2015 to begin high speed testing with the target of reaching around 1,300 km/h.

Wing Commander Andy Green, fighter pilot with the British Royal Air Force said, “It’s been a  tremendous privilege to deliver the IET’s 2014 Lord Austin Lecture and a real pleasure to talk to such a large, excited and intelligent audience who came up with some great questions about the World Land Speed Record. Project BLOODHOUND offers huge opportunities for engineering education not just in UK but also to Indian students and Indian organisations. It was great to see the audience so proud of the Indian inputs into BLOODHOUND through TATA steel and Jaguar. I was also particularly impressed by the student who in 20 years’ time intends to break our record and go even faster.”

Azra Fathima, Head – Marketing & Communications, The IET India said, “We are absolutely delighted to be able to bring the inspiration of Project BLOODHOUND to India with the IET Lord Austin lecture. The IET’s mission is to Inspire, Inform and Influence and we hope that Wing Commander’s Andy Green’s talk will inspire students and engineers to think about how we can focus on innovation and creativity for the betterment of society.”

The Lord Austin Lecture is an annual an international prestige lecture by the IET in honour of Lord Herbert Austin, founder of the Austin Motor Company.   

IT Industry Plans for Digital India Programme

National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) today discussed its plan to work towards Digital India Program. On the side-lines of the ongoing two-day NASSCOM Game Developer Conference, 2014 in Pune, R Chandrashekhar, President, NASSCOM, shared key elements where the industry will work with Government of India to realize the Digital India program. The Digital India program is aimed at connecting all gram panchayats by broadband and Internet, and promote e-governance to transform India into a connected knowledge economy.  

To begin with, NASSCOM will focus on creating and leveraging IT solutions across sectors like healthcare, education and financial inclusion; and also work on creating framework for the proposed smart cities.

With technology solutions at the core of Digital India plan, there is huge opportunity for IT players to use disruptive technologies to redefine paradigms for delivery of services like health, education and financial inclusion. IT will partner with the Government/s to restructure and refocus several existing schemes and implement them in a synchronized fashion.

On the occasion, R. Chandrashekhar, President, NASSCOM said that “Digital India Program is one of the most vital decisions by the Government and is aimed at creating and delivering large-scale welfare policies. The program which aims to transform India into an IT-enabled society, ties in well with NASSCOM's own vision of 'Connect, Collaborate and Co-create', which advocates the empowerment of the Indian economy through large scale IT adoption across horizontals such as healthcare, education, agriculture and others.” He further added that “NASSCOM is already working closely with IT players to lay the basic framework in patches which can be further merged with greater Digital India plan.”

NASSCOM along with its members will be moving ahead with its aim keeping in mind two important stakeholders – Government, the enabler of technology solutions and end-user, the one consuming the solutions. Affordability, accessibility, applicability and awareness-building will be the four focus areas that NASSCOM will be considering while devising any framework.

With the expected outcome of not only bridging the digital divide but also empowering the citizens of the country, IT will play an important role in transforming the existing Public Service Delivery system, improve productivity, create jobs and induce economic activity in areas which were not digital connected.

JDA & IBM Collaborate for Advanced Omni-Channel Fulfillment Capabilities

JDA Software Group, Inc., and IBM announced an initiative to provide solutions that help organizations deliver engaging customer experiences by intelligently processing and fulfilling product orders in the most efficient and cost effective manner possible. Together IBM and JDA will provide an integrated omni-channel supply chain that enables businesses to make smarter sourcing decisions in real time and give their customers the best buying experience possible.

Retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers today are challenged to meet the demands of empowered consumers who demand the right product when they want it at the best price through their channel of choice. As more and more consumers demand advanced delivery methods such as ‘buy online and pick-up in store,’ businesses are under increasing pressure to offer these flexible options across more channels in order to meet their customer’s expectations. Without a dynamic view into their complete supply chain picture, businesses are forced to make snap decisions based on static information resulting in inefficient fulfillment processes, shipping methods and inventory positions.

This new initiative between JDA and IBM will provide a holistic approach to solving this problem by synchronizing comprehensive order capture and order management with precision retail planning, efficient labor productivity and intelligent fulfillment. JDA Intelligent Fulfillment and Labor Productivity solutions combined with IBM Commerce and Order Management solutions will reveal the true cost of fulfilling an order – including inventory and labor costs – so that businesses can more responsively adjust inventory and resource allocations and execute decisions that meet and exceed customer expectations while also serving their bottom line. Delivered either on premise or in the cloud via SoftLayer, an IBM company, the solution will be part of IBM’s existing portfolio of over 110 SaaS applications and is expected to be available by late spring 2015.

For example, when a customer purchases an outfit online from a clothing retailer, there are several dynamic factors at play that can affect the profitability of the transaction, such as:  if the customer wants the outfit delivered to a home or will pick it up in store; if the item is in stock at that store or needs to be fulfilled from an alternate location; or if warehouse or store labor is available to fulfill the order in a timely manner. With the combined solutions from IBM and JDA, these issues will be resolved in the background in real-time by applying knowledge of the retailer’s inventory planning and allocation during the order processing. This allows the retailer to intelligently initiate the best possible omni-channel fulfillment decision at the moment of the sale in the most profitable manner.      

“The JDA and IBM initiative fills a massive void in the marketplace,” said Wayne Usie, senior vice president of retail at JDA Software. “Retailers need to become much more sophisticated and intelligent about how they source product for omni-channel fulfillment.  Today there is far too much guess work, too many static policies, and no intelligence applied to the process.  This landmark initiative cracks the code on intelligent sourcing, simultaneously allowing our customers to factor in supply chain planning and execution status, planned events like promotions and markdowns, and labor availability at the point of sale to maximize profits and customer satisfaction.”

“Whether they shop online, in store or on a device, consumers expect to have their product orders fulfilled exactly how they want it and at the lowest price without exceptions,” said Charles Chu, Vice President of B2B & Commerce at IBM. “Any business that ignores these changing expectations does so at the expense of customer loyalty and revenue growth. Now with this collaboration between JDA Software and IBM, businesses will be able to seamlessly orchestrate a superior order fulfillment process that provides real value to the customer while eliminating costs and inefficiencies.”

“By partnering to deliver this joint offering, JDA and IBM are enabling Lowe’s to deliver exceptional omni-channel fulfillment services, which gives our customers more flexible options to shop with us,” said Robin Bornkamp, Lowe’s VP of Inventory & Demand Planning.