Vodafone 4G Services Launched in Bengaluru & Karnataka; Enables 1,100 Towers with 4G Equipment's

Country’s second largest wireless operator by subscribers, Vodafone India has rolled out its next generation, high speed 4G network in prominent business and residential corridors of Bengaluru like Jayanagar, Basavangudi, J.P.Nagar, Electronic City, Bangalore International Airport, Whitefield, B.T.M. Layout, Chamrajpet and Koramangala. The company has also installed about 1,100 towers with 4G equipment and the number is likely to touch 2,000 by the fiscal end.

The roll-out will be completed across all parts of Bengaluru in a phased manner by March 2016. The launch in Bengaluru marks the successful completion of first phase of roll out of Vodafone 4G services in Kerala, Karnataka, Kolkata, Delhi and NCR and Mumbai.

Built on the efficient 1800 MHz band, this state-of-the-art network will enable Vodafone 4G customers to access internet via mobile with speeds across a range of smart devices including Mobile Wi-Fi. Vodafone 4G services can be readily accessed from 4G enabled handsets offered by leading smartphone manufacturers (iPhone, Samsung, Micromax, Microsoft, Lava, Xolo among others) available across the country.

Telco 4G will significantly enhance the mobile internet experience for customers with faster download/upload of videos and music, seamless video chats to enjoy and greater ease in using their favorite apps. Customers will also adore features like high definition video streaming, mobile gaming and two-way video calling.

The company’s 4G service in Bengaluru is built on a strong fibre backhaul, and is supported by its superfast 3.5G services. With this launch, Vodafone is now uniquely positioned to offer in Bengaluru, 2G/3G/4G services on its own state of the art, convergent radio technology.

Leveraging its global network and experience, Vodafone is also the first and only telecom service provider to currently offer international roaming on 4G to its India customers visiting UK, Germany, Romania, Spain and Netherlands with many more countries to be launched in coming weeks.

, “We are delighted to launch our high-speed 4G services in Bengaluru for our customers to experience the most advanced wireless broadband experience available across the globe today. With this, we complete the first phase of roll-out of our 4G services across Kerala, Karnataka, Kolkata, Delhi & NCR and Mumbai. Initial response from customers who have experienced our 4G services in these markets has been positive and encouraging. 4G has the potential to revolutionize the mobile experience through powerful innovation that impacts how we work and live,” said Sunil Sood, Managing Director & CEO, Vodafone India.

“Vodafone’s global expertise and experience of launching 4G across 19 countries gives us a better understanding of this technology and the needs of the 4G customer. As a steadfast partner of Digital India, we remain focused on deploying multiple technologies –be it 2G, 3G and now 4G-for optimum use as each technology has its own vital role to play in servicing the myriad connectivity needs of consumers across the country,” he added.

With launch of 4G in Bengaluru, Vodafone 4G services will be present in 5 circles of Kerala, Karnataka, Mumbai, Delhi & NCR and Kolkata, which today contribute to 30% of industry revenues and close to 50% of Vodafone India data revenues.

“We are one of the leading telecommunication services provider in Karnataka and our over 26 lakh customers in Bengaluru have a lot to look forward to. After having successfully launched our 4G services in Mysuru, we are proud and delighted to launch 4G services on the superior 1800 MHz band in the State capital. Beginning with key business and residential corridors in Bengaluru, which constitute more than 46% of our data users in Karnataka, we will soon expand our 4G services across the length and breadth of city in a phased manner by March 2016,” said Speaking on the 4G proposition for Bengaluru, Suresh Kumar, Operations Director –South, Vodafone India.

“The roll-out of our 4G services in Karnataka will continue to Mangalore, Hubli and over 50+ towns in a phased manner. We will continue to pursue our customer centric strategy of catering to the evolving needs of retail and enterprise customers for better and smarter solutions for both voice and data. We invite our data savvy customers in Bengaluru to make the most of the bonanza of special benefits and enjoy the best mobile internet experience,” he added.

Companies Aren’t Investing in Personalization: New Mindtree Study

A global, cross-industry study released today by Mindtree, a leading digital transformation and technology services company, pinpoints personalization as the key driver that will help “phy-gital” consumers reach their ideal mix of online and offline shopping. It also reveals that while most companies are in transformation mode and consider themselves pioneers in adopting or investing in digital technologies, few are investing in personalization initiatives that consumers say will increase the depth and breadth of their shopping experience.

Key findings from the survey include:

·         Consumers indicate that personalized promotions encourage them to buy products and services they have purchased before (78 percent), as well as relevant products and services they have never purchased (74 percent).

·         Only 28 percent of the decision makers from companies surveyed globally say their organizations are investing significantly in personalization to improve the online purchasing experience, even though it has improved their online sales over the past 12 months for the majority (58 percent).

·         Consumers expect their use of mobile apps for shopping to more than double in the next three years. While 6 percent of consumers said their preferred channel for making retail purchases as of 2015 was mobile apps, 15 percent said they expected mobile apps to be their preferred channel by 2018.

The study, “Winning in the Age of Personalization,” was commissioned by Mindtree and conducted by independent market research firm Vanson Bourne. It surveyed 6,000 consumers across three primary regions (U.S., Europe, and Asia/Pacific), as well as 900 decision-makers from companies spanning the retail and consumer goods, travel and hospitality, banking and insurance, and media and entertainment industries.

The survey also highlights some notable disconnects between what online features consumers desire and what features companies are investing in. As an example, consumers crave improved search and compare/aggregate functions, but companies are investing more in features like shopping lists, wish lists and social features. The survey results also reveal the top reasons that customers abandon online shopping carts, and what drives customers to read and post online reviews (positive or negative).

“There are a lot of stories to be gleaned from this study, but what stands out most is that companies need to prioritize more investments in personalization, an area that quite clearly drives more commerce,” says Radha R., EVP and Head of Digital Business atMindtree. “Many of today’s personalization approaches are ineffective since they are based on a siloed view of the customer. With the right data engine and digital underpinnings in place, customized experiences will allow companies to target the right people, at the right time, in the right place, on the right device, with the right content.”

Recommended Next Steps for Companies:

·         Break up data silos to get a more enriched view of customers from various digital touch points, using a big data-led approach.

·         Deliver relevance for customers by creating content, offers and recommendations using context-weighted personalization algorithms.

·         Implement the technology to automatically deliver these customized messages and offers to customers in a cross-channel, cross-device landscape.

This will only work if a company has the right digital infrastructure at the broadest level.Mindtree believes that companies need to blend four cornerstones that are crucial to achieving true digital transformation and success: creating digital customer experiences, digitizing the value chain across the front and back end, developing “sense-and-respond” systems, and shaping new, innovative business models and partnerships.

“It’s important to note that an online presence should focus on serving customers and not just on selling to customers,” says Paul Gottsegen, Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer at Mindtree. “With better personalization, companies will essentially embed themselves in the ongoing phy-gital lives of consumers and earn the right to be part of a continuous stream of engagement. It will strengthen the relationship for the long haul and give the companies that get it right a big advantage.”  

25% of Firms Will Review Privileged Activity and Reduce Data Leakage Incidents, Says Gartner Report

Establishing controls for privileged access continues to be a focus of attention for organisations and auditors. Gartner, Inc. said that by 2018, 25 percent of organisations will review privileged activity and reduce data leakage incidents by 33 percent.

"Only less than 5 percent of organisations were tracking and reviewing privileged activity in 2015," said Felix Gaehtgens, research director at Gartner. "The remainder is, at best, controlling access and logging when, where and by whom privileged access takes place — but not what is actually done. Unless organisations track and review privileged activity, they risk being blindsided by insider threats, malicious users or errors that cause significant outages."

Prevention of both breaches and insider attacks has become a major driver for the adoption of privileged access management (PAM) solutions, in addition to compliance and operational efficiency. PAM is a set of technologies designed to help organizations address the inherent problems related to privileged accounts.

"IT organisations are under increasing business and regulatory pressure to control access to these accounts, which can be administrative accounts, system accounts or operations accounts," said Mr. Gaehtgens.

Gartner recommends that IT operations and security leaders use some best-practice approaches for effective and risk-aware privileged access management.

Inventory All the Accounts With Privileged Access and Assign Ownership

All privileged accounts in your IT environment that enjoy permission levels beyond those of a standard user should be accounted for. It is a security best practice to frequently scan your infrastructure to discover any new accounts introduced with excess privileges. "This becomes even more important for dynamic environments that change rapidly, such as those using virtualization on a large scale, or hybrid IT environments that include cloud infrastructure," said Gaehtgens. "Organizations should start by using free autodiscovery tools offered by some PAM vendors to enable automated discovery of unmanaged systems and accounts across the range of infrastructure — but even those autodiscovery tools will not find everything."

Shared-Account Passwords Must Not Be Shared

The golden rule is that shared-account passwords must not themselves be shared. Sharing passwords, even among approved users, severely erodes personal accountability; this is a security best practice and demanded by regulatory compliance. It also makes it less likely that passwords will leak to others.

Minimize the Number of Personal and Shared Privileged Accounts

Eliminate, or at least drastically reduce, the number of users with (permanent, full) superuser privileges to the minimum that is consistent with operational and business needs. Migrating to shared privileged accounts is a recommended practice; however, this requires appropriate tools — managing the risks and control issues that arise from the use of such accounts is inefficient and complicated without a shared account password management tool.

Establish Processes and Controls for Managing the Use of Shared Accounts

Establish processes and controls for managing shared accounts and their passwords. While it is possible to use manual processes to manage privileged access, it is too cumbersome and virtually impossible to enforce such practices without specialized PAM tools.

IT operations and security leaders need to implement PAM tools to automate processes, enforce controls and provide an audit trail for individual accountability. These tools are mature, and provide efficient and effective password management for shared superuser (and other) accounts in a robust, controlled and accountable manner, enabling any organization to meet regulatory compliance requirements for restricted access and individual accountability.

Use Privilege Elevation for Users With Regular (Nonprivileged) Access

Administrators will typically have personal, nonprivileged accounts that they use for their day-to-day work, such as reading email, browsing the Web, accessing corporate applications, creating and reviewing information, and so on. "Never assign superuser privileges to these accounts, because these might exacerbate accidental actions or malware that can cause drastic consequences when used in a privileged environment," said Gaehtgens. "Instead, use privilege elevation to allow temporary execution of privileged commands."

Companies Aren’t Investing in Personalization: New Mindtree Study

A global, cross-industry study released today by Mindtree, a leading digital transformation and technology services company, pinpoints personalization as the key driver that will help “phy-gital” consumers reach their ideal mix of online and offline shopping. It also reveals that while most companies are in transformation mode and consider themselves pioneers in adopting or investing in digital technologies, few are investing in personalization initiatives that consumers say will increase the depth and breadth of their shopping experience.

Key findings from the survey include:

·         Consumers indicate that personalized promotions encourage them to buy products and services they have purchased before (78 percent), as well as relevant products and services they have never purchased (74 percent).

·         Only 28 percent of the decision makers from companies surveyed globally say their organizations are investing significantly in personalization to improve the online purchasing experience, even though it has improved their online sales over the past 12 months for the majority (58 percent).

·         Consumers expect their use of mobile apps for shopping to more than double in the next three years. While 6 percent of consumers said their preferred channel for making retail purchases as of 2015 was mobile apps, 15 percent said they expected mobile apps to be their preferred channel by 2018.

The study, “Winning in the Age of Personalization,” was commissioned by Mindtree and conducted by independent market research firm Vanson Bourne. It surveyed 6,000 consumers across three primary regions (U.S., Europe, and Asia/Pacific), as well as 900 decision-makers from companies spanning the retail and consumer goods, travel and hospitality, banking and insurance, and media and entertainment industries.

The survey also highlights some notable disconnects between what online features consumers desire and what features companies are investing in. As an example, consumers crave improved search and compare/aggregate functions, but companies are investing more in features like shopping lists, wish lists and social features. The survey results also reveal the top reasons that customers abandon online shopping carts, and what drives customers to read and post online reviews (positive or negative).

“There are a lot of stories to be gleaned from this study, but what stands out most is that companies need to prioritize more investments in personalization, an area that quite clearly drives more commerce,” says Radha R., EVP and Head of Digital Business at Mindtree. “Many of today’s personalization approaches are ineffective since they are based on a siloed view of the customer. With the right data engine and digital underpinnings in place, customized experiences will allow companies to target the right people, at the right time, in the right place, on the right device, with the right content.”

Recommended Next Steps for Companies:

·         Break up data silos to get a more enriched view of customers from various digital touch points, using a big data-led approach.

·         Deliver relevance for customers by creating content, offers and recommendations using context-weighted personalization algorithms.

·         Implement the technology to automatically deliver these customized messages and offers to customers in a cross-channel, cross-device landscape.

This will only work if a company has the right digital infrastructure at the broadest level.Mindtree believes that companies need to blend four cornerstones that are crucial to achieving true digital transformation and success: creating digital customer experiences, digitizing the value chain across the front and back end, developing “sense-and-respond” systems, and shaping new, innovative business models and partnerships.

“It’s important to note that an online presence should focus on serving customers and not just on selling to customers,” says Paul Gottsegen, Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer at Mindtree. “With better personalization, companies will essentially embed themselves in the ongoing phy-gital lives of consumers and earn the right to be part of a continuous stream of engagement. It will strengthen the relationship for the long haul and give the companies that get it right a big advantage.” 

$45-50 Billion Market for Indian E-Commerce Industry by 2020

E-commerce market size for goods is expected to jump about five times to USD 40-50 billion by 2020 from about USD 8-12 billion presently, says a report.

While travel is expected to account for 60 per cent of e-commerce sales by 2020, electronics would account for about 30 per cent, said the joint report by Boston Consulting Group and Retailers Association of India.

The growth of digital retail is dependent on the shift in the profile of Internet users and the total users likely to jump to 650 million by 2020 from 260 million.

“Urban users would nearly double from about 80 million to about 120 million,” the report said.

The share of women users is also expected to grow from 29 per cent to 40 per cent by 2020.

The report also said that more than 400 million customers could potentially be digitally influenced by 2020, accounting for about 25 per cent of the retail spend. Digitally influenced spenders research products and pricing online while purchasing either offline or online, it said.

“About USD 250 billion of retail spends would be digitally influenced, accounting for about 25 per cent of the overall spend,” the report noted.

VMware’s Workspace ONE Delivers Digital Workspaces with Consumer Simplicity & Enterprise Security

VMware Inc., a global leader in cloud infrastructure and business mobility, today unveiled a new platform for delivering secure digital workspaces for flexible workstyles and bring your own device (BYOD). Using the principles of consumer simple and enterprise secure, the digital workspace delivered by VMware will address the end user and enterprise IT business mobility needs by aggregating all devices, applications and services while securely managing them through unified common access and identity.

“In the mobile cloud era, employees, devices, applications and data increasingly live beyond the physical walls of the workplace, the datacenter, or the network,” said Sanjay Poonen, executive vice president and general manager, End-User Computing, VMware. “Digital enterprises are struggling to deliver a unified digital workspace due to disjointed technology and teams. We are proud to be the first to bring together identity, device management and application delivery on a single integrated platform so business can be conducted by mobile end-users regardless of platform, location, device or application.”

A digital workspace can give IT a more efficient, simplified way of managing users, devices and applications. It can provide end users with a consumer simple way to seamlessly access all business resources regardless of device type. It also provides line of business a secure and powerful platform on which to build and rebuild business processes that enable a more effective mobile workforce to compete in the market.

The Platform for Delivering a Digital Workspace

Organizations today are limited in their selection of solutions available to help mobile users maintain effectiveness and must choose between standalone point products for identity, device management and application delivery solutions. VMware Workspace ONE is designed to deliver a digital workspace that integrates device management, application delivery and identity management technologies. These combined benefits, on a single mobile platform, will enable secure management and delivery of business critical resources to employees for corporate IT, and consumer simple access for end-users. This solution will deliver options for all types of users from those with BYOD to corporate fully-managed devices.

Capabilities of VMware Workspace ONE will include:

·         Consumer Grade Self-Service Access to Cloud, Mobile, Windows Applications – Will offer simple onboarding of new applications and employees. Employees will enjoy industry-first, one-touch mobile Single-Sign On access leveraging patent-pending Secure App Token Systems (SATS) that establishes trust between the user, device, enterprise and cloud. Once authenticated, employees will gain instant access to a personalized enterprise application store where they can subscribe to virtually any mobile, cloud or Windows application.

 ·         Flexible Choice of Device: BYOD or Corporate Owned – Self-service, shrink-wrapped device provisioning through the new unified management platform will leverage mobile operating system (iOS, Android and Windows 10) management interfaces to self-configure laptops, smartphones and tablets for immediate enterprise use. Employees will be put in control of their BYO devices with the capability to choose the level of services and IT restrictions they are comfortable to use, increasing adoption of BYO programs, productivity, and reducing the risk of data loss.

 ·         Secure Applications: Mail, Calendar, Content, and Chat – Employees want to use corporate mobile applications that work like consumer applications. VMware Workspace ONE will include email, calendar, contacts, content and chat applications that are consumer simple while invisible security measures protect the organization from data leakage. Workspace ONE will also build-in powerful swipe and touch integrations with web applications such as Evernote, Gmail and Yahoo! Mail, among others and third-party SaaS applications such as Atlassian Jira, GitHub and Jenkins for developer operations teams to act and respond from anywhere.

 ·         Data Security and Endpoint Compliance with Conditional Access ­– To protect the most sensitive information, VMware Workspace ONE will combine identity and device management with industry-first ComplianceCheck Conditional Access to enforce access decisions across any application or device. This approach is based on conditions that include traditional identity policies such as strength of authentication, network scope and add device compliance policies including GPS location, application whitelist/blacklist and third party plug-ins from AirWatch Mobile Security Alliance partners. Meanwhile the AirWatch compliance engine can remediate compliance issues through a series of customizable, automated workflows for both scale and enhanced security.

·         Real-Time App Delivery and Automation – As the industry is seeing convergence between desktops, laptops and tablets, operating systems such as Windows 10 are also converging to use mobile-style, application management. VMware Workspace ONE™ will modernize application lifecycle management by simplifying application packaging, delivery and ongoing management. Administrators can automate application delivery and provide updates on the fly, and users can gain access to Windows applications on all devices. Workspace ONE will leverage industry-leading VMware AirWatch mobile management and VMware Horizon, along with VMware App Volumes application delivery technology..

“Overwhelmingly, 70 percent of ESG research respondents view effective mobility strategies as critical to core applications and business processes that can lead to a competitive advantage for their organization,” said Mark Bowker, senior analyst, enterprise mobility, ESG. “Digital workspaces delivered by VMware Workspace ONE enable businesses to empower employees with flexible workstyles, enhance employee productivity and embrace critical security needs as IT professionals transparently assemble and deliver a single digital workspace for an optimal end-user experience.”

“Cloud and mobile technologies are fundamentally changing the way companies run their businesses,” said Keith Lippiatt, senior managing director, Accenture Infrastructure Services.  “Our Workplace-as-a-Service offering, working with VMware’s Workspace ONE, enables us to deliver unified data and application access and identity management capabilities to enterprise users regardless of their device or location. For example, for a large communications company, Accenture is enabling an agile, secure and flexible workplace accessible from any device, anywhere using VMware Horizon Air.”

Availability and Pricing

VMware Workspace ONE is expected to be generally available this quarter. The solution will be offered in standard, advanced and enterprise editions with prices starting at $8 per user per month for cloud subscriptions and $150 per user for on-premises perpetual licenses.

Rs 1.14 Lakh Crore Bad Debts Write Off by 27 Indian PSU Banks During 2012-15

A whopping Rs 1.14 lakh crore of bad loans have been written off by 27 public sector banks (PSBs) during FY 2012-15, with the last fiscal alone witnessing a steep 53 per cent rise in write-offs as part of the balance sheet clean-up.

For the fiscal end27 PSU banks write off 1.14 lakh cr bad debts during 2012-15
New Delhi, Feb 8 (PTI) A whopping Rs 1.14 lakh crore of bad loans have been written off by 27 public sector banks (PSBs) during FY 2012-15, with the last fiscal alone witnessing a steep 53 per cent rise in write-offs as part of the balance sheet clean-up.

For the fiscal ended March 2015, public sector banks have written off loans amounting to Rs 52,542 crore, an increase of 52.6 per cent over the previous fiscal, as per the RBI data.

About one-fifth of bad loans was written off in 2014-15 as the gross non-performing assets (NPAs) at the end of March 2015 rose to Rs 2,67,065 crore.

These 27 banks had written off Rs 34,409 crore in 2013-14 while Rs 27,231 crore in 2012-13. So in aggregate, a staggering Rs 1.14 lakh crore were written off in the last three fiscals.

For 2014-15, SBI topped the chart of PSBs by writing off Rs 21,313 crore followed by Punjab National Bank Rs 6,587 crore and Indian Overseas Bank Rs 3,131 crore.

Besides, Allahabad Bank's write-off figure stood at Rs 2,109 crore, Central Bank of India Rs 1,995 crore, IDBI Bank Rs 1609 crore, Bank of Baroda Rs 1,564 crore, Syndicate Bank Rs 1,527 crore, Canara Bank Rs 1,472 crore and Uco Bank Rs 1,401 crore.

PSU banks have been witnessing a continuous surge in bad loans. As on September 2015, the gross NPAs of PSBs have increased to Rs 3,00,743 crore as against Rs 2.67 lakh crore in March 2015.

Concerned over mounting bad loans, RBI in consultation with the government is working on methodologies to clean up balance sheet of state-owned banks by March 2017.

RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan recently announced a March 2017 deadline for banks to clean up their balance sheets which are plagued by high incidence of bad assets.

While Rajan had assured that enough capital is available for public sector banks, he cautioned that some of the banks may witness erosion of profitability in the short run due to cleaning of books.

"We believe enough capital is available. While the profitability of some banks may be impaired in the short run, the system, once cleaned, will be able to support economic growth in a sustainable and profitable way," he had said.

The Finance Minister has indicated he will support the public sector banks with capital infusions as needed.

The government last year announced a revamp plan, 'Indradhanush', to infuse Rs 70,000 crore in state-owned banks over four years, while they will have to raise a further Rs 1.1 lakh crore from the markets to meet their capital requirements in line with global risk norms Basel III.

As per the capital infusion road map, PSU banks will get Rs 25,000 crore this fiscal and as well as the next fiscal and Rs 10,000 crore each in 2017-18 and 2018-19.

Out of Rs 25,000 crore set for the current fiscal, the government has infused about Rs 20,088 crore in 13 public sector banks. ed March 2015, public sector banks have written off loans amounting to Rs 52,542 crore, an increase of 52.6 per cent over the previous fiscal, as per the RBI data.

About one-fifth of bad loans was written off in 2014-15 as the gross non-performing assets (NPAs) at the end of March 2015 rose to Rs 2,67,065 crore.

These 27 banks had written off Rs 34,409 crore in 2013-14 while Rs 27,231 crore in 2012-13. So in aggregate, a staggering Rs 1.14 lakh crore were written off in the last three fiscals.

For 2014-15, SBI topped the chart of PSBs by writing off Rs 21,313 crore followed by Punjab National Bank Rs 6,587 crore and Indian Overseas Bank Rs 3,131 crore.

Besides, Allahabad Bank's write-off figure stood at Rs 2,109 crore, Central Bank of India Rs 1,995 crore, IDBI Bank Rs 1609 crore, Bank of Baroda Rs 1,564 crore, Syndicate Bank Rs 1,527 crore, Canara Bank Rs 1,472 crore and Uco Bank Rs 1,401 crore.

PSU banks have been witnessing a continuous surge in bad loans. As on September 2015, the gross NPAs of PSBs have increased to Rs 3,00,743 crore as against Rs 2.67 lakh crore in March 2015.

Concerned over mounting bad loans, RBI in consultation with the government is working on methodologies to clean up balance sheet of state-owned banks by March 2017. RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan recently announced a March 2017 deadline for banks to clean up their balance sheets which are plagued by high incidence of bad assets. While Rajan had assured that enough capital is available for public sector banks, he cautioned that some of the banks may witness erosion of profitability in the short run due to cleaning of books.

"We believe enough capital is available. While the profitability of some banks may be impaired in the short run, the system, once cleaned, will be able to support economic growth in a sustainable and profitable way," he had said.

The Finance Minister has indicated he will support the public sector banks with capital infusions as needed.

The government last year announced a revamp plan, 'Indradhanush', to infuse Rs 70,000 crore in state-owned banks over four years, while they will have to raise a further Rs 1.1 lakh crore from the markets to meet their capital requirements in line with global risk norms Basel III.

As per the capital infusion road map, PSU banks will get Rs 25,000 crore this fiscal and as well as the next fiscal and Rs 10,000 crore each in 2017-18 and 2018-19.

Out of Rs 25,000 crore set for the current fiscal, the government has infused about Rs 20,088 crore in 13 public sector banks.

Agencies

First Fully Integrated Blueair IoT Air Purification System Now in India

India is Blueair’s launchpad for the world’s first intelligent, fully connected, fully working indoor air monitoring, control and purification system. The company says the hardcore air cleaning system now rolling out across India is potentially capable of detecting and combatting airborne germ, chemical, smoke and other particle attacks.

The system connecting Blueair’s Sense, Aware air quality monitor and Blueair Friend app, allows consumers to fully control the air they breathe 24/7 for probably the first time in human history. Blueair’s ‘Home Air Defence System' means Indian homeowners and businesses alike can benefit from indoor air free of allergens, chemicals and even outdoor pollution that has seeped inside, without ever having to worry about their air quality.

“Blueair’s visionary new air purifying technology harnesses Internet of Things technology to connect our designer-contemporary Sense air purifier with the sleek-looking Aware air monitor and Blueair Friend app to intelligently monitor, control and clean homes and workplaces of airborne hazards,” said Blueair founder and CEO Bengt Rittri. He added: “Designed to be the most ingenuous smart indoor air purifier on the planet, Sense+ reimagines Blueair’s renowned indoor air purifying expertise with a host of new features and benefits packaged in an exceptional out-of-this-world contemporary design.”

Rittri said Blueair’s HEPA enhanced Home Air Defence System effectively helps consumers fend off airborne threats to create safer indoor havens in a world where air pollution has become the single biggest danger facing humankind, causing  millions of deaths in India and worldwide. Air pollution is also a major factor behind mounting respiratory diseases, such as asthma and COPD.

The Sense is engineered to purify the air using patented HepaSilent filtration technology in rooms up to 200 square feet every 12 minutes of almost all known airborne pollutants. The sleek air purifier uses wireless technology to access the information being harvested by the remote Blueair Aware air quality monitor on the Blueair Friend app, which can either automatically adjust the Sense airflow speed or permit manual control.

The Blueair Friend app, available for both Apple IoS and Android smart phones and tablets, will eventually gather data on an hourly basis from thousands of gauging stations across India and over one hundred other countries to deliver trustworthy information on local outdoor air quality. The app also receives data from the Aware monitor that provides a detailed view of indoor pollution such as fine dust and VOC’s as well as temperature and humidity.

Apart from its IoT capabilities, the second-generation Sense has been given more air cleaning power to remove all the nasty stuff from rooms at home or at work, including dust, allergens, chemicals, viruses and odors.  The improved user interface, controlled by gentle hand swipes above the Sense+ hardened-glass surface top, embraces a WiFi strength-indicator, a WiFi button and a filter change indicator.

Enhanced features include improved performance on the highest speed setting, an ultra-low sound level on the lowest setting and a WiFi enabled remote control for use with the Blueair Mobile App. The remote control will turn the Sense on or off, adjust fan speed, set a timer, dim or sharpen LED intensity, put the appliance into ‘sleep mode’, enable a child lock and indicate when a filter needs changing.

“Blueair is making the invisible ‘visible’ by harnessing IoT technology to empower consumers to better understand their surrounding air quality, detect dangers and immediately remove allergens, asthma triggers, viruses, bacteria and other airborne pollutants to create a safer haven indoors,” said Blueair India head, Vijay Kannan.