Enterprise Biz of Tata Comm Growing 30% YoY; Bullish on Data

Tata Communications today said it will continue to invest in the data business which is expanding strongly and also driving growth.

"Our data business continues to grow very strongly across geographies and segments especially with our new services. Our enterprise business growing 30 per cent per year," Tata Communications Managing Director and Group CEO Vinod Kumar told reporters.

He also said that the company's deal with Vodafone's South African arm Vodacom for selling its stake in Neotel failed after 21 months of talks "due to regulatory complexities in concluding the transaction as well as certain conditions not being fulfilled".

The deal was originally signed in May 2014 wherein Vodacom had reached an agreement to buy Neotel, controlled by Tata Communications, for 7 billion rand (about Rs 3,200 crore).

In dollar terms, the value of transaction at that time was around US$676 million.

Tata Communications owns over 68 per cent stake in South Africa's largest fixed line telephone service provider Neotel.

Kumar said that company's data business is now driving growth and Tata Communications will continue investing in it.

The revenue of Tata Communications from voice solutions declined by about 5 per cent to Rs 2,009.54 crore from Rs 2,114.14 crore while that of data and managed services segment increased 16.7 per cent to Rs 2,723.3 crore from Rs 2,332.67 crore during the October-December quarter.

The company is also in discussion to divest its stake from data center business which it expects to close in next financial year.

The Tata Communications global network includes infrastructure includes one of the largest submarine cable networks and a Tier-1 IP network with connectivity to more than 240 countries and territories, as well as nearly 1 million square feet of data centre space worldwide.

The company provides services to telecom operators in various countries by connecting their local network with global telecom network.

With 2000 Operators YatraGenie Goes Pan India in Online Bus Ticketing Services

YatraGenie Services Pvt Ltd, a hyper market place for bus, cab and hotel bookings has expanded its bus ticketing services to Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Bhubaneshwar by partnering with more than 2000 bus operators. By Mid 2016, YatraGenie plans to aggressively expand across India by launching its services in more than 200 cities. 

Renil Komitla, CEO of YatraGenie services Pvt Ltd said, “After a strong presence in the Southern of India, we are now looking for a next phase of growth.  We believe that there is an untapped potential for the strong value proposition that we provide to our operators as well as our consumers.  Through this expansion, we hope to replicate the success that we achieved in the south”

 For its Pan India operations for bus ticketing service, Yatragenie has partnered with 2000 bus operators with more than 100,000 bus tickets to be sold. Popular names like Orange Travels, SVR, SRS, VRL, Kesineni are some of the bus operators that YatraGenie has partnered with.

Launched in 2013, Yatragenie is currently operational across 60 cities in South India.  It undertakes more than 5000 bus ticket bookings everyday and has partnered with more than 750 operators across south India.

YatraGenie is one among the fastest growing companies in the online travel sector and it has raised $2.5 million funding from Sillicon Valley’s Entrepreneur and Investor Ash Bhardwaj and RRK Holdings LLC.

Ryuichi Otsuki Succeeds Domme as CEO of Hitachi Data Systems

Hitachi Data Systems Corporation (HDS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. today announced that Jack Domme will lead Hitachi’s Social Innovation business in the Americas reporting directly to Hitachi, Ltd.President and CEO, Toshiaki Higashihara. In this role, he will focus on accelerating Hitachi’s Social Innovation business, primarily in the areas of the Internet of Things (IoT) and the development of smart cities. To focus on his new role, Domme will be leaving his position as CEO of Hitachi Data Systems.

Domme served for seven years as CEO of HDS, where he led the transformation of Hitachi Data Systems from a storage provider into an information solutions company. He was appointed to this new role because he has demonstrated the ability to lead global transformation, execute on a long-term strategic plan, and outpace the market in revenue growth. Hitachi’s Social Innovation business opportunity is the unifying strategy that brings together the power and breadth of the entire Hitachi, Ltd. group to deliver IoT and smart city solutions. 

Domme has been named Chairman and CEO and a member of the Board of Hitachi Information and Telecommunications Systems Global Holdings Corporation (HIGH). In this role, he will be responsible for enhancing collaboration between Hitachi Consulting (HCC), Hitachi Data Systems (HDS), and other Hitachi Group companies in supporting the achievement of the Hitachi Social Innovation strategy for the Americas region and beyond. He will continue as Vice President and Executive Officer of Hitachi, Ltd., as well as Chief Executive of the Americas.

“There has been no greater or more transformational opportunity for Hitachi than Social Innovation,” said Domme. “Hitachi is not only a pioneer in the development of smart cities and the Internet of Things, but we also have a unique ability to deliver on the promise of each. No other company in the world has both the industrial and operational expertise, along with decades-long leadership in information technology. And those are exactly the elements required to be a leader in this market. I am very excited and humbled by the opportunity to help lead Hitachi through this next major transformation.”

Ryuichi Otsuki will succeed Domme as CEO of Hitachi Data Systems. Otsuki joins HDS from his role as Vice President and Executive officer, General Manager of SocialInnovation Business Promotion Division and Deputy General Manager of Corporate Sales & Marketing Group at Hitachi, Ltd. Otsuki joined the HDS board in 2009 and has been instrumental in the development of HDS’ long-term strategy to expand its portfolio in the areas of infrastructure, content and analytics linking to Hitachi’s Social Innovation vision – making the Internet of Things that matter a reality.

“Social Innovation is the most significant initiative Hitachi has undertaken in its 106-year history,” said Otsuki. “We are transforming businesses and societies to deliver better outcomes for people around the world, and Hitachi Data Systems is instrumental to Hitachi delivering on this strategy. I want to thank Jack and his team for positioning this company so well for further success, and I look forward to working closely with him in his new role to continue to grow HDS and our global Social Innovation business.”

These new executive appointments will be effective April 1, 2016.

Accenture’s Liquid Application Studio will Accelerate Digital Businesses with Rapid Application Development

Accenture has opened its first Liquid Application Studio in Redwood City, CA, a new facility designed to help businesses dramatically accelerate application development by using contemporary architectures, reusable components, automation tools and leading software development methods.
 
Working at the studio, companies pair with Accenture software engineers to prototype and develop a wide range of custom applications using cloud infrastructure and platforms, rapid application development principles such as Agile and DevOps, intelligent automation, lightweight frameworks and plug-and-play, micro service-based architectures.
 
The studio’s mission is to deliver on Accenture’s Future of Applications vision today. It helps companies define and deliver applications which are liquid, intelligent and connected. Clients can also experiment with emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things and wearables that have the potential to transform their operations and customer experiences.
 
“In every industry, new competitive frontiers are being defined by software,” said Bhaskar Ghosh, group chief executive, Accenture Technology Services. “Business cycle times are shrinking and competitive barriers are disappearing. Speed to market is the new essence of software delivery in the digital world. The Liquid Application Studio can help deliver innovative solutions to businesses with speed and agility.”
 
The Accenture Liquid Application Studio is strategically located in Silicon Valley – the world’s innovation hub and epicenter of advances in software engineering. The studio works closely with the Accenture Labs in San Jose and the company’s Open Innovation program to take emerging technologies out of the lab and start up community and into development for large enterprises. Accenture is also recruiting for top technology talent locally.
 
Some of the studio’s initial work with ecosystem alliances includes developing a DevOps analytics dashboard with Splunk to help a large media and entertainment company identify inefficiencies in its software development processes. They are also developing use cases and prototypes for improving retail logistics with location services from Glympse, and helping hospitality companies improve guest experiences and venue operations by using VenueNext’s time and location based technology platform to deliver in-venue mobile ordering services and content.
 
The studio also offers modernization and migration services to help companies make legacy systems future ready for the digital world. And, it applies intelligent automation to testing and other phases of delivery, to help cut the cycle time from weeks or months down to days.
 
“Clients can come and work from this studio collaboratively with Accenture and use the power of Accenture and its alliances to create innovative solutions for their businesses,” said Ghosh. “The need for speed in business is real. It demands new mindsets and ways of working, which we expect to become more the rule than the exception going forward.”

Simplilearn & EXIN Partner to Bring Live Online Gamified Training

Simplilearn, the world’s largest provider of professional certification courses, announces its partnership with EXIN, the global independent certification institute for ICT-professionals, to launch the industry’s first digital training in EXIN Agile Scrum Master (ASM) Simplilearn is providing training on agile and scrum concepts through live online instructor led training with Gamified sessions to drive high interactivity among learners.

With over 41.5 project management jobs to be created by 2020, Scrum is the future of project management professionals. Together with EXIN, who is providing the accreditation, Simplilearn has designed the course that provides learners an immersive experience on the SCRUM Master philosophy, delivering the highest of value to all aspiring professionals. With more than 240,000  Scrum jobs in the United States alone, the online EXIN Agile Scrum Master course will provide a more accessible and affordable opportunity for aspiring students and workers alike.

Ankur Arora, Head of Category at Simplilearn said, “Simplilearn has been delivering learning through future ready technologies that addresses practical concerns of our learners. This time too, we took a step ahead and partnered with a global accreditation body like EXIN to deliver EXIN Agile Scrum Master Training, a contact intensive program online through livegamification, reducing the time to master Scrum methods. The course will help aspiring Agile professionals learn how to manage modern day business settings that happen with geographically-spread teams.”

Scrum Master Courses have traditionally been taught by trainers globally in a physical classroom setting, namely because of the hands-on nature of the program - naturally optimized for teams operating in the same geographic location. With more dispersion amongst teams in the modern day business setting, Simplilearn’s online offering was built to accommodate both local and geographically-spread teams, using live online group activities/games.

Robert-Jan Willemsen, Chief Commercial Officer at EXIN, commented, “Simplilearn has become the first of its kind training provider to deliver EXIN Agile Scrum Master Training online through an instructor led training model. This approach will add great value to all Agile aspirants and we are confident that Simplilearn will continue to be a valuable strategic partner in times to come.”

With a unique product proposition, every student will gain access to attend multiple batches of the instructor-led training over a 90 day period for the same fee, ensuring a high level of conceptual clarity and the ability to re-attend an unclear session. The Scrum Master course comes with three games/case studies and 2 projects.  

Phase V of Nasscom 10K Konnect Sees 100+ Strartup’s from Karnataka

The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), organized the NASSCOM 10,000 Startups ‘Konnect’ session in Bengaluru providing a conducive platform to the various startups shortlisted for its fifth phase.  The event took place in the presence of Ravi Gururaj, Chairperson, NASSCOM Product Council who gave interesting insights to the participating startups on ‘How to Pitch’. NASSCOM’s phase five Konnect is focused on identifying, supporting, incubating, and accelerating innovative technology start-ups in India.

Startups who had applied to be a part of 10k program in the last few months were considered for Phase 5 shortlisting and for the 10K Nurture program. This nurture program aims to provide a single platform for funding, mentoring, and enterprise connect, for all the 10K program shortlists. Over 100 shortlisted startups pitched to 40+ investors and 25+ corporates at the two day long Konnect session held at NASSCOM 10k startup warehouse in the city. The session allowed Startups to meet investors, incubators/accelerators and industry partners in a speed-dating format. The program aims to organize similar Konnect sessions at five other cities which include Mumbai, Hyderabad, Delhi, Kolkata and Kochi.

On the occasion,  Rajat Tandon, Vice President, NASSCOM 10k Startups, said, “Bengaluru is known to be a hub for great talent and innovation. We had received great response from the city for our Fifth phase. At NASSCOM, we have been nurturing and empowering startups through a variety of programs and activities involving entrepreneurs, investors and industry leaders. Konnect is yet another effort of ours which offers a strong platform to the aspiring entrepreneurs to not only meet investors and industry leaders but also to understand the dynamics of this thriving ecosystem. NASSCOM is committed to build a vibrant tech start-up ecosystem in the country and are proud of all the applicants that have showcased an incomparable spirit of entrepreneurship. We hope to continue on this sustained growth path to evangelize the Indian entrepreneurial ecosystem.”

The Bangalore Konnect session started off with the keynote address by Lalit Mangal, Co-founder-Commonfloor highlighting the current stature of the startup ecosphere. NASSCOM 10k Super stars (Hiree & Bookpad) from the previous batch of Konnect shared insights on what worked for them and how one can make use of the 10K ecosystem. The event was an action packed day with a host of sessions conducted to empower startups; pitching, go-to-market and growth hacking followed by investor speed dating.

NASSCOM 10,000 Startups, is a startup incubation program whose objective is to create 10,000 domain specific startups in the country by 2020.For the fifth phase, NASSCOM has shortlisted 200+ domain centric applications from startups, which will provide a detailed overview of their business idea and the market opportunity. To sustain the overall economic growth it is imperative to have more entrepreneurs in the country that will transform the landscape and propagate development. The program enables a number of entrepreneurs to setup and grow their businesses and in the process propel India’s economy.

InfrasoftTech Bags TANCUBFED Core Banking Contract Account

InfrasoftTech, a leading technology enabler specializing in digital solutions for the banking and financial services sector with over 450 clients in 36 countries, has been recently awarded a contract by Tamil Nadu State Federation of Urban Cooperative Banks (TANCUBFED) for implementing Core Banking Solution and other e-banking services in 128 Urban Co-operative Banks in Tamil Nadu.

On the occasion, Rajesh Mirjankar, CEO & Managing Director, InfrasoftTech, said “We are proud to be associated with TANCUBFED. This is a first of its kind project in India for Urban Co-operative Banks wherein banks across the entire state of Tamil Nadu will be operating on a single core hosted platform. This automation project will enable the banks to leverage the power of Private Cloud infrastructure to provide seamless digital transformation of operations, transaction management, improvement in customer service and efficient reporting to internal and regulatory authorities. This provides the banks a competitive edge over offerings and capabilities of commercial banks. ”

The automation process will be executed by implementing InfrasoftTech’s OMNIEnterprise Core Banking Solution. The OMNIEnterprise Core Banking Solution effectively supports the entire business operations of a bank – from the front office through operational workflow, the back-office and accounting. OMNIEnterprise Core Banking Solution is an enterprise solution that enables a bank to have a single view of its customer, offer service delivery through digital banking channels and quickly respond to customer and market demand while managing risks and regulatory compliance.

Yogesh Paralkar, Head of Sales for India, stated “This is a historic moment for InfrasoftTech which re-emphasizes our market leadership position in Core Banking in the co-operative banking segment. We would like to thank TANCUBFED and the Banks for this opportunity. We appreciate their vision to choose ‘Application Service Provider’ model for this project. As their technology partner we will ensure that the project meets all success parameters for application, infrastructure, capacity building and networking.