Indian Air Conditioning Market Set to Double Manufacturing Capacity by 2020 With Addition of New Units

By Manu Sharma

The Rs 15,000 Crore, Indian air conditioning and commercial refrigeration market, is all set to make over as it plans to double its production capacity from 4 million units last fiscal to 8 million units by 2020. Indian players like Blue Star will add two more manufacturing facilities in India.

India’s capacity in the global room air conditioning market presently is a mere 3-4 percent while China dominates the industry with almost 50 percent share of the global market.

Speaking to the media, B Thiagarajan, Executive Director & President of Blue Star Limited says, “Even though the Chinese players dominate this market, but off late has seen a sharp decline and we intent to grab on this opportunity and double the Indian market share in the coming fiscal. I consider only Voltas and Blue Star are the pure Indian players with a Make In India tag and we shall along with other Japanese and Korean players drive this growth.”

Industry reports indicate that in the room air conditioning sector, Chinese players’ witness a flat growth last fiscal and this trend may continue this fiscal as well. In fact, out of every 100 units, 80 units are made from China.

Thiagarajan remarks that even the Indian market did witness a de-growth mainly due to the fall in the international market but we are poised to achieve our target by 2020.  

“We are on the verge of revamping our manufacturing facility with the addition of two more units at Sri City in AP near Chennai and the other at Jammu. Both these units will manufacture both air conditioners and refrigerator’s,” he adds.

Blue Star has 4 existing manufacturing facilities at HP, Wada, Debra and Ahmedabad.

In this regard, Blue Star has also announced the launch of a stylish range of air conditioners comprising a wide array of highly energy-efficient as well as eco-friendly split air conditioners for the residential and commercial segments.

The company intends to continue its aggressive thrust in the room air conditioners market and aims to gain a market share of 12% in FY17, in terms of value. Blue Star’s new line-up of room air conditioners consists of over 135 models. This stellar range of air conditioners is in line with the new energy standards prescribed by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE).

“The room air conditioners market in India grew by about 10% during 2015, while Blue Star outperformed the market growing 20%. We find that the room air conditioner segment is becoming more brand-conscious preferring specialist air conditioning players. This trend works to our advantage since Blue Star is perceived to be a premium and aspirational brand, and our rich pedigree and high quality product range is in conjunction with this image. In addition, the brand continues to be a strong player in the corporate and commercial segment which comprises 25% of the overall size. The market for room air conditioners is expected to grow by around 15% in FY17 and considering our 5-year track record of outperforming the market coupled with our impressive new energy-efficient, eco-friendly and smart product range, we hope to achieve a market share of 12% in FY17”.

Blue Star is amongst the first companies to comply with BEE’s voluntary labelling programme for inverter split air conditioners as it has launched 16 models in the 5-star category and 13 variants in the 3-star category, as per the new BEE standards. All models have been designed to operate non-stop even at 50°C. 

The entire range of star-rated inverter split air conditioners is equipped to function smoothly within a voltage range of 160V - 270V, without the aid of an external voltage stabiliser. This is of a huge advantage in locations with high voltage fluctuations. 8 of the 16 models of 5-star inverter split air conditioners will be equipped with a ‘smart’ Wi-Fi feature which enables the customer to operate the machine from any remote place within the Wi-Fi network.

Lenovo & Juniper Networks Partner for Next-Gen Data Center Infrastructure Solutions

Juniper Networks and Lenovo the industry leader in network innovation, today announced the commencement of a global strategic partnership to leverage synergies in their respective product and technology portfolios to build the next generation of  converged, hyper-converged, and hyper-scale data center infrastructure solutions for enterprise and web-scale customers. The alliance reflects a shared commitment to deliver simplified, flexible, and high-performance solutions that will provide customers faster time-to-application value with reduced operating costs.

With an extensive portfolio of x86 based servers and switches, Lenovo is at the forefront of the movement toward converged and software defined offerings. Juniper is a market leader in networking innovation with its comprehensive portfolio of routers, switches, network management software, network security products and software-defined networking technology. The partnership is expected to enable customers to leverage Juniper’s strengths in networking and Lenovo’s recognized leadership in x86 server reliability¹ and networking access to derive manageable, scalable, and simple infrastructure for their data center.
 
Below are the key planned principles of the partnership:

·         Customers will be able to purchase Juniper’s broad portfolio of networking products directly from Lenovo for easier acquisition, as well as consolidated support.

·         With the move to disaggregation of hardware and software in the data center, the two companies intend to bring open, flexible solutions to market, leveraging the ONIE (Open Network Install Environment) model.

·         Keeping in mind customer needs for fast provisioning and easy administration, both companies expect to collaborate to offer simplified management and orchestration in the datacenter leveraging Lenovo’s xClarity management software as well as Juniper’s Network Director and Contrail SDN software.

·         In addition, the two companies plan to collaborate around go to market on a worldwide basis targeting enterprise customers, service providers, channel partners as well as system integrators.
Lenovo and Juniper aim to develop joint go-to-market plans and a tailor-made resell model to address unique localization requirements in China.

“Partnering with Lenovo expands Juniper’s strategy to deliver a full-stack solution for a wide-range of data centers, from the mid-range enterprise to private cloud and to hyper-scale customers. We are excited about collaborating with Lenovo to leverage the full power of our IP-networking portfolio based on JunosOS and Contrail, in delivering the next generation of converged, hyper-converged, and hyper-scale solution to customers in China and globally,” said Rami Rahim, chief executive officer at Juniper Networks.

“Lenovo is on a mission to become the market leader in datacenter solutions. We will continue to invest in the development and delivery of disruptive IT solutions to shape next-generation data centers. Our partnership with Juniper Networks provides Lenovo access to an industry leading portfolio of products that include Software Defined Networking (SDN) solutions – essential for state-of-the-art data center offerings,” remarks Gerry Smith, Lenovo executive vice president and chief operating officer, PC and Enterprise Business Group.

Enterprise-Class ERP Now Available on the Microsoft Cloud

Microsoft Corp.  announced that its next-generation cloud ERP solution, Microsoft Dynamics AX, built on and for Microsoft Azure, is now available in 137 markets in 40 languages. The enterprise-class business application brings the power, speed and intelligence of cloud computing to people and organizations to achieve more.

“Customers from around the world are using the cloud in incredible ways to accelerate and transform their business,” said Scott Guthrie, executive vice president, Microsoft Cloud and Enterprise. “Today’s release is an exciting milestone extending Microsoft’s business cloud offerings. It’s now possible for organizations to run their entire business in the cloud with Microsoft — from productivity with Office 365, to business analytics with Power BI and Cortana Analytics Suite, customer engagement with Dynamics CRM and business operations with Dynamics AX.”

Customers across the globe are already using Dynamics AX to run their business processes in the cloud — from single domains like human resources and manufacturing to end-to-end business. Companies already live in production include Hagler Systems, Haldex, Icon, Renault Sport Formula One Team, Priva, Smiles, Travel Alberta and Umbra Group.

The new Dynamics AX moves beyond traditional business solutions and brings ERP, business intelligence, infrastructure and database services together in a single offering, empowering organizations to run industry-specific and operational business processes that are extendable with specific solutions from partners. Wednesday, Microsoft announced more than 50 ISV solutions that are available on the Azure Marketplace. These Microsoft-curated, pre-configured industry and vertical solutions help customers discover and implement the solution they need quicker than ever before and, like Dynamics AX, enable fast consumption of updates and improvements. In addition to the 50-plus solutions already available, hundreds are in development today.

The new Dynamics AX takes the capabilities of Lifecycle Services (LCS) to the next level. Businesses will be able to combine the best practices for their mission-critical apps with the flexibility and simplicity of upgrade via the cloud. With LCS, Dynamics AX will formalize the concepts of development, test and production, making the ongoing upgrade quicker to implement and deploy and easier to manage.

“Lifecycle Services represents a shift in how companies manage the life cycle of an ERP system in a way that’s never really been done before,” said Josh Greenbaum, principal analyst, Enterprise Application Consulting. “The ability to test in the cloud and use the cloud’s natural elasticity and functionality to take the test, flip a switch and make it the actual production environment, that truly is magic.”

Harnessing the power of the Azure cloud, Dynamics AX provides enhanced security along with global availability and scale, enabling businesses and people to work more safely anywhere, anytime while respecting the data sovereignty requirements of global customers no matter where in the globe they operate.

“We do everything through Dynamics AX now; we manage virtually all of our operations,” said Thomas Mayer, chief operating office, Renault Sport Formula One Team. “Having what I need to run my business available anywhere in the world is invaluable.”

“We are bringing massive amounts of data into our business to help control building climates and horticulture environments. That is a huge business transformation, and the cloud was the only way forward for us to make that real,” said Paul Ossewold, vice president, Digital Operations, Priva. “To manage our company with 10 offices around the world, we need systems that are fast. That is what Dynamics AX in the cloud is giving us, and we couldn’t be more excited to be one of the first customers on board to take advantage of this new solution.”

Modern solution for modern businesses

Dynamics AX delivers a simple, beautiful, and modern user interface that is touch-enabled for the devices people use today. People can interact with the system with ease, as Dynamics AX works like other Microsoft applications that people are used to, increasing adoption and usage. The new intelligent user experience is also optimized to deliver value to organizations through the ability to make smarter decisions with increased speed.

“ERP is core to our business operations and critical to building and delivering products to our customers,” said Ben Hagler, co-founder, Hagler Systems. “We chose Dynamics AX because of its robustness. The UI is amazing and available anywhere. It makes us device-independent. We can get work done everywhere with increased speed.”

Dynamics AX delivers the proven business logic of a complete business suite, enhanced with new constructs such as Workspaces that provide a collaborative canvas unifying key performance indicators, business intelligence, views of critical data, processes and actions to power business user productivity. The Financial Period Close Workspace, for example, dramatically streamlines this critical, complex process.

Software vendors that partner with Microsoft have expressed their excitement over the potential this new solution offers the industry, representing a turning point in the ERP industry as cloud ERP solutions are adopted by customers to run their business-critical operations.

“This release is further proof that Microsoft is leading the charge with innovations not just in ERP but in cloud,” said CEO Peter Maaten from Microsoft partner HSO. “Dynamics AX will be a game changer for enterprise customers.”

Customers can sign up for the service today as the new release is available as a monthly subscription in three simple versions that include a self-serve user, a Task user and an Enterprise user. Businesses can get up and running quickly and match their business growth easily by adding business processes and users with this simple and transparent pay-as-you-go model.

Intel Security Helps Protect Samsung Devices – Galaxy S7 & S7 Edge - with McAfee VirusScan Mobile Security

Intel Security has announced that new Samsung Galaxy S7 customers can enjoy its mobile security solution designed to help keep them safe from a growing number of mobile threats. Samsung Galaxy S7 and GalaxyS7 edge will come pre-installed with McAfee VirusScan. With this collaboration, Samsung customers will be better protected with anti-malware technology that is already helping to provide a more secure mobile experience to more than 40 million Samsung Galaxy users globally.

Historically, mobile malware has been something of an afterthought for cybercriminals, with most of their efforts focused on the desktop or laptop. However, over the past several years, there has been a dramatic increase in sophisticated and complex new malware targeting mobile devices. According to Intel Security’s Mobile Threat Report, three million devices were affected by malware solely through mobile app stores over the past six months. Additionally, Intel Security found that in Q4 2015 mobile malware samples increased 24 percent compared to Q3 2015.

“As consumers grow increasingly reliant on their mobile devices and use those devices for sensitive transactions, increased protection against malware is critical to better securing their data,” said John Giamatteo, corporate vice president at Intel Security. “Intel Security is combatting these growing mobile threats by collaborating with consumer brands like Samsung to help keep customer’s mobile devices more secure so they can experience the connected world with confidence.”

“Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge users can feel more comfortable in navigating the digital world with enhanced protection by the latest anti-malware solution that Samsung offers,” said Henry Lee, vice president of Mobile Security Technologies of Samsung Mobile. “Smartphones have become an extension of our everyday lives, and it is important that we provide our users with a high level of protection designed to help keep their personal data safe in their Samsung device.”

McAfee VirusScan Technology

McAfee VirusScan is an anti-malware system that scans apps and files on both the device and SD Card, helping to prevent corruption from a variety of malicious codes, from viruses to Trojans. For more information on McAfee VirusScan mobile security, visit the product data sheet.

Availability

McAfee VirusScan anti-malware technology from Intel Security is currently shipping as a pre-installed feature for Samsung Galaxy S7and Galaxy S7 edge and already exists in Samsung Galaxy S6, S6 edge and Galaxy Note 5. No additional purchase is necessary.

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.