Tableau Software Acquires HyPer High Performance Database System

Tableau Software has announced it has acquired HyPer, a high performance database system initially developed as a research project at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). As part of the technology acquisition, Tableau will add key technical personnel and plans to establish a research and development center in Munich and expand its research into high performance computing.

 HyPer is a fast main-memory database system designed for simultaneous OLTP and OLAP processing without compromising performance. It also unifies transactions and analysis in a single system, and when coupled with Tableau will help customers take visual analytics closer to the transactional systems that underlie most businesses.

 HyPer grew out of a research project started in 2010 by professors Dr. Thomas Neumann and Dr. Alfons Kemper, chair of TUM’s database group. Four of the project’s Ph.D. students, Tobias Muehlbauer, Wolf Roediger, Viktor Leis and Jan Finis, will join Tableau, focused on integrating HyPer into Tableau products.

 “HyPer was born at TUM, similarly to how Tableau was founded out of Stanford,” said Muehlbauer. “We have similar approaches to innovation and a shared vision to help the world see and understand data. We’re thrilled that Tableau customers will benefit from our research, and we now have the opportunity to make a big impact in the data analytics space.”

 The HyPer team will be based in Munich. Tableau plans to invest additional resources in Munich to leverage the talent from TUM for further innovation that will enhance future Tableau products.

 “This news is in line with Tableau’s vision to help more people to see and understand their data. Speed-to-insight is a key differentiator across all sectors in India and we have already seen how customers like Eveready, Marico and others experience exponential returns with what Tableau offers. We look forward to exciting our customers even more, with faster data analytic capabilities and a host of other enhanced features at the level of their databases. User experience has always been at the forefront of Tableau’s efforts and with HyPer’s technologies we intend to build upon that,” said Deepak Ghodke, Country Manager India, Tableau.

HyPer will be integrated into Tableau’s product lines and bring a host of new capabilities to Tableau customers:

• Faster analysis of data of all sizes
• Enhanced data integration, data transformation and data blending
• Richer analytics, such as k-means clustering and window functions
• Expanded support for Big data efforts with semi-structure and unstructured data
• Unification of analysis and transactional systems 

Viacom18 Digital Ventures Partners with Technical Partners’ for its Digital Platform VOOT

Viacom18 Digital Ventures, has announced the lineup of technical partners for its soon-to-launch digital VOD platform VOOT. Viacom18 has been working with ‘best-in-class’ partners with extensive international experience to build and roll out its Over-the-top (OTT) streaming service VOOT.

Kaltura, one of the global majors in OTT and video streaming services, is on-board as the platform provider. Kaltura is building several customized features for VOOT, which will be totally unique and relevant for the Indian market.

For the User Experience and User Interface design, Viacom18 has roped in US based ‘A Different Engine’ (ADE), a company which has extensive experience & specialization in building UX/UI for large multi-platform video streaming services.

While Web Dunia is on board for web services and website development, the company is also playing the critical role of a system integrator.

The mobile applications are being developed by one of India’s leading developers - Robosoft Technologies,

Speaking on the partnerships, Gaurav Gandhi, COO, Viacom18 Digital Ventures, stated, “In this business, product and technology play a pivotal role.  While we work towards bringing popular and engaging content in this space for our viewers, we were equally focused on working with the best technology & design partners to build a world-class, differentiated product with superlative user experience.”

VOOT, an ad-supported VOD service, will aim to cater to the constant content consumption cravings of the always-on digital generation. In addition to exclusively showcasing the content produced and aired by Viacom18 channels, VOOT will also have a big focus on Originals – content created only for the service.

New Trend of Metal body Emerges in Budget Smartphones

Metal has long been associated with premium high-end design and style on a mobile phone. However, metal body options in smartphones were only restricted to flagship phones but the trend is changing now. LeEco was the first to change this industry norm and disrupted the market with its flagship killer Le 1s – the all-metal body smartphone at a sustainable price of Rs 10,999.

LeEco’s Le 1s Superphone flaunts a "trendy full-metal body", which only few brands in the market worldwide offer. The metal unibody is sturdy and is made from Aircraft grade aluminium. Furthermore, the Le 1s is the world's only metal unibody phone featuring a screw less industrial design leaving no trace of the industrial assembling on the design. LeEco’s Le 1s was the first smartphone to offer Indian users a premium looking all-metal body phone which not only looks stylish to behold but is also a power-packed performer.

The use of metal in smartphones not only enhances the look and design of the phone but also ensures that heat generated by the phone’s internals is dispersed quickly to the surroundings. Metal body aids in dispersing heat generated by the processor and internals which it’s plastic counterparts fail to some extent. The perceived temperature of a metal is higher than plastic at the same surface temperatures (what this means is that metal feels hotter or colder to touch than plastic at the same temperatures). Though the device body might feel warmer to the touch during heavy usage it’s important to note that this is normal and the device is functioning as it is designed to perform. The fact about metal phones is that it gets hot fast and cools down quickly as well.

Furthermore, the metal design of the Le 1s not only enhances the looks but also strengthens signal receiving capability. With unique features the Le Superphones have created new industry records and set new benchmarks for the Indian smartphone sector, having sold 200,000 Superphones in just 30 days. Under intense competition in the Indian smartphone market, LeEco has managed to stand out and won the hearts of many Indian users, with the breakthrough technology, comprehensive ecosystem and disruptive pricing lower than the industry BOM cost.

Here are few reasons that causes a phone to heat-up and tips for users;

Compact size - Smartphones being small in size and given that they are multipurpose, with a heavy workload, the absence of a small fan or proper ventilation will cause the little processor to heat up in the extreme of cases. Also, as the battery tries to support more resources, heating up will be the outcome. Given that the battery is located near the processor, as the phone is designed to accommodate a lot of hardware in a small case, it leaves less space for ventilation which could be ideal for cooling the system as is for example the case is for laptops.

Excessive Gaming - While constantly playing games with heavy graphics, we put too much stress on the “mother board” of the smartphone and it pushes electronic inputs at a much faster rate. Playing a game requires a lot of resources from the phone and it represents the most obvious cause for overheating.

Heat dispersion - If your phone is already overheating, take your case off. If your phone is hot, your case traps the heat. Taking the case off will allow the phone’s heat vents to do their job fully without being blocked. This will help your phone cool down quicker.

Acer India Flagship Lounge at Jayanagar Caters for both New Products & Service Centre

Acer India, one of the largest PC vendors in the country, announced the launch of its first flagship store in Bangalore. The lounge will showcase the entire range of newly launched Acer products across notebooks, smartphones, desktops, monitors, projectors and tablets. The lounge manifests Acer’s promise of cutting edge tech products for everyone, housing all the latest models, showcasing upcoming launch or previews. The best in class Predator gaming series will also debut there. The lounge is part of a new wave of Acer flagship store imbibed with a new brand philosophy and path breaking retail design concept.

On the occasion, Chandrahas Panigrahi, Senior Director-Consumer Business, Acer India said, “Inline with our growth strategy, we are excited to unveil the first Acer flagship store in Bangalore. The store has been designed to provide consumers with an immersive experience of Acer’s vast range of products and services under one roof. We intend to provide a unique retail experience to our customers and enable them to browse, touch, feel and experience Acer’s latest product portfolio crafted to appeal to the needs of all segments.” He further added, “We want people to walk away with a powerful and memorable buying experience. The lounge has been created keeping in mind the company’s approach towards innovation and is a step in its continuing journey to be responsive to changing user’s needs.”

The brand which is home to innovation and creativity will ensure the store delivers an unmatched hands-on experience across the wide range of Acer products. With a wide array of 16 models and product categories spanning the gamut of Phones, Tablets, Convertibles, Displays and Projectors, the lounge is a technology haven even for the uninitiated.

The philosophy behind this new format of store is to make consulting and troubleshooting a smooth experience. Not only will the employees consult the customers in making a wise purchase decision but they will also power the demo zone for educating the customers about the unique features of the Acer range of products. The skilled and certified tech specialists in-charge of test and repair makes the after sales support experience a delight.  Sudheer Goel, Chief Customer Support Officer, Acer India remarked “Apart from intensive training to the tech specialists in the outlet, we have also invested in adequate stocks of spare parts to make the resolution turnaround time much faster”.

The lounge also have a rich expression of Acer brand philosophy with the right combinations of brand colours, fonts, layouts etc. and immersive lighting, which together contribute to a wonderful shopping experience. Acer has invested considerable amount of time and energy in understanding the art and science of consumer buying experience which is reflected in the elegant layout making navigation effortless.

PNB Housing Finance Expects 30% Jump in Revenues during 2016-17 With 35% Contribution from South India

By Manu Sharma

PNB Housing Finance Limited, a leading housing finance major expects a 30 percent jump in revenues to touch Rs 38,000 or Rs 40,000 crore during the next fiscal (2016-17). The finance company recorded Rs 27,000 during the last fiscal (2015-16) with a 32-35 percent contribution from the south Indian states.

Speaking to the media, Sanjaya Gupta, Managing Director of PNB Housing says, “The last five years say a lot of re-engineering in our set up and also owe the positive results mainly due to the contribution from the southern states. In fact, in 2010 the southern states contributed just 10-12 percent of our business but saw a 3X jump in 5 year’s time. Now we are focusing a lot on technology and also setting up more branches in all four states in the south.”

Gupta remarks that they have also moved away from being just a subsidiary of PNB, a leading PSU bank and have gone in for Public Private Partnership (PPP), where in a new professional management now runs the housing finance company since 2009.

PNB Housing Implements ESS Technology

 On the technology front, PNB Housing has implemented Enterprise System Solution (ESS) on a single platform and one database across all branches. “We have invested a sum of about Rs 60 crore to 65 crore during the last five years and the result is this software which is very scalable and build in-house with partnership from leading vendors like Microsoft. Today we are also on a private cloud so customers can access our services any time anywhere and on any device,” remarks Gupta.

PNB Open More Branches in South

PNB Housing has inaugurated its Zonal Office and Regional Processing Centre in Bengaluru to tap high-growth cities and regions in South Indian market and to garner a larger pie of the business from these zones fuelling its business expansion.

Located at BTM Layout, which is one of the prime locations, the zonal office was inaugurated by Sanjaya Gupta, Managing Director of PNB Housing. The celebration was graced by the promoters of many reputed Real Estate Companies from across the region and various business partners of the company.

Gupta said, “Business expansion is an important element for PNB Housing to carry on the growth momentum and it is essential that we stand closer to where our target customer base is. There are enormous opportunities available in South India and we have aptly honed our efforts to make this zone operationally robust which are now giving rich dividends. To continue with our commitment to support inclusive growth, we plan to strengthen the network in our existing markets and expand in untapped regions simultaneously. We believe that the key to gain optimum output from diversely spread network is decentralization of operations. Bengaluru Zonal office will cater to this growing demand and will serve as the decision making centre for our branches in South India.”

Gupta further explains that at PNB Housing, the primary objective of each member is to meet customer expectations, improve their relationships and foster customer delight. The organization’s wide focus on ensuring highest level of service competency is fuelled by their ambition to be the most admired housing finance company in the country. This zonal office will cater to the entire South Indian market while the regional processing centre will serve the state of Karnataka reaching out to cities like Mysore, Mangalore etc. This will fasten the process of loan disbursement and make it hassle free, smooth and pleasant for the customers in these regions. The new office will also augment operational efficiencies performing as the nerve centre for the state territory.

PNB Housing currently operates with 4 Regional Offices supported by a network of branches in South India. As of Sept 30, 2015, 29% of their total loan book was contributed from South India amounting to Rs 6,222 crore. The company plans to take the total number of branches in South to 14 in the next fiscal by adding 5 more branches.

The company has been registering Y-o-Y growth of over 50% since last many quarters and is now ranked 5^th in terms of Loan Assets Size and 2^nd in Deposits Book. The company displays high level of ethics, integrity and transparency with a robust delivery model including easy online access, doorstep services and a host of other conveniences that make the experience memorable. 

The company enables the people to realize their dream of owning a home by offering customized loan solutions to fit emerging needs of the customers. PNB Housing also offers fixed rate of interest for variety of term 3, 5 and 10 years to insulate customers from macroeconomic volatility and sudden rate of interest fluctuations. The company also introduced 30 years loan repayment term which allows customers to pay lower EMIs and continue the loan for a longer period.

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.