Reva's New Ajura App Offers International Roaming at 90% Less Cost

A trip overseas usually means penny pinching on communication. It means keeping an eye on the phone’s clock watching how long you talk and who you talk to. Ajura Pte Ltd from Reve Group has launched a mobile app that takes away the financial burden of making expensive calls home and allows the traveler to stay connected and a call away.

The Ajura App allows global travellers to make and receive international calls at 5 to 10 per cent of what a roaming call would normally cost. Simple to use, all one needs to do is download the app from the app store after which users need to sign up with their regular mobile number and activate the roaming option before they travel out of the country.

The intelligent App detects if the mobile user is online and routes the calls to the App. When the user has a local mobile number in the visiting country, the call automatically diverts to the visiting country number.

A visiting country SIM is not necessary if the user takes all incoming calls on the App but his or her phone then needs to be hooked on to a wifi or data network. The visiting country SIM card however helps a user get cheaper data and be always available to roaming incoming calls.

The product developed in India has several innovations. A user can have phone numbers and an identity in 54 countries - including Singapore, Hong Kong, the UK, Canada and the US - that ring in her home mobile phone. The app offers the facility to top up or re-charge (or load money) SIMs of over 100 countries.

The app is relevant for millions of NRIs visiting their hometowns as through Ajura App they can stay connected to their family and business even when on a holiday in Indian towns and villages at affordable cost.

Indians travelling abroad can call back home for as low as three cents or two rupees on a wifi network versus using frightfully expensive roaming.

A resident Indian who has a lot of global business contacts too will find the app useful. For instance, exporter of goods or services, a travel agent or a hotel with prospects or customers abroad, or anyone needing a global geographic identity, can get an ‘Ajura global number’, of any of the 54 countries, and share it with their contacts abroad. When they dial this number, it is a local call for the overseas customer facilitating better communication.

What differentiates Ajura from call services of other chat apps is that the phone calls received on the user’s home mobile number are automatically forwarded to the app, when the user is online – and the person calling need not have downloaded Ajura app.

“Roaming users of Ajura App can receive calls made to their regular mobile number on the Ajura app or on a visiting country SIM purchased in the destination country. Similarly, users can also make outbound calls to any country from the Ajura app at much cheaper rates than using mobile roaming or even a local SIM card,” said M Rezaul Hassan, Founder and Group CEO of Reve Group. 

Prior to launching the app, the company did a field survey among foreigners travelling to India , which showed that only 20 per cent of the overseas visitors kept their home country mobile switched on. Seventy per cent had bought a local SIM and most were using chat apps – albeit only at night at locations with wifi to communicate back home. 

“The latest offering from the Reve Group removes a major pain point for business and holiday travellers. As the financial burden of receiving and making a call on a business trip or holiday reduces dramatically, travellers will feel liberated,” explains Sanjit Chatterjee, CEO, Ajura. 

SanDisk Offers Upgraded All-Flash Storage Platform in InfiniFlash IF150 System

SanDisk Corporation, a global leader in flash storage solutions, has introduced an upgraded all-flash storage platform with the introduction of the InfiniFlash IF150 system, the latest addition to its InfiniFlash family, which is transforming data centers around the world. The new IF150 brings twice the performance via upgraded 12Gbps SAS connectivity, and the same massive capacity to big data and hyperscale workloads as the previous generation of InfiniFlash. This further broadens the potential uses for the next-generation storage platform around a variety of new workloads, including high-performance computing (HPC), big data analytics, media services and other high capacity, extreme performance-demanding applications. Today, SanDisk also introduced new offerings to enhance the experience for InfiniFlash customers.

“Since its launch, the game-changing performance and economic benefits of the InfiniFlash System have been recognized by customers—from data centers in research institutions doing big data analytics to web providers, hyperscalers and video streaming companies who manage data on a massive scale, and more,” said Ravi Swaminathan, vice president and general manager of systems and software solutions at SanDisk. “With our new IF150 system, we have pushed the performance even further, while at the same time delivering massive-scale storage at a price point that makes business sense.”

The IF150 system is uniquely suited for both the scale-out and scale-up environments required by today’s enterprise, cloud and hyperscale data centers. Delivering up to two million raw IOPS and consistently low latency, the IF150 system supports demanding workloads by addressing scalability and availability challenges. It works intelligently as an integrated hardware, software and open source system to deliver multiple business benefits to enterprise customers. It offers up to half a petabyte (512 terabytes) of flash storage in one 3-rack-unit (3U) system and can directly connect up to eight off-the-shelf-servers. Like all InfiniFlash systems, the new IF150 offers massive all-flash storage capacity at a $1 per GB price point for raw flash – compression and de-dupe capability in storage software (available from SanDisk InfiniFlash ecosystem partners) can further dramatically reduce the effective price per GB.

“While all-flash arrays continue to exhibit strong double digit growth, the cost of these solutions is undergoing an increasingly downward trend,” said Eric Burgener, research director at IDC. “As these flash alternatives reach price parity with HDD-based systems, we are starting to see more data center customers able to consider them for their storage requirements. The introduction of the InfiniFlash IF150 system brings higher performance at an effective dollar-per-gigabyte price point; in turn allowing a variety of new enterprise workloads to benefit from flash storage performance.” 

IF150 features and specifications include:

• Exceptional Performance: Features an enhanced 12Gbps SAS interface, which can deliver up to two million IOPS, providing new levels of speed and performance in read/write-intensive environments.¹
• Breakthrough Economics and Reduced Opex: Offers up to an 80 percent reduction in total cost of ownership (TCO) advantage over HDD-based systems. It is projected that all-flash arrays are 10x more reliable than HDD-based arrays, greatly reducing maintenance and FRU expenses.²
• Incredibly Low Power Consumption: The lowest power consumption – 450 watts average – of any high-capacity flash storage in the industry, significantly reducing data center operating expenses.³
• Downsized Data Center Footprint: IF150 delivers among the highest density – 512TB in 3U – in the industry, saving costly rack space in the data center, making efficient use of available power and floor space.

 In addition to the introduction of IF150, SanDisk is now further broadening its commitment to exceptional customer support for the InfiniFlash systems family with the addition of two new optional offerings:

• FlashStart– A SanDisk Professional Service for all InfiniFlash storage systems and SanDisk ION Accelerator customers that ensures that all hardware and software is optimally installed and configured to give all customers a competitive edge.

FlashAssure – A comprehensive customer support service including warranty coverage, selectable Service Level Agreement (SLA) options and onsite field technicians. 

Indian Cyber Security Delegation Heads to Netherlands & UK from April 11-15, 2016

The first ever NASSCOM-DSCI Cyber Security delegation is set to visit the Hague Security Delta and Malvern Cyber Security Cluster, in Netherlands and UK respectively between 11- 15 April 2016. The delegation will be led by Dr. Gulshan Rai, National Cyber Security Coordinator, Government of India, will comprise of 39 representatives from the Central and State Government, Industry (Security Startups, SMBs & Large IT Services and Consulting), User organizations and Academia.

Setting up of cyber security clusters in India is an important recommendation of NASSCOM-DSCI Cyber Security Task Force (CSTF), which was set up in 2015 on the Honourable Prime Minister’s exhortation, to give a fillip to the budding security entrepreneurship and to foster closer interaction between Govt., Industry and Academia on security industry development. The visit to two of the world’s most active, innovative cyber security clusters, will offer a plethora of opportunities for initiating long-lasting collaborations between the regions, help in understanding the cluster ecosystem and implementing it in Indian cities, exploring avant-garde research, technologies and solutions in cyber security, and most importantly, establishing the Indian brand in global cyber security ecosystem. Equal focus would also be given to developing research capabilities and exploring academic collaboration. More delegation visits to other relevant regions are planned in near future.

While talking about the delegation, Gulshan Rai, National Cyber Security Coordinator, Government of India, said, “Knowledge, intelligence and experience sharing are core to our approach on cyber security. As an increasingly important issue, dealing with cyber security for businesses and the state requires global collaboration. We are looking to strengthen the collaboration with other nations on this important subject, as we align ourselves to secure Digital India revolution.”

R Chandrashekhar, President, NASSCOM, said, “After Hon’ble PM Modi had asked NASSCOM to form a Task Force and chart out a Roadmap for building cyber security industry, we worked on learning the critical success factors for creating an ecosystem that would help achieve the vision of making India a cybersecurity hub. Lot of our member companies, especially startups, have developed niche capabilities in security space through products, integrated solutions and managed services. The exchange of ideas and knowledge facilitated by this delegation visit would add strength to our industry development and promotion charter.”

Rajendra Pawar, Chairman, NASSCOM-DSCI Cyber Security Task Force, said “Setting up multiple cyber security clusters is one of the prime recommendations to achieve CSTF vision. The success of The Hague Security Delta and Malvern Security Cluster garnered great interest from CSTF members, and it was imperative that we build a deeper engagement. Global learnings will help us chart out our roadmap in a better fashion. We intend to take more such delegations in near future”

Acknowledging the delegation’s engagement potential, Nandkumar Saravade, CEO, DSCI, said, “DSCI has been hosting international security delegations for long. It was about time that we led an Indian delegation. Learning from successful global models and countries is a matter of great opportunity in catalysing the growth of the cyber security product ecosystem, that fosters entrepreneurship in security domain. This initiative will pave the way for organisations in exploring and forging alliances, in studying the ecosystem for research and productization, learnings about the cutting edge technologies, and on top in developing synergies between stakeholders. We are overwhelmed with tremendous response to this initiative. We are thankful to both the countries for agreeing to host the Indian delegation” 

The Hague Security Delta (HSD) is the largest security cluster in Europe. In this Dutch cluster –with important regional hubs in The Hague, Twente, and Brabant– businesses, governments, and knowledge institutions work together on innovations and knowledge in the field of cyber security, national and urban security, protection of critical infrastructure, and forensics. The Malvern Cyber Security Cluster was founded in September 2011 and is run by Key IQ Ltd (Key IQ is a business and technology catalyst, helping businesses to grow and succeed. They run facilities, networks and events to foster creativity and promote entrepreneurship. 

Oracle to Set Up Indian Incubators for Nine Startup & Connect with Cloud Technology

To mentor budding entrepreneurs and help the emerging companies access best technology, IT major Oracle said on Thursday it will set up nine startup incubators across the country. ”Our goal is to make it extremely easy for people to access the Cloud and we want to make it accessible not just to big companies, but also to every person who has an idea for a business that can transform this country,” Oracle President Thomas Kurian said on Thursday.

Mentoring is a key part of the initiative and the incubator will facilitate the companies to learn from venture capital funds and also former chief executives of successful startups, he said at a company event in Mumbai. Even though the company works with the software ecosystem across the world, this is a global first of having dedicated incubators, Kurian added.

First of the ‘Oracle Startup Cloud Accelerator’ will be launched in Bengaluru – the “second best funded startup hub in the world outside of USA” – tomorrow, which will be followed up with similar centers across the country over the next 12 months, he said. However, he did not tell the exact amount to be invested for the initiative, but said Oracle has committed “several millions of dollars” for it. The company’s Vice President of Development, Sanket Atal, will be leading the initiative and the other centers have been planned at Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Thiruvanantapuram, and Vijaywada, a company statement said.

The announcement comes after the government launched a high-decibel campaign to promote startups in the country and steps to develop the ecosystem. The accelerator is open to early-stage technology and tech-enabled startups working on creating impactful products and services and the costs of using it will also be low, said Kurian.

Startups will have to apply to be a part of the accelerator and selected ones will undergo a six month accelerator program. The selected startups will be able to access Oracle’s technology, including application and software through the Cloud, and can also connect with its designers and engineers. Oracle, which already operates a venture fund, is not looking at the initiative from a venture investments point of view, he clarified.

Worldwide IT Spending to Decline 0.5 Percent in 2016: Predicts Gartner's Report

Worldwide IT spending is forecast to total $3.49 trillion in 2016, a decline of 0.5 percent over 2015 spending of $3.5 trillion, according to Gartner, Inc. This is down from last quarter's forecast of 0.5 percent growth. The change in the forecast is mainly due to currency fluctuations.

"There is an undercurrent of economic uncertainty that is driving organizations to tighten their belts, and IT spending is one of the casualties," said John-David Lovelock, research vice president at Gartner. "Concurrently, the need to invest in IT to support digital business is more urgent than ever. Business leaders know that they need to become digital businesses or face irrelevance in a digital world. To make that happen, leaders are engaging in tough cost optimization efforts in some areas to fund digital business in others."

 "As an example, the savings from legacy system optimization and enhancementsare being redirected to fund digital initiatives. It's about doing more with the same funds," said Mr. Lovelock. "Typically, less than 10 percent of organizations are in cost optimization or cost cutting mode. However, the need to spend on digital business initiatives in a time when revenue growth does not support runaway IT budgets is forcing more organizations to optimize as a first step. Business processes, as well as IT, are undergoing optimization — digital business requires both. However, many CIOs are reluctant to raise this possibility, given the cultural and political barriers to optimizing business costs."

The most evident results of these optimization efforts are in the switches in spending between assets and services. "Most traditional IT now has a 'digital service twin' — license software has cloud software, servers have Infrastructure as a Service, and cellular voice has VoLTE," Mr. Lovelock said. "Things that once had to be purchased as an asset can now be delivered as a service. Most digital service twin offerings change the spending pattern from a large upfront payment to a smaller reoccurring monthly amount. This means that the same level of activity has a very different annual spend."

The Gartner Worldwide IT Spending Forecast is the leading indicator of major technology trends across the hardware, software, IT services and telecom markets. For more than a decade, global IT and business executives have been using these highly anticipated quarterly reports to recognize market opportunities and challenges, and base their critical business decisions on proven methodologies rather than guesswork.

The device market (PCs, ultramobiles, mobile phones, tablets and printers) is forecast to decline 3.7 percent in 2016. The smartphone market is approaching global saturation, slowing growth. The PC and ultramobile markets are expected to decline. The underlying reasons are a combination of factors and are geography-specific, and the worsening economic conditions in many countries only serve to amplify the impact of these factors.

Data center systems' spending is projected to reach $175 billion in 2016, a 2.1 percent increase from 2015. This top-level relative stability masks some changes within the segments; enterprise network equipment had a stronger-than-anticipated 2015 as a result of network upgrades, and this is expected to carry on into 2016. The external-controller-based storage segment continues to suffer from ongoing challenges. In the server segment, demand from hyperscale buyers is expected to reduce in 2016, particularly in regions that are suffering from economic challenges, such as Eurasia. The mainframe refresh, which benefited the market in 2015, is expected to abate in 2016, also inhibiting the overall growth figures.

Global enterprise software spending is on pace to total $321 billion, a 4.2 percent increase from 2015. The operating system forecast has been downgraded, reflecting Gartner's expectation for further delays in the adoption of Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016. However, it is the key emerging markets, particularly Latin America, which face escalating political and economic challenges that are responsible for the slow growth. Organizations in those regions must balance cost cutting with growth opportunities during times of economic concern.

Spending in the IT services market is expected to return to growth in 2016, totaling $929 billion, up 2.1 percent from 2015. A stronger outlook for Japan and India is nearly balanced by a weaker outlook in Brazil, China and South Korea, based on challenging economic and political conditions in Brazil; and government actions and weakening economic conditions in China and South Korea.

Telecom service spending is projected to decline 2.0 percent in 2016, with spending reaching $1.4 trillion. Continuing economic downturns in major markets such as Russia and Brazil are dampening spending in both fixed and mobile voice, and a slight slowdown in China's growth is affecting consumer confidence and eroding spend in fixed voice services. In enterprise services, conditions in these same three major markets are leading to consolidation among businesses (reducing connections and spend), however, mobile data spending is a bright spot with accelerating growth driven by improved pricing on bandwidth, mobile app and 4G/LTE network availability.

Predictions of Normal Monsoon Sparks Hopes to Agri Sector; Mahindra Unveils Yuvo to Revive Tractor Sales in India

By Manu Sharma
The tractor industry is set for a revival after a long de-growth in the agriculture sector across India. After two successive years of inadequate rainfall in most parts of the country, reports indicate that the south west monsoon will be normal or even above normal in 2016. With this good omen, Mahindra has unveiled Yovo, five agri specialists’ tractor in the range of 30-45 HP range hoping to revive sales in the market.

Mahindra and Mahindra’s Farm Equipment Sector (FES), the market leader in the tractor sector with about 41 percent market share are hoping for a revival of tractor sales and gain a bigger market share with a normal monsoon this year.

Speaking to this media, Ravindra Shahane, Head Marketing, Tractor and Farm Mechanization says, “It’s true that the tractor market has witnessed de-growth over the last two years but never before has the monsoon failed for three successive years. So we expecting a normal monsoon this year that will help the agri-sector back on its feet.”

Weather scientists say that they have spotted signs of a normal rainfall during the June-September monsoon season, if not a good, rainy season this year, sparkling hopes among farmers and others allied sectors.

“We have our fingers crossed and with a revival of good monsoon, it will help the entire agriculture sector. If this happens, then we can expect an 8-10 percent jump in the market,” remarks Shahane.

The present market size in 2016 is forecasted at 4,93,000 units while in 2011 it was 6.30,000 units. “This shows the potential this sector offers to the country’s growth. The de-growth over the last two years has led to a loss of about Rs 25,000 crore to the industry and a loss of tractor sales amounting to 10 to 20 percent during this period,” adds Shahane.

In fact, between 2003-04 and 2013-14, domestic tractor sales more than trebled from 1.9 lakh to over 6.3 lakh units, after averaging about 2 lakh units annually through the 1990’s and early part of the last decade.

Mahindra Unveils Yuvo Tractor in the 30-45 HP Category

Mahindra has raised the bar in farm technology with the launch of the Mahindra YUVO, a new age, superior technology, range of tractors in the 30-45 HP category which will be added to the company’s existing range of highly successful 15 – 57 HP tractors.

The YUVO range comes in five models – 265 DI (32HP), 275 DI (35HP), 415 DI (40HP), 475 DI (42HP) and 575 DI (45HP) respectively. It will be available in 15 states and will be priced starting at Rs 5.00 lakh for 265 DI (32 HP) ESR Bangalore.

The advanced technology of the YUVO range helps serve the diverse needs of farmers - from land preparation to harvesting as well as post-harvesting requirements, helps them do more, faster and better.

Built on a completely new platform with a unique and Industry first 12F+3R Full constant-mesh gearbox in the category, Mahindra YUVO is extremely versatile and can be used across more than 30 different farming applications.

“The Yuvo will cater to the evolving needs of the progressive farmer”, said Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd Executive Director, Pawan Goenka. “The YUVO range of tractors is developed at our state of the art research facility, Mahindra Research Valley at Chennai and has set a new benchmark in pioneering new technology and providing huge value to customers’. YUVO demonstrates the commitment of Mahindra to enable farmers to improve their yield and productivity and Rise in life. We are delighted to launch the YUVO, a definitive technology leader." 

Mahindra YUVO offers many new technology features to Indian farmers looking for tractors in 30 – 45 HP range. It is designed to deliver superior performance in farming operations in any soil condition and offers versatility to carry out over 30 applications, thus making it ideal for using in any part of India.

YUVO will be available across 15 states which are Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telengana, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, and Orissa.

ZEVEN Jerseys for RCB T20 Players - Virat Kohli, Chris Gayle, AB DeVilliers & Shane Watson

ZEVEN, the new sporting brand in India, announced its association with Royal Challengers Bangalore as the team’s Official Kit Partner for IPL Season 9. The Kit, with an exclusive Black and Red bold Team Jersey,was launched today in the presence of RCB’s marquee players Virat Kohli, Chris Gayle, AB DeVilliers and Shane Watson, and the entire RCB team.   

Created with the #LiveToPlay Motto, the ZEVENRCB Kitdraws its inspiration from the passion for the sport and the immense love and support RCB fans have for the game. RCB also becomes the first IPL team to adopt separate kits for ‘Home and Away’. The Home and Away Jerseys alternate between a striking combination of red and black,with ‘temperature management Atmocool finish’ fabric specially designed by ZEVEN. While the fabric will help keep the players cool and comfortable, the style and fits have been designed for cricketing excellenceand is sure to stand out through the tournament!

Zeven is helping RCB fans join the IPL fever by offering an exclusive range of fan merchandise ranging from caps, replica team jerseys and running and gym shoes, for both men and women. The entire range has been designed keeping in mind style, comfort, trend and affordability and will be retailed across all big lifestyle stores and the top five e-commerce stores. The range is priced from Rs 595 to Rs 3299.

Commenting on the association, Mahesh Bhupathi, Co - Founder Zeven, said, “Zeven is privileged and thrilled to partner with a team as exciting as RCB. We are sure that the technology developed by ZEVEN for Indian weather conditions will help RCB players fight the battle on the field, while the designs will capture the hearts of the RCB fans”.