Two New Versions of Mobile Kingston Wireless Now in India

Kingston has announced two additions to its Wireless family with MobileLite Wireless G3 and MobileLite Wireless Pro. MobileLite Wireless G3 provides mobile device users an extra boost when on the go. With its large 5400 mAh battery fully charged, MLWG3 can charge smartphones up to two times. Charging devices is also faster with 2A output charging maximum.

Similar to previous generations, MLWG3 has a USB port and SD card slot allowing users to access files on a USB Flash drive or SD card on their smartphone or tablet wirelessly. Through the MobileLite app, users can easily transfer, backup or share photos, videos and other content without having to use a PC. This also allows users to free up precious space on mobile devices without deleting or using Cloud based backups. Both devices are Dual Band Wi-Fi capable (802.11 ac) for fast data transfer.

MobileLite Wireless Pro has all of the same features as MLWG3 but also offers 64GB of memory built-in to go along with its even larger 6700 mAh battery. In addition to charging mobile devices and wirelessly streaming data, users now have convenient access to extra onboard storage.

“MobileLite Wireless G3 and Pro are great for iOS and Android mobile device users on the go,” said Nathan Su, Flash Memory Sales Director, APAC Region, Kingston. “We’ve increased the battery capacity for charging and introduced a new Pro version with on-board memory for even more convenient access to extra storage. Users no longer have to worry about having enough battery life or storage on their smartphones and tablets.”

MobileLite Wireless G3, with an MRP of Rs. 4,999, and MobileLite Wireless Pro, with an MRP of Rs. 8,999, is now available in leading online and retail stores. Both these devices are backed by a two-year warranty and legendary Kingston reliability. 

Two Smart Phones from Galaxy J Series with TST Hit the Indian Market

World's leading smartphone-maker Samsung has unveiled two mobile phones Galaxy J2 (2016) and Galaxy J Max in Bengaluru on Friday aimed at the mass market. Infact, the Samsung developed TS technology has been implemented for the first time in the J2 series.

Samsung, which enjoys 51% market share in Karnataka, on Friday launched two new additions to its Galaxy J series of smartphones - J2 2016 and J Max.

Launching the two phones, Samsung India Vice President (Mobile Business) Manu Sharma said that the industry-first Turbo Speed Technology (TST) in J2 2016, is home-grown in its Research labs in India, and is first being introduced in the Indian market. Galaxy J2 2016 is a follow-up version of the Galaxy J2 launched in 2015.

"This new smartphone has been reengineered, redesigned and reloaded with various features including Smart Glow, a next-gen colour LED notification system for users," he said, adding that there is almost 40% faster download of apps in this new phone. Another addition - Galaxy J Max - offers a seven-inch WXGA display, along with 4G VoLTE connectivity for fast downloads and streaming. It contains a 4,000 mAh battery.

Both these phones feature S bike mode, a dedicated bike mode's urgent call alert system that notifies callers through an automated answering machine and Ultra Dating Saving mode.

While the Galaxy J2 2016 will be available from July 10 onwards at Rs 9,750; Galaxy J Max, priced at Rs 13,400, will be available from the end of this month across both online and offline retail channels.

Talking about 4G, Sharma said that consumers prefer and enquire about 4G phones. Almost 60% of all segments of smartphones were 4G-enabled," he said and Samsung enjoys 48.3% market share in the country.

What is Turbo Speed Technology?

An industry first, Turbo Speed Technology (TST) enhances the performance of the smartphone by using the least amount of resources to complete a particular task in the fastest time. It loads apps up to 40% faster than devices with double the RAM. 

The Samsung technology was developed in India by engineers based out of Bengaluru and Noida research centres and have made a quantum leap in optimizing the operating system and hardware to provide consistent best-in-class performance out of the box and over time.

TST. Is feature proactively shuts down idle processes running in the background. It de-clutters RAM using its intelligent memory system to ensure resources like RAM and processor are free and ready to take on new tasks, said a company official.

L&T Infotech to Enter Primary Markets on July 11 to July 13, 2016; Ten Percent Discount for Retail Investors

Larson and Turbo Infotech, which is the sixth largest Indian IT services company, will hit the primary market on July 11, 2016 and will close on July 13, 2016. A discount of 10 percent per share will be offered to retail individual bidders on the offer price. Sources indicate that this is the first major IT player to roll out its IPO in the last 10 years. 

The Initial Public Offer (IPO) will offer of up to 17,500,000 equity shares of face value of Re 1 each for cash at a price-band from Rs 705 to Rs 710 per equity share.

"LnT Infotech will not enjoy the proceeds of the issue as this will be an offer for sale, and the sale amount will go to LnT," said top company officials.

The lead bankers for the IPO are Citigroup Global Markets India, Kotak Mahindra Capital Ltd and ICICI Securities Limited. 

S N Subrahmanyan, President and Deputy Managing Director, LnT, said the company is working with 248 clients including 49 Fortune 500 clients. Close to 47% of its revenues comes from the BFSI (Banking, Financial Services and Insurance) sector.

Sanjay Jalona, CEO and MD of LnT Infotech, said they do not see any impact of Brexit. "It could be an opportunity for IT companies. Around 17% of our revenues come from Europe," he said.

Ashok Sonthalia, CFO of LnT Infotech, said the employee headcount increased from 17,627 in FY14, to 20,072 in FY16, and that its PAT CAGR is 18.2% (2014-16). The executives pointed out the huge market opportunity ahead for the company.  

Hyundai Motors to Launch Top-End Tucson & Genesis Vehicles in India

By Manu Sharma

Lately, India has been seeing a steady growth in the sports utility vehicles (SUVs) across the country. Hyundai Motors India Ltd, a leading global South Korean car maker post the launch of the 1^st Anniversary Edition of the Creta in Bengaluru on Thursday said that company will be launching Tucson in October or November 2016 followed by the Iconic Genesis later on. 

During the first six months of the calendar year, Hyundai’s mid-segment and executive segment growth fell by 25-35% across the industry, while the SUV market picked up.

Currently in its third generation, the Tucson has been undergoing testing on the Indian roads and the SUV will be positioned between Creta and the Santa Fe SUVs in Hyundai's portfolio. 

Addressing the media, Y.K. Koo, Managing Director and CEO, Hyundai Motors India says, “We are very bullish of the SUVs segment in the country and to bridge the gap between Creta and the Santa Fe shall be launching Tucson during October/November 2016. Currently the prototype of Tucson is being tested on various factors including the load and weather conditions in India.”

As Creta is contributing significantly to our business, it's time to shift some of our focus from the mid and executive segments to the SUV segment," adds Koo.

Infact, over the last one year, Hyundai's compact SUV sensation Creta created a sensation in the Indian car market. The Tucson SUV will also manufactured out of the company's unit in Chennai giving a boost to PM Modi's 'Make in India' initiative. 

The new Tucson will have Hyundai’s large, new hexagonal grille up front, elongated headlamps that stretch all the way from the grille to the fenders, and heavily stylised fog lamp enclosures that contain two individual lighting elements.

The SUV in India is expected to be powered by a 2.0-litre diesel engine producing 180bhp and 400Nm of torque mated to six-speed manual transmission. The AWD version of Tucson is also expected to be introduced in the Indian market.

Reports indicate that the first generation of the Tucson was sold in India during 2005-2010, but it was discontinued due to poor sales. The new Tucson is likely to be priced between Rs. 15 lakh and Rs. 20 lakh.

HMIL Propose to launch Genesis In India Hyundai Motor India Ltd. (HMIL) CEO, Young Key Koo announced that the luxury Genesis brand will be launched in the country over the next few years provided HMIL succeeds in the mid- and premium-segments by then. The South Korean car-maker is set to compete with the likes of the Mercedes-Benz E-Class, BMW 5 Series, Audi A6 and the Jaguar XF.  Internationally, the Genesis is available with two engines. A 3.8-litre V6 that makes 311bhp and a more powerful 5.0-litre V8 that produces a hefty 420bhp. Both engines are mated to an eight-speed automatic gearbox that sends power to the rear wheels. However, the 3.8-litre variant also comes with an optional all-wheel-drive system.

Saina Nehwal Honoured with Hyundai’s Creta for her Contribution to Indian Sports

At the 1^st anniversary edition of the Hyundai Creta launch in India,  Hyundai Motors India Limited (HMIL) has presented Saina Nehwal, the ace Indian Badminton star, this special edition of the compact SUV comes in celebration of her ‘Unparallel Contribution to Indian Sports in India.

Saina Nehwal is amongst the most decorated athlete in the country having won Arjuna Award, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan in 2016 besides winning a Bronze in the last Olympics in London.

Speaking on the occasion, Y.K. Koo, CEO and MD, HMIL said, “Saina is badminton icon of India. Her Consistent performance has elevated this sport’s enthusiasm to a great level of admiration among badminton lovers globally. Creta the perfect SUV and the Indian Car of the Year 2016, is an icon in SUV segment.”

On the occasion, Saina Nehwal said, “It’s a wonderful experience to celebrate my victories like this and would like to thank Hyundai for honoring me with 1^st Anniversary Edition of Creta. Its motivation for all athlete to receive the recognition for their hard work and achievements.”  

Creta anniversary edition features special design like the decals on the outside and also gets red wing mirrors and contrasting black roof on the outside. On the inside, the SUV is given new updates which features interesting and stylish leather upholstery, floor mats, door sills and aluminum pedals and leather steering inside the car. The vehicle is going to be priced with an additional cost of Rs 35,000 to Rs 40,000 over the earlier model.

India’s First IOT Focused Centre of Excellence Comes Up In Bengaluru

National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) has launched India’s first Centre of Excellence - Internet of Things (CoE- IoT) at the NASSCOM Startups Warehouse in Bengaluru. The centre was inaugurated by Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Minister for Law, Government of India, in the presence of Priyank Kharge, Minister for Information and Broadcast Technology, Govt. of Karnataka, along with V Manjula, IAS, Principal Secretary, Department of Information Technology, Biotechnology, e-Governance and Science and Technology, Govt. of Karnataka,  Ajay Kumar, IAS, Additional Secretary, Department of Electronics and Information Technology, (DeitY), Dr Neena Pahuja, Director General, Education and Research Network, (ERNET),  R Chandrashekhar,President, NASSCOM,  KS Vishwanathan, Vice President Industry Initiatives, NASSCOM. The CoE will focus on leveraging IT strengths and creating a new age industry with the support of IoT based ideas.

V Manjula, IAS, Principal Secretary, Department of Information Technology, Biotechnology, e-Governance and Science & Technology, Govt. of Karnataka said, “We recognise the scope for growth and development in the IoT space and are very pleased on partnering with NASSCOM and the private sector to launch the CoE in Karnataka. We have always strived to create a conducive ecosystem for IT companies in the state, with this initiative we hope to give start-ups an opportunity to innovate in the field of IoT and take the IT sector into newer and greater heights.”

The CoE is a joint initiative between the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DEITY), Education and Research Network (ERNET) and NASSCOM. The CoE is also supported by Accenture, CISCO, Cyient, EMC, Intel, HCL Technologies, Qualcomm, Tata Consultancy Services, LnT Technology Services, Robert Bosch and VM Ware as Strategic partners.  Amazon Web Services, Digital Ocean, IBM, Microsoft have signed up as Infrastructure partner to the initiative.

Ajay Kumar, IAS, Additional Secretary, Department of Electronics and Information Technology, (DeitY), said, “IoT is one of the high growth potential areas in the IT sector. With the growing number of IoT based SMEs/Startups in the Indian market, it becomes imperative to create an enabling ecosystem to help evolve this space, empowering companies to build technologies that provide global solutions.”

Neena Pahuja, Director General, Education and Research Network, (ERNET) said, “paradigm shift from IT to IOT, together with smooth shift of data & utilities using different electronic hardware structured with analytics, is going to enable a smart integrated & networked world. Starting from streamlining Airlines operations, Smart Cities to Disaster Management, IoT can play a major role in this connected world. With the growing number of IoT based SMEs/Startups in the Indian market, it becomes imperative to create an enabling ecosystem to help evolve this space, empowering companies to build technologies that provide Indian and Global solutions. We are happy to partner with NASSCOM, which is bringing-in Industry to help democratize innovation, by creating Centre of Excellence (COE) for start-ups in PPP mode.”

The CoE laboratory along with the NASSCOM 10,000 Startups Warehouse has the capacity to incubate up to 40 start ups and can accommodate around 10 emerging companies per shift for prototype/ design and usage of lab facilities. The CoE also provides a separate space for validation, verification and demonstration as well as concept labs for developing IoT solutions for application areas like Agriculture, Automobile, Telecom, Healthcare and Consumer IoT.

Expressing his thoughts on the launch of the CoE, R Chandrashekhar, President, NASSCOM, stated,“NASSCOM is pleased on launching the IoT Centre of Excellence, which takes forward our efforts towards establishing India as a global tech hub. This Centre of Excellence has been created to act as a catalyst for developing the IoT SME/Startup ecosystem of the country as well as an accelerator of IoT capabilities providing the concept and scale for industrial and societal needs. The CoE will also function as an enabler of Funding, Accelerating, Mentoring and Enterprise for the key emerging IoT startups who have been selected for incubation, after a rigorous process.”

The digital revolution accelerated by intelligent devices along with a booming startup environment has presented the need for a Centre of Excellence with a complete focus on the Internet of Things. With a presence of over 120 IoT focused IT companies and an expected market opportunity of USD 15 billion by 2020, India is set to gain a prominent position in the global IoT market. An increase in the adoption of IoT based technology in areas of home, retail and industrial automation, health & fitness monitoring and connected vehicles as well as the advent and growth of Smartcities, has resulted in a greater need of better solutions that lead to the evolution of a lifestyle dominated by technology. NASSCOM is focusing on systemically expanding the technology ecosystem and the IoT CoE will play the role of collaboratively addressing challenges such as the lack of understanding that leads to low adoption levels and security issues faced by the industry.

Multiple IoT based firms will be selected from over 250 entries to be incubated at the CoE, through a roadshow held across Coimbatore, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Mumbai. The first five companies out of the total entries are Wireless Controls, Uncanny Vision, LightMetrics, ThingsCloud and SAAR Microsystems.

World’s First mmWave Software Defined Radio to Help Speed 5G Research

NI, the provider of solutions that enable engineers and scientists to solve the world’s greatest engineering challenges, announcedtoday the world’s first software defined radio (SDR) for the millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum. The new NI mmWave Transceiver System is a full transceiver that can transmit and/or receive wide-bandwidth signals at an unprecedented 2 GHz real-time bandwidth, covering the spectrum in the E-band, 71-76 GHz. Engineers and scientists have used SDRs ubiquitously in the spectrum below 6 GHz for years. However, with companies investing in mmWave as a potential core technology for 5G, researchers now have a full-featured SDR platform to drive initiatives based on this technology.

The mmWave transceiver system includes new PXI Express modules that collectively function as an mmWave access point for a user device. Because of the unprecedented flexibility, users can develop mmWave communication prototyping systems or perform channel measurements –necessary exercises for wireless researchers to understand the characteristics of a new spectrum – using the same system.

The mmWave baseband software delivers a complete mmWave physical layer including channel coding in LabVIEW virtual instrument (VI) source code to expedite system development while alleviating many of the system integration tasks. Researchers can also use the mmWave transceiver system baseband with the E-band mmWave heads or other third-party RF front ends to offer maximum flexibility for exploring other mmWave and microwave frequency bands.

As a key participant in NI’s RF/Communications Lead User program, Nokia has been working with early versions of the mmWave transceiver system in its 5G research initiatives for over a year.

“NI’s mmWave transceiver system has been a key research platform for our mmWave research,” said Tod Sizer, head of mobile radio research for Nokia Bell Labs. “The platform delivers the right combination of hardware and software necessary to expedite our research and has given us confidence that mmWave will indeed be a critical technology for 5G. At this year’s Brooklyn 5G Summit, we are demonstrating a high data rate mmWave system using phased array @ 60 GHz using NI’s platform, thus making 5G a commercial reality.”

“There’s no doubt that 5G will include frequencies above 6 GHz,” said Charles Schroeder, vice president of RF and wireless communications product marketing at NI. “The mmWave transceiver system is an essential platform for understanding the propagation models of higher frequency signals and for building real-world prototypes of these new generation 5G systems.”