Baidu Selects Qlik Sense to Drive Faster Data Collection and Analysis

Qlik, a leader in visual analytics has announced that Baidu, the world's largest Chinese search engine is using Qlik Sense to improve its cloud services platform and provide an enhanced data analytics experience to its customers. Qlik Sense will be integrated into Baidu Palo to enable self-serving visualization analytics on the Palo OLAP engine, giving Chinese enterprises the ability to achieve greater agility in aggregating data from various sources to make data driven business intelligence decisions.

By incorporating Qlik into the Palo OLAP engine, start-ups in China, especially those enterprises on Baidu Cloud now have greater support in driving data analytics among cloud or filed sources.  This enables all individuals within the organization to obtain insights in near real-time from intuitive, easy-to-use personal visual analytics dashboards and applications. In addition, Qlik Sense allows users to quickly visualize and explore data in depth, reveal associations, and derive insights to drive better business decisions.

“We are very excited to implement Qlik Sense into Palo OLAP to provide users in China with innovative self-service visual analytics,” said Yang Liu, General Manager, Baidu Open Cloud. “Qlik Sense has an open API and powerful features, and is suitable for enterprise level applications. The close cooperation and technical integration of the two companies has led to more powerful and flexible business intelligence solutions, which will greatly enhance the user experience.”

At Qonnections 2016 held in May, Qlik announced Qlik Sense Enterprise 3.0. Built on a fully integrated, simple, and intuitive visual analytics platform and powered by the patented QIX Associative Indexing Engine, Qlik Sense Enterprise 3.0 combines enterprise readiness and governance with best-in-class visualization and data preparation capabilities which shows the continuous innovation spirit of Qlik. This breadth and depth allows organizations to meet the broadest range of BI use cases from a single platform.

“With the popularity of big data, cloud computing in BI, social networks, and mobile applications in China these past few years, integrating a powerful visual analytics solution into China’s largest search engine company will only lead to greater value for businesses,” said Toni Adams, senior vice president Partners and Alliances, Qlik. “Businesses of all sizes using Baidu’s Palo OLAP will now have the ability to take their analysis to a deeper level, leading to a better understanding of their business, as well as their customers.”

Roadshow to Scout for India’s Most Energy Efficient Buildings in 7 Cities

Danfoss India, a Danish company that engineers technologies for a better tomorrow has launched a roadshow to create awareness about the need for urban efficiency and sensitise industries to adopt energy efficient practices. The roadshows are planned across 7 cities in a bid to identify and recognise the country’s most efficient commercial building and educate architects, consultants and engineers on the need for energy efficient interventions in commercial buildings. 

The roadshow is also aimed at increasing participation for Hall of Fame 2017 which is a joint initiative with Indian Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ISHRAE). Hall of Fame is conceptualized to set a new benchmark to recognize excellence achieved in conserving energy by commercial buildings in the country. The coveted recognition aims to encourage energy efficiency among stakeholders and to showcase success stories in the HVAC space which have the potential to be replicated across India.

Previously, Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) project received the honour of being the first organisation to be inducted into the Hall of Fame at ACREX 2016, one of India’s largest industry exhibitions.

Based on selection criteria that include Energy Performance Index, Indoor Environment Quality initiatives, Energy Saving Initiatives including Renewable Energy, Building Management System and one-year operational data, the inductee/s will be announced in February at ACREX, New Delhi.

According to reports, increasing dependence on air conditioning upsets the energy balance in Delhi. The highest consumption of electricity during the hottest months can be attributed to air conditioning, which accounts for about 28 per cent of the total monthly electricity consumption in the city. According to an estimate by Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), ACs contribute almost 60 per cent of Delhi’s peak electricity demand.

“The technology needed to reduce CO2 emissions, generate savings and leverage the multiple benefits of urban efficiency already exists, but lack of awareness on these solutions in hampering implementation. We believe by using relevant technologies, cities can reduce energy consumption and accelerate low-carbon development. The aim of roadshows for Hall of Fame is to spread awareness about adoption of these technologies in different industries,” said Ravichandran Purushothaman, President, Danfoss India. “ACREX Hall of Fame recognizes cutting edge energy efficient interventions that organizations have adopted to meet their objectives, setting an example for others to replicate the same sustainable solutions,” he added.

“Selecting a benchmark HVAC project will encourage more project proponents, designers, architects and other stakeholders to come forth and utilise efficient technology in buildings. Hall of Fame will identify these technologies, practices and innovation which will lay the foundation for future design of buildings,” said Ashish Rakheja, Chairman, ACREX 2017.

Genpact & EdelGive Partner for Social Impact Fellowship

Genpact, a global leader in digitally-powered business process management and services, today announced the launch of the Genpact Social Impact Fellowship (GSIF) in partnership with EdelGive Foundation, the philanthropic division of Edelweiss Group. Designed as a one-year program to work on high-impact projects in India, Genpact has hand-picked seven fellows who will bring all their expertise in process excellence to work with NGOs for generating social impact.

“GSIF is a game-changing initiative. Our objective is to build lasting social organizations that can scale in the communities we are part of globally. Creating sustainable social impact has always been our focus. We bring our areas of strength and our capabilities to these social organizations that have a great vision, mission and passion, and when leveraged with our process expertise and execution experience sets them up to scale up,” said NV ‘Tiger’ Tyagarajan, President and CEO, Genpact.

Working in the area of education with NGOs like Teach for India, Kaivalya Education Foundation and Udayan Care will be seven fellows, including a senior resource with advanced quality certification to improve process capability and help design smarter solutions. They will be deployed on projects ranging from improving instructional hours in government schools to creating blueprints for scaling up a scholarship and mentoring program for meritorious but underprivileged girls.

With mentorship from top leaders all through the journey, fellows will work on the ground to solve for the respective NGOs’ challenges and increase the efficiency and effectiveness of their projects. “The ability to make a meaningful impact on the not-for-profit sector without a dent on your corporate career is what is truly special about GSIF. We have many examples at Genpact of process expertise making immense impact on companies. We’re committed to the idea of using our core competencies as an organization to make a real difference to the social sector,” said Sasha Sanyal, SVP – Strategy and Lean Digital Transformation, Genpact.

 Having received over a hundred applications from talented and passionate people belonging to various organizations, the pilot batch was put together as a collaborative exercise between Genpact and EdelGive Foundation. “Traditionally, organizations in the social sector have had to face challenges not only around funding, but also around scaling up and organization development. The Genpact Social Impact Fellowship was conceptualized to provide such much needed support by combining the philanthropic expertise of EdelGive with Genpact’s Lean Six Sigma proficiency,”said Naghma Mulla, COO, EdelGive Foundation.

 The open fellowship program invites applications from interested people from all backgrounds with a demonstrated passion for social impact. Genpact aims to develop GSIF into a successful, scalable program that can serve as a model for many other organizations wanting to make a lasting difference in the social sector.

Sriram Rajamani New MD of Microsoft’s India Research Lab

Microsoft has announced the appointment of Sriram Rajamani as the new managing director of its India lab, effective August 1, 2016. Based in Bangalore, Sriram will spearhead Microsoft India’s continued focus on world-class research, innovation and collaboration with the scientific community.  He replaces Chandu Thekkath, who previously was managing director of the lab for 02 years.

"Sriram is a renowned computer scientist with a proven research and managerial track record spanning the last 17 years in Microsoft’s research organization,” said Jeannette Wing, Corporate Vice-President, Microsoft Research Labs.  “India has one of the fastest growing and most dynamic IT industries, and it’s also a unique place in which to do cutting-edge research.  We’re excited that someone with Sriram’s experience and leadership capabilities can help advance state of the art in computer science, and develop new technologies for emerging markets” she further added.

Sriram Rajamani is a distinguished researcher, whose career has spanned various areas in computer science, ranging from hardware and software verification, and programming language design, to distributed systems, security and privacy, cloud security and probabilistic programming.

He is the co-winner of the CAV (Computer Aided Verification) 2011 award for his research in bringing formal verification of computer programs to industrial practice. The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) named him as an ACM Fellow in 2016 for his contributions to software analysis and defect detection. Previously, Sriram was the assistant managing director of Microsoft’s India research lab, which he joined in 2006.

Prior to joining the India lab, he headed the Software Productivity Tools group within Microsoft’s Redmond research lab.  He holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of California at Berkeley, a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Virginia, and a bachelor of engineering degree in computer science from Anna University College of Engineering, Guindy, in Chennai.

On assuming his new role, Sriram Rajamani said, “It is an honor to lead Microsoft’s India research lab, with its abundance of top-notch talent. I look forward to leading and expanding Microsoft’s   commitment to world-class research and innovation in India, and deepening our partnerships with our academic partners.”

Russell Skingsley New CTO of Hitachi Data Centre Asia Pacific

Hitachi Data Systems (HDS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. Has announced the appointment of Russell Skingsley as its chief technology officer, solutions and products group leader and head of presales for Asia Pacific. Based in Singapore, he will be responsible for the technical direction of HDS APAC and for leading a team of solution-focused business consultants and technical experts to help customers realize business transformation.

Working with country presales leadership teams, Skingsley will also lead the collaboration and enablement of HDS teams to enhance expertise across a range of domains in the region. He will continue to build alignment across the HDS specialist community and drive its digital transformation strategy in APAC.

Skingsley has over 25 years of work experience in the IT industry and has helped a wide range of customer groups including government departments, financial institutions, major universities and telecommunications providers around the globe.

“This appointment highlights our commitment and focus on ensuring our customers realize the full benefits of digital transformation,” said Mark Ablett, senior vice president and general manager, Asia Pacific at Hitachi Data Systems Asia Pacific. “With Russell’s extensive background in the IT industry, he will steer our teams toward greater success, offering the advanced expertise and market awareness that our customers need.”

“With the Asia Pacific market continuing to grow and offer huge opportunities for companies to capitalize on digital transformation, vendors that can offer valuable insights and innovative solutions will stand out as leaders. I am delighted to join the Hitachi Data Systems team and to support our teams and customers in delivering valuable enterprise transformation,” said Skingsley. 

Prior to joining HDS, he was vice president of systems engineering for APAC at Juniper Networks where he was responsible for driving, developing and promoting technologies and architectures across the telecommunications and enterprise markets. Skingsley has also led teams in APAC that were responsible for providing innovative solutions in cloud computing and data centre business, and was previously chief technology officer of a major telecommunications provider in Vietnam.

DST, Intel India & SINE-IIT Bombay Collaborate to Incubate Hardware and Systems Startups

Reinforcing their commitment to fostering innovation and entrepreneurship as a step towards making Digital India successful, Department of Science &Technology (DST), Government of India, Intel Technology India Pvt. Ltd (“Intel India”), and Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE), IIT Bombay have collaborated to launchtheCollaborative Incubation Program for Hardware and Systems Startups (“Program”).

This is a uniqueprogram wherein the industry, academia and Government have come together to support hardware and systems-based start-ups in the country through mentoring, training, lab facilities, hardware kits, prototyping, business services,  funding, etc.,

The announcement was madeon Saturday in the presence of Prof. Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, Ramesh Abhishek, Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Government of India, Nivruti Rai, General Manager, Intel India,Vice President, Platform Engineering Group, Intel, Professor DevangKhakhar, Director of IIT, Bombay.

Collaborative Incubation Program for Hardware and Systems Startups

·         The Program will address gaps in the hardware and systemsstart-up ecosystem that companies face inproduct design, development, commercialization, and creating scale for their solutions.

·         DST, Intel India and SINE aim to support up to 20 start-ups under this Program, and the call for applications for the first batch will be announced in early August 2016.

·  During theyear-long Program, start-ups will be supported for six months on-site at SINE, IIT, Bombay or Intel India, Bengaluru. After a period of six months, the start-ups’solutions will beshowcased to investors and industry players at a demo day, post which, theProgram will extend virtual support for another six months.

·  Participating start-ups will be incubated through intensive training periods, one-on-one mentoring, technology related support from Intel experts, business service support from SINE, as well as prototyping and manufacturing support.

·  Intel India will:

o    Build capacities through mentors, and provide technology related support for productization, and

o Facilitate ideation, design thinking, prototyping workshops and manufacturing support through industry experts.

75F Sets Up R&D Centre In India; Targets Rs 100 Crore in FY2018-19

By Manu Sharma

US based building automation service provider, 75F has now launched its business operations in India. The company has set up its Research and Development Centre in Bangalore and presently has a team of over 25 engineers to manage its hardware lab, software and industrial design centres.

Deepinder Singh and Pankaj Chawla, the founders of 75F in 2012 in US have major clientele including Taco Bell, Yoga Fit, Magnet 360, Rockler and many more are in the clients list of 75F. 

Since the last 2.5 years ago, the firm has bagged major clients like Firstsource, Flipkart and Mphasis as its Indian market and going forward target the hospitality, healthcare, infrastructure verticals in India.

Gaurav Burman, VP and Country Manager of 75F says, "Our research centre now is based in at HSR Layout in Bangalore and will be handling most of our development.  Even though these software were earlier developed in the US, but still need it to customised it to the local Indian standards.”

75F has set a target of Rs 100 crore by FY 2018-19 with an expected revenue split of 65% from hardware; 25% from services and rest from software services. Even though companies like Honeywell, Schneider Electric, UTC and others offer similar services in India, but none of them provide complete end-to-end solutions to the customers, claims Burman.  

The firm that leverages Internet of Things (IoT) to make commercial buildings more energy efficient, among others, also introduced 'Dynamic Airflow Balancing' technology to the Indian market.

Burman goes on to say that it is important to note that every building is a dynamic entity and hence the building intelligence system installed should be dynamic as well. We are excited to bring to India our state-of-the-art solutions that leverage the latest in technology and IoT, understand your building's ever changing needs, and proactively cater to them to ensure that the occupants are comfortable.

75F is headquartered in Minneapolis, USA. It creates solutions that use Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud computing to predict building needs and manage them proactively. The solutions make spaces more comfortable, energy efficient, automated and smart. Internet-connected devices sense, analyse and control the behaviour of the building to achieve consistent temperature, airflow and lighting on a zone or room by room basis and saves up to 70% in energy usage, is easy to install and decreases carbon footprint.