VMware & AWS Announce “VMware Cloud on AWS” Hybrid Cloud Service

VMware and Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com company have announced a strategic alliance to build and deliver a seamlessly integrated hybrid offering that will give customers the full software-defined data center (SDDC) experience from the leader in the private cloud, running on the world’s most popular, trusted, and robust public cloud. VMware Cloud™ on AWS will enable customers to run applications across VMware vSphere®-based private, public, and hybrid cloud environments. Delivered, sold, and supported by VMware as an on-demand, elastically scalable service, VMware Cloud on AWS will allow VMware customers to use their existing. VMware software and tools to leverage AWS’s global footprint and breadth of services, including storage, databases, analytics and more. For more information on VMware Cloud on AWS, visit VMware Cloud on AWS.

Most enterprises rely on VMware to run applications in their vSphere-based private clouds, and often these same customers are also running applications on AWS. Increasingly, these customers have asked both companies to make it easier to run their existing on-premises environments alongside AWS using the VMware software and tools they’ve come to rely on.

VMware Cloud on AWS is a jointly architected solution that will integrate the world’s leading private cloud and the world’s leading public cloud. VMware Cloud on AWS is powered by VMware Cloud Foundation™, a unified SDDC platform that integrates VMware vSphere, VMware Virtual SAN and NSX virtualization technologies, and will provide access to the full range of AWS services, together with the functionality, elasticity, and security customers have come to expect from the AWS Cloud. This new service represents a significant investment in engineering, operations, support, and sales resources from both companies. It will run on next-generation, elastic, bare metal AWS infrastructure. Customers will have the ability to purchase services through their existing VMware commercial agreement and use their existing VMware software investments to secure additional loyalty discounts for their VMware Cloud on AWS hybrid environment.

“VMware Cloud on AWS offers our customers the best of both worlds,” said Pat Gelsinger, CEO, VMware. “This new service will make it easier for customers to preserve their investment in existing applications and processes while taking advantage of the global footprint, advanced capabilities, and scale of the AWS public cloud.”

“Our customers continue to ask us to make it easier for them to run their existing data center investments alongside AWS,” said Andy Jassy, CEO, AWS. “Most enterprises are already virtualized using VMware, and now with VMware Cloud on AWS, for the first time, it will be easy for customers to operate a consistent and seamless hybrid IT environment using their existing VMware tools on AWS, and without having to purchase custom hardware, rewrite their applications, or modify their operating model.”

Availability

Available in mid-2017, VMware Cloud on AWS will be delivered, sold, and supported by VMware as an on-demand, elastically scalable service. Pricing will be made available closer to the general availability date.

Bengaluru Remains the Number-One Innovation Eco-System in India: Priyank Kharge

More than 20 winners of the India Innovation Growth Programme showcased their technologies at the Bengaluru Technology Expo. These included technologies from Bengaluru like SpeedLink, a portable Wi-Fi router that combines upto 8 different cellular networks (2G, 3G, 4G) from any vendor and provides the sum of all the bandwidth capacities as one super-fast Internet connection and a portable, intelligent, non-invasive, non-mydriatic, low cost Fundus camera (eye care device) that helps in pre-screening of five eye diseases namely cataract, diabetic retina, glaucoma, cornea issues as well as refractive index measurements.

The Bengaluru Technology Expo was inaugurated by Priyank Kharge, Minister of IT, BT and Science and Technology, Government of Karnataka. During his keynote address the Minister lauded IIGP has the longest private-public partnership and stressed the need for more such initiatives. Kharge also said that, “Bengaluru remains the number-one innovation eco-system in India.” He added that development was not just about an idea, but making ideas and innovation happen.

IIGP enables Indian innovators and startups to get connected to industry partners not only in India but across the globe. 12 innovators were taken to Silicon Valley during September 25-30 this year to provide them an exposure to the global innovation ecosystem and get on an accelerated commercialization path. Subsequently, Swati Tiwari of Arcturus Business solutions, a Noida based startup was connected to Texas based Austin Energy who recently tested the solution developed by Arcturus for inspecting power transmission lines from the air using drones and breakthrough imaging software. Several awarded startups also participated in an Indian innovation led start-ups to Nairobi organized by FICCI earlier this year. As a consequence of the visit, one of the awarded companies under the IIGP viz. Aakar Innovations which has developed low cost biodegradable sanitary napkins has signed MoUs for partnership with Banapads from Uganda; Zana Africa from Kenya and Dreamline Business Centre from Kenya.

45 international and domestic business agreements were announced at the event with leading industry partners under IIGP2016 including Saab Group, BAE System, TATA Housing and Austin Energy. The innovators also participated in an investors’ meet to explore further opportunities for collaboration.

The IIGP has provided a platform for nurturing innovation in the country, as seen in the rapid rise of applications—receiving over 7000 applications since its inception. The IIGP focuses on a “Mind to Market” strategy byoffering extensive training modules that are suitably structured to help participants gauge and streamline their existing capabilities, as well as formulate and implement appropriate business strategies. With its emphasis on capacity building and technology commercialization, IIGPhas helped several participants in their quest to find suitable business partners in India as well as internationally. This has resulted in over 500 business engagement agreements being signed between innovators and industry partners/investors. The total revenue generated by the participating companies under the programme is US$ 860 million.

Since the inception of IIGP, there are several innovators who are not only able to commercializetheir technology but have also generated exports. In the periodbetween 2013 to 2015, the total exportturnover of the innovators was Rs 181 crore (approx.US$30million).

The India Innovation Growth Programme, launched in March 2007, was started with the objective of enhancing the growth and development of India's entrepreneurial economy. The aim of this programme is to accelerate innovative new Indian technologies into markets in the United States and around the world. The India Innovation Growth Programme is the only programme of its kind because of its focus on teaching and using world-class commercialization strategies. Since its introduction in India, the programme has received an overwhelming response from innovators, inventors, scientists and researchers working across diverse sectors throughout India. 

T-Hub's T-Bridge to Connect Indian Startup Ecosystems Globally

T-Hub, India’s largest startup ecosystem builder, in partnership with Uber and TiE Silicon Valley has announced the launch of T-Bridge, a new program that will connect Indian startups with global market opportunities, and help bring global startups to India. T-Bridge will enable startup communities in India and around the world to cross-pollinate ideas, innovate and create channels for knowledge transfer. It will also create a network of mentors, VCs, incubators and accelerators that is advantageous to the Indian startup ecosystem.

Telangana is now recognized as one of the world’s leading destinations for startups within India. The city of Hyderabad offers some of India’s best infrastructure, a large and growing technology talent pool, and a vibrant, cosmopolitan international community.  Of particular significance to innovative tech startups worldwide is Telangana’s great position as a gateway to leveraging India’s massive technology markets. Startups can hit the ground running instead of being buried in red tape. T-Bridge will provide a platform for such fast-track tech companies looking to tap into India’s huge consumer market for technology.  T-Bridge will help startups access UberEXCHANGE, Uber’s flagship startup mentorship program and TiE Silicon Valley’s mentor network.

K T Rama Rao, Telangana Cabinet Minister for IT EnC, MAUD, Industries and Commerce, Public Enterprises, Mines and Geology, Sugar and NRI Affairs inaugurated T-Bridge in association with Uber and TiE Silicon Valley at Uber’s headquarters in San Francisco.

Rao stated, “We have a strong vision to make Hyderabad one of the top 10 startup cities in the world. T–Bridge is one such move towards opening a channel of investment from the world to the state of Telangana. I am proud to open our first outpost in the U.S. in association with Uber and TiE Silicon Valley and believe that this association will forge new partnerships and spur investment and innovation between the two countries”.

Ram K. Reddy, incoming President of TiE Silicon Valley stated at the inauguration, “The Telangana government has been one of India’s most progressive states. The vitality and transformational mindset of its leadership gained quick notoriety within the startup world. TiE Silicon Valley is pleased to host the first T-Bridge outpost in Silicon Valley.” 

Rachel Whetstone, Uber’s senior vice president for policy and communications, said, “Telangana is one of the most progressive states in India; and it has set up a culture of ‘regulatory incubation’ — allowing new ideas and business models to thrive. Today more and more people around the world want to build something themselves. Through initiatives like UberEXCHANGE, our mentorship program for Indian startups, we hope to spur entrepreneurship. Creative partnerships like T-Bridge will continue to strengthen ties between India and the global startup scene.”

Jay Krishnan CEO, T-Hub said, “Since the launch of T-Hub last year, we’ve witnessed a threefold increase in startup activity in Hyderabad. The city is abuzz with over 30 incubators and co-working spaces. There is something happening in every corner. We’re committed to enabling and growing this community and to helping Indian entrepreneurs access global resources. T-Bridge is one such initiative in that direction. We are proud to set up our first outpost in the heart of the startup activity – at Silicon Valley”.

Manipal Education Group Now Offers PG Programmes in Data Science

Manipal University announced that it has commenced its first cohort of full time and part time programmes in Data Science, which will culminate into a PG Diploma from the university.

Simultaneously, Manipal Global Academy of Data Science (a unit of Manipal Global Education Services) announced the launch of short term certification programmes for corporate learners. The offerings to Enterprise clients range from boot-camps for fresh entrants to advanced modules in various aspects of Data Science across BFSI, IT, healthcare, retail, e-commerce and many others.

The Commencement function was marked by great interest from industry participants who attended the event. Organizations like AIG, Bain Consulting, Cognizant, Experian, KPMG, IBM, Goldman Sachs, Gramener, Dell, among others were present through their senior leaders.

Given that various industry estimates suggest that India will require over 200,000 data scientists by 2018, there has been strong interest in the PG Diploma programmes from both freshers and working professionals.

Vinod Bhat, Vice Chancellor of Manipal University said, "The unprecedented demand in this field and the rigor and professional skills that the Manipal educational institutions bring in have made this a much sought after program. As cohort sizes are limited, we have closed admissions for this batch. However, we will announce the next batch dates very soon. For the first batch, we are also evaluating offering them world class certifications with international universities through our recently announced partnership with Coursera.”

To ensure that the programme has strong industry relevance, Manipal Education group has tied up with leading corporates like Experian (a $4.8 billion global information services company), Genpact (a global leader in business process management and services) and IBM’s Big Data University as partners who will help in building the curriculum, provide real case studies for students and participate in the placement process.

Speaking at the commencement function, AP Ramabhadran, Sr. Vice President, Manipal Global Education Services said, "With the explosion of data in literally every field of the business world, there is a strong need to train tomorrow's roles in Data Science:  data engineers, data visualizers, data scientists, and business analysts. At Manipal Global – being leaders in the corporate education space with our Academies in Banking and IT – we are focused on creating curricula and learning methodologies that train the students to be productive from the word go. Our corporate partners help us achieve this.

Overwhelming interest from more organizations to partner with Manipal Global helps us to strengthen the professional readiness of our learners and in turn helps industry gain ready talent. This creates a virtuous cycle of contemporary professional talent”.

Speaking about this partnership, Siddharth Shishoo, VP- HR, Genpact said “'Data needs to be deciphered for intelligent insights and it is imperative to build talent in this field for more meaningful actionable insights across industry domains. With our deep expertise in analytics, we are delighted to extend this knowledge through our partnership with MaGE towards the common purpose of building a market-ready talent pool in the analytics world”

The PG Diploma in Data Science is a first of its programme because the first nine months will teach the learners the concepts, give hands-on experience on tools and programming languages as well as familiarising them with real data sets. The last two months will be an internship or live project with various companies. In the full time program, many organizations have expressed their desire to hire the candidates on successful completion of the programme.

‘CodHERS 2016’: A Women’s Tech Hackathon On November 12, 2016

Adobe India has opened the registrations for ‘CodHERS 2016’, its first ever hackathon for women technologists in India. Adobe India’s Hackathon, which saw significant participation from software developers and coders across the country last year, has been launched as ‘CodHERS’ in its 2016 edition and is aimed at encouraging young and aspiring women technologists in India¹. This four-hour long onlinevirtual hackathon will be held on November 12, 2016, and hunt for the brightest women developers and coders in India through a series of algorithmic programming challenges. 

Speaking about the ‘CodHERS 2016’ Hackathon, Abdul Jaleel, Vice President, People Resources India, Adobe said, “With a passion for changing the world through digital experiences, we at Adobe are taking the lead in developing product innovations to help our customers stay ahead in today’s era of digital disruption. We take pride in working with some of the best engineering minds across the globe to drive our innovation agenda, and the stellar contribution of Adobe’s RnD team in India is a testament to the kind of solid engineering talent that the country possesses. Diversity, which fosters richer collaboration, innovation, and creativity in workforce, is crucial for organizational success and core to Adobe’s work culture. Over the years, we have seen more and more women technologies join our engineering teams world over – and this trend is becoming increasingly popular in India as well. With CodHERS 2016, we want to provide an opportunity to women programmers and coders in India to come forth and showcase their talent, and in the process, identify potential women technology leaders of the future.”

Organized in association with HackerRank, Adobe Inida’s ‘CodHERS 2016’ is now open for registrations. The winner will receive an iPhone 7, while the second and third placed participants will receive an Apple iPad Air 2 tablet and Apple iPad Mini 2 tablet respectively. Adobe will also be providing internship opportunities or full-time positions, depending upon the eligibility, to the top 20 contestants.

Cisco's Digitization Initiatives to Enable Smart Cities & Digital India Vision in Maharashtra

Cisco has announced the launch of its India manufacturing operations. At the event, Cisco and the Government of Maharashtra (GoM) also announced new local strategic initiatives to help the digital transformation of the state, which includes the citywide deployment of a smart city framework to roll out  Smart City solutions in the city of Nagpur, digital learning for students and skills development for local entrepreneurs in Dharavi to create an eCommerce hub, expansion of the Cisco Networking Academy® program, and digital education and healthcare initiatives in Fetri village.

The launch of the manufacturing operations took place in the presence of the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Shri Devendra Fadnavis; the CEO of the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog, Shri Amitabh Kant; Smt. Aruna Sundararajan, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India; Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins; Irving Tan, Senior Vice President, Cisco Asia Pacific and Japan; Dinesh Malkani, President, Cisco India & SAARC; and Jun Kim, Vice President, Cisco Supply Chain Operations.

Cisco to manufacture diverse product portfolio to support the Make in India initiative

Cisco will manufacture and roll out a diverse product portfolio in India to support the government’s Make in India initiative. Cisco will use its India manufacturing operations to produce and ship orders for customers in India, as well as for testing, development, logistics, and in-house repair capabilities. 

Cisco also announced its ongoing commitment to accelerate Digital Maharashtra, including several initiatives to ensure that all of India’s citizens benefit from the power of connectivity. These initiatives include:

Nagpur: India’s First CityWide Deployment of a Smart City Framework enabled by Cisco City Digital Platform

Cisco will roll out Smart City Solutions in Nagpur to enable city-wide network connectivity, Smart & Secure Wi-Fi hotspots, and Smart safety & surveillance solutions. The various citizen services enabled by smart cities architecture, like smart transport, solid waste management, smart lighting, environmental sensors, and smart parking, will be integrated on Cisco’s City Digital Platform. The City Operations Centre will have a single view of all solutions to manage the city with increased operational efficiency and productivity, enabling them to provide quality infrastructure and services to citizens.

Dharavi eCommerce Hub: Bringing Digital Learning and Connectivity to Students and Skills Development for Local Entrepreneurs

At the ceremony Cisco showcased how it was helping digitize Sri Ganesh Vidya Mandir High School by providing the students with a virtual classroom, digital learning and highly secure Internet connectivity. Cisco’s initiative aims to enhance the quality of education through digital learning for academia to connect, collaborate, create and share content with students. After school hours, local entrepreneurs and start-ups will be able to use the school as a platform for local innovation and help make Dharavi an e-commerce hub.

 Expansion of Cisco Networking Academy Program to Support Skill India and Increase Maharashtra’s Pool of Highly Trained Professionals

As part of Cisco’s commitment to accelerating Digital Maharashtra and supporting the Maharashtra State Education Digitization agenda, the company announced plans to establish up to 25 Cisco Networking Academies to train approximately 10,000 students in Maharashtra by 2020. The Cisco Networking Academy program in India has one of the largest programs for Cisco worldwide. Across 186 academies, nationwide, more than 122,000 students have been trained since its inception. The skills-development program is a cloud-delivered, scalable, high-quality program that helps students learn how to design, build, secure and maintain computer networks and prepare for jobs in the digital economy.

Wi-Fi, Smart Education and Smart Healthcare to Digitize Fetri Village
Underlining its commitment to the digital transformation of Maharashtra, Cisco announced a new initiative to digitize Fetri village in the Kato Tehsil of Nagpur district in Maharashtra. With the intention to build a Digital Village, Cisco will deploy key technologies including Wi-Fi, smart healthcare, and smart education in an upper primary government school in Fetri. At the ceremony today Cisco demonstrated how its India manufactured products will play an integral role in Digital India by providing high performance wireless connectivity to get access to quality education. Cisco also demonstrated how patients can be connected with doctors conveniently and efficiently, regardless of distance, through highly secure immersive visual experiences.

Cisco to Collaborate on the Rollout of Broadband Infrastructure

As part of its commitment to help the state realize its vision of Digital Maharashtra, Cisco will collaborate on the state-wide rollout of broadband infrastructure to accelerate the Digital Maharashtra vision. A role model on digital transformation for other states, Maharashtra sees the building of digital infrastructure as the most crucial step toward achieving its vision of a Digital Maharashtra and enabling financial inclusion, e-governance and citizen services

Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister of Maharashtra, said, “Digital transformation has emerged as the most transformative means to ignite sustainable growth and improve society. Digitization creates economic competitiveness, enables ease of doing business, improves public services, increases GDP, creates employment, and enhances the quality of life of citizens. My vision for digital Maharashtra is to digitally empower every citizen, increase the state’s global competitiveness by creating a highly skilled workforce ready for the jobs of the future, build an environment that stimulates exceptional companies, and enable outstanding public services for citizens. We are happy to partner with Cisco in the Digital Maharashtra initiative and we believe Cisco’s global experience and expertise in digitization will benefit Maharashtra immensely and accelerate the digitization of the state.”

Amitabh Kant, CEO, National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog, said “Digitization is not just connectivity. Digitization is the catalyst for industrial growth which has the potential to transform economies. The manufacturing sector is imperative to national development and raising incomes, and India will become a digital disruptor if it embeds, converges and integrates manufacturing and digitization. The government recognizes that Electronic System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) can play a seminal role in enabling India’s journey towards becoming a global manufacturing destination. I congratulate Cisco on the inauguration of its manufacturing facility, and I believe this is yet another milestone in strengthening India’s position as a manufacturing hub and accelerating the economic prosperity of the country.”

Aruna Sundararajan, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India, said, “The vision of the government’s Make in India initiative is to promote manufacturing in India both to enable a Digital India as well as to become an export hub. The government has identified electronics manufacturing as a strategic sector for the country and is committed to create the right regulatory reinforcements which will enable global supply chains to enter India and lead to supply chain acceleration. I congratulate Cisco on the inauguration of its manufacturing facility, and I believe it will encourage the global IT industry to view India as a potential go-to manufacturing destination of the world.” 

Chuck Robbins, CEO, Cisco, said, “Digitization opens up unprecedented opportunities for every country, state and city. High technology manufacturing is convergence of engineering and science. India offers a huge talent pool of highly qualified scientists, engineers and designers along with ease of doing business, geographic location, and proximity to suppliers and customers. Today’s announcement reaffirms Cisco’s long-term commitment to India, a strategic center of country digitization and innovation. We are honored to work with the people of India to accelerate their digital economy, and help further the government’s vision to create sustainable competitiveness and prosperity.”

Dinesh Malkani, President, Cisco India and SAARC, said, “Today's announcement underscores India's strategic importance to Cisco's global operations. We have made significant investments in India since we established operations in the country in 1995, and today’s announcement is another milestone in deepening our commitment to India. Today we lay the foundation for the next chapter in Cisco's development in India, and help strengthen India’s global leadership position in digital transformation.’’

Jun Kim, Vice President, Cisco Supply Chain and Manufacturing Operations said, “Cisco is committed to being the strategic partner to India during this massive digital transition.  The manufacturing of our diverse product portfolio will bring advance manufacturing capabilities to our operations in India.”

Aircel Brings Cheer With Exciting Offer of 1GB @ Rs.22 in Karnataka

This festive season stay online more than ever before as Aircel, one of India’s most innovative telecom players, in its aggressive bid to redefine data consumption, is encouraging its existing and potential customers to enjoy 1GB of 3G data for just Rs.22 with a validity of 28 days.

To avail ‘1GB 3G data @ Rs.22’, all existing and new customers first need to recharge withRs.291 that would give them 2GB of 3G data with a validity of 28 days. These customers, henceforth, can enjoy 1GB of 3G data with every recharge of Rs.22.

Kanwarbir Singh, Circle Business Head – Karnataka, Aircel, said, “Aircel is spicing up the festivities with a whole range of exciting data and calling products. We want our customers to consume entertainment online without worrying too much about the cost. Our latest product innovations are in line with the evolving data and mobile internet scenario in the country. We have been working tirelessly to live up to this expectation of our customers and hence, we’ve redoubled our efforts in offering value for money products to our customers.”

Aircel’s “1GB@22” is designed at creating a digital India with increased data penetration and affordability. With this product, Aircel is focused on offering relevant and value for money products to its customers and help them stay connected this festive season.