NetApp Invests Rs 1000 Crore for a 55,000 Sqft New Tech Campus in Bengaluru

NetApp, the $5.55-billion global major in storage and data management, has inaugurated its independent campus in Whitefield in Bengaluru. Set up with an investment of Rs 1,000 crore and built on 55,000 sqft of space, the new campus is a 15 acre campus and was inaugurated by the Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah along with the state Industries Minister R V Deshapande.

The centre is NetApp's largest in the world in terms of engineering strength. Out of its eight such sites, seven are in North America. The tech major currently employs 2,000 people in Bengaluru and has the capacity to accommodate 3,500 people. NetApp employs over 10,000 people globally.

George Kurian, CEO of NetApp Inc said a substantial investment has also gone into expanding other capabilities and this includes a shared services centre and a customer support centre. "We have been in India since 2000 and the operations here was led by our research and development centre. The success we have had leading global teams and building breakthrough innovations from India has caused us to invest much more broadly towards this entire business centre based here in Bengaluru.”

Kurian said the innovations that will come from our Bengaluru Global Centre of Excellence will help customers around the world get ahead of the competition by enabling their data-powered digital transformation strategies.

NetApp has been in India for 15 years, fueling advancements in the company’s portfolio of flash, cloud, and next-generation data center solutions that help manage and protect the world’s data. It has caused us to invest much more broadly towards expansion of other capabilities like global shared services centre, customer support centre, global service delivery centre, and others,” adds Kurien.

Startup Escape Velocity Program

NetApp, a $5.55 billion company, has also launched a startup accelerator programme called Escape Velocity in Bengaluru. This will nurture startups, especially those aligned to the company's vision of what it calls data fabric. The company wants to simplify the use of enterprise-grade data management solutions. Its data fabric connects different data management environments across disparate clouds to manage, secure, protect, and access data, no matter where it is.

On the startup accelerator programme, Kurien said the company can bring its expertise and infrastructure to enable a range of storage and data management capabilities through the startup ecosystem here in India.

Belfrics Brings Blockchain Technology Unveils Bitcoin Exchange Operations in India

By Manu Sharma

If you're going through a traditional banking process then transferring cash to another bank account still remain a stressful process. But a major shift is underway among organizations and big banks who hope to make the process - cheaper, faster, and more efficient by using the “Blockchain” technology that underlies cryptocurrency Bitcoin. The Malaysian-based blockchain technology firm - Belfrics has started operations in India and are in talks with 9 companies to implement this technology.

Belfrics has launched its Indian Bitcoin exchange operations and with its operations in multiple countries, will be providing a highly liquid marketplace for buying and selling of bitcoins in INR. Indian bitcoin industry has been growing steadily in the recent months. With the demonetization event, the interest towards the digital currency has increased multi folds in India. Belfricsis set to tap the largely unbanked Indian population by providing a superior, yet simple peer-to-peer digital currency trading platform through desktop and mobile devices. 

Belfrics also will be introducing POS and bitcoin payment gateway for online and retail merchants in India. Consumers will be able to transact in bitcoins with these merchants without any additional charges. Belfrics will be utilizing its international expertise in blokchain and decentralized application development to bring transparency, efficiency and neutrality in to the financial sector transactions.

Praveen Kumar, the group CEO said, “The element of neutrality that the blockchain can bring to the financial system, without the involvement of an intermediary or a regulatory body, is going to redefine the way in which assets are transacted.” Belfrics will be partnering with public and private institutions in India to effect a large-scale blockchain adoption.

Kumar said all major banks are experimenting with blockchain as they can use it for money transfers, record keeping and other back-end functions. With this technology a bank's ledger is connected to a centralised network. The blockchain application replicates the paper-intensive international trade finance process as an electronic decentralised ledger, that gives all the participating entities, including banks, the ability to access a single source of information. “It also enables them to track documentation and authenticate ownership of assets digitally, in tune with Prime Minister’s Modi Vision of a digital and cashless society.

Already Indian IT service providers like Infosys, TCS have been displaying the blockchain technology. Both these companies are using blockchain mechanism to create core banking platforms for banks. Earlier, ICICI Bank announced that it has successfully executed transactions in international trade finance and remittances using this technology in partnership with a Dubai based bank Emirates NBD.

We are among the best of exchanges in other countries where we operate in. Customers will have the finest trading experience with our state of the art trading platform and mobile application concludes Jabeer, group COO.

SpiceJet Signs Big Deal for Upto 205 of Boeing New Airplanes in India

Boeing and SpiceJet announced a commitment for up to 205 airplanes during an event in New Delhi. Booked at the end of 2016, the announcement includes 100 new 737 MAX 8s, SpiceJet’s current order for 42 MAXs, 13 additional 737 MAXs which were previously attributed to an unidentified customer on Boeing's Orders and Deliveries website, as well as purchase rights for 50 additional airplanes.

“The Boeing 737 class of aircraft has been the backbone of our fleet since SpiceJet began, with its high reliability, low operation economies and comfort,” said Ajay Singh, Chairman and Managing Director, SpiceJet. “With the next generation of 737 and the 737 MAX we are sure that we can be competitive and grow profitably.”

SpiceJet, all-Boeing jet operator, placed its first order with Boeing in 2005 for Next-Generation (NG) 737s and currently operates 32 737 NGs in its fleet.

“We are honored to build upon more than a decade of partnership with SpiceJet with their commitment of up to 205 airplanes,” said Ray Conner, Vice Chairman, The Boeing Company. “The economics of the 737 MAXs will allow SpiceJet to profitably open new markets, expand connectively within India and beyond, and offer their customers a superior passenger experience.”

The 737 MAX incorporates the latest technology CFM International LEAP-1B engines, Advanced Technology winglets and other improvements to deliver the highest efficiency, reliability and passenger comfort in the single-aisle market.

The new airplane will deliver 20 percent lower fuel use than the first Next-Generation 737s and the lowest operating costs in its class – 8 percent per seat less than its nearest competitor.

Infosys Announces Internal Carbon Price at $10.5 Per Ton of CO2

Infosys, a global leader in consulting, technology, outsourcing and next-generation services, has announced its internal carbon price at $10.5 per ton of CO2e, at an event organized by the Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition (CPLC) in Zurich. A significant milestone for Infosys, the price will be applicable for a period of two years and will represent the cost of decarbonizing 1 ton of CO2e.

Infosys has been working towards building a clean energy future and has been on track to meet its commitment of becoming carbon neutral in 2018. The company has implemented a three-pronged strategy to go carbon neutral: energy efficiency, renewable power, and emission offsets. In addition, Infosys has also committed to reduce its per-capita electricity consumption by 50% from the 2008 level and use 100% renewable power for electricity by 2018.

Infosys derived its internal carbon price based on its program to completely decarbonize under the carbon neutral commitment. The carbon price announced today is a weighted average of the prices of carbon under the energy efficiency, renewable energy, and emission offset levers. The price of carbon under each lever was estimated based on the company’s past and ongoing investments in the area.

Speaking at the event, Sandeep Dadlani, President and Head – Americas, Infosys said, “We recognize that global warming is the biggest threat the world is facing today. We understand the significance of the 2⁰C global warming limit under the Paris Agreement. For Infosys, by putting a price on carbon, we have further cemented our commitment to become carbon neutral. As a responsible company, we are very proud to be one among a handful of companies in the world to announce an internal carbon price. We hope that it becomes a global movement and helps save the planet by keeping global warming under 2⁰C.”

Putting a price on carbon is akin to the concept of ‘polluter pays’. Infosys now has the option of using the internal carbon price as a basis to internally raise funds from businesses or departments and use the funds for corporate emission reduction programs. The internal carbon pricing exercise itself gave us deeper insights into the various pathways to reduce emissions and their relative merits and effectiveness.

CPLC, launched during the COP21 in Paris, is working with corporates and governments to advance the concept of carbon pricing. The Paris Agreement reached at the COP21 commits to limit global warming to well below 2⁰C. That calls for an unprecedented and drastic cut in global greenhouse gas emissions, transitioning into a low carbon economy and moving toward a carbon neutral economy by the end of the century. Experts believe that the success of such a transition lies in putting a price on carbon. Infosys joined CPLC in 2016.

By 2020 Over 20% Organizations Will Use Smartphones in Place of Traditional Physical Access Cards

In 2016, less than 5 percent of organizations used smartphones to enable access to offices and other premises. By 2020, Gartner, Inc. said that 20 percent of organizations will use smartphones in place of traditional physical access cards.

"A significant fraction of organizations use legacy physical access technologies that are proprietary, closed systems and have limited ability to integrate with IT infrastructure," said David Anthony Mahdi, research director at Gartner. "Today, the increasing availability of mobile and cloud technologies from many physical access control system (PACS*) vendors will have major impacts on how these systems can be implemented and managed."

PACS technology is widely deployed across multiple vertical industries and geographies to secure access to a wide range of facilities (buildings, individual offices, data centers, plant rooms, warehouses and so on), ensuring that only entitled people (employees, contractors, visitors, maintenance staff) get access to specific locations.

Mobile technology is already widely used for logical access control. Phone-as-a-token authentication methods continue to be the preferred choice in the majority of new and refreshed token deployments as an alternative to traditional one-time password (OTP) hardware tokens. Gartner projects that the same kinds of cost and user experience (UX) benefits will drive increasing use of smartphones in place of discrete physical access cards. Smartphones using technologies and protocols such as Bluetooth, Bluetooth LE, and Near Field Communication can work with a number of readers and PACS technology.

One of the easiest ways to use a smartphone's access credentials is to integrate them — via a data channel over the air or via Wi-Fi — into the access control system (ACS) and "unlock the door" remotely (just as an ACS administrator can). This approach requires no change to reader hardware.

Using smartphones can also simplify the integration of biometric technologies. "Rather than having to add biometric capture devices in or alongside readers, the phone itself can easily be used as a capture device for face or voice (or both), with comparison and matching done locally on the phone or centrally," said Mahdi. "This approach also mitigates the risks from an attacker who gains possession of a person's phone."

The technology's limitations remain a challenge. For example, there's significant disparity in functionality between smartphones, and some security and risk management leaders should be aware that their physical card readers and PACS might require a significant upgrade to use smartphones for physical access. "Nevertheless, replacing traditional physical access cards with smartphones enables widely sought-after cost reductions and UX benefits," said Mahdi. "We recommend that security and risk managers work closely with physical security teams to carefully evaluate the UX and total cost of ownership benefits of using access credentials on smartphones to replace existing physical cards."

N Chandrasekaran Named as New Chairman of Tata Sons; Rajesh Gopinathan to be New CEO of TCS

Tata Sons is likely to name a new chairman today; the board has called for a meeting, although it said no agenda for the meeting had been announced. Tata Sons had abruptly removed Cyrus Mistry as its Chairman on October 24 and sought his ouster from operating companies like Tata Motors and TCS. He had subsequently resigned from the board of six companies, but dragged Tata Sons and his interim successor Ratan Tata to the NCLT. CEO of TCS N Chandrasekaran has been widely speculated to be one of the leading contenders for the role. Sources said that the next chairman will be a well-known insider.

Rajesh Gopinathan New CEO of TCS

Rajesh Gopinathan is expected to be the new CEO of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), taking over from N Chandrasekaran who is likely to soon be announced the Tata Sons Chairman. Rajesh Gopinathan is currently the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of TCS. He will take over India’s largest IT firm and has big task at his hand to take forward the company.

So, who is Rajesh Gopinathan? He joined TCS in 2001 and was appointed the Chief Financial Officer in February 2013. Prior to becoming the CFO, Rajesh was the Vice President – Business Finance. According to TCS, in this role, he was responsible for the financial management of the company’s individual operating units. His responsibilities included financial planning and control as well as margin management and revenue assurance.

Agencies

MSMEs Skills Development Program By Boeing India, Jaivel Aerospace

Boeing in collaboration with Jaivel Aerospace has announced the launch of a skill development program to train front-line workers in micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the aerospace industry. In line with the national ‘Skill India’ initiative, the program aims at accelerating the growth of India’s aerospace industry by establishing a larger pipeline of skilled aerospace workers.

“This is Boeing’s first skill development initiative for aerospace manufacturing in Gujarat to ensure that entrepreneurial Gujarat businesses are ready to compete at a global scale,” said Pratyush Kumar, president, Boeing India. “We welcome Jaivel Aerospace to our skills development program. The partnership represents the commencement of our effort to expand our skilling initiatives to catalyse the aerospace industry in the state and help realize the ‘Make in India’ vision.”

Jaivel, a micro, small and medium enterprise, has undertaken work packages as a sub-tier supplier for Boeing’s advanced commercial airplanes such as the 787, 777 and 737 as well as defense platforms such as the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter. Through the new partnership, Jaivel’s role in the local and global aerospace sector will expand, as its helps to train future aerospace workers.

“As the world's largest aerospace company, Boeing offers the advantage of a tried and tested, unique curriculum and the knowhow to help an emerging aerospace enterprise like us to strengthen our global aerospace footprint,” said Vipul Vachhani, Founder and CEO – Jaivel Aerospace. “This is an important investment by Boeing, not only for us but also for Gujarat’s potential to become an aerospace manufacturing hub. This is testament to Jaivel’s aerospace team and we look forward to working with Boeing to create an excellent foundation for an aerospace sector in the state,” said Vipul Vachhani, founder and CEO, Jaivel Aerospace.

In addition, Boeing has been partnering with leading Indian vocational training institutes, Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and Indian partners, including MSMEs, to train workers in the aerospace industry. For example, Boeing-funded curricula and initiatives have already been launched with aerospace partners such as Rossell Techsys and Tata Advanced Materials Limited (TAML) to train workers on aerospace skills. Frontline workers have already been employed with Boeing’s suppliers after completion of training.