Sasken Communication Technologies Limited Renamed to Sasken Technologies Limited to Reflect its Broad Range of Services

Sasken Technologies Limited, (formerly Sasken Communication Technologies Limited), announced that it has changed its name to Sasken Technologies Limited effective February 14, 2017 to reflect its broad range of services.

The Company had earlier changed its name from Silicon Automation Systems Limited to Sasken Communication Technologies Limited in 2000 in order to cater to the growing opportunities in the telecommunication space around the world. Today, the nexus of forces such as computing, communications, mobility, cloud, social media and analytics has transformed communications into a core ingredient across all business verticals. Sasken’s expertise therefore now serves businesses ranging from automotive, smart devices and wearables, industrials, enterprises, satellite, and retail, among others. Therefore, Sasken’s new name is a true reflection of its current vast opportunity landscape.

Rajiv C. Mody, Chairman, Managing Director and CEO, Sasken Technologies Limited said, “We see a whole new world unfolding in front of us where new services are getting launched which were hitherto unheard of. The key drivers that are making this difference are advances in silicon, embedded systems, cloud computing, and cognitive technologies.

“Sasken has been at the helm of enabling technologies that touches and betters lives. Over the past two and a half decades, we have enabled our customers to build cutting-edge solutions that have been breakthroughs in their respective markets. We are working with technology leaders to enable cognitive technologies that help define the world of tomorrow in areas such as car, home, wearables and devices, industrials, and retail. We are very proud of our heritage and are continuing to build a new future which is really going to make a difference in the new world we are embarking on.”

IESA Launches Hyderabad Chapter; To Make Hyderabad an ESDM, Aerospace and Defense Hub

IESA, India Electronics and Semiconductor Association the premier trade body representing the Indian Electronics System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) industry has announced the launch of their Hyderabad Chapter. The key objectives of setting up an office in Hyderabad is to widen the eco-system, acquire new members and strengthen the supply chain in the region.  This move will boost the electronics, hardware and semiconductor startups and firms in the state with the required support and information. There will also be a large thrust on the Aerospace & Defense manufacturing too.

Telangana contributes to 6% of the electronics production in the country and aims to reach a revenue of more than $10Bn and provide employment to 1.75L citizens. The Telangana Government is planning to make Hyderabad as the hub of ESDM and is pursuing to attract investments into the two ESDM clusters at e-City Manufacturing Cluster and Maheshwaram Science Park. With a view to facilitating investments in the electronics manufacturing industry, IESA has gearing up to strengthen operations in Telengana this year.

Excited with this announcement, K. Krishna Moorthy, Chairman, IESA said, “This is a proud moment for us as we have now expanded our presence across the major technology hubs of the nation. With this launch, we now have an even more strengthened support to bring India into the global radar for manufacturing innovation. Several policy initiatives have been approved in last few months which include providing very attractive financial investment in electronics manufacturing and providing preference to domestically manufactured electronic goods in all Government procurement as well as all those electronic goods whose use has security implications for the country. This expansion has put us in the right path for the fulfilment of our objectives and aiding the government of India to digitally empower the nation. We are certain that, with the right mix of trained professionals and regional expertise we will make our vision of making India the global hub for innovation a successful reality very soon.”

Spearheading and strengthening ties with the local industry, MosChip Semiconductor has joined hands with IESA. Speaking at the launch of the IESA Hyderabad chapter, Ram Reddy, CEO and  Chairman, Moschip Semiconductor, said “We are delighted to be a member company of IESA Hyderabad. We strongly believe that this collaboration will be an impetus to start-ups and engineering/ research students to promote the country’s top design engineers and buyers with the best degree of technical knowhow and help bring the Government and ecosystem together on the same platform.”

Commenting on this move, M.N. Vidyashankar, President, IESA added, “We are delighted to announce the launch of the new IESA Chapter in Hyderabad. We need to improve the supply chain. We could achieve innovation-led design in the semiconductor space. But, what we lack is design-led-manufacturing. With the recently announced Chennai chapter and this launch, we have further expanded our reach to enrich the supply chain and make significant inroads in making the country the next manufacturing hub. We strongly believe that this expansion will fast-forward our operations and enable us to achieve the common goal of giving a boost to design-led-manufacturing.”

Forthcoming events from IESA:

This year, Hyderabad will be the host city for DEFTRONICS 2017, the fourth edition of the annual Aerospace, Defence & Internal security focused event. This will be an additional fillip to the Aerospace & Defence sectors. The Indian Aerospace and Defence industry is one of the most lucrative industries with a booming market and an ocean of opportunities for engineering design and manufacturing companies. India’s current requirements on defence are largely catered to by imports. The Global OEM and Indian companies alike are keen to leverage the opportunity of defence contracts, which reflects the success of initiatives like ‘Make in India’

IESA Vision Summit 2017

The 12^th edition its annual flagship event, IESA Vision Summit 2017. Powered with global and Indian audiences to discover, innovate and bring together a stellar line-up of thought leaders & robust speakers. Scheduled on February 21 and 22 at The Leela, Bangalore, it aims to steer India closer to its goal of Design led Manufacturing – Redefining the future of India’s ESDM.

Telangana is the hub of Electronics Manufacturing Clusters with Districts of Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy and Medak being the base for the state. With an aim to give a fillip to the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector of Andhra Pradesh, the India SME Forum has signed Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with the State government for two industrial parks and an incubation centre in the State. As part of this, an industrial park for multi-sectoral MSME units is being proposed to be set up either at Vijayawada or at Visakhapatnam or Tirupati. As favourable Government policies and conducive growth opportunities exist in the state, Telangana became as one of the most preferred destination for the IESA’s expansion.

Julian Quinn Named as Regional Vice President (APAC) of Qlik

Qlik, a leader in visual analytics has announced the appointment of Julian Quinn as Regional Vice President for Qlik in Asia Pacific (APAC). Quinn will be responsible for leading and expanding Qlik’s operations throughout the region including ASEAN, Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and Taiwan markets.

With over 30 years of experience in the IT Industry, Quinn has extensive knowledge of APAC markets and has a distinguished track record of sales success. Prior to joining Qlik, he held senior leadership positions at various companies, including but not limited to: Vice President Asia and Japan at Veeam Software, Vice President APAC at Adobe Systems, Vice President APAC at Borland, and Managing Director at Netscape.

“We’re delighted to welcome someone of Julian’s calibre onboard to helm Qlik’s operations in Asia Pacific. Under his leadership, even more organisations in the region will be empowered with self-service analytics to see the whole story behind their data,” said Mark Thurmond, Executive Vice President, Worldwide Sales and Services, Qlik.

Last year, in Asia Pacific, customers across different industries – such as Akindo Sushiro, Baidu, Lazada, Lupin Limited and Teachers Mutual Bank – started to harness Qlik’s platform-based approach to derive actionable insights.  

“There’s no better time to join Qlik, as we continue to witness the upward surge of embedded, self-service and visual analytics in every sector. I look forward to further strengthening Qlik’s position as the leader in APAC in the Business Intelligence and Analytics market segment,” said Quinn. 

HAL Push to Include HALOld Airport in Regional Connectivity Scheme

Hopeful that some commercial operations can start from the HAL Airport in the next few months, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) has appealed to the Civil Aviation Ministry to include the airport on the list for regional connectivity.

 At the Aero India 2017, HAL CMD T Suvarna Raju said when the regional connectivity policy was announced, the HAL Airport was not even on the list. The Kempe Gowda International Airport (KIA) has already achieved the passenger traffic projected for 2020. It grew by 22.5% in 2016, recording a footfall of 22.18 million passengers.

Raju said, “Normally, a state or city will be proud to have two airports.” However, through an agreement with the government, the Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) had mandated that no other commercial airport should be allowed within a radius of 150 km from KIA.

HAL Airport, which was the city’s sole domestic and international airport for decades, was shut in 2008. All operations, barring VIP flights, were stopped at the old airport once KIA opened at Devanahalli. However, there have been demands from several quarters to at least operate short haul domestic flights from the old HAL Airport.

‘Trump Can be a Blessing for IT Cos’; They can Solve India’s Problem: Mukesh Ambani

Even as the IT industry keenly awaits the impact of protectionist measures by the Trump government in the United States, Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani believes that his victory could be a blessing in disguise for Indian IT companies.

“It has been a great journey till now (for the Indian IT industry)....Trump can actually be a blessing in disguise. The Indian talent and IT industry will focus on solving problems in India,” Ambani said while speaking at Nasscom’s India Leadership Forum 2017. “I think the opportunities are immense, and we now have the infrastructure to do for own market and make India one of the largest software markets in the world,” he said.

According to Ambani, the key for companies to succeed is to have partnerships and be open and be always connected. “It is very important to be open, it is very important to have partnerships and not be close. That is really a strength for India and we should build on this strength, continue to be open and never think whatever the world changes,” Ambani said.

“The world might want to build walls around. I think it is very important for us not to be influenced by that, to make sure that we are always open, always connected,”Ambani added. He had some words of advice for budding entrepreneurs as well. “An entrepreneur has to figure out what he has do. This is something that I learnt from my father. Besides, it is very important to find a problem you want to solve, that you are passionate about,”Ambani said.

“Also, two more important things are that investors’ money should be treated more carefully than your own money and you cannot do anything without the right team,” Ambani added. 

Another Successful Launch for ISRO; PSLV-C37 Deploys 104 Satellites in a Single Flight

In its thirty ninth flight (PSLV-C37), ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle successfully launched the 714 kg Cartosat-2 Series Satellite along with 103 co-passenger satellites today morning (February 15, 2017) from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota. This is the thirty eighth consecutively successful mission of PSLV.  The total weight of all the 104 satellites carried on-board PSLV-C37 was 1378 kg.

PSLV-C37 lifted off at 0928 hrs (9:28 am) IST, as planned, from the First Launch Pad.  After a flight of  16 minutes 48 seconds, the satellites achieved a polar Sun Synchronous Orbit of 506 km inclined at an angle of 97.46 degree to the equator (very close to the intended orbit) and in the succeeding 12 minutes, all the 104 satellites successfully separated from the PSLV fourth stage in a predetermined sequence beginning with Cartosat-2 series satellite, followed by INS-1 and INS-2.  The total number of Indian satellites launched by PSLV now stands at 46.

After separation, the two solar arrays of Cartosat-2 series satellite were deployed automatically and ISRO's Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) at Bangalore took over the control of the satellite. In the coming days, the satellite will be brought to its final operational configuration following which it will begin to provide remote sensing services using its panchromatic (black and white) and multispectral (colour) cameras.

Of the 103 co-passenger satellites carried by PSLV-C37, two – ISRO Nano Satellite-1 (INS-1) weighing 8.4 kg and INS-2 weighing 9.7 kg – are technology demonstration satellites from India. 

The remaining 101 co-passenger satellites carried were international customer satellites from USA (96), The Netherlands (1), Switzerland (1), Israel (1), Kazakhstan (1) and UAE (1). 

With today’s successful launch, the total number of customer satellites from abroad launched by India’s workhorse launch vehicle PSLV has reached 180.

With Over 100 Million Domestic Passengers, Boeing Sees Strong Continued Growth for India’s Commercial Aviation Market

Boeing continues to see strong growth for India’s commercial aviation sector, the company today shared during a briefing at the 2017 Aero India Airshow in Bengaluru, India.

“The major factors we watch – the exchange rate, fuel price and the profitability of the airlines – are all still favorable and we remain confident in the strong growth of

India’s commercial aviation sector,” said Dinesh Keskar, senior vice president, Asia Pacific and India Sales, Boeing Commercial Airplanes. “We see the potential for travel growth in 2017 to continue to be high in India and we expect more than 100 million passengers to fly domestically this year.”

According to Boeing’s 2016 India Current Market Outlook, 1,850 new airplanes, valued at $265 billion, will be needed in India, over the next 20 years. Single-aisle airplanes such as the Next-Generation 737 and 737 MAX will continue to account for the largest share of new deliveries, while widebody airplanes such as the 787 Dreamliner and the 777 family, make up the remainder of demand.

“Boeing continues to provide the airlines in India with the most fuel efficient, reliable and capable airplanes in every market segment, allowing them to open new routes and stay profitable in this growing and dynamic market,” said Keskar. “We look forward to delivering several more 787 Dreamliners to Air India this year and the 737 MAX to SpiceJet and Jet Airways in 2018.”

The 737 MAX family builds on the success of the Next-Generation 737 offering the highest efficiency, reliability and passenger comfort in the single-aisle market. With its latest technology CFM International LEAP-1B engines, Advanced Technology winglets and other improvements, the 737 MAX 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.

The 777 family of airplanes is distinguished by its fuel-efficiency, spacious cabin interior, range capability, commonality and reliability. The 777 provides the most payload and range capability and growth potential in the medium-sized airplane category — all with low operating costs. The new 77 7X builds off of the success of the 777 and incorporates advanced technology, including a new composite wing, all-new engines and superior aerodynamics. The 777-9 will be the largest and most efficient twin-engine commercial jet in the world with the lowest operating cost per seat of any commercial airplane and no competitor in its market segment.

The 787 is a family of technologically advanced, super-efficient airplanes with new passenger-pleasing features. Since beginning service in 2011, with its unparalleled fuel efficient and range flexibility, the 787 is flying more than 530 routes, with customers opening more than 130 new nonstop routes around the world.