Samsung Electronics and VMware to Simplify IoT for Industrial and Enterprise Customers

At the Internet of Things World 2017, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd and VMware announced a new collaboration to help simplify Internet of Things (IoT) for both information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) teams by expanding end-to-end IoT solutions for industrial and enterprise customers. 

The companies will showcase the combination of the SAMSUNG ARTIK Smart IoT platform with VMware Pulse IoT Center, offering a secure, enterprise-grade, end-to-end IoT infrastructure solution that allows IT and OT teams to have complete control of their IoT use cases, from the edge to the cloud. In addition, the companies will showcase the integration of the SAMSUNG ARTIK 530 with Liota (Little IoT Agent), a vendor-neutral open source software development kit (SDK) developed by VMware, to help enterprise customers with the management, monitoring and securing of their IoT implementation.

Today, enterprises struggle to embrace IoT because of the sheer scale and complexity and security concerns. While SAMSUNG ARTIK Smart IoT platform provides customers with all the upfront IoT hardware and software they need to kick start their IoT developments, VMware will help manage IoT infrastructure from the edge all the way to the cloud. The combination will provide an end-to-end solution, including the hardware and software components, security, cloud connectivity, building services, and ability to monitor and manage the products over the product’s lifecycle.

“VMware and Samsung have a common goal to help enterprises speed their time to market with their IoT initiatives,” said Mimi Spier, vice president, IoT, VMware. “The SAMSUNG ARTIK Smart IOT platform delivers a state-of-the-art IoT platform, and we are collaborating with Samsung to help enterprises simplify their approach to deploying, managing, monitoring and securing their IoT infrastructure and connected devices.”

“Enterprises around the world are looking to develop and deploy IoT solutions to augment their product portfolio or expand into new markets. Being able to monitor and manage these solutions across devices at enterprise scale both on-premise and in the cloud is critical for successful rollouts,” said Curtis Sasaki, vice president of ecosystems, Samsung Strategy and Innovation Center. "We are developing a joint go-to-market plans to address global enterprises looking for at scale, enterprise IoT solutions.  With mutual customers in key industrial and vertical segments, we believe we can jointly address the growing development, deployment, and on going management these customers are looking for."

Ola Launches Progressive Web App in Indian Towns and Cities

Cab aggregator Ola today announced the launch of its 'Progressive Web App' (PWA), a lightweight mobile website that offers users, especially in smaller towns and cities, an app-like experience on simple smartphones.

The company claims that it requires a fraction of the data used by native apps.

Launched together with Google at the Google I/O developer conference in San Francisco today, PWA will enable the use of the Ola platform across hundreds of cities in India and addresses a significant market opportunity for customers and driver partners, the company said in a release.

It said Ola becomes the first ride hailing app in the APAC region to use PWA technology.

“As the first ride-hailing app in the APAC region that is using PWA technology, this represents an important development that will enable us to reach an ever greater number of customers and driver partners in rural India,” Ola Co-Founder and CTO Ankit Bhati said.

PWA will overcome technological barriers to enter key markets and make Ola the first ride-sharing platform in hundreds of cities across India, where there is limited connectivity and a prevailing use of low-end smartphones, the release added.

”... It’s exciting to see Ola create their PWA, which will ensure their users have an engaging experience from the very first moment,” Google VP Product Management, Chrome Rahul Roy-Chowdhury, said.

Agencies

IT Workers’ Union Against Cognizant Layoffs Shift to Bengaluru

After Chennai and Hyderabad, IT workers’ union FITE has now decided to approach the labour commission in Bengaluru to submit a petition to stop the alleged “illegal terminations” happening at Cognizant. 

Forum for IT Employees, or FITE, is a representative body of employees working in IT companies and call centres. The body has already approached labour commissions in Chennai and Hyderabad, alleging that the US-based firm is illegally terminating thousands of employees by forcing them to resign. “We are all set to approach the labour commission in Bengaluru to submit a petition to stop illegal terminations happening in Cognizant,” FITE Vice President Vasumathi told PTI.

FITE also plans to approach labour commissions in Kolkata and Pune.

Cognizant had rolled out a voluntary separation programme for directors, associate VPs and senior VPs, offering them 6-9 months of salary.

While Cognizant maintains that performance reviews are done to ensure that it has the right employee skill sets, FITE is alleging that the highly-paid experienced professionals are being replaced by those with lesser experience and lower pay.

Indian IT players including Infosys and Wipro have initiated performance reviews, a move that could see thousands of workers being shown the door.

While IT companies have been one of the largest recruiters in the country, increasing automation of processes is expected to lead to reduction in hiring in coming years.

Vasumathi said that depending on the outcome of conciliation meetings, a decision would be taken on whether or not to approach the court to solve the vexed issue.

She said FITE plans to hold a protest rally in Bengaluru, for which she is galvanising support from affected employees through social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook.

Karnataka IT Minister Priyank Kharge had earlier asked the affected IT employees to lodge a complaint with the labour department.

In an interview with PTI recently, Kharge had said the government would look into the matter and provide legal assistance if the affected or laid off employees approached it like their counterparts had in Tamil Nadu.

The labour commissions approached so far, have promised to take action, Vasumathi claimed.

After the Hyderabad meeting on May 11, Cognizant had sought two weeks’ time from the Telangana labour department to come up with a reply on the said issue.

Vasumathi alleged that there is no transparency in the hiring and appraisal activities of the IT industry. “IT firms must be asked to submit white papers on these processes to the government and to the public periodically,” she said demanding that a tribunal be set up for knowledge-based industries.

Agencies

Paytm's Payments Bank to Operate from May 23 Across India

Paytm’s banking arm, Paytm Payment Bank, on Wednesday received formal clearance from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to commence operations of its payments bank from May 23, and it set a target of getting 200 million accounts by the end of this year.

In a statement, a Paytm spokesperson said the company is in the process of launching Paytm Payments Bank on May 23. “We recently received approval from RBI for Renu Satti to be the chief executive officer,” said the spokesperson.

One97 Communications Founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma was among the 11 applicants to receive RBI’s in-principle nod for a payments bank licence in November 2015.

Sharma said that as per the directions of RBI, the company will be transferring wallet business to the newly incorporated payments bank entity Paytm Payments Bank.

Renu, who is vice president of business at Paytm, will take over as the chief executive officer of Paytm Payments Bank from Shinjini Kumar, a former director at consultancy firm PwC, who was hired in February to lead the payments bank.

Starting her career with One97 Communication, the holding company of Paytm, as human resources manager, Renu has been with Paytm for nearly a decade working on several projects, including Paytm marketplace and Paytm’s wallet business.

According to a company official, Paytm will allow its close to 218 million wallet-users through a written request. Among this, those accounts which are dormant for six months and having zero balance, will be made a part of it by the company when a user places a request.

The company has set a target of 200 million accounts within 12 months of the launch across current and savings accounts, and mobile wallets. Sharma has a vision of taking it to half a billion accounts by 2020.

In an earlier interaction with DH, a Paytm executive had said that the company is investing around Rs 350 crore to begin the journey in the payments business. “We would like to make it into the second largest revenue stream of the parent company. Our branches will have a maximum of two to three members, and it will be mainly in the rural hinterland,” said the official.

Sharma — who along with his firm One97 Communications have together invested Rs 220 crore in Paytm Payments Bank to date — wants to make banking service simple, easy to handle, transparent and penalty-free. 

Initial Production of Apple iPhone SE in Bengaluru this May Onwards

US tech giant Apple Inc said it is beginning initial production of a “small number” of ‘iPhone SE’ in the city and start shipping to domestic customers this month. “We are beginning initial production of a small number of iPhone SE in Bengaluru. iPhone SE is the most popular and powerful phone with a four-inch display in the world and we’ll begin shipping to domestic customers this month,” Apple said here.

The Karnataka government had in February announced Apple Inc.’s proposal to commence initial manufacturing operations in Bengaluru. The phones will be manufactured by Wistron, a Taiwanese OEM for Apple at Peenya in the city.Karnataka IT Minister Priyank Kharge had on March 30  said that Apple would be ready to start assembling high-end iPhones in the city in less than a month to boost its chances of gaining a foothold in the fast-growing Indian market. 

Local manufacturing is expected to help Apple price its phones more competitively in India as it currently attracts additional duty on imports. Apple had asked for several tax and other incentives to enter India in the manufacturing sector.

The company has been ramping up its efforts to expand its business in India, one of its fastest growing markets. Apple is also keen on setting up retail presence in India and has sought relaxation in local sourcing norms. 

The company has also announced the opening of ‘App  Accelerator’ in Bengaluru, an initiative that would provide support to Indian developers and enable them to transform the design and performance of their apps on its mobile operating system iOS.

NGDATA Acquires Eccella to Fuel International Growth and Expansion

NGDATA, the customer experience management solutions company, today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Eccella, a data management and analytics consultancy based in New York City, with offices in London, UK and Mumbai, India. Eccella is a leader in the field of data-driven consulting and systems construction, and its team will join NGDATA as the company continues to execute its strategy for aggressive North American and global growth.

 Eccella works with organizations across the world to help them develop, deploy and execute data-driven strategies. The acquisition allows NGDATA to rapidly grow its presence in the UK and North America, and NGDATA and Eccella customers will benefit from access to top data-focused talent and expanded industry expertise. Partners of NGDATA will benefit from the combined global infrastructure of two leading data companies supporting their efforts to deliver solutions, and Eccella’s world-class partner ecosystem gives NGDATA the opportunity to further build out its strategic technology partnerships.

 “This is a strategic acquisition for NGDATA that will help us solidify the team, the resources and the company infrastructure to accelerate the pace of our growth. The addition of Eccella will greatly enhance the value we bring to our clients and partners through the powerful combination of the functionality of Lily Enterprise and Eccella’s deep domain knowledge, partnerships and global industry expertise,” said Luc Burgelman, CEO of NGDATA.

 “Expanding into the UK and bolstering its US presence is a smart move that will contribute to and accelerate NGDATA’s aggressive growth strategy worldwide,” said Michel Akkermans, Chairman of NGDATA. “Forward thinking organizations are looking for technology that can help them turn real-time insights into actionable intelligence, and this acquisition will make it easier for NGDATA to meet that increasing demand on a global scale.”

 The deal to acquire Eccella comes on the heels of the October 2016 acquisition of Rednun, a Netherlands-based company specializing in creating personalized and data-driven video to optimize customer engagement. Prior to that, NGDATA acquired ENQIO, a European consultancy focused on data management, business analytics and multi-channel campaign management. Overall, NGDATA achieved 75 percent year-over-year growth in 2016, a year in which the company grew its workforce by 50 percent.

 “Luc and his team at NGDATA have a vision for the company and its role in creating better data-driven customer experiences that is impressive, ambitious and highly aligned with Eccella’s mission of building data-driven companies. We are thrilled to join and play a key role in the execution of that strategy,” said Gil Rosen, founder and president of Eccella. “Making quick yet intelligent decisions based on real-time data is increasingly critical, and we are in lock step with NGDATA’s approach to helping organizations adapt by gaining actionable insights from data to drive their business.”

 “Eccella works with organizations across the world to help them develop, deploy and execute their data-driven strategies by implementing end-to-end, data-based solutions,” said Meitav Harpaz, CEO of Eccella. “For our customers, NGDATA’s advanced data platform and team of data specialists complete Eccella’s offering for the entire lifecycle of the data, from strategy, through data preparation, data integration, data quality, mastering, governance and visualization, all the way to advanced analytics and insights."

PayPal Unveils Third Edition of Girls in Technology Workshop

PayPal, the global leader in online payments, recently launched the third edition of Girls in Tech, a two-week workshop that teaches young girls tech craftsmanship by introducing them to the basics of programming. The girls, between 8 and 14 years of age, will learn coding from industry experts and senior leaders from PayPal from May 15 – 31, 2017 at the PayPal tech centers in Chennai and Bangalore. The program has seen participation from over 100 girls since its inception in 2015.

An initiative born out of PayPal’s long-term commitment to diversity, Girls in Tech is aimed at nurturing a sense of passion and craftsmanship in future talent, with a focus on inspiring tomorrow’s women in technology right from an early stage. During the workshop, participants will not only get the opportunity to learn programs such as Scratch, Python, App Inventor and Online Me, but will also shadow a PayPal engineer, work on solving real-world issues through coding as well as be a part of self and personality development workshops. These include theatre, photography, robotics, public speaking, innovation, First Aid and emergency awareness, among others.

“Among high school students, a lower percentage of girls are interested in pursuing a career in STEM compared to boys. Industry reports also state that women hold a disproportionately low share of most STEM undergraduate degrees, earning just 20% of engineering degrees in 2014. At PayPal, we strongly believe that initiatives such as Girls in Tech can change this trend by instilling a love for technology in girls from an early stage,” says Guru Bhat, GM Technology and Head of Engineering– PayPal. “We introduce the participants to coding in fun, artistic ways to help them understand that technology is full of surprises. After all, it is not mere coding or engineering that we need in the industry at the moment - we need technology craftsmen with the passion to strengthen the technology community in India.”

Manasa Vijayaraghavan, a 13-year-old participant said that she didn’t realize coding could be so much fun. “This is my third year at the workshop and it has been a fabulous experience. I am passionate about getting into robotics in the future and this program has helped me get my foundation in place by teaching me the basics of coding. I never thought I would be so interested in algorithms and flow charts, but now I also plan on taking some online lessons and explore website development. The sessions, games and activities here make it a very memorable experience for me and I cannot wait to come back.”

Girls in Tech will be held at the PayPal campus in Chennai between May 15 and 31, 2017 and at the PayPal tech center in Bangalore between May 22-26, 2017.