Bharat Electronics Plans for ₹700-Crore Capex for FY17-18

Public sector defence major Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) plans a capex of ₹700 crore for 2017-18. 

“The sanctioned amount is more, but planned spend is around ₹700 crore on two new plants at Anantapur and Machilipatnam in Andhra Pradesh,” said BEL’s Chairman & Managing Director M Gowtama.

At Nimmaluru village, near Machilipatnam, the company is building new advanced night vision products factory and plans are afoot to expand night vision devices business. At Anantapur, a dedicated defence systems integration complex at Palasamudram is planned. In addition to these plants, the company is also creating dedicated business groups to address home land security and smart city business. On the sales outlook for 2017-18, Gowtama said “Our aim is to cross ₹10,000 crore. During 2016-17, we clocked ₹8,825 crore. Currently our turnover from indigenous technology is 87 per cent and sales from defence business is 88 per cent.”

To clock more sales, “we plan to continue indigenisation efforts in line with Make in India. We plan to enhance capacity and create new test facilities for defence business and are pursuing new opportunities in solar, energy, homeland security, smart cities, smart cards and telecom,” he added.

On electronic voting machines (EVMs), Gowtama said EVMs made by BEL are safe and the Election Commission (EC) has placed an order for 17 lakh machines with a budget of ₹3,100 crore. “The EC has placed order of 8.5 lakh each with us (BEL) and ECIL. We are committed to supply the order by September 2018. For us revenue with tax comes to ₹1,500 crore and without tax it will be ₹1,300 crore.”

The company’s exports dipped 23.52 per cent to $65 million in FY17 as compared with $85 million in FY16. Gowtama attributed the fall to Reliance Defence failing to raise LoI. 

“Otherwise we could have achieved the last fiscal sales’ level,” he said. The company’s order book as on April 1 is at $82 million. This includes offset order book $15 million. “This year our thrust is on exports and offsets. Focus is on build to print, build to spec and buyer-nominated equipment.”

The company has drawn a three-year (2017-2020) research and development (R&D) plan.

ISRO GSLV Mark-III Shall Put Mega Payloads of 4,000 Kg into the Orbit

After the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) has established itself as a dependable workhorse, the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) is paying special attention to its next generation rocket — the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mark-III which is capable of launching 4,000-kg satellites into space.
The GSLV version of the rocket was used to launch 2,000-kg satellites. The three-stag GSLV Mk-III adopts the flight-proven solid and liquid stages of the PSLV and a cryogenic upper stage.GSLV was developed to enable India to launch its heavier satellites without dependence on foreign rockets. If successful, the new rocket can project the country as a competitive player in the multi-million dollar commercial launch market.Isro scientists are optimistic over the success of the Mk-III mission in the backdrop of a series of tests carried out before going ahead with the launch arrangements.The cryogenic stage, designated as C25, was tested for a flight duration of 640 seconds at the propulsion complex at Mahendragiri in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu in February.The rocket will be carrying the GSAT-19 to space. It is likely to be launched in the next two months. The satellite is planned to carry Ka and Ku band payload along with a Geostationary Radiation Spectrometer (GRASP) payload to monitor and study the nature of the charged particles and influence of space radiation on spacecraft and electronic components.Isro working on three missions at same time For the first time, all the infrastructure at India’s spaceport — the Satish Dhawan Space Centre — is being put to use. Work related to the launch of rockets is progressing at a brisk pace.While integration of PSLV-C38 and GSLV-F09 are in progress at the buildings attached to first and second launch pads, work related to GSLV-MK 111 is going on at the solid stage assembly building. Isro officials said MK III would be shifted soon after the launch of GSLV-F09.The engineers of Isro said it is the first time that work of three launch missions is going on in full stream. The launch of the GSLV-F09 carrying the GSAT-9 satellite is planned probably on May 5. The PSLV-C3 will launch the Cartosat-2D and some foreign satellites on May 25. The bigger GSLV Mk III will carry the 4,000-kg GSAT-19 to space in June.
The GSLV version of the rocket was used to launch 2,000-kg satellites. The three-stag GSLV Mk-III adopts the flight-proven solid and liquid stages of the PSLV and a cryogenic upper stage.GSLV was developed to enable India to launch its heavier satellites without dependence on foreign rockets. If successful, the new rocket can project the country as a competitive player in the multi-million dollar commercial launch market.Isro scientists are optimistic over the success of the Mk-III mission in the backdrop of a series of tests carried out before going ahead with the launch arrangements.The cryogenic stage, designated as C25, was tested for a flight duration of 640 seconds at the propulsion complex at Mahendragiri in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu in February.The rocket will be carrying the GSAT-19 to space. It is likely to be launched in the next two months. The satellite is planned to carry Ka and Ku band payload along with a Geostationary Radiation Spectrometer (GRASP) payload to monitor and study the nature of the charged particles and influence of space radiation on spacecraft and electronic components.Isro working on three missions at same time For the first time, all the infrastructure at India’s spaceport — the Satish Dhawan Space Centre — is being put to use. Work related to the launch of rockets is progressing at a brisk pace.While integration of PSLV-C38 and GSLV-F09 are in progress at the buildings attached to first and second launch pads, work related to GSLV-MK 111 is going on at the solid stage assembly building. Isro officials said MK III would be shifted soon after the launch of GSLV-F09.The engineers of Isro said it is the first time that work of three launch missions is going on in full stream. The launch of the GSLV-F09 carrying the GSAT-9 satellite is planned probably on May 5. The PSLV-C3 will launch the Cartosat-2D and some foreign satellites on May 25. The bigger GSLV Mk III will carry the 4,000-kg GSAT-19 to space in June.

Automation Anywhere Launches IQ Bot, Software Bots Capable of Learning

Automation Anywhere, the global leader in enterprise Robotic Process Automation (RPA), today announced the availability of IQ Bot, software bots capable of studying, learning and mimicking human behavior for intelligent process automation. By combining cognitive abilities with practical, rule-based RPA capabilities, organizations can quickly scale and up level their Digital Workforces to fully automate processes end-to-end and run them independently with minimal human intervention. The product was launched at Automation Anywhere’s Imagine, the company’s premier customer experience event taking place in New York City.

IQ Bot is skilled at applying human logic to document patterns and extracting values in the same way that a human would, but with instantaneous speed, the accuracy of a machine and with a near-zero error rate. Fully integrated with the Automation Anywhere Enterprise platform, IQ Bot delivers organizations enormous gains in productivity because it is capable of processing and automating business tasks involving complex documents with unstructured data. With Automation Anywhere’s comprehensive Digital Workforce platform, comprised of RPA, cognitive and analytic capabilities, organizations can automate up to 80 percent of business processes, compared to the 30 percent automation capability by using RPA alone.

“IQ Bot is the next evolution of cognitive capabilities that significantly extends the proficiency of RPA beyond anything we’ve yet experienced. It enables companies to leverage what humans do best and what machines do best, delivering the first intelligent automation platform,” said Mihir Shukla, CEO and Co-founder, Automation Anywhere. “We strongly believe the full potential of enterprise automation is only realized when RPA and cognitive computing work together. With the release of IQ Bot, we are delivering critical functionality, which can be truly transformational.”

IQ Bot has a built-in, intuitive dashboard that makes it easy to setup and manage. IQ Bot relies on supervised learning, meaning that every human interaction makes IQ Bot smarter. In addition to English, IQ Bot can extract data in Spanish, French, Italian and German.

Metso and CDE Collaborate to Provide Comprehensive Solutions for Manufactured Sand Market in India

Metso (India) Pvt. Ltd. and CDE Asia Limited have agreed on marketing cooperation in order to provide comprehensive manufactured sand solutions to customers in India. Metso's scope covers the crushing and screening technology, and CDE Asia will provide the wet classification equipment required in the manufactured sand production process.

The agreement is in line with Metso's strategy to strengthen its capabilities by extending its portfolio in cooperation with strong partners around the world, CDE in this case, and offer comprehensive high-quality end-to-end solutions for an important segment like manufactured sand.

"As a leading provider of equipment and services for the mining and aggregates industries, we always aim to provide the best solutions to our customers that are not only qualitative and efficient in terms of profitability, but also environmentally sustainable. This new marketing cooperation agreement allows the customers to acquire the whole process easily, and at the same time forms a good platform for future growth for both Metso and CDE Asia in India," states Kamal Pahuja, Vice President, Mining and Aggregates, Metso India.

"The cooperation agreement with Metso presents new opportunities for both organizations and has been well received by our customers. The combination of Metso's and CDE Asia's sustainable technologies produces well shaped, washed and graded manufactured sand, helping to replace natural sand, which is fast becoming scarce and expensive. This collaboration will benefit the sand manufacturers by providing best-in-quality graded sand and sustainable operations by reusing up to 95% of water used. By utilizing normally low-value crusher fines for sand production, we can extend the life of natural resources and also add huge commercial value to our customer's enterprise," shares Manish Bhartia, Managing Director, CDE Asia.

The cooperation agreement between Metso and CDE Asia is restricted to marketing and development of common offerings for the manufactured sand market by pooling the companies' expertise and knowledge. Both parties negotiate and sign the terms of contracts independently with the end customers, representing their respective companies only.

CDE is the leading provider of washing equipment for quarries, mines and recycling operations on the global market. The CDE equipment range has applications across a wide range of materials and is delivering significant efficiencies in the construction and recycling, mining, specialist industrial sands and environmental sectors. Working across 5 sectors and 8 regions, CDE has been co-creating with customers for over 20 years to deliver collaborative, imaginative and unique processing systems.  

The CDE Global Design Headquarters are located in Northern Ireland and the company also has bases in Kolkata, India to serve the Asian market, São Paulo, Brazil to serve the Latin American market, Ormeau, Australia for Australasian market and North Carolina, USA, to serve the North American market.  CDE also has representatives based in North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East.

Audi Announces Attractive Sales & Service Benefits in May-June, 2017

Audi, the German luxury car manufacturer has today announced attractive offers on Sales and Service on the entire range of its product offerings.These offers are being rolled out with immediate effect across dealerships and are only applicable until the end of June, 2017.

“Customer Delight is at the center of Audi’s focus and we are sure that our current offers will delight Audi enthusiasts. The attractive prices and packages bring fantastic value to the Audi enthusiasts. It is the best time to join the Audi family, buy your dream Audi and benefit from the privileges of the Audi Club India. As opposed to the market trend, this is not a measure to clear old stock; we are extending the benefits on our new cars as well. This is what Customer Delight stands for,” said Mr. Rahil Ansari, Head, Audi India.

Under the new schemes on Sales and Service, Audi is offering competitive pricing on the entire model range. In addition to this, the company has also announced a tailor-made Comprehensive Service Package, which offers a variety of time and mileage options and range of service plans for customers to choose as per their individual needs and driving habits. The Comprehensive Service Package covers full maintenance, warranty and wear and tear. The brand with the four rings has also announced attractive finance and insurance schemes to make the experience of owning an Audi even more exciting. Customers can now approach their nearest dealership to avail tailor-made benefits to suit one’s requirement.

Cloudera’s Altus to Simplify Big Data Workloads in the Cloud

Cloudera, Inc, the provider of the leading modern platform for machine learning and advanced analytics, announced the release of Cloudera Altus, a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) offering that makes it easier to run large-scale data processing applications on public cloud. The initial Altus service helps data engineers use on-demand infrastructure to speed the creation and operation of elastic data pipelines that power sophisticated, data-driven applications.

Data engineering applications like ETL (Extract, Transform and Load) or batch scoring are often large, batch-oriented workloads that run for a fixed period of time and help companies extract critical insights from raw data. Organizations can gain significant flexibility and efficiency advantages by running these pipelines on elastic infrastructure. Enterprises want to leverage cloud infrastructure alongside familiar large-scale data processing tools and technologies.

The Cloudera Altus Data Engineering service simplifies the development and operations of elastic data pipelines; putting data engineering jobs front and center and abstracting infrastructure management and operations that can be both time consuming and complex. Altus also reduces the risk associated with cloud migrations. It provides users with familiar tools packaged in an open, unified, enterprise-grade platform service that delivers common storage, metadata, security, and management across multiple data engineering applications.

“Data engineering workloads are foundational for today’s data-driven applications,” said Charles Zedlewski, senior vice president of Products at Cloudera. “Altus simplifies the process of building and running elastic data pipelines while preserving portability and making it easy to incorporate data engineering elements into more complex BI, data science and real-time applications.”

Cloudera makes it easy, cost-effective, and convenient to deploy these workloads on cloud providers, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), taking advantage of cloud elasticity, low-cost storage and compute options, and rapid provisioning to deliver a modern data service that can tackle even the most challenging business problems. Cloud object stores such as Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) are becoming increasingly popular for their resiliency, scalability, and relatively low cost.

According to IDC, public cloud deployments are now at 12% of the overall worldwide business analytics software market and expected to grow at a 25% CAGR through 2020^[1]. Cloud is one of the fastest growing deployment environments for Cloudera customers, and Altus makes it easier than ever to run data engineering workloads in the cloud.

Features and benefits of Altus include:

●       Managed service for elastic data pipelines - Cloudera Altus is a PaaS that allows data engineers to easily and quickly provision Apache Spark, Apache Hive, Hive on Spark, and MapReduce2 capacity on cloud-native infrastructure. Altus presents intelligent default cluster settings and environments that dramatically reduce cluster deployment times and operations, automating processes like cluster provisioning, configuring, and termination.

●       Workload orientation - Cloudera Altus centers around data pipelines rather than clusters or infrastructures, so users can easily submit, clone, and troubleshoot pipelines with minimal attention paid to the underlying infrastructure.

●       No data siloes - The Altus Data Engineering service enables data engineers to run direct reads from and writes to cloud object storage as does the rest of Cloudera’s platform. This data is immediately available for use by other Cloudera workloads without requiring data replication, ETL or changes to file formats. In doing so users can more easily incorporate data engineering into their data science, BI and real time DB applications.

●       Backward compatibility and platform portability - Altus supports multiple versions of CDH the most widely used open source platform in the industry. Users can easily move workloads to and from the cloud without needing to modify their applications. Because CDH is backward compatible across minor releases, customers can harness the latest innovation from the Apache big data open source community without fear of breaking their applications from release to release.

●       Built-in workload management - Altus automates and simplifies the common operational issues related to elastic data pipelines with workload management. Users can troubleshoot failed jobs with or without the clusters or compute infrastructure being present.  In addition Altus’ workload management flags significant performance deviations and proposes a root cause analysis. In doing so customers can run their data pipelines with greater reliability and lower cost.

The initial rollout of Cloudera Altus includes support for Apache Spark, Apache Hive on MapReduce2, and Hive on Spark. It is available today in most Amazon Web Services (AWS) regions. Over time Cloudera plans to expand Altus to support other leading public clouds such as Microsoft Azure, etc.

The Tamara Coorg Opens Doors to its New ‘Yoga Temple’

The award winning luxury resort – The Tamara Coorg, known for its picturesque, tranquil and peaceful experiences, will add another exceptional feature to its property with the launch of its Yoga Temple. As the name suggests, the ‘Yoga Temple’ will be a place of divine worship where one can connect with one’s inner self. Inspired by the garbha griha or a sanctum sanctorum, with The Yoga Temple, The Tamara Coorg takes another step towards facilitating an environment of wellness for its guests, attained through a feeling of deep purity, peace and contentment. The spiritual soul of The Tamara Coorg will be launched on World Yoga Day on June 21, 2017.

The Yoga Temple, the first of its kind in India, was conceptualized to be a secular meditative space which unites the mind, body and spirit amidst an exuberant interplay of light, colour and texture. It is located on one acre of converted land surrounded by the lush greenery and serenity of the neighbouring organic coffee plantation and east facing mountain ridges.   

In line with the World Yoga Day, The Tamara Coorg will observe a special ‘Week of Revival’ between June 19 and 22, 2017. Whether a beginner or an advanced practitioner, guests’ can choose to partake in any or all of the below sessions with the in-house yoga expert –

-          Start the day by mastering the art of Asana, the posture while performing yoga and Pranayama, the practice of controlling the breath which is the vital life force, between 8:00 – 9:00 hrs

-          Stimulate different body parts and the mind with Yoga Mudra between 11:00 – 12:00 hrs

-           Indulge in deep relaxation when performing Yogic sleep with the Yoga Nidra session between 15:00 – 16:00 hrs

-          End the day by calming one’s senses with the guided meditation and art of breathing session between17:00 – 18:00 hrs

Speaking about the launch Shruti Shibulal, Promoter & Director of The Tamara said, “At The Tamara, we endeavour to provide our guests an all-encompassing experience through a series of our thoughtfully curated offerings. We want our guests to unwind and absorb the goodness and the calmness of the surroundings at The Tamara Coorg. With the launch of the ‘Yoga Temple’ we are certain about enabling a holistic experience for our guests that will help them restore balance, harmonize energy and revitalize their mind, body and soul.  We take great pride in presenting a truly authentic experience, which can heal, calm and connect one to a larger positive force.”

A team of well trained and experienced yoga instructors will assist practitioners replace restlessness with calm, impatience with fortitude and the constant search for the self with a complete sense of being.  At The Yoga Temple, guests will experience for themselves a sense of complete relaxation which enables one to attain spiritual happiness and inner strength.

The Yoga Temple is exceptional in all aspects of architecture - proportion, colour, sound and temperature. It is built through the fusion of long-established knowledge and contemporary technology celebrating the amalgamation of sacred art and architecture. Adorned with traditional Mangalore clay roof tiles and laterite stone craft, the Yoga Temple has been re-imagined to revive indigenous art and extend appreciation to local artisans. 

The oil diyas light up the space and elevate the divinity of this place. It is spread across ­­­­1000 sq. ft. of land which is part of the Elevation Spa and leisure area.  The Yoga Temple can accommodate 10 to 12 practitioners at any point in time.

The ‘Yoga Temple’ will be open from 7:00 – 9:00 hrs and from 17:00 – 19:00 hrs.