India Mobile Congress to Showcase India’s Telecom Prowess from Sept 27-29, 2017 in New Delhi

India is all set to host for the first time its own mobile mega show ‘India Mobile Congress’ (IMC) from September 27-29 to showcase the country’s growing prowess in the global telecom market. The event, to be held in New Delhi, is being billed as India’s answer to high profile and marquee mobile shows that are held annually in markets like Shanghai and Barcelona.

“We have been feeling the need to hold such an event in India for a long time. We hope that like the Mobile World Congress, this event too will establish its significance in the coming days,” COAI director general Rajan Mathews said at an event in Bengaluru.

The Department of Telecom and the Ministry of Electronics and IT have thrown their weight behind the event, which is being organised by the industry association COAI, and K AND D Communications.

The ‘India Mobile Congress’ with special focus on reaching out to the Asian markets will see technology titans converge to offer a peek into the digital future. Terming the Indian telecom sector as a “success story”, he said the time has come for the country to exhibit its prowess in the global arena.

The Indian telecom market is the second-largest in the world after China and has a total subscriber base (mobile and landline combined) of over  1.18 billion.”We need to take the latest in the world of technology and leverage it for our flagship programmes including Skill India, Digital India, Smart Cities and Make in India,” he adds.

The government is aware of the issues surrounding the industry’s financial health and asserted that all efforts will be made to ensure that India’s success story in the telecom sector is taken forward. The growth is happening. There are certain concerns around the balancesheet of some companies…The government is aware of it and has constituted an inter-ministerial panel to debate all issues.

The panel has already held its first meeting and the conference will have special emphasis on topics like Internet governance, 5G, sustainable wi-fi, smart cities and smart governance and Internet of Things and Machine to Machine Communication.

India Mobile Congress is expected to see the participation of telecom giants like Huawei, Ericsson, Nokia, as well as telecom operators like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular.

The three-day event is expected to draw 5,000 paid participants and 800 exhibitors. Countries like the US, the UK, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Korea, the Philippines, Bhutan and Japan have evinced interest in participating and creating awareness around the upcoming event, Mathews said. ”We have GSMA Barcelona that focuses primarily on the West…We never had a marquee event here that showcases the opportunities in India. The South East Asia region has much to learn from what is happening in India on the policy front and manufacturing…how we share infrastructure and how we provide affordable services,” Mathews said.

India’s experiences with regard to mobile payment, e-health and e-education have a global relevance, he said adding that the event would also highlight the country’s innovation, skill base and the startup ecosystem.

Cuemath Hosts the Biggest Mathematics Carnival for Kids in Bangalore

Namma Bengaluru witnessed the biggest ever mathematics carnival hosted by Cuemath - India's leading home-based, after-school learning program for mathematics. From math learning tools to intuitive puzzles and games, this mathematics carnival was thoughtfully designed to make sure that every child (from KG – 8^thgrade) enjoyed the process of math learning at the event. The event took place at Elaan Convention Centre, JP Nagar and was attended by over 5000 people. ( 3000+ Children along with their parents).

In the spirit of Independence Day, Cuemath has found a reason to also celebrate 'freedom from the fear of math'. This year, our Independence Day, 15^th August, is also a special date that comes only once in 100 years. It is a Pythagorean Triplet. So how does August 15^th 2017 really become a Pythagorean triplet? Pythagorean triplet is sum of the square of the first two sides equivalent to the square if the third side. So, 15² + 8² = 17²   

Organized against the backdrop of a mathematical coincidence, which was observed on 15^thAugust 2017, this mathematics carnival by Cuemath was one of a kind. To build the enthusiasm and excitement, Cuemath curated some brain cracking math learning tools and puzzles for children between KG and 8^th grade that challenged their creativity, imagination, thinking skills, and social skills. Some of the Key activities included, Fraction Hopscotch, Arithmetic Spinner, Go Bananas, Play with Geometry, Code Decode and Math Jigsaw.

Manan Khurma, Founder and CEO at Cuemath said, “This is a first of its kind math carnival that Bangalore has ever witnessed. There's mathematics in everything around us. And as people who celebrate math, we're only too pleased to note that this year our independence day also has an interesting mathematical coincidence. In the spirit of our Independence Day, we wanted to showcase the many ways in which the fear of mathematics can be conquered and what better way than organizing a fun filled carnival; bringing kids under one roof with interesting games and puzzles and helping them experience the fascinating side of math in an engaging and non-competitive environment”.

Commenting on Cuemath Pythagoras Fest 2017, Shereena, Principal, Sunshine School,said, “Cuemath has a lot of scope for kids because kids learn best when they are having fun. At Cuemath its about engaging children to learn mathematics the right way. 26 of my students accompanied me all the way from Kanakapura to be a part of this engaging carnival. I’m sure my students learnt a lot and I hope to use some of these activities in my school as well. This result is proof of the efficiencies that active learning can bring and thereby help children experience the engaging side of mathematics”.

Started in 2013, Cuemath is a home-based, active math learning program for kids between KG to 8^th Grade. Combining the power of technology and personal teaching, Cuemath offers a unique curriculum that ensures a holistic learning experience through workbooks, math boxes, puzzle cards and a tablet. Cuemath’s self-paced program is setting a unique precedence for math teaching and learning as it challenges its traditional means of rote learning formulas, restricting curriculum to a fixed syllabus and focusing purely on scoring.

The future ahead is driven by technology. In just a decade from now, the skill that will truly matter is one’s ability to solve complex problems where math will surely play a huge role. Thus, one needs to begin now and empower children to go beyond the mark/score system and enable them with the ability to think logically and apply an analytical approach to arrive at answers.

VMware Celebrates 10 Years of Delivering Industry-Leading Innovations in Mac Virtualization with VMware Fusion 10

  

VMware, Inc., a global leader in cloud infrastructure and business mobility, announced new versions of VMware Fusion solutions and the 10^th anniversary of delivering enterprise-quality Windows virtualization on Mac. VMware Fusion 10 Pro, designed for technical professionals that want to build, test and demonstrate Mac, Windows and Linux applications on a Mac, will include advanced capabilities that continue to evolve the solution to support technical professionals and developers. VMware Fusion 10 designed for personal use, will offer Touch Bar support, enhanced GPU and 3D graphics performance, and an updated user interface (UI) to leverage the latest innovations in Mac. Together, the solutions will enable Mac users to take full advantage of the innovative features and capabilities available in Mac, Linux and Windows 10.

“VMware has a proven track record over the last 10 years of delivering innovations in VMware Fusion for the ultimate Windows on Mac experience,” said Dave Grant, vice president, Product Marketing, End-User Computing, VMware. “Originally designed for personal use, Fusion has evolved to become increasingly capable for IT professionals and the latest Fusion 10 Pro will deliver many capabilities that will suit development and operation teams.”

VMware Fusion 10 Pro – More Enterprise Capable Than Ever Before

VMware Fusion 10 Pro will provide the foundation of modern development and testing, enabling multi-operating system development, multi-operating system testing, and integration into DevOps/agile development workflows. Fusion enables IT professionals and developers to run virtual machines that are compatible with corporate data centers from a Mac to perform tasks such as data center design and testing, data center management, network design and testing, and application development and testing.

Support for REST APIs will offer a new interface for managing virtual machines (VMs) remotely and programmatically. This will enable developers and enterprises to integrate Fusion into a modern development and testing pipeline by performing VM operations including VM inventory management, VM power management, cloning, networking, configuration, and IP and MAC address gathering, among others. Developers will also benefit from integration with VMware PhotonOS that will support the most common container formats, runtime engines and scheduling frameworks for seamless migration of containers-based applications from development to production.

Support for Microsoft's new Virtualization Based Security features, such as Credential Guard for Windows 10 virtual machines, unified extensible firmware interface (UEFI) Secure Boot, and a virtual Trusted Platform Module will add to existing security features in Fusion 10 Pro – delivering a more secure development environment than ever before. Enhanced networking controls will enable management of network address translation (NAT) rules, network packet loss and latency simulation, and renaming of VM networks for better organization. All this will be managed from a completely updated user interface that provides a more modern, informative, and streamlined experience for users.

Lastly, support for MacBook Touch Bar will enable users to easily access commonly used controls using the latest MacBook hardware features.

VMware Fusion 10 – Delivering Power and Performance to Individuals

VMware Fusion 10, a streamlined version of VMware Fusion 10 Pro, will offer seamless integration with Windows and Linux applications for a native Mac application experience. Advancements will include improved graphics performance and accuracy with Apple Metal technology, Touch Bar support, and support for the latest versions of Windows 10.

Availability and Pricing

VMware Fusion 10 Pro and VMware Fusion 10 are expected to be available in October for $159 and $79 respectively. VMware Fusion 10 Pro will also be available through VMware partners and distributors.

Customers who purchase Fusion 8.5 or Fusion 8.5 Pro between August 22 and November 1 will be eligible for an electronic upgrade to Fusion 10 or Fusion 10 Pro, respectively, at no additional cost. 

Uber, AAI Partner to Provide Reliable Rides from Four Indian Airports

Uber, the world’s largest on-demand ridesharing company that has transformed the way people move around in cities, has today announced a partnership with Airports Authority of India to make it easier for riders to get a ride at the airports at the tap of a button. The service will be operational in the airports in Kolkata, Chennai, Bhubaneshwar and Pune in the next couple of weeks.

Through this partnership, Uber aims to make it even more convenient and reliable for riders to get an Uber at the airport, making travel seamless and hassle-free. Uber will set up booking zones at the airports, where even those who do not have the app will be able to book a ride. There will be a dedicated pick up zone outside arrival terminals, on-ground assistance and clear signages to guide travelers to their car for pick up.

The Uber app will also enable riders to get specific pick up instructions - like terminal and door number - to reach their Uber driver. This feature further helps optimize pick up experience for both riders and drivers partners.

Here’s what riders will find at these four airports:

·         Riders at the airports will be able to book an Uber from designated kiosks at the domestic and international arrival terminals, to avail a hassle-free ride

·         Clear and dedicated signage will direct riders to the pick-up location for their Ubers

·         On ground assistance to direct riders to the car pick-up zones

·         Uber driver-partners will have dedicated parking spaces to make pick-ups more convenient - this will also make ETAs shorter for riders

"Commenting on the partnership, Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Government of India said, “India’s public transport networks have evolved considerably over the last few years and innovative services have played an instrumental role. It is encouraging to see Airports Authority of India and Uber come together with another technology backed service that will enhance the airport travel experience in Indian cities. I strongly believe that such services, when smartly integrated through public-private partnerships, can fill in the gaps of last-mile connectivity. I congratulate both parties for this landmark move and am eager to see passengers benefit from this new service. "

"We are encouraged by the collaborative step from the Airports Authority of India, enabling Uber to offer these solutions that marry the strengths of public air transit with the convenience and reliability of Uber, getting riders to and from transit stops to reach their ultimate destination, thereby filling the gaps in transit efficiently and seamlessly. With a first of its kind partnership in India with mass air transit infrastructure, we expect to cater to visitors from over 70 countries that use Uber in India," said David Richter, Global Head of Business and Corporate Development, Uber. Today, Uber is available at over 20 airports in India, and at more than 200 airports globally, with presence at almost all major US and European Airports. 25% of our active riders in India in last 3 months have travelled across cities and used Uber to get to airport or for commute in the destination city. "For public transport to be encouraged, it is important that walking distances are reduced, public transit is predictable and it’s close to people’s homes or mass transit stops. Our experience across the world and Metro rail corporations in India has shown us that Uber and public transit modes share complementarities that can help in filling these gaps and consequently reduce the burden on the government for creating new roads and public transit routes. We have already executed several partnerships with public transit agencies in India and other markets and have been effective in becoming a reliable first and last mile connectivity solution." he further added.

Commenting on the alliance, Dr. Guruprasad Mohapatra, Chairman AAI said, "AAI has always kept passenger convenience at the centre of its functioning. We are committed to give best possible experience to users of our airports. Bringing in leading cab service aggregators like Ola and Uber is a step in the direction of ensuring minimum hassle and better services to air travellers in India."

Hitachi’s Ramesh Srinivasan to Join BankBazaar as New CFO

BankBazaar, India’s leading paperless financial marketplace, announced that Ramesh Srinivasan will be joining the company as its new CFO. Ramesh comes with 22 years of experience in the Banking & Financial Services Industry (BFSI) segment and was earlier the Financial Advisor at Hitachi Payment Services. Prior to his current role, Ramesh was Chief Financial Officer and was also in charge of business planning and strategy for BNA & CRM at Hitachi Payment Services.

A Chartered Accountant and Cost Accountant by education, Ramesh has been a part of organizations such as AT&T‚ NCR, and Optimus. Ramesh would be based in Chennai and would be responsible for leading the company towards an IPO release. Speaking on the appointment, Adhil Shetty, CEO, BankBazaar, said: “This is a very exciting time for BankBazaar. Our technology and paperless platform have made BankBazaar the flag-bearer in helping customers access the right financial products online in the safest and simplest manner. Now we are looking to consolidate our successes and plan ahead with an eye on releasing our IPO in 2020-22. We are confident that Ramesh's expertise in developing financial processes will take us further on our path.”

At a time when most sectors and businesses are thinking of downsizing and cost-cutting, BankBazaar continues on an expansion mode. Previously, BankBazaar had announced that it would be recruiting approx. 400 new employees. As of August 2017, the company has welcomed more than 130 new employees, and is in the process of recruiting more. The company anticipates this expansion to drive its future vision and roadmap after a strong growth in 2016-17. Shetty explains: “We are working on building bigger and more diverse team that can take on the challenges thrown up by next stage of the business cycle. This new team will drive the next phase of growth and profitability for BankBazaar. The expectations are high and so is our enthusiasm.”

In the last financial year, BankBazaar has seen a remarkable growth. The company has made great strides in developing a paperless platform for a range of products, implementing the world’s first multi-brand platform for unsecured credit products such as personal loans and credit cards, along with paperless investment products. The number of unique visitors per month grew from 9M in March 2016 to 17M in March 2017. This is despite a 50% reduction in cost per customer acquisition. The company also announced positive unit economics on every transaction in the last financial year and is on track to achieve EBITDA profitability from December 2017. The year 2016 also saw BankBazaar’s expansion into the international market beginning with Singapore followed by Malaysia in 2017.

BankBazaar is funded by global investors such as Walden International, Sequoia Capital, Fidelity Growth Partners, Mousse Partners and Amazon, and has received investment of US$80M till date.

EasyGov, Journee and Megdap Emerge Winners at the Pitch Finale of #BuildOnIndiaStack 2017

The pitch finale of #BuildOnIndiaStack, Venture Pitch Competition, organized by iSPIRT and Dalberg was close-fitting. With over 180 entries, the selected 12 finalists from diverse sectors such as e-governance, health care, education, fintech, environment and agriculture presented their ideas to a full-house audience.  EasyGov that bagged the first position was awarded a cash prize of Rs. 3 lakhs. EasyGov is a cloud solution to help billion people of India to discover the entitlement from thousands of welfare schemes from the Government. EasyGov solution will help in rolling out 10K+ schemes in local language to enable people check family entitlement from phone.

The runner-ups, Journee and Megdap received prize money of Rs. 2 lakhs and Rs 1.5 lakhs respectively. FreeSave and Krishiyog received consolation prize. The winners now look forward to interact with Nandan Nilekani, who has agreed to mentor them for shaping their ideas. The founders of the winning startup, EasyGov, Amit Shukla and Vineet Sharma said “IndiaStack has created enabling environment for democratizing the government welfare scheme delivery. Acceptance of eSign document at all government offices can make it really big. We thank #BuildOnIndiaStack to provide us a platform to showcase our efforts.”

Technology evangelist, Nandan Nilekani who has also been at the forefront of the digital agenda in India said, “IndiaStack was being used mainly for Fintech. It however has vaster potential. It needs to be extended to education, health care and skill development amongst others. India Stack provides access to features such as the Digi-Locker, eKYC, eSign, UPI that can re-invent these sectors and make them accessible to the common man. #BuildOnIndiaStack was organized to embark upon this journey and interact with entrepreneurs that would be keen to serve the unserved and underserved. India Stack can be source of massive inclusion for India’s population.”

The panel of jurors comprised of stalwarts from the impact and social entrepreneurship industry like Bindu Ananth, Chair of IFMR Trust and IFMR Holdings; Srikrishna Ramamoorthy, Partner, Unitus Seed Fund; CV Madhukar, Investment Partner, Omidyar Network; Varad Pande, Partner, Dalberg Global Development Advisors and Sanjay Jain, Chief Innovation Officer, CIIE. The jury had a deservably difficult time to shortlist 12 entries from the total 180+ entries that #BuildOnIndiaStack received.

 “IndiaStack has tremendous potential to encourage innovations for India's mass market. This eve put the spotlight on a number of such applications & entrepreneurs and will help create more focus on mass market business models.” said, Bindu Ananth, Chair of IFMR Trust and IFMR Holdings.

 Varad Pande, Partner at Dalberg who also was on the jury panel said,“Today’s pitch presentations demonstrate the passion of our young innovators and the potential of technology to serve India’s 1 billion underserved. This competition is the start of a journey to support innovative tech-enabled solutions that “Build for Bharat”. We at Dalberg are excited to be part of that journey.”

IndiaStack is the largest application programming interface (API) in the world supported by an open API policy by the Government of India. The stack is a new technology paradigm that is scalable to handle massive data inflows, and is poised to enable entrepreneurs, citizens and governments to interact with each other transparently, creating an ecosystem to develop innovative ideas to serve the 1.1 billion people on the platform, specifically the BOP population.

Sanjay Jain, Chief Innovation Officer at CIIE and who has been associated with the IndiaStack initiative said, “The strong finalists, and the diversity of entries shows that entrepreneurs believe that they can make a business which meet the needs of the underserved.  This sends a strong signal, which is further strengthened by the interest from the VC community in this event.  I am confident that this will lead to more entrepreneurs and investors looking at the country well beyond the top tier of the economy.”

#BuildOnIndiaStack also created a platform for entreprenuers to interact with various partners of the eco-system.  Investment Partner at Omidyar Network, C V Madhukar said, "Today’s event brought to the fore the entrepreneurial energy in India that is attempting to solve important public problems. As entrepreneurs think about using the India Stack, investors have an opportunity to invest in companies that protect the privacy of individuals, especially in light of today’s judgement by the Supreme Court making privacy a fundamental right.”

The competition was open to all innovations that leverage the IndiaStack to unlock new business models and/or reach previously underserved, new customer segments across diverse sectors such as financial services, education, healthcare and others. Some core focus areas for the competition also included digital lending and supporting activities, such as alternative credit scoring; sector specific digital services such as health insurance or education loans, skilling and certification, property registration agreements, patient-centric healthcare management; and SaaS platforms “as a service” that support the development of other India Stack based innovations such as Digi-locker or e-sign providers.

Srikrishna Ramamoorthy, Partner at Unitus Seed Fund said, “Our priority at Unitus is to invest in startups that can disrupt the way financial services is delivered to the masses. This competition has facilitated that in a big way and we want ventures to keep building on India Stack”

Partners of this event were Bharat Innovations Fund, Omidyar Network, Unitus Seed Fund, CIIE (IIM-A). Start-up India and LetsVenture were the outreach partners for this inititative.The event was also supported by AwsActivate, 91Springboard and Rise Mumbai.

Innosential Launches a 5-Day Masterclass on Data Sciences in Collaboration with ITC Infotech

ITC Infotech, a global scale full service provider of technology solutions and a fully owned subsidiary of ITC Ltd, is collaborating with Innosential to present a five-day Masterclass program in Bengaluru from the August 25–29, 2017, to aid the IT industry’s need of reskilling.

Innosential’s Data Science Masterclass in collaboration with ITC Infotech presents an opportunity for the practicing data scientists to up skill themselves in the latest aspects of disruptive technologies. The initiative aims to provide theoretical and practical knowledge from leading researchers and practitioners in Machine Learning, Deep Learning, and Text Analysis to name a few. The program will dwell on the most prominent elements of data sciences such as data stream mining, data science for digital commerce and building on AI/data science team. It will also provide hands-on experience to gain first hand insights and understanding of the data sciences ecosystem. With about 30 speakers, 150+ leading technologists and innovators group brainstorming sessions, the summit intends to discuss the technologies shaping the future of the industry.

Commenting on the collaboration, Sushma Rajagopalan, MD & CEO, ITC Infotech, said, “As the IT industry evolves, reskilling becomes crucial for the industry to be future-ready. We are happy to collaborate with Innosential to present a platform that will foster deeper understanding of Data Sciences. This initiative will encourage peer-to-peer learning, and sharing of insights by experts in this evolving field.”

Adding to this, Prof. Jaime Carbonell, University Professor, Allen Newell Professor, School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University, Director, Language Technologies Institute, Carnegie Mellon University and founding advisor to Innosential said, “We are happy to partner with ITC Infotech to present the first ever Data Science Master Class delivered by leading lights in Data Science from India and across the globe. The summit will showcase disruptive AI technologies and their applications in business and society. The event will see numerous industry innovators share their best practices to advance data sciences’ impact and opportunities.”

ITC Infotech is focused on incubating technology innovation, and champions multi-dimensional initiatives, including the company’s annual technology innovation & co-creation platform – iTech. The company recently concluded the third edition of iTech - a platform to drive technology innovation and co-creation, which was themed around Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.