Goa Carnival, Food & Cultural Festival at Four New Routes from February 9-13, 2018

The Department of Tourism, Government of Goa presents the highly anticipated, Goa Carnaval from February 10 to 13 and the Goa Food & Cultural Festival from February 9 to 13 at D.B. Bandodkar Grounds, Campal, Panaji - Goa. The float parade will be flagged off on Saturday, February 10 in the capital city of Goa – Panaji. For the first time, a new route has been selected and the parade will take place along the Miramar – Dona Paula Route.

The stage is all set to herald Goa’s biggest celebration – the Goa Carnaval, and thousands of tourists are expected to flock in to witness this grand spectacle. The streets across Goa will be adorned with colourful buntings, banners, masks and themed décor. During the vibrant 4 day Carnaval, float parades will take place at major cities in Goa; Panaji (February 10), Margao (February 11), Vasco (February 12) and Mapusa (February 13).

This year, Bruno Azaredo (57) from Utorda, South Goa has been chosen to lead the Carnaval Parades as ‘King Momo’. Azaredo has been in this industry for several years and has participated in previous carnaval festivities as a dancer. King Momo is a mythological figure, who is symbolic when it comes to carnaval celebrations and he will declare the decree of “Eat, Drink and Make Merry” during his 4 day reign. The parade will showcase diverse participants under various categories, displaying different themes and messages. The total prize money for the four-day event has also been increased.

The Goa Food & Cultural Festival will be inaugurated on Friday, 9 February. Celebrate five days of fun, flavor and fiesta, as the Food & Cultural Festival brings together a host of professionals from the tourism & hospitality industry; hoteliers, restaurateurs, beverage brands and lifestyle outlets to showcase their premium offerings. The five day festival promises an exciting line-up of performances, activities and events. Some of the festival highlights include food & lifestyle stalls, performances by popular national bands including Agnee, Lagori, Ravi Chary with Gino Banks & Troupe, live music by top Goan Bands – Crimson Tide and Rahul with Raagas 2 Riches, international dance performances, fashion show by Anusha Shaikh, sand sculpture workshop, Chef de Goa Cooking Contest, and much more.

The Chef de Goa competition is an excellent platform for those with culinary knowledge and expertise to showcase their flair. The competition celebrates the rich cuisine of Goa, and contestants will have to participate in a series of rounds to win the coveted title. The final will take place on 13^th February at the festival venue.

Gavin Dias, General Manager - Goa Tourism Development Corporation Ltd. stated “Goa Tourism extends a warm welcome to everyone to be a part of these exquisite celebrations. The Carnaval is a much awaited festival which celebrates the spirit of revelry for 4 days and the 5 day Goa Food & Cultural Festival will showcase a vibrant mix of live performances, food stalls, music and culture.  This year we promise a bigger and exciting lineup of festivities.”

The Food & Cultural festival is open to all and will commence at 6 pm every evening.

India’s Largest Natural Stone Expo – STONA 2018 – From February 7-10, 2018 at BIEC, Bengaluru

The International Granites & Stone Fair – STONA found its existence in the year 1987 and since then it is one of the most preferred platforms in the stone and granite related industry. Being the first of its kind exhibition in Asia, STONA is the pioneer in this field and is a perfect podium that showcases the best in the industry and connects directly with the natural stone trade and industry.

STONA serves as a great single window that projects India’s natural stones, products & the creative ability to make and supply anything to everything. From Slab, Tiles, Artifacts, Landscaping, Paving, Dimensional Blocks, Cylindrical Pillars, Machinery, Equipments, Vases to showcasing the latest technology, know how and the new areas to be sought.

This exhibition is being applauded by the visitors and the exhibitors and has been a big reason for the growth of Indian stone and granite industry.

Major processors and exporters of stones from worldwide. Exhibits Range includes: granite, marble, tiles, special-shaped materials, slabs and blocks, stone-carved crafts, tomb stones, garden stones, artificial stone products; stone-mine exploitation equipments, stone processing machinery, polishers, crocuses and abrasives, chemical technologies and equipments for stone maintenance, scientific research, professional magazines.

Uber, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways Join Hands to Drive Road Safety Awareness

Uber, the world’s largest on-demand ride-sharing company, reinforced its commitment to road safety today in the presence of Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport and Highways by announcing a slew of measures/ initiatives.

As part of its ongoing efforts to encourage road safety awareness, Uber will be jointly promoting road safety messaging on the Uber app and social media through Ministry of Road Transport & Highways co-branded materials and mediums. Several advertisements and videos targeting prevention of drunk driving and promotion of rear seat belts and hands on the wheel among other themes, will be prepared and disseminated across the country as part of this safety campaign.

Another key initiative towards impacting road safety awareness and education among lakhs of budding drivers both on and off the Uber app is the decision to jointly develop learning aids and informational tools that shall guide the driver training program in driving schools across the country. The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways and Uber will jointly be preparing the learning materials which will be shared and utilised by over 200 driving schools including many of the govt’s Drivers Training Institutes (DTIs) across the country.

Speaking on the occasion, Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport & Highways pointed out, “Ensuring road safety is key priority for the government as India witnesses around 5 lakh accidents and 1.5 lakh deaths every year. We are committed to reducing fatal road accidents by 50 percent by 2020, being a signatory to the UN Decade of action for road safety. This effort to make our roads safer has to be a collaborative multi-pronged initiative that needs joint action from policymakers, civic authorities, automobile industry, civil society and commuters in general. Sensitizing the public about their roles in ensuring road safety is as vital as placement of curbs, under-passes and safety features for pedestrians.”

Appreciating the Ministry’s targeted focus on building road safety awareness, Pradeep Parameswaran, Head, Operations, Uber India & South Asia, shared, “Uber India is committed to promoting road safety and our association with the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways aims to focus on reducing road traffic violations and casualties across the country. By jointly promoting road safety messaging among lakhs of riders and by guiding lakhs of driver partners on road safety measures through learning aids, as a part of this alliance, we are focussed on empowering people to make better, safer choices and playing an enabling role in making our roads safer.”

The announcements were made in the presence of Nitin Gadkari, Pradeep Parameswaran and Prabhjeet Singh, Regional General Manager, Uber India & South Asia. Commemorating the occasion, 15 top rated driver partners from amongst the driver partner community in Delhi NCR were felicitated with the Service Quality Excellence Award. The awardees were singled out for their dedication and willingness to go above and beyond the call of duty towards providing riders a superlative experience.

Safety is a key priority for Uber. Through a combination of technology and two-way feedback, we endeavor to improve safety for riders and driver partners before, during and after a ride. Riders can access driver name, vehicle make and registration details before getting into an Uber while drivers undergo a stringent background and license verification process before joining the platform. During a ride, features like share your status, GPS, Emergency button are aimed at creating strong deterrents against unacceptable behavior. Finally, two-way feedback for riders and driver partners through the rating system as well as in-app support help strengthen the safety paradigm after a ride.

Every day in India 16 people are killed in road accidents. That’s one person every 90 minutes. According to the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, some of the deadliest nights on the road due to drunk driving occur unsurprisingly, during the holiday season when people are out celebrating.

At Uber, we’re changing the way people think about drinking and driving. Since our launch, we’ve worked hard at empowering people to make better, safer choices by providing a reliable ride at the tap of a button — no matter the time or place.

Cloud Traffic to Represent 95% of Total Data Center Traffic by 2021

Today, Cisco released the seventh annual Cisco Global Cloud Index (2016-2021). The updated report focuses on data center virtualization and cloud computing, which have become fundamental elements in transforming how many business and consumer network services are delivered.

According to the study, both consumer and business applications are contributing to the growing dominance of cloud services over the Internet. For consumers, streaming video, social networking, and Internet search are among the most popular cloud applications. For business users, enterprise resource planning (ERP), collaboration, analytics, and other digital enterprise applications represent leading growth areas.

Strong Multicloud Traffic Growth Projected

Driven by surging cloud applications, data center traffic is growing fast. The study forecasts global cloud data center traffic to reach 19.5 zettabytes (ZB) per year by 2021, up from 6.0 ZB per year in 2016 (3.3-fold growth or a 27 percent compound annual growth rate [CAGR] from 2016 to 2021). Globally, cloud data center traffic will represent 95 percent of total data center traffic by 2021, compared to 88 percent in 2016.

Improved Security and IoT Fuel Cloud Growth

In the past, security concerns have been a major barrier to cloud adoption. Improvements in data center governance and data control have helped to minimize enterprise risk and better protect consumer information. Security innovations coupled with tangible cloud computing benefits, including scalability and economies of scale, play key roles in fueling the cloud growth projected in the study. Additionally, the growth of Internet of Things (IoT) applications such as smart cars, smart cities, connected health and digital utilities requires scalable computing and storage solutions to accommodate new and expanding data center demands. By 2021, Cisco expects IoT connections to reach 13.7 billion, up from 5.8 billion in 2016.

Hyperscale Data Centers Doubling

The increasing need for data center and cloud resources has led to the development of large-scale public cloud data centers called hyperscale data centers. In this year’s forecast, it is expected that by 2021 there will be 628 hyperscale data centers globally, compared to 338 in 2016, 1.9-fold growth or near doubling over the forecast period. By 2021, hyperscale data centers will support:

·         53 percent of all data center servers (27 percent in 2016)

·         69 percent of all data center processing power (41 percent in 2016)

·         65 percent of all data stored in data centers (51 percent in 2016)

·         55 percent of all data center traffic (39 percent in 2016)

“Data center application growth is clearly exploding in this new multicloud world. This projected growth will require new innovations especially in the areas of public, private and hybrid clouds,” said Kip Compton, Vice President of Cisco's Cloud Platform and Solutions Group.

Global Cloud Index Highlights and Key Projections:

1.    Data center virtualization and cloud computing growth 


·         By 2021, 94 percent of workloads and compute instances will be processed by cloud data centers; 6 percent will be processed by traditional data centers. 


·         Overall data center workloads and compute instances will more than double (2.3-fold) from 2016 to 2021; however, cloud workloads and compute instances will nearly triple (2.7-fold) over the same period.

·         The workload and compute instance density for cloud data centers was 8.8 in 2016 and will grow to 13.2 by 2021. Comparatively, for traditional data centers, workload and compute instance density was 2.4 in 2016 and will grow to 3.8 by 2021.

2.    Growth in stored data fueled by big data and IoT

·         Globally, the data stored in data centers will nearly quintuple by 2021 to reach 1.3 ZB by 2021, up 4.6-fold (a CAGR of 36%) from 286 EB in 2016.

·         Big data will reach 403 exabytes (EB) by 2021, up almost 8-fold from 25 EB in 2016. Big data will represent 30 percent of data stored in data centers by 2021, up from 18 percent in 2016.

·         The amount of data stored on devices will be 4.5 times higher than data stored in data centers, at 5.9 ZB by 2021.

·         Driven largely by IoT, the total amount of data created (and not necessarily stored) by any device will reach 847 ZB per year by 2021, up from 218 ZB per year in 2016. Data created is two orders of magnitude higher than
data stored. 


3.    Applications contribute to rise of global data center traffic

·         By 2021, big data will account for 20 percent (2.5 ZB annual, 209 EB monthly) of traffic within data centers, compared to 12 percent (593 EB annual, 49 EB monthly) in 2016.

·         By 2021, video streaming will account for 10 percent of traffic within data centers, compared to 9 percent in 2016.

·         By 2021, video will account for 85 percent of traffic from data centers to end users, compared to 78 percent in 2016.

·         By 2021, search will account for 20 percent of traffic within data centers by 2021, compared to 28 percent in 2016.

·         By 2021, social networking will account for 22 percent of traffic within data centers, compared to 20 percent in 2016.

4.    SaaS most popular cloud service model through 2021

·         By 2021, 75 percent (402 million) of the total cloud workloads and compute instances will be SaaS workloads and compute instances, up from 71 percent (141 million) in 2016. (23% CAGR from 2016 to 2021).

·         By 2021, 16 percent (85 million) of the total cloud workloads and compute instances will be IaaS workloads and compute instances, down from 21 percent (42 million) in 2016. (15% CAGR from 2016 to 2021).

·         By 2021, 9 percent (46 million) of the total cloud workloads and compute instances will be PaaS workloads and compute instances, up from 8% (16 million) in 2016. (23% CAGR from 2016 to 2021).

For the purposes of the study, cloud computing includes platforms that enable ubiquitous, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction. Deployment models include private, public, and hybrid clouds.  Cloud data centers can be operated by service providers as well as private enterprises.

Infinix’s New HOT S3 Advanced Selfie Smartphone in India Available Only on Flipkart from February 1-12, 2018

Betting big on the booming India smartphone market, Infinix Mobile, the online smartphone brand from TRANSSION Holdings, launches yet another forward-looking and contemporary product HOT S3. With this launch, Infinix brings in its fourth global product series ‘HOT S’ to India. It is designed in 2 variants viz. 3GB+32GB, which is priced at Rs 8,999 and 4GB+64GB storage, priced at Rs 10,999.  Underpinning its USP, the HOT S3 is the first smartphone that sports the Full View display with 20 MP Selfie camera with a capability to take great selfies even in low light.

Adding a unique flavor to the launch event, INFINIX invited some of the Key players of Mumbai City Football Club to co-celebrate the launch. INFINIX is the Official Smartphone partner of Mumbai City FC in the current season of the Hero Indian Super league, which is a key part of Infinix’s vision to connect stronger with its young fans in India.

Infinix entered India in August 2017 with Note 4 and Hot Pro 4 & later launched its flagship Zero5, to strengthen its premium portfolio. All the products have been very well received by the consumers and response has been great in terms of feedback.

Speaking on the occasion, Anish Kapoor, CEO, Infinix India said “India is an extremely significant market for Infinix and HOT S3 is getting launched in ‘India first’ before getting launched in other markets. With 40% Indian population below 20 years of age (source: Published media reports) & to this younger generation social media is a broadcasting tool to express themselves through selfies, “HOT S3” is made for them. We believe that the youth demands for a device that represents them and syncs well with their youthful and fashionable personality and Infinix Hot S3 resonates well with these demands with its brand persona “Express Yourself”. We are delighted to offer our latest innovation, Hot S3, which will change the game under 12K segment by offering the hottest combination of features such as 20MP Selfie camera with Full View display, latest Android Oreo Operating System, 4000mAh battery & powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 Octa-Core processor. HOT S3 would be a vital cog in the wheel bolstering Infinix’s India growth story and we look forward to Indian market contributing to a significant share of our global business this financial year.”

To celebrate the launch of HOT S3 on Flipkart, Ayyappan Rajagopal, Senior Director - Mobiles at Flipkart said, “The Infinix Hot S3 combines the best-in-class display with aggressive specs in the mid-range phone segment. This time, they have taken it a notch higher with higher screen resolution and one of the finest selfie cameras in this price range.  We have seen an overwhelming response for previous Infinix phones on Flipkart, and this exclusive offering is sure to delight customers. As the market leader, Flipkart continues to innovate to ensure our customers have the widest selection of smartphones, at the most affordable prices"

Apart from that the product is a perfect amalgamation of functionality and aesthetics, owing to its simple and sleek design that perfectly fits in the palms of a user, making the HOT S3 experience absolutely comfortable. HOT S3 comes with 5.65 inches’screen in 5.2” phone’s body size, the smartphone offers the impeccable grip in the palm of your hand.

Featuring a 5.65inch HD+ full view display, the front part has 2.5D curved edges and a fingerprint scanner at the rear.

On the camera optics, the HOT S3 ships with a 20-megapixel front camera with 4-in-1 low light selfie camera mode, dual soft LED flash, which helps in capturing the perfect selfies even in the low light condition.

The HOT S3 comes with a unique feature called Full View selfie mode, which lets you capture the selfies on full view screen. The Smartphones lets you take Bokeh shots, where you can blur the background and make the subject standout.

Whereas the 13-megapixel rear camera supports PDAF and F2.0 aperture with features like touch focus, HDR, panorama and professional camera setting for enhancing the overall photography experience.

It is powered by an Octa-core 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor with latest Android Oreo operating system and customized XOS 3.0 user interface. Infinix Hot S3 has massive 4000mAh battery that provides great battery life for 2 days on normal usage.

HOT S3 will be available in two memory variants, 3GB+32GB & 4GB+64GB. It is a dual SIM smartphone with dedicated microSD card slot, which can support upto 128GB memory card. HOT S3 will be available in two colors of Sandstone black & Brush Gold.

Dream11 Appoints Vikrant Mudaliar as Chief Marketing Officer

Dream11, India’s biggest Sports Gaming platform, today announced the expansion of its leadership team with the appointment of Vikrant Mudaliar as Chief Marketing Officer. Vikrant will be responsible for driving Dream11’s marketing and brand strategy and further strengthen its leadership position in the online Sports Gaming industry.

One of the biggest names in Indian marketing, Vikrant Mudaliar has led some of the best-known brands in the country over the last 17 years. He joins Dream11 from Yatra.com, where, as the Chief Marketing Officer, he led marketing activities across all of its business-lines and group entities.

Vikrant has vast experience in varied aspects of marketing, sales and strategy functions across diverse sectors including e-commerce, media & entertainment, automobiles and consumer goods. Before Yatra, he was the Vice President – Brand Marketing at Tata Sky, where he was instrumental in making the brand a category leader. He has also been associated with Lenskart, General Motors India, Jumbo Electronics Dubai and Pepsi Foods Ltd.

Commenting on the expansion of the leadership team, Harsh Jain, CEO of Dream11, said, “With his unparalleled expertise and experience, along with his deep understanding of Indian consumers and the diverse Indian market, Vikrant is here to lead Dream11’s exponential growth from our current user base of 2 crore sports fans to 10 crore by 2020. Having led some of the top consumer-focused brands, we're sure Vikrant will make Dream11 a household name through exciting customer engagement initiatives.”

Commenting on his new role, Vikrant Mudaliar, Chief Marketing Officer said, “It is a particularly exciting time for Sports Gaming in India which is witnessing rapid growth as a business segment. The $7 billion daily fantasy sports industry in the US & Canada has over 60 million users. The fantasy sports industry in India, which has tremendous potential, is also set to grow exponentially in the near future. Dream11 has played a pioneering role in shaping this industry and is at the intersection of sports, entertainment and technology. I am excited to take the Dream11 brand to greater heights."

Vikrant will be based in Mumbai and report to Harsh Jain, CEO, Dream11.

Aeris Communications Launches Internet of Things Solution for the Social Sector

In a move designed to promote the adoption of Internet of Things across sectors, leading IoT platform and solutions provider Aeris Communications has announced the launch of an exclusive solution developed for the social/not for profit sector.

The first of its kind IoT solution for the not for profit sector offers a range of benefits to stakeholders connected with NGOs and similar organisations. Among other benefits it helps promote efficiency, operational transparency and better engagement between all stakeholders at all times. It provides aid from a single source including disaster relief and reconstruction support to long-term development cooperation projects with local partner organisations.

The launch customer for this solution is Welthungerhilfe, one of Germany's biggest private organisations for development and humanitarian aid, which is working on water conservation in India. 

“At Aeris, we have always worked towards broadening the spectrum of IoT adopters. IoT will be able live up to its potential only if it moves closer to mass adoption. Many social enterprises have already embraced technology to further their development agenda and with this solution, they will be able to use Internet of Things as well. This will not just help social enterprises but also the beneficiaries they work with,” said Dr. Rishi Bhatnagar, President, Aeris India.

The solution has been developed in association with Aeris’ solution partner Manacle. A variant of this solution is already powering enterprises ranging from large FMCG majors, logistics, telecom and manufacturing firms. With the availability of this solution, social enterprises will be able to leverage Internet of Things to achieve their goals around sales, order and cash management.