Samsung Unveils World’s First Wind-Free Air Conditioner at ACREX 2018 India

Samsung India, country’s biggest and most trusted consumer electronics brand, today announced the launch of the world’s first Wind-Free Room Air Conditioner & System Air Conditioner in India.

The new air conditioners have integrated Samsung’s exclusive Wind-Free Cooling technology into its design – providing customers with a cooler indoor climate and optimal energy efficiency without the discomfort of direct cold airflow. The Wind Free Room Air Conditioner packs in the world’s first 8 Pole series and Anti corrosion Durafin condenser, especially designed for India’s harsh climatic conditions.

Wind Free Room AC range is available at all leading retail outlets from a starting price of Rs 50,950 to Rs 74,260 while Wind Free System AC range is customizable with 1 Way Cassette, 4 Way Cassette & Mini 4 Way cassette as per the end user’s requirement. The customers can experience this unique technology at ACREX 2018 at BIEC, Bengaluru.

“In the air conditioning segment, direct cold air dispersion and sky rocketing electricity bills are two problems that today’s customers are weary of the most. The world’s first Wind-Free Room Air Conditioner & Systems Air Conditioner from Samsung addresses both of these issues together, providing unparalleled cooling comfort, while guaranteeing optimum energy efficiency. Customer centric innovation lies at the core of our brand promise and this product pivots around this very approach. The new technology is especially designed to cater to Indian consumer’s specific needs and preferences, given the severe climatic conditions here,” said Vipin Agrawal, Director, System Air Conditioning Business, Samsung India.

 The new lineup provides ambient condition by maintaining comfortable room temperature using Wind-Free cooling technology to gently disperse cold air through 9,000 to 21,000 micro air holes. A two-step cooling system, which first lowers temperatures in ‘Fast Cooling Mode’ and then automatically switches to ‘Wind-Free Cooling Mode’, creating ‘still air’ once the desired temperature is achieved. This approach also reduces energy consumption by up to 72 percent compared to Fast Cooling mode. The unique product Architecture of this range of air conditioners also contributes to its superior cooling performance. The upgraded structure’s wider inlet allows for more air to be drawn in at once, while the optimal width and angle of the outlet ensure that air is cooled and expelled faster, farther and wider to reach every corner of the room.

Nearly Two-Thirds of Large Companies Globally Face High Levels of Industry Disruption, Accenture Study Finds

A new study from Accenture has found that industry disruption is already a reality for most large companies globally. The study shows that, rather than being a random event beyond business leaders’ control, disruption has a pattern that can be identified, understood and prepared for.

The study analyzed more than 3,600 companies with annual revenues of at least US$100 million in 82 countries along two dimensions: current level of disruption, and susceptibility to future disruption. Among the key findings: Almost two-thirds (63 percent) of companies currently face high levels of disruption, and two-fifths (44 percent) show severe signs of susceptibility to future disruption.

As part of the research, Accenture developed a “disruptability index” by dissecting disruption into its key components. The researchers took into account the presence and market penetration of disruptor companies as well as incumbents’ financial performance, operational efficiency, commitment to innovation, and defenses against attack.

 Business leaders can use the index to understand where their industry is positioned and why. It allows them to identify risks and opportunities – and then prepare the right strategic response. Accenture applied the index to position companies in 20 industry sectors and 98 sub-segments across four periods of disruption:

Durability: Disruption is evident but not life-threatening; incumbents still enjoy structural advantages and deliver consistent performance. One-fifth (19 percent) of companies – including those in the automotive retail and supply, alcoholic beverage and diversified chemicals industries  – fall into this period.

Vulnerability: The current level of disruption is moderate, but incumbents are susceptible to future disruption, due to structural productivity challenges such as high labor costs. One-fifth (19 percent) of companies – including those in the insurance and healthcare industries and the convenience retail sector – fall into this period.

Volatility: Prominence of violent, sudden disruption; traditional strengths have become weaknesses. Companies in this period (25 percent of companies studied) include those in the consumer technology, diversified banking, advertising and transportation services industries.

Viability: Disruption is a constant; sources of competitive advantage are often short-lived, as new disruptors consistently emerge. More than one-third (37 percent) of companies – including software and platform providers; telecommunications, media and high-tech companies; and automotive manufacturers – fall into this period.

“Disruption is continual and inevitable – but it’s also predictable,” said Omar Abbosh, Accenture’s chief strategy officer. “Business leaders need to determine where their company is positioned in this disruption landscape and the likely speed of change. The more clearly they see what’s changing around them, the better they can predict and identify opportunities to create value from innovation for their business and rotate to the ‘new’.”

 According to the report, each period of disruption also requires a distinct strategic response:
In the durability state, companies must reinvent their legacy business rather than focus on preserving it. This means taking steps to maintain cost leadership in their core business and make key offerings more relevant to customers by, for example, making them not only cheaper but also better.

In the vulnerability state, companies must make their legacy businesses more productive to position themselves to develop and leverage future innovations, both their own and their competitors’. For example, they should look to reduce dependence on fixed assets and monetize underused assets.
In the volatility state, the only way to survive is by decisively but wisely changing the current course. Incumbents need to radically transform the core business while scaling new businesses. But pivot too quickly, and they will likely stretch themselves too thin financially; pivot too slowly, and they risk becoming obsolete.

In the viability state, companies need to embrace a constant state of innovation. This involves increasing the penetration of innovative offerings with existing customers and aggressively expanding into adjacent or unchartered markets by leveraging the strength of their reinvigorated and innovation-enabled core business.

“To not only survive disruption but thrive when it strikes requires companies to transform and grow their core business while simultaneously innovating to create and scale new businesses,” said Mike Sutcliff, group chief executive of Accenture Digital. “Embracing digital is crucial part of it. We found that the lower an industry’s digital performance, the more susceptible it is to future disruption. Digital technologies can help make a company more resilient in times of disruption in a number of ways, whether by driving better outcomes from existing products, developing entirely new digital services, lowering costs, or increasing barriers to entry.

Automation Anywhere Unveils Industry’s Most Comprehensive Global Customer Success Program

Company reinforces its “customer first” commitment with a fully integrated program delivered by the largest dedicated customer success team in the RPA industry

Automation Anywhere, the largest enterprise software provider in Robotic Process Automation (RPA), has announced the formal launch of its global customer success program – Automation Anywhere Plus. This umbrella program combines a wide range of existing services with newly introduced offerings, delivering the most comprehensive set of services and the industry’s largest team completely dedicated to customer success. 

Automation Anywhere Plus will continue to support Automation Anywhere’s Intelligent Digital Workforce Platform, which is the most widely deployed worldwide with more than 930 enterprise customers, and the only platform in the industry with built-in RPA, cognitive and analytics capabilities to provide a complete enterprise solution.

“’Customer first’ is more than the core philosophy that underpins everything we do at Automation Anywhere. It has been the driving force that has shaped our culture, our business practices, our product and our customer services since our founding 14 years ago,” said Rushabh Parmani, Co-founder and Senior VP of Customer Success and Operations. “With Automation Anywhere Plus, we now combine the wide variety of services we offer into one overarching program that ensures our customers experience a seamless onboarding process, the shortest time to value and the organization-wide scalability that is expected from an enterprise-grade RPA solution.”

Industry’s Largest Customer Success Team
To provide round-the-clock support to its community of over 930 customers, Automation Anywhere has put together the largest customer success team in the industry. In addition to 24/7 global customer support, the team offers onsite support and an extensive self-service knowledge-base, created by the industry’s leading RPA experts combined with the knowledge and experience from Automation Anywhere’s global customers.

Automation Anywhere has also dedicated a unit of its global development team to customer support. Known as ‘Customer Success Engineers,’ the members of this team are highly skilled RPA developers who provide on-going support and assistance helping customers achieve bot velocity and scale with unprecedented speed, ease and efficiency.

Customer Success Manager: A Single Source of Truth
Every Automation Anywhere customer has a single point of contact with a dedicated Customer Success Manager who delivers a seamless, unsurpassed experience. The Customer Success Manager handles the end-to-end customer experience – including onboarding, issue resolution, training and product upgrades – ensuring timely responses and providing a single source of truth for the customer. The Customer Success Manager acts as their client’s advocate within Automation Anywhere and their performance is measured by a single KPI – their customer’s satisfaction measured quarterly via Net Promoter Score.

 “Automation Anywhere’s customer success program is top-notch – we’re especially impressed with our dedicated CSM and the experts we’ve worked with on the professional services team,” said Prateek Kapoor, Global Finance Lean Digital Transformation Leader at Juniper Networks. “Knowing we have the 24/7 support we need means we can scale our automation programs even faster and without headaches. We would not be as far along today without the help and guidance of the Automation Anywhere evangelist.”

Fantasy Sports Affirmed as a ‘Game of Skill’ in India

India’s first report on 'The Laws Relating to Fantasy Sports Games in India’ was unveiled at IFSG's GamePlan 2018.

 The Indian Federation of Sports Gaming (IFSG), India’s first industry body formed for protecting consumer interests through the self-regulation of the Sports Gaming industry, has unveiled India’s first ever report on the ‘Legality of Fantasy Sports in India’.

 An initiative of the Sports Law and Policy Centre, the legal report brings contributions from experts in sports and gaming laws from India’s leading law firms like Nishith Desai Associates, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, Khaitan & Co. & LawNK.  This report delves into the skill element of Fantasy Sports games, need for self-regulation by online Sports Gaming companies, the use of third-party intellectual property in Fantasy Sports games and the recent developments in the Supreme Court of India relating to the determination of Dream11’s Fantasy Sports format as a game of predominant skill.

On unveiling the report, Harsh Jain, Chairman of IFSG & Co-Founder, CEO of Dream11 said, “We welcome the Court’s judgements which legitimise our format of online fantasy sports gaming in India as a ‘Game of Skill’. As we continue to grow exponentially, we believe that self-regulation is the way ahead for the online gaming industry. Committed to this, IFSG aims to collaborate with all stakeholders to protect the interests of Indian users by implementing best practices for responsible gaming throughout the industry.”

On the launch of the legal report, Nandan Kamath, Principal Lawyer - LawNK & Researcher - SLPC said, “The recent developments in the courts are an encouraging sign for the Fantasy Sports ecosystem in India as it shows the willingness of Indian Courts to carefully and favourably evaluate game formats on criteria of predominance of skill. The SLPC report is a collaborative effort by leading law practitioners which aims to document the state of the law relating to online Fantasy Sports gaming and lend clarity to the industry. We hope this empowers the entrepreneurial spirit and benefits and protects the interests of the wide variety of stakeholders involved with Fantasy Sports games, including operators, fans, players and governing bodies.”

The Fantasy Sports ecosystem has been growing exponentially in India over the last few years. From 20 lakh users in 2016, the base has grown to over 2 crore Fantasy Sports users in 2018, with estimated projections of over 10 crore Indian sports fans playing Fantasy Sports by 2020. India now has 56 Fantasy Sports operators, with 2017 alone seeing 30 new entities entering this exciting space. Popular sporting tournaments such as the IPL, NBA, ISL, PKL and others are increasingly relying on fantasy sports as their primary tool for fan engagement.

ServiceNow Launches New R&D Centre in HITEC City, Hyderabad, India

The new innovation center in Hyderabad significantly expands ServiceNow’s local operations, and will support global R&D efforts in artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and excellence in product engineering

 ServiceNow today announced further investment in Indian talent and technology with the opening of its new Hyderabad R&D Centre, located in the heart of the HITEC City’s premium IT park, Madhapur.

The new centre is ServiceNow’s first R&D operation in Asia and will support ServiceNow’s continued growth, with the company aiming to reach $4 billion in annual revenue in 2020. Serving regional and global clients, the facility will be home to product engineering teams developing ServiceNow’s next generation AI and machine learning capabilities.

The opening of the centre will double the number of ServiceNow employees in Hyderabad, with space for up to 1,000 staff. The Hyderabad office and Bengaluru operations represents ServiceNow’s largest R&D center outside the US.

The facility will significantly expand the Product Engineering, Product Management, Applications Development, Service Engineering, Product Operations and Customer Support teams in the region, covering all areas of ServiceNow’s product offerings including IT service management, human resource service delivery, customer service management and security operations. It will also house local HR, finance, sales and leadership teams.

Mitch Young, VP & GM of APJ, ServiceNow said: “Hyderabad is one of the region’s most exciting technology centres that has rapidly established itself as a global software development hub. With access to world-class talent, superior infrastructure and a thriving technology sector, the city is a perfect match for ServiceNow’s continued growth and investment in the region.

”The opening of this centre reflects our commitment to engineering excellent and creating a world class team to support our product development, which is critical to maintaining our rapid company growth.

“Our success in the market has been underpinned by a multiplying customer base and a stronger enterprise ecosystem in India. With continuing technological advancements and the swell of data businesses must manage, finding new ways to enhance productivity will be core to business success and economic growth. The opportunity for Indian organisations is vast and only growing, and the new centre represents an important step as we continue to expand across the region,” Mitch concluded.

Key Developments
·         Growing from just two employees in Hyderabad in 2013 to over 500 today, the new centre will be doubling floor space in the city from 66,000 sft to 132,000 sft
·         The expansion will bring up the number of ServiceNow offices to three in India
·         The India business supports a range of commercial and enterprise customers across all major industries

Juniper Networks and The Satellite Applications Catapult Build 5G Testbed for Mobile and IoT Services for UK Critical Infrastructure

Juniper Networks, an industry leader in automated, scalable and secure networks, today announced that The Satellite Applications Catapult, a UK-based  technology and innovation company, has selected Juniper to construct a secure, end-to-end network infrastructure in support of their 5G testbed.

Specifically, the testbed creates a secure, network infrastructure to foster the innovative use of 5G, providing ubiquitous connectivity across terrestrial and satellite communication in support of mission critical applications including use cases for IoT, autonomous systems and e-health initiatives.

Juniper’s News Highlights.

The 5G testbed is due to be officially opened in April 2018 and brings together leading academics and key industry partners towards a shared vision to help define and develop the next-generation of terrestrial and satellite 5G infrastructure and applications.

The testbed infrastructure brings together a range of Juniper’s technology and solutions, including routing, switching, security and software-defined networking, as well as network functions virtualization (NFV), mobile edge computing and software orchestration in the core. There will be a presentation of the project in Juniper’s booth (Hall 2, #2J60/ 2J61) at Mobile World Congress 2018 in Barcelona.

Once completed, the testbed could be used for collaborative development projects such as those recently proposed by the UK Government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). This will enable Juniper and The Satellite Applications Catapult, to support other partners to realize the 5G ambitions of the UK Government.

“Communication infrastructure services underpin the development of many next generation innovations and satellite connectivity is a critical element. The two cannot develop independently from one another. 5G underpins the overall agenda for better connecting digital infrastructure to data sharing devices across the country and hence is a key part of UK Government digital strategy. Juniper Networks’ role in helping The Satellite Applications Catapult’s involvement in 5G has been instrumental in helping us deliver on these next generation communication infrastructure advances and data services innovation,” says Kieran Arnold, Director 5G at The Satellite Applications Catapult

“The deployment and use of 5G testbeds is crucial to enabling the early engagement of infrastructure end-users to provide a way for them to shape the way services will be delivered by 5G infrastructure. Having the opportunity to provide many of the key components that enable that delivery in a seamless and secure way is a fantastic way to showcase how Juniper is providing a simplified answer to an incredibly complex problem,” says Tom Ruban, chief technology officer EMEA at Juniper Networks

Reliance JIO and Cisco Continue Co-Innovation For Multi-Access Edge Computing

Video will comprise 82% of all IP network traffic by 2021, as more people are watching on multiple screens. This presents unique challenges for mobile operators, including w to scale their networks to handle all this video traffic and how to manage a profitable business around video.

To address the changing dynamics of network traffic, Reliance Jio and Cisco’s strategic relationship scales across multiple domains and technology areas. Over the past year, Reliance Jio’s Cisco-powered, all-IP network has grown significantly in size, and with new growth is further expected to see tremendous growth over the next several months.

Cisco and Reliance Jio are now working together to leverage  the power of multi-access edge computing, beginning with a use case to further optimize and enhance video experience over the network by developing a mobile content delivery network (CDN). In this concept, the CDN is integrated into the mobile LTE network with edge caches in close proximity to the mobile users. With a mobile CDN, the mobile operator can deliver content via edge cloudlets to provide a better user experience with lower latency and higher performance. 

Mobile Video Delivery From the Edge
For the prototype, the companies used a combination of IP address management techniques based on the mobile core, requiring tight integration between edge cache, mid-tier cache, and the traffic router in the Cisco Open Media Distribution system. The mobile core and the Cisco Open Media Distribution were combined into one system level solution for the CDN embedded in the mobile network.

To solve the problem of user plane selection, they used a technique called Control/User Plane Separation (CUPS) as defined in 3GPP R14[2] (Third-Generation Partnership Project R14 standards release). Cisco and Reliance Jio also solved the issue of assigning a geographically appropriate IP address to the mobile device and the issue of handover resiliency in the face of IP address changes on the client side and the CDN cache site without change or disturbance to the current services.

“Reliance Jio is  always about innovation and disruption, and multi-access edge computing enables a new way to deliver a broad range of media and mission critical services with enhanced customer experience with improved network efficiency,” said Mathew Oommen, president, Reliance Jio. “Reliance Jio and Cisco continue to drive advancements in technology and create unique best practices for service aware networking, and this joint collaboration on edge computing is another example of our effort to constantly reinvent the network and the services.”

“Reliance Jio marked many innovation milestones with Cisco on the buildout of its LTE network, and that was just the tip of the iceberg,” said Yvette Kanouff, senior vice president, general manager, Service Provider Business, Cisco. “With this multi-access edge computing demo, we are showcasing the possibilities enabled by edge computing to deliver premium-quality mobile entertainment experiences to RJIO customers.”

The companies are demonstrating this concept at Mobile World Congress, in the Cisco booth in Hall 3 Hybrid Hall, #3E30.

Cisco is leading the disruption in the industry with its technology innovations in systems, silicon, optics and security, and its unrivalled expertise in mass-scale networking, automation, optical, cable access, video, and mobility. Together with its portfolio of professional services, it can enable service providers and media and web companies to reduce cost and complexity, help secure their networks and grow revenue.