L&T Technology Services Limited , a leading global pure-play Engineering R&D Services company today announced the winners of the second edition of its unique industry academia initiative TECHgium. Covering hundreds of engineering colleges across the country, including several top tier engineering institutes, TECHgium is a first of its kind initiative in India to scout for and recognize the best of engineering talent among the fresher community.
TECHgium ushers in a new generation of engineers with skills and capabilities that the industry covets. The initiative is aimed at imparting engineering students with relevant exposure to the challenges and practical insights for Industry 4.0. TECHgium will also help create an ecosystem that bridges the industry-academia schism by facilitating the participants with an opportunity to work on technologies of tomorrow and enhance their career prospects and simultaneously augment the solution development team of LTTS.
LTTS invested over 100 working hours to mentor students shortlisted for the PoC round, with subject matter experts from respective industry domains mentoring the students. As a result, the winning teams came up with remarkable solutions around IoT, Machine Learning, Advanced Image Processing and Smart Tools.
The team from Sri Ramakrishna Engineering College, Coimbatore were declared as winners for developing a mechanism for wide angle viewing for diagnostic hysteroscopy products. The students of National Institute of Engineering, Mysore won the second prize for creating a variable valve timing mechanism for internal combustion engine. The winner of the third prize went to the team from Sri Manakula Vinayagar Engineering College, Pondicherry for their work on Smart tools and integration with IoT platforms. A special prize was awarded to the students of Zakir Hussain College of Engineering and Technology, Aligarh for devising a Multi-camera Multi Target Visual Tracking System.
Some of the other noteworthy POCs demonstrated at TECHgium include active noise cancellation for automobile mufflers submitted by the students of IIT Madras that caters to the Transportation & Commercial Vehicles domain and Artificial Intelligence framework for Microgrids for Industrial Products submitted by the students of VIT University.
The winners of TECHgium were selected by a distinguished jury of industry experts including K.S. Viswanathan, Vice President NASSCOM, Dr. Ranganath Navalgund, Honorary Professor, ISRO and Ganapathiraman, Country Manager, ARC India.
Dr. Keshab Panda, CEO & Managing Director, L&T Technology Services Limited said, “India has always been the nation of innovators and pioneers and the kind of engineering talent that can be brought to light here is unparalleled. TECHgium is our ode to the great Indian engineering potential and we are confident that this initiative will be instrumental in providing the right stimulus to the enormous academic potential of the country. The success of TECHgium would be immensely helpful in LTTS’ endeavor to propel innovation, bridge industry-academia gap as well as solve myriad engineering challenges and help in building digital skillsets among today’s youth.”
K.S. Viswanathan, Vice President – Industry Initiatives, NASSCOM commented “Across the whole spectrum of the industry, skill profiles are undergoing rapid changes witnessing a rising demand for enhanced digital capabilities. India has enormous pool of fresh talents propelled by innovative thinking and attitude to build solutions in key sectors where technology can play a revolutionary role. We are extremely hopeful that initiatives brought out by TECHgium will play an instrumental role in mentoring academic talents in the country, propel innovation in bringing technological empowerment to solve complex industrial problems in the country.”
The second edition of TECHgium received a record-breaking participation from over 17,000 students across 220 engineering colleges signing up for the event. The platform gave aspiring engineering students an opportunity to create concepts, submit abstracts, present technical presentation and showcase Proof of Concept (PoC) on real life technical challenges. Some of the challenges included Machine Learning Platform for Video Analytics for elevators, Augmented/Assisted Reality applications for industrial customers, Video analytics tool for detecting human intentions and Reduction of Emission from Automobiles among others.
Vivo, the global premium smartphone brand, today launched the Vivo Y71 with 18:9 FullView Display and super narrow bezels, which provides an impressive screen-to-body ratio of 84.4%. Priced at Rs 10,990, the smartphone will be available in Gold and Matte Black colour across all offline stores from 14th April, 2018 and will also be available online on the Vivo E-store, flipkart.com, amazon.in and paytmmall.com from 16th April, 2018.
Commenting on the announcement, Kenny Zheng, CMO, Vivo India said, “Vivo has always crafted its products keeping consumers preference at the core. With the launch of Y71, we are releasing a smartphone which is large on display and performance, and is coupled with enhanced camera capabilities.”
Carved for your hand
The new Y71 offers 18:9 FullView™ Display with super narrow bezels which enhances the viewing experience for consumers. Compared with standard 16:9 aspect ratio phones, the Y71 displays 12.5% more content in a compact and lightweight profile, suitable for single hand operations. Designed with a new high polymer nano-blasting technique, the smartphone feels more ergonomic and provides a better grip for all day usage.
Face Access
Y71 comes packed with Face Access which intelligently scans the facial features and unlocks the device. Intelligent use of Y71 facial recognition technology also improves other aspects of user experience, its smart low volume also recognizes when you are looking at the screen and intuitively lowers the volume of message alerts, incoming calls and alarms, keeping disruption to a minimum.
AI Powered Photography
Y71 is equipped with a 13MP high-definition rear camera with PDAF which enables capturing memorable moments with ease. The camera optimizes lighting on the subject’s facial features to take vibrant, crystal-clear photos even in low light conditions.
The 5MP selfie camera comes equipped with an AI Face Beauty feature, allowing users to take clear and detailed selfies in any lighting condition. The AI Face Beauty feature identifies gender, age, skin tone and texture to apply a range of beauty effects, to enhance your natural beauty. Over time, the camera analyzes your face and photography patterns to further enhance the selfie results.
Optimized Performance
The smartphone is capable of handling multi-tasking with ease due to 3GB RAM and a powerful Qualcomm processor, which provides an enhanced user experience. The smartphone performs defragmentation and memory optimization tasks to offer a smoother experience to millennials who want more.
The Y71 features 3360mAh battery and Android 8.1 OS optimization, further increasing its energy efficiency. The latest Vivo Smart Engine further improves the battery performance by providing additional power management for prolonged usage. Y71 also takes multi-tasking to another level with the Smart Split feature which lets users work on various tasks, simultaneously, on a bigger screen.
Education is changing. Around the country and the world, students are no longer confined to traditional learning environments. They’re learning from anywhere, on any device, in ways that reimagine what’s possible. Teachers and researchers are innovating faster than ever. Advancements in pedagogy, evaluation, and student engagement are improving education daily. But challenges—old and new—threaten progress and jeopardize student success. In line with its commitment to help colleges and universities improve how students connect, engage, learn, and succeed, Cisco today announced a Blueprint for Digital Education at the Cisco Digital Education Summit at The Indian School of Business (ISB) Hyderabad.
Commenting on the launch of the Blueprint for Digital Education at the Summit, Sudhir Nayar, Managing Director, Commercial Sales, Cisco India and SAARC, said, “Students today are hyper-connected technology users. They have high expectations that are constantly changing. As the world of education continues to change, educators must adapt to evolving expectations and benchmarks. By offering educators and students more ways to connect, engage, manage, and succeed, the Cisco Blueprint for Digital Education aims to help colleges and universities create a completely integrated digital environment that meets the high expectations of today’s students."
With approximately 30 percent of India’s current population in the age group of 0 to 15 years, the education sector in India is poised to witness significant growth in the years to come and will play a key role in making sure of India’s growth in those years. However, India’s education system, which consists of more than 1.5 million schools, 750 universities, 35,500 colleges, and 260 million students, already faces challenges such as capacity, scale, and quality. They will be under considerable pressure to meet the requirements and expectations of next-generation students.
Now, more than ever, schools and universities in India understand the value of digital transformation in education. A common denominator among institutions that successfully implement digital technologies is active and progressive leadership. At the universities Cisco analyzed, the principals, deans, and chancellors—aided by strong, savvy IT leaders—who understand the transformational power of technology are pushing their institutions into the 21st century. In India, several leading institutions such as the Manipal University, Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS), Jamia Hamdard, and Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies are using Cisco digital education solutions to redefine the education experience.Cisco Launches Blueprint for Digital Education in India.
Education is changing. Around the country and the world, students are no longer confined to traditional learning environments. They’re learning from anywhere, on any device, in ways that reimagine what’s possible. Teachers and researchers are innovating faster than ever. Advancements in pedagogy, evaluation, and student engagement are improving education daily. But challenges—old and new—threaten progress and jeopardize student success. In line with its commitment to help colleges and universities improve how students connect, engage, learn, and succeed, Cisco today announced a Blueprint for Digital Education at the Cisco Digital Education Summit at The Indian School of Business (ISB) Hyderabad.
The Blueprint for Digital Education is based on Cisco’s highly secure core network and unified voice, video, and wireless communications, which are protected by state-of-the-art security solutions and lay the framework for connected campuses, empowered educators, informed administrators, and students who have the tools they need for success in a new digital world. The Blueprint will allow colleges and universities to:
· Enable students to learn anywhere: With Cisco Connected Classroom solutions, which use the Cisco Digital Network Architecture (Cisco DNA) and collaboration solutions such as WebEx online meetings and Cisco Spark all-in-one communications, students can learn how they learn best: anywhere, anytime, and on any device. Whether on or off campus or in a flipped classroom model, students and educators have highly secure access to educational resources, using their smartphones, tablets, and other connected devices.
· Build an intelligent campus: By utilizing pervasive Wi-Fi access, sensors, and analytics, digital campus solutions enable higher levels of operational efficiency to campus administration and management, including smart lighting and connected vehicles, while allowing a deeper view into building efficiencies, student behavior, and network security. Cisco Connected Campus provides extensive network analytics that can help administrators make data-driven decisions while managing facilities, lighting, parking, and transportation.
· Increase student and staff productivity: With smart workspaces that automatically track student attendance and progress, schools and universities can operate efficiently in a rapidly changing environment.
· Foster global connections: Digital learning classrooms can support new online learning experiences, worldwide collaboration, and rich online media consumption with virtual classrooms. They empower students to learn on demand from any location, eliminating the boundaries that limit a student's ability to learn.
· Support innovation, acceleration, and research: Cisco Connected Research solutions give researchers, faculty, and students the tools they need to connect and collaborate transparently on campus and around the world. They can conduct research—including high-performance computing (HPC)—in a secure environment and quickly scale computing resources to fuel innovation.
· Create a safe and secure learning environment: Today's schools and universities can be the targets of both physical threats and cyberattacks. Cisco cybersecurity and physical security solutions help keep students, staff, and data safe and secure, whether on campus, off campus, or inside school vehicles.
Boeing has announced a partnership with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Mahindra Defence Systems (MDS) for manufacturing the F/A-18 Super Hornet in India for its armed forces and pursuing the joint development of future technologies. The partnership will transform India’s aerospace and defence ecosystem, further building on its ‘Make in India’ success.
“Boeing is excited to team up with India’s only company that manufactures combat fighters, HAL, and Indian company that manufactures small commercial airplanes, Mahindra. This partnership brings the best of Indian public and private enterprises together in partnership with the world’s largest aerospace company, Boeing, to accelerate a contemporary 21st century ecosystem for aerospace & defence manufacturing in India,” said Pratyush Kumar, president, Boeing India. “Our partnership with HAL and Mahindra will enable us to optimize the full potential of India’s public and private sector to deliver next-generation F/A-18 fighter capabilities. Together we can deliver an affordable, combat-proven fighter platform for India, while adding growth momentum to the Indian aerospace ecosystem with manufacturing, skill development, innovation and engineering and job creation.”
“Hindustan Aeronautics Limited has always been at the forefront of aerospace development in India’s aerospace sector,” said T Suvarna Raju, chairman and managing director, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. “This partnership with Boeing and Mahindra Defence Systems will create an opportunity to develop capabilities of the aerospace industry and strengthen indigenous platforms in India thereby contributing to the Make-in-India activities.”
Future production with Indian partners will involve maximizing indigenous content and producing the F/A-18 in India for its armed forces to create a 21st century aerospace ecosystem.
“We are excited about the opportunities that this partnership with Boeing and HAL will provide for us to contribute further to ‘Make in India’ for defence,” said S. P. Shukla, Group President, Aerospace & Defence, Mahindra Group, and Chairman, Mahindra Defence Systems. “As one of the largest private sector defence companies, we look forward to supporting the modernization effort of our armed forces and achieving economies of scale in the aerospace and defence sector.”
The Super Hornet Make in India proposal is to build an entirely new and state-of-the-art production facility that can be utilized for other programs like India’s Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) program.
This partnership is intended to bring Boeing, HAL and MDS’ global scale and supply chain, its best-in-industry precision manufacturing processes, as well as the unrivaled experience designing and optimizing aerospace production facilities to both expand India’s aerospace ecosystem and help realize the Make in India vision.
The plan addresses the infrastructure, personnel training, and operational tools and techniques required to produce a next gen fighter aircraft right here in India. In addition, Boeing will work closely with India industry to ensure they have the very latest technologies, applying lessons learned from the current Super Hornet production line.
As the most advanced and least expensive aircraft per flight hour of its kind, the F/A-18 Super Hornet will deliver on India’s need for a carrier and land based multi-role fighter. The Super Hornet does not only have a low acquisition cost, but it costs less per flight hour to operate than any other tactical aircraft in U.S. forces inventory. And with a plan for constant innovation, the F/A-18 Super Hornet will outpace threats, bolster defence capabilities and make India stronger for decades to come.
The F/A-18 Super Hornet has a long life ahead, with the US Navy making significant investments in the latest evolution, the Block III. Key features of the U.S. Navy Block III Super Hornet include enhanced network capability, longer range and low-drag with conformal fuel tanks, long-range detection with Infrared Search & Track, enhanced situational awareness with a new Advanced Cockpit System, improved signature reduction and a 9,000+ hour life.
Bharat BillPay, the one stop bill payment ecosystem launched by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is becoming popular with each passing month. The ecosystem has facilitated 31.5 million bill payment transactions in March 2018 compared with 18 million in March 2017 recording a growth of 75%.
Consumers can currently pay for the following in the BHARAT BILLPAY Ecosystem–
· Electricity
· Water
· Direct-To-Home (DTH)
· Telecom (Mobile-Postpaid, landline-Postpaid and Broadband)
· Gas pipe-line bills
There are multiple channels available to a consumer for paying bills which includes Internet banking, Website, Mobile banking/mobile app, or physical collection points like Kirana shops/agents/BCs and bank-branches. Besides that, there are multiple payment options namely, Debit card, Internet banking, Mobile banking wallets, Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Cash etc. Once bills are paid, the consumer receives instant confirmation in the form of SMS / email or printed receipt.
A.R.Ramesh, Chief Project Officer, Bharat Bill Payment System said, “The primary reason behind growing acceptance of Bharat BillPay among consumers is the ease of making instant and safe bill payments to any biller of any state, city or region from anywhere in India. The consumer has the option of using Bharat BillPay enabled internet banking, mobile banking or Bharat BillPay enabled website/app/agent assisted collection points. By just seeing the BHARAT BILLPAY logo, consumer can access the touch points and pay their bills in one go. Instead of using multiple apps or logging in to different websites or even travelling to various collection points, the brand empowers and promises a one stop destination for payment of all utility bills. Consumers save cost and time instead of travelling to different places or visiting various websites.”
A biller is a service provider/utility company who receives payment for the service rendered. Currently, the ecosystem has enabled 75 billers (Electricity: 49; DTH:3; Mobile Postpaid: 4; Landline Postpaid: 2; Broadband: 3; Gas: 10; Water; 4) who are spread across 20 states and 3 Union Territories in India, of which 13 billers are available across India. The objective has been to rapidly enhance the biller base to enable easier bill payment for consumers under one single ecosystem (Bharat Bill Payment System). As of date 1.7 million agents have been on-boarded.
In line with the efforts to indigenise the defence sector under ‘Make in India’ initiative, Larsen & Toubro (L&T), India’s multinational engineering conglomerate, and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), a leading public sector enterprise in defence electronics and tactical systems, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to cater to the needs of evolving domestic and export markets for defence products and systems.
The MoU seeks to leverage the capabilities of both the firms for meeting the growing requirements of the Indian Armed Forces. The MoU also intends to leverage the well-developed supply chain, vast experience and expertise of BEL and L&T to synergise and enhance exports in the defence sector.
Jayant Patil, Whole-time Director (Defence) and Member of L&T Board, said: “This MoU offers an opportunity for public-private sector partnership between two industry leaders in Defence Equipment & Systems to synergise their strengths to deliver to the Indian Armed Forces and to the export market contemporary products with high indigenous content.”
The decision to formalise the partnership through this MoU, a key milestone for both L&T and for BEL in their long-term relationship, was made after extensive evaluation and identifying the core competencies and strong synergies between the two of them. L&T and BEL have collaborated and partnered on co-development and production of major sub-systems involving complex technologies and sophisticated weapon systems such as Akash Missile launchers and other radar platforms for Indian MoD orders.
L&T has been delivering a range of launcher systems, fire control systems and airframes / sub-systems for various indigenous weapon programmes as development partners and production agency to DRDO and DPSUs. By synergising L&T’s manufacturing, system design & integration capabilities and extensive global footprint with BEL’s core competencies in electronic equipment & systems, the companies look forward to enhancing their product range, jointly evolve new products and enhance business prospects.
SpiceJet, the country’s favourite low-cost carrier, today announced the commencement of operations from Hubli effective 14th May, 2018. SpiceJet was awarded Hubli under the second round of UDAN, and it will be its fifth destination under the Regional Connectivity Scheme.
With the addition of Hubli-Chennai and Hubli-Hyderabad UDAN routes, SpiceJet will operate six daily UDAN flights. The airline had launched services on the Mumbai-Porbandar, Mumbai-Kandla, Jaipur-Jaisalmer and Hyderabad-Puducherry routes under the UDAN scheme last year.
SpiceJet is the first and only airline to connect Hubli-Chennai and Hubli-Hyderabad with direct flights. The airline will also connect Hubli with key metro cities of Bengaluru and Mumbai, both of which are non-RCS sectors.
To celebrate the launch, SpiceJet has announced a limited period special introductory all-inclusive one-way fare for each of the new routes starting as low as Rs. 2694/- applicable for bookings made on a first come first serve basis.
With the introduction of the new flights, passengers from Hubli can now conveniently travel to a host of other cities both on SpiceJet’s domestic as well as international network via multiple onward connections from the metros routed.
On the occasion, Shilpa Bhatia, Chief Sales & Revenue Officer, SpiceJet said, “SpiceJet is delighted to connect Hubli on to its pan India network. UDAN has been one of the biggest success stories of this government and we are proud to be a part of Prime Minister’s grand vision to ensure that every Indian can fly. Our flight services from Hubli will provide greater flexibility and convenience to both leisure and business travelers.”
Hubli, the second largest city in Karnataka, houses the largest number of government offices in the state. Earmarked for the smart city project, it is also a major trading centre for commodities like cotton and iron.
Bookings for tickets are now open on www.spicejet.com, SpiceJet’s mobile app and through online travel portals and travel agents.
