The Union government today approved the continuation of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle and Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark-III programmes, together costing more than Rs 10,000 crore, in a move that will help ISRO launch light and heavy-weight satellites.
The operationalisation of PSLV, ISRO's most-trusted workhorse, has made India self-reliant in launching satellites for earth observation, disaster management, navigation and space sciences.For heavy satellites, India is helped by the French, which launches its satellites from Kourou in French Guinea in South America.
The cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, also gave its nod for funding 30 PSLV operational flights under the programme.
The PSLV programme is expected to meet the launch requirements of satellites for earth observation, navigation and space sciences and will also ensure the continuity of production by the Indian industry.
The fund requirement is Rs 6,131 crore and includes the cost of 30 PSLV vehicles, essential facility augmentation, programme management and launch campaign.
The PSLV Continuation Programme (Phase 6) will meet the demand for launch of satellites at a frequency of up to eight launches per year, with maximum participation from the Indian industry.All operational flights would be completed during the period 2019-2024, the government said in a statement.
PSLV continuation programme was initially sanctioned in 2008, and four phases have been completed and the fifth phase is expected to be completed by the second quarter of 2019-20. The phase-6 approval will cater to the launch of satellite missions from the third quarter of 2019-20 to first quarter of 2023-24.
With the recent successful launch of PSLV-C41 on April 12, PSLV has completed three developmental and 43 operational flights and the last 41 flights have been successful.
The cabinet also approved funding for the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark-III Continuation Programme (Phase-1), consisting of 10 GSLV (Mk-III) flights, at an estimated cost of Rs 4,338 crore.
The GSLV Mk-III Continuation Programme (Phase1) is the first phase of operational flights that will enable the launch of four-tonne class of communication satellites.
The operationalisation of GSLV Mk-III will make India self-reliant in launching four-tonne class of communication satellites, sustain and strengthen the space infrastructure and reduce the dependence on procured launches from foreign countries.
The cabinet was also apprised of a memorandum of understanding signed between India and Oman in February in Muscat for peaceful use of the outer space.
The MoU shall enable cooperation in areas such as space science, technology and applications including remote-sensing of the Earth, satellite-based navigation, space science, planetary exploration, use of spacecraft and space systems and ground system and application of space technology.
Qlik, a leader in data analytics, today announced the expansion of its existing strategic partnership with the United Nations to deliver critical and actionable analytics insights to positively effect global sustainability and humanitarian efforts. The United Nations, through the Office of Information and Communications Technology (OICT), is standardized on Qlik’s visual analytics platform to create applications that advance United Nations’ missions. The partnership has grown over the last five years under the Qlik Corporate Social Responsibility program, and is being highlighted through Qlik’s presence at the UN Science, Technology and Innovation Forum. The STI Forum brings relevant stakeholders together to share in sustainability technology and explore collaboration efforts to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
“Meaningful progress towards our Sustainable Development Goals requires that we continually leverage innovation,” said Salem Avan, Director, Global Services Division, Office of Information & Communications Technology. “The STI Forum brings together key stakeholders who share in our mission to demonstrate how to best further the UN’s impact through their innovations.”
The United Nations has a clearly stated mission outlined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: “We are resolved to free the human race from the tyranny of poverty and want and to heal and secure our planet. We are determined to take the bold and transformative steps which are urgently needed to shift the world onto a sustainable and resilient path.”
The UN is enabling these transformative steps globally through OICT, driving constant analysis of various Sustainable Development Goals through Qlik applications. This allows OICT to clearly present and share indicators from the massive amounts of available data, identifying and tracking improvements on a wide range of barriers to population well-being.
Through a partnership with Qlik, Secretariat Self-Service Data Visualization Platform
initiated in 2015 and renewed in 2017, OICT has built a self-service visualization platform that enables non-IT staff in all departments and offices within the UN Secretariat (including Regional Commissions, offices away from Headquarters and Field missions) to develop and publish dashboards for internal collaboration and formal/informal reporting. To date there are more than 100 apps published and in use within the platform on topics ranging from administrative topics (budget tracking and procurement) to substantive ones (gender equality, peacekeeping troop deployments, capacity development projects, global crime statistics.)
Secretariat Management Dashboards
Complementing the self-service dashboard effort, OICT worked with senior managers to develop standardized dashboards for reports in key administrative areas within the Secretariat. In March 2017, OICT released a series of management dashboards used by senior management and key focal points in areas such as budget & finance, HR, ICT, procurement, travel, and real estate management. There are currently 20 management dashboards used daily to provide up-to-date and readily accessible management reports.
Security Council Highlights App
The Security Council Affairs Division within the Department of Political Affairs (DPA/SCAD) publishes an annual report detailing the UN security council meetings held during the past year, with details such as adopted resolutions, presidential statements, and decisions. Starting in 2015, Qlik has been used to provide the official report which is now available online. Starting in 2017, Qlik is also used to publish Monthly Security Council statistics which are publicly available.
The UN Comtrade Analytics App
The United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics Database (UN Comtrade) contains detailed goods, imports and exports statistics from 1962 to the present, reported by statistical authorities of close to 200 countries and areas. UN Comtrade is considered the most comprehensive trade database available with more than 3 billion records. Qlik is used to visualize the trade statistics data and make it easier to report.
Advanced Analytics
OICT is working on several advanced analytics initiatives through Qlik to provide easier ways for staff and senior management to get answers and gain data insight, including:
• Using natural language text to query Qlik dashboards and display relevant charts “on the fly.”
• Using public data on conflict country GDP data to calculate the cost of conflict and visualize the results within Qlik.
• Using management data (travel compliance, budget expenditure etc.) to build prediction models visualized in Qlik.
“Unlocking the power of the UN’s vast and varied data sources through analytics is vital in the effort to effect real and sustainable global change,” said Mike Capone, CEO at Qlik. “We’re proud of our partnership and sharing in the UN’s goal of making the world a more sustainable and prosperous one. We look forward to continuing the expansion of our effort to bring essential insights to those on the front lines of global UN transformation initiatives.”
HappynessFactory.in, India’s first goal-based financial planning portal launched a one-of-its-kind “family” feature that enables family members to co-invest toward common goals such as retirement, kids’ education, home buying and many more.
One of the key learnings that the founding team of Happyness Factory brought in from their 13 years of helping families plan their finances is: goals of a family are best achieved when everyone’s on it together. Accordingly, the “family” feature was conceived as the first and only one in the country that allows members of a family to co-invest for common goals.
Take for instance, a goal like higher education costing Rs 40 lakhs today. An investor who wishes to build a corpus for her son’s higher education in 10 years would have to aim for Rs 86 lakhs, assuming inflation at 8%. This requires a monthly investment of approximately Rs 33,000 in equity funds. If the wife opts to allocate Rs 15,000, the husband can put in the remaining Rs 18,000 required for meeting the goal.
Moreover, once investments are in place, each member of the family can track progress toward the goal and view how their individual contributions are helping to reach the goal.
Children too can join their parents to contribute to goals like their higher education and marriage. Children above the age of 18 can be added to the primary contributor’s “family”. Up to 4 persons can invest for shared goals.
Without this feature, the common practice was for spouses to split goals and invest separately for those. So, the wife may invest for the kids’ education while the husband focuses on building a corpus for their house, retirement, etc.
No wonder then that the feature has been well appreciated by users and the results that followed have been phenomenal. In the words of Milin Shah, Head of Product Development and Planning at Happyness Factory, “This is not just because financial objectives are met in 100% of cases but also because of the emotional connect it brings as people identify and agree on goals as a family. This approach works well in the Indian context because family values run deep in our society.”
Huawei Solutions Day 2018, the first of the 3-city Huawei enterprise summit, was held in Bangalore witnessed a gathering of industry leaders, cloud-data service providers and analysts from across industries. Under the theme of "Leading New ICT — The Road to Digital India”, the Solutions Day was a platform to discuss how Indian industry can advance digital transformation and unlock opportunities to grow the digital economy. On this occasion, Huawei also launched its latest solutions the All-flash Storage Oceanstor F V5 and Private Cloud Solution FusionCloud 6.3 which enable digital upgrade with "agility and intelligence" at the core, leading to a better connected enterprise.
Speaking on the occasion, Derek Hao, President, Huawei India Enterprise Business Group said, “Enterprise digitisation has become a key goal across organizations. In line with its “Platform + Ecosystem” strategy, Huawei is committed to provide a one-stop platform that is open, flexible, secure and agile for enterprises to achieve digital transformation. An increasing number of industry-leading enterprises around the world have chosen Huawei as their partner in digital transformation. To date, 197 of the Fortune Global 500 companies and 45 of the top 100 enterprises have chosen Huawei as their digital transformation partner, a testimony to the strength of our strategy and solutions.”
The digital integration of India will increase demand for ICT to facilitate industry digitization and high-quality economic growth. For companies to harness the full potential of the digital economy, they need to adopt an agile, efficient, intelligent and secure ICT ecosystem that facilitates digital transformation opportunities arising across industries in e-commerce, social networking, mobile gaming, mobile payment, and travel domains in a thriving digital economy. Enterprises need to adopt the latest ICT technology to improve working efficiency, create business innovations, and provide better customer service.
Leveraging cloud computing and Big Data technologies, Huawei’s latest FusionCloud Private Cloud Solution provides resource pooling and full-stack cloud service capabilities, meeting requirements of customers in various industries, and suitable for scenarios such as unified infrastructure, hosting clouds, and hybrid clouds.
FusionCloud helps enterprises cope with business challenges, move services to clouds, and promote digital transformation. By the end of December 2017, Huawei has offered cloud computing services for more than 4,000 customers in over 144 countries and regions, covering government and public utilities, carrier, energy, finance, transportation, manufacturing, media, healthcare, education, and many other industries.
Huawei also released the All-flash Storage OceanStor F V5. Adopting Huawei's lightning-fast rock-solid flash architecture and with built-in cloud and intelligence capabilities, the new offerings will bring customers to a new age of data storage.
Huawei released the All-flash Storage OceanStor F V5
Featuring high performance, flash storage plays an important role in business integration acceleration and data value mining of enterprises. With the rapid growth of data volume, enterprises have attached more and more importance to data security and reliability. The newly released All-flash Array of Huawei are specifically designed for mission-critical applications, ensuring high service availability and performance and allowing customers to further unleash the potential of flash. The new offerings demonstrate Huawei's commitment to making data more secure, operations more efficient, and guaranteeing business continuity, all while bringing down costs for enterprises.
Purpose built for flash, Huawei's new OceanStor F V5 All-flash storage systems adopt Huawei's proprietary SSDs, delivering up to 6 million IOPS with 1 ms latency, meeting the highest performance requirements of enterprises' core services. The gateway-free active-active technology built inside ensures 99.9999% availability. By integrating capabilities of managing flash, NAS, and heterogeneous storage systems, this system is capable of supporting various services in private cloud environments.
AMD and Samsung have announced support for Radeon FreeSync technology in the new Samsung QLED 55” to 82” TV range, bringing the ultimate, ultrawide 4K gaming experience to an entirely new format – big screen TVs. Samsung is the first company to utilize industry-leading Radeon FreeSync adaptive refresh technology for stutter-free gaming inside a consumer television set. With High Dynamic Range (HDR) support up to 1000nits and stunning picture quality, Samsung’s QLED displays allow gamers to experience strikingly high refresh rates and low latency on TVs at a variety of price points and screen sizes ranging from 55” to 82” creating a single display for all their home entertainment needs.
Over the past three years, Radeon FreeSync technology has driven widespread adoption and become the industry’s most selected solution for smooth gaming. Earlier this year, AMD expanded the ecosystem by propelling tear-free gameplay beyond the PC with the launch of support for FreeSync technology in Microsoft’s Xbox One S and Xbox One X consoles in early March. With more than 250 compatible displays offered by more than 20 partners, this is more than double the availability of competing technology.
“Whether you’re a console or PC gamer, playing on a PC display or your living room TV, Radeon FreeSync technology powers exceptional stutter-free gaming experiences,” said Scott Herkelman, vice president and general manager, Radeon Technologies Group, AMD. “We launched FreeSync technology with a mission to end frame tearing and dropped frames, as well as improve the experience for gamers around the world. With Samsung’s FreeSync technology QLED TVs, extra smooth gameplay visuals have never been so accessible, and never in such a large and appealing format.”
“From the beginning, Samsung has embraced Radeon FreeSync technology and the commitment from AMD to deliver technologies based on open standards that enhance the gaming experience,” said Chu Jongsuk, senior vice president at Samsung. “Our users demand the absolute best in visual quality, and that extends to smooth gaming low latency. We're thrilled to bring the power of Radeon FreeSync technology to Samsung TVs for players around the world.”
“AMD and Microsoft have a long history of innovation, collaborating on hardware and software to bring gamers the best possible experiences,” said Matthew Lapsen, general manager, Xbox Console Marketing. “With FreeSync technology support for our Xbox One platform, AMD and Microsoft brought a critical gaming technology to a broader base of gamers. We’re offering a whole new caliber of smooth-looking gameplay to players on Xbox One S and Xbox One X.”
FreeSync technology for Samsung’s 2018 QLED TV range is available today for the QLED 55” – 82” models and the NU8000 / NU8500 55” – 82” Series. This will be delivered as part of an automatic Gamer Mode update.
Microsoft Corp said it would buy privately held coding website GitHub Inc for $7.5 billion in an all-stock deal to expand its clout among software developers.
GitHub supplies coding tools for developers and calls itself the world’s largest code host with more than 28 million developers using its platform.
“Microsoft is a developer-first company, and by joining forces with GitHub we strengthen our commitment to developer freedom, openness and innovation,” said Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella said in a statement.
Microsoft’s Nat Friedman will take over as the Chief Executive of San Francisco-headquartered GitHub, whose current CEO Chris Wanstrath will become a Microsoft technical fellow. Microsoft last year shut down CodePlex, its own rival for GitHub, saying the latter was the dominant location for open source sharing and that most such projects had already migrated there.
Monkey Shoulder, a scotch for the new generation of whisky aficionados, brings the 2018 season of ‘Ultimate Bartender Championship’ to India. This competition is on a journey across the country challenging bartending ‘skills that pay the bills.’
The India leg of the championship which began in Mumbai, moved to Bangalore from Pune, and Goa, will be followed by Hyderabad, Kolkata, Gurgaon, Delhi and Chandigarh. The contest was hosted by the Monkey Shoulder India Brand Ambassador, Pankaj Balachandran over a daylong session on bartending skills of ingredient knowledge, mixing, pouring, and nosing and stock taking. The participants were tested on their unique techniques, insights, speed and skills behind the bar. This year, the competition has 550 contestants from the various parts of India competing for a spot to go to the most sought after and top notch Global industry event, The Athens Bar Show. The winner also takes home a very exclusive ride with a fully curated and customised 500 CC Bike.
Abhishek Shevade won the Bangalore round of the Ultimate Bartender Championship by Monkey Shoulder held at Big Brewsky, Surjapur Road, today. The competition brought together the most talented bartenders of the city with a showcase of their prowess and art of bartending. Commenting on his win Abhishek said, “ It feels great to win from amongst the best bartenders of Bangalore. I am looking forward to going for the India Grand Finale in New Delhi. This competition is one of the best I have seen. I would like to thank Monkey Shoulder for giving us such a great experience and chance to go to one of the biggest bar shows in the world.”
Abhishek Shevade, Kishan K and Vedant Mehra will go for the India Grand finale on 28 June 2018 at New Delhi. The national winner of the grand finale will gain a coveted place in the world’s most prestigious Industry event, Athens Bar Show with an all expenses paid trip and a customized 500 CC Motorcycle.
Commenting on this championship, Pankaj Balachandran, Brand Ambassador Monkey Shoulder said, "We are committed to empowering our friends in the bartender community to deliver memorable consumer experiences. A high energy industry event, it promises to lift all bartending parameters that make it an epic competition. Monkey Shoulder is 100% malt made for mixing. This competition resonate the Monkey shoulder values of versatility and free spirited smoothness which has made it a preferred drink with bartenders around the world.”
