L&T Technology Services Limited, a global leading pure-play engineering services company, has partnered with California based Cadence Design Systems, a leader in manufacturing electronics and integrated circuits to launch its new NB-IoT (Narrow Band – Internet of Things) protocol stack nB-on which will be hosted on Cadence’s Tensilica platform.
NB-IoT is a Low Power Wide Area Network connectivity standard from cellular Industry (ETSI/3GPP) to enable a wide range of devices and services to be connected. nB-on is an innovative offering from LTTS utilizing NB-IoT designed with low memory and low power footprint enabling easy integration to custom target platforms. Cadence’s Tensilica solution can be integrated into system-on-chip (SoC) devices to deliver fast time to market with low risk through pre-verified and pre-certified intellectual property (IP).
These are opportune times for organizations that intend to derive maximum benefits from IoT enabled connected devices. According to Technavio, the global NB-IoT chipset market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 61% from 2017-2020, while Gartner has predicted that the number of ‘connected things’ will reach 20.4 billion by 2020. LTTS is a prime mover in India leveraging its IoT, IIoT and NB-IoT prowess for developing Smart Cities under the Smart Cities Mission by the Indian government. The company is contributing significantly to the L&T Group’s asset management projects and turnkey solutions for smart cities, smart communication systems and security solutions.
Ashish Khushu, Chief Technology Officer at L&T Technology Services said “We are excited to roll out nB-on, a comprehensive and light-weight 3GPP NB-IoT device protocol stack developed by LTTS that is both platform and industry agnostic. Our partnership with Cadence Technologies involves integrating nB-on with Cadence’s popular Tensilica platform, which will result in cost effective use cases for a multitude of functions ranging from smart parking management, smart meters to modern fleet and waste management. Our combined NB-IoT package will provide enhanced IoT connectivity, lowering deployment & maintenance costs while supporting a large number of devices. LTTS has been an important contributor to prevailing 3GPP NB-IoT standards and anticipates mass adoption of the nB-on solution in the near future”.
“Increasingly companies are looking to integrate NB-IoT functionality into their low-cost IoT SoCs,” said Gerard Andrews, director of marketing for Tensilica products at Cadence. “From wearables to smart city to industrial applications, this new class of IoT SoCs will require solid modem IP and a strong engineering services partner. With L&T Technology’s fully tested NB-IoT modem IP and proven engineering team, they can reduce risk and time to market for companies looking to enter the emerging NB-IoT SoC market.”
LTTS will be exhibiting the NB-on solution at the upcoming GSMA Mobile World Congress 2018. The visitors would be able to experience the functionality of nB-on at Booth Number B89 in Hall N1, between June 27 to 29.
Betting big on consumer engagement and relationship enhancement, Canon India announces the launch of ‘Get the Edge’ – a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) program aimed at improving consumer proximity and enhancing customer delight. With the objective of establishing a platform to connect and manage its interactions with the customers, Canon India is taking a step ahead in the direction of customer experience, by launching ‘Get the Edge’ for its subdomain edge.canon.co.in
Starting today, the special service would entail devising a Canon-pedia of photography, which will be a one-stop-shop for the new, amateur as well as advanced camera users to hone their photography skills. The ultimate goal of this program is to propagate photography and imaging culture in the country.
Commenting on the occasion, Kazutada Kobayashi, President & CEO, Canon India, said, “Taking a step ahead in our endevour of customer delight, we are pleased to announce this venture of ‘Customer Relationship Management’. Backed by our customer’s faith in our strong legacy of more than two decades in the country, we are confident that the CRM program – ‘Get the Edge’ will help us build and maintain lifetime connect with all our customers across the country. The communication and approach of the program has been segmented for different customers at different levels, including entry level users, mid-range users and advanced and professional camera users, thus aiming to provide them with an enhanced experience. We have always maintained our stance of promoting the imaging culture in the country and this programme would be a vital contributor in this space.”
The content of the program is divided under four major categories, which include – campaigns & offers, tips, tricks and tutorials on photography, product centric details and genre specific information.
Further elaborating on the program, Eddie Udagawa, Vice President, Consumer Imaging and Information Centre, Canon India, said, “Customers have always been and will continue to be at the epicenter of all our innovations. The launch of our CRM program ‘Get the Edge’ is a step ahead in building a strong community of photography enthusiast and professionals, that would elevate the world of imaging. In line with the market trends and customer requirements, ‘Get the Edge’ would serve as a knowledge bank, publishing the latest information and providing the right solutions to the customers. We foresee this to be a Canon-pedia of photography, enriching customer experience and engagement on our digital platform- Canon Edge.”
The program has commenced through mailers sent out to registered Canon Edge members, highlighting the key aspects of the program and welcoming them on board. This program will offer arsenal of activities for users to browse through, which includes updates on latest products, product reviews, photography tips and techniques and photography contests and events.
Through various distinct phases of CRM, Canon will further customize their offerings for each consumer to suit their individual requirements and study their needs and expectations. The objective is to continue living by the brand’s tag line of ‘Delighting you always’.
Microsoft India received four prestigious awards at the Frost & Sullivan India Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Awards, held on June 21, 2018 in New Delhi. Currently in their 16th year, these awards honor and recognize companies who push boundaries of excellence and achieve landmarks to deliver business outcomes using digital and disruptive technologies in the Indian market.
Microsoft received the ‘Public Cloud Provider of the Year’ Award and the ‘Unified Communication Vendor of the Year’ awards for the second consecutive year. In addition, Microsoft also received the ‘Enterprise Team Messaging Vendor of the Year’ and the ‘Information Rights Management Vendor of the Year’ awards.
Congratulating Microsoft Corporation (India) for the award, Parminder Kaur, Associate Director, Digital Transformation Practice, Frost & Sullivan said, ““Microsoft has been at the forefront of innovation and has enabled enterprises to transform their digital experiences. With a deep focus on empowering end users, Microsoft continues to make investments in cutting edge technology and industry solutions, backed by a strong go-to-market strategy. Its partner ecosystem, thought leadership and focus on trust, security and privacy make Microsoft an undisputed leader.”
Speaking on the occasion, Meetul Patel, Chief Operating Officer, Microsoft India, said, “Microsoft has made significant investments in creating the technologies for a world characterized by an intelligent edge network of devices powered by a trusted, intelligent cloud. We are pleased that our innovative new technology is helping fundamentally reshape the IT infrastructure in India to make access to the latest technologies easier for every segment of the economy.”
The award recipients were judged on a variety of parameters that included revenue growth, innovation, product portfolio diversity, key achievements, and Go-to-market Strategy. It involved in-depth primary interviews with various industry participants and secondary research conducted by Frost & Sullivan analysts. An elite panel of jury members comprising of prominent CIOs/CTOs from the industry evaluated the compiled data and incorporated the end-user perspective. Frost & Sullivan then presented the awards to companies that received the highest industry rank in each category.
ThoughtWorks, a software and digital transformation consultancy, has announced a 2-year partnership with Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) to design, develop, test and deploy automated data processing software for the MeerKAT radio telescope, a Square Kilometer Array precursor, that will break new ground in astronomical observations and will redefine our understanding of space as we know it. ThoughtWorks will archive, process, analyse and distribute data and/or data products for MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey (MALS) through the Automated Radio Telescope Data Processing Software pipeline.
Today’s announcement is a testament to ThoughtWorks’ expertise in data-intensive scientific discovery and the Engineering for Research (E4R) practice in India that secured the contract. Previously, ThoughtWorks designed and delivered software for the Thirty Meter Telescope, an observatory that will produce images ten times sharper than the Hubble Space telescope.
The MeerKAT project is led by Dr. Neeraj Gupta and Raghunathan Srianand of Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), India. Dr. Neeraj has this to say on the transformative expectation of the project, “The work to be completed by ThoughtWorks will allow us to use cutting-edge and innovative solutions required to tackle the big data challenge, posed by MALS and, improve our understanding of how galaxies form and evolve.”
“Engineering excellence is the backbone that powers technology,” says Sameer Soman, Managing Director, ThoughtWorks India. “Our work on the MeerKat project enables the continued evolution of discovery and design when it comes to managing and processing incredibly large data sets. Also, as always ThoughtWorks will look forward to enterprise level applications of our learnings from this futuristic project.”
E4R is ThoughtWorks India’s initiative to design and develop software tools for scientific discovery, as a part of the larger computational science community. The practice is focused on solving next generation computational challenges across various scientific disciplines such as astronomy and biology.
After 3-days of great display of passion and grit, the Southern Chapter of IndiaSkills Regional Competitions 2018 concluded today in a grand ceremony, held at BIEC - Bengaluru International Exhibition Centre (BIEC), Bengaluru. The regional finale was graced by the august presence of Anantkumar Hegde, Minister of State for Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE), Government of India, Dr. K. P. Krishnan, Secretary, MSDE, Rajesh Agrawal, Joint Secretary, MSDE, Jayant Krishna, ED & COO, NSDC along with other dignitaries from industry and central and state government.
More than 300 competitors from 14 states competed in one of the biggest skill competitions in the region. Organized between 21st to 23rd June, the competition was spread across 7 locations in the city, with BIEC hosting 25 out of 36 competitions.
For the first time in the regionals, skill competitions were organized in unique trades such as Floristry, Print Media Technology, Landscape Gardening, Industrial Control, Aircraft Maintenance among others. The event also witnessed a lot of competitors breaking stereotypes by participating in non-conventional trades, e.g. a male competitor from Jammu & Kashmir participated in Beauty Therapy and a female competitor participated in the competition for Plastering & Dry Wall skill.
Karnataka won the highest number of first positions at the event (11), followed by Kerala (6) and Andhra Pradesh (4). The winners were felicitated by Anantkumar Hegde, Minister of State for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Government of India.
Addressing the closing ceremony, Anantkumar Hegde said, “Skill India should be reverberated amongst the youth to create a movement for nation building. In this endeavor, I am happy to see IndiaSkills competition being organized in Bengaluru for the first time. It is heartening to see the enthusiasm and hard work of all the participants who competed at this event.”
“I am proud to see large number of competitors breaking the conventional stereotypes and are showcasing their talent through this unique platform. I am sure the confidence that all of them gain through this event will help them contribute significantly to the growth of our country. Our journey for WorldSkills 2019 has begun and I am confident that our youth will make India proud at this event”, he further added.
Commenting on the initiatives, Dr. K. P. Krishnan said, “Skills form the backbone of all our national missions. IndiaSkills competitions are designed with an objective to showcase the highest standards of skills in India and motivate youth to consider vocational education as a mainstream career option. This is a unique amalgamation of government, academia, industry and other stakeholders, all coming together to develop best in class skilled manpower in the country.”
IndiaSkills competition, organized by National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) under the aegis of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), has brought together 50+ corporates and academic institutes, along with 22 state governments all with one vision of making India the skill capital of the world. Leading corporate like Toyota, Maruti, Tata Motors, Festo, VLCC, Future Group, Schneider Electric, Hindustan Aeronautic Limited among others, have partnered Skill India Mission for this unique initiative.
Since April this year, 500+ district and state level competitions have been organized across India. The southern chapter of IndiaSkills regional competition is the third in line of four such competitions across the country. The next regional competition for the eastern region is scheduled in Bhubaneshwar, Odisha from 15th to 17th July 2018.
The winners from these regional competitions will compete at the National Competition at New Delhi in September 2018, where the final winners will get a chance to undergo best in class industry training and represent India at WorldSkills International Competition 2019 in Kazan Russia.
India won 1 Silver, 1 Bronze and 9 Medallion of Excellence and ranked 19 among 56 countries at the last WorldSkills 2017 in Abu Dhabi. More than 1300 competitors competed in 51 skills at this event.
There is so much talk of the death of brick-and-mortar retail as a consequence of the aggressive advent of e-commerce into the country, when the fact is that shopping malls have just got started in India - and they are definitely here to stay. As developers learn through trial and error and come up with more winning formulas for their malls, and as a retailers get more into omnichannel selling, we will see the Great Indian Mall revolution spin into its next cycle of evolution.
Why the Indian Mall Story Rocks
Unlike 'couch potato' e-commerce shopping, malls offer an experience... a touch-and-feel benefit which online shopping cannot. Also, going to a mall becomes an outing for the family and friends, often coupled with a meal at the food court and a movie at the cineplex. All this in air-conditioned comfort, escalators and lifts connecting everything to the parking below, and scrupulously cleaned sanitary facilities at all levels. The massive Indian middle class loves this experience and online retail is unlikely to put malls in the shade in India anytime soon.
The Impact of E-commerce
This is not to say that e-commerce has not had an impact. Definitely, Indians who know how to navigate the online world (and they are quite a lot - about 300 million Indians use the Internet today) may not go to a mall if they need just a few things and for which they can wait a few days. The commute to and from a mall is an important factor considering that going to the car park and waiting for your turn to take the elevator is a daunting task, and it is definitely not worth it just for picking up a handful of non-critical items. However, Indians are also quite open to deferring smaller purchases for the weekends, when they can couple the shopping with other activities which a mall can offer.
No doubt, online shopping portals offer more variety and deeper discounts. However, it is generally known that the deep discount ethos will eventually go the way of the dinosaur. These portals have been investing heavily into garnering a loyal customer base, and margins have been thin at best.
In the end, it is evident that both online shopping and physical retail will continue to coexist in India, without impacting each other too much. In the West, online retail has proved to be a major disruptor for physical retail - especially given the fact that there is no dearth of things for families to do on weekends.
As a result, visiting a mall ranks much lower on the general population's priority list. In India, our cities have developed haphazardly, open spaces are vanishing and public transport is often shaky and unreliable. In such a scenario, a visit to a clean, visually vibrant and centrally air-conditioned mall is a major attraction.
A Growing Spread
Cities that have seen maximum malls include Gurgaon, Noida, Greater Noida and Delhi in NCR, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru and Pune. Over the next 5 years, nearly 85 malls are expected to come up in India, and more than 30 new malls accounting for nearly 14 million sq. ft. area are expected to open just in the top eight cities by 2020.
Low vacancy levels and high rentals in Tier I cities are now also paving the way for retail expansion in tier II cities like Lucknow, Coimbatore, Chandigarh, Mangalore and Ahmedabad, to name a few. In fact, sensing immense opportunities and easy penetration into the Indian retail diaspora, overseas retailers are now expanding not just in metros but even tier 2 cities namely Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Lucknow and Jaipur. This has led to mushrooming of malls all across the country.
We are definitely NOT looking at a deathbed scenario here - as a matter of fact, just the opposite. However, like every other real estate vertical in India, retail has also had to evolve with the times in order to retain its allure.
Diversification - the Mixed-use Mantra
It has become increasingly evident that no mall in India today can depend solely on shopping as its prime source of revenue-generation and footfalls. Developers have understood that they need to transform their malls into community spaces to stay relevant to today's far more discerning customers. Besides seeking a holistic shopping experience, consumers want to be comfortable and have something that inspires them to stay longer and, more essentially, persuades them to return.
This has led to a constant effort by Indian mall operators to provide the required specialized experience. Thus, most malls are striving to become prominent ‘shoppertainment’ locations. Today’s top-performing shopping malls are mixed-use businesses that incorporate social entertainment options, provide unique appeal along with certain depth in the shopping experience, and are in prime locations that are easily accessible by both public and private transport.
Size DOES Matter
Since large malls are better able to incorporate all the features required for successful operations, they tend to do better than the smaller ones. For instance, the footfalls in Total Mall at Sarjapur Road in Bangalore are far less than Phoenix Market City in Whitefield area. The latter is much larger and provides a complete ‘experience’ including shopping, entertainment, restaurants, movies etc. In contrast, the former is a smaller mall with just a few retail outlets and minimum entertainment facilities.
Reinvented Malls - What Lies Beneath?
Despite the incessant consumer appetite for malls in India, many malls did not work out. This can happen for a variety of reasons – the wrong location lacking public transport access, insufficient or unscientific parking arrangements, lack of research for what kind of retailers will work in a given micro-market (leading to an unsuitable tenant mix), lack of a food court, etc.
Strata-ownership of shops was also a major issue in many of the failed malls, as this invariably meant that the mall did not have the benefit of centrally paid-for professional mall management services. This results in the poor upkeep of facilities, no promotional activities to drive footfalls, and no professional advisory services on how the mall should be tenanted - or, if necessary, reinvented.
In fact, many malls that have failed to perform as per expectations over the years have either been converted into commercial office spaces or even been developed into residential buildings. Some classic examples include Ansal Plaza in Delhi which has been converted into more of a commercial complex, while Jewel Square, Kakade Centre Port and East Court in Pune have also been converted into office spaces. Malls such as Nirmal Lifestyles, Mumbai are being 'reborn' as residential buildings.
Endless Evolution
It is more than evident that the Indian retail industry has been on a steep unlearning/learning curve. This process is by no means complete, and in fact will never be complete. The retail scene in India, as well as the rest of the world, is changing far too rapidly for players to become complacent. What works today may not work five years from now.
In other words, the process of evolution for the retail industry is a constant work-in-progress - and yes, there will always be winners and losers. However, given the rapid pace of adaptation we are seeing today, it is more than likely that ten years from now, there will be far more winners than losers. Shopping malls are simply to cost-intensive to warrant adventurous experimentation and risk-taking. At any given time, only the tried-and-tested models will actually work.
The 5th India International MSME Start Up Expo witnessed encouraging sessions for the young innovators by experts focusing on innovation, reformation and transformation at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi.
The key speakers at the event included Minister of State, Department of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution CR Chaudhary, Chairman ITDC, UAE SK Aggarwal, Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Chairman Stic Travels Subhash Goyal and many others.
The three-day event starting June 22-24, 2018 was spearhead by the MSME Development Forum, a not for profit organisation, which has been at the forefront of growth and promotion of small businesses with a thrust on start-ups towards building entrepreneurs in India. The Forum works as a catalyst for interface between government and entrepreneurial activities and has been relentlessly working towards developing an entrepreneurial culture in the country.
Addressing the event, Minister of State, Department of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution CR Chaudhary, emphasised on encouraging young entrepreneurs. He states, “There is a need of more employment and export in the country. Employment is generated by new setups. Young people have new innovative ideas. In fact, more than 60% of stalls have been taken by young innovators country need. Even as per our Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, youth should be encouraged to an entrepreneur. One must become service provider not service seeker. Thus, SMEs should be given more assistance and support. Only then the moto – ‘Perform, Reform and Transform’ will happen. People of Delhi and nearby areas should come and take advantage of the expo and should encourage new innovators.”
Discussing about agriculture sector, Ministry of Agriculture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat says, “The two major problems of our agriculture sector are fragmentation of land and high pressure on resources. There is no capacity building in agriculture sector. MSME is the only way to revive the sector in India. The holistic solutions provided by the government have helped in improving the sector but to sustain it we need MSME involvement to take it further and this will help in doubling the income of the farmer”
Rajnish Goenka, Chairman, MSME – DF says, “We are aiming to make India as World's manufacturer and sourcing hub alternative to China. Importantly, we have also tried to create a political will among political parties to acknowledge this movement.”
There were various topics covered in the on-going expo in different sessions that is Innovative Financing & Founding Opportunities for MSMEs & Startups, MSME in Tourism, Logistics & Service sector, Vendor Development in Railways, Defence & Govt/PSUs and Agri Business: Doubling Farmer’s income.
The agenda of the exposition is to promote entrepreneurship & self-employment to generate maximum job opportunities. The event will also provide one stop global platform to connect, network, partner and share information with Domestic & International SMEs to find new business opportunities in either country. The expo also aims to spread awareness about Government’s promotional schemes to make new Entrepreneur and transform job seekers to job creators. It accelerates growth of MSMES , Startups and Budding entrepreneur .In addition, it focuses to bring Small Entrepreneurs on a single platform and address their persistent issue and concerns. The agenda will also target to be the leading MSME Startup Advocacy Forum.
The event witnesses more than 20,000 visitors, 250 exhibitors, 100 B2G/B2B Meetings, 50 Embassies & Global Participants, 30 banks and investors, 15 PSUs-Government Departments and 10 concurrent summits.
