Durga Puja is not only a festival of victory of goddess Durga over an evil but is a celebration of the harvest festival that marks the goddess as the motherly power behind all of life and creation. To celebrate womanhood and raise awareness about women in agarbathi industry, All India Agarbathi Manufacturers Association donated 5 ft agarbathi to The Bengalee Association known to conduct Bengaluru’s oldest and largest Durga Puja celebrations since 1949. The agarbathi was customised and created by a team of 20 women from Bengaluru.
This year 5ft agarbathi donated by AIAMA will stand tall during the 5 day Durga Puja celebrations at Manyata Tech Park and will play a significant role in paying tribute to the fierce goddess Durga. The revelry will see a mix of socio cultural functions, music and food fest, glittering stalls of clothes, interior decoration products, gifting items and more.
Sarath Babu, President AIAMA, said ‘We are pleased to contribute 5ft agarbathi to The Bengalee Association to commemorate the largest and the oldest Durga Puja celebrations in Bengaluru. There could have been no better festivity than Durga Puja to salute womanhood, its avatars and their contribution in creating a balanced ecosystem. To support economic independence and rural employment amongst women, AIAMA aims to train a large women workforce in partnership with the association members in next few months. The initiative is in line to address both international and domestic demand.
Additionally, we would be obliged to engage with The Bengalee Association in training women who are interested in learning agarbathi rolling and packaging and become financially independent.
Robin Majumdar, General Secretary, The Bengalee Association said, ‘We are pleased by the initiative of the Agarbathi Association and their contribution towards Durga Puja Celebrations this year. Agarbathi has been an integral part of Indian festivities and plays a significant role during puja observance. This year the agarbathi customised by the association will stand tall during the five day discourse paying tribute to the warrior goddess Durga.
The Association will also be supporting puja requirements by donating agarbathi to few other Durga Puja pandal’s in the city.
Mahindra Lifespace Developers Limited (‘MLDL’), the real estate and infrastructure development arm of the Mahindra Group, has begun handing over homes in Phase 1 of its maiden premium residential project ‘Windchimes’ in Bengaluru. Windchimes is located on Bannerghatta Main Road, adjacent to the proposed Metro Phase 2 line, and comprises four towers spread across 5.85 acres. The project is being developed in two phases and offers 400 thoughtfully designed, spacious and airy apartments in 3 and 4 BHK configurations.
Home owners at Windchimes came together for a specially curated evening of stand-up comedy and live music to mark the commencement of handovers at the project. Customers, family members and friends were treated to a unique ‘gift-wrap reveal’ of Windchimes Tower 1. The ‘gift-wrapped’ buildings even caused passers-by to stop and take photos!
Speaking on the occasion, Amit Anand, homeowner at Windchimes, said, “We are delighted to have received timely possession of our home at Windchimes. It feels good be part of a trusted family such as Mahindras. Mahindra Lifespaces has also kept us well-informed on construction progress at every stage.”
Rahul Gupta, Business Head (Residential - South), Mahindra Lifespace Developers Ltd., said, “We are delighted to begin handovers at our very first project in Bengaluru, which is an important focus market for us. We welcome all residents of Windchimes and thank them for placing their trust and confidence in Mahindra Lifespaces."
Windchimes is less than a kilometre away from the upcoming IIM Bangalore and Hulimavu metro stations. The project is conveniently connected to nearby prime residential and commercial corridors, including workplaces, schools, hospitals, malls and retail outlets. In keeping with Mahindra Lifespaces’ focus on quality living spaces that enable Joyful Homecomings and a balanced lifestyle, the project has been designed around the theme of 'Listen to Life Everyday' and offers over 80% open spaces. Residents can indulge in various sports and recreational activities with facilities such as a clubhouse with party hall, gym, spa, swimming pool and sports activity areas amidst lush, landscaped gardens.
Windchimes has been designed to be environmentally conscious and incorporates solar water heating systems; optimal-flow water fixtures; over 50% rainwater harvesting; water meters in every apartment (pay as per usage); STP (sewage treatment plant) facilities; electrical charging points in parking areas, organic waste treatment; and unit-level segregation of waste. Windchimes is also differently-abled friendly, with preferred parking and dedicated restrooms. It is IGBC pre-certified ‘Platinum’ and one of Bengaluru’s first few ‘green’ residential projects.
Entrepreneur First (EF), the leading deep technology company builder, has launched in Bangalore. The city, long heralded as India’s start-up capital, has rapidly expanded over the years to develop a conducive environment for ideas, businesses and technology to flourish. EF’s unique six-month programme brings together the most ambitious individuals, helps them find their co-founders, develop a differentiated approach, and fundraise from the world’s best investors. Bangalore marks EF’s third location in Asia, following Singapore and Hong Kong. It is also EF’s sixth global location, following London, Berlin and Paris.
EF will invest around US$55,000 in the companies developed during the bi-annual programme, while also providing cohort members with a monthly stipend of US$2,000 as they develop business ideas in the first three months. Segments that EF will primarily focus on include defensible technology, AI, machine learning, robotics, as well as the exciting opportunities for deep tech consumer companies in India. Graduating founders can expect to pitch to leading regional and global investors at Investor Day in Singapore next July, alongside their counterparts from EF’s Hong Kong and Singapore programmes.
“Bangalore is well-known for its brilliant tech talent and entrepreneurial spirit. With our emphasis on deep tech, we are truly excited about the possibilities in India and believe that the talent pool here is ripe to create some of the world’s next biggest and most important companies,” said Anne Marie Droste, EF Global Expansion Director. “Since we entered Asia 3 years ago, we have witnessed a very encouraging glimpse of what the most talented and ambitious individuals from India can achieve at our programme. By setting up a local EF programme in Bangalore, we can access even more of such individuals, especially technologists, and help them take that first leap towards entrepreneurship.”
Nicknamed the “Silicon Valley of India”, Bangalore has seen a meteoric rise on the world stage, having been named the most dynamic city in 2017 by the World Economic Forum. According to Startup Genome, Bangalore’s startup ecosystem is valued at US$19 billion, with an estimated 1,800-2,300 active tech startups. The past decade has seen it shift from a purely skill-based factory model to a more startup mindset. There is a genuine interest in tech and an ability to attract highly-skilled tech workers.
To date, EF has helped build over 150 technology companies, collectively worth almost US$1.5 billion. Notable alumni include London-based startup Magic Pony, a startup that uses machine-learning technology to improve the quality of images and video footages, which was acquired by Twitter for US$150 million in June 2016 - just 18 months after the co-founders met on EF.
EF Bangalore officially starts on the 28th of January 2019 with applications now open at apply.joinef.com. EF is targeting to recruit up to 50 individuals for its inaugural cohort.
In a proud moment for EuroSchool Whitefield, four of their students of grade 7 have published a book called ‘The Chronicles of Wizardry’.
The incredible feat was performed by four 12 year old girls - Uditi Mourya, Treya Moodithaya, Nikkita Rosalyn and Nityasree Pola. These young girls epitomised sincerity by indulging in literary excellence in parallel to regular academic sessions.
The students revealed that they received tremendous support from their teachers, at EuroSchool Whitefield, who not only supported them but also helped them in proof reading the book.
The four girls began the process by reading about the steps involved in writing a book, from producing a rough draft of a manuscript to publishing it. During their lunch breaks they discussed the storyline, noted down the plots and the thoughts & ideas. The collaborative work of the four girls in terms of writing, reviewing and editing, resulted in them putting together a book. The whole process of writing the book took them one academic year.
EuroSchool Whitefield Principal, Shruthi Arun said, “We feel proud of our student prodigies who have performed a remarkable feat of releasing a book at such a young age. At EuroSchool, it is our constant endeavour to help students to recognize their talent, discover their areas of interest, encourage individual skills, thereby giving each child the opportunity to pursue their passion.”
The book is about a boy named Jason, who discovers that he is bestowed with magical powers and the challenges he faces in the School of Wizardry. The book is now available at Amazon for INR 236.
To cater to the growing popularity of the Tata HARRIER, Tata Motors has commenced bookings of its much awaited SUV, staring today. Born of legendary pedigree, the Tata HARRIER is based on the revolutionary architecture, derived from Land Rover’s legendary D8 architecture on which over 1 million SUVs have been sold worldwide. Customers can book the HARRIER with an amount of INR 30,000 on www.tataharrier.com or visit the nearest Tata Motors authorized dealership.
According to Mayank Pareek, President, Passenger Vehicle Business Unit, Tata Motors -“Since its showcase as a concept at the Auto Expo 2018, the HARRIER has made huge waves amongst the SUV lovers. With the rising excitement and consistent demand from our discerning customers to book the HARRIER at the earliest and be amongst the early ones to receive deliveries, we have taken a conscious decision to open bookings in the festive season. With Turnaround 2.0, we have already begun our journey towards winning sustainably in the passenger vehicle business and we are confident that with the introduction of this new class leading SUV, we will only soar higher.”
Offering exemplary driving dynamics, this 5-seater monocoque SUV has been extensively tested for a cumulative distance of 2.2 million kms, showcasing its mettle to wade through the toughest of terrains. Powered by the 2.0L KRYOTEC cutting- edge diesel engine, the vehicle delivers exceptionally refined drivability and performance. Harrier will be the first product to sport the Impact 2.0 Design language from Tata Motors. It will offer extraordinary exteriors, intelligently designed luxurious interiors, future ready connectivity and infotainment.
Marrying an extremely robust legendary architecture to the power- packed performance of KRYOTEC, the Tata HARRIER promises to set new benchmarks for SUVs with its launch in early 2019.
New research from Accenture gives clients a tool to help them derive maximum value from the adoption of digital technologies and power profitable growth.
The research — titled “Delivering Digital Dividends: How to Start Making Your Technology Investments Really Pay Off” — identifies the key external factors that organizations need to address to maximize gains from digital technologies they adopt.
The research builds on Accenture’s “Combine and Conquer” report from last year, which identified the best combinations of digital technologies to drive maximum business impact. “Combine and Conquer” calculated that companies that implemented those technologies effectively could boost their market capitalization by 28 percent, on average.
The goal of the new research, “Delivering Digital Dividends,” is to help clients realize such gains by becoming what Accenture refers to as “Industry X.0” businesses — organizations that combine digital technologies to drive exceptional efficiency gains; create new, hyper-personalized experiences; and enable new business models to drive both top- and bottom-line growth.
While “Delivering Digital Dividends” focuses initially on five technologies found to be widely relevant and applicable across industries — artificial intelligence (AI), augmented/virtual reality, big data, blockchain and robotics — it can be applied to a variety of other digital technologies, including mobile computing, 3D printing and digital twin, among others.
The research identifies five broad areas related to technology implementation, referred to as “value-triggers,” along with a series of sub-elements for each trigger. The five value-triggers are:
· Value Potential. Focuses on the potential costs savings and gains in market cap value that the technology can deliver.
· Talent Readiness. Looks at both the existing workforce — in terms of the availability of talent and skills required for development, integration and maintenance of the technology — as well as the current demand and supply for talent with the specific technology skillset.
· Capital Adequacy. Considers the growth in venture capital investment, as well as the number of mergers and acquisitions related to the technology over the past three to five years.
· Ecosystem Maturity. Analyzes the availability of widely accepted standards and protocols for the technology; efforts made to address interoperability challenges; the number of consortiums (academic and industry-specific) formed to advance the technology; and the number of start-ups focused on advancing the technology.
· Adoption Intensity. Considers a variety of sub-elements: the number of use case applications built using the technology; the number of use cases that have made it to commercial deployment; the estimated growth in technology spend; the number of companies investing in and/or developing the technology or related offerings; and C-suite perception of the technology’s ability to improve efficiencies and deliver new experiences.
The value-triggers form the core of the Accenture Digital Dividends Diagnostic, a tool that measures the advancement of the technology against each of the value-trigger sub-elements on a scale of one to five; the smaller the number, the lower the advancement of that technology in the context of the particular sub-element of the value trigger. The value-trigger scores can be assessed for specific industries, enabling an enterprise to take necessary measures toward bridging value-gaps in the context of technologies adopted. For instance, a company adopting a technology with a low ‘Talent Readiness’ score can start investing to either build the necessary talent pool within its organization or tap ecosystems to acquire the talent.
“As organizations progressively move towards adopting Industry X.0 technologies, there is a need to focus on maximizing value and driving new efficiency,” said Raghu Gullapalli, Managing Director - Industrial, Asia Pacific, Africa, Middle East & Turkey (AAPAC), Accenture. “Our new research provides a structured framework in the form of Digital Dividends Diagnostic tool to bridge value-gaps while embarking on the digital transformation journey."
The report notes that disregarding even a single value-trigger can be costly. For instance, the research found that companies that managed the ecosystem value-trigger particularly well — known as “ecosystem engagers” — achieved cost reductions per employee that were 2.4 percentage points greater, on average, than those of other companies. For the three years between 2013 and 2016, this translates to cost savings of US$844 million for the ecosystem engagers, on average.
Aidan Quilligan, a managing director at Accenture and global lead of its Industry X.0 practice, said, “Executives don't have to understand all the ins and outs of a technology to get the most value from it, but they must understand the broader business landscape around the technology. While there are many excellent frameworks for assessing the internal digitization readiness of a company, until now you were on your own if you wanted to run an assessment of the external factors that might influence your digital transformation. Our Digital Dividends Diagnostic now makes this possible, providing a framework to help you get maximum value from digital technologies."
Juniper Networks, an industry leader in automated, scalable and secure networks, and Nutanix, a leader in enterprise cloud computing, today announced new initiatives under their existing partnership designed to simplify enterprises’ journey to multicloud architectures, making network and security act as seamless partners with compute and storage. As enterprises transition to multicloud environments, they need simplified and automated network management, as well as integrated and agile security. To enable this, Juniper Networks and Nutanix are deepening their collaboration in an effort to provide seamless integration between virtual and physical networks that is vital to a multicloud future.
The goal is for Juniper’s Contrail Enterprise Multicloud to integrate with Nutanix APIs to provide enhanced network visibility for virtualized workloads, ultimately facilitating automated fabric management. Additionally, Juniper’s Unified Cybersecurity Platform together with Nutanix’s software-defined networking offering, Flow, and AHV hypervisor, intends to secure applications with microsegmentation in enterprise cloud, as well as provide a hardened security posture that prevents lateral propagation of threats. Enterprises will be able to deploy the vSRX integrated virtual firewall in their Nutanix environment, extending the same capability across multicloud architectures with a single point of control using vSRX on-premises and in AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform.
Working with Nutanix, Juniper will provide:
An operationally simplified and scalable network fabric based on Juniper’s QFX switches for Nutanix Enterprise Cloud users through the integration of Contrail Enterprise Multicloud with Nutanix’s APIs.
Enhanced microsegmentation in enterprises’ cloud architecture, creating a hardened security posture that prevents lateral propagation of threats by allowing enterprises to take advantage of the functionality of both Nutanix Flow and Juniper vSRX.
With Juniper’s Contrail Enterprise Multicloud and Nutanix’s Enterprise Cloud, enterprises will be able to seamlessly build, connect, secure and operate multicloud architectures.
Supporting Quotes
“As enterprises race toward multicloud, they are burdened with complexities that arise during each stage of the journey. By integrating Contrail Enterprise Multicloud and Juniper’s Unified Cybersecurity Platform with Nutanix’s Enterprise Cloud, we are delivering an end-to-end secure and automated multicloud environment spanning compute, storage and networking for our customers.”
-Bikash Koley, Chief Technology Officer, Juniper Networks
“The future of enterprise infrastructure is multi-cloud - that’s no longer up for debate. Networking shouldn’t be the complex burden holding companies back from this transition, and that’s why we’re so committed to working with our partners like Juniper to offer our joint customers seamless, secure networking fit for the multi-cloud world.”
- Raja Mukhopadhyay, VP of Product Management, Nutanix
“We have separately used both Juniper and Nutanix technology as components of Expedient’s Enterprise Cloud and Disaster Recovery solutions. This collaboration further enables multi-cloud adoption for customers with applications operating on diverse infrastructure. From our perspective, this partnership further validates our vision of having a single security perimeter to protect workloads across clouds.”
-John White, Vice President, Product Strategy, Expedient
