UL Completes First BHEL Solar Module Tests for BIS Certification Programme

UL, a leading global safety science company, has successfully completed the first series of tests for solar panels manufactured by the Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) under the mandatory certification programme of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).

One of the country’s earliest manufacturers of solar modules, BHEL has a module manufacturing capacity of 226 megawatts (MW) at its state-of-the-art facility in Bengaluru. , UL collaborates with BHEL on various projects and will continue to support the company in the BIS programme.

“Over the past three decades, BHEL has led the development of solar manufacturing capacity in India, enhancing sustainability and environmental goals. The ongoing efforts to strengthen the quality of solar modules through the BIS certification is an important development, and BHEL fully subscribes to the programme. UL played an important role in our journey to achieve the highest standards of quality and performance,” says Rajababu D., general manager, BHEL.

Commenting on the development, Suresh Sugavanam, UL’s vice president and managing director for South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa said, “We are honoured to service BHEL to meet their testing and certification requirements. As one of the most formidable public sector units, BHEL has played an important role in establishing a domestic quality ecosystem. By creating a network of local vendors, the BHEL is an inspiration for the domestic manufacturing industry.”

As part of this programme, samples of 4BB and 5BB high-efficiency modules of both monocrystalline and polycrystalline varieties between 300 to 340 wattage were tested by UL at their Bengaluru solar photovoltaic laboratory over a period of two months. A battery of over 100 tests, including a damp heat test and thermal cycling test were performed on the samples, as required by BIS certification standards. 

UL is the first laboratory in India empanelled by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) for testing various components, such as PV modules, solar inverters, charge controllers and solar lighting systems. The facility is equipped to test these products for national and international certification programmes, including those specified by the International Electrotechnical Commission.

The Solar Photovoltaics, Systems, Devices, and Component Goods (Requirement for Compulsory Registration under BIS Act) Order 2017, issued by MNRE in August 2017, has been enforced since Sept. 1, 2018.

Qlik Expands Analytics, Business Intelligence Leadership in AI and ML

Qlik continues to lead the analytics and business intelligence industry in delivering AI (augmented intelligence) innovation that expands the value of Qlik’s platform for all users. With the November 2018 release of Qlik Sense, Qlik has introduced new machine learning (ML) capabilities into its cognitive engine and platform. Precedent-based machine learning allows the Qlik cognitive engine to get smarter over time, continually learning from user interaction and feedback as well as other sources. Qlik is the first analytics company to bring AI and ML capabilities together with human intuition in a way that truly augments the user’s power to discover.

According to Gartner, Inc., “A new paradigm — augmented analytics — is rapidly gaining traction. Central to this development is the use of ML automation/AI techniques to augment human intelligence and contextual awareness, and to transform data management, analytics and BI as well as many aspects of data science and ML/AI model development and consumption.”

Qlik’s new machine learning capabilities will initially be utilized in Insight Advisor, which debuted as part of the June 2018 Qlik Sense Enterprise release. Insight Advisor auto-generates and suggests the best analytics and insights to explore based on the overall data set and a user’s search criteria, making insight suggestions increasingly relevant and valuable as the machine learns from the user’s analytics interactions. Users can directly train the machine by manually creating analytics, altering what the machine suggests, and providing direct feedback. The cognitive engine also learns from additional governed and trusted sources such as business rule definitions in global libraries and Qlik artifacts.

“AI brings about a future of possibilities and will make analytics more human, not less,” said Arun Balasubramanian, Managing Director, Qlik India. “By enabling users to access highly contextual, data-driven insights at their point of need, Qlik allows AI and machine learning to support and complement human decision-making and intuition. This unique integration of man and machine is what Augmented Intelligence is all about. Leveraging AI and machine learning will deliver an enhanced experience where users will benefit from a more efficient, intelligent and streamlined process.”

“More and more of our clients are asking for concrete use cases where they can leverage artificial intelligence,” said Moritz Schieder, Visual Analytics Practice Lead for Deloitte Consulting. “Qlik’s augmented intelligence approach is a great example of how to use machine learning to even better bridge the gap between data and the human decision maker by supporting data preparation tasks, choosing the right types of visualizations, and suggesting insights to the user.”

“Enterprises need their analytics partners to deliver innovation that drives user intelligence and improves their ability to more easily get value from data,” said Elif Tutuk, Director of Research at Qlik. “Our extensive investment in AI and machine learning is a game changer for users. It expands their ability to easily move through multiple levels of data exploration with confidence, knowing that the system is learning right alongside them, and that each new insight makes them smarter and can lead to new opportunities.”

Qlik’s AI and ML capabilities are truly unique because they work directly with Qlik’s associative engine, combining the power of AI with human intuition. Because the associative engine is aware of a user’s context (selection state) at each step in the exploratory process and knows all the data that is associated and unrelated to that context, this is factored into machine driven analysis and insight suggestions to make them more relevant. It’s like giving the user “peripheral vision” that guides them to hidden insights and helps them see the previously unseen. Thus, Qlik delivers the power of AI2, whereby both machine and human become increasingly empowered. Associative Indexing combined with Augmented Intelligence = AI2.

‘ThinkAHack’ Calls Out Students for the Biggest Hackathon Event in January 2019

KG Information Systems Private Limited (KGiSL) in association with UiPath has announced the launch of ThinkAHack, an RPA specific Hackathon event to happen in January 2019. KGiSL, a leading fintech solutions and services provider catering the global capital market and insurance domains has partnered with UiPath, one of the fastest growing enterprise software companies in history backed by over $400 million in funding. ‘ThinkAHack’ will be a 36-hour RPA Hackathon contest involving continuous research and learning which will see a participation of 1000+ college students and technology enthusiasts with different backgrounds across India.

‘ThinkAHack’ encourages the development of cutting-edge technology and aims at talent identification.  The top teams get a total cash price of INR 4,50,000/- and the best 200 participants who demonstrate effective talent and technological innovation will be absorbed into the folds of UiPath and KGiSL. The Winning team gets a cash prize of Rs.2,00,000 and the Runner up team gets Rs. 1,00,000.  The next three top teams get a cash prize of Rs.75,000, Rs.50,000 & Rs.25,000 respectively.

The participants who will register for the hackathon will have to go through a UiPath certificate course which will help them familiarize with the UiPath RPA tool that will be used in the Hackathon. Registered members can participate in the Hackathon only after going through the certificate course. The participants do not have to incur any cost for registration or for the certificate course. Registrations will be live on www.thinkahack.com.

These participants will meet, form groups, brainstorm, discuss, impart ideas and aid each other in developing innovative and smart projects completely based on Robotic Process Automation.

Speaking on the occasion, Raghu Subramanian, CEO, India, UIPath said “The Hackathon provides a great opportunity for young talents to work with KGiSL and UiPath. ThinkAHack will bring together intelligent minds, who will experience mentorship from Industry Experts specializing in the respective themes/ problem statements. We are planning to facilitate an arena for Hacking, Designing, Tinkering and sharing of ideas aimed at around 1000+ Creative Developers, Designers & Ideators from various backgrounds”

Addressing the gathering Prassadh S Shanmugam, Chief Executive Officer, KGiSL said “RPA has a lot of potential to grow and it is a primary route for organizations to benefit from. We are glad to tie up with UiPath as they deliver the best RPA technology globally and this will provide an opportunity for young talents from India. We will further extend our partnership through the launch of Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Robotic Process Automation (RPA) at the KGiSL campus, Coimbatore.”

“We are happy to launch this hackathon which will help students develop their technological skills by applying their expertise in a creative way and drive innovation. We are also planning to make this an annual program” said Dr. Ashok Bakthavathsalam, Managing Director, KGiSL.

During the course of the Hackathon, KGiSL will organise on all aspects of participant management such as, accommodation at the campus, meal, and free kit that includes the Hackathon T-shirt, ID cards, stationery as well as other necessary stuff required for the Hackathon.

Each team will be provided with a system to work on their codes with uninterrupted wi-fi and dedicated mentors will be appointed to clarify any queries of participants before and after registration.

Beth Hart, Charlie Musselwhite, Sugaray Rayford, Brandon Santini to Headline Mahindra Blues Festival 2019

Asia’s largest blues celebration and Mumbai’s pride, the Mahindra Blues Festival, is back with its ninth edition featuring the biggest acts from across the globe. The two-day celebration in the Maximum City of Mumbai is a major draw for blues fans from across the country. Boasting an incredible line-up of acclaimed international artists at the iconic Mehboob Studio on the 9th and 10th February 2019, this music extravaganza is all set to enthrall audiences with its high energy and vibe.

The heavy hitters on the list that will steal your heart are blues experts like Beth Hart, Charlie Musselwhite, Sugaray Rayford, Brandon Santini along with Arinjoy Trio representing the Indian act. They have come together to put together a high octane yet soulful and exquisite evening for Mumbai audiences.

The Blues Magazine once dubbed Beth Hart as “the ultimate female rock star.” The Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter is riding a creative tidal wave with big hits on her recent album, “Fire On The Floor.” With a career spanning more than two decades in the blues industry, Hart has always been praised and admired for her “daring, brooding and angry” performances on stage.

Fifty years of non-stop touring, performing and recording, Charlie Musselwhite has won 35 Blues Music Awards, been nominated 12 times for the Grammy Awards, taking home his first Grammy win in 2015 for his collaboration with Ben Harper on Get Up! Charlie may be the only musician to get a huge ovation just for opening his briefcase!

Sugaray Rayford is an American electric blues singer and songwriter, who has recently marked a big hit with his fourth album “The World That We Live In.”  His church-honed vocals have unquestionable gospel influences, infusing his music with a certain sincerity that is increasingly hard to find.

Often compared with James Cotton or Paul Butterfield, Blues Blast Award nominee, Memphis vocalist, and harmonica player, Brandon Santini is a true dedicator of traditional blues with a modern colorful style of playing.

The winner of the Mahindra Blues Band Hunt, 2018, Arinjoy Trio is an amalgamation of three people who share a common hunger for the blues. Led by guitarist Arinjoy Sarkar, it comprises of Sounak Roy on drums and Aakash Ganguly on Bass. The trio performs a wide variety of blues music, from old school to contemporary.

Speaking about the festival’s mileage gained over the years and the announcement of its 9th edition- Jay Shah, Vice President, Head – Cultural Outreach, Mahindra Group said, “In the last eight years, we have witnessed a huge following of the blues genre of music in Mumbai and across India. We have grouped the international artists from blues industry on the basis of distinct admiring traits, style, and dedication towards the tradition of the genre. The ninth edition will go a notch higher and extend a weekend to people that will last them a lifetime.”

The Mahindra Blues Festival in association with The Times of India is co-sponsored by The Glenlivet Books, Mahindra Life-spaces, Club Mahindra, Mahindra Finance, Mahindra Accelo and Tube Investments with Gledo Advertising as the outdoor partner. The festival is promoted and produced by Oranjuice Entertainment.

Tickets are on sale on bookmyshow.com with daily passes available at Rs 2,500, season passes for Rs 4,000, while students can attend the festival at Rs 1,200 per day. Premium Enclosure Season Pass, which is inclusive of F&B will be available at Rs 15,000.

Dates: 9th – 10th February 2019

Venue: Mehboob Studios, Bandra, Mumbai

Tickets: www.bookmyshow.com/

Further info: mahindraBlues@mahindra.com

Website: www.mahindrablues.com

Unity Technologies Unveils Unite India 2018 at HICC, Hyderabad

Unity Technologies, in collaboration with Government of Telangan launched its second edition of two-day annual developer conference- Unite India 2018. The conference witnessed more than 1200 delegates on day 1 with sessions spread across industrial, gaming and education by Unity and its partners. Companies like Dell, Intel, Deloitte, Tech Mahindra, Tata Elxsi, Autodesk, Mindbox participated and spoke on the occasion with the audience.

Unity, being the global leaders in game engine is being used in all industries, particularly in education, film and automotive. As part of the keynote address, Andrew Bowell, Vice President, Product said, “India is special to Unity as it is the fastest growing economy of the world and is in the forefront when it comes to providing engineering and IT services. It is at the tip of the spear in so many areas. Our partners Tata Elxsi, Tech Mahindra, CHRP, Veative Labs, HunchCricle, Threye, Games2Win,99 Games, VideoGyaan, Toonz Animation and more are developing innovative products and helping entrepreneurs and creators.”

Mark Schoennagel Evangelist, Unity Technologies commented in the keynote address, “Unity has always been committed to democratizing game development and to provide the very best tools for making those games and interactive experiences. To continue with this mission Unity is very proud to lower the barriers of entry and provide Machine Learning to all of you.

“Unity Machine Learning is being used for all sorts of applications in Research, Training Industrial simulation and even teaching cars how to drive autonomously.” He added.

During the event, through multiple sessions, Unite India has put across a strong emphasis on leveraging emerging technologies, especially Machine Learning which can potentially impact every genre and sector of companies that are paving on their way to digitally equip their operations, workforce and ultimately, the consumers. 

Unite India has the highest number of attendees innovating beyond games in industrial markets. Unity also announced that it has partnered with Microsoft in the simulation space to bring their popular Open Source simulation platform- AirSIM to Unity. Many companies are already leveraging unity to train their autonomous vehicles which will be faster, cheaper, and especially safer. This offers a cross platform support across Windows and Linux apart from advantages like freedom to experiment and integrate ML agents, free city environment, integration to unity asset store. This will now be available on Github. The other partnership which was the key highlight was with Autodesk which started a year ago with Max and Maya in the gaming space.

It was also revealed during the day that Unity Developer was ranked number 7 in the top 20 emerging jobs as per LinkedIn’s Top Emerging Jobs Report. Research predicts a 39% increase in job postings requiring Unity in the next 2 years and shows the potential for a 30% increase in salary. By learning Unity, you are helping to future proof your skills.

Unity offers learning resources that helps the industry learn the latest features. Unity Certifications are helping set the professional standard for real-time content creators. In the year 2018, Unity launched 5 new certifications, partnered with Pearson, making our exams widely available to take online or at thousands of testing centers worldwide via Pearson VUE testing services- on your own time. Through the Authorized Training Partner (ATP) Program, Unity offers and scale in-person training workshops for enterprises and schools, to enable upskilling of existing pool of developer talent. Unity has 15 ATPs in India and 4 COEs across APAC region.

The Center of Excellence Program pushes the boundaries of innovation design, with research projects, helping to build high quality applications in VR, AR and games across wide variety of industry verticals.

The Academic Alliance Program by Unity is a consortium of forward-thinking, post-secondary education institutions who are committed to providing their students and faculty with the skills needed to create experiences in 2D, 3D, VR and AR. Alliance members receive exclusive Unity benefits. Unity’s Authorized Learning Partner program features best in class learning partners, like Udemy, Pluralsight and Coursera, creating and co-developing self-paced online learning content. Unity also announced a partnership focused on the India region, with Zenva Academy, who offer great courses.  In India, Unity has enabled 41 Students across 30 Universities representing 10 states in India - helping reach over 1500 students.

Unite is Unity’s global developer conference hosted in 8 countries and is the most important gathering of Unity developers, artists, publishers, educators, and enthusiasts. Scheduled on 5th and 6th November, Unite India 2018 brings together gaming industry experts and eminent spokespeople from the industry, under one roof to give a deep insight into the world of evolving technologies.

Fraunhofer India Organises 5th Fraunhofer Innovation and Techy Platform: ‘Digitalization – The Game Changer’

Fraunhofer, Europe's largest application-oriented research organization  organised their 5th Fraunhofer Innovation and Technology (FIT) Platform this Wednesday, December 5th in Bengaluru, India, where various international technology experts deliberated on and showcased cutting edge technologies, innovation and solutions. The event this year focusses on Digitalization spanning the sectors such as Manufacturing, Energy, Buildings, E-mobility, Space, Smart Cities and Cultural Heritage, all seen as fundamental growth drivers in world markets.

The symposium witnessed participation from leading CEOs, CTOs, senior policy makers and innovation experts representing the Government, Industry and the Research fraternity who are also stakeholders and decision makers in the implementation of various Government programs. Some of the dignitaries included:

· Dr. Gunther Grathwohl - Head of International Digital Dialogue, German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi)
· Anshu Prakash, Additional Secretary, Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications, Govt. of India*
· Sukriti Likhi, Joint Secretary, Department of Heavy Industry, Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, Govt. of India
· Gaurav Gupta, Principal Secretary to the Govt, Dept. of Information Technology, Biotechnology and Science & Technology, Govt. of Karnataka
· Vinnie Mehta, Director General, Automotive Components Manufacturers Association (ACMA)
· K S Viswanathan, Vice President - Industry Initiatives, National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM)
. Prof. Dr. Thomas Magedanz, Director, Business Unit Software-based Networks, Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems FOKUS, Berlin
·  Dr. Gopichand Katragadda - Group CTO, TATA Sons Ltd.

Participants included over a dozen Fraunhofer experts from the fields of ICT, Energy, Efficient Building Technologies and Production Technologies etc. Included participation from top Indian and German companies as well as International organisations such as Asia Productivity Organisation (APO).

Fraunhofer has been active in India for over 10 years, initially with a Fraunhofer Senior Advisor and since 2012 with a Fraunhofer Representative Office supporting the activities of the Fraunhofer Institutes. With this event it will look to commemorate this milestone in the presence of industry leaders and key stakeholders from the government and industry. The 5th Fraunhofer Innovation and Technology Platform held in the morning was followed by a high-level panel discussion on ‘Innovation - the Fulcrum of a Global Industry’, featuring marquee industry leaders discussing successful innovation ecosystems across leading nations, the India scenario - challenges and opportunities, trends and ways to scale up the Indian innovation ecosystem.

“Fraunhofer has been involved in India for 10 years now, and it has been such an exciting journey. Our institutes have been a long time trusted innovation partner in India, collaborating with some of the major players in the field of Material Science, Energy, Environment, Automotive, Electro-mobility, Production Technology and Smart Cities, while working with Industry, Government and Public Sector. Our Industry clients have grown tremendously over the last few years and we look forward to another successful decade of meaningful partnerships between the two great nations.” − Prof. Frank Treppe, Managing Director Political & International Affairs and Associate Board Member, Fraunhofer Gesellschaft.

“While our international footprint is growing steadily, our growth in India has been equally exciting, as Fraunhofer moves into a more strategic and long term partnership with its clients and partners. A great amount of goodwill, contracts and successes were achieved along the way. Fraunhofer is the Technology Resource Partner for Manufacturing in India (MoU with Dept. of Heavy Industry, Govt. of India), the Technology Partner for the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and the International Solar Alliance (ISA), and in the process of setting up two Smart City Innovation Labs in India among others.” − Anandi Iyer, Director, Fraunhofer Office India.

Anandi Iyer further adds, “I am very excited with our prospects in India going by our track record in a short period of time. Complementing this, the Fraunhofer Institutes have many exciting projects in the pipeline which will be announced periodically in the months to come. This is testimony to the successful collaboration between the government, the industry and our research fraternity that is focussed on outcome based partnerships.”

ATEN True 4K Series with HDR Addresses Next-Generation Large Display Ads in India

ATEN is introducing its True 4K series with HDR to address the growing demand in India for quality AV and richer visual experiences. The True 4K series focuses on HDR technology, which helps to create contrasted visuals that are more realistic. HDR optimizes an image's contrast ratio, thereby increasing the picture's dynamic range, which helps to deliver a much more vivid image.

Shyam Tambatkar, PSM Professional A/V at ATEN India says, "The increasing popularity of HDR technology has prompted us to take steps to come up with cutting-edge HDR solutions. ATEN's True 4K series is fully equipped with superior video resolutions, robust signal routing and ultra-fast digital video switching, making it the perfect companion for applications. The True 4k HDR series will pave the way for futuristic event venues, digital signage and video walls, real time collaborative meeting room experience, digital classrooms, auditoriums, department stores, and more."

With the ATEN True 4K Series, customers in India can now create state-of-the-art video rooms with world class technology for the next generation display technology, especially for large-display ads focusing to create a potent impact on viewers through the use of 4K imagery.

"ATEN has fully tested its True 4K Series with HDR to verify with absolute certainty that all products support the bandwidth required for HDR content as well as comprehensive EDID settings to ensure output capability. All products are also guaranteed to transmit complete InfoFrame Metadata, something that is especially important to enjoy the full visual benefits of dynamic HDR. We are sure ATEN's True 4K series will redefine the way people view the world through videos and displays" added Shyam.

ATEN's True 4K series is equipped to deliver the best quality HDR video signals with the following key features:
Supports up to 18Gbps bandwidth and HDCP2.2 to deliver high-performance signal extension, routing, and distribution solutions for True 4K HDR video content.
Supports all the popular HDR formats on the market, including HDR10, Dolby Vision, and Hybrid Log Gamma (HLG), and both static and dynamic HDR.
Supports comprehensive EDID settings to ensure output capabilities.
Transmits complete InfoFrame data.

The series not only includes splitters and switches, but also matrix switches with a video wall processor, which will help customers connect with any of the various applications where they need the seamless delivery of HDR content at the best possible quality.

Availability
Please contact ATEN INDIA for product inquiry and introductory offer.