Dengue Patients in Bangalore Can Avail Platelets Through Donor Helpline ‘7878782020’

Dengue cases are only going up in India. From less than 60,000 cases in 2009, dengue cases in India increased to 2,89,575 in 2018, almost 500 % spike, as per the data from Health Management Information System 2018. Dengue patients face a decline in blood platelets count leading to internal bleeding and eventually death in extreme cases. Thus, this drop in platelet count requires quick platelet transfusion to save lives. However, platelets are not readily available as they cannot be stored for more than 5 days. On this National Dengue Day, India’s first platelet donor helpline ‘7878782020’ by Godrej HIT is committed to assist citizens in Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai, avail platelets through a ready pool of platelets donors.

In 2017, Godrej HIT established an online community of platelets donors with an intent to build a base of donors big enough to save lives.  This online donor community with a dedicated 24X7 helpline ‘7878782020’ has now grown to 1.25 lac registered donors. The helpline has successfully saved lives of 5 critical dengue patients till now. 

Dengue patients or their relatives seeking platelet can call on HIT Platelet helpline ‘7878782020’. On receiving requests, 1.25 lac registered donors are updated through calls and SMS. The platelet donor visits the patient directly at any hospital where he/she is admitted or the platelets are sent to the patient. They can also avail platelets transfusion at their nearest Apollo Hospital, the medical partner for the helpline, even if they are not admitted there. People  can register themselves as platelets donor through the website .

Commenting on the India’s First Platelet Donor Helpline, Mr. Sunil Kataria, CEO – India & SAARC, Godrej Consumer Products Limited, said, “Platelet donor helpline is India’s unique platform bringing donors and dengue patients together to help each other crowd source platelets. It helps patients get platelets which cannot be stored. We are happy to see that over the last one year more than 1 lac people have registered to be platelet donors resulting into 5 lives being saved. Though this is a good start, we consider it as our responsibility to create mass awareness around how platelets are crucial during dengue and encourage more platelet donations.”

Speaking on the initiative, Ms. Sangita Reddy, Joint Managing Director, Apollo Hospitals Group, said, “Vector borne diseases like dengue are emerging as a threat to public health in India. To address this issue, we at Apollo Hospitals, have tied-up with Godrej HIT to build a platelet donor community. Through this initiative, we are trying to bridge the disparity in awareness and provide ready resources to manage diseases like dengue.”

A survey conducted by Godrej HIT found 94% citizens are unaware about the critical level of platelets count below which platelet transfusion is required in dengue cases. Unlike blood, platelets can't be stored for more than 5 days. The report also informed that 80% of the citizens are unaware of this fact.  Due to a short shelf life of platelets, there is also a high demand for platelet donors. Platelets are extracted from a donor through a process called apheresis which allows extraction of large amounts of platelets from a single donor. The procedure is safe and one can return to normal activities soon. In fact, the body replaces the platelet count back to normal within 24 hours.

As part of the platelet donor community, Godrej HIT wanted to educate masses on platelet donation and threats posed by loss of platelets in dengue cases.  Over the last one year, an awareness program reached out to over 5 million citizens across India.

Karnataka to Witness Affordable Housing Boom by 2022: Credai Report

Karnataka is set to witness boom in affordable housing by 2022, Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (Credai) said on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters, here on Wednesday, R Nagaraj, Vice President, Credai- National, said construction of affordable houses on the outskirts of Bengaluru will gather pace, where Namma Metro connectivity is coming up. The areas will include Bidadi, Whitefield near Hope Farm, Chandapura, Mysuru Road, Hosur Road and Sarjapura Road. Here not only connectivity, but also floor space index and government initiatives will also be a factor for the increase in construction and demand, he said.

He said that construction of houses in these areas will range between Rs 45 lakh and Rs 60 lakh and will start by 2020. Construction of houses, where rentals will range between Rs 10,000 to 12,000, will also pick up. By 2020, the real estate market will see further boom in Bengaluru. The new central government will encourage real estate, by reducing the GST on construction materials which will also be beneficial to buyers and the market.

The members pointed that in Bengaluru there was a boom in the commercial segment when compared to the residential segment.

Bentley Systems Announces the Acquisition of Keynetix, Provider of Geotechnical Data Management Cloud Services

Bentley Systems, Incorporated, the leading global provider of comprehensive software and digital twins services for advancing the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure, today announced the acquisition of Keynetix, a UK-headquartered provider of cloud-based software for capturing, visualizing, modeling, and sharing of geotechnical data. The addition of Keynetix software expands Bentley’s geotechnical offerings and accelerates Bentley’s vision of enabling subsurface digital twins for infrastructure projects and assets.

Subsurface digital twins can be vital for assessing and managing risks in infrastructure projects, and to the planning, design, construction and operations of infrastructure assets. The creation and curation of subsurface digital twins involves modeling the underground environment (geology, hydrology, chemistry, and engineering properties, and the underground infrastructure), and utility networks, structures, and tunnels – and then analyzing and simulating the subsurface behavior. Supplementing borehole reports managed by Bentley’s gINT software, Keynetix’s cloud-based geotechnical knowledge management system captures and manages underground environment information for Bentley’s geotechnical analysis applications, PLAXIS and SoilVision.

Mark Bevan, associate director, ground investigation data systems for UK-based Structural Soils, Ltd., a member of the RSK Group Ltd., said, “Bentley’s gINT and Keynetix’s HoleBASE software platforms are core, business critical tools within our ground investigation (GI) businesses, and have been so for more than 20 years. The acquisition of Keynetix’s modern and innovative software into the Bentley portfolio, alongside the mature and proven gINT platform, is a breath-taking and exciting landmark moment within the GI digital landscape. The rapidly growing Bentley geotechnical platform is helping to maximize the potential positives of the digital shift we are experiencing within the GI workplace. Ground investigation is truly going digital.”

Bob Mankowski, vice president and business unit executive of digital cities for Bentley Systems, said, “Infrastructure professionals know that the geologic, hydrologic, chemical and engineering properties of a potential project site, and the infrastructure assets buried beneath the soil, roads, and other structures represent some of the greatest risks to infrastructure project safety, budgets, and schedules. Having a subsurface digital twin – a 3D representation of the subsurface coupled with models to analyze and simulate behavior – will be immensely valuable in all phases of the asset lifecycle. The Keynetix team and their technology bring decades of experience and cutting-edge cloud services to Bentley’s already strong geotechnical portfolio – gINT, PLAXIS, and SoilVision – and will accelerate the progress of our vision for subsurface digital twins.”

Roger Chandler, managing director of Keynetix, said, “Today's announcement provides our team, customers, and partners with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to advance digital engineering in the geotechnical industry. At Keynetix, our mission has always been to make geotechnical data more broadly accessible and valuable. Today’s announcement will truly open up geotechnical data collaboration across Bentley, Autodesk, and other platforms.”

Greg Bentley, CEO for Bentley Systems, said, “My colleagues and I welcome our new teammates from Keynetix, led by principals Roger Chandler, Gary Morin, and Carl Grice, who for many years have envisioned the potential and necessity of geotechnical and geoenvironmental data management to enable better designs and more successful projects. The geotechnical and infrastructure professions will benefit from their continued and expanded leadership, now within Bentley Systems!”

Fast&Up Announced as the Official Energy Drink Partner for Procam International Running Events in India

Fast&Up, the flagship sports and active nutrition brand of Aeronutrix Sports Products Private Limited, has announced its partnership with Procam International, India’s leading sports management company, as the official energy drink partner to the Tata Consultancy Services World 10K in Bengaluru and all their other IAAF Labelled races.

Fast&Up has inked this prestigious partnership for these nationally proclaimed events within 3 years of its inception. As the energy drink partner to these runs, the brand has successfully placed its name amidst the top brands of India. This association will aid the brand to create awareness and cater to more than 1250,000 runners nationally. The brand will provide energy drink support with its flagship product Fast&Up Reload to the runners during their run that will provide them with energy and help enhance performance. The partnership is a step forward towards the brand’s aim to revolutionize the way sports nutrition is administered in India.

Fast&Up is spearheading the sports nutrition revolution in India with its wide range of effervescent products. It is the only Indian nutrition brand to be certified with 'Informed-Choice' across its flagship products. Effervescent nutrition renders enhanced bioavailability that is an essential element aiding as a performance booster, making it an intelligent and better format compared to traditional supplements.

The professional running community in Bengaluru were the forerunners in adopting this technology, Fast&Up had become their first choice for sports nutrition since it launched. Running groups such as Soles of Bangalore, Jayanagar Jaguars & Pacemakers have been the brand’s source of support & their enthusiasm for fast&Up became the USP of the brand. Also, coaches such as Neera Katwal, Anubhav Karmakar and Bhumika Patel are part of Fast&Up Fit Squad Athletes and have recommend Fast&Up products to many leading athletes.

Vijayaraghavan Venugopal, CEO, Aeronutrix Sports Pvt. Ltd, said, “We are proud to be associated with Procam. It is a prestigious moment for our entire team to achieve this feat within 3 years of our launch. We are excited to fuel runners in Bengaluru for this 10K race and across the country in the next year. We thank the running community for showing support to Fast&Up, making it a trusted brand for sports in India”

Vivek Singh, Jd. MD, Procam International, said, “For us at Procam International, runners are our biggest stakeholders. We are constantly striving to ensure an enhanced running experience for our runners and we believe it is the same for Fast&Up. We are delighted to welcome Fast&Up as our energy drink partner and look forward to growing this partnership.” 

Top 5 Global Companies Simplifying Group Communication for Enterprises

Businesses today have branched out to various geographical locations, employing a diverse and often, remotely located workforce. This very evolution of businesses warrants the organisations to have tools and services in place to enable unified communication. With UC solutions, companies are able to extend easier collaboration and communication between remotely located teams, saving time and unlocking business potential through systematic synergies.

Helping you in the pursuit for a reliable unified communication platform, here’s listing the top five companies to watch out for!

1.       Telebu: Audio conferencing with 10,000+ participants, and more

Building communication products for today’s ambitious and fast-growing enterprises, Telebu Communications is a leading provider of unified communication solutions. Its marque product, grptalk, an audio-conferencing solution, allows up to 10,000+ members to easily collaborate on a conference call. Unlike other mediums, the conference calls by grptalk are instantaneous (dial-outs), with participants only needing to answer the bridge calls, without any pin code or passwords. Utilising PSTN networks, grptalk offers easy connectivity, even in low network coverage areas. In addition to the audio conferencing solution, grptalk also offers bulk text and voice SMS solution, inbound and outbound call centre software, emergency alert system, and an API platform.

2.       Slack: Channelizing collaboration for enterprise success

A collaboration hub, Slack helps teams work together on a wide gamut of projects, right from daily tasks to budget discussions. It organises conversations for enterprises via channels, which can be set up for teams, projects or different locations of the office. Different members can join or leave the channels to their own accord, and conversation history can be easily searched to simplify information retrieval. Not only does slack allow team members to share text documents, audios and videos, it also keeps the data secured and protected.

3.       Zoho Cliq: Messaging & file-sharing in real-time

Real-time messaging is oftentimes crucial for decision making. Zoho Cliq allows files of varying formats to be shared instantly through a chat window. Through the same window, team members can also collaborate via audio or video calls. It also creates different channels for individual teams or projects, and the chat history is searchable for different files, documents, and texts.

4.       Avaya: For mission-critical & real-time communication

Avaya prides itself in being a global leader in digital communication software, services and devices. The solutions are available for all businesses of different sizes. The customisable solutions by Avaya are open and intelligent, bring the flexibility of the cloud to the fore, further enabling hybrid deployments. Furthermore, the planning, support, and management teams at Avaya help enterprises with efficient and optimised solutions.

5.       Samepage: Bringing offices together in a single app

An award-winning UC and collaboration platform, Samepage brings offices together in a single app. It serves various needs and makes collaboration hassle-free and simple by providing group texting, video and voice chat through mobile and desktop. The solutions by Samepage enable easy file sharing, co-authoring documents, task management, and sharing calendars. Offering a unified and singular place for employees, Samepage helps teams get more done without breaking into a sweat.

Atos Launches New Unified Cloud Identity and Access Management Solution for Ultimate Security

Looking ahead to the 4th Atos Technology Days co-located with VivaTech, Atos today launches a new unified cloud Identity and Access Management (IAM) solution for ultimate security.

Acting as a single identity provider and management system for all platforms, cloud and on-premise, this new solution, based on Evidian software from Atos, enables organizations to keep control of all identities that need access to their business systems, providing them with ultimate security.

One single sign-on to access multi-cloud and on-premise environments

Today, businesses are using and accessing numerous cloud solutions, from different providers – each one of them including their own identity system and requiring users to manage several access codes.

With the unified cloud Identity and Access Management solution from Atos, businesses can create and manage one central repository of identities and access rights. In this way, users only need one single sign-on to access multi-cloud and on-premise environments.

Enhanced security with full control of all identities

With this enhanced data security solution, businesses can protect their users’ accesses and keep control of their identities, rather than dealing with a multitude of cloud providers. Businesses will also have access to a single Identity and Access Management console for the governance and administration of their identities and access rights – thus facilitating the enforcement of policies, compliance reporting and security incident response.

Other key benefits

This unified cloud Identity and Access Management solution is integrated within the cloud platform and centrally manages the access to cloud and non-cloud platforms, and enables:

Cloud migration facilitation – avoiding the complexity of adapting access management policies when moving from one cloud provider to another
Audit simplification – with a single point of administration and tracking
Automated and cost-efficient provisioning and de-provisioning of SaaS applications at the exact time needed by clients – eliminating the risk of dormant accounts

“Thanks to the unified cloud Identity and Access Management solution by Atos, our clients can provide a secure and convenient access to critical resources for business users, while meeting compliance demands. Our solution is facilitating day-to-day work and optimizing costs” says Sébastien Brachet, Managing Director of IAM/IGA activities within the Atos Group.

Spice Money Achieves Massive Gross Transactional Value of Rs 2400 Crore During Q1, 2019

Spice Money achieves a massive Gross Transactional Value of INR 2400 crore during the month of April exclusively, carries out 12 million transactions within this period

Introduces a slew of product offerings such as Spice ATM to enable debit card based transactions, takes further strides in its aim to achieve nationwide financial inclusion

National, 15th May, 2019-Spice Money, a business unit of Spice Digital and one of India’s largest tech-enabled Hyper Local Payments Network, recently achieved a feat of carrying out 12 million transactions within the month of April. The transactions generated a massive Gross Transactional Value of INR 2400 crore, firmly establishing Spice Money as a preferred platform to carry out financial transactions for the unserved and underserved population in the country. Spice Money has introduced new product offerings and enriched existing ones to further its goal of extending digitized transactional benefits to a large section of people who have little access to conventional financial facilities.

Spice Money, in addition to its Aadhaar Based payment system, has added a Mini-ATM feature that enables users to carry out debit-card based transactions. It helps to circumvent a few problems which might crop up during Aadhaar based transactions, such as bio-metric mismatch, data error etc. The move is expected to serve the elder population significantly, who often complain of hassles during fingerprint based Aadhaar transactions, which might change due to age. Additionally, Debit-card based transactions allow for a higher withdrawal limit, thereby enhancing the scope of the transactions that can be completed.

Considering the same, it is no surprise that during the month of April only, 5 million unique customers have walked into Spice-money affiliated stores and carried out transactions. The platform has enabled next door Kirana stores to function as ‘Mini-Banks’, and users can also realize transactions ranging from utility bill payments, domestic remittances, travel-related transactions, Cash Deposit, Cash Withdrawal, Air Time Recharge, POS Services, Railway Ticketing Services etc. through Spice Money’s authorized agents.

Commenting on the achievement, Dilip Modi, Chairman, Spice Money, said, “The April figures underline the strong growth trajectory Spice Money has achieved over a considerable period of time. We have strived to diversify our services framework significantly, and have already acquired licenses such as Prepaid Instruments License and Bharat Bill Payment System license. We have also partnered with leading service providers across verticals, such as Yatra for travel-related transactions, to offer seamless financial experience.   We hope to expand our footprint even deeper in India and serve as the bridge between the served and the un-served, providing financial services to every individual with limited accessibility.”

Spice Money has also created substantial employment opportunities by appointing Village Level Entrepreneurs and empowering them through a cutting-edge ‘Cloud Infrastructure.’ For its continued efforts in bridging the gap between ‘India’ and ‘Bharat’ Spice Money was bestowed with the NPCI Excellence Award in 2018.