Coolpad Cool 3 Plus Launched with Dewdrop Display, Helio A22, Dual Security; Price Starts at Rs 5999

The Indian youth demands more than just functionality from smartphones. Millennials are increasingly looking for a seamless design, ground-breaking innovation along with value for money. Understanding these demands, Coolpad, a leading global smartphone brand established by Yulong group has launched the Coolpad Cool 3 Plus.

The smartphone that runs on an MT6761(Helio A22), Quad Core 2.0 GHz Clock Speed coupled with 3 GB RAM, and a stunning 5.7” Dewdrop screen, is being launched in the Indian market at an unbelievably competitive price range. Designed keeping in mind the millennials, Coolpad’s Cool 3 Plus will be available in two young and bold colors including Ocean Blue and Cherry Black. Cool 3 Plus will be available in two storage variants, i.e 2GB RAM/ 16GB storage, and 3GB RAM/32GB storage. Priced at INR 5,999/- and INR 6,499/-, respectively, the smartphone will be available for booking on Amazon.in starting 2nd July.

Speaking on the new launch, Coolpad India CEO, Fisher Yuan said, “We are thrilled to launch the Coolpad Cool 3 Plus which will transform the definition of budget smartphones in the country. While designing the smartphone, we have kept in mind the needs of young millennials who look for products that exceed their expectations. The Indian smartphone industry is at a cusp of innovation and with the launch of our latest product, we aim to provide Indian customers with the best of technology and upgrade the smartphone era. To further this, we will soon be launching 5G-ready smartphones in India with 800+ patents under its name.

We are confident that the smartphone will appeal to the Indian masses and help Coolpad achieve its overarching goal to become the most loved smartphone brand and hit the 3 million smartphones mark by the end of FY 2019.”

Commenting on the marketing strategy for the smartphone, Pankaj Updahyay, Online Business  Head, Coolpad India, said, “The Coolpad Cool 3 Plus is set to be a gamechanger in the Indian budget smartphone market. Therefore, it is essential for us to make the phone accessible to each and every one. Launching the phone through India’s leading online shopping destination, Amazon.in, will give us exponentially enhanced visibility. The Cool 3 Plus will be available on Amazon India from 2nd July and we believe that the sales will skyrocket on the back of the website’s vast reach and customer base along with our hard-to-miss prices.”

The young and innovative brand, Coolpad has already established its presence in online as well as offline Indian market with a wide range of smartphones under Coolpad Cool, Coolpad Mega and Coolpad Note series. With the launch of the Coolpad Cool 3 Plus, it will further underline its presence as a  brand that holds innovation at its core and is consistently experimenting with technology to offer a premium range of smartphones to its customers.  As Coolpad’s vision is aligned with that of Make In India, 100% manufacturing of the Coolpad Cool 3 Plus will be carried out in India.

 The Coolpad Cool 3 Plus is a multitasker that delivers a performance like no other in its price bracket. What really makes the Coolpad Cool 3 Plus stand out of the crowd is the fact that it offers truly premium features such as its 5.7” Dewdrop screen at a highly competitive price range. At 8.2mm thickness, it is extremely lightweight and portable. Further, its advanced fingerprint sensor offers 12% faster unlocking for people who are on the go. Finally, the phone comes with USB OTG (On-The-Go) which can allow tech-savvy users to connect their device with a keyboard, card reader, U-disk and more.

Enhancing the convenience delivered by the smartphone, the brand has inculcated high-performing auxiliary features including 5.0 Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS, gravity sensor, light sensor and proximity sensor.

Coolpad Cool 3 Plus launched through a grand event on June 26, 2019, at New Delhi. The launch event witnessed the presence of Coolpad’s leadership team and featured a demo zone for guests to experience the product.

Manipal Health Partners with Nasscom to Enable Technology Enabled Newer Healthcare Delivery Models

Manipal Hospitals, one of the nation’s leading healthcare providers, today announced its collaboration with NASSCOM Center of Excellence to capitalize on the multiple benefits of advanced technologies for improved healthcare delivery.

The partnership will leverage the benefits that IoT and AI can bring to the healthcare sector. They aim to deploy emerging technologies, to ensure better delivery of healthcare.
The two companies have identified the following major areas of collaboration:
1.       Manipal Health will closely with NASSCOM CoE in evangelizing the digital healthcare solutions adoption by the healthcare delivery organization, through NASSCOM CoEs, flagship initiative LHIF (Lifesciences & Healthcare Innovation Forum).  LHIF is a collaborative innovation platform consisting of Start-ups, Medical Device Companies, Pharma Companies, Insurance Companies, Academia and government representatives. This forum helps in peer group collaboration, deliberate on contemporary topics around technology adoption, policy level challenges, disruptive delivery models etc.
2.       Under the co-creation program, Manipal Health works closely with NASSCOM CoE in identifying latest health tech products and solutions available in the eco-system consisting of Startups and Technology companies, to meet their internal business needs and address their operational challenges. This co-creation program helps Manipal Health in sourcing innovative solutions at affordable cost and with quick implementation time frames.
3.       NASSCOM CoE, provides access to latest innovations emerging in the Indian eco-system that can be leveraged by Manipal Health for adoption. In turn Manipal Health provides mentorship to the healthcare startups in designing their solutions and scaling up their business, by providing access to their experts and giving them the opportunity to work with them through co-creation program.
4.       Work together on social impact projects that benefit the corporate social responsibility objectives of Manipal Health.

Speaking on the occasion, Sanjeev Malhotra, CEO, NASSCOM Center of Excellence, said, “This partnership with Manipal Hospitals is reflective of the synergy between healthcare and technology today. The Center of Excellence is fostering innovation across leading industry verticals, and healthcare is one such industry at the forefront of digital transformation. Through this partnership, I am hopeful that we can accelerate Manipal Hospitals’ endeavour to be a leader in adopting digital technologies for enhanced patient care.”

As per Dr. Anoop Amarnath, Chief of Clinical Services, Manipal Hospitals, “Technology is the only means through which healthcare can be delivered to a wider audience. As India moves towards universal health coverage, this partnership between Manipal Health and NASSCOM CoE, will enable technology-enabled healthcare models to reach out to the truly deserving.”

Quantum Expands Offerings with New Line of Distributed Cloud Services and Cloud-Based Analytics Software

Quantum Corp. has announced Distributed Cloud Services, a new line of operational services and storage-as-a-service offerings. Quantum Distributed Cloud Services are designed to enable customers to redirect valuable IT and engineering resources to focus on meeting business goals, improving the overall user experience and maximizing the return on investment for storage, while maintaining the control and security of an on-premise infrastructure. These services are powered by Quantum’s new Cloud-Based Analytics (CBA) software, which serves as a central hub where Quantum products are designed to connect to send log files and other telemetry data about their environment, making them part of the Quantum Distributed Cloud.  Quantum’s global services team is then positioned to proactively manage the customer’s environment, either as an operational service or as a pay-per-use Storage-as-a-Service offering.

“I regularly meet customers with a wide range of interests – from making movies, to studying the environment, or providing a secure venue for a sporting event – but they have one thing in common: they want to focus on their business rather than the data storage that supports it," said Jamie Lerner, Chairman and CEO, Quantum.  “We’re seeing more customers who want the simplicity of cloud computing, but the performance and economics of on-premise storage.  With Quantum’s Cloud Based Analytics, all of our systems securely join a distributed cloud that can be managed by the customer or Quantum resources anywhere globally.”

The Need for Distributed Services and Cloud Services

Leveraging and capturing value from digital data has become central to the success of many businesses today, which are increasingly challenged to create more, study more, and develop more with fewer IT and engineering resources.  These businesses are looking to others to manage their data storage infrastructure so they can focus on their core mission.

Cloud-Like Simplicity with On-Premise Control: Quantum Operational Services

Quantum Operational Services, a new line of proactive managed services, are designed to provide cloud-like simplicity with the benefits of on-premise control.  Using Quantum Operational Services, Quantum works with its customers to manage day-to-day storage operations,  with the goal of providing better uptime via proactive monitoring and analysis. These services can create a better user experience for internal and external customers.

Key Benefits:

Eliminate the burden storage management places on IT and engineering resources
Reduce downtime and improve the user experience
Maintain the control and security of an on-premise infrastructure
Maximize storage ROI

Quantum Storage-as-a-Service Offerings

For customers who want all the benefits of Quantum Operational Services, delivered with a pay-per-use subscription service, Quantum is also introducing a new line of Storage-as-a-Service offerings.  Leading Quantum products can now be purchased via a predictable, pay-per-use pricing model with no data access fees.

Key Benefits:

Reduce upfront acquisition costs
Reduce operational and administrative resources and costs by only paying for storage used
Eliminate unplanned capital spend and forklift upgrades
Improve control and security with an on-premise infrastructure
Avoid data access fees or unpredictable charges
Reduce downtime and achieve better performance

Quantum Cloud-Based Analytics Software

At the core of Quantum’s new services is CBA software.  Quantum designed CBA software to enable customers, partners and Quantum’s support team to proactively manage and monitor their environments across the globe from a central hub.  Many of Quantum’s largest media customers, enterprises, and some of the world’s largest service provides are using this software to actively manage their Quantum products and technology today.

Customers who opt to send data to Quantum’s CBA software can choose to monitor their environments themselves, or Quantum can proactively monitor and manage their environments for them via the Distributed Cloud Services.

Availability

Quantum Operational Services and Storage-as-a-Service Offerings are generally available today. Cloud-Based Analytics software is available today across most of Quantum’s product lines, and customers can start sending data to CBA software today and access their content via a web-based portal at no charge.

Innoviti Uses ML-Based Path Predictor Tech to Dramatically Improve User Experience of Google Pay Payments

Leading payment solutions provider, Innoviti Payment Solutions, announced a significant upswing in the volume contribution of the fast-growing UPI payment platform to its overall payment transaction processing in offline retail stores after introduction of ML-based Path Predictor technology.  Path Predictor, a patented technology of Innoviti, uses Machine Learning to decipher patterns lying deep within millions of transactions passing through Innoviti to create models that dynamically and in real-time select the best path for a UPI transaction, leading to dramatic change in UPI success rates and a seamless consumer experience. Since introduction of this technology, over the recent 3 months of Q2 2019, UPI@POS transactions at Innoviti have grown to contribute nearly 2% of Innoviti’s overall transaction processing volume.

This technology was also used by Innoviti to enable Google Pay across its stores and the combination of UPI through Google Pay and Path Predictor has led to volumes climbing to nearly 10% for several stores.  The convenience from this seamless experience is visible with a nearly 21% repeat monthly usage of Google Pay by consumers for their daily purchases in such stores.

In offline retail, where card acceptance through POS is a must, the checkout experience using UPI was less than optimal due to high transaction failure rates.  With the addition of Path Predictor, Innoviti has crossed this hurdle and looks forward to a multi-fold surge in Google Pay and other UPI-based payment formats in the coming months.

Commenting on the partnership, Mr. Sajith Sivanandan, Business Director, Google Pay and NBU, India said, ““Our vision is to enable fast, seamless, and secure payments for our users anywhere, at any time, whether they are paying other users, buying products or services online, or shopping at a retail outlet. The offline ecosystem forms an important part of this objective and we're excited to partner with Innoviti and facilitate this across the country.”

Mr. Rajeev Agrawal, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of Innoviti said, ““We are very excited by the upsurge we are seeing in customer usage of UPI-based payments at physical stores after the rollout of the Path Predictor tool. With rapid increase in payment transactions and increase in number of payment types, conventional technology approaches are unable to deliver desired consumer experience. Innoviti has been investing deeply into data sciences and machine learning to push the technological edge for our customers to the next level. We are delighted that our machine learning strategy coupled with superior integration with Google Pay is showing results for our merchants”

Google Pay has been deployed by Innoviti across 12,000 points of acceptance including in large pan-India retail chains like Reliance Retail, Vishal Megamart and others. It is being extended to Innoviti’s entire merchant base in a phased manner.  Across India Innoviti processes 5B$ of payments annually from over 1000+ cities, with a throughput per point of acceptance of 7000$, 2X of India’s average (as per RBI data).  Innoviti provides payment solutions to merchants doing digital billing, by integrating their billing and payment operations into one seamless flow. 

Metz Launches Infinity Screen Google Certified Android 8.0 Smart TVs on Amazon.in

Premium German brand METZ has launched android 8.0 Smart TVs today in India on Amazon. in. The newly launched TV comprises of 32 inch (M32E6) HD Ready Android 8.0 Infinity Screen TV  @ 12999, 40 inch (M40E6) Full HD Android 8.0 Infinity Screen TV @ 20999, 50 inch (M50G2) 4K UHD Android 8.0 Infinity Screen TV @36999 and 55 inch (M55G2) 4K UHD Android 8.0 Infinity Screen TV @ 42999.

The newly launched TVs are Google Certified Android and are known for their remarkable features including German Technology , premium Aesthetics, Bezel less Infinity Screen ,high resolution, millions of apps from Google play store, YouTube, Hot star, Netflix,  and many more such attributes.

Speaking on the occasion Mr. Norbert Kotzbauer CEO METZ Germany & Mr. Victor Wan- MD- METZ India said “We are happy to launch 4 SKU today on Amazon. in. Our products are characterized by incredible German engineering and are simple to operate. Our products are also known for their latest smart functions that allow unlimited entertainment in the living room.”

Speaking about the launch Garima Gupta, Category Leader – Televisions, Amazon India (Designation) said “We are excited to partner with METZ to bring their Android 8.0 Smart TVs for our customers on Amazon.in. With this partnership, we continue to build a strong portfolio of televisions offering vast selection, great value, fast doorstep delivery and an unparalleled shopping experience.”

With the aim of enchanting its customers by its marvel of engineering, performance and durability, METZ, the premium German brand, acquired by Skyworth in 2015, and is all set to unveil its premium range LED TVs.  Metz brand range of UHD, OLED with advanced technology of AI will be made available online on Amazon. in in India.

Meeting the aspirations of Indian customers for latest technology products at the best value will be the Hall mark of Metz brand in India.

CreditAccess Grameen Crosses 10 Lakh Disbursals in Water and Sanitation Loans

Bengaluru headquartered  CreditAccess Grameen Limited (NSE: CREDITACC, BSE: 541770), country’s second largest microfinance NBFC, disburses over 10 lakhs water and sanitation loans.

An in-house feasibility study by CreditAccess Grameen team found that lack of hygiene practices and proper sanitation facilities were the main reasons behind poor health conditions in rural areas.  To counteract the issue, the company had pioneered a three pronged strategy that included creating awareness, imparting training on various aspects of sanitation and providing access to affordable credit for toilet construction to needy customers since 2011-12.

Commenting on this milestone, Mr. Udaya Kumar Hebbar, Managing Director and CEO of CreditAccess Grameen, said, “We remain committed to creating a Swachh India, by enabling access to safe water and sanitation facilities. Our approach of reaching out to people at grassroots level and building a sustainable model ground up has helped us to leverage the programme. CreditAccess Grameen has been continuously working on awareness building at village level, panchayat level, our customer level as well as at schools around our branches about Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) as part of our CSR program using our employees, volunteers, wall paintings and rural street plays.

“In a distinctive sense, sanitation loans are not income generating but it creates a stream of benefits for the borrowers by reducing medical expenses, number of days lost of illness and increasing productivity. So in effect these loans can be classified as income enhancing. Furthermore, to reduce the stress of repayments, even the loan size is kept at just about Rs 15000/-, and we allow our customers to repay in two years” He added.

In the communities where CreditAccess Grameen is actively involved, the impact of its comprehensive awareness program and the affordable credit facility is very evident with people queuing up to avail the loans to build toilets. Customer awareness activities are being executed in assistance with the CSR partner NGO, Navya Disha to educate the masses.  The organization aims to reach more than 2 million people through various activities such as branch staff training, gram Panchayat level awareness programs, customer orientation at group meetings, street plays, district level workshops and orientation programs for high school students.

The Company has received several awards and recognitions for its effort in providing affordable loans to build toilets and access a clean drinking water supply. In the year 2017, CA Grameen received the ISC-FICCI 2017 award for Best Financial Accessibility for Sanitation and also won the SKOCH Resilient India Award 2017 for Sanitation.

QuEST Global Unveils Product Engineering Services and Solutions Center in France

QuEST Global, a global product engineering and lifecycle services company, has opened its engineering center in France. The new center, inaugurated by Ajit Prabhu, Chairman and CEO, QuEST Global, is part of the company’s vision to be the most recognized and trusted engineering services and solutions provider to its customers. By enabling its customers to create new products, open new markets and maximize efficiency, the new center will strengthen QuEST Global’s commitment to solve some of the toughest problems faced by OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers in the region. With this center in France, QuEST Global has expanded its footprint across 14 countries globally. In Europe, the company currently has delivery centers in the UK, Germany, Spain, Romania, Sweden and Italy.

Located in Toulouse, this center aims at delivering comprehensive product engineering services and solutions by converging mechanical, electronics, software and digital design services for the company’s customers across the aerospace & defense, aero engines, oil & gas, power and industrial domains. The center will enable QuEST Global to introduce a host of services and solutions, for its strategic customers like Airbus. This will include the provision of manufacturing engineering services, design and analysis, data analytics, blueprint solutions around block chain, predictive maintenance, nFlow engine around chat bot integration and augmented reality based solution AR360.

Being an innovative global company with local flavor, this center will enable QuEST Global to bring its global domain and engineering expertise to France by adopting its local-global business model. In this center, the company will set up a digital innovation lab specifically for Aerospace & Defense and Aero Engine industries that will showcase the company’s investments in the factory of the future. The innovation in this lab will be fueled by a think-tank team of engineers with digital design and manufacturing expertise.

QuEST Global has been a partner of Airbus since 2008 and has been delivering design engineering solutions with maximum innovative productivity improvements. As a leader in providing premium product engineering services and solutions, QuEST Global is a trusted global player in the industry. The investments QuEST Global is making in the region aim at addressing various new age engineering challenges in France and other European markets.

Bob Harvey, President, QuEST Global said, “In the past two decades, as a trusted thinking partner to our customers, we have scaled our European footprint with a proactive approach of investing in the local markets that have helped us to be close to our customers. The center in Toulouse is a testimony of our deep commitment towards our strategic customers and the local economy where we will be creating employment opportunities and hiring more people over the years. Our unique synergy with customers, the ability to expand in various global markets through our integrated local–global delivery approach and the expertise in converging mechanical, electronics, digital and software technologies helps us solve complex engineering challenges faced by our customers.”

QuEST Global’s European team of over 2300 engineers has been supporting customers in the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Norway, Poland and Romania with a focus on the Aerospace & Defense, Industrial, Transportation (Automotive and Rail), Oil & Gas, Power and Medical Devices industries. Over the years, the company has grown exponentially in the European region and the offices across this geography play a vital role in the local-global business model of QuEST Global.