Interior Tech Startup Indyro Global Launches ‘POWER PLUS’ Tracks, Wireless Sockets and Switches

Indyro Global, India’s first player in the brand new field of Interior Technology, recently announced the launch of its first and flagship product ‘POWER PLUS.’ The start-up which aims at completely revolutionizing the way we understand power consumption, has introduced the latest product that incorporates a power track which can go up to 6 ft in length, universally adaptive sockets of different amperage, socket enhancer accessories such as LAN adapter etc. The power track can support a load of 5kW and up to 25-30 devices can be connected at a time!

So what exactly is the POWER PLUS?

Moving beyond the limitations of a wall-fixed power outlet, POWER PLUS is the first flexible power outlet system to be introduced in India. It is essentially a long ‘power railway line’ of sorts, which can easily fit along the walls of a space or table skirting and allow users to plug in their devices from wherever they are. The sockets offered by Indyro are universally adaptable, which gets rid of the problem of non-compatibility. Furthermore, the accessories help add multiple utilities to the sockets, which can easily serve as a Wi-Fi adapter or can connect to a LAN cable, adapting to the needs of corporate spaces easily.

Commenting on the innovation the company is aiming to introduce and inculcate, Rohan Kumar, Chief Executive Officer, Indyro Global said, “The 21st century is device-driven, and the restrictions imposed by wall-fixed power outlets are not acceptable anymore. Indyro’s POWER PLUS has been developed after 4 years of extensive research in the interior technology domain to identify the perfect way to optimize the way we access power. Gradually, POWER PLUS has the potential to become the go-to framework in corporate offices, public facilities and residences considering the immense freedom and flexibility it offers. It has the potential to drive a complete behavioural change in the way we meet our power needs.”

One of the most important aspects of POWER PLUS is its easy-to-implement feature. POWER PLUS does not require any kind of re-wiring, breaking down walls or massive renovation work and can fit in smoothly within existing power structures. Thus, it serves as the perfect cost-saving option for dilapidated buildings, heritage structures or other facilities looking for a quick, long-term, innovative and efficient fix to their power framework. Furthermore, POWER PLUS has an element of aesthetic design involved as the sockets and the tracks can be lit according to the user’s preferences and can also be used as efficient advertising options. With POWER PLUS, Indyro has introduced the Interior Technology domain in India emphatically, and has the ability to change the ways in which we viewed the humble old power sockets, forever!

Pre-booking starts from September 29, 2019.

Amazon Original Series - The Family Man Releases September 20 on Amazon Prime Video

Key Highlights

~ Created by dynamic duo Raj & DK (Raj Nidimoru &Krishna DK), The Family Man is set to release on September 20, exclusively on Amazon Prime Video across 200 countries and territories.~

~ Family Man marks the digital debut of Padma Shri awardee and National Award winner - Manoj Bajpayee and stars award-wining talent from pan India, including National Award winner Priyamani, Sharib Hashmi, Neeraj Madhav, Sharad Kelkar, Gul Panag, Sundeep Kishan, Darshan Kumaar, Sunny Hinduja, and Shreya Dhanwantary

~An edgy drama-thriller, The Family Man is the story of Srikant Tiwari (Manoj Bajpayee) who is ‘a middle class guy but a world-class spy’.~

~Prime offers incredible value with unlimited streaming of the latest and exclusive movies, TV shows, stand-up comedy, Prime Original series, ad free music through Amazon Prime Music, free fast delivery on India’s largest selection of products, early access to top deals, unlimited reading with Prime Reading, all available only for ₹129 a month ~

The highly anticipated Amazon Original Series The Family Man, is set to make waves on Amazon Prime Video! Created by the award-winning duo Krishna D.K. and Raj Nidimoru (Stree, Go Goa Gone, Shor In The City), The Family Man is a ten episode series that will be available to stream exclusively on Amazon Prime Video across over 200 countries and territories. The Family man is an edgy drama-thriller series, which tells the story of a middle-class man who works for a special cell of the National Intelligence Agency. While he tries to protect the nation from terrorists, he also has to protect his family from the impact of his secretive, high-pressure, and low paying job. The highly anticipated series is brought to life by some of India’s award winning and highly acclaimed actors, Manoj Bajpayee, Priyamani, Sharib Hashmi, Sharad Khelkar, Neeraj Madhav, Gul Panag, Sundeep Kishan, Darshan Kumaar, Sunny Hinduja, Shreya Dhanwantary and others.

Jay Marine, Vice President - Amazon Prime Video, said “We are incredibly excited about the growth of Prime Video in India. One of the big drivers of our success in India is our Indian Amazon Originals and we are delighted that we will soon be launching our latest Amazon Original series - The Family Man. With a strong storyline, an all-star cast and incredible performances, the show is certain to find audience love not just in India but around the world.”

Vijay Subramaniam, Director and Head, Content, Amazon Prime Video India, said “With The Family Man, Amazon continues to bring distinctive and high quality storytelling to our audiences, reinforcing our commitment to being a home for talent, both in front of and behind the camera. The Family Man is a fast-paced drama-thriller that redefines mainstream viewing by bringing high-caliber creators such as Raj & DK along with an all-star cast including Manoj Bajpayee, Priyamani, Neeraj Madhav, Gul Panag, among others. The show seamlessly couples drama, action, thrill and surprisingly wry humor in a highly binge-worthy 10 episodes. Serious geo-politics forms the backdrop of the drama-thriller, taking The Family Man across the country, as he attempts to serve the nation. Viewers will also get deep insights into very relatable struggles of a Family Man, who attempts to balance both work and family.”

Raj & DK, Producers of the Amazon Original, The Family Man, through their production company, D2R Films said, “We have been wanting to get into long-form storytelling, and were waiting for the right platform. And we found an amazing partner in Amazon Prime! It has truly been a wonderful journey, the start of a new and exciting innings, creating our first show. With The Family Man, we tried a new genre and an approach both challenging and satisfying. We tried our take on geo-politics, blended it into an action-y thriller and added doses of quirky humour that is usually not associated with a serious genre like this. Loosely inspired by present-day events, it is a grounded take on the life of a middle-class guy who is also tasked with the job of fighting terrorism. The Family Man is an ode to the common man - his hopes, aspirations, responsibilities and troubles. In this case, he's also pretty screwed - balancing family and saving the country.”

Synopsis:

Amazon Original Series The Family Man follows the journey of Srikant Tiwari a middle class man who lives his faced paced life with his wife and children in Mumbai. Srikant spends most of his time attempting to strike a balance between the responsibilities of his family while working for a highly secretive special cell of the National Intelligence Agency, attempting to spot and prevent large-scale terror attacks on the country and its citizens. One day, while going about his domestic chores, Srikant Tiwari finds himself caught in a sudden case that demands his full attention which eventually throws his family life upside down.

Facebook: @FamilyManAmazon Twitter: #TheFamilyMan Instagram: familymanamazon

Amazon Prime Video has the largest selection of latest & exclusive movies and TV shows, stand-up comedy, biggest Indian and Hollywood films, US TV series, most popular Indian & international kids’ shows, and award-winning Amazon Prime Originals like Made in Heaven, MIrzapur, Breathe, amongst others all available, ad-free, with a world class customer experience. The service includes titles available in English, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Punjabi and Bengali.

To watch the upcoming Amazon Original The Family Man and to catch-up on the super successful Season 1 as well as the newest releases in Hollywood & Bollywood, the latest US TV shows, kids’ favorite toons and other Amazon Originals, please visit www.PrimeVideo.com or download the Amazon Prime Video app today and sign-up for a Prime membership only at ₹999 annually or ₹129 monthly.

World’s Smartest Office Building Run on i-BEMS by L&T Tech Services

L&T Technology Services Limited, a global pure-play engineering services company, is pleased to announce the launch of the ‘Smartest Office Campus in the World’ in Israel by the world’s leading technology conglomerate, for which LTTS had been the technology partner throughout the course of the project.

The state-of-the-art building will redefine the future of work by enabling continuous and interconnected intelligent systems based on cutting-edge digital technologies such as IoT, Machine Learning and Predictive Asset Management.

The futuristic campus is being run on LTTS’ smart campus platform i-BEMS (Intelligent Building Experience Management System). i-BEMS is the backbone of the modern smart building. The ingenious system-of-systems facilitates the next level of personalized user and digital experience, occupant safety, air quality monitoring and predictive diagnostics using IoT.

Using i-BEMS, the smart office will help save energy and water while leveraging Machine Learning which will also address areas such as preferred working environment for the employees and their learning and development requirements.

The new office campus offers several unique features for building occupants and facility managers alike, not experienced before in any facility.

- Creating engaging User Experiences

o   Customized apps guide users across every aspect of their work life – from commuting for work to indoor navigation & positioning with easy way to find available meeting rooms, message board to share posts with colleagues, workplace services appointment bookings, food & dining experience with live service and dining occupancy, commute and parking experience with collaborated car pool services, gym services, desk finder and booking, and raising service requests. There are 100+ features accessible by users through a mobile app

o   First ever interactive digital signage screens across every floor of the building that provide occupants with live updates on all major activity in the building. This includes wayfinding, room availability, message board, workplace services & offerings,  food & dining menus with live service and dining occupancy, commute & ride with live traffic views, train & bus timings, car pool services, and many others

o   Occupants can also control the transparency of their window glasses to harvest daylight and maintain their privacy

All of these functionalities can be accessed physically and via the mobile app version in smartphones. LTTS designed the engaging User Interface and User Experience for both the integrated digital signage systems and mobile applications.

-          Benefits for Facility Managers

o   Over 20 systems are integrated with LTTS’ i-BEMS platform. Provides facility managers with a unified dashboard to monitor live system IoT device status, command center for digital signage systems, lighting, HVAC, energy usage, water, security and evacuations, among others

o   i-BEMS captures data from various building devices that helps facility managers with remote monitoring and troubleshooting

Ashish Khushu, Chief Technology Officer of L&T Technology Services said, “We are excited to contribute to the development of the next-generation campus through our i-BEMS framework and UI/UX methodologies that map users’ true needs and facilitate a wide array of customized offerings for the occupants. i-BEMS is seamlessly integrated with critical building parameters such as HVAC and lighting management among others that help in in conservation of energy and sustainable operations. Through this engagement with the world’s leading technology conglomerate, we are delighted to take the next big leap in smart campus experience management.”

CIO is the Culture Change Agent to Augment Digital Dexterity in the Workplace

As society and business increasingly consume and produce digital goods and services, a digitally dexterous workforce is essential to foster agility, collaboration and the adoption of new digital technologies. Gartner, Inc. says the CIO must be the culture change agent to enhance digital dexterity as a competency that applies to individuals, teams and the organization as a whole.

“The digital component of most jobs is increasing. Technical skills are important, but are not enough to steer a successful digital business transformation,” said Helen Poitevin, research vice president at Gartner. “Business and IT leaders need to employ the right talent with a specific set of mindsets, beliefs and behaviors — which we call digital dexterity — to launch, finish and capitalize on digital initiatives.”

During Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo, which is taking place in Cape Town through Wednesday, Gartner analysts explained how organizations can create a digital dexterity program to lead successful digital business initiatives.

The payoff from digital dexterity can be significant. Employees with high levels of digital dexterity are more than three times more likely to gain value from digital initiatives than those with moderate digital dexterity. “They are quicker to launch, finish and obtain the outcomes they seek from digital initiatives,” said Ms. Poitevin.

In 2019, 29% of CIOs in EMEA viewed digital business as a top priority, so improving digital dexterity throughout the organization is crucial. To help their employees to develop digital dexterity traits, business leaders need to build them up by enabling enterprise agility and developing digital competencies. Above all, business leaders need to make digital dexterity a C-suite priority. 

The CIO Is the Culture Change Leader Partnering With Chief HR Officers

“Mindsets and practices shape culture, and technology acts as an amplifier of that culture. Technology by itself seldomly changes an organization’s culture”, said Daniel Sanchez Reina, senior research director at Gartner. Technology is often the backbone of how work gets done and reinforces the company culture, which is why culture change is becoming an increasing responsibility of IT.

“Increasingly, it’s the responsibility of the CIO to operationalize the enterprise culture and the prevalence of digital dexterity in the workplace,” added Mr. Sanchez Reina. “The CIO will play a key role in supporting desired behaviors and changing the processes, procedures, policies and management practices that shape how work gets done to encourage desired behaviors.”

The CIO is the culture change leader and the chief HR officer (CHRO) is a key partner to the CIO in shifting the mindset of their own IT team members from “this is the way we have always done things” to “how can we do things better?”

“This will only happen by applying a framework of culture change, which includes increasing the digital dexterity of the entire organization,” Mr. Sanchez Reina said.

Gartner introduced the PRISM (purpose; rituals; identity; support and merit) framework to enable organizations to change cultural traits that prevented a culture change (e.g. silo-minded organizations or risk-averse teams). “PRISM works because it allows organizations to raise employee’s awareness on the need for change. That is the one and only key to success,” concluded Mr. Sanchez Reina.

Samsung Opera House In B'lore Celebrates One-Year Anniversary

The world’s largest mobile experience centre – Samsung Opera House -- is today celebrating its one-year anniversary. To mark this occasion, the iconic building located in the heart of Bengaluru hosted a fashion show by Prasad Bidapa and performance by local band Best Kept Secret for tech enthusiasts, influencers and socialites.

The century-old building, over the last year, has emerged as a hot-spot for tech enthusiasts in Bengaluru and across India. Built in the 1930’s, the property has had many avatars. From being a venue for Operas and dances to a famous movie theater and finally shutting down. It stood idle, until Samsung decided to restore this iconic heritage building to its former glory and give it a new avatar, as the Samsung Opera House. 

Samsung Opera House – The Melting Pot

Today, Samsung Opera House is a technology, culture and millennial hub that has hosted over 60 events in the last one year alone. Over the last one year, the unique experiential store has held many events with the biggest being the launch of Samsung’s flagship smartphone Galaxy Note10. It has become a cultural hub as events such as Galaxy workshops, music gigs, start-up talk shows and cultural music and dance performances have been organized here. Social media platforms like Instagram had also conducted a workshop on how to shoot food-related videos. These events have quickly placed SOH in the cultural map of Bengaluru where people have been witnessing a unique blending of culture and technology.

On the technology front, there’s much more to SOH than just mobile phones. Besides becoming a go-to place for people of Bengaluru to unwind and experience innovation, the largest mobile experience center has a VR Experience Zone, gaming and fitness zones where one can play high definition games like FIFA 2018, PUBG, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive among others and finally the latest addition, the IoT Zone. It even has simulated rides for the tech-adventure seekers.

The IoT zone is where Samsung demonstrates its unique ability to seamlessly ‘connect’ consumer experiences across Samsung devices. The zone is a contemporary representation of ‘connected living’ -- connecting devices over the internet and letting them ‘talk’ to each other using mobile applications.

One Glorious Year

To celebrate this success and mark the occasion, a fashion show by designer Prasad Bidapa showcasing his collection under the theme of ‘blend of fashion and technology’ was hosted at Samsung Opera House on Thursday. The evening didn’t just end there as the audience grooved to the music of popular local band – Best Kept Secret. The performance went into the night as everyone celebrated the iconic building’s one-year anniversary.

A millennial hub, a techie’s paradise or an architecture enthusiast’s greatest find – Samsung Opera House has become the destination to go to in Bengaluru. As Samsung Opera House completes one year, it celebrated becoming a place where like-minded people connect and experience innovative technology at its best.

ServiceNow Introduces an Employee Service Experience Delivery App

ServiceNow has announced its HR Service Delivery product is available on SAP App Center, the digital marketplace for SAP partner offerings. The announcement was made at SuccessConnect, the annual conference for SAP SuccessFactors customers being held September 16 – 18, 2019 in Las Vegas.

According to a recent ServiceNow research report, nearly half of employees struggle to get information and answers to basic work‑related questions, thus hindering workplace productivity. According to the research, employees want their experiences at work to be more like their experiences at home – like having mobile technology at their fingertips to make finding information and accomplishing tasks simple, easy and convenient.

ServiceNow’s employee workflows, powered by the Now Platform, help organizations simplify everyday work tasks for employees. Customers deploying core HR technologies to digitally transform their organizations will have more choice in how they provide HR services depending on their needs and strategy; they will also be able to deliver a unified employee service experience that not only moves beyond HR, but also cuts across, IT, and other departments. HR departments will be able to drive great employee experiences for critical moments in the employee journey, such as onboarding, that might begin in HR, but require additional services from departments such as IT, facilities, or security to ensure a successful first day start.

“Employees want great experiences at work, using technology that helps them easily get stuff done,” said Blake McConnell, ServiceNow’s senior vice president of Employee Workflows. “While great employee service experiences often are led by human resources, they typically require cross‑functional coordination and collaboration across IT, facilities, finance and legal. ServiceNow makes cross‑functional enterprise workflows simple and easy. With SAP SuccessFactors, we’re making great experiences and greater productivity across the enterprise possible.”

“Employees want to spend more time delivering value to themselves and to their employers, and less time navigating administrative hurdles,” said Steve Goldberg, Ventana Research’s vice president and research director for HCM. “This means the technology they use daily must simplify and empower them. Both ServiceNow and SAP SuccessFactors provide robust solutions for removing friction for employees, and their complementary product capabilities will be better equipped to meet employees where they are in their journeys.”

Organizations will be able to:

·         Access their ServiceNow and SAP SuccessFactors to‑do’s, tasks and approvals anytime, anywhere via an omni‑channel service experience with ServiceNow Virtual Agent and Now Mobile app.
·         Deliver great employee service experiences for tasks or moments that might begin in HR, but require additional services from departments like IT, finance, legal, or facilities to complete.
·         Get efficient service in ServiceNow because service teams have access to pertinent employee work‑related data from SAP SuccessFactors.

ServiceNow recently announced the general availability of its Now Platform New York release, which allows customers to leverage the power of ServiceNow with SAP SuccessFactors HCM Suite.

The SAP App Center provides customers with real‑time access to more than 1,900 innovative partner solutions that complement and extend their SAP solutions, enabling digital transformation of their business. SAP App Center customers can buy solutions directly from partners and centrally manage purchases, billing and vendor communications.

UL and Underwriters Laboratories Announce New Leadership Succession

UL and parent company Underwriters Laboratories today announced that, after 15 years of service, Keith Williams has decided to retire as president and CEO. Mr. Williams will continue to support each organization through an interim period to ensure a smooth transition.

The UL Board of Directors has appointed Jennifer Scanlon as president and CEO of UL and a member of the UL Board of Directors, effective September 30, 2019. Ms. Scanlon most recently served as president, CEO and a director of USG Corporation, a 116-year-old innovative building products manufacturer and one of UL’s oldest clients. Over her 16-year career at USG, Ms. Scanlon led the company through some of its most significant strategic moves, including establishing the global joint venture, USG Boral Building Products, and divesting L&W Supply. In 2018, she negotiated the sale of USG to Knauf for $7 billion, which represented a 76 percent premium to the Company’s stock price compared to when Ms. Scanlon was named CEO. The transaction closed April 24, 2019. She is the first woman to serve as president and CEO of UL.

James Shannon, chair of the UL Board of Directors and of the Underwriters Laboratories Board of Trustees, said, “Jenny brings exceptional integrity, experience, talent and technology expertise to UL. A Chicago-area native, Jenny also has a global perspective that is certain to benefit UL having previously led USG’s 8,000 employees around the world. Given her dedication to safety and innovation and her demonstrated success in growing a global business, we are confident she is the right leader for UL at this time.”

“It is an honor to be joining UL as technological advances continue to drive dramatic changes in UL’s clients’ operations,” said Ms. Scanlon. “As a mission driven organization with a record of innovation, UL is in a unique position to assist our clients in enabling the safe adoption of their products. I look forward to working with UL’s 14,000 talented associates around the world to advance our capabilities and build on UL’s 125-year legacy of safety and trust.”

Underwriters Laboratories also announced that its board of trustees has appointed Terrence Brady, currently president of Underwriters Laboratories, as president and CEO of Underwriters Laboratories, effective January 1, 2020, upon Mr. Williams’ retirement from that role. Mr. Brady will continue to lead the transformation of the 125-year-old non-profit organization to become the world’s leading safety science research and standards development institution.

Mr. Shannon continued, “Given Terry’s strong track record at our organization, we know that he will continue to be a significant asset as the new president and CEO of Underwriters Laboratories. At Underwriters Laboratories, Terry has excelled in all of his leadership positions, helping to develop our strategy and drive its execution. Terry’s first-hand knowledge of Underwriters Laboratories, its history, mission and opportunities will serve Underwriters Laboratories and its stakeholders well.”

Mr. Brady said, “For 125 years, Underwriters Laboratories has strived to instill trust through the science of safety. I am excited to build on this heritage as president and CEO to further the trust in our organization, which will remain key to our success. Ground-breaking safety research, standards development and outreach all continue to be priorities as we look to collaborate with our stakeholders to make the world a safer place.”

Speaking about Mr. Williams’s tenure at and retirement from UL and Underwriters Laboratories, Mr. Shannon said, “In his 15 years with our organization, Keith has made significant, long-lasting contributions that have enabled us to successfully extend our safety mission around the world. Today, UL and Underwriters Laboratories each benefit from a strong operating foundation to support their respective growth and leadership well into the future. We wish Keith the best in his retirement and also offer our deep gratitude for his dedication and service to UL and Underwriters Laboratories.”

Mr. Williams said, “I am proud of all that we have accomplished over the past years and thank the outstanding associates across UL and Underwriters Laboratories who have joined me in transforming – and strengthening – our organization. I pass the baton to the next generation of leadership knowing that we are better positioned than ever to help advance innovation and solve the critical safety, quality, security and sustainability challenges around the world.”