L&T Technology Services Recognized as ‘Best Company for Excellence in Services’

L&T Technology Services Limited (NSE: LTTS), a leading global pureplay engineering services company, was recognized as the ‘Best Company for Excellence in Services’ by the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce- West India Council (IACC-WIC). LTTS was conferred with the prestigious recognition during the 15th Indo-American Corporate Excellence Awards at a grand ceremony organized at The Trident Hotel in Mumbai on September 20.

The award was presented to LTTS by the Chief Guest, Shri Nitin Gadkari, Hon’ble Minister for Road Transport & Highways and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.

The event was attended by more than 300 guests including representatives from the Indo-U.S. business community, IACC members and leaders, members of the American and other diplomatic communities, leading expatriates and celebrities. Mr David Ranz, U.S. Consul General, U.S. Consulate General Mumbai was the Guest of Honour.

The bilateral cooperation between India and the U.S. is broad-based spanning across multiple industry domains with engineering services leading the way. According to IDC, the business services market is likely to grow by over eight per cent to reach USD 13.1 billion by the year-end and expand further to USD 14.3 billion by 2020. LTTS was recognized for its industry-leading engineering services that are contributing to the strengthening of economic ties between the two countries. LTTS has been actively investing its resources into American cities to build best-in-class infrastructure and is also contributing to job creation by recruiting engineering graduates from U.S. colleges.

Mr. Amit Chadha, President, Sales & Business Development and Executive Director at L&T Technology Services said, “The bilateral trade legacy between India and USA serves as a role model for the world particularly on aspects pertaining to technology-based innovations and collaborative work models. Indian companies including LTTS have been at the forefront of delivering new-age engineering services capabilities. This recognition from IACC will further strengthen our endeavors to offer the best-in-class engineering services to our customers in the US and globally.”

Ms Poorvi Chothani, President, Indo-American Chamber of Commerce - West India Council said, “LTTS has become a global engineering bellwether in a short span of time. The company is facilitating new-age innovations across multiple industries for its global customers comprising of top ER&D spenders and U.S. Fortune 500 companies. The team at LTTS has been behind some of the most innovative new age projects for its clientele, including the smartest campus in the world, the world’s first hybrid aircraft engine, and a unique solar connectivity drone, making the company a preferred engineering services partner for major U.S. enterprises. LTTS is playing a crucial role in strengthening the Indo-U.S. engineering ecosystem and overall business relations.”

Rubrik and NetApp Bring Policy-Based Data Management to Cloud-Scale Architectures

Rubrik, the Multi-Cloud Data Control Company, today announced a new joint solution in collaboration with NetApp, the data authority for hybrid cloud. The solution, Rubrik Cloud Data Management for NetApp StorageGRID, combines Rubrik’s platform with enterprise-grade object storage to automate data lifecycle management through Rubrik’s simple control plane, while using StorageGRID as a cloud-scale object-based archive target. This enables enterprises to quickly find and restore virtual machines, databases, files, and more, regardless of location – in Rubrik, in StorageGRID, and across the public cloud.

As data continues to grow exponentially, managing infrastructure for backup, recovery, and compliance becomes increasingly complex. IT teams must juggle managing the infrastructure for mission-critical applications, while also delivering new services on-premises and in the cloud to achieve a competitive advantage. On top of this, enterprises face significant challenges in optimizing the cost, performance and compliance of new cloud services due to evolving regulations and business requirements. With Rubrik Cloud Data Management for NetApp StorageGRID, IT teams can power new business applications while quickly and easily optimizing cost and performance at scale.

“The combination of our industry-leading data management platform with NetApp’s enterprise-grade object storage offers a powerful solution for enterprises looking to accelerate and simplify data lifecycle management at cloud scale,” said Wendy Bahr, Chief Commercial Officer at Rubrik. “NetApp is a strategic partner for Rubrik and we believe this scalable solution will reduce data protection complexities as data continues to grow.”

Rubrik Cloud Data Management for NetApp StorageGRID delivers policy-based automation to simplify all aspects of data management and enable global file-level search, providing customers with instant access to massive amounts of unstructured data. Key features of the joint solution include:

Policy-Based Simplicity: Rubrik Cloud Data Management for NetApp StorageGRID deliver policy engines that automate lifecycle management while optimizing performance, latency, cost, and compliance.
Cost-Effective Scale: Customers can easily handle rapid data growth while avoiding forklift upgrades for secondary and archive data. Linear scalability allows teams to grow at their own pace.
Cloud Mobility: IT teams can easily migrate to their cloud provider of choice and migrate petabyte-scale NAS shares directly to NetApp StorageGRID.

“NetApp is committed to helping our customers maximize the value of their data whether on premises, or in a private, public or hybrid multicloud environment,” said Brad Anderson, executive vice president and general manager, Cloud Infrastructure business unit and Storage Systems and Software business unit at NetApp. “The combination of Rubrik’s Cloud Data Management platform with StorageGRID simplifies all aspects of data management from backup to recovery, providing customers with the ultimate peace of mind.”

Rubrik’s Cloud Data Management platform organizes and protects data on-premises, at the edge, and in the cloud. Users can eliminate manual backup job scheduling with simple policy-based backup and archival to public or private clouds, including NetApp StorageGRID. With Rubrik, enterprises can simplify backup and recovery, accelerate cloud adoption, deliver automation at scale, and defend against ransomware with an easy-to-use, consumer-grade interface.

“ePlus has had a longstanding partnership with both NetApp and Rubrik, and this new solution addresses a major need for customers looking to optimize and digitize their IT environments, ” said Ken Farber, President at ePlus. “This joint solution from NetApp and Rubrik should help businesses better leverage their data lifecycle management processes, allowing them to quickly and easily optimize cost and performance at scale across the public cloud

NetApp StorageGRID is a software-defined object storage solution that supports industry-standard object APIs such as Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) API and OpenStack Swift API. Users can create multiple service levels with metadata-driven object lifecycle policies, optimizing durability, protection, performance, cost, and location across multiple geographies.

Eros Now Announces Collaboration with Microsoft to Develop Next Generation Online Video Platform

Eros Now, a South Asian entertainment OTT (over-the-top) video platform by Eros International Plc, a Global Indian Entertainment Company, the ultimate one-stop destination for the internet generation to consume captivating content announced a collaboration with Microsoft to build a next generation online video platform on Microsoft Azure targeted at its consumers across the globe. This is a unique collaboration for Microsoft in India in the online video space.

Building on its history of innovation, Eros Now will leverage Microsoft Azure on three areas of technology development:

Intuitive Online Video Platform: Using Microsoft Azure and Azure Media Services, Eros will develop a new, intuitive online video platform. The new platform will provide seamless delivery of content for its consumers across geographies and languages, supported by a robust infrastructure including Azure Content Delivery Network (CDN).

Interactive Voice Offerings: Eros will work to create new interactive voice offerings for consumers, powered by Azure AI tools, including OTT app video search experiences and voice search for video content across 10 Indian languages.

Personalized Recommendation Engine: To increase consumer satisfaction and loyalty, Eros will create an engine to deliver personalized content recommendations for consumers by leveraging its own user data, combined with Azure AI, analytics, Cloud Data Warehousing solutions and Azure Media Services

Commenting on the announcement, Rishika Lulla Singh, CEO- Eros Digital, said, “The Online Video market has brought a paradigm shift in the way technology is used and will be used to enhance the customer journey and user experience. We at Eros Now have been the earliest movers in the adoption of technology which is a core strength of the brand. The objective and the goal of this collaboration is to ensure we become the primary innovators for the video business and a gold standard for the others to follow. We have immense respect for Microsoft as a company to help us innovate and pave the path for the next generation of online video.”

Peggy Johnson, Executive Vice President, Microsoft, Corp. said, “As an innovator in on-demand video, Eros Now has been transforming the way millions of people access and consume content. By using our combined expertise across technology and media, we have an opportunity to build on that foundation and re-imagine entertainment for the rapidly growing audience of digitally-connected consumers in India."

“India is one of the fastest-growing digital entertainment and media markets worldwide, driven by the growth in online video content.  AI and intelligent cloud tools will be the next drivers of the media business and will impact everything from content creation to consumer experience.  We are very excited to work with Eros Now to redefine the online video watching experience for consumers,” said Anant Maheshwari, President, Microsoft India.

Eros’ work with Microsoft will help it transform not only how it delivers streaming services to its consumers but also to reimagine the offerings it can provide. This news today is a step forward in the age of digital transformation to enhance the online video streaming experience and better serve its users globally.

K7 Computing Hosts AVAR Cyber Conclave to Raise Awareness on Newer Cyber-Threats

K7 Computing Private Limited, a homegrown cybersecurity industry leader, hosted the prestigious AVAR Cyber Conclave 2019 in Bangalore, India.

With the attackers exploiting the vulnerabilities in the systems, globally, the massive damage wrought by the cybercriminals may be fathomed by the estimates of losses due to ransomware alone amounting to over USD 8 billion (approximately INR 56,700 crore).   The aim of the event was to generate greater awareness in the industry for having a concrete blueprint for ensuring data security at all ends.

Speaking about AVAR Cyber Conclave, J Kesavardhanan, MD & CEO, K7 Computing said, “The aim of AVAR is to bring all stakeholders, those who are helping to fend off the cyber-threats and attacks, onto a single platform to share information on the various threats that arise every now and then. AVAR shall organise such events regularly in the country so that more and more people can be part of such events.”

Highlighting about the need to have stringent data security policies being adopted by the companies, Allan Dyer, Chairman, AVAR, said, “All countries need to work together. We have to move against the cybercriminals by moving away from retribution to attribution. We have to ensure that every stakeholder in the ecosystem is educated about cyber threats and ways to protect their data from being attacked. This would need a collective approach from companies across the globe.”

Since the launch of the Digital India 2015, there has been a quantum jump in the number of attacks as more and more people and their data are now online.

In line with this, Pratap Reddy, IPS, Karnataka, said, “While India is becoming a digital hub,  there are multiple dynamics that would need a cover. There are major challenges is fighting these cyber threats. Firms are reluctant to share information on attacks. We need a seamless sharing of information and there needs to be a default agency to share information on attacks. We will need more support from the companies to share the right information with us so that we can provide them the required help.”

The event was held not only to benefit industry, but also to expand knowledge-sharing and networking in the global scenario.

11th Edition of DIDAC India Focused on Modern Educational Tech Advances & Services

India Didactics Association (IDA), the exclusive membership association in India for the education & training fraternity has organised the 11th edition of DIDAC India exhibition in Bengaluru starting from September 24 to 26, 2019. The event was inaugurated by B. S. Yediyurappa, Chief Minister, Government of Karnataka along with Aditya Gupta, CEO, India Didactics Association (IDA) and other dignitaries.

DIDAC India is global platform for innovative technology, solutions, modern educational advances & services, instruments and resources that encourage learning, teaching and skill improvement. The India Didactics Association works with 83,000+ educators from 250 cities of India for DIDAC India.

B. S. Yediyurappa, Chief Minister, Government of Karnataka said, “It is our greatest pleasure to support Asian Summit of Education & Skills (ASES) – the Asian Chapter of the Education World Forum and DIDAC India Exhibition. It is indeed a great platform of uniting global education leaders with one goal of taking education and skill sector to the next level. Trained and skilled human resource is the biggest asset to the nation and we are working towards realising this aspiration of Prime Minister, Narendra Modi ji. Karnataka is one of the leading states in the education. We are very well aware of the need and importance of the skill based education and it is imperative for us to provide quality education to a future generation that will enable them to play an effective role in the development of the nation.”

Aditya Gupta, CEO, India Didactics Association said, “DIDAC India is a unique confluence of stakeholders from education and training industry showcasing latest innovations both in resources and solutions. The platform acts as a catalyst to enable free flow of ideas and exchange of global practices in every aspect right from curriculum to technology. This year being the eleventh edition of the exhibition, we are delighted that DIDAC has grown in scale and the quality of offerings through enriching workshops and powerful panel discussions. We aim to continue this momentum and hope that we are able to significantly contribute to the dynamic growth of the education sector in India.”

The event was hosted by Department of Education, Government of Karnataka and partnered by Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), NITI Aayog, The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE). The other partners of the event include AICTE, NCERT and National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) apart from various Indian and international partners. The event saw participation from over 300 Ministers, Policy Makers & Senior Education Leaders from India and other Asian countries.

The 3-day event showcases state-of-the-art education & training solutions that help in creating premium education institutions delivering the finest quality education, at par with any world-class institution.

DIDAC India – Event Overview

·         200+ companies from 19 countries participated
·         1800+ brands, showcased the latest and the best possible resources, solutions and services for the education & training sector.
·         Visited by thousands of educators and trade visitors from all over India
·         30+ Live Interactive Workshops for hands on experience
·         Thought provoking conferences with eminent speakers from across the globe at The International Education & Skill summit(TIESS)

The event hosted various concurrent event like conferences, workshops, round tables, talks, The International Baccalaureate India Education Forum, Cambridge All India Community Meet, Early Childhood Association National Conference, AICTE All India Institutional Meet, Amazon Web services Edtech CXO Mixer and lots more.

Oneplus Unveils the Highly-Anticipated Oneplus 7T and Oneplus TV with a Special Live Stream and Band Performance

OnePlus, one of the world’s most popular premium smartphone brands, is delighted to make India the focus of the simultaneous launches of their two highly-anticipated new products: the OnePlus 7T and the OnePlus TV. They will be launched exclusively in India and China on September 26 2019, with a global rollout to follow afterwards.

The company’s co-founders, Mr. Pete Lau and Mr. Carl Pei, will be in New Delhi to unveil the unique features of the new OnePlus 7T and OnePlus TV, with special events being held in cities across India. The Bengaluru launch will be held at Orion Mall on September 26th 2019 from 7pm onwards.

The co-founders’ presentation will be livestreamed during the launch, and fans of OnePlus who have been speculating for months on the unique features of the new products are warmly invited to join in the excitement. The livestream will be followed by a vibrant live performance by The Sylvester Trio, a “Contemporary Rock, Indie, and Funk Rock” band known for their funky, yet playful, with tongue-in-cheek lyrics and a strong stage presence.

The launch will be followed by a pop-up event at Orion Mall on September 27th, which will be the only place in Karnataka where the new products can be purchased before they become available at the OnePlus Experience Stores on September 28th.

The pop-up will feature a range of fun activities for the whole family that will be held through the day. The first 100 people to make a purchase will also receive “The Swag”, exclusive merchandise from OnePlus.

Following the pop-up and pre-release sales, the new products will be available for purchase exclusively at the OnePlus Experiences Stores from September 28th onwards, a few days prior to the general market release.

The new OnePlus TV is the brand’s first smart TV product, available in four sizes and with a range of cutting-edge features, to be revealed during the launch. The eagerly-awaited OnePlus 7T is the latest innovation in the brand’s beloved T series, known for its superior cameras and other attractive features.

NetApp Felicitates Partners at 9th Edition of Annual Partner Summit - Xcelerate 2019 at Jodhpur

NetApp, the data authority for hybrid cloud, concluded their three-day annual Partner Summit – Xcelerate 2019 held in Jodhpur. Hosted in partnership with Tech Data and Redington, the event honoured key partners in recognition of their work in delivering a fruitful partnership. In addition, the presence of NetApp’s senior leadership provided the partners an opportunity to connect with the company’s vision as well as strategies to drive data-driven business outcomes.

List of winners from India & SAARC region
* FLASH Partner of the Year - FY19- Hitachi Systems Micro Clinic
* Cloud Partner of the Year - FY19- FLASH Partner of the Year - FY19
* HCI Partner of the Year - FY19- Hitachi Systems Micro Clinic
* Systems Integrator of the Year - FY19- Inspirisys Solutions Ltd.
* Partner of the Year - SAARC - FY19- Omega Exim Ltd.
* Marketing Champion of the Year - FY19- Tech Data India
* Partner of the Year North - FY19 - Binary Global Ltd.
* Partner of the Year - West - FY19 - Softcell Technologies Ltd.
* Partner of the Year - South - FY19- Locuz Enterprise Solutions Ltd.
* Partner of the Year - FY19- Hitachi Systems Micro Clinic

The public cloud has created a new standard for IT that all industry leaders must match to provide the experience that customers enjoy in the cloud and now demand on-premises. To be successful, organizations must fuel data-driven innovation by leveraging the cloud. The event themed ‘Any Cloud, One Experience’ was curated to discuss how the partners can navigate as well as leverage new market opportunities. The conference hosted interactive discussions on enabling partners to unleash the power of data with the right cloud solutions and deliver value to customers in a dynamic world. The summit also facilitated a platform for the partners to meet the subject matter experts, industry leaders and NetApp executives to understand how to best help customers leverage the hybrid multi-cloud along with new technologies like AI, ML, DevOps and IoT.

Congratulating the winners, Anil Valluri, President, NetApp India and SAARC said, “NetApp in India is on a growth trajectory and continues to dominate the industry as the Data Authority in the hybrid cloud world. Our partners are a significant part of this growth and XCELERATE 2019 reaffirms our commitment to enable our partners to leverage the economies of data.”

“To be successful today, organizations must fuel data-driven innovation by leveraging the cloud and manage their data from the edge to core to cloud. We thereby aim to train and skill our partners to help customers better manage the data in both the infrastructures and gather better insight with the right pricing capability, agility, and flexibility. We also provide sessions to help explain right data management strategies for the newer technologies helping them deliver superior customer experience,” said Kaushal Veluri, Director, Channels, Alliances & Sales, NetApp India Marketing & Services.

The summit was held between September 18 and September 20, 2019 in Jodhpur.