Accenture Implements 5G and Fiber Strategies with Launch of New Cloud-Based Network Decision Platform

Accenture has launched its Network Decision Platform, a cloud-based solution that provides communications network operators with an integrated, end-to-end view of fifth-generation (5G), fiber and traditional mobile communications services.

Leveraging big data, analytics and artificial intelligence (AI), the platform is designed to help mobile, cable and wireline operators prioritize and calibrate network investment, planning, deployment, customer acquisition, migration and intelligent service support.

The data from the Network Decision Platform provides network operators with a variety of insights, such as how to optimally deploy their network assets to offer a compelling 5G service. Wireline and cable operators can also leverage the platform to identify where to expand their fiber networks as a source for growth, and how best to compete with emerging 5G services.

“A new wave of network investment is upon us, as the race to 5G intensifies and network providers seek to evolve their footprint,” said Tejas Rao, managing director and global 5G lead for Accenture’s network practice. “Employing data analytics and visualization tools, our Network Decision Platform helps operators identify where to deploy capital efficiently, accelerate deployment timelines and calibrate their business case metrics. When combined with operational data, this can provide operators with a 360-degree view of their return on investment, deployment and operations.”

“5G will provide new growth opportunities and spur innovations for the digital economy,” said Aditya Chaudhuri, managing director and lead for Accenture’s Communications, Media & Technology practice in India. “To succeed in the 5G era, network providers will need to address several operational implications across the business ecosystem including those of investment and security. The new platform will help operators combine the power of data analytics and digital technologies for informative, insights driven decisions.”

The scalable platform takes advantage of access to a wealth of third-party data, public data, AI and machine learning to drive efficient and accurate decision-making and to automate parts of the deployment processes. Offered as a managed service or other flexible solutions based on individual operator needs, the Network Decision Platform enables clients to maintain a limited cost of ownership and to achieve results – for example, where to deploy and how to monetize the networks - in as little as six to eight weeks. 

Underwriters Laboratories Announces Winners of the National Safety Science Quiz

Underwriters Laboratories (UL), a safety science organization dedicated to advancing public safety, announced the winners of its National Safety Science Quiz (NSSQ). Designed for students of classes eight to class ten, the NSSQ gamifies the concept of safety by demonstrating to students that “Safety is a Science.” It sensitizes students to the everyday public safety challenges that surround them: road safety, cyber safety, fire hazards, etc. and empowers them with knowledge about the solutions to deal with these challenges.

Ambuja Rani and Subash Singh from Ryan International School and Varun.J and Rohan Jacob from Sri Kumaran's Children's Home (CBSE) beat other teams to claim the first prize. Students that successfully completed an online test were eligible for the NSSQ. Apart from Bengaluru, the NSSQ is being held in Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Kolkata, Guwahati, Dehradun and Chandigarh.

The NSSQ is part of the National Safety Science Campaign (NSSC). Besides the quiz, NSSC comprises an online poster contest for school students of classes four to seven on safety themes and a film contest for students in the age groups of 16 to 25 years old about safety initiatives undertaken by them or others in their community. Activities at a local level to further safety science knowledge and awareness, such as train-the-trainer program for teachers and Safety Clubs for students, are part of the NSSC.

The NSSC was conceived as an aftermath of many accidents in different parts of the country that were avoidable with timely interventions. There is an imminent need to create substantial change in the area of public safety by increasing awareness in India. As children are the future, it is important to begin the conversation with them. This campaign is a significant step in that direction.

Shopmatic Partners with PayU to Enjoy Simplified Payment Acceptance Across Devices

International e-commerce company, Shopmatic has inked a strategic partnership with India’s leading online payment solutions provider, PayU. This partnership is meant to provide Shopmatic merchants with yet another option to accept payments from their customers when they sell their products. This integration has enabled Shopmatic merchants to accept payments from customers, seamlessly and from multiple channels, devices, and modes, on a single platform.

Shoppers today prefer the flexibility to leverage a wide gamut of payment options, for making purchases online. Shopmatic will, therefore, help their merchants leverage multiple payment options on their ecommerce web stores by integrating with PayU; these include payment acceptance via UPI - Google Pay, Phone Pe, Bhim, as well as eWallets, Debit and Credit cards, Netbanking.

Ensuring a seamless experience, PayU will provide merchants with access to a powerful dashboard for managing all transactions and tracking business performance on the go.

Commenting on the association, Anurag Avula, Co-Founder & CEO, Shopmatic, said, “We are delighted to partner with PayU and extend a seamless and hassle-free experience for payment acceptance for our sellers.  The PayU onboarding experience is simple, quick and provides an extensive suite of payment methods. Partnering with PayU continues to cement our promise to our merchants to make ecommerce completely easy and friction-free. Shopmatic will continue to partner with established brands that strengthens our ecosystem and aid in driving digital success for our merchants.”

Noopur Chaturvedi, Country Head, Small and Medium Businesses, PayU said, “As an industry leader, we are constantly looking for ways to make the payment experience simpler & effective for the merchants in India, accelerating their growth in the digital ecosystem. We are delighted to partner with Shopmatic to extend instant and easy omnichannel payments solutions to its merchants. Through this partnership with Shopmatic, we are powering the ambitions of the small and medium merchants. We are confident that our innovative payments solutions will simplify payment processes for Shopmatic’s merchant partners.”

The integration with PayU will also provide Shopmatic merchants with omnichannel refund modules, assisting them with bulk refunds for both, online and offline transactions. They will also be able to track all the refunds through a single dashboard. Apart from the wide ranging payment offerings, the partnership will also enable Shopmatic merchants with a quick, easy and convenient onboarding process.

Over the past 6 months, Shopmatic has acquired over 260,000 new customers on its platform and is on track to acquiring 500,000  customers  in FY2019.

ClearTax Acquires Dose FM to Strengthen Mobile Capabilities to SMEs and Individuals Segments

ClearTax, India’s #1 Tax & Investing platform today announced that it has acquired a Bangalore-based audio streaming platform Dose FM for an undisclosed amount to spur its dominance in fintech segments and become a one-stop-shop for financial needs of individuals and MSMEs. The acquisition will bolster ClearTax’s mobile capabilities and will enable it to rapidly build accounting, analytics and governance products to expedite its mission to solve financial problems of MSMEs and individuals.

Businesses in India have leapfrogged from desktop to mobile and ClearTax understands this shift. Business owners and individuals are increasingly adopting mobile products for day to day business and financial planning.

Founded in January 2018 by Abhishek Damodara, Rishabh Harit and Akhil Appana, Dose FM helped thousands of Indians to create and stream live audio shows with significant adoption in Tier 2 cities. “With experience in building consumer products for the Indian market, we resonated with Cleartax’s mission of building mobile-first solutions that will impact crores of Indian business owners and help simplify their lives,'' said Abhishek Damodara, CEO, and founder of Dose FM.

Archit Gupta, Founder & CEO, ClearTax, said, “With small businesses comprising a staggering 99.6% of total businesses across India, ClearTax will soon introduce best-in-class solutions focussed on solving their accounting, analytics and governance problems.”

“And Dose FM will help us expand our offerings. The purpose of this acquisition is to utilize the team’s potential to build mobile focussed products for simplifying financial lives of businesses and individuals,” he said.

NetApp Excellerator Launches 5th Cohort with Five Start-Ups with Focus on Cloud, AI and Machine Learning

NetApp, a leader in data management and hybrid cloud, has announced the launch of its fifth cohort of start-ups as part of NetApp Excellerator, the company’s flagship accelerator program. The start-ups were selected based on how their products and solutions could be aligned with NetApp’s business to deliver powerful solutions to customers. The award- winning NetApp Excellerator program has mentored 24 start-ups through its previous four cohorts and is set to accelerate a new batch of data-driven enterprises.

CloudSEK, Senseforth.ai, Lightwing, Coralogix and Curl Analytics are the five data-driven start-ups that have made it to the fifth cohort of this program. In line with NetApp’s expertise, the core technology for all these start-ups is data. It is the rocket fuel for Artificial Intelligence, which these start-ups are employing in fintech, cyber security, conversational AI, digital risk management and machine learning-powered log analytics and IoT solutions for industrial automation.

The presence of Coralogix, an Israel-based startup, in cohort 5 re-establishes NetApp Excellerator’s global reach and position as a sought-after, high-impact startup accelerator program. While Coralogix brings with it experiences of the vibrant and thriving start-up community of Israel, NetApp Excellerator’s diverse offerings will help cohort 5 start-ups build a strong technology foundation for their business.

NetApp has formed strategic alliance partnerships with eight select start-ups from previous cohorts to co-create solutions and go-to-market with them. FirstHive, Cardiotrack, ZScore, Scalend, BlobCity, SigTuple, Nanobi and SecurelyShare are the strategic alliance partners from the strong alumni network of the program. The current cohort will witness the launch of an evolved model where select start-ups will build paid proof-of-concepts (POCs) with NetApp, which gives the start-ups a platform to prove the potential of their solutions in the real-world.
 
Commenting on the impact value of the program, Madhurima Agarwal, Leader, NetApp Excellerator, said, “Our start-up accelerator program is attracting new-age disruptive companies from around the world and that is a proof of the value we have added to our alumni, enabling them to create tangible commercial success with respect to funding, customer acquisitions and successful exits. Now, we are at an inflection point in this accelerator journey, where we will focus on paid proof-of-concepts with select start-ups, giving them avenues to evaluate themselves and demonstrate the business and technology viability of their product or solution. This will lead to stronger go-to-market opportunities for them.”

Since its inception, the accelerator program has been disrupting the start-up ecosystem to drive growth of the B2B start-ups in the niche data-driven market led by AI, ML, IoT and advanced tech.

Deepak Visweswaraiah, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, NetApp India believes the NetApp Excellerator journey reflects NetApp’s commitment and involvement in innovating for the future. “There are newer problems emerging in the market that require ability and agility of solutions. It is exciting to jointly embark on a quest with a diverse set of data-driven start-ups with unconventional ideas to drive business results for customers. The founders of the 5th cohort are extremely passionate and driven. We will provide resources to help them make breakthroughs in products, streamline the go-to-market strategy, rapidly scale the customer-base and secure investments.”

During the four-month program, each of the cohort 5 start-ups will receive technical and business mentorship and support to develop market ready products and solutions, access to NetApp’s technologies, a co-working space and HR, legal and tech support. In addition, the start-ups will be given networking opportunities with potential investors, partners, and customers. NetApp will sponsor a POC or offer an equity free grant of $15,000 to the graduating start-ups.

Novozymes Sets Up Manufacturing Plant in Patalganga Industrial Area Near Mumbai

To cater to the growing India and South-East Asia markets, Novozymes will build a new production and supply chain facility near Mumbai.

To accommodate business growth and a consequent increase in production and supply chain needs, Novozymes has obtained land on a long-term lease in the Patalganga industrial area near Mumbai on India’s west coast. With an initial investment of approximately DKK 300 million (Rs. 300 crore) the company plans to establish a new enzyme production and supply chain facility that is expected to be ready for operation in 2018 and will employ 150 people in the first phase.

“We see a big opportunity in India and South-East Asia, where knowledge-based innovations in the field of industrial enzymes can effectively replace polluting chemical processes and deliver environmental sustainability,” says Thomas Videbæk, Executive Vice President & COO, Research, Innovation & Supply at Novozymes. “Our business in the region has been growing strongly for years, to a point where we have outgrown current facilities and need to expand for the future. We have chosen the new area for its size, proximity to customers, future business opportunities and good accessibility to ports, airports, highways and other industrial infrastructure.”

The new plant will produce enzymes using solid state fermentation and will also formulate enzymes imported from Novozymes’ production sites outside India. At present, the key business areas for Novozymes in India are the household care, textiles, food & beverages, oil & fats, baking, and beverage alcohol markets.

Two sites in India going forward

Novozymes has been present in India since 1983 and currently occupies three sites in Bangalore in India’s southern State of Karnataka. The solid state fermentation and supply chain operations for the region will now move to the new production site near Mumbai, while all other functions will remain in Bangalore, including Novozymes’ Indian Head Office, Research & Development center and the service centers which provide support to global operations.

“We will maintain some of our key functions in Bangalore, which has proven to be a great base for pushing sustainable, biological solutions to India and beyond,” continues Videbæk. “From now on, we will have two main sites in the country, and as we discover more Asian opportunities for our solutions, we look forward to developing both our presence in Bangalore and Mumbai.”

Novozymes' R&D Bangalore Centre Develops Eco-Friendly Enzyme Based Detergents for Global Markets

Novozymes’s R&D center in Bangalore was established in 2006, and today with nearly 100 R&D and application scientists, it has now grown into a key center for global discovery and applications within the company. The R&D laboratory has established top notch competency in protein (enzyme) engineering enabling development of next generation enzyme/products for global customers across different industries.

Novozymes supports >30 different industries with biological solutions (enzymes and microbes). The industry players are constantly innovating to address the changing needs of their customers and consumers, and Novozymes works closely with such industries to support the changing needs in the market place. The most recent innovation from the Bangalore lab is a new enzyme product that makes it easier for liquid detergent global customers to remove stubborn laundry stains, in a more specific manner and in a sustainable way.

The protein engineering team in Bangalore develops and optimizes enzyme molecules, customized for specific customer applications, and works closely with other global sites at Novozymes, including Denmark, China and the U.S., for further enzyme product development, including, upscaling, fermentation and recovery, and formulation development, to commercialize enzymes into global products such as the new Mannaway®.

It is an enzyme for household care industry with expert stain removal technology designed for global markets. Mannaway 200 L is an exceptionally tough mannanase, that excels in these tough environments. It breaks down the guar and locust bean gums that are used as thickeners and stabilizers in a wide variety of foods. Food stains containing these gums are difficult to remove and leave sticky.

Novozymes’ purpose and long-term targets are inspired by the SDGs. Novozymes spokesperson said, “The sustainable nature of our solutions means that we contribute to achieving the SDGs every day. We assess the potential impact on the SDGs for all the projects in our innovation pipeline. This enables us to advance solutions that have the potential to have a high impact on the SDGs. In 2018, Novozymes set up the SDG Governance Board made up of members of our senior leadership team, to build a shared understanding of SDG opportunities and risks, and to ensure that this knowledge is embedded in corporate strategy and targets. The SDG Governance Board consists of an Impact Board and a Foundation Board.”