LTI Partners With Securonix & Snowflake To Strengthen Cybersecurity Offerings

* Collaboration to augment LTI’s Active XDR Platform

Larsen & Toubro Infotech (BSE: 540005, NSE: LTI), a global technology consulting and digital solutions company has partnered with Securonix, a leader in next-gen Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) company, and Snowflake, a leader in secure cloud workload to strengthen its cybersecurity offerings.

The partnership will power LTI’s Active eXtended Detection & Response platform (Active XDR) for early detection of internal and external threats, contextualizing and combating threats with advanced intelligence-led hunting operations, and automating incident response time. LTI Active XDR uses a secluded data lake to secure billions of sensitive alerts and records.

Sanjay Jalona, CEO & Managing Director, LTI said, “Guarding against cyber threats has become a top priority for every enterprise. LTI Active XDR, backed by the latest technologies from Securonix and Snowflake will strengthen our ability to combat ever-growing threats, responding to increasing ransomware attacks and phishing campaigns on critical infrastructure, large enterprises, and federal sector.”

Sachin Nayyar, CEO, Securonix, said, ‘Bring your own Snowflake’ is an ideal managed service program, significantly reducing the costs and complexity of scaling advanced threat detection and response services across multiple customer environments. We look forward to bringing additional solutions to market with LTI that more effectively secure today’s cloud and complex enterprise environment.”

Christian Kleinerman, SVP of Product at Snowflake, said, “Chief Information Security Officers (CISO) are looking for alignment with the CIO to gain richer insights, improve scalability and drive savings. LTI is a strategic partner for Snowflake that has been recognized for its innovation and ability to help customers migrate from legacy solutions. We look forward to extending our partnership into cybersecurity together with industry-leader Securonix and its cloud-native ‘Bring your own Snowflake’ SIEM solution.”

LTI’s approach to cybersecurity is based on ensuring business continuity, brand equity and external compliance management. Equipped with the state-of-the art Cyber Defence Resiliency Centres (CDRCs), a centre-of-excellence (CoE) for cyber security, LTI is responding to the need of the hour and scaling its advanced cyber security managed services to its enterprise customers across the globe.

About LTI:

LTI (NSE: LTI) is a global technology consulting and digital solutions Company helping more than 460 clients succeed in a converging world. With operations in 33 countries, we go the extra mile to assist our clients and accelerate their digital transformation journeys. Founded in 1997 as a subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro Limited, our unique heritage gives us unrivalled real-world expertise to solve the most complex challenges of enterprises across all industries. Each day, our team of more than 40,000 LTItes enable our clients to improve the effectiveness of their business and technology operations and deliver value to their customers, employees, and shareholders. Learn more at http://www.Lntinfotech.com or follow us at @LTI_Global.

Muvi Expands OTT Ecosystem Offering, Launches Native Apps For Windows 10 & Windows 11 OS

* Muvi adds new features to its Enterprise-ready, Fastest to Deploy Streaming Platform Solution 

Muvi (www.muvi.com), a leading Enterprise SaaS company, has announced the launch of a Windows Desktop App Extension for its Content Owners and creator-focused End-to-End Streaming Platform - Muvi One. With the launch of this Native Windows Desktop App, Muvi One’s customers can now quickly extend the reach of their Video/Audio Streaming Services running on top of Muvi One’s solution to the Windows Ecosystem as well. 

Muvi One is a no-code Streaming Platform that boasts of fastest deployment timeline for content owners and creators looking to launch their OTT services across multi-devices. As a ‘ready-to-launch’ platform, Muvi One facilitates a hassle-free launch ecosystem for its content creator customers. Now launching audio/video streaming service across 17+ ecosystems like Apple (iOS, WatchOS, Apple TV) Android (Mobile and TV), Roku, Samsung TV (Android and Tizen), LG TV (Android, and WebOS), Xbox, PlayStation and many more is literally possible at the click of a button! 

Customers presently on Muvi One can right away start publishing their apps on the Windows Store while sharing it as a downloadable executable file directly from the website.

The USP of Muvi One lies with a completely native app, built from the scratch for the video streaming platforms allowing users to run a wide variety of content and programs on a platform, from on-demand content to Livestreaming, without any coding knowledge or IT know-how/ development teams. Muvi One now makes it easier for individuals and corporate to go Live without any hurdles. 

With this launch, Muvi is set to open the following features on their streaming platform development for their enterprise customers:

Native App

The Muvi software built from scratch offers complete customization options and can be personalized to reflect unique business goals. 

Faster Deployment

Being a ‘ready-to-launch’ platform, customers can float their application in the market in less than 24 hours! All they need is to choose a theme for the application while Muvi takes care of the rest.

Use Your Own Logo

Being a customizable platform, customers can be assured that the developed application will not carry any branding of Muvi.  

Enriched with Features

Muvi’s feature-rich Windows Desktop application comes with all the essential features required to deliver a rich streaming experience to audiences. 

Includes Maintenance and Upgrades

Known for their robust and timely handling of issues, Muvi’s support team extends their aid with timely updates and upgrades. With Muvi, one is assured to be at par with market standards - always!

Analytics and Reports

With high-end detailed analytics, customers can get a comprehensive analysis and performance report of their Windows application on a regular basis.  

Manage Content from CMS

With Muvi’s powerful CMS, customers can manage the app and its content from a single admin panel. 

High-Performance Apps

Designed to deliver buffer-free streaming experiences, Muvi’s Windows apps are optimized for faster page loading, content delivery,  responsiveness, smoother content/page transitions, and reduced latency. 

Speaking about the new feature launch, Nikhil Gupta, Director of Product Management, Muvi said “Support for Windows Desktop Application across Muvi’s services further extends the broad ecosystem of products and solutions that will accelerate the adoption of video-on-demand delivery to users on a global scale.”. 

“With the new Windows compatibility addition, we now strengthen the focus on our customers, by simplifying their operations and offering other solutions that further drive their business goals. Our goal is to make it faster and easier for our customers to confidently deliver the best video experiences to their audiences globally. We at Muvi remain focused on developing accessible, leading-edge SaaS-based products for our clients to help them get that edge over their competitors in this digital-first world.”, he added.

Muvi Products are also available as a free trial for 14 days with access to the entire multi-feature functionality for professional use. To register, please visit our website.

Ebixcash Announces Appointment Of Former RBI Executive Director - Uma Shankar To Its Board Of Directors

EbixCash Private Limited, a subsidiary of Ebix, Inc. (NASDAQ: EBIX), a leading international supplier of On-Demand software and E-commerce services to the insurance, financial, healthcare and e-learning industries, announced the appointment of Ms. Uma Shankar, as a new independent director to the EbixCash Board. Uma is a career banker, having retired as Executive Director at Reserve Bank of India (RBI), after serving RBI for 37 years.  

Uma is well versed in financial regulation, cyber security and data analytics. She has served as the Co- Chair of the committees relating to Financial Regulation and as a member of the Audit and Supervision groups of several International financial bodies. On the national front, she was the Chairperson of the Standing Committees on Cyber security and Data analytics. She was also the head of the interdepartmental group to explore the feasibility of introducing Central Bank digital currency. 

Uma is presently an Independent Director on the Boards of Karnataka Bank as well as IDBI Capital Markets and Securities Ltd. 

Uma brings a vast repertoire of experience across banking supervision, currency management, urban bank regulation, cyber security and administration etc., in addition to more than two decades of board level experience in Government and Quasi-Government organisations. During her 37-year employment with RBI, Uma was nominated as an RBI Board representative on a number of reputed financial institutions - Canara Bank, Corporation Bank, UCO Bank, Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Pvt. Ltd. (BRBNMPL), Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Ltd.(SPMCIL) and ECGC Ltd. 

Uma Shankar said, “EbixCash has emerged as a strong player in the financial sector both on the B2C and B2B side – be it payment solutions, pre-paid cards, remittance, foreign exchange, bill payments, AEPS etc. on the B2C side and then technology-based services like lending, wealth & asset management, insurance etc. for banks and financial institutions. Having spent my entire career in the financial industry, I am well versed with the banking and BFSI industry, besides having a deep understanding of its various associated aspects like technology trends, cyber security, currency management, regulations and administration. I am delighted to join the board of EbixCash and to be able to humbly contribute to the EbixCash efforts to bring increased digitization to the financial industry worldwide.”  

Robin Raina, Chairman of the Board, EbixCash said, “Uma brings a deep blend of regulatory, administration, technology, strategic, and corporate governance experience across the banking and financial sector to the Board. She is seen as a leading luminary in the field of financial regulation, cyber security, data analytics and digital currency globally – all fields relevant to EbixCash as we embark on our global journey. We are excited to have her on the EbixCash Board.” 

Uma is a Certified Associate of the Indian Institute of Bankers (CAIIB), and has completed Executive Education at Columbia Business School, New York and has also achieved a Masters in English.  

Other EbixCash Independent Board members 

SP Kothari – A US Citizen, S.P. Kothari is the Gordon Y Billard Professor of Accounting and Finance at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. Most recently, from 2019 to 2021 he served as Chief Economist and Director of the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis at the US Securities and Exchange Commission. He received one of India’s highest civil honors, the Padma Shri on December 8th from the President of India, for his work in the field of Economics. 

S Ravi - Ravi is presently serving as the Chairman and Director of Tourism Finance Corporation of India Ltd – the premier Indian Financial Institution, set-up to promote tourism in India. He also presently serves on the boards of Aditya Birla Health Insurance Company Ltd., Star Union Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd., Aditya Birla ARC Ltd., IIFL Asset Management Ltd. and SBI Payment Services Pvt. Ltd. He has served on the boards of over 40 prestigious institutions including insurance companies, a number of public sector banks and public sector enterprises like UCO bank, Union Bank, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd., BHEL, SBI - SG Global Securities Services Pvt Ltd to name a few. Also, he was appointed by Government of India and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as Chairman of the Technical Experts Committee for Punjab & Sind Bank’s Strategic Turnaround. 

Sunil Srivastav - Sunil is a career banker, having retired as Deputy. Managing Director of the Corporate Accounts Group at India’s largest bank - State Bank of India (SBI), after serving the bank for 38 years. Sunil brings a vast repertoire of experience across the international banking sector having spent a major part of his career in corporate banking at SBI, investment banking at SBI Capital Markets Ltd., and a five-year stint at SBI's New York office. Sunil is presently serving as a Senior Advisor to one of India’s largest investment banking firms - Edelweiss. He is also serving as a Senior Advisor to the World Bank for their Energy and Extractives program in India. Sunil is also an Independent Director on the boards of a number of public companies. 

Neil Eckert – Neil is presently the Chairman of Conduit Re, a UK reinsurer, that recently listed on the LSE. Mr. Eckert has been Chairman of Micro Power Ltd, a business that specializes in developing and investing in small-scale alternative energy projects and technologies. He is a director of Evofem Inc. and is Non-Executive Chairman of Design Technology and Innovation Limited, a patenting and intellectual property company. He also served as a Non-Executive Director of Arthur J Gallagher (UK) Ltd until September 2015.From 1999 until April 2005, he served as Chief Executive Office of Brit. In 1995, he co-founded Brit as a listed investment trust company. In 2005, Mr. Eckert founded Climate Exchange PLC and was Chief Executive Officer until 2010 when the company was sold to InterContinental Exchange Inc. 

Pavan Bhalla – Pavan till recently served in multiple leadership roles at Aon Hewitt, including Chief Executive Officer of Outsourcing (sold to private equity for $4.8B), Chief Financial Officer of Outsourcing and Corporate Controller He is currently a Partner with FCM LLC, a consulting firm that serves some of the largest private equity firms in the world and is based in Atlanta, Georgia. Before joining FCM, Pavan was President of the HR & Financial Solutions business at Alight, where he led the company’s cloud-based HR and financial services platform business. As Senior Vice President of Finance for global telecommunications giant MCI, he helped lead the company out of the largest fraud and bankruptcy in corporate history. Before that, he was a Chief Financial Officer and Controller of several BellSouth Corporation subsidiaries. Pavan has an MBA in Analytic Finance from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and an MBA in Management Science from Simon Fraser University, Canada. He is also a Certified Public Accountant from Illinois. 

Leading Fintech Platform - PhonePe Crosses 350 M Registered Users

* Records over 150 Mn monthly active users & an annualized TPV of $650+ billion

* Strengthens position as largest fintech platform in the country with over 45% market share in UPI

PhonePe, India’s leading fintech platform today announced that it has crossed 350 million lifetime registered users further cementing its leadership position. This essentially means that one in four Indians now use PhonePe. The registered user base has grown by 28% from 273 million in January to 350 million in December 2021. The company also reported 150 million monthly active users (MAU) and an annualized total payment value (TPV) of $650+ billion in December.

PhonePe is leading the industry on all key metrics including value and volume of transactions, registered users as well as merchant coverage. The company has been the market leader in UPI with over 45% market share in terms of the volume of transactions processed in December. It also processed over 500 million transactions at physical stores (including kiranas) in December 2021. This was achieved due to the rapid expansion of PhonePe’s merchant coverage spanning 25 million stores spread across 15,700 towns and villages, constituting 99% of pin codes in India.

Commenting on the milestone, Sonika Chandra, Head of Consumer Platform & Payments, PhonePe said, “We are delighted to cross the 350 million registered users mark and emerge as India’s largest digital payments platform across all core metrics. This phenomenal growth is driven by our technology team’s relentless pursuit of delivering the highest end-to-end transaction success rates in the industry, as well as our offline sales efforts in building the largest merchant acceptance network in India. We will continue to push hard on deepening digital payment adoption and merchant acceptance across India.”

Strengthening Multilateralism And Strong Europe-Asia Relationship Critical For Global Recovery

"Multilateral cooperation, and a strong Europe-Asia relationship, is crucial for the global recovery. We believe it is important for all our Asian partners to work together to "build back better" – in a greener, digital, sustainable, and inclusive way in the aftermath of COVID-19 pandemic", said Niccolo Rinaldi, Head of Unit - Asia, Australia and New Zealand, Directorate-General for External Policies of the Union, European Parliament, on Monday. Mr Rinaldi also acknowledged the importance of collaboration and exchange between the EU member states and Asian countries in the education process. He stressed the critical role of universities like Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) as interlocutors of strengthening the EU's ties with Asia.

He was speaking at the inaugural program of a Winter School on 'EU-Asia Relations in a Multipolar World' jointly organised by the Manipal Centre for European Studies (MCES), a Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence, and Nordic Centre in India from 10-15 January 2022 at Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), at Manipal, Karnataka. The 6-day Winter School is curated by Ms Priya Vijaykumar Poojary, lecturer, and Dr Yatharth Kachiar, Assistant Professor at the Manipal Centre of European Studies (MCES).

During the inaugural session, Mr Rinaldi emphasised that the Indo-Pacific region, highlighting its increasing importance reflects in the EU's strategy for cooperation with the region. "We are already a top investor in Indo-Pacific. Moreover, we are also the top development cooperation and trading partner in Asia. We have decided to reinforce our strategic focus, presence, and actions with the region. Our new EU strategy for cooperation in the Indo-Pacific sends a strong political signal", said Mr Rinaldi.

Speaking at the same inaugural session, Dr Yeo Lay Hwee, Director, European Union Centre in Singapore, emphasised the importance of partnership between Asia and Europe in strengthening Multilateralism. She stressed the "urgent need to uphold the international order based on rules and principles of international law with the United Nations at its core to address global and regional challenges." She also noted the importance of confidence-building measures and preventive diplomacy in contributing to peace and stability and reaffirmed the principles of mutual respect, mutual understanding, mutual interest and the renunciation of the use of force and the threat of using force in international relations.

Dr Neeta Inamdar, the Head, Manipal Centre of European Studies (MCES), highlighted the importance of enhancing Asia-Europe connectivity, which has political and economic aspects and socio-cultural links with people-to-people aspects. She noted that young people are influential change agents propelling humanity's movement towards a new sustainable future. To this end, strengthening EU-Asia relations would mean ensuring young people's meaningful participation in all spheres and public and political life. She further said, "it is necessary to encourage the expansion of educational exchange and cooperation among EU and Asia for sharing good practices of ways to tackle common global issues."

Bayer Enhances Leadership Role For D Narain And Simon Thorsten Wiebusch

* D Narain, President, Bayer South Asia and Managing Director, Bayer CropScience Limited takes on an enhanced leadership role as the Global Head of Smallholder Farming

* Simon Thorsten Wiebusch, Chief Operating Officer, Crop Science Division of Bayer for India, Bangladesh & Sri Lanka appointed as Executive Director, Bayer CropScience Limited and Country Divisional Head of Crop Science Business in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka

Bayer, a global life sciences company present in India for over 125 years, today announced enhanced leadership roles for D Narain and Simon Thorsten Wiebusch, two senior executives from its India team to support its strong commitment to improve the livelihood of 100 million smallholders globally and deliver sustainable farming solutions.

D Narain, currently President, Bayer South Asia, and MD, Bayer CropScience Ltd takes on additional leadership responsibilities as Global Head of Smallholder Farming for Bayer.

Simon Thorsten Wiebusch, who is currently COO of Bayer’s CropScience business for India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka (IBSL) takes over as Executive Director, Bayer CropScience Ltd and the Country Divisional Head of the Crop Science business in these countries.

D Narain and Simon will continue to be based out of India, which is the largest small farmer market in the world and also serves as Bayer CropScience’s incubator to bring new smallholder farming innovation.

About Bayer

Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the life science fields of health care and nutrition. Its products and services are designed to help people and planet thrive by supporting efforts to master the major challenges presented by a growing and aging global population. Bayer is committed to drive sustainable development and generate a positive impact with its businesses. At the same time, the Group aims to increase its earning power and create value through innovation and growth. The Bayer brand stands for trust, reliability and quality throughout the world. In fiscal 2020, the Group employed around 100,000 people and had sales of 41.4 billion euros. R&D expenses before special items amounted to 4.9 billion euros. For more information, go to www.bayer.com.

GTPL Partners With Aprecomm To Bring Innovation To Customer Experience With Network Intelligence

GTPL Hathway Limited, one of the largest Multi-Service Operator (MSO) in India with cable TV distribution and high-speed broadband service distribution, today announced investment in innovative technology to remotely optimize its residential Wi-Fi connections through a partnership with Aprecomm. This A.I. technology will help GTPL bring down the customer issue resolution time and enhance the customer experience on its network of more than 700K connected broadband households.

Aprecomm’s AI Engine allows GTPL to convert its Household connections to A.I. enabled Smart WiFi access points. The technology offers proactive monitoring and measuring of the Wireless Experience of the connected devices and provides real-time insights to improve the reliability and performance of the network.    

Speaking on the development, Mr. Anirudhsinh Jadeja, Managing Director, GTPL, said, “GTPL believes in continuous investments in technology in order to keep innovating and providing the best service to our consumers. The partnership with Aprecomm will aid us in our efforts to ensure the best experience for our broadband consumers with faster and proactive resolution of potential issues.”

Pramod Gummaraj, CEO, Aprecomm, said, “We are very happy to work with GTPL and bring the latest technology into their network which can assist them with up to 50% reduction in customer support handling time and phenomenal improvement to the customer experience. We are looking forward to bringing more innovation in Network Automation in the coming months.”

The measurable improvements offered by the integration between GTPL and Aprecomm also lead to lower maintenance cost and improved customer satisfaction for one of the country’s fastest growing ISPs.

Guharajan Sivakumar, CTO, Aprecomm said, “With Aprecomm’s vendor agnostic technology, GTPL is now able to manage and monitor ONUs through a unified interface, ensuring assured internet experience to their customers”.

Guru Prasad V, CTO of GTPL Hathway Ltd said, “We have already started deploying this technology and could see the ease with which we are able to measure the customer experience and take proactive actions to improve it. Aprecomm technology immensely helps us to achieve Network Automation.”

About GTPL

GTPL Hathway Limited is the second largest Multi-Service Operator (MSO) in India engaged in cable TV distribution and high-speed broadband service distribution reaching an estimated 10.8 million households in over 1000+ towns across 15 states in India with presence in Gujarat, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Goa, Rajasthan, Assam, Jharkhand, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Odisha, and Telangana.

The company is the largest Multi-Service Operator (MSO) in Gujarat and is the second-largest player in the cable market of West Bengal. GTPL also has a significant presence in all other markets.

GTPL Broadband Pvt. Ltd. is the 6th largest Private Wired Broadband provider, with a vision to provide high-speed fibre broadband at affordable rates and currently has an active customer base of 7 Lac plus.

About Aprecomm

Aprecomm is an industry game-changer with an AI-enabled Software Stack to understand Customer Wi-Fi Experience. Aprecomm offers cloud-based automated solutions to enhance Wi-Fi performance. Aprecomm’s patented technology helps in automatically and proactively troubleshooting Wi-Fi issues. This way ISPs and Enterprises will be able to fix them immediately and dramatically minimize down-time. Aprecomm’s solutions help enterprises, ISPs, TSPs improve their business standards through higher reliability, reduced expenses, and speedy ROI.