Acer India Flagship Lounge at Jayanagar Caters for both New Products & Service Centre

Acer India, one of the largest PC vendors in the country, announced the launch of its first flagship store in Bangalore. The lounge will showcase the entire range of newly launched Acer products across notebooks, smartphones, desktops, monitors, projectors and tablets. The lounge manifests Acer’s promise of cutting edge tech products for everyone, housing all the latest models, showcasing upcoming launch or previews. The best in class Predator gaming series will also debut there. The lounge is part of a new wave of Acer flagship store imbibed with a new brand philosophy and path breaking retail design concept.

On the occasion, Chandrahas Panigrahi, Senior Director-Consumer Business, Acer India said, “Inline with our growth strategy, we are excited to unveil the first Acer flagship store in Bangalore. The store has been designed to provide consumers with an immersive experience of Acer’s vast range of products and services under one roof. We intend to provide a unique retail experience to our customers and enable them to browse, touch, feel and experience Acer’s latest product portfolio crafted to appeal to the needs of all segments.” He further added, “We want people to walk away with a powerful and memorable buying experience. The lounge has been created keeping in mind the company’s approach towards innovation and is a step in its continuing journey to be responsive to changing user’s needs.”

The brand which is home to innovation and creativity will ensure the store delivers an unmatched hands-on experience across the wide range of Acer products. With a wide array of 16 models and product categories spanning the gamut of Phones, Tablets, Convertibles, Displays and Projectors, the lounge is a technology haven even for the uninitiated.

The philosophy behind this new format of store is to make consulting and troubleshooting a smooth experience. Not only will the employees consult the customers in making a wise purchase decision but they will also power the demo zone for educating the customers about the unique features of the Acer range of products. The skilled and certified tech specialists in-charge of test and repair makes the after sales support experience a delight.  Sudheer Goel, Chief Customer Support Officer, Acer India remarked “Apart from intensive training to the tech specialists in the outlet, we have also invested in adequate stocks of spare parts to make the resolution turnaround time much faster”.

The lounge also have a rich expression of Acer brand philosophy with the right combinations of brand colours, fonts, layouts etc. and immersive lighting, which together contribute to a wonderful shopping experience. Acer has invested considerable amount of time and energy in understanding the art and science of consumer buying experience which is reflected in the elegant layout making navigation effortless.

PNB Housing Finance Expects 30% Jump in Revenues during 2016-17 With 35% Contribution from South India

By Manu Sharma

PNB Housing Finance Limited, a leading housing finance major expects a 30 percent jump in revenues to touch Rs 38,000 or Rs 40,000 crore during the next fiscal (2016-17). The finance company recorded Rs 27,000 during the last fiscal (2015-16) with a 32-35 percent contribution from the south Indian states.

Speaking to the media, Sanjaya Gupta, Managing Director of PNB Housing says, “The last five years say a lot of re-engineering in our set up and also owe the positive results mainly due to the contribution from the southern states. In fact, in 2010 the southern states contributed just 10-12 percent of our business but saw a 3X jump in 5 year’s time. Now we are focusing a lot on technology and also setting up more branches in all four states in the south.”

Gupta remarks that they have also moved away from being just a subsidiary of PNB, a leading PSU bank and have gone in for Public Private Partnership (PPP), where in a new professional management now runs the housing finance company since 2009.

PNB Housing Implements ESS Technology

 On the technology front, PNB Housing has implemented Enterprise System Solution (ESS) on a single platform and one database across all branches. “We have invested a sum of about Rs 60 crore to 65 crore during the last five years and the result is this software which is very scalable and build in-house with partnership from leading vendors like Microsoft. Today we are also on a private cloud so customers can access our services any time anywhere and on any device,” remarks Gupta.

PNB Open More Branches in South

PNB Housing has inaugurated its Zonal Office and Regional Processing Centre in Bengaluru to tap high-growth cities and regions in South Indian market and to garner a larger pie of the business from these zones fuelling its business expansion.

Located at BTM Layout, which is one of the prime locations, the zonal office was inaugurated by Sanjaya Gupta, Managing Director of PNB Housing. The celebration was graced by the promoters of many reputed Real Estate Companies from across the region and various business partners of the company.

Gupta said, “Business expansion is an important element for PNB Housing to carry on the growth momentum and it is essential that we stand closer to where our target customer base is. There are enormous opportunities available in South India and we have aptly honed our efforts to make this zone operationally robust which are now giving rich dividends. To continue with our commitment to support inclusive growth, we plan to strengthen the network in our existing markets and expand in untapped regions simultaneously. We believe that the key to gain optimum output from diversely spread network is decentralization of operations. Bengaluru Zonal office will cater to this growing demand and will serve as the decision making centre for our branches in South India.”

Gupta further explains that at PNB Housing, the primary objective of each member is to meet customer expectations, improve their relationships and foster customer delight. The organization’s wide focus on ensuring highest level of service competency is fuelled by their ambition to be the most admired housing finance company in the country. This zonal office will cater to the entire South Indian market while the regional processing centre will serve the state of Karnataka reaching out to cities like Mysore, Mangalore etc. This will fasten the process of loan disbursement and make it hassle free, smooth and pleasant for the customers in these regions. The new office will also augment operational efficiencies performing as the nerve centre for the state territory.

PNB Housing currently operates with 4 Regional Offices supported by a network of branches in South India. As of Sept 30, 2015, 29% of their total loan book was contributed from South India amounting to Rs 6,222 crore. The company plans to take the total number of branches in South to 14 in the next fiscal by adding 5 more branches.

The company has been registering Y-o-Y growth of over 50% since last many quarters and is now ranked 5^th in terms of Loan Assets Size and 2^nd in Deposits Book. The company displays high level of ethics, integrity and transparency with a robust delivery model including easy online access, doorstep services and a host of other conveniences that make the experience memorable. 

The company enables the people to realize their dream of owning a home by offering customized loan solutions to fit emerging needs of the customers. PNB Housing also offers fixed rate of interest for variety of term 3, 5 and 10 years to insulate customers from macroeconomic volatility and sudden rate of interest fluctuations. The company also introduced 30 years loan repayment term which allows customers to pay lower EMIs and continue the loan for a longer period.

Indian Air Conditioning Market Set to Double Manufacturing Capacity by 2020 With Addition of New Units

By Manu Sharma

The Rs 15,000 Crore, Indian air conditioning and commercial refrigeration market, is all set to make over as it plans to double its production capacity from 4 million units last fiscal to 8 million units by 2020. Indian players like Blue Star will add two more manufacturing facilities in India.

India’s capacity in the global room air conditioning market presently is a mere 3-4 percent while China dominates the industry with almost 50 percent share of the global market.

Speaking to the media, B Thiagarajan, Executive Director & President of Blue Star Limited says, “Even though the Chinese players dominate this market, but off late has seen a sharp decline and we intent to grab on this opportunity and double the Indian market share in the coming fiscal. I consider only Voltas and Blue Star are the pure Indian players with a Make In India tag and we shall along with other Japanese and Korean players drive this growth.”

Industry reports indicate that in the room air conditioning sector, Chinese players’ witness a flat growth last fiscal and this trend may continue this fiscal as well. In fact, out of every 100 units, 80 units are made from China.

Thiagarajan remarks that even the Indian market did witness a de-growth mainly due to the fall in the international market but we are poised to achieve our target by 2020.  

“We are on the verge of revamping our manufacturing facility with the addition of two more units at Sri City in AP near Chennai and the other at Jammu. Both these units will manufacture both air conditioners and refrigerator’s,” he adds.

Blue Star has 4 existing manufacturing facilities at HP, Wada, Debra and Ahmedabad.

In this regard, Blue Star has also announced the launch of a stylish range of air conditioners comprising a wide array of highly energy-efficient as well as eco-friendly split air conditioners for the residential and commercial segments.

The company intends to continue its aggressive thrust in the room air conditioners market and aims to gain a market share of 12% in FY17, in terms of value. Blue Star’s new line-up of room air conditioners consists of over 135 models. This stellar range of air conditioners is in line with the new energy standards prescribed by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE).

“The room air conditioners market in India grew by about 10% during 2015, while Blue Star outperformed the market growing 20%. We find that the room air conditioner segment is becoming more brand-conscious preferring specialist air conditioning players. This trend works to our advantage since Blue Star is perceived to be a premium and aspirational brand, and our rich pedigree and high quality product range is in conjunction with this image. In addition, the brand continues to be a strong player in the corporate and commercial segment which comprises 25% of the overall size. The market for room air conditioners is expected to grow by around 15% in FY17 and considering our 5-year track record of outperforming the market coupled with our impressive new energy-efficient, eco-friendly and smart product range, we hope to achieve a market share of 12% in FY17”.

Blue Star is amongst the first companies to comply with BEE’s voluntary labelling programme for inverter split air conditioners as it has launched 16 models in the 5-star category and 13 variants in the 3-star category, as per the new BEE standards. All models have been designed to operate non-stop even at 50°C. 

The entire range of star-rated inverter split air conditioners is equipped to function smoothly within a voltage range of 160V - 270V, without the aid of an external voltage stabiliser. This is of a huge advantage in locations with high voltage fluctuations. 8 of the 16 models of 5-star inverter split air conditioners will be equipped with a ‘smart’ Wi-Fi feature which enables the customer to operate the machine from any remote place within the Wi-Fi network.

Lenovo & Juniper Networks Partner for Next-Gen Data Center Infrastructure Solutions

Juniper Networks and Lenovo the industry leader in network innovation, today announced the commencement of a global strategic partnership to leverage synergies in their respective product and technology portfolios to build the next generation of  converged, hyper-converged, and hyper-scale data center infrastructure solutions for enterprise and web-scale customers. The alliance reflects a shared commitment to deliver simplified, flexible, and high-performance solutions that will provide customers faster time-to-application value with reduced operating costs.

With an extensive portfolio of x86 based servers and switches, Lenovo is at the forefront of the movement toward converged and software defined offerings. Juniper is a market leader in networking innovation with its comprehensive portfolio of routers, switches, network management software, network security products and software-defined networking technology. The partnership is expected to enable customers to leverage Juniper’s strengths in networking and Lenovo’s recognized leadership in x86 server reliability¹ and networking access to derive manageable, scalable, and simple infrastructure for their data center.
 
Below are the key planned principles of the partnership:

·         Customers will be able to purchase Juniper’s broad portfolio of networking products directly from Lenovo for easier acquisition, as well as consolidated support.

·         With the move to disaggregation of hardware and software in the data center, the two companies intend to bring open, flexible solutions to market, leveraging the ONIE (Open Network Install Environment) model.

·         Keeping in mind customer needs for fast provisioning and easy administration, both companies expect to collaborate to offer simplified management and orchestration in the datacenter leveraging Lenovo’s xClarity management software as well as Juniper’s Network Director and Contrail SDN software.

·         In addition, the two companies plan to collaborate around go to market on a worldwide basis targeting enterprise customers, service providers, channel partners as well as system integrators.
Lenovo and Juniper aim to develop joint go-to-market plans and a tailor-made resell model to address unique localization requirements in China.

“Partnering with Lenovo expands Juniper’s strategy to deliver a full-stack solution for a wide-range of data centers, from the mid-range enterprise to private cloud and to hyper-scale customers. We are excited about collaborating with Lenovo to leverage the full power of our IP-networking portfolio based on JunosOS and Contrail, in delivering the next generation of converged, hyper-converged, and hyper-scale solution to customers in China and globally,” said Rami Rahim, chief executive officer at Juniper Networks.

“Lenovo is on a mission to become the market leader in datacenter solutions. We will continue to invest in the development and delivery of disruptive IT solutions to shape next-generation data centers. Our partnership with Juniper Networks provides Lenovo access to an industry leading portfolio of products that include Software Defined Networking (SDN) solutions – essential for state-of-the-art data center offerings,” remarks Gerry Smith, Lenovo executive vice president and chief operating officer, PC and Enterprise Business Group.

Enterprise-Class ERP Now Available on the Microsoft Cloud

Microsoft Corp.  announced that its next-generation cloud ERP solution, Microsoft Dynamics AX, built on and for Microsoft Azure, is now available in 137 markets in 40 languages. The enterprise-class business application brings the power, speed and intelligence of cloud computing to people and organizations to achieve more.

“Customers from around the world are using the cloud in incredible ways to accelerate and transform their business,” said Scott Guthrie, executive vice president, Microsoft Cloud and Enterprise. “Today’s release is an exciting milestone extending Microsoft’s business cloud offerings. It’s now possible for organizations to run their entire business in the cloud with Microsoft — from productivity with Office 365, to business analytics with Power BI and Cortana Analytics Suite, customer engagement with Dynamics CRM and business operations with Dynamics AX.”

Customers across the globe are already using Dynamics AX to run their business processes in the cloud — from single domains like human resources and manufacturing to end-to-end business. Companies already live in production include Hagler Systems, Haldex, Icon, Renault Sport Formula One Team, Priva, Smiles, Travel Alberta and Umbra Group.

The new Dynamics AX moves beyond traditional business solutions and brings ERP, business intelligence, infrastructure and database services together in a single offering, empowering organizations to run industry-specific and operational business processes that are extendable with specific solutions from partners. Wednesday, Microsoft announced more than 50 ISV solutions that are available on the Azure Marketplace. These Microsoft-curated, pre-configured industry and vertical solutions help customers discover and implement the solution they need quicker than ever before and, like Dynamics AX, enable fast consumption of updates and improvements. In addition to the 50-plus solutions already available, hundreds are in development today.

The new Dynamics AX takes the capabilities of Lifecycle Services (LCS) to the next level. Businesses will be able to combine the best practices for their mission-critical apps with the flexibility and simplicity of upgrade via the cloud. With LCS, Dynamics AX will formalize the concepts of development, test and production, making the ongoing upgrade quicker to implement and deploy and easier to manage.

“Lifecycle Services represents a shift in how companies manage the life cycle of an ERP system in a way that’s never really been done before,” said Josh Greenbaum, principal analyst, Enterprise Application Consulting. “The ability to test in the cloud and use the cloud’s natural elasticity and functionality to take the test, flip a switch and make it the actual production environment, that truly is magic.”

Harnessing the power of the Azure cloud, Dynamics AX provides enhanced security along with global availability and scale, enabling businesses and people to work more safely anywhere, anytime while respecting the data sovereignty requirements of global customers no matter where in the globe they operate.

“We do everything through Dynamics AX now; we manage virtually all of our operations,” said Thomas Mayer, chief operating office, Renault Sport Formula One Team. “Having what I need to run my business available anywhere in the world is invaluable.”

“We are bringing massive amounts of data into our business to help control building climates and horticulture environments. That is a huge business transformation, and the cloud was the only way forward for us to make that real,” said Paul Ossewold, vice president, Digital Operations, Priva. “To manage our company with 10 offices around the world, we need systems that are fast. That is what Dynamics AX in the cloud is giving us, and we couldn’t be more excited to be one of the first customers on board to take advantage of this new solution.”

Modern solution for modern businesses

Dynamics AX delivers a simple, beautiful, and modern user interface that is touch-enabled for the devices people use today. People can interact with the system with ease, as Dynamics AX works like other Microsoft applications that people are used to, increasing adoption and usage. The new intelligent user experience is also optimized to deliver value to organizations through the ability to make smarter decisions with increased speed.

“ERP is core to our business operations and critical to building and delivering products to our customers,” said Ben Hagler, co-founder, Hagler Systems. “We chose Dynamics AX because of its robustness. The UI is amazing and available anywhere. It makes us device-independent. We can get work done everywhere with increased speed.”

Dynamics AX delivers the proven business logic of a complete business suite, enhanced with new constructs such as Workspaces that provide a collaborative canvas unifying key performance indicators, business intelligence, views of critical data, processes and actions to power business user productivity. The Financial Period Close Workspace, for example, dramatically streamlines this critical, complex process.

Software vendors that partner with Microsoft have expressed their excitement over the potential this new solution offers the industry, representing a turning point in the ERP industry as cloud ERP solutions are adopted by customers to run their business-critical operations.

“This release is further proof that Microsoft is leading the charge with innovations not just in ERP but in cloud,” said CEO Peter Maaten from Microsoft partner HSO. “Dynamics AX will be a game changer for enterprise customers.”

Customers can sign up for the service today as the new release is available as a monthly subscription in three simple versions that include a self-serve user, a Task user and an Enterprise user. Businesses can get up and running quickly and match their business growth easily by adding business processes and users with this simple and transparent pay-as-you-go model.

Intel Security Helps Protect Samsung Devices – Galaxy S7 & S7 Edge - with McAfee VirusScan Mobile Security

Intel Security has announced that new Samsung Galaxy S7 customers can enjoy its mobile security solution designed to help keep them safe from a growing number of mobile threats. Samsung Galaxy S7 and GalaxyS7 edge will come pre-installed with McAfee VirusScan. With this collaboration, Samsung customers will be better protected with anti-malware technology that is already helping to provide a more secure mobile experience to more than 40 million Samsung Galaxy users globally.

Historically, mobile malware has been something of an afterthought for cybercriminals, with most of their efforts focused on the desktop or laptop. However, over the past several years, there has been a dramatic increase in sophisticated and complex new malware targeting mobile devices. According to Intel Security’s Mobile Threat Report, three million devices were affected by malware solely through mobile app stores over the past six months. Additionally, Intel Security found that in Q4 2015 mobile malware samples increased 24 percent compared to Q3 2015.

“As consumers grow increasingly reliant on their mobile devices and use those devices for sensitive transactions, increased protection against malware is critical to better securing their data,” said John Giamatteo, corporate vice president at Intel Security. “Intel Security is combatting these growing mobile threats by collaborating with consumer brands like Samsung to help keep customer’s mobile devices more secure so they can experience the connected world with confidence.”

“Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge users can feel more comfortable in navigating the digital world with enhanced protection by the latest anti-malware solution that Samsung offers,” said Henry Lee, vice president of Mobile Security Technologies of Samsung Mobile. “Smartphones have become an extension of our everyday lives, and it is important that we provide our users with a high level of protection designed to help keep their personal data safe in their Samsung device.”

McAfee VirusScan Technology

McAfee VirusScan is an anti-malware system that scans apps and files on both the device and SD Card, helping to prevent corruption from a variety of malicious codes, from viruses to Trojans. For more information on McAfee VirusScan mobile security, visit the product data sheet.

Availability

McAfee VirusScan anti-malware technology from Intel Security is currently shipping as a pre-installed feature for Samsung Galaxy S7and Galaxy S7 edge and already exists in Samsung Galaxy S6, S6 edge and Galaxy Note 5. No additional purchase is necessary.

Enterprise Biz of Tata Comm Growing 30% YoY; Bullish on Data

Tata Communications today said it will continue to invest in the data business which is expanding strongly and also driving growth.

"Our data business continues to grow very strongly across geographies and segments especially with our new services. Our enterprise business growing 30 per cent per year," Tata Communications Managing Director and Group CEO Vinod Kumar told reporters.

He also said that the company's deal with Vodafone's South African arm Vodacom for selling its stake in Neotel failed after 21 months of talks "due to regulatory complexities in concluding the transaction as well as certain conditions not being fulfilled".

The deal was originally signed in May 2014 wherein Vodacom had reached an agreement to buy Neotel, controlled by Tata Communications, for 7 billion rand (about Rs 3,200 crore).

In dollar terms, the value of transaction at that time was around US$676 million.

Tata Communications owns over 68 per cent stake in South Africa's largest fixed line telephone service provider Neotel.

Kumar said that company's data business is now driving growth and Tata Communications will continue investing in it.

The revenue of Tata Communications from voice solutions declined by about 5 per cent to Rs 2,009.54 crore from Rs 2,114.14 crore while that of data and managed services segment increased 16.7 per cent to Rs 2,723.3 crore from Rs 2,332.67 crore during the October-December quarter.

The company is also in discussion to divest its stake from data center business which it expects to close in next financial year.

The Tata Communications global network includes infrastructure includes one of the largest submarine cable networks and a Tier-1 IP network with connectivity to more than 240 countries and territories, as well as nearly 1 million square feet of data centre space worldwide.

The company provides services to telecom operators in various countries by connecting their local network with global telecom network.