Prashant Jain Moves from Siemens to Head GE Steam Power Across South Asian Region

General Electric (GE) on Friday announced appointment of Prashant Jain to lead the global conglomerate’s steam power business in South Asia. Prashant will officially assume the role of Regional General Manager GE Steam Power South Asia and Managing Director GE Power India on April 17, 2019, a company statement said.

He joins GE from Siemens where he was most recently the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Power Generation Services. He succeeds Andrew H DeLeone, who was previously the Managing Director of GE Power India.

Prashant was with Siemens for 17 years, and prior to that he was with Schneider Electric. He has been instrumental in increasing responsibility across energy and industrial sectors, including power generation and renewable energy.

Café Coffee Day has Launched its Exclusive - Coffee Day Square in Hyderabad

The Square complements the city’s rich Nawabi legacy by offering a royal and redefined coffee brewing and culinary experience with international styled presentations, global cooking practices and alternate brewing techniques.

Located in the prime neighbourhood of Jubilee Hills on Road number 10, it also has ‘The Huddle Room’, which is an 8-seater full-fledged meeting room. Spread across 2,750 sq ft, the new Coffee Day Square can host 76 guests at a time.

Venu Madhav, CEO, Café Coffee Day said, “The Coffee Day Square is a reflection of the new and best in coffees and culinary experience. Residents of Hyderabad can take delight in the innovative beverages and appetising food items it has to offer.”

Vertiv Announces Dynamic Online Mode and New, Smaller Modules of High Power Density UPS Family

Vertiv announced a new feature for the Liebert EXL S1 line of uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems, adding Dynamic Online mode, which allows operating efficiency of up to 99 percent. In addition, Vertiv introduced 500 and 600 kVA 400V module ratings for the Liebert EXL S1. The UPS family is available now in India in seven capacity ratings from 300 kVA to 1200 kVA, 400V. The UPS is also available in Asia Pacific, Europe and North America in a variety of input and output voltages. Dynamic Online mode is available for Liebert EXL S1 globally.

Vertiv introduced Dynamic Online mode to the Liebert EXL S1 to meet the needs of cloud, colocation and enterprise data centers that cannot sacrifice any level of availability for incremental gains in efficiency. With efficiency up to 99 percent, the Liebert EXL S1 operating in Dynamic Online mode offers substantial energy savings over legacy UPS systems which average 94 percent efficiency, and even improves on modern UPS systems that approach 97 percent efficiency. Over five years, a 1000 kVA Liebert EXL S1 can save more than $230,000 over a same-capacity 94 percent efficient UPS system and more than $140,000 over a same-capacity 97 percent efficient UPS system.

“In the fast-evolving Indian digital landscape, optimization, availability, and energy efficiency are critical elements of IT environments that support 24X7 businesses,” said Vikas Srivastava – director of product management for power, Vertiv in India. “The addition of high efficiency mode and extension of our Liebert EXL S1 UPS line allows our customers access to the best industry UPS systems, and highest levels of availability to their IT infrastructure.”

While in Dynamic Online mode, the Liebert EXL S1 inverter can instantaneously assume the load and maintain the output voltage well within the IEC 62040-3 Class 1 specification. That means systems equipped with Dynamic Online mode can safely transition from high-efficiency (Voltage Independent) mode to inverter mode with a near-zero-millisecond transfer, thus providing absolute load power protection under virtually any input power outage condition.

The new models of Liebert EXL S1 are up to 40 percent smaller than competitive systems and designed to meet the reliability and flexibility demands of the modern data center. Redundant DC variable speed fans enable the UPS to support 100 percent load even with multiple fan failures. Various input/output options add flexibility and reduce capital and installation costs. As with previously released Liebert EXL S1 modules, customers can parallel up to eight units and leverage Intelligent Parallel mode to automatically optimize efficiency at reduced load levels.

The system’s touchscreen interface offers a status-at-a-glance LED light bar, customizable views and multiple security options, while intelligent controls ensure seamless integration with multiple Vertiv and third-party building management and data center infrastructure management systems. All sizes of the Liebert EXL S1 UPS are available with lithium-ion batteries, flywheels, Albér battery monitoring, and LIFE Services.

Blockchain Based Supply Chain Mgt By Student of Nitte MIT, Bengaluru Emerge Winners at Unisys Cloud 20/20 2019 Contest

Unisys Corporation has announced the winners of the 10th annual Unisys Cloud 20/20 contest, one of India's largest and most popular annual student innovation programs. This year's contest featured more than 270 colleges and over 300 projects, as students were challenged to think outside the box and develop innovative ideas.       

The project titled Vesa – Blockchain Based Supply Chain Management by Sarang Parikh, Amith K K, Swathi R and Deeptha M of the Nitte Meenakshi Institute of Technology, Bengaluru, was picked as the winner. Eniyanilavan R, Hemachandiran S, Eathindhar M and Gautham A of Sri Manakula Vinayagar Engineering College, Puducherry College, earned second place for their project titled su PILVI. Third place was awarded to Amogh A Rao, Sana Parveen Salar, Suchithra Devadiga and Sharadhi Arun Patil of Mangalore Institute of Technology and Engineering, Mangalore, for their project, Smart Telematics System.   

The contest aims to bridge the gap between academia and the IT industry and encourage the participants to create innovative projects with practical application. Disruptive technology trends featured in this year's competition included cloud-based applications and microservices, cloud computing infrastructure, security and multimodal biometrics. After entries opened in July 2018, Unisys shortlisted the top 113 teams and provided them each with a mentor for guidance in project development.         

Winning teams were awarded cash prizes up to 4.25 lakhs and a trophy. In addition, Unisys has offered more than 20 internships and eight job placements to the finalists and winners of this year's competition. 

"Technical contests help build creativity and thinking capacity in students, and I am extremely happy with the impact that Cloud 20/20 has gained over the last 10 years. We are proud that Unisys has played a key role in creating and supporting talent from across the country," said Vishal Gupta, senior vice president and chief technology officer, Unisys. "Cloud 20/20 serves as a platform to equip students with the requisite skills to drive innovation in an ever-competitive industry like the IT industry." 

Sumed Marwaha, managing director, Unisys India and regional vice president, Services, Unisys added, "Unisys has been a torchbearer in technical and innovation led contests. In the last 10 years, Cloud 20/20 has been a platform for thousands of students across India to unveil their talents in some extraordinary projects and innovative ideas around disruptive technologies. This year our focus is on molding ideas to real life solutions. This recognizes that the Indian IT industry is constantly changing and requires these bright minds to create the technology of the future."   

Launched in 2009, Cloud 20/20 has traditionally been a collaboration between Unisys and academia. Over the last decade more than 25,000 teams have participated, making it one of India's most popular technical contests for engineering students. 

Under the Cloud 20/20 umbrella, Unisys has also conducted various programs created for different strata of the IT industry including annual hackathons for freshers, developers and programmers, Tech Series and Tech Connect for experienced professionals across the industry to meet and share ideas and construct a framework for future technologies. These programs also incorporate various trending themes such as virtual simulation, biometrics, artificial intelligence and machine learning.  

Collaborative BIM Workflows Help Lower Cost of the Zhengzhou-Xixia Expressway Project

The CNY 10.5 billion Yaoshan-Luanchuan section of the Zhengzhou-Xixia Expressway is 78.8-kilometers long and is a bi-directional and four-lane expressway, which includes 88 bridges, four interchanges, two interoperability hubs, and two super-long tunnels. The bridge and tunnel ratio is 59.8 percent of the project. The project is critical for developing an efficient transportation network to support the region’s economic development strategy and promote social economic development.

Henan Provincial Communications Planning Survey & Design Institute Co. Ltd. is a one-stop engineering technical service and provides construction, surveying, design, and technical consultancy on highway engineering on projects in China, Southeast Asia, and Africa. The company employs BIM methodologies to improve design quality and efficiency, cultivate BIM expertise, innovate employing BIM data in the highway industry, and reduce the time and capital cost in the design, construction, and operation lifecycle.

The expressway project team faced a variety of challenges to ensure the accurate design of the model and used Bentley’s civil applications to include subgrade roads, bridges, tunnels, and culverts within one model and ensure collaboration across all disciplines in highway design. OpenRoads was used to build a 3D model defining the cross sections of roads and importing data related to horizontal and vertical sections. The project team also used the model for bidding. OpenBridge Modeler was used to build parametric models for bridges with higher efficiency than past work processes. ProStructures was used for models for steel bars in bridges and to detect collisions and errors in design, decreasing the number of errors in construction drawings by 1,350. OpenRoads and MicroStation were used to streamline section drawings of tunnels, set up stations for different tunnel sections, and automatically generate tunnel models. The team developed plug-ins for automatic coding of components, increasing coding efficiency by 90 percent compared to traditional methods. LumenRT was used to produce 3D animation and videos for visualization deliverables. The model was also used to integrate PDF documents and design drawings; and iModels were imported into Navigator to communicate information to construction sites.

The team also addressed how to combine a GIS-based, BIM project management platform with construction management and meet the owner’s requirements for BIM model accuracy, model separation, and member information coding. Using these innovative applications, the project team reduced design errors and changes, provided design feedback, and improved quality optimization of the drawings by 97 percent. In addition, BIM methodologies helped to improve efficiencies in the lifecycle of the project and provide reference for future projects. Reducing the usual design and construction errors resulted in lower construction costs and increased economic efficiency.

Guiting Zhang, director of research and development center for engineering BIM-applied technology, said, “Bentley’s infrastructure products helped us take important steps toward realizing BIM practices for this highway project. In terms of roads, bridges, and tunnels, we improved the drawing quality, reduced construction drawing errors by over 1,350 items and human costs by CNY 200,000, raised modeling efficiency by 50 percent, and created substantial benefits for the owner organization through multiple deliverables. The BIM project management platform combines codes with components, carries multistage data, and controls and manages project construction quality. At the same time, this platform offers a complete database for the later-period operation and management and will bring positive economic benefits to this region.”

62% of Respondents Organizations have Suffered Multiple Attacks: Report by Ponemon Institute

Tenable the Cyber Exposure company, has released the 'Cybersecurity in Operational Technology: 7 Insights You Need to Know' report, an independent study by the Ponemon Institute. The study identifies the true extent of cyberattacks experienced by critical infrastructure operators - professionals in industries using industrial control systems (ICS) and operational technology (OT). It found that 90% of respondents stated their environments had been damaged by at least one cyberattack over the past two years, with 62% experiencing two or more attacks.

Key highlights from the study include:
Insufficient visibility into the attack surface: 80% of respondents cited lack of visibility into the attack surface, knowing what systems are part of their IT environments,  as the number one issue in their inability to prevent business-impacting cyberattacks.
Inadequate Staffing and Manual Processes Limit Vulnerability Management: Lack of personnel and a reliance on manual processes were cited by 61% and 55% of respondents respectively as major obstacles in their ability to assess and remediate vulnerabilities.
C-Suite Buy-In Is Key: 70% of respondents view increasing communication with executives and board members as one of their governance priorities for 2019.
The convergence of IT and OT is a reality in today's digital era. But this convergence has connected once-isolated OT systems to a variety of attack paths. This Ponemon study, based entirely on the self-reported experiences and observations of ICS and OT experts themselves, confirms that the threats to critical infrastructure are real, severe and ongoing.

"OT professionals have spoken - the people who manage critical systems such as manufacturing plants and transportation almost unanimously state that they are fighting-off cyberattacks on a regular basis," said Eitan Goldstein, Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives, Tenable. "Organizations need visibility into their converged IT/OT environments to not only identify where vulnerabilities exist but also prioritize which to remediate first. The converged IT/OT cyber problem is one that cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure teams must face together."

First National 5G Network is Finally Out with Subscribers in South Korea

South Korea launched the world’s first nationwide 5G mobile networks two days early, its top mobile carriers said on Thursday, giving a handful of users access in a late-night scramble to provide the super-fast wireless technology. Two members of K-pop band EXO and Olympic ice-skating heroine Kim Yu-na were among first 5G smartphone subscribers.

Three top telecom providers -- SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus -- began their 5G services at 11 pm local time on Wednesday, despite previously announcing the launch date would be April 5.

Hyper-wired South Korea has long had a reputation for technical prowess, and Seoul had made the 5G rollout a priority as it seeks to stimulate stuttering economic growth. Along with the United States, China and Japan, South Korea had been racing to claim the title as the first to provide the ultra-fast network nationwide.

But speculation that US mobile carrier Verizon might start its 5G services early forced South Korean providers to hastily organise a late-night launch, Yonhap news agency reported. Verizon began rolling out its 5G services in Chicago and Minneapolis on Wednesday in the US, a week ahead of schedule.

But according to Yonhap, the South Korean launches came two hours earlier. “SK Telecom today announced that it has activated 5G services for six celebrities representing Korea as of 11 pm April 3, 2019,” the country’s biggest mobile operator said in a news release.

First customers

The celebrities -- including two members of K-pop band EXO and Olympic ice-skating heroine Kim Yu-na -- were “the world’s first 5G smartphone subscribers”, it said. Both KT and LG Uplus said they also went live at the same time, with a total of three specially-selected users: KT offered it to the wife of a technician setting up its network on the disputed island of Dokdo, while LG Uplus provided it to a television personality and her racing-driver husband.

For general customers, the services will be available from Friday -- the original launch date -- when Samsung Electronics rolls out the Galaxy S10 5G, the world’s first available smartphone with the technology built in. Verizon’s network will work with Lenovo’s Moto Z3 smartphone.

Rival US carrier AT&T began making its “standards-based” 5G network available to users in a dozen cities late last year. Qatari firm Ooredoo said it offers 5G services in and around Doha -- but does not have devices available to use them -- while Japan is also expected to roll out a limited deployment in 2019 before full services start in time for next year’s Tokyo Olympics.

Experts say 5G will bring smartphones near-instantaneous connectivity -- 20 times faster than 4G -- allowing users to download entire movies in less than a second. The technology is crucial for the future development of devices such as self-driving vehicles and is expected to bring about $565 billion in global economic benefits by 2034, according to the London-based Global System for Mobile Communications, an industry alliance.

The implications of the new network have pitted Washington against Beijing -- whose firms dominate 5G technology -- in an increasingly bitter standoff. The US has pressed its allies and major economies to avoid 5G solutions from Chinese-owned telecom giant Huawei, citing security risks that technological backdoors could give Beijing access to 5G-connected utilities and other components.

Chinese entities, including 1,529 5G patents registered by Huawei, own a total of 3,400 patents -- more than a third of the total, according to data analysis firm IPlytics.South Korea comes next, with its companies holding 2,051 patents, while US firms have 1,368 together. Neither KT nor SK Telecom use Huawei technology in their 5G networks, but it is a supplier to LG UPlus, the companies told the media.