VARINDIA IT MAGAZINE

According to an announcement on Weibo, Xiaomi has announced that the launch of its most-awaited device – Mi MIX 2S – is scheduled for March 27 in China. With this announcement, the company cleared doubts around the launch of next Xiaomi flagship device rumoured to be held at the ongoing Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2018. The Xiaomi Mi MIX 2S will be the successor to the Mi MIX 2. It is also reported to be the first Xiaomi smartphone that will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor. The Xiaomi Mi MIX 2S is expected to be launched initially in China and India, along with some European countries. As per the invite image shared on Weibo, the device will be packed with the latest Snapdragon 845 SoC along with a random number – 273741 – which is speculated to be the AnTuTu score of the smartphone. Early reports suggest that Xiaomi Mi MIX 2S may feature a 5.99-inch Quad-HD+ display with 18:9 aspect ratio, 8GB of RAM along with 256GB of internal storage, and 3,400mA...

Netflix’s current global subscriber base is somewhat around 120 million members, but surprisingly the next 100 million will be from India. Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix said this at the Mobile World Congress. “India will be a major driver for Netflix’s future growth with the company already benefitting from low internet costs and the expansion of 4G in the country,” he said. “It has been very fortunate for us that the launch of Reliance’s Jio 4G LTE network in the country in 2016 had increased competition and reduced data prices.” According to a report, Netflix will be a “giant exporter of Indian content”, with its recent Indian original movie Love Per Square Foot performing well in markets like the UK and US. Netflix, a report cited that at the end of last year it had 117.6 million streaming members – 54.75 million in the US and 62.83 across its international markets.... Read More

The increased digitalization of organizations, driven by the rapid adoption of technologies such as cloud computing and data analytics, has increased the importance of data. Enterprises are increasingly adopting cloud-based services in order to take advantage of the many business benefits of not having to purchase, manage, upgrade, and replace systems and applications. Of course, all amidst all this data still has to “live” somewhere. But a question is whether all types of data keeping is necessary? With the technology evolving and prominence of Social media and cloud computing, it creates anytime-anywhere access to information and systems. Most customers don’t give much thought to where their data is stored. That needs to change. Data Sovereignty covers privacy regulations that a government mandates for digital data that has originated, been converted, or stored “in the country.” Data created in a country will be subject to the laws of that country. Data Sovereignty privacy ...

CtrlS has launched Bengaluru’s 1st Tier-4 data center (also certified as World’s 1st LEED Platinum certified Green data center) in Bengaluru’s Electronic City. The CtrlS Tier4 Data Center, which will provide mission-critical data center services to India’s leading internet, banking, insurance, and other clients, was launched at a grand event, and was attended by Shri Priyank Kharge, Hon’ble Minister for IT, BT, S&T, Government of Karnataka; Margarent Anderson, Senior VP, SAP Labs India; Sameer Garde, President, CISCO; and Prakash Mallya, Managing Director, Intel India, and other IT industry leaders. The new CtrlS data center will provide India’s growing tech giants with reliable, robust data management and distribution networks, with near 0% downtime, 100% redundancy and Industry’s lowest PUE of 1.35. Shri Priyank Kharge, Minister for IT, BT, and S&T, Government of Karnataka, spoke at the launch, and said, “I am happy that CtrlS latest data center is being situa...

Vertiv, formerly Emerson Network Power, has announced multiple additions to its executive team as it accelerates into its second year as a private company. The new appointments fortify the business for anticipated growth in 2018 as Vertiv continues to reposition itself in its key markets and organize around its core tenets: customer focus, innovation, employee development, and speed. “The executive team we have put together over the past 12 months has been instrumental in the acquisitions and ongoing integration of Energy Labs and Geist,” Vertiv Chief Executive Officer Rob Johnson said. “They bring exceptional experience and enthusiasm to everything we do, and have embraced our culture of collaboration, innovation and transparency.... Read More

Every opportunity comes with a cost. One thing that comes to my mind is that if someone had developed one App with a cost, why he will give his customers free of cost. You are using the App or services which means that you are the first customer. You are the data and asset of the App developing company. They may not do any direct business with you but your information/data could make the App development company the next millionaire or billionaire. For instance, see the business model of Facebook, they acquired WhatsApp and now WhatsApp got very popular with the power of instant messaging and have entered into the payment business after they saw good customer base. They may even move into banking if the payment business becomes a success. After you are used to the communication method, it becomes difficult to leave a technology behind. If WhatsApp wants to charge a certain price (may be a small amount) for using its App, I am sure at least there will be 70% conversion rate. It...

A directive reportedly issued by the Department of Telecom (DoT) to all the telecom operators in the country has asked them to start issuing 13-digit mobile numbers to customers. A senior BSNL official has confirmed that the directive from DoT had come on January 8, 2018, post which the company has started working on it.  Under this latest development, starting from October 1, 2018 the existing mobile users’ numbers will be ported to 13-digits. The last date to complete the process would be December 31, 2018. “It is decided that 13-digit M2M (Machine-to-machine) numbering plan will be implemented from July 1, 2018. From this date onwards, all new M2M mobile connections will be allocated 13-digit numbers only. Migration of existing 10-digit M2M numbers will start latest by 1 October 2018 and shall be completed by 31 December 2018,” the official was quoted saying in the report.... Read More

Karvy Data Management Services has acquired HCL Services, a subsidiary of HCL Info systems in a deal of Rs. 108 crore. The sale of HCL Services Ltd was approved by HCL Info systems' Board that consists of domestic enterprise services business, the company said in a BSE filing. The deal amount of Rs 108 crore, which includes the tax refunds of Rs 87 crore, which would be paid to the company to the extent received. The transaction is expected to close by .... Read More

MyGov, an innovative platform to build a partnership between Citizens and Government with the help of technology for growth and development of India has appointed Arvind Gupta as its CEO. Previously, Arvind Gupta headed the BJP’s Information and Technology Group and advised the party on e-governance, digital outreach and other technology initiatives. He led the Digital and Social Media campaign for Team Modi/BJP during Elections 2014 and the subsequent state elections. He is an innovation evangelist who has over 20 years of experience in leadership, policy & entrepreneurial roles, both in Silicon Valley & in India. He is an active member of Industry Forums such as NASSCOM, TiE and Founding Member of ISPiRT (Indian Software Products Industry Round table) and Guest Speaker at Global B-Schools and CxO events. He is also an Eisenhower fellow for Innovation.... Read More

“The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) will unveil the 5G or fifth-generation roadmap by the end of the June this year and take a lead in technology as well as use- cases,” said Aruna Sundarajan, Chairperson, Telecom Commission & Secretary (T), at an ASSOCHAM event held in New Delhi.  “The DoT has received good inputs on 5G in the new telecom policy or NTP 2018 which is yet to be unveiled. The draft of the NTP 2018 is in the final stages and will be put in public soon. By the end of the financial year, there will be pan-India 4G network rollout,” said Aruna Sundarajan, Chairperson, Telecom Commission & Secretary (T), Department of Telecommunications, while inaugurating an ASSOCHAM Summit on Connected Devices-Connected World conference.  “The networks are not only accelerating the rollout of the 4G, but are getting ready for 5G. India will have full 4G coverage by the end of the next financial year,” added Sundarajan..... Read More

DIGISOL Systems has announced the release of the new Dome IP CCTV Camera with PoE, Audio and SD card slot for use in home/office security and monitoring applications. The DIGISOL DG-SC6502SA offers the latest compression technology with a CMOS sensor and a real-time image processing hardware. With its high-performance / H.265/ H.264 compression, users can stream high-quality video at low-bandwidth and storage capacity requirements. DIGISOL IP camera offers home users effective surveillance solutions alternative to traditional analogue CCTV units, which are expensive to install and are outdated technology. According to the company, the Modular Design and aesthetic looks of the camera help to be recessed easily into suspended ceilings or wall-mounted with no need for an additional mounting brackets. DG-SC6502SA supports Power over Ethernet, which helps in easy installation by eliminating the need of a dedicated power source for the camera. DG-SC6502SA has infrared for...

Zebronics has announced the addition of another product to its category of portable BT speakers, Passion –lightweight and fabric finished, loaded with handy features for an alluring musical experience. According to the company, the speaker comes with a built-in FM Radio function and provides 2 hours of playtime with built-in battery. Users can also connect their micro SD card to the speaker and can even play their much-listened playlist from their smartphone directly, just by connecting the AUX cable in the designated input. It is a Truly Handy with a strap and easy to control operations with Play/pause, call function and Mode change buttons. Zebronics CEO Pradeep Doshi further said, “Our extensive range of portable speakers truly defines our brand philosophy – Always ahead. With Passion, we boom the sound to Read More

WhatsApp is an extremely popular mobile messaging service with more than 1 billion daily users. It is really an amazing figure, and the company prides itself in the apparent security it affords all of those users. Some of your most personal moments are shared with WhatsApp, which is why WhatsApp had built end-to-end encryption into the latest versions of the app. When end-to-end encrypted, your messages, photos, videos, voice messages, documents, and calls are secured from falling into the wrong hands. Now, the tech giants and researchers are questioning on the Encryption standard, as there are multi-million user’s database are there, is the WhatsApp server is using the ultimate solution whose popularity is increasing day by day, a million dollar question arises on end-to-end encryption. Not to forget WhatsApp has implemented Moxie Marlinspike’s code , which he wrote for Signal. Ideally, WhatsApp's end-to-end encryption ensures only you and the person you're com...

As per news source, WhatsApp’s Vice President, Neeraj Arora has stepped down from the Board of Paytm. He was a member of the board of directors since 2015. The development comes hours after Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma had tweeted an attack on WhatsApp, accusing it of “killing beautiful open UPI system with its custom close garden implementation.” Vijay Shekhar Sharma criticized WhatsApp’s payments product and also claimed that it did not follow the UPI guidelines. In an article shared by him, it said that WhatsApp did not sufficiently allow for interoperatibility on its payment solution. Also, WhatsApp iOS app didn’t have the option to send payments to people outside WhatsApp, the option was hard to find on its Android app. He also compared WhatsApp’s UPI approach with Facebook strategy which the latter used while trying to launch Free Basics in India.... Read More

Paytm’s Founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma has kicked up a storm by having accused WhatsApp that has recently begun testing its payment service in the country of an unfair playing field. Paytm is said to be petitioning for redressal to the country’s unified digital payment system (UPI). Sharma said he will approach the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which has developed the UPI system, and even higher authorities to highlight the issue that WhatsApp trial service does not require a log-in session and Aadhaar-based payments. Owned by Facebook, WhatsApp boasts a monthly user base of 200 million in India and its entry into the country’s digital payment space is seen as a threat to the likes of Paytm. Sharma told a publication that ‘Facebook is openly colonizing the country’s payment system and is customizing UPI to their benefit. “UPI was built as an India Stack, now some American monopoly arm-twists UPI for customer implementation,” he said.... Read More

Ruckus Networks, an ARRIS company, has announced that it has signed a global original equipment manufacturing (OEM) agreement with Dell EMC to deliver Ruckus’s broad portfolio of wireless solutions, including access points (APs), controllers, virtualized and data analytics assets, and Cloudpath secure network access software—along with Ruckus IoT and OpenG LTE products—as Dell-branded solutions. This agreement gives Dell EMC’s networking sales team and end-user customers access to Ruckus’ portfolio of secure wireless connectivity solutions and strong brand presence not available through alternative suppliers. The agreement is effective immediately and encompasses a range of sales, marketing, and customer support programs in international markets, including APAC, EMEA and the Americas. “Delivering innovative wireless networking solutions to our partners is the key to address the insatiable demand for high-performance wireless networking in the enterprise. The Dell EMC brand ...

Punjab National Bank (PNB) said on Wednesday that it had detected some “fraudulent and unauthorized” transactions worth about $1.77 billion (about Rs 11, 300 crore) at one of its branches in Mumbai. In a communique to the Bombay Stock Exchange, the bank said the transactions were “for the benefit of a few select account holders with their apparent connivance” and that “based on these transactions other banks appear to have advanced money to these customers abroad.” PNB, a state run public sector bank and country’s second-biggest state-run lender and fourth-biggest overall by assets, did not name the people involved but said it had reported the deals to law enforcement agencies and would evaluate later whether it faces any liability arising out of the transactions. “In the bank these transactions are contingent in nature and liability arising out of these on the bank shall be decided based on the law and genuineness of underlying transactions,” PNB said, without gi...

Xiaomi has announced the launch of three new products – Redmi Note 5, Redmi Note 5 Pro and Xiaomi Mi TV.  According to the company, these latest additions to Redmi Note series will exceed expectations in terms of design, camera and performance.  In a significant move for Xiaomi globally, Mi TV is making its way outside of China for the first time ever. Mi LED Smart TV 4 138.8cm (55”) is the world’s thinnest LED TV at just 4.9mm slim, and comes with an intelligent content – first PatchWall software completely redesigned from the ground up for India. Starting from Rs.39,999, Mi LED TV 4 is set to completely transform the TV industry in India.  Commenting on the launch, Manu Jain, Vice-President, Xiaomi and Managing Director, Xiaomi India, said, “At Xiaomi, we work with the value of providing best specs, highest quality at honest pricing for all. All our products are perfect examples of our values and we have worked hard to outperform each time. We are excite...

One of the major projects of Modi Government, the bullet train project in India appears to move ahead with speed. As the civil work on the 508-km-long Mumbai-Ahmadabad high-speed rail corridor (MAHSR) has been fast-tracked to begin in June this year and the railway authorities have also reduced the deadline to August 15, 2022, from 2023. An official of the implementing body, National High-Speed Rail Corporation Ltd (NHSRCL), said, “Geo-technical surveys have already been done and civil works will begin in June 2018 after receiving the green signal for the entire corridor.” Tests have also been carried out beneath the seabed for the underground section of the project, which extends from Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) to Boisar. Of the 21km underground, almost 7km will be beneath the sea.... Read More

Dell EMC has announced three new servers designed for software-defined, edge and high-performance computing (HPC) environments. The PowerEdge R6415, PowerEdge R7415 and PowerEdge R7425 expand the 14th generation of the Dell EMC PowerEdge server portfolio with new capabilities to address the demanding workload requirements of today’s modern data center. All three rack servers with the AMD EPYC processor offer highly scalable platforms with outstanding total cost of ownership (TCO). “Relentless pace of innovation in today’s time has increased business workload requirements. As Indian customers deploy more IoT solutions, it is essential for Indian businesses to have access to highly capable and flexible compute to turn data into real-time insights. Servers form the bedrock of the modern data center. Hence, our customers expect us to push server innovation further and faster. 14G PowerEdge servers packed with AMD EPYC processer are engineered to meet these increased workload dema...

It is a fact that, new technologies in the Information age will bring newer challenges and risk at the same time. There is a potential risk in adopting newly emerged technologies. For instance, Artificial Intelligence (AI) holds tremendous potential to automate daily risk activities, and rationalize costs. Blockchain technology will enable companies to manage and share GRC information faster than ever, whether it is around vendor risk assessments or continuous auditing. Robotics is all about automation, increasing efficiency and providing intelligence that cannot be seen with the human eye. The cloud, in turn, is enabling the seamless flow of data and Information assets include personal information. Security is one of the main enablers of data protection. It is an absolute fact that about millions of PCs are being used for stealth of cryptocurrency mining. It is advisable to block cryptocurrency mining in your browser. The threat landscape is constantly evolving and the big...

Storing data and applications remotely rather than on one’s own premises can cut IT costs dramatically and speed up operations. Business leaders are looking to optimise and grow their businesses, and cloud can give them the scope of reducing costs and providing better customer experience. Smart businesses are asking what’s driving the rush to the cloud by keeping customized applications in the cloud. India is emerging as the battleground for global e-commerce Internet conglomerates. While Amazon’s boss Jeff Bezos had committed over $5 billion for its Indian arm, biggies like Alibaba, Tencent and SoftBank are excited about their Indian story. Large Internet groups from the US and China are thereby competing for taking a bigger share of the market. Despite the rise of public cloud platforms offered by the likes of Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud, it is a fact that only 10% (or may be less) of the world's data is currently stored in the cloud.... ...

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has slapped a fine of Rs 136 crore on search engine biggie Google for unfair business practices in the Indian market for online search. Reacting on the complaints that were filed back in 2012, the regulator said the penalty is being imposed on Google for "infringing anti-trust conduct". Incidentally, this is one of the rare cases where Google has been penalized for unfair business ways globally. It was alleged that taking advantage of its dominant position in search engine, Google is indulging in such practices leading to search bias and search manipulation, among others. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) said that it found it appropriate to impose a fine on Google after it has given thoughtful consideration on the submissions made by the search engine major on issue of penalty.... Read More

Every organisation relies on the use of information in their daily work. For this reason, organisations need to ensure that their information assets i.e. any piece of data which has value to the organisation such as employee record, analysis reports, financial data, trade secrets, contracts, etc., are suitably protected. This has given rise to the concerns around privacy and personal data protection. Data security of the information will take the center-stage in 2018. Privacy and personal data protection will be the focus in 2018 for every organization. Organizations will refocus on protecting what is really important. Information Security is a difficult task as most organisations are faced with an ever changing landscape affecting their operations - market development, advances in technology, discovery of new vulnerabilities, changing legal regime and so on. Gartner forecasts worldwide security spending will total USD 96.3 billion, that’s an 8 percent spike from 2017. ...

Both consumer and business applications are contributing to the growing dominance of cloud services over the Internet. For consumers, streaming video, social networking, and Internet search are among the most popular cloud applications. For business users, enterprise resource planning (ERP), collaboration, analytics, and other digital enterprise applications represent leading growth areas. But anything we do, security remains to be the biggest concerns. Improvements in datacenter governance and data control have helped to minimize enterprise risk and better protect consumer information. The growth of Internet of Things (IoT) applications such as smart cars, smart cities, connected health and digital utilities require scalable computing and storage solutions to accommodate new and expanding datacenter demands. By 2021, experts say IoT connections will reach 13.7 billion, up from 5.8 billion in 2016. Datacenter application growth is clearly exploding in this new multi-clo...

In today’s fast-paced world, it becomes extremely difficult to find time and make a lot of friends. Well, here’s someone who has made over half-a-million friends and had over 40 million conversations in just one year. It is none other than Ruuh, Microsoft’s AI-powered, desi chatbot, who has turned one year old. Ruuh has a persona of a 21-year-old female who is intelligent and is capable of empathizing with her audience. Entertaining the youth with discussions on Bollywood, music, humour and travel, the past year has seen Ruuh’s popularity grow exponentially. It’s no wonder she gets almost 600 “I love you” messages every day and spends several hours chatting with her friends, with the current record standing at 10 hours.. Read More

Facial recognition solutions are expected to come to a wide range of handsets in 2018 following Apple’s FaceID and Samsung Galaxy Note 8’s Face and IRIS unlock technology. More than one billion smartphones are expected to feature some form of face unlock solution in 2020. When Apple announced Touch ID in 2013, it set a trend in consumer mobility. Smartphone OEMs around the world followed Apple’s example and integrated fingerprint sensors into their own devices. And they did so to such an extent that fingerprint-based security is now considered standard issue on even budget-priced smartphones. More than a billion smartphones are estimated to be shipping in 2018 sporting fingerprint sensors. Is Apple permanently ditching Touch ID for contactless authentication? Either way, inevitably, Apple’s rivals will adopt similar technology during 2018, which could lead to facial recognition becoming the de-facto standard for unlocking phones and the gradual elimination of fingerprint...

“A draft National Telecom Policy 2018 that is liberal and non-prescriptive in its licensing approach in Machine to Machine (M2M) communication is being given final touches. The policy should be in the public domain in the next two to three weeks for discussion and responses from stakeholders,” said Aruna Sundararajan, Secretary, Department of Telecom, Ministry of Communications. Aruna Sundararajan said, “M2M is the next big opportunity for India in terms of its impact and the quantum change that it will bring about in the quality of services and delivery. The favourable impact of M2M on job creation had already set in as seen by the arrival of the first set of start-ups in the areas such as agriculture, smart cities, healthcare and water management.” She stressed that NTP 2018 would be transformative in harnessing the full benefits of M2M communications. She further said that in the M2M framework the focus would be on low-cost manufacturing, where exciting innovatio...

With the advent of the 2018 Winter Games, McAfee forewarns global fans, consumers, athletes and organizations alike of impending Winter Games-themed phishing attacks. Through these attacks, cybercriminals are most likely seeking passwords and financial information, using a number of techniques to entice victims into opening weaponized documents. Tactics include email distributed from “spoofed” corporate-branded email addresses, emails written in native languages, and the addition of attached documents marked as “protected”. McAfee has recently uncovered Operation GoldDragon, a malware attack targeting organizations affiliated with the 2018 Winter Games. Further investigation by McAfee Advanced Threat Research analysts has uncovered the consequences for victims of malware implant GoldDragon include attackers’ accessing end-user systems and collecting data stored on the device and connected cloud accounts. Potential risks include attacker’s access to customer and employee finan...

Dimension Data has extended the company’s protection from ransomware, phishing attacks, bot networks, and all types of malicious software, with Cisco Umbrella, the Secure Internet Gateway (SIG) in the cloud. The decision to incorporate Cisco Umbrella follows the company’s firsthand experience protecting its own 28,000 employees and addresses its clients’ requirement to support an increasingly mobile workforce.  Cisco Umbrella is a cloud security platform that provides the first line of defense against threats on the internet.  “In today’s expanding threat landscape, it is critical to have powerful security tools that effectively support mobility and cloud. With Cisco Umbrella, we are able to proactively stop threats on any mobile device before they happen with a secure solution that is easily integrated with existing infrastructure,” said Chris Panzeca, Senior Director, Global Strategic Partner Sales, .... Read More

Telefónica and Huawei have achieved a new milestone with the Proof-of-Concept (PoC) testbed for 5G-based vehicle communication networks (known as 5G-V2X) in their 5G Joint Innovation Lab at Madrid. This is another solid step to promote 5G commercialization and expand the 5G ecosystem after both companies completed 5G UCNC trial in 2017. 5G-V2X is widely recognized as the first and most important vertical industry which will be enabled by 5G innovations. The test for 5G-V2X technology is based on the latest 3GPP New Radio (NR) Standard specification available since December 22, 2017. Some of the most advanced 5G-V2X services include vehicles platooning, extended sensors, advanced driving and remote driving, among others.... Read More

Google India has launched a public initiative "#SecurityCheckKiya" to protect young and first-time web users from account hijacking, safeguard Android devices from malicious apps and secure all their personal data if they lose their device. The company said that, with a large base of unsuspecting first-time Internet users now coming online through easy access modes but lacking technical literacy, Indian users are increasingly vulnerable to bad actors and abuse on the web. "Just like in the physical world, users in India should take precautions while engaging with the online world. While security is built into all of Google services, keeping the web safe for everyone is a shared responsibility," said Sunita Mohanty, Director, Trust and Safety.... Read More

Running on 28.5 percent of devices (across both versions 7.0 and 7.1), Android 7.0 Nougat is now the most-used version of the Android operating system, according to an update on Google’s developer portal. Android, 6.0 Marshmallow (released in 2015) is the second most-used version that still stands at 28.1 percent. Google’s latest 8.0 Oreo update released last fall stands at just 1.1 percent of Android devices, coming at a distant sixth place. It was running only on 0.2 percent of devices till October 2nd, 2017.... Read More

HP Inc. has expanded its 3D printing portfolio with the introduction of its new Jet Fusion 300/500 series of 3D printers, the 3D printing technology that enables manufacturers to produce engineering-grade, functional parts in full colour, black or white – with voxel control – in a fraction of the time of other solutions. Depending on configuration and colour preference, the Jet Fusion 300/500 series is available starting in the $50,000s, enabling small- to medium-sized product development teams and design businesses, entrepreneurs, and universities and research institutions to access HP’s industry-leading Multi-Jet Fusion printing technology. The new Jet Fusion 300 / 500 series complements HP's existing industrial-grade Jet Fusion 3200 / 4200 / 4210 3D solutions which deliver the lowest cost per part and are designed for manufacturing environments. With this portfolio expansion, HP is providing users of its Multi- Jet Fusion solutions the ability to prototype and produce ...

OPPO has entered into the Japan market with its full-screen camera phone OPPO smartphone. With its revolutionary mobile photography experience, the OPPO smartphone will be available soon in the coming weeks to Japanese consumers. As the company accelerates its expansion plan to markets such as Japan and Europe, OPPO has now entered more than 31 markets, including Asia, Middle East, Africa and Oceania. "The entry into the Japanese market is a further step in the globalization of OPPO. OPPO has been committed to uncovering and meeting the core needs of consumers and has accumulated rich experience in global market expansion. We believe OPPO will win recognition of Japanese customers. In the future, we will learn from the successful experience of Japanese brands, adhere to our strategy of quality products and localized operations, and strive to bring to Japanese consumers the smartphone products that combine leading technology with artistic beauty,” said Sean Deng, CE...

OPPO has unveiled a dashing blue edition of OPPO F5 in collaboration with its brand ambassador – Sidharth Malhotra: OPPO F5 Sidharth Limited Edition. According to the company, this new colour edition continues the success of the F5 series, OPPO’s first full-screen model featuring A.I. Beauty Recognition Technology designed to personalize beautification.  OPPO has also revealed a brand-new microfilm starring Sidharth Malhotra and directed by critically acclaimed film director – Mohit Suri.  Commenting on this new launch, Will Yang, Brand Director, OPPO India, said, “It brings us immense pleasure to offer our consumers another special that will enable them to capture special moments spent with loved ones. OPPO as a brand is focussed on the youth and always innovates its marketing and product strategies to offer unique experiences. The OPPO F5 Sidharth Limited Edition, a blend of innovation and technology, is an effort in that direction. We are extremely happy to coll...

Vivo has collaborated with fashion designer Manish Malhotra and launched "Infinite Red" Vivo V7+ limited edition smartphone targeting millennials in India. The selfie-focussed flagship smartphone comes with 24MP front shooter features a heart-shaped motif at the back. The device was launched in champagne gold and matte black coloured variants in September. Commenting on this, Kenny Zeng, CMO, Vivo India, said, "With the launch of V7+ Manish Malhotra Limited edition, we are providing an opportunity for consumers to express their love in a more elegant and captivating manner." "I am happy to collaborate with Vivo and present the V7+. We have created a phone that symbolises the spirit of youth and infinite love," Malhotra said in a statement.... Read More

From budget year 2017-18, the Government has decided to merge Rail Budget with the Union Budget. The merger of Railway Budget with General Budget is based on the recommendations of the Committee headed by Shri Bibek Debroy, Member, NITI Aayog, and a separate paper on “Dispensing with the Railway Budget” presented by Shri Bibek Debroy along with Shri Kishore Desai. A Committee with representatives from the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Railways examined the issues involved and worked out the procedural details. The salient features of merger and the benefits likely to accrue there from are broadly given below: i. Ministry of Railways will continue to function as a departmentally run commercial undertaking; ii. A separate Statement of Budget Estimates and Demand for Grant will be created for Railways; iii. A single Appropriation Bill, including the estimates of Railways, will be prepared and presented by Ministry of Finance to Parliament and all legislative work connecte...

Quess Corp. has announced that it has signed definitive agreements to buy Monster India and its business in South-East Asia and the Middle East (“Monster”) from Monster Worldwide Inc. and The Care Business of HCL Services (“Care Business”) from HCL Infosystems.  According to the company, the transactions are expected to close in the next few weeks, subject to the fulfilment of customary closing conditions and required statutory approvals.  Monster, a leading online career and recruitment resource with its cutting-edge technology, provides relevant profiles to employers and relevant jobs to jobseekers across industry verticals, experience levels and geographies. Monster, a 20+-year-old marquee internet brand, provides the widest and most sophisticated job-seeking, career management, recruitment and talent management capabilities globally. The acquired business has operations across India, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia,...

Red Hat has signed a definitive agreement to acquire CoreOS, Inc., an innovator and leader in Kubernetes and container-native solutions for a purchase price of $250 million. The acquisition is subject to certain adjustments at closing that are not expected to be material. The transaction is expected to have no material impact to Red Hat's guidance for its fourth fiscal quarter or fiscal year ending February 28, 2018. Red Hat’s acquisition of CoreOS will further its vision of enabling customers to build any application and deploy them in any environment with the flexibility afforded by open source. By combining CoreOS’s complementary capabilities with Red Hat’s already broad Kubernetes and container-based portfolio, including Red Hat OpenShift, Red Hat aims to further accelerate adoption and development of hybrid cloud platform for modern application workloads. Paul Cormier, President, Products and Technologies, Red Hat, said, “The next era of technology is being drive...

With the perfect theme designed for this year, Infotech Software Dealers Association (ISODA) is in its 8th edition of TechSummit, held in hotel J W Marriot Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 1st and 4th of February, 2018. This year, TechSummit is sponsored by CISCO as the Platinum sponsor, Checkpoint and Kaspersky as the Gold sponsors, while other vendors which include Redhat, Sophos, Radware, iPSwitch and Stratus are the Silver sponsors and LG participated as the Associate sponsor. The event is attended by 100 key decision makers of the VAR community, members of ISODA who have been working tirelessly to onboard technology sponsors, create an interesting agenda, maximize participation and creating most interactive platform for discussion on Tipping Point: Breaching the finance barrier.... Read More

According to a news source, Brisbane Airport has revealed that passengers arriving and departing can soon be able to pay through cryptocurrency in few stores and F&B outlets at the airport. Brisbane Airport and some retailers have joined hands with TravelbyBit to bring decentralized blockchain-enabled payments to the two terminals. Travellers can use TravelbyBit’s cryptocurrency payment system to dine and shop at stores such as Botanist, Spoon, Windmill & Co. and Forte Espresso, as well as AWPL stores, including Australian Way, Merino Collection, Carry On, Dreamtime Journey and News Travels. The payment system supports Bitcoin, Dash, Ethereum and other digital currencies.... Read More

In Union Budget 2018, as the government has increased the basic custom duty to 20%, the prices of imported smartphones such as Apple will increase by upto 4%. As per the industry experts, the prices may stabilize over the time as local production is expected to increase to 90% as most players assemble phones locally. This step is likely to be in line with boosting manufacturing in India as Apple and Google imports their phones from China. About 75-80% of the phones sold in India are made locally, as most players operating here prefer to manufacture locally to take advantage of the duty differential versus imports. The duty increase would be the third instance in the last 12 months. In February 2017, the government imposed a 10% import duty which it increased to 15% in December, and now to 20%.... Read More

In the Union Budget 2018, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley proposed to set up 5 lakh hotspots which will provide broadband to 5 crore Indians and government has allocated a fund of Rs 10,000 crore under telecom infrastructure.  To hasten the adoption of 5G, the Department of Telecom (DoT) along with IIT Chennai will support the establishment of indigenous test bed for 5G technologies.... Read More