VARINDIA IT MAGAZINE

Google, Microsoft plan to spend billions on cybersecurity:  The whole globe is struggling into the issue of   Cyber security   and   cyber crime.   The White House hosted a cybersecurity summit Wednesday with CEOs in sectors ranging from tech to insurance. Technology giants including Google,   Microsoft   and   IBM   committed to spending billions on cybersecurity following the meeting, they are going to strengthen cybersecurity defences and to train skilled workers, the White House has announced, following President Joe Biden's private meeting with top executives. The gathering on Wednesday during a relentless stretch of ransomware attacks that have targeted critical infrastructure, in some cases with the attackers extorting multimillion-dollar payments from major corporations, as well as other illicit cyber operations that US authorities have linked to foreign hackers.... Read More

Amazon extends work-from-home period until January 2022:  Due to the surge in COVID-19 cases across the nation because of the more contagious delta variant,   Amazon   has delayed its return-to-office date for technology and corporate workers until January.   Before returning to office Amazon will not mandate employees receive the  COVID-19 vaccine . The company said that the employees who are not vaccinated will be required to wear masks in the office.   The surge of the delta variant of the coronavirus has upended many companies’ plans to bring office workers back this fall, a drive already complicated by efforts to accommodate widespread employee preference for flexible remote work policies, and debates over how to handle vaccine and masking policies.   Companies like  Microsoft ,  Google ,  Twitter , Lyft etc. have postponed the plans of reopening offices.   As per news source, Amazon earlier set September 7 as return date and t...

What's next for Windows: Just wait for 24th June:  Microsoft   to reveal its next generation of Windows on June 24th. It is a very special Windows event for the entire technology industry in this universe.   Windows 11 is closer than you think it is, with a release likely coming later this October, but Insiders are likely to get it much sooner. It is going to be called Windows 11, and it brings many of the UI changes that we saw earlier with the now-defunct  Windows 10X .   The software giant has started sending invites to media for a Windows event on June 24th. Both Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and chief product officer Panos Panay will be presenting at the  Windows event . Microsoft’s Windows event will start at 11AM ET / 8AM PT on June 24th.   The company is preparing to detail what’s next for its PC operating system separately.  Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella  teased this announcement during his Build keynote this morning, revealing he has be...

Cruise bags $2 billion from Microsoft in new equity round:  Cruise   has raised $2 billion in a new equity round that has pushed its valuation up to $30 billion and delivered   Microsoft   as an investor and partner. GM, Honda and other institutional investors have also put more capital into Cruise as the autonomous vehicle company inches closer to commercializing its technology.   Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella  said in a statement, “Advances in digital technology are redefining every aspect of our work and life, including how we move people and goods. As Cruise and GM’s preferred cloud, we will apply the power of Azure to help them scale and make autonomous transportation mainstream.”   While Microsoft’s capital is important, the partnership might provide equal and longer-term value for Cruise, at least in the two companies’ views. Under the long-term strategic partnership, Cruise will use Azure, Microsoft’s cloud and edge computing platform, for its ye...

Zoom to start its own email service in the coming year:  After making leadership position in the video calling market during the pandemic,   Zoom   is now planning to develop an email service and release it next year, along with working on a calendar application, to take on giants like Google and Microsoft.   Expert says that ,it is a straight competition among the Google, Hotmail yahoo and others. Zoom Video Communications has begun developing a web email service and might offer a very early version of the product to some customers next year . Sources said, the company also is looking into building a calendar application.   Recently in October, Zoom made its new end-to-end encryption (E2EE) feature available to users globally, free and paid, for meetings with up to 200 participants and the company has had a super year, with its stock price rising more than 500% owing to the unprecedented surge in remote work and learning. The two big players are Microsoft with ...

Josh gains $100 Million funding from Google and Microsoft Josh gains $100 Million funding from Google and Microsoft :  Josh, Indian TikTok Clone   has raised more than $100 million from investors including   Google   and   Microsoft , months after the Chinese-owned short-video app was banned in the country.   Bengaluru-based  VerSe Innovation , which owns Josh, is valued at more than $1 billion following the investment, it said in a statement.  AlphaWave  also invested in VerSe, as did existing investors Sofina Group and Lupa Systems, VerSe said, adding that it would use the funds to scale up Josh. VerSe also owns news and content platform Dailyhunt.   In September, Indian content-sharing platform  ShareChat  raised $40 million from investors including Twitter Inc and Lightspeed Ventures, in an effort to drive growth for its new short-video app Moj.   Both Josh and Moj have been installed on more than 50 million devices ea...

Microsoft also targeted of Massive SolarWinds Hack:  Microsoft’s systems   were exposed as part of the suspected   Russian cybersecurity hack   that targeted SolarWinds and hit multiple government agencies, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.   The latest cyber-assault is effectively an attack on the United States and its government and other critical institutions, including security firms,” Smith wrote in the blog post. It illuminates the ways the cybersecurity landscape continues to evolve and become even more dangerous.   Microsoft’s own products were used to further attacks on other victims by leveraging its cloud offerings. It is unclear how many Microsoft users were affected.   Microsoft president Brad Smith  warned that the wide-ranging hack of the SolarWinds’ Orion IT software is “ongoing,” and that investigations reveal “an attack that is remarkable for its scope, sophistication and impact.”   The Windows maker, however, de...

The  Pentagon  is reconsidering its awarding of a major cloud computing contract to  Microsoft  after rival tech giant  Amazon  protested what it called a flawed bidding process. U.S. government lawyers said in a court filing this week of March 13, 2020 that the Defense Department “wishes to reconsider its award decision” and take another look at how it evaluated technical aspects of the companies’ proposals to run the $10 billion computing project. The Pentagon’s process for awarding a highly lucrative cloud computing contract to Microsoft instead of Amazon was in line with legal and government purchasing standards, a government watchdog agency said Wednesday. The Defense Department inspector general found no evidence of White House interference in the contract award process. But the report said investigators could not fully review that aspect of the matter because the White House would not allow unfettered access to witnesses. The contract,...

Rajesh Rege joined as the Country General Manager & Leader, Solutions & Cloud Technologies Group, Microsoft India. He quite as the Managing Dircetor, Redhat India/South Asia Operations ,who was global leader for the open source solutions. Over the last 3 years, helped establish Red Hat firmly in India/South Asia with an upsurge in visibility, recall and opportunity participation. Acquired a multitude of new customers with inroads into new sectors/ segments. Built a dynamic, action-oriented team who in turn have made Red Hat a magnet for great talent. On-boarded senior internal stakeholders to the India opportunity driving investments and support. Elevated partnerships into formidable multi-pronged engagements for reach & scale with several joint successes. Worked closely with media, analysts, policy makers & industry associations (member CII committee on IT/ITES) to champion open source & Red Hat.... Read More

Google will not go for another contract or renew for its controversial experiment providing artificial intelligence to the U.S. Department of Defence for analyzing drone footage after its current contract expires. Google Cloud CEO Mr.Diane Greene give out the decision at a meeting with employees last Friday morning, three sources told Gizmodo. The current contract expires in 2019 and there will not be a new followed contract, Greene said. The meeting, designated as Weather Report, is a weekly update on Google Cloud’s business. Google would not trail the Maven today because the reverberations has been horrible for the company, Greene said, adding that the decision was made at a time when Google was more aggressively trailing military work. The company plans to publish new ethical principles about its use of AI next week. A Google spokesperson did not immediately respond to questions about Greene’s comments.... Read More

Dell Technologies and Microsoft are collaborating to deliver a joint Internet of Things (IoT) solution designed to help vertical customers simplify deploying their end-to-end IoT solutions, from the edge to the cloud. The combination of Microsoft Azure IoT applications and services, VMware Pulse IoT Center and Dell Edge Gateways will offer customers streamlined management, centralized monitoring and security from devices to the cloud. Together, Dell Technologies and Microsoft will make IoT easier for customers by delivering a secure solution that provides consistent infrastructure management from the edge to the cloud. The joint solution offers an underlying IoT infrastructure, management capabilities and security for customers looking to deploy IoT for scenarios like predictive maintenance, supply chain visibility and other use cases. The solution will deliver.... Read More

San Francisco-based GitHub tool for coders, into hosting and development service, which hosts 27 million software developers working on 80 million repositories of code, on and off for a few years. Recently they began talks about a partnership but progressed to discussing an acquisition, according to another person familiar with the situation. GitHub is a code housing platform that allows developers to store their projects and network with peers and GitHub covers why the platform matters, how developers use it, and more and work together to create software. With GitHub one can collaborate on projects and invite other programmers to work on your project from anywhere. GitHub works seamlessly with the command-line tool Git, wherein developers can easily check in and check out their projects. This cheat sheet is an easy way to get up to speed on GitHub. There are more than 2 million work on regular updates, made to projects, which Microsoft is eyeing to reach out.... Read More

Microsoft has announced that the company will invest US$5 billion in the Internet of Things (IoT) globally over the next four years. This increased investment will support continued research and innovation in IoT and what is ultimately evolving to be the new intelligent edge. With Microsoft’s IoT platform spanning cloud, operating system and devices, Microsoft is simplifying the IoT journey so any customer – regardless of size, technical expertise, budget, industry or other factors – can create trusted, connected solutions that improve business and customer experiences, as well as the daily lives of people all over the world. This will support Microsoft’s technology platform, as well as supporting programs, thereby enabling continued research and development in key areas, including securing IoT, creating development tools and intelligent services for IoT and the edge, and investments to grow our partner ecosystem. Customers and partners can expect new products and services, o...

Baidu, a Chinese online search giant, has named Qi Lu, former Microsoft business group head, as its COO and Group President. According to the company, at Baidu, Lu will be in charge of products, technology, sales, marketing and operations. “A key strategic focus for the company over the next ten years will be artificial intelligence,” Baidu Chairman & CEO Robin Li revealed. “Li is counting on Lu's leadership experience and knowledge of AI to help the company attract the necessary expertise to become a global leader in the field,” he said.... Read More

Microsoft has announced the completion of its first renewable energy deal within the Karnataka state of India. The agreement will see Microsoft purchase 3 megawatts of solar-powered electricity from Atria Power to help power its new office building in Bangalore. This will meet 80 percent of the projected electricity needs at the new facility. This deal is part of a state government of Karnataka program to encourage investments in local solar energy operations, in line with the larger Indian government goal to ramp up solar power generation to 100 gigawatts by 2022, as part of India’s efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change. “Investing in local solar energy to help power our new Bangalore office building is good for Microsoft, good for India and good for the environment,” said Anant Maheshwari, President, Microsoft India. “We are proud to be deepening our long history of partnership and investment in India with this agreement. This deal will help us grow sustainabl...

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

Microsoft Corp. and SAP SE have announced integrated offerings to provide enterprise customers with a clear road map to confidently drive more business innovation in the cloud. In a bold show of commitment, the two companies also announced they will be deploying each other’s cloud solutions internally. Through their unique partnership, the companies will co-engineer, go to market together with premier solutions and provide joint support services to ensure the best cloud experience for customers. SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud – SAP’s private managed cloud service – on Microsoft Azure will allow customers to run SAP S/4HANA in a secure, managed cloud. Additionally, Microsoft will deploy SAP S/4HANA on Azure to help run its own internal finance processes, and SAP will move its key internal business critical systems to Azure. Finally, SAP Ariba is currently utilizing Azure and is exploring further use within its procurement applications....... Read More

Companies all over the world are looking to move to the cloud to help their business move faster. Azure provides security, reliability, and scale to help them deliver and scale their applications. Keeping in line with this, Microsoft announces new migration offerings as additional solutions to help customers get to the cloud easily and securely for their VMware environment. Enclosed are the services that will be a part of this offering - Migrate applications with Azure Migrate -  Azure Migrate helps you through the journey of migrating an entire multi-server application Integrate VMware workloads with Azure services -  There are many Azure services that you can use together with VMware workloads without any migration or deployment, enabling you to keep your entire environment secure and well-managed across cloud and on-premises Host VMware infrastructure with VMware virtualization on Azure -  Most workloads can be migrated to Azure easily using the abo...