VARINDIA IT MAGAZINE

While customers are more empowered and informed today than ever before, they still prefer personal interactions with trusted advisors when being engaged in the sales cycle. According to the findings of a global survey released today by SAP SE, personalized direct engagement is still the preferred method of contact among business buyers. “When selling to empowered customers, there is an expectation that the sellers know more than the buyers,” said Jamie Anderson, senior vice president, Marketing, Customer Engagement & Commerce Solutions, SAP. “And more importantly, customers want to be sold in ways that are contextual, relevant and personal. Therefore, companies are expected to create unique and personalized interactions, which keep customers engaged along every step of their buying journey.” Conducted by independent research firm Loudhouse with support from SAP, the survey polled more than 1,220 senior personnel responsible for purchasing goods and services within organizat...

A10 Networks has announced integration of its Thunder Application Delivery Controllers (ADCs) with Cisco Application-Centric Infrastructure (ACI) fabric. Offering dynamic L4-L7 application networking services, this joint solution enables enterprises to amplify their data center output by automatically provisioning application delivery and security services with a significant increase in both allocation speed and business agility – all at a reduced cost.   “Our vision to deliver on-demand, policy-based mechanisms for dynamic L4-L7 services in a cloud environment closely aligns with the streamlined application delivery cycles of the Cisco ACI common policy framework. By combining A10 Thunder ADC and Cisco ACI solutions, we are able to provide enterprises with rich application delivery and security capabilities in a shared infrastructure,” said Raj Jalan, CTO of A10 Networks.   The open framework of Cisco ACI enables ecosystem partners such as A10 to seamlessly interopera...

Fujitsu RunMyProcess demonstrates how it is helping start-ups like HOP Ubiquitous (HOPU) to turn their concepts into a digital business, quickly and with low Total Cost of Ownership. Providing a cloud platform for the rapid implementation and testing of innovations, both for Fujitsu and for its customers around the world, it is a key enabler to the company’s vision of a Human Centric Intelligent Society. Fujitsu RunMyProcess delivers the capabilities required to build connected digital systems spanning cloud, on-premise and mobile environments.   Headquartered in Murcia in Spain, HOPU is a start-up specializing in wearable and sensor-based technologies. Through its important contributions to and support for flagship standards – such as OMA, IPv6 and CoAP – it is a leading player in the definition of management, inter-operability and security standards for the emerging IoT and its wider connection to other web- and cloud-based services. Using this expertise, HOPU is working ...

Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS) has announced Amazon WorkMail, a secure, managed business email and calendaring service in the cloud. Amazon WorkMail enables users to send and receive email, manage contacts, share calendars, and book resources using the same email applications they use today (Microsoft Outlook, their Web browser, or their native iOS and Android email applications) without buying and managing hardware or licensing expensive and complex email server software.  Amazon WorkMail integrates with existing corporate directories, and has the security features enterprises need to control and protect their data. In short order, customers can quickly begin provisioning Amazon WorkMail accounts, and pay only for the mailboxes they create with simple, monthly pricing.   “Customers have repeatedly asked us for a business email and calendaring service that is more cost-effective and simpler to manage than their on-premises solution, more secure than the cloud-bas...

Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS) has announced Amazon WorkMail, a secure, managed business email and calendaring service in the cloud. Amazon WorkMail enables users to send and receive email, manage contacts, share calendars, and book resources using the same email applications they use today (Microsoft Outlook, their Web browser, or their native iOS and Android email applications) without buying and managing hardware or licensing expensive and complex email server software.  Amazon WorkMail integrates with existing corporate directories, and has the security features enterprises need to control and protect their data. In short order, customers can quickly begin provisioning Amazon WorkMail accounts, and pay only for the mailboxes they create with simple, monthly pricing.   “Customers have repeatedly asked us for a business email and calendaring service that is more cost-effective and simpler to manage than their on-premises solution, more secure than the cloud-bas...

Dell has announced that it has successfully deployed DL4000 Backup and Recovery Appliance, running Dell AppAssure for MPS Limited, an end-to-end publishing services provider that helps transform and enrich content for print, online and mobile media. With the deployment of solutions, MPS Limited was able to enjoy greater productivity with faster data recovery without any backup runs. MPS Limited was building a scalable and easy-to-manage IT infrastructure, for which, it needed a backup and recovery solution to match the high-performance environment. The organization chose Dell DL4000 Back Up and Recovery Appliance. “Imagine waiting a day or two days for your data to be returned. It’s a loss of productivity for the employee and the business, and serious cost of up to US$24,000 per day – all bad news. With AppAssure, we avoid that situation. Personnel see data returned quickly and stay on top of their workloads and customers are better served”, said Narendra Kumar, Senior Vice Presi...

Its a good news for Online Shoppers that Flipkart is offering Big Billion Day sale this year, once again. The company has already started preparing for the event and it will be “many times bigger” than the previous sale. It is also focusing on improving its ability to anticipate demand, deliver goods faster and eliminate sub-standard and fake products. Flipkart plans to work closely with sellers on its site to improve its ability to predict demand and invest more in automating its supply chain to speed up delivery. The e-tailer aims to double the strength of its technology team in the next 12-18 months. Company also want to see the mobile platform playing a larger role in the upcoming mega sale and will also focus on data analytics to offer personalised experiences across its mobile apps, marketplace platform and supply-chain network. - See more at: http://www.varindia.com/flipkart-prepares-itself-for-another-big-billion-day-sale/

Informatica Corporation has announced the winners of the 2014 Informatica Partner of the Year Awards. The annual awards honor Informatica partners that have delivered innovative, business problem-solving solutions over the past year leveraging Informatica data integration products and technologies, from PowerCenter to Informatica Vibe Virtual Data Machine. Fifteen organizations were honored with the prestigious awards at a recent ceremony during Informatica’s Partner Summit in Las Vegas. Informatica Alliance Partners are the bedrock of the Informatica Partner Program. The program offers multiple opportunities for leading systems integrators, solution providers, channel partners, distributors and technology partners – such as OEMs, cloud providers, outsourcers and ISVs – to engage with Informatica. - See more at: http://www.varindia.com/informatica-rewards-its-partner/#sthash.hJkL3pG4.dpuf

Red Hat has announced that Gartner has given the company a “Positive” rating in its first Vendor Rating. Gartner creates Vendor Ratings for approximately 30 IT vendors, and Red Hat believes its “Positive” rating reflects on the importance of its technologies and solutions in today’s IT market. “Open source is a driving force behind everything from cloud computing and mobile to big data and beyond, and Red Hat customers around the world are benefiting from the innovation we provide. I believe that Gartner’s ‘Positive’ Vendor Rating validates the strength of our open hybrid cloud portfolio and our ability to meet enterprise customer needs as the worlds of physical, virtual and cloud systems converge,” said Paul Cormier, president, Products and Technologies, Red Hat. Gartner’s Vendor Ratings are highly structured reports that define Gartner’s position on an individual vendor as a whole, not just on its position within a single market. Gartner’s evaluation was based on various crit...

Savera Marketing has announced the launch of Mini Smart Wi-Fi Extender – EW-7438RPn from Edimax. This N300 Wi-Fi extender is super-small with 3 modes-in-one and a free EdiRange companion app for Android & iOS. The EW-7438RPn Mini is a smart, compact Wi-Fi extender featuring next-generation functionality and a sleek design. Offering a new level of innovation and intelligent design for Wi-Fi extenders, the EW-7438RPn Mini works as a Wi-Fi extender, access point or Wi-Fi bridge and is an easy-to-use, 3-in-1 solution to eliminate Wi-Fi dead zones and extend wireless coverage. Gopal Pansari, MD and CEO at Savera Marketing said “With the launch of Edimax EW_7438RPn, we are offering a smart solution for people using multiple devices and facing the challenge of network connectivity in entire home or office. This Wi-Fi extender is designed to be a small form factor meaning that it can be discreetly plugged into any wall socket and this convenient placement allows one to increase the...

MapR Technologies has announced availability of free Hadoop-Demand Training for developers, analysts and administrators who represent a $50-million in-kind contribution to the broad Hadoop community. The Hadoop training program is a multi-course curriculum designed to expand worldwide adoption of Hadoop technology. The curriculum provides engaging and interactive video lessons, hands-on exercises, labs and quizzes, enabling professionals to acquire valuable Hadoop skills and knowledge on their own schedule. “We focussed on making it easy for anyone to receive high-quality, comprehensive Hadoop training anywhere in the world. This is a major contribution to the industry, addressing the primary concern around Hadoop skills development and raising the value for professionals who take these courses,” said Dave Jespersen, Vice-President, Worldwide Services, MapR Technologies. As part of this comprehensive training initiative, MapR has also arranged for the administration of cert...

As per Ovum, the wearables market will be worth US$27bn in 2020, with almost 400 million wearable devices sold in the year. Ovum expects sales of wearable devices to reach 394 million units in 2020, up from 24 million units in 2014, corresponding to a CAGR of 60%. Revenues generated from the direct sale of wearable devices to consumers will reach US$26.6bn in 2020, up from US$3bn in 2014. Multipurpose wearables such as the Apple Watch will account for 31% of the installed base, with simple activity trackers and smart clothes making up the rest of the market. Wearables also offer additional software revenue opportunities via a dedicated app ecosystem that will serve up to 176 million installed devices by the end of 2020. Ronan de Renesse, Ovum lead analyst for consumer technology said, “Affordability and better quality of service for smarter wearable devices will be key drivers in the shift from activity trackers to multipurpose wearables such as the Apple Watch. Currently, th...

Under the flagship scheme of PM Modi’s initiative to make 100 Indian cities as a smart city, the Centre has planned to take up 20–30 cities to develop them into smart cities this year. The cities to be revamped should meet certain requirements.  To begin with, the government is planning to create a colony or commercial area of around 50 acres in the vicinity of the city with smart features so that the success model will make people aware and more areas can be developed with people’s participation. As per the concept note, there will be three approaches – retrofitting, redevelopment and greenfield development. Under the retrofitting scheme, a city can undertake an area of minimum 500 acres and can implement the scheme in three years. Under a redevelopment scheme, a 50- acre area can be taken as a model. Similarly, in the case of greenfield development, the project area can be a vacant land spread over at least 250 acres and can be completed in 10 years. While selecting...

Microsoft has announced that its Word, Excel and Powerpoint will be available for free in Android based tablets. It also released an app for its popular Outlook email program to run on Apple’s iPhone and iPad, hoping to attract the millions of users familiar with Outlook from their work desktops. For almost three months Microsoft has been offering the test versions of the Office apps on Android but the announcement marks the availability of finished products from the online Google Play app store. It is a part of company’s strategy and Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella attempts towrest back the initiative in the battle for mobile users, where Microsoft has fallen behind Apple and Google Inc. Nadella broke with decades of tradition last March by releasing a free, touch-friendly version of Office for Apple’s iPad, before such software was even available for Microsoft’s Windows devices.   See more at: http://www.varindia.com/free-microsoft-office-available-on-iphone...

Noida based mobile payment wallet Paytm is aggressively planning to ramp up its mobile marketplace by adding over one lakh merchants in one year. It is also planning to rope in 4,500 people across various verticals. Paytm started as a mobile recharge and bill payment service, is now into wallets and other electronic payment services with RBI-licensed wallet. The company plans to hire 4,500 across verticals and also focusing on SMEs. Presently, Paytm, is owned by Noida based One97 Communications and headed by Chairman and MD Vijay Shekhar Sharma. It has around 2,000 employees on its payroll and 15,000 sellers on its market place. It started its journey in the year 2010 as a mobile recharge and bill payment service and later started diversifying into wallets and other electronic payment services.   See more at: http://www.varindia.com/paytm-plans-to-add-one-lakh-merchants-and-hire-4500-employees/

The Cabinet has fixed the starting price at Rs 3,705 crore per MHz for the auction of 3G spectrum which is slated to start on  March 4 . By this the government is aiming to earn a net profit of Rs 17,555 crore. However, operators are afraid that the high starting level could drive up voice and data tariffs. The winners of the auction will have to make an upfront payment of 33% of the final bid amount to the government within 10 days of the close of the bandwidth sale. Rest amount can be paid after a moratorium of two years in 10 equal installments. A 5 MHz block of 2100 MHz airwaves typically used for 3G services will be offered in all service areas except Jammu & Kashmir, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal and Punjab. Thus, a total of 85 MHz in 17 service areas is being put to auction. The Centre expects to generate Rs.5,793 crore from the 3G sale alone this year.  However, the overall proceeds from auctions will rise substantially, as including the 2G (800 MH...

MMPL (a subsidiary of Tata Teleservices Ltd.) has announced the launch of a new Open Loop prepaid, VISA powered card in partnership with RBL Bank. By accessing a PaySmart card, user will be able to withdraw money from VISA licensed ATMs and also pay for goods and services at all merchants that accept VISA Debit/Credit cards nationally. Pradeep Sampath, Chief Operating Officer, MMP MOBI WALLET PAYMENT SYSTEMS LIMITED, said, “The PaySmart card is a milestone towards realizing Tata Teleservices vision of simple and secured transaction services. Keeping financial inclusion in mind, we have worked towards creating this product for all customers who can now have a choice of cashless dealings. Amongst the host of offerings around mobile money, this product addresses a clear gap of Cash Out which is currently not available with the Semi Closed Wallets, There is a clear need in the marketplace for such an offering at the right price and feature set.” This new service is a step towards o...

While discovering anything amazing – whether it’s a new local coffee shop or a tool that improves the way we work – we like to share it with people we know so they can also drive its benefit. Many of the millions of Google Apps customers around the world learned about tools like Hangouts, Drive and Gmail for business from their customers, friends and networks. Google has launched Apps Referral Program in India. The program makes it easy to share Google Apps with a network and show them how they too can use these tools at work. A user can earn $7.50 for each new Google Apps user he refers. The Google Apps Referral Program is currently available for anyone based in India. For more details you can click here “ http://goo.gl/FZezQr ” - See more at: http://www.varindia.com/google-introduces-apps-referral-program-in-india/#sthash.ogVpFEoj.dpuf

Bharti Airtel has announced the launch of its managed Room Telepresence service for Enterprise segment. With zero CAPEX and at no additional cost, enterprises in the country especially the small and mid-sized organizations will now be able to upgrade to High-Definition Telepresence video exchange sessions from the existing standard definition video experience at an affordable cost of just Rs. 799/- per day per room.  Airtel has launched this service with CISCO. The VAAS (video-as-a-service) offering from Airtel will bundle all the essential components of Telepresence video calling including end point, network and VNOC . Manish Prakash, President – Airtel Business said, “At Airtel we are committed towards developing innovative & cost effective platforms for our customers and the Room Telepresence service is a step in this direction. This new solution has the potential to transform the segment as it empowers customers with a highly scalable integrated video solution at a ...

The United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) and Indian urban development ministry plan to develop three major cities, Ajmer, Allahabad and Visakhapatnam as “Smart Cities”. USTDA and the three state governments of UP, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh have signed MoUs to develop these cities as smart cities. The Urban development ministry said that the US delegation led by the secretary of commerce Penny Pritzker agreed to the suggestion of minister M Venkaiah Naidu for setting up the task forces. Each team will consist of three representatives each from central and respective state governments and the USTDA. Each city task force will discuss city specific features, project requirements and appropriate revenue models for enabling flow of investments etc., before suggesting action plans for developing them as smart cities. USTDA will contribute funds for necessary feasibility studies and pilots, study tours, workshops or trainings and other projects to be mutually determine...