VARINDIA IT MAGAZINE

Dell has recently announced the launch of XPS 13, a high-performance, artfully constructed laptop in India. The stunning 13.3-inch laptop sports virtually borderless Infinity Edge touch display, a design pioneered by Dell, and is backed by the unmatched Intel 8th-generation core processors offering increased performance. Dell XPS 13 has been consistently winning accolades as one of the best 13” Windows notebooks and is one of the jewel products of the XPS family. The XPS 13 has all of the manageability and select security features of Latitude in an aggressively thin and competitive form factor. The Dell XPS range is an acclaimed range and has garnered over 300 product awards, with a number of industry “firsts” and “bests” across form factor breakthroughs, display prowess, battery life to its acclaim. Dell’s iconic virtually borderless InfinityEdge display maximizes screen space by squeezing a 13.3-inch display in an 11-inch form. With a bezel only 5.2 mm thin, starting ...

Vodafone India and itel Mobile have entered into a strategic partnership to provide an exciting cashback offer on the purchase of feature-intensive itel A20 smartphone. The offers provide a cashback of Rs.2,100 to a customer buying itel A20 bringing its effective price down from Rs.3,690 to just Rs.1,590. This partnership underlines the common mission of both itel and Vodafone to popularize 4G connectivity in the country. It aims to propel the growth of data adoption by providing access to a smartphone and mobile internet, thereby empowering customers to remain connected always at extremely pocket-friendly prices. To avail this exclusive offer, itel and Vodafone customers will have to buy the itel A20 smartphone priced at Rs.3,690 and recharge with Rs.150 or more in a calendar month for 18 months. The recharge can be done either cumulatively or as a one-time recharge. At the end of 18 months, customers will receive a cashback of Rs.900. Upon continuing to recharge Rs.15...

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited has written to Airtel and sought a reversal of subsidy amounts that have been wrongfully credited to the Airtel Payment bank accounts. A company statement said: “HPCL has requested that the subsidy amounts of consumers whose LPG subsidies have been wrongfully credited to Airtel Payment bank accounts be immediately transferred back to the customer’s earlier bank account or to the respective oil marketing companies.” According to reports, ₹167 crore have been wrongfully credited to the Airtel Payment Bank interface through 31 lakh transactions. The oil marketing companies and the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas have been getting a large number of complaints from consumers regarding non-credit of the LPG subsidy amounts into their earlier bank accounts for the past few weeks, the HPCL statement added.... For more information, visit   :  http://www.varindia.com/news/hpcl-writes-to-airtel-payments-banks-for-r...

The GST Council has today decided to make the electronic-way bill compulsory from February 1. If implemented, the bill will come two months ahead of the earlier plan and will thus make ferrying of goods quicker across states. Under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) rules, ferrying goods worth more than Rs 50,000 within or outside a state will require securing an electronic-way or e-way bill by prior online registration of the consignment. “The rules for implementation of nationwide e-way bill system for inter-state movement of goods on a compulsory basis will be notified with effect from February 1, 2018. This will bring uniformity across states for seamless inter-state movement of goods,” the finance ministry said in a statement. The Council, headed by finance minister Arun Jaitley, met earlier during the day via video conference to advance the implementation of e-way bill under the Goods and Services Tax (GST). To generate an e-way bill, the supplier and transporter w...

Siemens is gaining further momentum in digitalization and is the first company worldwide to set up 20 centers for digital customer applications in the industrial sector. Each of these MindSphere Application Centers for digital offerings from Siemens spans multiple locations in different countries and specializes in a particular industry in which Siemens is active. Today, around 900 software developers, data specialists and engineers are already working together with Siemens customers at these centers to develop digital innovations for data analysis and machine learning. These new solutions are being developed on MindSphere, Siemens’ open, cloud-based operating system for the Internet of Things (IoT). To be close to its customers, the company has distributed its 20 centers across around 50 locations in 17 countries worldwide. “We are continuously expanding our leadership role in industrial digitalization,” said Joe Kaeser, Siemens President and CEO. “With our global experience i...

COAI Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI) has welcomed ZTE India as an Associate Member.  ZTE is one of world’s largest telecom equipment and mobile phone manufacturers. The company started operations in India in 2003. Further, the company is also a partner with many state governments for the Smart Cities initiative and contributing as per the technical strength.  Commenting on this, Rajan S. Mathews, Director General, COAI, welcoming the new member, said, “It’s our pleasure to welcome ZTE on board as an Associate Member. We are sure that the joint efforts of COAI for the industry and ZTE’s expertise in telecom equipment and next-generation technology will go a long way in fulfilling Prime Minister Modi’s dream of building a digitally empowered nation. Given ZTE’s technical expertise and ability to cross purpose, various technologies for consumer and business use, we are proud to have them as our member. We are truly delighted and look forward to working...

Orange Business Services has been selected to support the communications requirements of the Bihar State Wide Area Network (NextGen B-SWAN 2.0) project. “A strong State network will help India to provide effective e-governance with applications and collaborative services. Connectivity is an essential component of the ‘Digital India’ campaign. Orange Business Services has the expertise and unmatched technical capabilities to help Governments to deliver seamless data, voice and video. We are honoured to support the Government of Bihar and the ‘Digital India’ initiative through this project,” said Bala Mahadevan, CEO, Orange Business Services, India.... Read More

Nokia and the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi (IIT-Delhi) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to work together in the areas of data science, analytics and Artificial Intelligence (AI). The collaboration will allow IIT-Delhi to leverage Nokia’s technological leadership and expertise in communications networking to conduct research in these areas.  The talented students and faculty of India’s premier institute will work in projects with Nokia’s top technical minds to explore ways to make networks more efficient and reliable.  Amit Dhingra, Vice-President of Global Service Delivery, Nokia, said, “We are pleased to work with some of the brightest minds of the country at IIT-Delhi. Collaboration with universities and educational institutes fosters innovation and can help resolve complex challenges our industry is facing. New technologies require fresh thinking and working with the scholars of IIT-Delhi will allow us to push the boundaries of what is pos...

NEC Corporation and NEC Technologies India Private Limited have announced that they will establish a FIWARE Lab node in India. The objective is to encourage application developers and solution provider organizations, government bodies and academia to experiment and innovate FIWARE-based solutions for smart cities. Having a FIWARE Lab node within India will encourage more participation from Asian countries as they can keep all experimental and research data within the boundaries of the region. The FIWARE Lab node in India will help to foster a culture of collaboration between various participating entities and help to promote their solutions in the FIWARE community. With the Indian government increasing its focus on Open Source Software, FIWARE can introduce open APIs based on specifications which are public and royalty-free.... Read More

Atos has made a formal proposal to acquire Gemalto by way of a public offer for all of Gemalto issued and outstanding shares. Atos invited Gemalto’s Board of Directors to engage discussions and review collaboratively this potential transaction. On November 28, 2017, Atos has delivered an offer to the Board of Directors of Gemalto which is friendly, compelling, and which addresses the interests of all stakeholders. Since then, Atos has reiterated its friendly intentions. Considering increased risk that could impact Gemalto’s shares, and for the purposes of market information, the Atos’ Board of Directors has decided to make its proposal public while affirming its willingness to engage into discussions with the objective to come to a transaction recommended by the Gemalto’s Board of Directors. Key terms of the Atos proposal – * Intended all-cash offer of €46.0 per Gemalto share (cum dividend), representing a total consideration of approximately €4.3 billion. *...

BT and Symantec have announced the availability of new endpoint protection solution for BT’s business customers.  Symantec’s best-in-class endpoint security technologies have been added to BT’s broad portfolio of security products and services to help customers battle the rapidly changing threat landscape with a consolidated, intelligent security infrastructure.  With advanced technologies such as machine learning, memory exploit mitigation, file reputation analysis, and real-time behaviour monitoring, Symantec Endpoint Protection 14 provides real-time threat protection, even against unknown threats, so called ‘zero-day’ attacks and ransomware.  Mark Hughes, CEO - BT Security, said, “The ongoing migration to the cloud and digital transformation further raises the importance of endpoint security. By adding Symantec endpoint protection to our already broad security portfolio, we are further extending our ability to help our customers stay secure in the face ...

Perth, Australia: The Annual edition of Canalys Channels Forum APAC region was held in Perth last week. Partners from across APAC, the majority of who were from India, headed to Perth, the vibrant capital of Western Australia. About 900 delegates from across the APAC region attended the event.  Steve Brazier, CEO & President- Canalys in his keynote address on the tech trends said that the death of IT hardware channel has been greatly exaggerated. “Technology is transforming every industry, and the channel is lucky to be at the heart of this new industrial revolution. Good and bad tech news stories have frequently hit the headlines in 2017. Artificial intelligence, deep learning, IoT, robotics, chatbots, cloud and edge computing are driving the channel forward, while issues around regulation, ethics, tax, security and monopolistic behaviour cause complications. Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR & VR) offers exciting opportunities for human computer interaction, the e...

The telecom tower industry is expected to undergo structural changes in the medium term. Currently, the industry, with around 4 lakh towers and around 8 lakh tenancies, is a sizeable one in the world. It has 10 organized players wherein 74% of the portfolio is held either by tower companies promoted by telecom operators, or by telecom operators themselves. Over the next 1-2 years, there is likely to be a material change in the industry structure with number of players expected to reduce to 4-5.  The key development for the industry would be the likely change in ownership from telecom operators to independent players, as reflected by the consolidation transactions under way and by the interest from such players and investors. The industry is also likely to witness strong growth in the coming years driven largely by the network expansions by telecom operators; and upside in rentals due to improved negotiation power which would follow from consolidation as well as from greater...

Infosys has roped in Salil S Parekh as its chief executive officer thus picking an outsider for the job for a second time and handing him the twin challenges of reviving growth and forging peace between its founders and board following a public spat. Parekh, who was earlier with Capgemini where he was a member of its group executive team, has been given a 5-year term effective Jan. 2. U.B. Pravin Rao who was serving as the interim CEO has been re-designated as chief operating officer from Jan. 2, Infosys said. "He (Parekh) has nearly three decades of global experience in the IT services industry," said Infosys Chairman Nandan Nilekani. "He has a strong track record of executing business turnarounds and managing very successful acquisitions. The board believes that he is the right person to lead Infosys at this transformative time in our industry.".... Read More

ARRIS International plc has finalised the completion of acquisition of the Ruckus Wireless and ICX Switch business from Broadcom Limited. Dan Rabinovitsj will lead Ruckus Networks at ARRIS. "I am proud to welcome the 1,700 talented Ruckus Wireless and ICX Switch Business employees into the ARRIS family," said Bruce McClelland, ARRIS CEO. "It's an important milestone, not only for ARRIS but for our industries. Ruckus' unmatched expertise in wireless and wired networking perfectly complements our growth strategy of driving towards a constantly connected, mobile future. The acquisition brings diversification to our portfolio, building on our strength in networking and helping us to serve new verticals. Ultimately, our combined portfolios and scale will help our customers and partners deliver a smart, simple connected world for billions of people." The deal strategically positions ARRIS for a new phase of growth by leveraging the companies' combine...

To support digital payment system, Hon’ble Union Finance Minster Arun Jaitley formally inaugurated Paytm Payments Bank recently. Paytm Payments Bank is mobile-first bank with zero charges on all online transactions and no minimum balance requirement. The bank has been designed to help achieve financial inclusion in the country and is in line with Paytm’s mission of bringing half a billion Indians on to the mainstream economy. The company has planned an investment of $500 million in KYC (Know Your Customer) operations. It is also setting up KYC centres across India to complete KYC for customers and make them eligible for a Payments Bank account..... 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

Considering the TRAI’s recommendations on Net Neutrality, the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) has said that the recommendations are progressive in nature and are in line with the debates in the industry and user groups that have been raging for the last two years. For the industry, the recommendations are pragmatic in the sense that it recognizes the requirements of expansion of digital services in the country, when it makes reasonable exceptions for specialized services, reasonable traffic management practices or fulfilling international treaty agreements. Special provisions for IoT, specialized services and CDNs reflect forward-looking recommendations that take into account the needs of the foreseeable future. The TRAI recommendations ensure level-playing field in enabling emerging service providers to reach out to target audiences on the same terms with their peers. At the same time, recognition of special sectors like IoT, CDNs ensure that emerging sect...

ABB and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) have entered into a strategic global partnership that combines ABB’s digital offerings, ABB Ability, with HPE’s innovative hybrid information technology (IT) solutions. The partnership will provide customers with solutions that generate actionable insights from vast amounts of industrial data to increase efficiency and flexibility of their operations and create competitive advantage. “This alliance between two global leaders is unprecedented in terms of breadth and depth, and it will be groundbreaking for the progress of the Industrial Internet of Things,” said Meg Whitman, CEO, HPE. “Together with ABB, we will shape a digital industrial future where everything computes, equipping machines with intelligence to collaborate, allowing plants to flexibly adapt to changing demands, and enabling global supply chains to instantaneously react to incidents. This partnership will create exciting business opportunities for our joint customers.”.......

Speaking at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2017, Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited global entrepreneurs to come to India by saying that it provides an investment friendly environment where restrictions have been removed and archaic laws abolished. In his address, he said that over 1,200 outdated laws have been scrapped, 87 rules for foreign investment eased in 21 sectors and several government processes have been taken online. "To my entrepreneur friends from across the globe, I would like to say, 'Come, Make in India, Invest in India', for India and for the world," he said. "I invite each one of you to become a partner in India's growth story. And once again assure you of our wholehearted support." Ivanka Trump, US President Donald Trump's daughter and advisor to the White House attended the Summit. She was leading a US delegation to the summit and gave the keynote address.... Read More