3. 3www.varindia.com April 2016
HPE announces beta
launch of its Machine
Learning API
Delivered as a service on Microsoft
Azure, HPE Haven OnDemand
provides more than 60 APIs and services
that deliver deep learning analytics on a
wide range of data, including text, audio,
image, social, web and
video.
Kamal Dutta, MD –
Software, Asia Growth
Countries, Hewlett Packard
Enterprisesaid,“HPEHaven
OnDemand democratizes
big data by bringing the power of machine
learning, traditionally reserved for high-
end, highly-trained data scientists, to the
mainstream developer community. Now,
anyone can leverage our easy-to-use cloud-
based service to harness the rich variety of
data available today to build applications
that produce new insights, differentiate
businesses, delight customers and deliver
a competitive advantage.”
Is e-commerce predatory
pricing coming to an end?
In the FDI policy, while the
Department of Industrial
Promotion and Policy (DIPP) has
allowed 100% foreign direct investment
(FDI) in the B2B e-commerce model, it
has not permitted any FDI in Business to
Consumer (B2C) e-commerce model.
However the new regulation will
simply mean that e-commerce companies
that have been long enjoying the status of
a marketplace model while still working
under the quasi-inventory-led model
will need to stop. In a strikingly, anti-
free market approach, the new guidelines
state that online retailers can’t “directly
or indirectly” influence the price of goods
and services. While this phrasing may
sound a little peculiar, it’s been laid out as
such in order to deal with the innumerable
ways that online retailers fund discounts
in the current industry.
Channel is our Mantra of Success
IBM ties up with Reliance Communications Fortinet enters into strategic alliance with NATO
SUBSCRIPTION COPY NOT FOR SALEVOLUME XVII ISSUE 08 ApRil 2016 PRICE Rs. 50
43pg
40pg
Enterprise Mobility –
The Biggest Trendsetter for 2016
6. 6 April 2016 www.varindia.com
Are you ready to be a part of
$1-trillion opportunity?
HELLO INDIA
Iwould like to start with complimenting the sincere efforts of the Government of India for introducing
various liberal and reformist measures in the Indian economy. Streamlining and modifying technology
issues have resulted in rapid growth of the Indian telecom sector and strong consumer demand. The private
sector has played an important role in the growth of this sector. Resultantly, India has now become the
second-largest telecommunication market and has the third-highest number of internet users in the world.
With 4G services about to hit the market, the growth in this sector is enormous with regular increase in
the subscriber base. With policy liberalization, there is now easy market access for global telecom equipment
vendors. This has ensured availability of telecom services to consumers at affordable prices. The Make-in-
India campaign appears to have had a positive impact on the manufacturing of mobile handsets in the
country, thereby generating more jobs. India will overtake US as the second-largest smartphone market
globally by 2017. The Indian digital ecosystem will be a $1-trillion economy in the next five years, with $400
billion contribution from smartphones and electronics manufacturing, $350 billion from IT & ITeS-enabled
services and $250 billion from communication services.
The question is if there is positive growth in the telecom sector, then why there are still call drops. Who
is responsible for this? A telecom company says, it is due to the lack of airwaves and their inability to erect
more towers amid concerns over radiation. The telecom department and the telecom regulator said the situation would improve if the operators
spent more money and optimized their networks. Anyway, the subscribers are suffering and getting frustrated at
times when there is disconnection during the call. However, we have to pay the raised invoice by the operators.
There is no doubt that the Aadhaar card has strengthened the Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile framework for developing
social security platforms. After a successful rollout of direct benefits transfer (DBT) for LPG, the Government feels
encouraged to introduce DBT on a pilot basis for fertilizers in a few districts across the country. Going forward, the
Government has to fix plumbing and reduce leakages from the expenditure charged on the Consolidated Fund of
India. It is true that IT consumption and buying pattern have changed drastically. Hence, a good business strategy
without a marketing strategy (combination of marketing mix) to support it won't be very successful.
K E Ranganathan
MD, TVS Electronics Ltd
Howisthe service market growingin the
country?
There are two segments today – Warranty
Services and Out-of-Warranty Services. Post-
sales-Service is greatly felt in product categories
like Consumer Electronics, Mobile Phones and
the IT product lines like PCs and laptops. All
brands are clearly focused on services today as
the key differentiator, because most of their
products are brought from outside are have
common features.
If you look at the mobile phones market
today there are approx..300 Million phones sold
in a year; out of which 20 million phones need
to be repaired, whereas brands offer warranty
services for twelve months. These brands tie
up with companies like TVS-e to offer services
to their consumers. There are three different
servicedeliverymodels–thedeliveryformatcan
be (a) onsite where our engineers will go to the
consumer to repair the device, (b) walk-in centre
where a consumer walks in with his defective
product and (c) repair factory at a central place
where the products will be brought-in, repaired
and then sent back to the respective brand. The
fourth model which is emerging now is the
Remote Tech Support and this is considered
to be more effective when there are no parts
to be replaced and the problem can be solved
remotely.
Customers now are becoming conscious
about the well-being of their products and
even after the warranty period they will land
in an exclusive branded repair centre instead of
visiting a local service dealer. Trust is the single
biggest factor when it comes to choosing a
service outlet for repair. I estimate the warranty
services market to be around Rs.2,000–Rs.2,500
crores while the Post-warranty services (repairs)
market is expected to be around Rs. 5000
Crores
What isTVS-E’sservice presence in the
country?
TVS-E has 70+ exclusive branded service
centres in India today and is present across all
the delivery models. We are the chosen partner
for leading brands like Dell, Lenovo, hTC,
Samsung, Xioami, NCR, Diebold, Micromax
and Lava in managing their warranty services
to customers . The people, process, parts are
managed by us and we deliver a unique seamless
experience to the customers. Brands trust us
for providing high quality service to their
customers.
Howis TVS-E positioned in the market
with its range ofproducts?
Besides services, TVS-E is also very strong
in the product segment. We now have the
dot-matrix printers, Point-of-Sale products
(POS) like scanners, thermal printers and label
printers. We are seeing a huge opportunity for
POS products in the retail segment where just
half a million shops claim to have some category
of POS products deployed whereas the estimates
show over 10 million retail shops in India. With
the likelihood of GST coming into force very
soon, the demand for POS products for the
retail segment will scale up sharply. Beyond
the retail sector, POS products find numerable
applications in other sectors like Manufacturing,
Hotel, Hospitals, Logistics, Transport etc. We
keep launching several exciting POS products
and offer the same with ‘total solutions’
including installation, commissioning, warranty
services and post warranty services. n
“TVS-E is today recognized for
the strong services support"
8. 8 April 2016 www.varindia.com
Channel Chief
Redington transforming from a
VAD to a Solution Distributor
Redington did not want to be just a distributor and value-added
distributor (VAD) and wanted to upgrade its status from being a
VAD to a solution distributor and focus on other key growth areas
like consultancy and implementation of projects. “We are a solution
distributor for Juniper, Polycom, EMC – and this is going to continue.
We just want to add another feather to our cap by expanding our role
in the market,” opines P. S. Neogi, Joint Chief Operating Officer,
Redington.
Except for its consumer group, all the groups focus on selling
solutions. “Whichever vendor wants us to sell solutions, we will be
looking to investing in those offerings. But we do not directly bill with
customers as that has been our policy always. We are instead here to
help partners get potential leads and convert them into business. We
will be solution partners to our partners and help them approach the
end-customer,” explains Neogi.
There are many SMBs and commercial partners who do not have
the skill set, talent or the capacity to invest. Redington steps in with
the necessary assistance to help those partners bag orders and upgrade
themselves with the required skill set. “We will charge the partners
something nominal for the skill training and assistance offered and
partners, in turn, will charge it from the customers. So they do not
have to go to the vendor,” he states.
He further continues, “That is the kind of thrust or change in
direction that we are trying to drive in Redington in the last one and
a half years. It takes time because hitting the talent (partners) and
retaining them is not easy as they happen to command a very high
premium in the market. But then this is an ongoing process.”
With regard to the Smart City project, Redington wants to be
a game-changer. According to Neogi, IT infrastructure will form a
very small part of the Smart City project. The backbone will be IT
undoubtedly, but the actual IT spend will only be a fraction of the
whole project.
Looking ahead...
Neogi wishes to serve its partners better. “We will also be able to
give technical support to the partners and are ready to go the extra
mile on demand basis. But at the same time we will also have to be the
certified or authorized partners for our vendors otherwise customers
are not going to ask us,” laughs Neogi.
Neogi also points out that the incremental change in technology
is going to be very low now. The industry has come to a stage where
very high technology products are in demand. The differentiation
among different brands is slowly fading away today. “Though we
have been present in this market for so many years, we still do not
know how customer preferences or demand level are going to change.
It is the mindset of the people. Today, I will have to struggle to sell a
Rs.25,000 laptop, but people will buy Rs.25,000 smartphones without
even thinking twice. However, one thing is sure that India is going to
play a big role in the Rs.10,000–Rs.30,000 price bracket smartphone
segment. Most of the 90% of the buying is going to take place in this
segment,” he points out.
When asked about the current e-commerce segment in the country,
Neogi states that with the new policy having announced, it needs to
be seen whether the e-commerce segment would be a viable business
or not. “Now that they are not allowed to support the discounting
for its sellers, we would like to see whether these same sellers are still
interested in selling on these e-commerce sites or not,” he says.
Nevertheless, the market is going to be a big potential for Redington
this year. “With all big projects coming up and interest rates coming
down, we are hopeful of seeing a significant opportunity. Redington
is targeting a strong double-digit growth and we will continue to grow
both in the IT and non-IT segments, put together,” sums up Neogi.n
P. S. Neogi
Joint Chief Operating Officer,
Redington
In an interview with P. S. Neogi, Joint Chief Operating Officer, Redington, he discusses on
various growth areas for the distribution company that he thinks are viable enough for doing
business and about the transformation it is going through to suit the demands in the market
Redington is positioned as the brand
behind the brands. We have seen much
struggle to sell a Rs 25,000 laptop, but
people will buy Rs 25,000 smartphones
without even thinking twice.
In its IT products category, Redington
runs the following four groups –
• Consumer Business Group that deals with consumer laptop,
PC, PC accessories
• Commercial & Enterprise Group where it deals with commercial
PC, laptop, workstation, servers, Thin Client, storage,
networking products, power products
• Software & Security Group where all kinds of software like
licensing software, enterprise software, security products &
software are dealt with
• Cloud Solutions Group started last year and through this
Redington started foraying into the cloud space. Today, it
is a Cloud solution provider to Microsoft (CSP) that started
sometime in October or November.
14. 14 April 2016 www.varindia.com
ROUND ABOUT
BiographiesVs Novels
Irecently read Sam Pitroda’s autobiography, Dreaming Big:
My Journey to Connect India. Sam’s name is synonymous
with the telecom revolution in the country. While going through
his autobiography, I realized that his contributions are grossly
understated in the Indian context. Sam’s contributions, if I may
be allowed to interpret, is across the spectrum of technology and
to limit that canvas to telecom is a gross disservice to this man who
courted controversies, often politically motivated and still kept his
spirits high to work for the country in the 1980s.
Sam, as he admits in the book, is the son of a blacksmith born and
brought up in measly conditions and had education at most trying
circumstances, whereas Rajiv Gandhi was a manor born, who could
have everything at his command, being a part of the illustrious and
well known family. Their journey together to give India a technical
face was more on an account of their shared vision. I reckon that
it was a sheer luck that Sam broke the ground to become the most
sought out advisor of Rajiv Gandhi.
There are many such autobiographies and biographies that have
evinced my keen reading. They included that of President Obama,
Mahatma Gandhi, Abdul Kalam and the list goes on. I find it is more
stimulating and absorbing than a thriller since you know very well
such fictionalized things create an ambience of make believe and the
characters are germinated by the author according to his imagination
and more accurately by his predilections and conjurors. Whereas
biographies take you to the real world and you will not get trespassed
into an imaginary world. Here the feelings are real and human and the
author will not concoct things. If one does so, he or she is insensitive
and the work gets easily discounted.
Coming back to Sam’s autobiography, there are many things that
take you to the contemporary Indian context. When he explains about
the state of telecom sector in India in the 80’s, when the industry
was a state monopoly, the present generation who plays with gizmos
of different hues and configurations would think whether such age
existed in India. Once a central telecom minister famously said in
reply to a question raised in Parliament by members who were
dissatisfied with the working of the telecom network plagued by
line disruptions and non - responsiveness of the telecom operators
that they could surrender their connections if they found telephones
were not useful. Could the new generation believe that the waiting
period for a new connection ranged from one year to five years or
even more? To top it, for almost half of the year, the telephone lines
remained dead.
Sam’s determined effort to transform the Indian telephone
network attracted ridicule, cynicism and disdain. Many thought,
as he explains in the book, he was an agent of the multinationals
and out to make quick bucks by investing his time in revamping
Indian telephone system. Otherwise, what is the interest for a man,
who claims to be raking millions of dollars in the US through his
patents and discoveries to come to India to work for very little pay.
There was media barrage against him doubting his integrity. But
the protective shield thrown by Rajiv Gandhi insulated him from
the machination of his detractors. In the process, he created many
edifices that are changing the landscape of India, such as C-DOT,
C-DAC, Technology Missions and the like.
When things had started looking up and taking concrete shape,
many adverse things had driven the good efforts he had done out of
context. Following the Bofors scandal, Rajiv Gandhi had to demit
the office. Before the next elections, when Rajiv Gandhi was widely
expected to make a comeback, he was assassinated. Notwithstanding
his close proximity with Rajiv Gandhi, Sam preferred not to
demit his office, despite him being rebuked by the then minister of
telecommunications, who leveled corruption charges against him and
washed the dirty linen in public. Sam says that the target of attack
was not himself but his benefactor Rajiv Gandhi and thought any
attempt to resign would send wrong signal of the allegations leveled
were true. He continued to stomach the abuses and humiliations and
continued with his works
When the Congress party came to power under the leadership of
Mr. Narasimha Rao, he had his role cut out as the chairman of the
technology commissions. But the spate of health issues that followed
shook him physically but did not dwindle his spirit to survive
and continue with his development works. Once he recuperated
and attained a degree of financial stability, he started refocusing
on India and that determination continues despite the change of
governments.
Once you read through his memoirs, one can easily latch on to
the different phases of development that India had undergone in the
post - independence times. He explains how India could make the
head start in the software development and how the legendary GE
chairman Jack Welsh was compelled to place a US$ 10 million order
for Indian software, perhaps, the first order of that magnitude and
a trailblazer to the things that would follow in the later years. He
explains how the Technology Mission on Education was conceived
and how that is incrementally reshaping the education sector in
India. The digital advantage of India is not a stand- alone achievement
but a grand design to give the country a new development matrix -
inclusive growth. Democracy, he is convinced, can grow only in a
dispensation which ensures development of all and not a few.
What the nation is thinking now, such as innovation, technology,
knowledge driven economy, inclusive growth, digital divide and
what have you, I get the impression, that the Sam and his benefactors
talked about, discussed and debated way back in the 80’s, when
liberalization was a taboo and privatization was almost close to
blasphemy. That is the foresight of the people whom he is talking
about. The pertinent question now is despite that lofty thinking
and high values that we had seized up long back, why we are still
struggling to make development a central theme of our governance?
Is it too much of politicization, too much of talk with little action
on the ground, adversarial political propaganda, not walking the talk
or simple inertia? I do not have an answer for that except a sweeping
generalization that it could be a combination of all.
I still have to convince the readers why I like such biographies
over novels. My simple answer is that the former has realism, real
character, events, real happenings and everything that is to do with
real life but a novel to me appears to depict a reel life. I prefer the
former over the latter. That may not be the case with you. n
16. 16 April 2016 www.varindia.com
HOT BYTES
Rashi explores
new medium
of Marketing
Rashi Peripherals
has forayed into a
newmediumofmarketing,
this time going the digital
way. As a distributor
distributing SanDisk
storage devices, Rashi has
taken the task of creating
a level of inquisition about
SanDisk products among
the end-customers and
popularizing the many
advantages of owning
a SanDisk product.
Through the Digital
medium Rashi would
engage the end- users in a
quiz educating them about
the many advantages of
owning a SanDisk storage
product. A microsite has
been created and would
be promoted through
social media and Google
adverts. The activity will
also provide an extra
cover to the channel
partners through driving
a sense of interest among
the end-user.
DIGISOL brings
new offering
for SOHO
DIGISOL has
come up with
10/100 Mbps Ethernet
Desktop unmanaged
switch DG-FS1016D-A.
The new solution
accelerates bandwidth
needs of small Ethernet
workgroups. Ideal for
the SOHO environment,
the switch uses store and
forward packet-switching
technology which offers
reliable data transfer.
The DG-FS1016D-A
Switch offers
16x10/100Mbps Ethernet
ports which gives small
workgroups a flexibility
to integrate Ethernet and
Fast Ethernet in a single
network.
With its backplane
capacity of 3.2 Gbps, data
transfer is at an average
of 200 Mbps per port at
full duplex mode allowing
every node to perform
at their maximum
performance.
Citrix brings updated partner
programme and incentive portfolio
Oracle strengthens its
expansion plan in India
NETSCOUT’sVSSMonitoringappoints
RAHInfotechasNationalVAD
DSCI and Google bring
“Internet Safety Program”
Avaya may supportTelengana
GIGABYTE’s Friendly Policies make
it a favourite among Partners
Citrix has updated
its partner
programme and incentive
portfolio. Specifically,
Citrix is introducing a
new suggested upfront
discount for partner-
identified and qualified
opportunities, clarifying
existing incentives
to focus rewards on
objective activities, and
expanding its marketing
development funds to fuel
partner growth.
Kimberly Martin,
VP, Worldwide Partner
Sales and Strategy, Citrix,
said, “We are focussed on
helping our partners bring
Oracle has
a n n o u n c e d
that its first incubation
centre will be launched
in India. The centre
named as “Oracle Startup
Cloud Accelerator”, will
open in Bangalore and
will be inaugurated by
Oracle’s President of
Product Development
Thomas Kurian. Several
more centres are slated
to be launched later
in Chennai, Gurgaon,
Hyderabad, Mumbai,
Noida, Pune, Trivandrum
and Vijayawada. Oracle’s
SanketAtal, Group VP
RAH Infotech
has announced
its appointment as the
National Value-Added
Distributor (VAD) for
VSS Monitoring. RAH
Infotech will be able to
further strengthen its
networksecurityportfolio
by adding the complete
suite of solutions from
VSS Monitoring.
Ashok Kumar,
Chief Executive Officer,
Data Security
Council of India
(DSCI), in partnership
with Google, has launched
“InternetSafetyProgram”.
Under the program, DSCI
and Google will organize
a series of workshops
in various cities, to
help inculcate safe and
responsible behaviour in
cyber space by sharing
best practices and guidance
with the audience.
Vinayak Godse,
Senior Director, Data
Security Council of India,
said, “There has been
GI G A B Y T E
has emerged
as the channel partner
favourite among IT
hardware vendors within
India. According to
GIGABYTE India’s
longstanding partners, the
company has struck the
right chord with them in
all channel-related matters
– be it incentives, loyalty
programmes, enhanced
profitability, improved
post-sales support or
our solutions to the mid-
market and making Citrix
the most profitable vendor
on which our partners
can build a business. The
changesweareannouncing
represent a second wave of
improvements in 2016 and
are designed to promote
growth, drive profit and
give our partners greater
predictability, especially
for those partners that
invest in their relationship
with us and look to target
the mid-market.”
of Development, will be
leading the initiative.
Thomas Kurian said,
“Through the Oracle
Startup Cloud Accelerator
andthegrowingpopularity
of cloud as an alternate
computing model, we
want to be the catalyst for
new business ideas. We are
committed to furthering
the government of India’s
‘Startup India’ initiative.
It matches our agenda of
fosteringentrepreneurship
andpromotinginnovation
by creating the right
ecosystem for growth and
development.”
RAH Infotech, said,
“NETSCOUT’s VSS
Monitoring gives
organizations a complete
and centrally controllable
view of their global
network, enabling
decision-makers in the
operations centre and
boardroom to protect
the organization and
its customers, improve
efficiency, drive growth
and reduce TCO.”
an accelerating increase
in the adoption of IT in
the MSME segment. It
is currently estimated at
as little as five per cent.
However, a massive
segment is in the process
of going online – either
benefiting from the
e-commerce wave, cloud
servicesadoption,machine
automation, and social
commerce or by simply
having an online presence
of their business. Internet
safety becomes imperative
in all these situations and
many more in the future.”
Avaya met with
T e l a n g a n a
IT Minister
KalvakuntlaTaraka Rama
Rao, where a number of
initiatives were discussed
to support the state’s plan
to become India’s leading
state for technology
innovation. IT Minister
Rama Rao presented
to Avaya’s CEO Kevin
Kennedy a grand plan
to build and deliver
connectivity to more than
8.5 million households
with more than 32 million
people living in rural areas
and other parts across
the Telangana state. IT
Minister Rama Rao said,
“Our self-certification
system enables any
investor to self-certify
quickly and easily, recent
legislation that makes our
bureaucrats accountable,
the abundant, and
strategically located land
and our human resources
that are being trained to
offer investors skilled
resources from Telangana
are unique to India and
the world.” Avaya global
leadership met with KT
Rama Rao, IT Minister,
StateofTelangana,todiscuss
ways of collaboration on
digitization projects led by
the state.
timely provision of
marketing support.
The one thing that all
partners of GIGABYTE
would readily vouch
for is the fact that the
company offers the widest
variety of motherboards
in the market that cater
to different categories
of end-users. These
motherboards are backed
by the most innovative
technologies and features
in the industry.
18. 18 April 2016 www.varindia.com
Hyper convergence and Hyperscale
driving growth in 2016 for Lenovo
In January 2014, Lenovo and IBM entered
into a definitive agreement to acquire its
x86 server business. The product range
encompasses System x, BladeCenter and
Flex System blade servers and switches, x86-
based Flex integrated systems, NeXtScale
and iDataPlex servers and associated
software, blade networking and maintenance
operations.
Our Enterprise Business is now firmly in
the growth phase despite a few initial teething
concerns and integration challenges. The
server business is core to Lenovo’s strategy
and we are working towards our aim to
become #1 in the enterprise market in the
following five years.
Over the last year, we accomplished
building a strong footing in the large enterprise
space and achieve considerable growth. What
is more important is that we have been able to
build a strong customer confidence. We have
specifically seen some great wins around SAP
HANA, HPC etc. in verticals such as telecom
and manufacturing, automotive, FMCG,
retail etc.
IBM’s x86 business not only gave us access
to the best technology and product roadmap,
but we have also been able to realize several
efficiencies around scale, both on the price
and supply chain fronts. We expect to see a
lot more synergy as the businesses get better
integrated going forward.
Looking back at 2015…
One of the biggest challenges in the last
one year has been the increase in enterprises
demand from IT- both from a budget and
performance point of view. ‘Doing more
with less’ is driving the industry towards
consolidation. With more powerful servers
that have smaller footprints, there has been
an emphasis on reducing server sprawl. One
of the reasons for this is that as the demand
for processing power goes up, CIOs have
very limited bandwidth to physically grow
their servers. Therefore, they expect existing
servers to do more.
Security has also emerged as a No. 1
concern for enterprises. Perhaps due to this,
we have seen the hype around cloud tapering
down, especially when it comes to public
cloud. Many large enterprises are still taking
baby steps on the cloud. Core applications
and data are still in-house although there has
been an emphasis on reducing server sprawl.
Instead, we have seen greater demand for
Hybrid clouds, with single window between
public and private cloud for a seamless user
experience.
With core decision making becoming
real-time, the other big trend of 2015 was the
coming of age of business analytics in India.
For example, using an SAP HANA based
solution,oneofourFMCGclientsnowhasthe
capability to actually plan its manufacturing
right down to details like which soap of which
colour needs to be manufactured at which
location. This is a massive improvement
over the earlier process where manufacturing
plans were done in a week or fortnight. Now
the entire manufacturing cycle is planned in
real time, based on data from the previous
evening.
There are several other great examples – a
research institute that uses HPC to forecast
weather – flash floods, rains etc. based on real
time data or using cameras to capture number
plates of cars jumping the signals, to name a
few.
Lenovo’s vision for 2016
and focus areas…
As always, our strategy, will be a
combination of ‘protect’ and ‘attack.’;
meaning we will protect existing strengths
such as our strong solution capabilities and
high end products. We plan to invest in new
products and alliances, on the ‘attack’ front.
Storage is one area to look out for since we
only have entry-level offerings in storage as
of now.
Two big, emerging trends that we are
investing in are hyper-convergence and hyper-
scale. Our recent partnership with Nutanix is
a step in this direction. As the market moves
from server sprawl to a converged network;
customers prefer the convenience of a single
management console for several infrastructure
layers, be it the compute layer, hypervisor,
networking, fabric or storage.
By partnering with Nutanix, a market-
leader in hyper-convergence, we will enable
our customers to simplify IT Infrastructure
by adding a software defined layer on top of
their existing infrastructure to drive greater
efficiency and agility to their data centers. The
biggest advantage of hyper-convergence is that
The acquisition of IBM’s x86 server business has resulted in Lenovo
accomplishing a strong footing in the large enterprise space and also
gaining strong customer confidence and considerable growth. The aim now
before Lenovo is to become the #1 leader in the enterprise market -
Siddhesh Naik
Director, Enterprise Business Group
Lenovo India
VAR CORPORATE
19. 19www.varindia.com April 2016
The other big trend of 2015 was the coming of age
of business analytics in India. For example, using an SAP
HANA based solution, one of our FMCG clients now has
the capability to actually plan its manufacturing right
down to details like which soap of which colour needs
to be manufactured at which location. This is a massive
improvement over the earlier process where manufacturing
plans were done in a week or fortnight. Now the entire
manufacturing cycle is planned in real time, based on data
from the previous evening.
allows businesses to grow their infrastructure
in the form of building blocks, instead of the
current paradigm of large upfront investments
and provisioning for growth two years in
advance.
Hyperscale will be the other big trend
in 2016. Hyper scale refers to investments
in 1000s of servers by companies.We also
expect to see good traction on HPC and SAP
HANA-based solutions in 2016. 2015 was a
good growth year for us in India. We expect
to see good overall market growth in 2016
driven by trends such as consolidation and
virtualization, HPC and analytics.
Channels will continue to remain core to
ourbusiness.Throughthisperiodoftransition,
our channel partners have been steadfast and
we see them getting even stronger. We have
launched a number of unique initiatives such
as an incentive program for lead generation
(Lenovo ka Sikandar) and health insurance
coverage (Lenovo Cares) for partner team
members. We will also invest in skills
development for key partners, especially in
areas such as HPC and SAP HANA.
Predictability and Commitment
help Lenovo business to grow
In a chat with VARINDIA, Vasudevan
Subramaniam, Managing Director,
NewWave Computing reveals his journey with
Lenovo, the factors which have helped both
Lenovo and his business to grow, the Partner
enablement programs and the expected growth
that he is foreseeing
How long has been your
association with Lenovo?
We have been with Lenovo ever since
the days when the PC business of IBM was
taken over by it. We have been an erstwhile
partner of IBM and after the transition, we got
associated with Lenovo.
How has been the journey so far
with Lenovo?
What is important and what we look for in
a partnership is predictability and consistency.
In PC or end user computing business, how
predictable or consistent a vendor can be from
a strategy, channel or pricing perspective, all
these have a very strong impact either on the
partner or the customer. Fortunately, Lenovo
has been a very predictable and consistent
partner; not to forget that they are one of the
pioneers in product innovation. They have
launched so many products in these years
and they happened to have been the leaders
in almost every category. Product innovation
has been always the highlight for what Lenovo
stands for. And also its predictability on
programs, pricing strategy, product supply
and services what makes Lenovo stands apart
in the competition.
WehavegrownwithLenovotremendously.
The significant growth of our business have
come from Lenovo business. It is because of the
product proliferation, secondly the strategy of
attacking and go after new markets which was
Lenovo’s five years of strategy and we are also
convinced about the strategy. Internally also
the company was also organised in a similar
manner. Our goal was to maintain the existing
customers at the same time go after new
customers and acquire them.
What have been your core
strengthinhelpingLenovogrowing
in the market?
Our core strength is around four key
areas, one is understanding the client needs
and fulfilling the requirements. We train our
field force very well and most of our people are
Lenovo certified. So because of that we are able
to bring value and we help customers to choose
the right Lenovo product. Secondly it’s to be
predictable in your commitments. Lenovo is a
predictable vendor. As a partner also if you do
not have strong engagement vendors we will
not be able to deliver predictable experience.
We have been able to deliver that due to our
strong engagement and at the same time we
have our approach towards food system of
escalation. Third, our job is to deliver right
value for our client, not about being cheap
in price but to deliver right benefits. Creating
that value for client is also a hallmark of new
age value creation capability. Lastly, we are
authorised service provider for Lenovo as well.
We are in a position to service, support our
clients.
How often Lenovo organise
channel enablement product?
Lenovo has programs broadly around face
to face training, weekly webinar and also have
online certification program. The combination
of these three Lenovo is currently delivering
and there is always scope for improvement.
What kind of a business growth
do you foresee?
While there is a large portfolio, the drive
is to have granular focus account by account
and then to see whether we are delivering
value and converting the customers into
revenue. So a lot of marketing effort which
is require and we are planning that this year
to increase growth.
We are also partner for Lenovo Enterprise
products and all of these are apt to increase
our revenue. Certainly, there is now doubt
in our minds that we will grow but the
question is can you grow faster than your
current growth. n
20. 20 April 2016 www.varindia.com
HOT BYTES
Dell brings
“Back-to-School”
offer at just Re.1
Dell has announced
the new “Back-to-School”
season for 2016. This
year, the Dell Back-to-
School campaign aims at
showcasing the power
of personal computing
to both students and
their parents through the
concept of interactive
learning.
Ritu Gupta, Director
– Marketing, Consumer
and Small Business, Dell
India, said, “I think this
initiative will drive away
the fear of adoption of
computers. Being able to
buy a Dell computer at
just Re.1, with the rest
in interest-free EMIs,
is a bold initiative we
have taken, something
that is more prevalent in
consumer durable product
promotions.”
Adobe Summit
2016 outlines its
growthVision
Adobe has
conducted its
annual digital marketing
conference in the U.S.,
Adobe Summit 2016. It
focussed on the future of
marketing and business
transformation.
At the Summit,
the company unveiled
Adobe Cloud Platform
enhancements, including
advancements to its
partner and developer
program. A new Adobe
Marketing Cloud Device
Co-op is expected to
link up to 1.2 billion
devices. Brad Rencher,
Executive Vice-President
& General Manager,
Digital Marketing
Business, Adobe, stated,
"Every company should
be obsessed with the
quality of the experiences
they are delivering to
their customers. Adobe is
laser-focussed on enabling
our customers to create
consistent, personalized
stand-out experiences for
their customers."
IBM ties up with Reliance
Communications
Hitachi andVirtusa ink
global partnership
Fortinet enters into strategic
alliance with NATO
CRPF to strengthen its IT Security
Persistent announces
Growth strategies
SAP to strengthen entrepreneurship
ecosystem in India
IBM has entered
into strategic
partnership with Reliance
Communications to
provide its customers with
a complete portfolio of
highly secure and scalable
Infrastructure-as-a-Service
(IaaS) offerings running
on the IBM Cloud.
“Indian enterprises are
increasingly leveraging
cloud for business
transformation and
require sophisticated
new levels of support to
expand their e-commerce
Persistent Systems
has announced
plans to organize its
business around four
key growth strategies.
Unique to Persistent,
the company’s product
development and
technology DNA drive
all four growth strategies.
The new structure along
with new leadership
responsibilities will be
effective April 1, 2016.
The four growth
SAP has announced
an initiative to
support start-ups in India
and train teachers in
collaboration with the
IIT-Bombay. SAP
will take part
in two different
programmes: the
Entrepreneurship
D e v e l o p m e n t
Initiative and
the “Train
10,000 Teachers”
P r o g r a m m e
(T10KT) – a
STEM education
initiative.
In conjunction with
the incubator centre
at IIT-Bombay, SAP
aims to strengthen
the entrepreneurship
ecosystem and foster
operations. Through our
partnership with IBM,
customers will instantly
benefit from the added
flexibility and global reach
to be more competitive,
especially as we look
at new opportunities
from the “Digital India”
program,” said Braham
Singh, SVP of Global
Product Management,
RelianceCommunications
(Enterprise) & Global
Cloud Xchange.
Hitachi and
Virtusa have
inked a global strategic
partnership. Both the
companies will leverage
their core competencies,
industry IT solutions and
thought leadership to
provide joint services to
their global clients and
broader market. They
will jointly provide value
to clients by helping to
increase operational and
technology efficiency,
implementing new
functionalities and
optimizing complex
operational processes.
“I believe that Virtusa
provides a great fit for
Hitachi. It is a strong
technology partner
with deep domain
knowledge and industry-
based solutions which
complement and extend
upon our own. By
combining Hitachi's
strong programme
management, Japanese
market understanding,
diverse capabilities
in technologies and
knowledge in Financial
Services and other
industries,Ibelievethatour
combined potential will be
significant and continue
to drive tremendous
value for our clients,”
said Masayoshi Ogawa,
President of Financial
Information Systems
Division, Information
& Telecommunication
Systems Company,
Hitachi.
Within the
framework of
theNATOIndustryCyber
Partnership (NICP),
Fortinet has signed an
industry partnership
agreement with NATO
Communications and
Information (NCI)
Agency.
Michael Xie,
Founder, President
& CTO, Fortinet,
said, “Organizations,
both public or private,
and everyday people
are constantly under
cyber attack. If more
organizations proactively
shareactionable
intelligence,
together we
can better
combat advanced threats
and counteract the latest
risks to deliver security
without compromise
today and in the future."
The Central
Reserve Police
Force (CRPF) has chosen
AuthShield, a unique and
patented Make in India
solution developed by
the Indian Information
Security Group – Innefu
Labs to protect CRPF
from data stealing, identity
theft and online security
threats such as phishing,
ransomeware and system
hacking.
CRPF has requested
1,500 AuthShield Tokens
in the first phase and is
expected to deploy it
in different parts of the
country. AuthShield
Authentication security
is a unique and patented
Multifactor authentication
technology that works
at the protocol layer
and combines device
mapping with multiple
authentication form
factors including Facial
Biometrics. Working at
the protocol layer offers
AuthShield the advantages
of integrating Multifactor
Authentication with mails
clients on smartphones and
desktops,SAP,Transaction
Authentication and
Internet of Things (IoT).
These unique features
were not available with
any existing authentication
solution.
strategies and related
business lines are – going
Digital, IBM alliance,
Services and its Accelerite
product suite.
The company also
plans to strengthen its
corporate functions
as part of Corporate
Operations that will
enable and accelerate the
four growth strategies.
Atul Khadilkar will
be the President for
Corporate Operations.
scalable high growth
social enterprises. This
collaboration will
augment a knowledge
and innovation-driven
culture across India, while
further strengthening
the entrepreneurship
ecosystem and facilitating
networking with
professional resources,
mentors and funders.
22. 22 April 2016 www.varindia.com
ON THE RAMP
Tableau 9.3
launched
Tableau Software
has launched
Tableau 9.3 with new
ways to analyze data
and share findings faster.
Enhanced features like
“always connected”
Tableau Desktop,
improved global map
coverage, faster ways to
prepare data for analysis,
more governance features
and easier administration
and direct connectivity to
the Snowflake Elastic Data
Warehousehasbeenadded.
“We have prioritized
sharing and collaboration
in Tableau 9.3, and it
will be immediately
noticeable once people
open Tableau Desktop.
The ‘always-connected’
feature means it’s easier
to share while staying in
the flow of your analysis.
We’ve also addressed
customer requests to
advance our global map
coverage and to make
data prep easier, as well
as made improvements
across Tableau that
create a more delightful
experience for everyone,”
said Chris Stolte, Chief
Development Officer &
Co-Founder, Tableau
Software.
Axis introduces
Mini Dome
Cameras
Ax i s
Communications
has introduced three
new mini dome network
cameras to the AXIS M30
Series. The new models
offer HDTV image quality
to capture all details, Wide
Dynamic Range (WDR)
technology to adapt to
variablelightingconditions
and Axis’ Zipstream
technology to reduce
storage and bandwidth
requirements without
sacrificing important
image details. The factory-
focused cameras can be
mounted on walls or
ceilings and easily be
levelled and directed in
any direction using a 3-axis
camera angle adjustment.
Intel makes Cloud adoption easy
Edimax launchesWAP2600X
10GbE Access Point
Verizon launches Unified
Customer Experience Solution
Emerson launches new
Liebert GXT MT+ CX
Panasonic extends its Multi-
Channel Speaker System portfolio
SanDisk unveils Connect
Wireless Stick
Intel has come
up with a new
range of technologies,
investments and industry
collaborations. This will
help in easy
d e p l o y m e n t
of agile and
scalable clouds.
Intel is
easing the path
withnewprocessors,solid-
state drives and a range of
industry collaborations
to help businesses deliver
new services at the scale
and speed of advanced
public clouds.
“Enterprises want
to benefit from the
efficiency and agility of
cloud architecture and on
their own terms – using
the public cloud offerings,
deploying their own
private cloud,
or both. The
result is pent-
up demand
for software-
d e f i n e d
infrastructure. Intel is
investing to mature SDI
solutions and provide a
faster path for businesses
of all sizes to reap the
benefits of the cloud,” said
Diane Bryant, Sr VP &
GM, Intel’s Data Center
Group.
EdimaxTechnology
has introduced
the WAP2600X 10GbE
access point for large-sized
Intranet data transfers
at incredible speed. The
WAP2600X is a dual-band
wall-mounted access point
supporting 802.11ac Wave
2 and with a 10GbE LAN
port.
The latest 802.11ac
Wave 2 revision delivers
faster Wi-Fi speeds with
more channel width (80
+ 80MHz or 160MHz)
and spatial streams (4
x 4 : 4), making it even
more capable of high-
performanceconnectivity.
One of the key
technology advancements
– MU-MIMO (Multi-
User MIMO) – improves
data transmit times, helps
Wi-Fi networks to scale,
and increases capacity
by allowing APs to
utilize multiple streams
that supports very high
density (VHD) up to 100
client devices per radio
simultaneously. Offering
up to 10GbE Ethernet,
the WAP2600X removes
speed bottlenecks at wired
switches and Network
Attached Storage (NAS).
Businesses serving
all industries will
soon be able to connect
seamlessly with their
customers through Web
chat, social media, email
or mobile via Verizon
Enterprise Solution’s
new Unified Customer
Experience solution.
The latest addition
to the company’s
continually-evolving
Customer Contact
Solutions portfolio will
enable enterprises and
government agencies to
deliver a personalized and
superior omni-channel
experience to clients.
“This platform-
based holistic solution
provides seamless
customer conversations,
including assessment and
analysis of the customer’s
journey throughout their
experience,” said Prashant
Gupta, Head of Solutions,
Verizon Enterprise
Solutions India.
Emerson Network
Power has
introduced the new
Liebert GXT MT+ CX
uninterruptible power
supply (UPS) with 1/2/3
kVA capacity in India.
The availability of the
true double conversion
online backup power
feature on this new UPS
system makes it a reliable
and uninterruptible
power supply source
for optimal running of
small data centers, data
networks, voice networks
and process automation
equipment, even in harsh
power environments.
The Liebert GXT
MT+ CX model will
be sold through various
channels including
VAR’s (Value Added
Resellers), IT Resellers,
Distributors and Business
Partners in India. A major
feature of this product
is its adjustable battery
charging current of up to
16 Amps.
Additionally, this
UPS also has a high
output power factor of
up to 0.8 which allows for
more efficient utilization
for business continuity as
well as mission-critical IT
equipment.
Panasonic has added
two new multi-
channel speaker systems
to its existing lineup.
Along with a powerful
compact subwoofer and
easy connections for all
media devices, the SC-
HT18GW-KhousesanFM
tuner and SC-HT21GW-K
has an in-built Bluetooth
function for Anywhere-
Entertainment.
Ashish Sasidharan,
Product Head, Consumer
Electronics, Panasonic
India, said, “We have
received positive feedback
from the customers for
our recently launched
products, the 2.1Ch HT20
and 4.1Ch HT40. We have
focused a lot on the design
and sound of 2.1 Mini.
The 2.1 BT is a product
extension of our hero
model launched last year,
the HT20 2.1Channel
speaker System, and
delivers an enhanced
sound performance. The
Bluetooth connectivity of
2.1 BT is simple and hassle
free. We are confident of
the success of both the
products.”
SanDisk has
expanded its
mobile storage portfolio
by upgrading its mobile
flash drive. The SanDisk
Connect Wireless Stick
is now available in
200GB capacity, with
faster transfer speeds,
giving users even more
options when it comes to
expanding the capabilities
of their mobile devices.
“With the explosion
of content, people need
more advanced storage
solutions to keep up with
the volume and quality of
the photos, videos and files
they’re creating on their
mobile devices. Our goal
is to deliver innovative,
intuitive offerings that
help them capture life’s
great moments without
worrying about storage
limitations,” said Rajesh
Gupta, Country Manager
– India & SAARC,
SanDisk.
23. 23www.varindia.com April 2016
The threat landscape of Asia-Pacific is
evolving continuously. The methods
and strategies used by the cyber attackers
have become extremely sophisticated. In the
age of the Internet of Things (IoT), where
more devices than ever before are becoming
connected to the network, there are more
potential points of attack for cybercriminals
always on the lookout to make a fast buck.
This makes it more important than ever before
for consumers and businesses to be aware of the
risks, and take the best preventative measures
to protect themselves against attacks.
“Oneofthetrendsweareseeingincludesthe
increase in more innovative and sophisticated
attacks targeting enterprises and government
networks. By hacking into these systems,
attackers are able to gain access to valuable
data and intellectual property that can be used
against the victims or sold to competitors. We
have also seen cases which involve cyber spying,
where attackers launch malicious attacks in
order to spy on government or high-profile
individuals,” said Parvinder Walia, Sales and
Marketing Director, ESET, APAC.
“Given India’s incredibly high mobile
Report 2015, which highlighted that India
has one of the lowest awareness rates when it
comes to cybersecurity, compared with other
countries in the region. This, in itself, could
make internet users in India more vulnerable to
online threats,” added Walia.
Strategy and Channels
Though the business comes from tier-I
cities, tier-II and tier-III cities are also showing
signs of growth. So, to provide a better
coverage to the users and increase brand
awareness, ESET works through two channel
partners. Understanding the mindset of its
customers, ESET has brought simple and easy-
to-use security solutions with an inclusive
approach. The products are aimed to meet the
requirements of the users.
Already, a pioneer in the SMB market,
ESET is now focussing to reinforce its position
in the Enterprise and corporate market across
globe. For that, the company is focussing
to understand consumer’s needs along with
simplifying things for its customers. n
aparna@varindia.com
adoption rate, it is unsurprising that many of
the attacks surfacing in the country are targeting
mobile devices, including various kinds of
malware. This is dangerous, considering the
results of our Asia-Pacific Cyber-Savviness
Parvinder Walia
Sales and Marketing Director,
ESET, APAC
In a chat with VARINDIA, Parvinder Walia, Sales and Marketing Director, ESET, APAC, discussed about the
changing nature of cyber threats, strategies, its channel ecosystem and also the recent focus areas of the company
ESET eyes on tapping
Enterprise Market
FACE TO FACE
24. 24 April 2016 www.varindia.com
ON THE RAMP
DataWind
unveilsTablet
PC i3G7
DataWind has
launched Tablet
PC i3G7 priced at
INR5, 999. In addition
to regular voice calling
functionality, this 1.2
GHz Intel Quad-Core
X3 64-bit processor tablet
incorporates DataWind’s
Internet-delivery platform
covered by 18 U.S. and
international patents
allowing the devices to
deliver the fastest mobile
web experience on regular
GSM-EDGE-based (or
2G) networks. This
unique technology reduces
bandwidth consumption
by up to 97%.
Suneet Singh Tuli,
CEO DataWind, said,
“With this new product,
we are offering Indian
consumers a unique
combination of superior
technologyandunmatched
style. Like its predecessors,
the tablet offers the right
mix of features and on-the-
go connectivity.”
WinMagic intros
SecureDoc
WinMagic has
i n t r o d u c e d
security software
that encrypts virtual
machines running on
I n f r a s t r u c t u r e - a s - a -
Service (IaaS) platforms
in India. Addressing the
growing concerns of
protecting critical assets
stored within virtual
environments,SecureDoc
CloudVM is an enterprise
encryption solution
that offers support
for Windows-based
platforms running in
public, private and hybrid
cloud environments
through application
aware intelligent key
management.
The solution increases
visibility and strengthens
data security within
virtual environments
by controlling the
encryption key
management system
across a vast array of
layers.
Microsoft Launches SQL Server 2016
Lenovo launches Ideapad 100s
NetApp enhances its EF-Series
and E-Series Storage Arrays
Dell brings new Inspiron
15 7000 Series
Sony launches new Projector Series
Seagate brings enhanced
storage solution
Dell India has
launched Dell
Inspiron 15 7000 Series
Notebook, using the
latest 6th-Gen Intel
Quad-Core Processors
and Performance class
NVIDIA GeForce GTX
960M Graphics card.
“With the new Inspiron
15 7000 notebooks, users
will be able to experience
the fun in everyday
computing, with the
pleasure of extended
performance. We pushed
the limits on this device,
so that our consumers
can push theirs, using
Microsoft has
unveiled SQL
Server 2016. It is a data
platform built with
advanced predictive
analytics capabilities.
It helps businesses
with intelligence-based
decision making, giving
them a strong competitive
advantage.
“Data is the new
electricity for businesses
today. I. Microsoft’s SQL
Server 2016 is built for
this data driven world
– customer tested and
battle ready. SQL 2016
supports encrypted query
processing capabilities
for advanced analytics,
machine learning, mobile
business intelligence,
and data integration that
addresses the security
concerns of customers. It
is today the world’s only
relational database to be
born ‘cloud-first’ with the
majority of features first
deployed and tested on
Azure,” said Karan Bajwa,
Managing Director,
Microsoft Corporation
India.
Lenovo has
launched its thin
and light laptop – Ideapad
100s. Lenovo Ideapad
100s is available in silver
at INR14, 990/- and will
be exclusively available
on Snapdeal. Speaking
on specifications, Ideapad
100s is backed by a Quad-
CoreIntelAtomprocessor
and provides a power-
packed performance
that runs up to 8 hours
without plugging in. It
has 1366x768 HD display
and the Dolby Advanced
Audio. The device also
offers connectivity with
USB 2.0 and HDMI ports,
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
options.
Ashok Nair,
Director, Home and
Small Business, Lenovo
India, said, “Lightweight
notebooks that offer
superior functionality at
affordable price points
are a compelling choice in
an era where consumers
are always on the go and
want to stay connected.
Another feature that is
every consumer asks is a
long battery life which
we are offering with this
really cool product. With
its attractive design and
specifications, Ideapad
100s offers unmatched
end-user experience
for both families and
professionals.”
NetApp has
i n t r o d u c e d
a new software for its
NetApp EF-Series all-
flash and E-Series storage
arrays. It has dramatically
boosted the performance
and value of data analytics
applications.
Lee Caswell, VP,
Products, Solutions and
Services Marketing,
NetApp, said, “Our
SANtricity software
meets the challenge with
high-bandwidth analytics
when delivered on disk
arrays and low-latency
response times when
matched with all-flash
media. By combining
this performance with
enterprise reliability and
unmatched density, the
E-Series and EF-Series
arrays make enterprise
storage economically
superior to even white-
box servers for real-time
analytics applications.”
powerful technology
that keeps up with their
pace of entertainment
consumption. These high-
performance devices are
also equipped with the
latest and best graphics
capabilities that allow
users to do much more,”
said Alen Jose, Product
Marketing Director,
Consumer and Small
Business, Dell India.
Sony has launched
its combination of
three new laser and lamp
projectors. Sony’s new
projectors include three
3LCD laser models (VPL-
FHZ65, VPL-FHZ60 and
VPL-FHZ57) to expand
Sony’s growing line of
Z-Phosphor laser light
source projectors.
The new WUXGA
(1920 x 1200) laser models
deliver brightness of 6,000
lumens (VPL-FHZ65),
5,000 lumens (VPL-
FHZ60) and 4,100 lumens
(VPL-FHZ57). For
applications better-suited
to lamp-based projection,
Sony’s new VPL-FH65
(6,000 lumens) and VPL-
FH60 (5,000 lumens) offer
cost-effective options
that still deliver high-
quality performance.
Each uses BrightEra panel
technology to reproduce
natural and vivid colour.
The new laser models
are designed to deliver
enhanced picture quality
with new features such
as “Reality Creation” and
“Contrast Enhancer,”
both technologies already
in use by Sony’s home
theatre projection systems
for high-end consumer
entertainment.
Seagate has launched
its 10TB enterprise
capacity hard disk drive.
The new, robust 10TB
Enterprise Capacity 3.5
HDD provides maximum
storage capacity for
easy system integration
by using the standard
3.5-inch CMR design.
Incorporating seven
platters and 14 heads,
the drive seals in helium
to create a turbulence-
free, quiet environment,
decreasing both friction
and resistance on the
platters and delivering the
industry’s lowest power/
TB ratio and weight
specifications for a 10TB
HDD.
“Cloud-based data
center storage needs
are expanding faster
than many current
infrastructures can
sustain, rendering the
capacity demands of users
a herculean task for cloud
managers. Our new
helium-based enterprise
drive is designed precisely
to help data-centric
organizations worldwide
solve the needs of their
growing storage business,”
said Mark Re, Sr VP &
CTO, Seagate.
26. 26 April 2016 www.varindia.com
VOICE-N-DATA
DIGISOL brings
new offering
to target the
SOHO segment
DIGISOL has
come up with
10/100 Mbps Ethernet
Desktop unmanaged
switch DG-FS1016D-A.
The new solution
accelerates bandwidth
needs of small Ethernet
workgroups.
The DG-FS1016D-A
Switch offers
16x10/100MbpsEthernet
ports which gives small
workgroups a flexibility
to integrate Ethernet and
Fast Ethernet in a single
network.ThisSwitchalso
allows for auto-sensing
and auto negotiation
of highest available
speed (10/100Mbps) and
duplex mode, providing
an automatic and
flexible solution for the
network.
With its backplane
capacity of 3.2 Gbps,
data transfer is at an
average of 200 Mbps
per port at full duplex
mode allowing every
node to perform at their
maximum performance.
LAVA plans
to invest
Rs.2,615 Crore
Lava has associated
with the national
cricket team captain M.
S. Dhoni, as its brand
ambassador. Solomon
Wheeler, Vice-President
& Head – Marketing &
Communication, Lava
International Limited,
said, “We are very proud
and privileged to be
associated with M. S.
Dhoni."
Aligning itself with
the Government of
India’s “Make-in-India”
initiative, Lava has
already set up its first
manufacturing plant
in Noida and plans to
invest Rs.2,615 crore in
a phased manner to scale
it up to have an annual
production capacity of
216 million phones.
Nokia to help Idea Cellular
in 4G LTE rollout
Ericsson signs BSS transformation
contract with BhutanTelecom
Aircel and BSNL sign
2G ICR agreement
CEAMA forms Mobiles and
Communications Council
Tata Communications
and Anam tie up
LeEco to invest US$10 million
In three key regional
circles – Kerala,
Andhra Pradesh and
Haryana, Nokia will
provide technology to
help Idea Cellular to roll
out 4G LTE. Under the
agreement, Idea Cellular
will deploy Nokia’s
unique Single RAN
technology, which enables
simultaneous 2G/3G/4G
operation on one
platform. Nokia will also
support modernization
and expansion of Idea
Cellular’s core network
and operational support
systems to support the
4G LTE rollout, along
with professional services
for network deployment,
network planning
and optimization,
system integration and
supervisory managed
services support.
Himanshu Kapania,
Managing Director, Idea
Cellular, said, “Our
excellent partnership with
Nokia now enters a new
phase as we launch 4G
LTE services to bring a
superior experience to our
customers.”
Ericsson has signed
a Business Support
Systems transformation
contract with Bhutan
Telecom. Under the
agreement, Ericsson
will transform Bhutan
Telecom’s billing systems
into a convergent
environment supporting
mobile, fixed line and
broadband subscribers.
This partnership will
enable Bhutan Telecom
to launch promotions and
notifications, product and
service cross-bundling,
cost-control for postpaid
subscriptions and service
personalization. The
operator will be able to
designandofferpromotions
and campaigns in real time
and in accordance with
subscribers’ interests,
while monetizing ongoing
growth in data traffic.
Ericsson will be
responsible for design,
deployment and systems
integration of the
solution. The convergent
charging solution, based
on Ericsson’s BSCS iXR4
offering together with data
monetization features such
asPCRF,willbeintegrated
with Bhutan Telecom’s
existing infrastructure.
Bhutan Telecom will
migrate its subscribers
onto the new platform by
the third quarter of 2016.
Aircel and BSNL
have signed 2G
ICR agreement on a pan-
India basis. This is a first
agreement between a state-
owned operator and a
privatetelecomplayerthat
will see the culmination
of an intra-circle roaming
(ICR) agreement with the
private operator for all
circles.
With this strategic tie-
up, both organizations
will be able to enhance
customer’s experience,
besides utilizing each
other’s assets and network
strength. Besides reducing
call drops, this deal is
expected to improve the
quality of services to
mobile subscribers along
with better connectivity.
Starting this financial
year,BSNLexpectstoearn
Rs.300–Rs.400croreayear
through signing various
ICR arrangements. In
ICR agreements, passive
infrastructure such as
base transceiver stations
will be shared among
the operators when a
subscriber of an operator
roams in that circle.
Co n s u m e r
E l e c t r o n i c s
and Appliances
M a n u f a c t u r e r s ’
Association has
announced its extension
by forming a Mobiles
and Communications
Council to advocate for
the mobility industry.
Manish Sharma,
President, CEAMA, and
MD, Panasonic India &
South Asia said, “The local
component ecosystem
is still not fully in place,
resultingindependencyon
international machineries
and mechanisms.
Therefore, the industry
should be given an
opportunity to build the
ecosystem and encourage
the initiatives being taken
in this area. We believe
the new Mobile and
Communication Council
will appropriately connect
and be able to propagate
the recommendations
of industry players to
government and policy-
makers. CEAMA is
working to ensure that
majority of components
be made domestically,
which will need time and
further encouragement by
the government to make
this happen.”
Ta t a
Communications
has partnered with
Anam to create an end-
to-end solution that
helps mobile network
operators globally to
tackle revenue loss caused
by A2P SMS spam,
fraud and “grey route”
messaging traffic. The
combination of Mobile
Messaging Exchange and
Anam’s SMS firewall
protects mobile networks
against grey routing and
spam traffic, ensuring
secure and reliable SMS
delivery, and enabling
mobile network operators
to recoup revenues owed
to them by unauthorized
message senders.
Anthony Bartolo,
President of Mobility and
Collaboration Services,
Tata Communications
says, “A2P SMS can be a
hugely effective customer
engagement tool for
businesses – no OTT
service can today match
the ubiquity of SMS.
But in order for mobile
network operators,
messaging aggregators and
enterprises to reap the
benefits of SMS, secure
message delivery and
reliability are the key.”
By the end of
2016, LeEco will
set up in-house Content
Delivery Networks
(CDNs) in ten cities
across India. The in-house
CDNs across 10 locations
in India (including key
cities like New Delhi,
Mumbai, Bangalore) will
be connected to LeEco’s
global 650 CDNs through
cloud, allowing LeEco
smartphone or television
users to stream audio,
video or internet television
content on-demand
seamlessly and reliably,
wherever they are.
LeEco is also planning
to investment over
US$10 million to set
up this CDN/cloud
infrastructure which will
provide content delivery
capabilities in linear
channel, live events, and
video on demand serving
both mobile and TV
segment, giving consumers
a better user experience on
LeEco products. Through
this service, the company
is aiming to reach out to
close-to 10 million user
base in smart devices in
these 10 locations across
India.
27. 27www.varindia.com April 2016
PRODUCT OF THE MONTH
Canon
Pixma
G2000
Lenovo PHABLenovo PHAB is a blend of Smartphone and a Tablet.
The device merges all the functionality of a tablet with the
true portability of a smartphone. Stretching the versatility of
a Smartphone, PHAB is optimized for single-hand use with
a large 6.98-inch screen; offering best-in-class entertainment,
speedy Internet, and all-day battery life. The slim design and UI
with several shortcut features aid in single-handed operation,
making it more comfortable to hold and use the PHAB.
Additionally, it is loaded with Android 5.1, which provides
a clean and efficient operating interface for the end-use. The
device comes with 360 Voice feature and its three-microphone
solution and dedicated voice processor ensure clean voice input
and flawless on-speaker sound. The PHAB also addresses the
consumer’s 24/7 connectivity needs with its Dual SIM fast
connectivity, ensuring a reliable and fast connection. Adding to
its slew of features is 2GB of RAM and an expandable memory
of 64GB. The quad-core Qualcomm processor, ensures a
responsive and smooth-running device. Lenovo PHAB has
13MP rear auto-focus camera and five advanced lenses that help
it produce sharp images even in low light conditions. For more
realistic colour tones, it comes with a DUAL LED flash. In
the front, the PHAB houses a 5MP camera with a wide angle
lens and a pano selfie mode. The PHAB comes with a built-in
Dolby ATMOS 3D Audio soundbox at the back of the device,
which helps to project and enhance the sound experience.
The ATMOS processor on the device produces a sensation of
movement and overhead sound that brings the story alive all
around you.
Canon Pixma G2000 is a refillable ink tank All-In-One printer which is designed for high volume printing at low running cost.
According to the company, it is capable to yield as high as 6,000 pages mono prints and 7,000 pages colour prints. The printers have
individual ink tanks for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. PIXMA G2000 printer use Full-photolithography Inkjet Nozzle Engineering
(FINE) to create high-density print heads with microscopic ink droplet sizes. FINE enables the printers to achieve high resolution images.
This printer can also print borderless photographs up to A4 size. With Built-in integrated ink tanks create a compact printer body. Users
can also view remaining ink levels easily at a glance. The sleek and compact Canon Pixma G2000 Multifunction Printer measures 445 ×
330 × 163 (W × D × H) mm and weighs only 5.8 kg. The matte black finish makes it look very eye catching. It is equipped with four
individual ink bottles with 2pl min ink droplet size and total 1472 nozzles. You can easily fit this small sized printer in a limited space of
your office. Its portable design and light weight enables you to shift it conveniently from one place to another. The Canon Pixma G2000
Multifunction Printer produces crisp and clear prints with a maximum resolution of 4800 × 1200 dpi. It has a high document printing
speed with approx. 5 ipm for color and approx. 8.8 ipm for Black & White. For connectivity it has Hi-speed USB 2.0 interface which
allows you to directly print all your important documents and images from your USB flash drive with ease.
30. 30 April 2016 www.varindia.com
CHANNEL BUZZ
Gemalto honours partners at
Annual APAC Partner Summit
TAIT Paathshaala Programme
launched for Partners
Kaspersky Lab Concludes Partner
Meet in New Delhi
Huawei concludes Cloud Congress India 2016
Gemalto has announced
the winners of its 2015
APAC Annual Cipher Partner
Awards. Each of the awards
recognizes the individual
achievements of Gemalto’s
indirect channel partners and
their contributions to help
protect customers from data
security threats. This year’s
awards ceremony was held on
March 16 in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Rana Gupta, Vice-President
of the APAC region, Identity
and Data Protection, Gemalto
said, “We are very proud to
acknowledge their efforts in
supporting Gemalto and helping
organizations evolve their data
security strategies to protect
the ever-changing data threat
landscape with our industry-
leading encryption and identity
protection solutions.”
TIS Inc. of Japan and
Telecommunications &
Security Systems Ltd of Hong
Kong were recognized with
the Rising Star of the Year
award. PT. Transition
Systems Indonesia received the
Marketing Excellence Award
for generating the most sales
opportunities from Gemalto’s
partner marketing campaigns
in 2015.
Adost of South Korea was
recognized for the Solution
Partner of the Year award .
• The Cipher Partner of
the Year was awarded to Nera
Telecommunications Ltd of
Singapore.
• The Top Contributor
of the Year award was given to
Transition Systems of India.
The Trade Association of
Information Technology
(TAIT) has launched its TAIT
Paathshaala programme in
Mumbai for TAIT members and
their staff with the tag line "Kuch
Naya Sikhte Hain". The TAIT
directors and other members
actively participated in the
workshop.
Rushabh Shah, CEO, Graham
Information Systems and TAIT
President, took the initiative in
conducting the first edition of
this project titled Office Suites
and Spreadsheet productivity.
He covered the different types
of Office suites (collection of
programmes comprising of
word processor, spreadsheet and
presentation software). He also
explained the merits, demerits
of these packages and educated
members the licensing needs of
these programmes.
The second workshop was
conducted with a focus on
Tally ERP by Ketan Gandhi of
V-Intech which demonstrated
the new Tally capabilities. The
workshop covered “Post-dated
Cheque Management in Tally.
ERP9 Release 5.x” – a feature
which is very useful to the IT
community.
“New Statutory Features in
Tally. ERP9 Release 5.x” was
another topic discussed during
the session that explained Tally
has simplified Statutory Taxes
management and feature related
to VAT was specifically dwelt
upon.
In the open house session,
queries related to handling
e-commerce sales transactions
and generating related reports,
multi tax in single invoice, usage
of delivery challans salesman wise
outstanding, etc were answered.
Kaspersky Lab India has
conducted its partner
meet with SEA Infonet,
its national distributor for
enterprise products. The meet
discussed about their future
business strategies with a focus
to develop market in emerging
geographies, for its rich and
wide suit of offerings for the
new financial year.
The partner meet brought
together 35 partners and 80
participants, covering the most
vital links of the Kasperksy Lab
network in India. Ajay Kumar
Joshi Director, Channel Sales
introduced with a review of
2015 and charted out the plans
for the 2016. Partners were made
aware of the latest developments
and new opportunities that
could be explored together.
Also discussed in the space
of Government business,
the DGS&D rate contract
awarded to Kaspersky where
the partners can make the most
of the opportunity. Another
concern that was discussed in
the event was Targeted security
solutions for Virtualizations,
Storage and Mobile.
Sharinginsights,AltafHalde,
Managing Director - South Asia,
Kaspersky Lab, said, “Regular
partner meets are crucial to
keep the communication clear
and effective, and also to
help understand how things
are getting executed at the
ground level. This 2-way
communication is beneficial to
everyone. The meet was very
insightful and productive, as,
we all got to share notes and
carefully study the road ahead
for 2016.”
Huawei has successfully
concluded “Huawei
Cloud Congress 2016” in
Mumbai this year. It focussed
on “Transforming with Cloud”
while being aptly themed “Make
IT Simple, Make Business Agile”.
The event saw a gathering of
over 200+ attendees, including
industry experts and opinion
leaders from key organizations
like Relaince, TATA, Vodafone,
Idea who gathered to discuss
the latest trends in the Cloud
technology.
Huawei demonstrated its
latest offerings in cloud solutions
and showcased its products.
T R A N S F O R M A T I O N
towards a DIGITAL
EXPERIENCE and how to make
businesses agile truly reflects the
main idea of this year's Huawei
Cloud Congress, India 2016
Huawei has been
communicating with more than
400 carriers worldwide, and is
well aware of the pain points
and issues in their road to digital
transformation. As the strategic
partner for a lot of global carriers,
Huawei will together “BUILD
A BETTER CONNECTED
WORLD” with operators as they
transform digitally.
David Li, Head of India Sales
for Huawei, commented on the
Open ROADS strategy, “With
consumers demanding more
personalized and innovative
digital services, a superior user
experience is becoming critical to
global carrier success.”
Encompassing five
fundamental characteristics
– Real-time, On-demand,
All-online, DIY, and Social
– "ROADS" encapsulates
Huawei’s definition and vision
for the ultimate user experience.
IT is the foundation for digital
businesses. From a landing point
of view, cloud data centers are the
core support and foundation for
digital transformation.
32. 32 April 2016 www.varindia.com
Intel Innovating to support
Smart City in India
Fostering innovations worldwide, Intel is now stepping and
working aggressively towards the Make In India Project. From
powering the latest devices, technologies, cloud, to driving policy,
diversity, sustainability, and education, Intel has been creating value
for their stakeholders, customers and society. Kavitha Mohammad
- Director, IoT & Smart Cities at Intel (Asia Pacific Japan) shares
Intel’s vision towards Indian IT space in an exclusive interview with
SPO India -
The internet of things is now growing exponentially and is
reaching different verticals and industries. It is all about developing
the infrastructure and connecting different devices.India is one of the
countries where a lot of innovation is happening around IoT across
different verticals and technologies. Intel is one of the leaders in the
production of low-powered chips to connect IoT devices.
According to Kavitha Mohammad - Director, IoT & Smart Cities
at Intel (Asia Pacific Japan), there is a huge potential in the IOT space,
especially in the Asian Pacific Japan (APJ) and in India markets. “India
is one of the booming industries in IOT space, where lot of investments
are seen happening in the domain of manufacturing, automotive,
mining, healthcare, banking and education,” she says.
However, all these verticals require lot of investments into
infrastructure as well as technology. “Technology becomes the catalyst
and that’s the crux of IOT scope for us. Technology is being used
highly, due to which lot of data is coming out and when there is data,
you need mechanism as well as high end technology to analyse that
data in the backend. That perhaps is the scope in the IOT space at
present in the country,” states Kavitha.
Intel has entered into a strategic investment in the IOT space in
India. As an opportunity, be it in the manufacturing or smart city area,
there is need for local solutions to be built up. Intel’s investment is
basically bringing the thought leadership in, upon which the company
has worked aggressively and will continue to do that.
Opportunity in IOT space…
Opportunities in IOT is based on the different needs of verticals
as well as countries. In India, security and surveillance segments are
the first opportunities. It is one of the important and sensitive subjects
which are not just about physical security and surveillance like cameras.
etc., but it’s about data security. As per current scenario, more devices
are being connected which creates the need to keep date safe and
secured. Also, transportation, manufacturing and waste management
will increase the need for more IOT devices in the country. Also
technology will help these verticals in lot many ways like improving
productivity, quality, etc.
The Smart city project is also about optimization of transportation,
energy and all other different verticals that run in the city. Surveillance
as a solution is an integral part of smart city and Intel has done several
projects in the country for the same. “As an integral part of smart city,
at this point of time we are actually enabling Wi-Fi, surveillance, smart
lighting which will result in saving of energy and smart metering,”
adds Kavitha.
Intel is also running several programs to trigger the innovation part
in support of the Make In India project. As in Make in India program,
where one designs, concepts and also manufactures, Intel runs a similar
concept that calls for collaborations with industry bodies to create
innovation labs to provide components to entrepreneurs.
For this, Intel conducts 2 to 3 days workshop where it invites
entrepreneurs, startups and let them meet together and work which
generates several new ideas. “Recently, we have announced and
identified 10 start-ups that came up with ten different innovative
ideas,” says Kavitha.
Further, moving from the designing stage, Intel takes these start-
ups to the scaling stage which is the manufacturing phase. She adds,
“In manufacturing if these guys are given the right opportunity as
well as exposure, they can meet the needs of Indian markets. Also,
identified entrepreneurs in our workshops get the opportunity to
collaborate and work with other ecosystem partners of Intel which
helps them scale up to make manufacturing more productive.”
Intelisnotonlysupportingthesestartupsmakeproducts,localized
designs and concepts in India, but also helping manufacturing units to
improve their productivity. The chip maker is also looking forward
to providing solutions which are customized as per Indian needs,
while providing intelligent technology that supports the Make in
India project. n
Kavitha Mohammad
Director, IoT & Smart Cities at Intel (Asia Pacific Japan)
Opportunities in IOT is based on the different needs
of verticals as well as countries. In India, security and
surveillance segments are the first opportunities. It
is one of the important and sensitive subjects which
are not just about physical security and surveillance
like cameras. etc., but it’s about data security. As per
current scenario, more devices are being connected which
creates the need to keep date safe and secured. Also,
transportation, manufacturing and waste management
will increase the need for more IOT devices in the
country. Also technology will help these verticals in lot
many ways like improving productivity, quality, etc.
FACE TO FACE
33. 33www.varindia.com April 2016
Netgear tapping SMB market
with smart solutions
NETGEAR has been innovating
networking products that connect
people, power businesses, and advance the
way people live. Providing a range of products
for the home segment, SMB Networking and
Storage, NETGEAR, has been continuously
expanding its business in India and SAARC
geography. Subhodeep Bhattacharya
Regional Director, India & SAARC of
NETGEAR, shares insights and plans of the
company for ongoing year with the VARIndia
team –
As a part of their expansion plan, Netgear
proposes to address Eastern India in a better
way with their whole range of products
encompassing end-to-end retail, networking,
storage, wireless, security and telecom access
products. With a three-dimensional approach
in expanding their business, the company is
focussed on expanding their product line
to be able to address more categories and
segments. Secondly, they wish to expand
geographically to reach out to more and
more customers in many more locations.
And last but not the least, the company eyes
a channel expansion strategy wherein they
can add more channel partners.
India offers many opportunities to an IT
productmanufacturerandthelowpenetration
of IT would ensure that many of these sectors
would be growing fast. Commenting on the
same, Subhodeep Bhattacharya stated, “We
believe in the current scenario, surveillance,
campus wireless, 10G, gigabit switching,
mid-market storage solutions and security
solutions would continue to show strong
growth. Government, SMBs, education,
healthcare and retail should continue to
grow as segments.”
NETGEAR has a huge focus on
SMB and smart home automation. The
company has been designing products
to get configured in simple or complex
solution environments in SMB and SME
organization. “We have many proven
solutions designed and deployed across the
country. These solutions range from storage
solutions like virtualization and backup
to network solutions like 10G network
and campus wired and wireless solutions.
These solutions have been deployed in
media, hospitality, healthcare, education,
government, and manufacturing sectors.
We are focussed on the SMB market in
India,” he added.
For 2016, Netgear will continue to
introduce new switches in the 10G, gigabit,
smart and chasis switches categories.
Wireless and storage are, thus, going to be
the focus area in 2016. Also, it has plans
to introduce new automation solutions
for home and small offices. Additionally,
BYOD has been a trend for quite some
time now. As the company is focussed on
connecting people to networks and the
internet, BYOD is also going to be central
to Netgear’s plans. n
FACE TO FACE
34. 34 April 2016 www.varindia.com
Why companies need to harness
the power of real-time data?
Companies are always trying to
find the best way to store data in a
meaningful format so that they can
make better business decisions. Since
the birth of data warehousing almost
30 years ago, numerous innovations in
data management have been made,
such as Hadoop and NoSQL. According to
experts, SAP HANA has established itself
as a baseline for further innovation by
having introduced its High-Performance
Analytic Appliance (HANA), a platform for
processing high volumes of operational
and transactional data in real time. Arun
Kumar VC, Senior General Manager –
Enterprise Solutions, HTC Global Services,
shares the insights on developments and
challenges faced by companies while
adopting SAP HANA –
Real-time data offers several benefits to
businesses of all sizes. It delivers the first
level of interaction with business data for any
application, analytics, or transaction. With
real-time data, organizations can access data
quickly, enable collaboration among teams
and partners, and deliver new business insights
and scalable transactions. It can also lower IT
costs through automation and simplification,
reduce hardware requirements, optimize data
caching and eliminate data duplication. The
major benefits of real-time data management
enables real-time data sharing and quality,
enablesmuchricherdatasharingandimproved
data quality and allows any application to
access any business data in real time.
There are certain challenges that one
comes across while migrating to SAP
HANA, for instance identifying challenges,
assessing requirements and resources, creating
plan, preparing infrastructure, performing
migration and validating migration. At an
initial stage, businesses see different challenges
like budget, dependency on factors like sizing,
infrastructure, resources, migration strategy,
getting the right partner, deciding on on-
premise, cloud or hybrid strategy while in the
execution phase, unicode and dual stack split,
code optimization, cutover, downtime issues
are generally faced by the companies.
A real-time example can be given of that
of SAP ERP that is powered by SAP HANA.
It brings in speed to ERP system processing
utilizing in-memory computing capability and
real-time data processing capability utilizing
the best in software and hardware innovations.
SAP HANA also brings in the ability to
process structured as well as unstructured data,
to provide predictive and complex analytics
and drastically simplifies the customer’s SAP
ERP landscape. “With the inclusion of various
innovations and simplifications based on SAP
HANA’s capabilities, SAP ERP has evolved
into a one-stop solution for an ERP solution
which includes ERP applications / solutions,
innovativeuserexperience,inclusiveanalytics,
real-time data processing, big data and more,”
says Arun Kumar. n
The Latest Trends and
Challenges in SAP HANA –
• Landscape Simplification by utilizing
SAP HANA as an Appliance
• SAP Business Suite on HANA
implementations / migrations
• SAP Business Warehouse on HANA
implementations / migrations
• S-innovations inclusion in Suite on
HANA
• S/4HANA enterprise management:
Next-generation business suite and
the foundation, covering the digitized
mission-critical business processes of an
enterprise
• On-Premise and Cloud deployment of
Suite on HANA
• Big data analytics utilizing SAP HANA
• E-Commerce (SAP Hybris) powered by
SAP HANA
• Speed – ability to manage massive data
volumes at high speed
• Agility – permits real-time interactions
across the entire value chain
• Insightsfromstructuredandunstructured
data, predictive and complex analysis
• Supports running next-generation
applications
• Advanced cloud platform – supports
business innovation
• Simplicity – fewer layers and a simpler
landscape for lower costs
• Value – innovate without disruption and
add value to legacy investments
• Choice of working with your preferred
partners at every layer
The main reasons why
companies choose SAP HANA –
Arun Kumar VC
Senior GM – Enterprise Solutions, HTC
Global Services
FACE TO FACE
Qualcomm encourages Make in India vision with“Design in India”Challenge
With a view to catalyzing the creation of a product and hardware design ecosystem in India, Qualcomm, in association with the
National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), has announced the ten finalists of the first edition of the
Qualcomm Design in India Challenge which was launched in December 2015.
“Inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s Make in India vision, Qualcomm is excited to support the possibility of making India a hub
for design capabilities that would drive the value chain from a service focussed to product capable industry. We are thrilled at the overwhelming
response to the Qualcomm Design in India Challenge and look forward to incubating the top ten finalists in the Qualcomm Innovation Lab to
transform their ideas from concept to product stage,” said Sunil Lalvani, Vice-President & President, Qualcomm India & South Asia.“
“We are happy to be associated with Qualcomm in this progressive effort, to actualize the Make in India vision,” said R. Chandrashekhar,
President, NASSCOM. “This initiative, closely aligned with NASSCOM’s own vision to ‘Connect, Collaborate and Co-create’, is a great
platform to drive innovation.”
The ten shortlisted companies for the first edition of the Qualcomm Design in India Challenge are:
Aarav Unmanned Systems, Artificial Machines, Carnot Technologies, Green Robot Machinery, iFuture Robotics, Lensbricks Technology,
Myelin, Treepie Computing, Uncanny Vision, Watchy Technology.
These ten companies will now be incubated in the Qualcomm Innovation Lab and the top three winners will each receive a funding of
$100,000 at the end of the incubation period expected around November 2016.
35. 35www.varindia.com April 2016
Movers & Shakers
Rajiv Gauba appointed as
Secretary, Urban Development
Mr Gauba, a 1982 batch Jharkhand cadre
IAS now posted in his cadre has been appointed
as Urban Development secretary. He has been
appointed in place of Mr Madhusudan Prasad, a
1981 batch IAS officer of Haryana cadre, on his
retirement on March 31, 2016.
In a meeting with senior officials of the Ministry of Urban
Development soon after assuming charge this morning, Mr Rajiv
Gauba said, “With the launch of new urban development initiatives
like the Smart City Mission, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban
Transformation, Heritage City Development Mission and Swachh
Bharat Mission, the focus of the Ministry now shifts to effective and
timely implementation of the schemes by the States and Urban Local
Bodies through effective coordination with them.”
MrGauba has wide-ranging experience in senior positions at
policy making and programme implementation in the Central and
State Governments and in international organisations. Hailing from
Punjab, the 1959 born Shri Gauba is a physics graduate from Patna
University.
After 98 years Panasonic gets a
young Indian Executive Officer
Manish Sharma has been appointed as
Executive Officer of Panasonic Corporation
and President & CEO of Panasonic India
& South Asia, from his most recent role as
Managing Director, India. He is the first Indian
ever to be appointed as Executive Officer of the
Corporation.
Manish Sharma as the President & CEO of Panasonic India & South
Asia, will preside over operations of Panasonic in India, including the
group and sister companies and the group support operations. The
group companies include Panasonic Appliances, Panasonic AVC India,
Panasonic Energy India, Panasonic Carbon India, Anchor Electricals,
Firepro Systems Pvt. Ltd.
He will be responsible for driving profitable growth along with
strategy planning and sustainable business development across
businesses.
Sharma joined Panasonic in 2008 and has been instrumental in
spearheading the growth and transformation of Panasonic India from
a consumer-electronics company to a technology solutions company.
Amitabh Kant appointed
CEO of NITI Aayog
Mr Amitabh Kant has been appointed as
the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the NITI
Aayog and has taken over the office from April
1st. He is a 1980 batch Kerala cadre IAS officer.
Mr Kant has been appointed in place
of former IAS officer SindhushreeKhullar,
who was appointed as the first CEO of the National Institution for
Transforming India (Niti) Aayog, a body that has replaced Planning
Commission, for a fixed one-year term beginning January 1, last year.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is Chairman of Niti Aayog.
Hitachi Data System appoints Raghuram Krishnan as Director-
Channel and Alliances
Raghuram Krishnan to spear head the channel and Alliance business
in Hitachi Data Systems. With over 16 years of experience Raghu will
be driving the channel eco-system with its partner,technologyand
application vendors of HDS.
C Sukumaran appointed
as Assistant Director of
CSP Division, Canon
Canon has announced the appointment of
C Sukumaran to the designation of Assistant
Director of Consumer Systems Products (CSP)
division at Canon India.
C Sukumaran will be leading CSP division’s Laser and Inkjet
printer business in India and will be accountable to take the marketing
and sales of the products to the next level. He will be reporting to
Andrew Koh, Vice-President, CII Group, Canon India.
Under his leadership, the CSP division will continue to focus
on government and enterprise business, making Canon the industry
leader in the printing domain.
Sukumaran has been associated with Canon for over 15 years.
Prior to this, he was working as the Assistant Director of the Business
Imaging Solutions (BIS) division.
AT Rajan elevated
as CEO at Ricoh
AT Rajan has been appointed as the CEO
of Ricoh, following the resignation of its
former MD & CEO, Manoj Kumar from the
Board of Directors effective from April 2nd.
AT Rajan has earlier served in different capacities at Ricoh. He
was previously the Sr Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer and
before that the Chief Marketing Officer. He has also worked with
CEAT and Taj Services before joining Ricoh.
Kaspersky Lab names its
new MD, Asia Pacific
Kaspersky Lab has appointed Maxim
Mitrokhinas Managing Director of Kaspersky
Lab Asia Pacific. Based in Singapore, Maxim
will spearhead the company’s dynamic growth
strategy in the region.
Maxim Mitrokhin, Managing Director,
Kaspersky Lab Asia Pcific, said, "I am excited to lead and grow an
already highly successful business in the Asia Pacific region. Our
evolving portfolio of B2B products and business solutions combined
with the strength of our channel network puts us in a great position
to explore and exploit the full potential of the Asia Pacific market.
I look forward to working with the team and our business partners
to give the best to our users." Having joined the company in 2008
as the Director of Operations in APAC, Maxim is now responsible
for continuing Kaspersky Lab’s business growth in the region with
a focus on reinforcing B2C market share, as well as driving channel
engagements and development in the B2B sector. With strong
leadership skills and vast experience in the region, Maxim is ideally
placed to take the Kaspersky Lab business to the next level.
