Micromax launches BOLT D303

Micromax Partners with Firstouch Regional Smartphone OS to empower consumers to do lot more than what they would have found difficult to do in base Android.

Micromax, one of India’s leading smartphone maker and the World’s 10th largest mobile manufacturer, accelerated its step towards democratizing language by partnering with Firstouch Regional Smartphone Operating System to launch Micromax BOLT D303, the first smartphone in the sub 3K category with multiple language features.

The BOLT D303 comes pre-loaded with 10 regional languages powered by Firstouch. The all new Messaging Service with patented ‘Swipe’ feature of Firstouch, which enables you to translate and transliterate messages from English to Indian languages & vice - versa just with a simple swipe. You can write in your regional language and convert the message to English before sending, one can also type, chat or change the menu of their phone in their preferred language. It helps the users to type faster in their regional language using the patented Brahmic Keyboard of Firstouch with Matra and Word prediction with over 2 lakh words for each language. The device also comes with Firstouch App bazaar in regional languages which enables the users to download more than 10,000 applications in their regional languages and an intuitive Menu in regional languages with sound assistance and more.

Powered by a 1.3GHz dual core processor, the smartphone comes with a 4 inch WVGA (480*800) display and runs on Android KitKat 4.4. The smartphone will be easily upgradeable through FOTA soon, offering users a number of features including voice search, Google Drive, Hangouts for video calls, smart contact prioritization etc. The phone holds a 3.2 MP AF rear camera and also a front camera. With 3G connectivity the users can stream live videos, movies and download music instantly the 32GB expandable memory.

Priced at Rs 3499, the device will be available at all leading retail stores across the country in one colour i.e. Blue.

Key Specifications:

• 4–inch WVGA (480*800) display
• 3.2 MP FF rear camera and 0.3 MP FF front camera
• 1.3 GHz dual-core processor;512MB RAM
• 4GB ROM
• 1300 mAh battery, up to 245 hours of backup on standby and 4.5 hours of talk time
• 32 GB expandable memory
• Bluetooth 4.0/USB/Wi-Fi

Intel Security Ranked 33rd In ‘India’s Best Companies To Work For’

Intel Security, formerly McAfee is proud to have been awarded the 33rd place in the prestigious 2015 India's Best Companies to Work For; a study by The Economic Times and Great Place to Work Institute India. As a first time participant in the survey, for Intel Security, formerly McAfee to be seen in the company of India’s top corporates is a testament to the organization’s continuous pursuit of creating not just a good but great work environment.

India’s Best Companies to Work For, is part of the world’s largest and most respectable study of workplace excellence and people management practices. The study is conducted by The Economic Times and Great Place To Work Institute India. The company was selected for the award on the basis of responses from both employees and management. 

Commenting on the award, Jagdish Mahapatra, ‎Managing Director for India and SAARC at Intel Security, formerly McAfee said, “Ours is a workplace environment where fresh thinking and originality are encouraged. We personify the dynamic nature of the IT industry – we are agile, passionate and performance driven. We are relentless in our pursuit of success, and we bring the best out of our people by taking them on a journey of regular, consistent and open communication, underpinned by a strong set of cultural values.”

“The company is in the unique position of having the scale to offer career opportunities on a global basis, yet is small enough to care about its employees’ individual ambitions. This combined with industry best practices as well as an open corporate culture make it an organization that is all about empowering its people”, added Jagdish.

Intel Security, formerly McAfee was selected for the award on the basis of responses from both employees and management. The company’s inclusion in the list within the first year of its participation highlights its performance-driven staff, open and authentic culture and commitment to making a difference. More than 700 organizations across 20 industry segments from India participated in the ‘India's Best Companies to Work For’ study.

Cisco to invest bilion dollar for UK's digital growth

Cisco has declared a series of strategic commitments for UK's digital growth. The company will invest over $1 billion in next three to five years. 

It will be followed by $500 mn commitment made by Cisco in 2011, which has contributed in excess of $5 bn in technology and manpower to the UK economy through initiatives such as the British Innovation Gateway (BIG) that helps to grow and nurture UK innovation and entrepreneurship.

The commitment of $150 mn for Internet of Everything UK start-ups and venture capital equity investments will focus on key priorities for Cisco and the UK. These include applications of Internet of Everything (IoE) technologies across financial technologies, retail, and healthcare industries, and smart city development. In addition, corporate investments will also accelerate innovation in cybersecurity solutions.

John Chambers, Chairman and CEO, Cisco said that they are pleased to make their next series of strategic commitments, totaling over $1Bn, to support the next phase of the UK’s digitization plans.

As a part of Cisco’s new financial commitment, capital will also be available for further strategic acquisitions by Cisco in UK, which over the past five years has included acquisitions in wireless software, next-generation video delivery, and cloud-based security technologies.

The new activities form part of Cisco’s global ‘country digitization acceleration’ programme, whereby select countries across the world receive major strategic investment to accelerate existing government goals for driving economic growth through high-tech innovation.

In recognition of the productivity challenges faced by UK and the necessity to increase the level of students utilising science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) skills, Cisco will also invest to promote innovation and entrepreneurship with its Networking Academy education programme

Aspire Notebook and Gaming Monitor Series launched by Acer

Acer has announced the launch of its latest range of devices including the new Aspire E5 Series with solid performance packed into a sophisticated design, the Aspire V Nitro-Black Edition with more powerful processing and gaming-grade graphics, Aspire V3 with metallic aesthetic cues, the Aspire Z Series All-in-One with HD screen, XB240H Gaming Monitor with 4K 2K NVIDIA G-Sync technology, the first curved 34-inch display with NVIDIA G-Sync technology, XR341CKA and the new Aspire Switch 12 featuring 5 versatile modes of usage at an unbeatable price. All of the new notebooks and All-in-One ship with Windows 8.1 and are supported by Acer for the free upgrade to Windows 10.

S. Rajendran, Chief Marketing Officer, Acer India, said, “We have always lived up to our promise of introducing fresh technology that would allow consumers to explore newer features and innovations. The advanced ergonomic design and elegant looks deliver every need at an exceptional value. From notebooks to convertible 2-in-1s to gaming monitors, we are empowering our consumers to easily create and share content and connect with the people who matter to them the most. The new notebook series and gaming monitors come with all the right features in a compact and stylish design that aims at smart consumers who enjoy their work without compromising on its quality.”

Jatin Bakshi joins Citrix as the Business Head, Cloud Networking, India

Citrix has appointed Jatin Bakshi as Business Head of the Cloud Networking portfolio for the India Subcontinent. Jatin will be responsible for performance of Cloud Networking portfolio at Citrix for Indian and SAARC markets. He would be working closely with customers and partners to accelerate adoption of Citrix’s innovations in Application Delivery networks, WAN optimization & Virtualization as customers are looking at virtualizing their data center networks.

Commenting on this appointment, Parag Arora, Area Vice-President & Country Head – India Subcontinent, Citrix, said, “With disruptive technologies like mobile, cloud and analytics transforming business applications, optimizing application delivery strategy becomes critical for user experience and business success. Jatin’s appointment strengthens our focus on the networking segment and his rich experience will be an asset to Citrix’s Indian business.”

Jatin Bakshi, Business Head – Cloud Networking, India Subcontinent, said, “I am thrilled to be a part of the Citrix team and looking forward to my journey here. The IT networking teams are dealing with two paradigm shifts happening in terms of networking architectures. One is network virtualization based on SDN & NFV is getting mainstream and the other is how to deliver applications securely and maintaining user experience as more and more users use mobile for application consumption. Citrix has a tremendous suite of technologies to help customers adapt to these paradigms and I look forward to working with customers, technology partners / OEMs and partners to create success.”

Jatin holds an MBA degree from IIM-Ahmedabad. Jatin was associated with Amazon Web Services in a business development role, where he worked with leading technology start-ups. His core responsibilities during the time included leveraging cloud to deliver the scalability and innovation that was required by start-ups to support exponential business growth. Jatin has handled sales and product management responsibilities at Oracle, NetApp, British Telecom and Avaya. 

Nokia and Airtel join for 3G Network Rollout

Bharti Airtel has selected Nokia Networks to roll out its 3G network in five new telecom circles and network expansion in three telecom circles. In the 4-year contract, Nokia will provide its radio elements and services expertise to power Bharti Airtel's infrastructure.

Abhay Savargaonkar, Director of Network Services Group, Bharti Airtel, said, "We are happy to further extend our long-term association with Nokia Networks towards innovating our network's service delivery mechanism and deliver a host of multi-media apps as well as services for Airtel customers. We see this association underscoring Airtel's constant focus on building a world-class, next-generation smartphone network for its customers."

Sandeep Girotra, Vice-President & Head of India Market, Nokia Networks, said, "With this project, we have further strengthened Bharti's 3G proposition in 8 business-critical circles in India including 5 new circles, adding yet another dimension to our collaboration which continues to gain momentum with such strategic engagements."

Details of the deal at a glance:

Network planning and optimization, network implementation, network operations, project management and care services, including hardware and software maintenance as well as competence development

Compact and energy-efficient Flexi Multiradio 10 Base Station, a software-defined radio platform complemented with Flexi Lite Base Station, a small all-in-one base station optimized for indoor and outdoor micro-cell deployments with superior capacity and coverage in densely crowded areas

Extremely compact, highly scalable and flexible multi-technology, all-IP multicontroller RNC (mcRNC)

NetAct, a cloud-ready virtualized OSS, for effective and consolidated monitoring and optimization

250 Employee Teams Participate in Wipro’s First Internal Virtual Hackathon

Wipro Ltd. announced the conclusion of ‘’, a two-month long internal virtual hackathon for Wipro employees, to develop mobile and web-based applications. Aimed at fueling innovation and igniting the creativity of employees, CodeStorm AppHack encouraged them to develop their dream app for both the B2B and B2C segments, using cutting-edge technologies.

Over 250 teams of employees from across the globe participated in the initiative. The teams competed with each other in a virtual hackathon set-up which involved designing apps for multiple platforms and languages including iOS, Android, HTML 5, Java and other Open Source technologies. The initiative witnessed over 2000 collective hours of coding by Wiproites, supported by a team of senior mentors.

The teams developed a number of innovative apps in multiple rounds, over the period of two months.  The submissions were evaluated by a panel of judges and mentors, which included members from Wipro’s Distinguished Member of Technical Staff (DMTS) Community and the company’s leadership team. The evaluation rounds were a mix of virtual and physical presentations and discussions.

The panel short-listed 25 apps developed during the course of CodeStorm AppHack. Wipro will explore incorporating some of these innovative solutions in customer projects as well as for developing internal use cases.  The top 5 winning teams were rewarded with reward points that are part of the Wipro’s internal corporate rewards program.

Elaborating on this initiative, K.R. Sanjiv, Chief Technology Officer, Wipro Ltd., said, “We want to enable an environment where employees can showcase their expertise, learn and adapt to the latest skill-sets, collaborate with their peers and use creativity and innovation to solve challenging problems. And have fun while doing so. We formed teams across geographies and helped participants collaborate remotely with their teammates to develop some truly remarkable apps.”

Saurabh Govil, Global Head, Human Resources, Wipro Ltd. said, “We are delighted that CodeStorm AppHack was well received by our employees. This is one of the many initiatives that we are driving to accelerate reskilling and training of our employees using new models of engagement. Initiatives such as these, which are designed in a fun format, help appeal to the millennial generation. The hackathon demanded a blend of creativity, technical and business skills to solve challenges and was therefore a showcase of their ideas and new-age skill-sets.”

A remarkable body of work was generated as a result of the virtual hackathon in areas such as mobility in retail, building in-store experiences, next-gen smart grid management for power utilities, IoT (internet of Things) based home appliance automation & control and API (Application Program Interface) mashups to enable employee-friendly business processes.

AppHack is part of ‘CodeStorm’ a global internal initiative aimed at encouraging the skillful use of technology and to inculcate a culture of innovation among the company’s employees, in a fun way. CodeStorm was launched in 2014 and over 7000 Wipro employees have participated in ‘CodeStorm’ initiatives, so far.