Mahindra launches 'Bring the Showroom Home' for a 360 degree Virtual Showroom experience

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (M&M Ltd.), part of the USD 19 billion Mahindra Group today announced an industry first initiative in the automotive retail space with the launch of its ‘Bring the Showroom Home’, a portable, mobile based, interactive Virtual Reality experience. This is a unique initiative wherein a customer would get a 360 degree, all-encompassing and immersive virtual showroom experience.

Screen Grab from the App

Bring the Showroom Home is part of a series of initiatives under Mahindra’s Digital Transformation Strategy. Through an immersive technology experience, the customer can co-create and identify his Mahindra vehicle with any specification, in the convenience and comfort of his home as well as involve his family in the decision making process.  ‘Bring the Showroom Home’ platform will have 3 salient features of Virtual showroom, Self-explore and Make my SUV which will enable customers to experience the vehicle of their choice, in its entirety.

Speaking at the launch of the initiative, Veejay Nakra, Chief of Sales & Marketing – Automotive Division, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.  said, “At Mahindra we have always been at the forefront of disruption with the customer at the epicenter. Hence we reimagined the whole customer purchase experience by embarking on a digital transformation journey for an end-to-end solution from the pre-purchase stage to the post purchase ownership phase. These include industry first initiatives such as SYOUV and With You Hamesha, in addition to our multiple tie-ups with portals for online booking of our vehicles. Now, we are ready to take this disruption to the next level by changing the way automotive retail is perceived in India. Bring the Showroom Home is one such industry first immersive experience.”

Mr. Nakra further added, “In India, where vehicle purchase decision is mostly influenced by the family, Bring the Showroom Home will get the showroom closer to our customers and their families. After all, we want to take customer experience to the next level through convenient, transparent and personalised services at every step.”

Pre-Purchase Stage: Redefining Auto Retail 

The Mahindra SYOUV platform fortifies Mahindra’s engagement in the pre-purchase phase by providing class leading customer experience. The Platform integrates the virtual world with the real world and is the core offering under the pre-purchase phase. We have also ensured a robust backend mechanism to ensure superlative customer experience. Key features of SYOUV platform are as follows :-

• Dealer Stock Availability: The user gets complete transparency of the stock at dealerships in his vicinity. In case a stock is not currently available, the user can view the estimated next availability date for the selected stock at a particular dealership of his/her choice.
• Collaborative Exploration (CE): Co-create your SUV with friends/family online

• Talk to Our Expert (TTE): Connect with a Mahindra expert either through chat, audio call or video call.
• Compare Cars: Compare your prospective Mahindra SUV with other market leading SUVs. A key feature of the platform is photo compare which is not available on other platforms.
• Finance & Insurance: The user gets to browse several finance and insurance options offered by leading banks and insurers. Basis their selection, they can request a quote from the bank or insurer.
• Test Drive – Anytime, Anywhere: The user has the option to browse available slots online and block a slot for test drive. He can also track the TD vehicle coming to his location through google maps.
• Book Your Customized SUV Online: The user can book an SUV online and also add accessories available for the selected variant. He also has the option of selecting a vehicle model, variant, colour as well as viewprices and available offers/schemes online.

In the next phase of SYOUV, we plan to include on-road price, online order tracking, deal maker and several other differentiating features. SYOUV is a one-stop destination for Mahindra in the pre-sales phase of the auto-purchase journey which promises three customer benefits – Transparent, Personalized and Convenient.

The Bring the Showroom Home platform will allow customers to research a new vehicle by enabling them to view the vehicle in a virtual showroom, in city or off-road environments. At the pre-purchase phase, it will feature a 360-degree voice assisted virtual reality (VR) experience powered by state-of-the-art Samsung VR Gears. All of these can be experienced from the comfort of the customer’s home without compelling him to visit the showroom.

Purchase Stage – Convenience of Online Booking

Mahindra has redefined automotive retail through multiple tie ups with key auto portals for sales of its automotive products, thereby providing customers with the convenience to book their vehicles anytime, anywhere. The company has tied up with Cardekho, Carwale, IBB, Car&Bike and M2ALL.

Under the digital initiatives for enabling sales, Mahindra has also installed tablets and kiosks across most of its dealer network. Meant to assist customers in making suitable buying decisions, these gadgets offer realistic visual depictions of Mahindra vehicles, with various options related to accessories, colours etc.

Post Purchase Stage – With You Hamesha 

The new generation With You Hamesha platform provides class-leading customer convenience in the ownership phase.

‘With you Hamesha’ (WYH) is Mahindra’s digital platform for its existing customers and aims to sustain their satisfaction levels by constantly offering various online services. The platform has undergone a complete digital transformation and offers a customized and convenient experience with a whole lot of transparency. WYH is a versatile platform that offers a range of services, including:

• Convenient Service Booking: Convenient service booking facility from anywhere as per required date and time slot (Like Book My Show), with a facility of creating own e-jobcard and get cost estimate (for scheduled services)

• Smart Notifications: Service reminders and RSA/extended warranty/PUC/Insurance renewal reminders
• Instant Chat: chat with our executives to address customer’s queries
• SOS: SOS button for raising assistance request with location capturing facility
• RM Video Call: Video call with the relationship manager to get updates on vehicle service and other queries (Available for XUV & Rexton)
• Online Payment: Online payment facility with all credit/debit card and wallets

In the next phase of WYH, we plan to include Driver tracking, Breakdown Van Tracking and Vehicle tracking in workshop and many differentiating features. We aim to redefine the future of auto retail by providing transparency, convenience and a personalized experience to our customers with our integrated digital offerings across the consumer lifecycle journey.

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Portronics launches he new portable and foldable laptop stand "My Buddy Lite" for Rs 1099

Portronics today announced its all new “My Buddy Lite” – A convenient, easy to use and a light weight Portable and Foldable Laptop Stand. It is the latest addition to the famous Mybuddy Series of laptop stands.

In the modern world, every person has a hectic schedule, which includes their most of the time devoted on gadgets and laptop is one of the most prominent of them. Parallel to the work, it is really essential to take care of the health too; “My Buddy Lite” gives you the comfort while using laptop in any posture or at any place, which will help you to keep balance between work and health.

My Buddy Lite - portable laptop stand

Solid Structures:

The comforting laptop stand is summed up with the best quality of materials making it strong and flexible to take the weight of up to 4Kgs / 17 inch laptops. The structure makes it light weight for the users with the help of Silica rubber yet sturdy with the help of steel. The easy to use laptop stand has a basic size of 288 x 46 x 30 mm, that is, easy to be placed or kept anywhere at your workplace or at home. The best part of this laptop stand is that it is light weight", that is of 350 gm, thus, easy to carry. It comes with two adjustable angles for your laptop to make it suitable as per your comfort. The light weighted solid laptop stand suitably supports laptop with up to 17 inches and laptops which are comparatively smaller.

Impressive and comforting features:

The light handed laptop stand comes up with exciting features making it worth its value. It has an impressive ergonomics making you work very comfortably and also, keeping you more efficient at work. It is easy to go just with a pair of thumb and forefinger to be pressed outward and hence, opening it smartly at a quick time. It is highly adjustable as it can be folded, hence, occupying less space and it also offers the exact height to your eye lens keeping your body more comfortable and lean. It has an absolute worthy feature of minimalism, that is, a part to show your laptop off as a classy one and it can be suitable present for the people who use laptop on regular basis. The laptop is designed with superior quality material making it smaller in size and helping you use your laptop more comfortably keeping all your work sorted, thus it has Ergonomic design, helping your back and wrist to get less or minimum fatigued using laptop. One of the most suitable, worthy and best feature of the stand is that it is very light in weight and easily portable to the device thus efficient for office use and it’s carrying purpose at different places.

Salient Features:

· Design: It is made up of ergonomic design which helps you balancing your health and work by keeping your back and wrist less tired.

· Material: It is made up of Nylon, steel and silica rubber making it rough and tough to use.

·  Easy to carry: Very light weighted and handy to use, hence, easily transportable.

· Portability: Along with the advantage of portability, it also serves the feature of being foldable.

· Stability: It is highly suitable in carrying a good amount of weight being stable along with its magnetic pads and metal skeleton.

Pricing and Availability:

This comforting device comes with a price tag of INR 1099/-. You can buy it for yourself and as well as for your loved ones online or from offline stores.

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IHS Markit Announces Innovation Awards Winners at ShowStoppers at IFA in Berlin

IHS Markit (Nasdaq: INFO), a world leader in critical information, analytics and solutions, today announced winners of the IHS Markit Innovation Awards. Presented at the ShowStoppers IFA event in Berlin on Thursday, September 1, 2016, the awards showcased the most innovative technology products submitted by event exhibitors.

"Congratulations to all the ingenious technology industry leaders that took part in the IHS Markit Innovation awards at IFA," said Ian Weightman, vice president of research and operations, IHS Markit. "The only downside to having an awards program is how difficult it was to select the final winners from all the inventive and unique submissions."

Selected from 42 submissions, following are the winners of this year's IHS Markit innovation awards at IFA:

Apps, platforms and ecosystems - CURIO from SAM Labs is an out-of-the-box inventing experience for kids. Equipped with five paper-fold car bodies, a car base, and remote control, kids can build and program their own creations.

Audio technology - The Here Active Listening System from Doppler Labs consists of two wireless buds and a connected app that lets listeners control real-world sound. Here gives you a volume knob, equalizer, and preset filters. Tune In to what you want to hear, and tune out unwanted noise.

Design and style - The HP Pavilion Wave is for people who want to modernize their home or home office with a beautiful, compact desktop engineered for entertainment and productivity.

Health, fitness and wearables - ReSound Micro Mic and ReSound Multi Mic connect wirelessly to all ReSound Smart Hearing aids to enhance users' sound experience in even the most challenging listening environments. The devices provide direct sound streaming and connect with loop/FM systems to improve speech understanding.

Robotics and drones - Jimu Robot is an interactive system of robotic building blocks; build your own robot, program its movements, and share your creation with the Jimu Robot Community.

Smart home and appliances - The Pico Brew makes craft beer with the push of a button. Biodegradeable PicoPaks pre-package all the ingredients needed - making brewing and cleanup easy.

Video displays and devices - Lenovo Yoga 910 is a stylish four-in-one form factor convertible ultrabook with a 4K edgeless in-plane switching display. Weighing only three pounds, the Yoga 910 provides a crisp, vibrant display along with an Intel Core i processor, Windows 10, PCIe SSD, and more. For Indian readers the company doesn't need any introduction and is already storming the consumer electronics market with products such as Yoga series ultrabooks and smartphones like Lenovo K5 Note.

Wow factor - The Yoga Book two-in-one tablet from Lenovo provides natural note-taking with pen and paper, a halo keyboard, and Wacom technology. Weighing only 1.3 pounds, Yoga Book sports an Intel Atom processor, FHD display, and the option of Android or Windows.

The following technology industry research analysts at IHS Markit, and internationally recognized journalists, judged the awards at the IFA conference in Berlin:

    --  Tom Morrod, senior director, consumer electronics

    --  Paul Gagnon, senior manager, consumer devices

    --  Paul Gray, principal analyst, consumer devices

    --  Dinesh Kithany, principal analyst, home appliances

    --  Ian Fogg, senior director, mobile and telecommunications

    --  Ken Park, senior analyst, consumer devices

    --  Rich Trenholm, senior editor, CBS Interactive and CNET

    --  Eli Haboosh, reporter, HT Mobile Israel

    --  George Buhnici, news correspondent, ProTV Romania

The IHS Markit Innovation awards will continue at upcoming ShowStoppers events at Mobile World Congress (MWC), NAB Show, CE Week and the Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

Exhibitors at upcoming ShowStoppers events can submit up to three candidate products, technologies, or services for IHS Markit Innovation awards. IHS Markit and ShowStoppers have agreed to an embargo on any announcements that should not be made public prior to the awards. For more detailed information, visit http://awards.showstoppers.com/

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Tata Global Beverages Ltd reported Net profit for the year at Rs 326 crores, up by 26%

Tata Global Beverages Ltd. today announced its results for the year ended FY 2015-16.

For the financial year, Income from operations at Rs 8111 Crores increased by 3% in constant currency terms. Profit from operations at Rs 532 Crores is lower than the previous year due to spend on new initiatives, new launches and higher competitive intensity in certain key markets. Post the impact of exceptional items, the Group Consolidated Net Profit at Rs 326 crores reflects an increase of 32%.

During the quarter the company recognized profit from sale of non-core investments. The company also recognized non-cash impairment loss mainly on goodwill relating to the branded businesses in Eastern Europe and branded tea business in the US. While the Company is actively pursuing various growth opportunities, the accounting impairment has been recognized due to factors like macro-economic instability, decline in category growth rate and higher competitive intensity. 

The year has seen strong focus on investing behind brands, growing the green tea segment and innovating for growth.

Green tea has shown growth across key markets. The Tetley Super Green tea range- the first functional green teas in UK has shown significant growth and was also awarded the “Product of the Year 2016’, the world’s largest consumer voted awards for product innovation. TGB is a market leader in green tea in India and the category continues to show good growth fueled by sustained marketing support through the year. In Australia, new flavor variants such as steamed green tea with lychee were added to the product range.

The year saw the entry of TGB into the branded coffee segment in India with the launch of Tata Coffee Grand. The product saw good consumer response and was backed by a differentiated marketing campaign which created good visibility for the brand launch. The MAP coffee brand in Australia saw good growth in the grocery sector. Eight O’ Clock coffee in the USA entered the instant coffee segment and the Roast & Ground can segment.   Tata Starbucks continues to expand steadily in India with 82 stores across 6 cities.

In the water segment, Himalayan natural mineral water revamped its website to better communicate its core brand promise of ‘Live Natural.’ The brand has engaged in impactful brand activations such as premium culinary experiences. Tata Gluco Plus, an affordable on-the-go rehydration drink, recorded very good growth after improvements made to the marketing mix and brand communication. The focus for the water business continues to be on enhancing market penetration & brand building.

Mr. Ajoy Misra, Managing Director and CEO of Tata Global Beverages, said – “Tata Global Beverages continues to leverage global trends such as health & wellness and convenience through our focus on green tea, entry into branded instant coffee and strengthening our functional waters portfolio. During the year, we have initiated key product launches, strong marketing campaigns and entry into new segments. Innovation, investing behind our brands and managing operational efficiencies will be key to growing in a challenging market environment.”

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SnackDown 2016 : Cash awards over USD 22,500, job offers with Directi and many other exciting prizes to be won

CodeChef, a non-profit educational initiative of Directi, a technology and web products company, today announced the much awaited 3^rd edition of their annual onsite programming competition – SnackDown 2016!

CodeChef’s SnackDown will be a multi-round computer programming contest with each team having a maximum of 2 members from the same institute/organization, competing for the ultimate title of “SnackDown 2016 Champions”, cash awards in excess of USD 22,500 along with an opportunity to work at Directi, and many other exciting prizes. The competition allows coding in over 50 programming languages supported by one of the largest coding platforms, CodeChef. The response received last year, encouraged the organizers to revise the format, facilitating greater participation.

The contest starts on 27^th May, with first online qualifier round, and concludes on 9^th July with the Onsite Grand Finale after pre-elimination and elimination rounds in between.

After a very successful run last year with 11,000 plus participants hailing from 1602 institutes spread across 131 countries, this year’s SnackDown is getting bigger and truly global. Last year witnessed only the top Indian teams participating onsite, whereas the highlight of SnackDown 2016 will be 25 international teams of the world’s top programmers competing with top 25 Indian teams in Mumbai at the CodeChef headquarters - Directiplex.  Additionally, slots have been reserved for a middle/high-school team as well as an all girls’ team.

“It will be the first time that some of the most celebrated programmers from all over the world will gather under one roof in India, for an all-expense paid trip. It’s an unparalleled opportunity for Indian programmers to interact with them, assess where they stand with respect to coders across the globe and maybe even learn from them. Since its inception in 2009, CodeChef has seen over 9.6 million code submissions with over 1,200 contests hosted on the platform. We expect these numbers to grow in leaps and bounds over the next few years”, said Anup Kalbalia, BU Head, CodeChef.

SnackDown is the only programming competition where skill, talent and passion prevail over age and seniority. It pits programmers from schools, colleges, and organizations against each other on a global platform, offering opportunities to showcase their programming prowess and establish themselves as a force to reckon with in the coding world. 

Balajiganapathi Senthilnathan, SnackDown 2015 Indian Champion (currently working with Directi) adds, “It is inspiring to see the passion and skills of all the contestants, especially the school students. India has a lot of untapped talent, and SnackDown, with its high quality algorithms, excellent organization and huge rewards is sure to draw more and more Indian students towards competitive coding.”

With the aim of nurturing the Indian coding talent and putting it on the world map, Co-founder and CEO of Directi, Bhavin Turakhia, encourages the coding enthusiasts to participate, “Programming is fun to learn and one doesn’t have to be an aspiring engineer to be a coder. Today, almost every field makes use of computer programming, where problem solving forms an essential part. SnackDown helps develop one’s ability to think logically and, it may even help one secure the most coveted job in the world. But that’s not why one should do it. Do it for the fun! This is in many ways India’s future where these amazing developers and potential entrepreneurs will create outstanding products to change many lives, and I’m looking forward to it.”

The registrations for the SnackDown 2016 will open on 5^th May at 2100 hours IST, and will continue till 30^th May 2016. You can find more information about the competition, its rules, eligibility, and the registration process at: https://www.codechef.com/snackdown

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Tata Docomo to Enable Business Transformation in India with Next-Gen Digital Technologies

Tata Teleservices, one of the leading players in the enterprise space underscored digital disruption as the key discussion point at its annual multi-city industry confluence ‘Do Big Symposium’ in Mumbai. With more than 200 participants, consisting of CEOs, industry experts, entrepreneurs and CIOs, Tata Docomo led the discussion around the technologies powering digital disruption, such as - Internet of Things, Location Based Services, M2M solutions, Mobile Device Management and many more.

Industry stalwarts Dr. Gopichand Katragadda, Group Chief Technology Officer, Tata Sons; Mr. Umesh Revankar, MD, Shriram Transport Finance Co. Ltd.; Ms. Rachna Nath, Partner & Head Digital Advisory, KPMG; Ms. Ameera Shah, MD Promoter & CEO, Metropolis Healthcare; and Mr. N Srinath, MD, Tata Teleservices, participated and discussed business transformations through digital technology.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Gopichand Katragadda, Group Chief Technology Officer, Tata Sons, said, “Democratization of digital technology has disrupted the industry and has supported the rise of a sharing economy. The diminishing gap between scientific discovery and technology conversion further drives a rapid industrial pace. In fact, the intersection between biology, computing, and materials will lead the path for innovation. This intersection will house solutions to not just human health, but food and energy problems of the world as well. At the Tata Group, we are bringing multiple group companies together to lead innovation in sectors such as energy, food & wellness, digital factory & fleets, and digital consumer products & services.”

Mr. Srinath, Managing Director, Tata Teleservices Ltd, said “Digital Disruption is the key to business transformation. New age technologies are changing things faster than ever before and one of the key challenges facing business owners is how to stay relevant. We are witnessing technologies fuelling not just the reinvention of operating models, but in some cases the very business model. The adoption of technologies such as big data, mobile broadband, social media, Internet-of-Things and cloud computing has led to a massive impact on the enterprise business from employees to supply chain, operations, management and customers.  Today Enterprises strive towards responsiveness, nimble-footedness, superior and speedier customer service which underpin the new age corporate image.”

Talking about digital disruption, Mr. Prateek Pashine, Head – Enterprise Business, Tata Teleservices, said “We are living in a very dynamic business environment which is highly shaped by fast changing digital technology landscape. Going virtual, mobile, and social are three mega trends that are creating a world of opportunities for organisations to effectively and efficiently connect with their customers, employees and ecosystem partners. Today, it is critical for organisations to have a cogent digital strategy as an integral part of the organisation blueprint to ensure their survival in this hyper fast times.” 

The Symposium highlighted the evolution of digital and its impact on businesses across the globe. It discussed transformation in socio-economic sphere due to digital disruption and the imperatives of adopting digital to stay relevant -- new age technologies such as virtualization, predictive analysis, sensors, and others that have the capacity to facilitate transformation of businesses as well as catalyse advancement of rural and urban India, in particular reference to sectors such as healthcare, manufacturing, finance, governance, etc.

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Hiring activity witnessed 25% growth in December 2015 over December 2014 - Naukri Job Speak

The Naukri Job Speak Index for the month of December 2015 stood at 1783, recording a 25% growth in hiring activity over December 2014. The hiring sentiment witnessed an increase in Banking/Financial, IT-Software, Telecom and FMCG sector, whereas Oil & Gas and Insurance saw a Y-o-Y decline in the December 2015 index. Demand for IT-Software and Medical/Healthcare professionals registered a growth of 24% in the same period. Among the metros, Delhi/NCR and Mumbai recorded the maximum Y-o-Y growth in December 2015 index, followed by Bengaluru.

V. Suresh, Executive Vice President and Chief Sales Officer, Naukri.com said, “The job market continues to sustain the momentum gained over the past few quarters and is moving further north with an impressive 25% YOY growth. Though this growth is predominantly driven by sectors viz., IT, Banking, Telecom, Advertising and Media, the good news is the slow and steady revival of the Non IT sectors. Looks like this trend will continue & the year 2016 will be a year to cheer for jobseekers across sectors.”

·         Delhi/NCR and Mumbai lead the chart and record the maximum growth of 34% in December 2015 compared to December 2014

·         Banking/Financial services record a 35% Y-o-Y growth. IT-Software, Telecom and FMCG were up by 29%, 26% and 25% respectively

·         Oil & Gas sector continues to decline and recorded a Y-o-Y decrease of -27% in hiring activity

·         Demand for IT Software professionals registers a growth of 24% in December 2015 over December 2014

Industry-wise Analysis:

Apart from BFSI, IT-Software and Telecom recording a Y-o-Y growth

• Construction/Engineering also reported a growth of 24% in December 2015 over December 2014
• Real estate registered a Y-o-Y growth of 20% in December 2015 over December 2014
• Accounting/Taxation and Advertising/PR/Events grew by 118% and 69% respectively
• Core sectors like Oil & Gas and Insurance witnessed a decline of 27% and 5% respectively in December 2015 over December 2014

City-wise Analysis:

Delhi/NCR and Mumbai lead in hiring activity in the December 2015 index, whereas

·         Bangalore witnessed a growth of 28% in December 2015 over December 2014
·         Hiring activity in Hyderabad, Pune and Kolkata grew by 17%, 15% and 5% respectively
·         Chennai remained stable in the December 2015 index

Functional-area Analysis:

IT-Software employees saw an increase in the demand in the December 2015 index, whereas 

• Demand for Top Management professionals grew by 48% Y-o-Y in December 2015
• Demand for professionals in Pharma, Banking and IT/Hardware industries also witnessed a Y-o-Y growth of 24%, 17% and 9% respectively in December 2015 over December 2014
• Demand for professionals in Marketing/Advertising/PR also recorded a Y-o-Y growth of 47% in the December 2015 index

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HP showcases HP Latex 3100 printer for the first time in country at Media Expo 2016

At Media Expo 2016, HP demonstrated its end to end capabilities around indoor and outdoor signage with its industry leading portfolio of Latex printers. The printers provide productivity and workflow benefits to a broad range of sign and display PSPs ranging from sign shops, quick printers and small and medium printing companies to high-volume PSPs.

The wide portfolio of HP Latex printers showcased at the expo includes the entire HP Latex 300 printer series; HP Latex 310, HP Latex 330 and HP Latex 360 printers and the new HP Latex 3100 Printer, which is being showcased for the first time in the country.

HP's booth with DesignJet printers and applications at Media Expo 2016

“The Indian advertising and signage industry has evolved by leaps and bounds, which in turn is putting immense pressure on the print service providers to innovate with newer and creative applications,” said Puneet Chadha, Director, Market Development, Graphics Solutions Business, Asia Pacific and Japan, HP Inc. “With our industry leading Latex and DesignJet printer portfolio, we are constantly innovating to help the PSPs answer the end customer’s needs with newer applications which are effective in consumer reach, affordable and high on environment quotient.”

To showcase how Latex applications can meet the needs of Indian businesses and brand owners, HP at its booth D 10 has created application stations showcasing hundreds of applications printed on different media with HP Latex printers including wall art, vehicle wraps, backlit graphics, point-of-sale displays, roll-up banners, applications printed on reflective media and other indoor and retail applications in vivid colors. Visitors at HP’s booth can also see live demos of various Latex applications printed on HP Latex 3100 and HP Latex 300 printers.

Benefits and success of HP Latex printing technology

Small, mid and large printing companies have long used traditional eco-solvent ink devices for outdoor print jobs, which lengthen turnaround times and limit application versatility. Powered by the benefits of third generation water-based HP Latex inks, the HP Latex 300 printer series and HP Latex 3000 printers are offering copy shops and PSPs with varying requirements a compelling alternative to eco-solvent ink with a strong economic value proposition, helping them customers efficiently handle more outdoor and indoor applications with improved durability and image quality.

The HP Latex printers score high on versatility and are designed to help sign shops, quick printers, small to medium printing companies and large PSPs with production scale requirements easily expand large-format printing capabilities and break into new application areas. The printers not only provide durable quality and easy operation, but also largely contribute towards building a healthier work environment and sustainable ecosystem with water-based inks which is well suited for sign and display applications like wall coverings, outdoor displays and banners, vehicle wraps, point of purchase posters, backlits and textiles etc. 

In 2015, HP reached 30,000 Latex printers shipped worldwide making HP the top supplier for digital wide-format printing systems worldwide, while HP Latex 300 Printer series achieved No. 1 market position in its category according to IDC, and is growing 46 percent year over year globally, demonstrating a transformative shift in the sign & display industry from solvent to latex technology. 

New HP Latex 3100 printer with industrial production capabilities for dedicated and diverse application workflows

To remain competitive, high-volume sign and display PSPs are constantly challenged to deliver short turnaround times across varied applications, while maintaining top-of-the-line quality. With HP Latex 3100 Printer, HP is addressing these challenges to better meet the various production needs of sign and display PSPs with the new 3.2-meter (126-inch), which build on the success of its more than 30,000 HP Latex printers installed worldwide.

“PSPs involved in signage and display businesses are increasingly faced with complex jobs and shorter lead times, stretching existing equipment to meet client demand.,” said Puneet Chadha, Director, Market Development, Graphics Solutions Business, Asia Pacific and Japan, HP Inc. “The new HP Latex 3100 Printer further strengthens HP’s industrial Latex portfolio, delivering high levels of productivity and operational efficiency while also being highly environment friendly, helping our customers fulfill even the most demanding high-volume sign and display print jobs.”

HP Latex 3100 Printer delivers high image quality for a variety of indoor and outdoor applications, and is ideal for large sign and display PSPs with a diverse service offering. Printing indoor quality at speeds up to 77 m2/hr (830 ft2 /hr), the printer can handle peaks in production and deliver on short turnaround times without sacrificing quality. Helping customers increase unattended operation with remote monitoring and print status alerts, the new HP Latex 3100 Printer come compatible with the HP Latex Mobile application, with expanded functionality including metrics reporting and extended language support. 

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HugeFly launches NLP based software for e-commerce Market along with AI backed Image Search

Pune based technology startup HugeFly Technology has claimed to become the first Indian company to implement NLP (Natural Language Processing) technology in e-commerce segment.Hugefly has developed a software keeping NLP as the base which would help e-commerce firms to better the search experience for users. Additionally, Hugefly has also launched a new image search feature. This image search would serve as a next level solution to better online shopping experiences for thousands of shoppers.  

Natural language processing (NLP) is a field of computer science and is related to the area of human–computer interaction. Intelligent applications like SIRI and Cortana work on NLP. Now, Hugefly has become the first company in the e-commerce space in India to integrate this technology in its own software.

Search using NLP from Hugefly

Image search by HugeFly

Amit Chaudhari, COO, Hugefly commented, "A major challenge in the NLP is the difference between how humans understand and how computers do. Traditionally, computers require highly structured queries but owing to the Natural Language Processing (NLP), a machine learning algorithm understands the holistic context of the searched query rather than the ordinary keyword matching

Meanwhile, Hugefly’s power-packed 'Image search feature', would enable the shoppers to just click the picture of the product they are looking for, be it in a magazine or a newspaper and get the closest and the best suited results for their search, thus saving them the trouble of going through pages after pages online. Needless to say, the software would save e-shoppers a lot of time.

The integration of these features in e-commerce platforms would lead to a better and more convenient online shopping experience for thousands of online shopping junkies. Further, these would also help Hugefly in its aim to build technology-enabled solution for e-commerce companies to help significantly reduce search time on the platform, offer highly relevant and personalized search results across users and create very targeted and customized recommendations on a real-time basis.

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LeTv emerges leader with its best selling Super TV and flagship Superphone Le 1S

Letv, the global internet and technology conglomerate that plans to foray into the Indian market, has achieved remarkable sales success during its recent online shopping spree in China. Following that, Tin Mok, Vice President of Le Holdings Co Ltd. and CEO, APAC credited the outstanding sales achievement to the company’s vertically integrated ecosystem connecting platform, content, devices and application in his speech during the Global Mobile Internet Conferenced (GMIC) in Taipei.

According to the data from AVC (All View Cloud), a market research company, three models of Letv’s Super TV are among the top 10 best online sales performers in November, having taken 11.8% of the market, almost equivalent to the sum of shares by the next seven TV models. This is primarily due to the company’s excellent sales performance during the 11^th November online shopping festival in China which totaled sales revenue of 1.52 billion RMB (US$234.5 million). Letv sold 386,000 units of Le Super TV, raking in 960 million RMB (US$148.1 million) and creating six sales records in the industry.

Letv’s Superphone-Le 1s which was launched at the end of this October beat other smartphones priced from 1,000 to 2,000 RMB (US$154.26 to 308.52), the sales of which ranked the first on TMall, China’s largest e-commerce platform during the online shopping festival. The company sold 433,000 units of Superphones, amounting to 530 million RMB (US$81.75 million) and making Letv a market leader. The top-notch features of Le 1s well distinguish it from other smartphone brands and largely contribute to its sales success. Equipped with the world’s first USB Type-C connector, fingerprint recognition and fast charging technology, Le 1s overshadows the competitors with its stunning all-metal build and innovative EUI system, offering supreme user experience at a disruptive price. Letv is also reportedly testing its Superphones in India, and is expected to launch in the market in January 2016.

Founded by Jia Yueting and Liu Hong in 2004, Letv is a leading multi-national technology conglomerate, best characterized by a comprehensive, vertically integrated ecosystem including platforms, content, applications and devices, which deliver excellent experience through consistent innovation and creative market disruption

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Paladion Networks Partners with CounterTack

Paladion Networks, the largest information risk management services company in Asia and  creator of the CyberActive^SM Security Operation Centers (SOCs), announced that it has entered into a partnership with CounterTack | MCSI, the leader in Big Data Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR).

CyberActive^SM SOCs are Paladion’s new breed of Security Operations Centers that employ an active approach to combat a constantly in-play threat landscape. Best-of-breed security technologies are thoroughly vetted by Paladion’s veteran security professionals to fit it into its Active Security Model.

These SOCs are organized into Active teams of Threat Intelligence Analysts, Investigators, SOC Content Authors, SIEM Administrators, Data Scientists, Ethical Hackers, Data Hunters, and many more; who co-ordinate to set up active defenses and proactively respond to threats.

“CyberActive^SM is an active cybersecurity-service model that merges leading-edge security technologies and our proprietary RisqVu ADR platform with the best security talent from around the world. Our partnership with CounterTack takes our Active threat detection capabilities one step further by enhancing our SOCs’ capabilities in endpoint threat context and visibility,” said Rajat Mohanty, CEO, Paladion Networks.

Speaking on the partnership Neal Creighton, CEO of CounterTack commented: “We’re thrilled to partner with Paladion to deliver next-generation endpoint capabilities that integrate into enterprise and mid-sized environments. We are laser-focused on exposing attacker behaviors at scale so we can automate a fix or provide the visibility for manual intervention, and we’re excited to partner with a known leader in Paladion to extend our footprint in Asia-PAC and the Middle East. .”

Paladion is a specialized partner for information risk management providing end-to-end services and solutions in Asia, the U.S. and the Middle East. Paladion is rated as the largest pure-play Information Risk Management partner in Asia, and has been recognized and awarded by Gartner, Asian Banker and Red Herring, amongst others.

For over 15 years, Paladion has been actively managing information risks for over 700 customers. It provides a complete spectrum of information risk management comprising of security assurance, compliance, governance, monitoring, security analytics and security management services to large and medium-sized organizations. Paladion is also actively involved in several information risk management research forums and has authored many books on the same.

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Tata Consultancy Services Now a Gold Partner of Scaled Agile, Inc.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS),  a leading global IT services, consulting and business solutions organization, today announced it has joined the Scaled Agile Partner program as a Gold Partner with Scaled Agile, Inc., whose founder, Dean Leffingwell, created the Scaled Agile Framework  - a proven, publicly-accessible knowledge base for implementing agile practices at enterprise scale.

Large enterprises’ have an ever evolving need to better business and IT alignment, while ensuring improved time to market, overall productivity and quality. TCS supports these enterprises as they embark on an agile journey by providing Agile Advisory Services – often levering SAFe®.

With more than 200 TCS SAFe® Certified consultants, TCS’ Agile Practice offers end-to-end enablement and transformation with offerings like Readiness Assessment, role-based training at the team, program and portfolio level, and coaching to make the transformation sustainable.

“We are proud to be a Gold Partner with Scaled Agile Inc.,” said Krishnan Ramanujam, Global Head, Consulting and Enterprise Solutions, TCS. “The combination of TCS’ Certified Scaled Agile Framework consultants and comprehensive Agile Advisory Services further strengthens our capabilities, in enabling customers to successfully drive their Enterprise Agile Transformation journey.”

“We’re excited to have TCS on board, and expect this partnership to increase the adoption of SAFe® in Fortune 500 companies across the globe,” said Dean Leffingwell, Chief Methodologist and creator of the Scaled Agile Framework. “Our partners are companies that believe in agility at scale and the power of the Scaled Agile Framework to successfully transform organizations.”

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K5 Brand Solutions launches Online Table Reservation Services - Loofre.com

How many times you have wished to have an online table reservation services, well if you had think of it even once, we have a good news for you. K5 brand solutions launches Online Table Reservation Services this festive season. As per the company it is India's largest restaurant merchant aggregator and has identified communication gap and promises to change the experience dramatically. 

his would be a big-leap forward from the traditional table reservation service and being interactive will connect restaurants and diners to discover the best offers or discounts in nearby locations along with the added advantage of personalised hospitality according to the diner’s need, cuisine, budget and preferred ambience.

Loofre.com quite simply stands for Location, Offer and Reservation. The need for ‘Table Reservation’ services in the hospitality industry has been increasing exponentially over the years because of various factors including increased disposable income, drastic change in lifestyle, exponential increase in number of restaurants & hotels, customer willingness to try out new cuisine and exposure to international concepts. Some players earlier had tried to capitalise on this need but could not really understand the pulse of this market, and Loofre.com being launched by the undisputed leader in Indian restaurant merchant aggregation viz., K5 Brand Solutions is the best possible solution. 

K5 Brand Solutions is undoubtedly India’s largest merchant aggregator of dining offers and manages the Dining, Wellness and Online programmes of India’s largest banks like- ICICI (Culinary Treats),  HDFC (Food Fiesta), HDFC Times Card and SBI Cards, and is proud to have a working relationship with a network of over 5000 retail food joints across the country. In addition, K5 Brand Solutions had earlier even managed the dining alliances of websites like; EBay, Taggle and koovs.

The objective of K5 Brand Solutions of launching such a service is to create a one stop platform for diners of all age group to grab right food without long wait and get offers on reservation too, that will make the entire deal more interesting. In current format, consumers will get discounts ranging from 10-15% and they will be entitled for special gift vouchers on every booking. With a footprint extending to all major metros including Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Pune, Chandigarh and Jaipur, K5 Brand Solutions has a strong working relationship with 5000 retail points across country. No wonder, K5 Brand Solutions is now India’s biggest merchant aggregators.

Rohit Mahajan Managing Partner, K5 Brand Solution says, “Our experience and expertise in the merchant aggregation space has given us the edge and has propelled us to a leadership position. Loofre.com is all set to create benchmarks in the dining culture in India. With a young, robust and technologically advanced team a new history is being written in the field in the merchant sales solutions. Innovation, support and solution are the three words we associate with.”

“India is a fast growing economy and with every passing day quick delivery, quicker service, and quickest mode of service will become the key to survival. Loofre.com will also update the customers about all the latest events in the city, be it the best offers available in the city or the most happening parties thrown, the quickest. We are a leader. We work with leaders. And our history of innovation and support keeps us ahead of the curve on merchant sales solutions. To further delight our customers and partner merchants, Loofre will soon come up with an app based next generation booking engine. The website would also be soon be complemented by Social Media Applications, Merchant Applications and Consumer Applications. Eventually consumers can Book, Place Order and Pay through Mobile. On the road ahead, Loofre.com is live and we are testing our processes in Delhi NCR. In the next month-and-a-half, we will be live in all nine major cities, followed by a formal launch. And that's just the beginning.” he added.

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