Cyber security firm, Fortinet, has announced its cloud-based FortiCloud management system and a new line of cloud-managed wireless access points (APs).FortiAP-S series of wireless access points empower organizations to forego separate WLAN controllers without exposing the network to cyber-threats. Every FortiAP-S series access point is centrally managed through the cloud-based FortiCloud management system, enabling effortless Wi-Fi network deployment and management, increasing security, visibility and control, and reducing overall infrastructure complexity. This makes it easy for organizations to implement and manage a secure Wi-Fi network, while the scalability of cloud management makes the solution ideal for distributed enterprises that may have thousands of sites."With the explosion of BYOD in the enterprise, and the subsequent mission-criticality of mobile devices and applications, organizations have struggled to balance the concerns around providing pervasive, easily managed WiFi coverage with WLAN security and compliance," said Nolan Greene, research analyst, IDC Network Infrastructure Group. "Fortinet's new FortiAP-S series of access points integrates the simplicity of cloud-based WLAN management with the cybersecurity protection that Fortinet is known for."It is loaded with advanced security features like intrusion prevention, web filtering, rouge AP detection, antivirus security protection, granular application controls and more, all running directly on the access point. These features are all backed by FortiGuard Labs' industry-leading threat intelligence to ensure each FortiAP-S is protected against the very latest advanced threats, in real-time. This sophisticated level of hardware and software integration is only made possible by Fortinet's expertise and dedication to high-performance security engineering and research.Rajesh Maurya, Country Manager, India & SAARC at Fortinet, said, "We can now apply mobile-specific security policies and updates such as application control and virus scanning directly to the wireless access points, giving the customer a layer of perimeter defense for BYOD devices."(BW Online Bureau)
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eScan has announced the release of eScan Mobile Security for iPhones & iPads. eScan Mobile Security for iPhones and iPads will help the users locate their devices once lost or stolen. This software has several Anti-Theft, Back-up and Restoration features that will help enhancing the security of iOS devices. This eScan product can be downloaded directly from the iPhone & iPad App Store free of cost. Govind Rammurthy, MD and CEO, eScan said, "Using eScan portal, users can send alert messages to the devices or take photos of the users holding the devices using the front camera. eScan Mobile Security for iPhones and iPads ensures safe online experience through its advanced Web Protection functionality. Also, users can take back-up of all contacts or control privacy settings for their Facebook accounts. It keeps the users aware of the apps that constantly use the location of their device and optimize the battery usage."The users can get the basic features of this software from the above link. However, to enjoy the premium Anti-Theft features, the users can buy this product directly through Apple at Rs 1200.(BW Online Bureau)
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With tons of personal information and data being stored online every day, the chances of data theft is rapidly increasing. Passwords, pin codes, fingerprint scanners and even retina scanners have started emerging to ensure security, but even with the enforcement of such authentication measures, users are still vulnerable to hacking. This is where the two-factor authentication method comes in which the user has to enter the usual password at the login page and then has to enter another password that he/she receives on his/her mobile device. In the two-factor authentication method you need to register your mobile number with your email ID or any other login. Once that is done, it gets saved as an identity along with your login details. Every time you login to your account, you need to enter your login password along with that you also need to enter a special generated password sent to your mobile number as an SMS. This password, also known as OTP or One Time Password, is valid for a limited time period. This method is widely used in making banking transactions and online payments and has started making its way to secure emails, social media accounts and more. This is a neat way to ensure your passwords are safe, but there are times when you don’t have your mobile device on you, or there are delays in receiving the second password or the OTP on your mobile device. To improve this login method researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland, have devised a more protected way to login to your account by relying on ambient sounds. Named as ‘Sound Proof’, when a user tries to login, the microphone on the user’s computer and your mobile device will be activated automatically and will start listening for ambient sounds. When the sounds on both of the devices match, it lets you login. The system only uploads and verifies the digital signatures of the ambient sound, and there is no recording that is saved or passed on, making it safe for people concerned about privacy. This method ensures that even if a hacker manages to get the second password or maybe gets his hands on one of your devices (laptop or mobile phone), he won’t be able to login to your account. Of course this method is not perfect either, as it requires both of the devices to be in same place at the same time and one would have to rely on mobile data connection if there is no Wi-Fi. Also if someone is in the same place or same room as you and has your password, there is a good chance that they can get access. There’s also the possibility that if someone is listening to the same song or maybe the same TV program, they might be able to verify the authentication. However, with some refinement and improvements, this could turn out to be a simple yet a secure way to keep your accounts safe.
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VXL Instruments, server-based computing technology company, announced the latest changes in Microsoft's licensing guidelines, unrestricted access to Microsoft Office 365 Business Essentials is now available for VXL Cloud, Thin and Zero clients users.With no installation necessary, users can simply access Microsoft Office 365 in the cloud by accessing Internet Explorer or Firefox browsers which are embedded in all VXL's Cloud, Thin and Zero Clients.Frank Noon, VP Sales at VXL Instruments said, "SMB customers in particular will now also benefit from having access to Microsoft's leading business applications via the browser".Customers will be able to easily access a comprehensive suite of applications including online versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Microsoft Office 365 Business Essentials all made available through VXL Cloud, Thin and Zero desktop devices with embedded Linux and Windows Embedded operating systems.For Virtual Desktop Infrastructures (VDI), Office 365 Business Plan is available as an alternative. While using the online versions, this package includes the possibility of installing Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Publisher and OneNote within the VDI.(BW Online Bureau)
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The IDC-Juniper Network survey shows SDN will drastically alter how network infrastructures are configured and managed, writes K Chandra MohanA combined research study by International Data Corporation (IDC), a leading IT research and advisory firm and Juniper Networks, shows that a majority of large enterprises in India are planning to deploy Software Defined Networking technologies as part of their network architecture by 2016. In the last 12-18 months, Software Defined Networks (SDN) technology has been much touted as a data centre saviour – one that can transform the network, unlock critical intelligence, and help deliver the new services and powerful analytics needed to run on-demand applications for today’s businesses and consumers. IDC has even gone so far as to predict that the SDN market in Asia Pacific will surpass the $1 billion mark by 2018. The study found that 22 per cent of the respondents were “users,” defined as organizations that have deployed SDN in the pilot stage while the rest of the respondents were “intenders” who were planning to deploy SDN in the near future. Among the “intenders,” 40 per cent were planning to deploy SDN within the next year, while the other 60 per cent were aiming to deploy SDN after two years or more. Among the respondents, 59 per cent said they understood the concept of SDN or understood the technology completely. Forty-two per cent of intenders and 34 per cent of users do not have a specific budget assigned to the purchase of SDN solutions while 19 per cent of intenders and 28 per cent of users are willing to consider more than 7 per cent of their IT budget for SDN implementation. The advantage of adopting SDN is improved network performance and efficiency. SDN brings greater automation to an otherwise complicated world. Organisations that want to run an application within a public cloud environment would normally use a self-service portal to manually provision the required resources. This is not only time consuming, and therefore costly, it can also leave a business vulnerable to miss configurations due to human error. “This is the need of the hour to educate and create awareness in the industry on the benefits of SDN. Juniper has initiated an SDN programme that has created awareness amongst potential users. The networking architecture landscape in India is in a state of transition and the software-defined model can enable significant advantages, making it the logical solution every organization turns to for better efficiency and security.” Sajan Paul, Director, India & SAARC, Juniper Networks. “Organisations wanting to derive business value from their third platform investments need to now provide a digital nervous system to support the exponential data growth and increase in performance expectations as a next step. Innovations like SDN can enable the organisations with an unmatched capacity, flexibility and scale that can act as a worthy foundation to help achieve that business value”. Gaurav Sharma, Research Manager, IDC India. Lastly, SDN will drastically alter how network infrastructures are configured and managed. By separating the control function from the rest of the network, SDN enables IT teams to manage network environments in a way that gives them an aerial view of the business. What that means is, business no longer operate in a collection of silos.
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Facebook is trying to lure sceptical advertisers in India with features such as free email support for questions about advertising and advice on increasing sales in a bid to boost revenue from its second biggest market. Facebook has 132 million users in India, trailing only the 193 million in the United States, according to the company, and the country is critical for the Menlo Park, California, social network's global expansion. But so far, the payoff has been small: Facebook earns 15 cents per user in India every quarter, compared to the $7 to $8 it makes on each US user, according to analysts. Facebook does not break out its revenues in India, but Neil Shah, an analyst at Counterpoint Research, a Hong Kong-based technology consulting firm, estimates it brings in $15 million a quarter, far behind the $350 million he estimates Google earns there per quarter. Google, which set up in India in 2004, has been in the Indian market six years longer than Facebook, and its search ads are more familiar to advertisers there than the display ads Facebook offers. The business-boosting features, described to Reuters by company executives and Indian business people, are aimed at advertisers such as Mohit Khattar, managing director at online grocery company Godrej Nature's Basket, one of the roughly 60 to 65 million small- and medium-sized businesses in the country. He said he began advertising on Facebook about two months ago as the company ramped up its online presence. He found that advertising in-store events and sales helped attract customers, but would not provide specific figures. "Since our customers are on Facebook, we are on Facebook. It's that simple," Khattar said. Facebook declined to say how many staff members it has in India or how much it has invested since it launched operations there in 2010. But the world's largest social network says it has seen early signs its efforts are working. The company unveiled a new type of ad designed specifically for India last year, called "click to missed call." Users click a button on an ad, which automatically calls an advertiser. The user hangs up — to save them the charge for the call — and the advertiser calls back with a pre-recorded message. Garnier Men, a leading men's hair care company in India and a unit of beauty products giant L'Oreal SA, saw online sales more than double by using click to missed call, according to Facebook and the company. TV ADSBut Indian advertisers still overwhelmingly flock to television ads and remain skeptical of the value of advertising on social media, analysts and business executives said. "Advertisers in India are not warmed enough to social media as a concept of marketing," said Shah, the Counterpoint analyst. "We really need to help them see how Facebook pages and advertising will help grow their businesses," said Andy Hwang, Facebook director of small- and medium-sized businesses for Asia Pacific. For instance, the company advises businesses to create interactive Facebook pages and use Facebook Messenger to interact with customers as a way of increasing sales. Technology companies have turned to India and other markets in Asia for growth because the region contains two-thirds of the world's population. Asia is Facebook's fastest-growing region, with 57 percent year-over-year growth in monthly active users. India alone has 1.3 billion people, second only to China, and Facebook increased the number of users there by 22 per cent last year. On the other hand, only 252 million people in India have Internet access. Expansion in India is also important because of the "China factor." Facebook, like Google Inc and Twitter Inc, is shut out of the biggest market of all due to the Communist government's concerns over control of information. Other tech companies, such as eBay and Yahoo, have struggled to crack the Chinese market. Getting more Indian users "drives success, or at least the perception of success," said Jaideep Mehta, vice president and general manager for International Data Corporation Southeast Asia. Facebook said it plans to use its strategy in India for other emerging markets such as Brazil, Indonesia and Mexico, which are Facebook's third-, fourth- and fifth-largest markets by users. That makes success in India even more important for its global expansion. For the second quarter of this year, 51.3 per cent of Facebook's $4 billion in revenue came from outside the US and Canada. In addition to efforts to attract more Indian advertisers, Facebook is working to make it easier for users to get on the service. More than 90 per cent of Facebook's Indian users access it through mobile phones, but the Facebook app uses more data than most are able to pay for and Internet connections can be patchy. So the social giant developed Facebook Lite, which uses less data, for India and other emerging markets. It has also rolled out its Internet.org initiative in India, a program started in August 2013 that aims to connect the two-thirds of the world without Internet access. Many of India's advertising dollars are in rural and semi-urban cities, analysts said, where users do not have a reliable Internet connection. Facebook is also getting help from the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which uses Facebook to provide updates on the government's workings. "It is undeniable that a pro-social media government is good for the industry," Mehta said.(Reuters)
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Mobile commerce platform Paytm has achieved has crossed 100 million Paytm Wallet users who carry out over 75 million transactions every month.By reaching at this stage, Paytm has moved an inched closer towards its larger vision of transforming India into a “cash-free” economy. Accepted by over 80,000 merchants, Paytm plans to reach 10 million merchants by end of next year. Users can load money to Paytm wallet using debit card, credit card, net banking and over 20,000 cash deposit points. It is partnering with various banks to enable users to add money through bank branch and ATM machines, company said in a press statement.Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Paytm founder and CEO, said “Today with over 100 million Paytm wallets, India has committed towards a less-cash society.”Paytm started by offering mobile recharge and utility bill payments and currently it offers a full marketplace to consumers on its mobile application. It authorises inter-wallet or person-to-person money transfers and wallet-to-bank transfers. Such services have helped Paytm offer great advantage to those who are often left out of the fold of financial inclusion in the country. The Paytm Wallet has also eliminated the safety and convenience-related concerns that accompany carrying huge amounts of cash.(BW Online Bureau)
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