AMD joined hand with with Oculus and Dell to equip Oculus Ready PCs with AMD Radeon GPUs, starting at $999.These PCs are designed to deliver stunning gaming performance and enable spectacular VR experiences for consumers around the world by leveraging AMD’s VR leadership with LiquidVR™ and Graphics Core Next architecture.Roy Taylor, corporate vice president, Alliances and Content, AMD, said,“I’m confident that with Dell and Alienware, we can enable a wide audience of PC users with extraordinary VR capabilities powered by AMD Radeon GPUs.”In March, AMD announced an initiative to deliver the ultimate VR experience for developers and users enabled through AMD LiquidVR™ technology. AMD LiquidVR™ enables low-latency VR performance that maintains reliable comfort during your VR experience, and plug-and-play compatibility with VR headsets. AMD GPU software and hardware subsystems are a major component in making AMD LiquidVR™ a reality and in turn allowing for developers and content creators to enable a life-like presence in VR environments.(BW Online Bureau)
Read More
Yes. In the breakneck, cut-throat universe of e-commerce, Rokitt Inc, a US based technology company, is transforming the lives of ordinary people (in India and the US) through a slew of new-edge products with a sense of punch and grandeur not often witnessed. Products that challenge conventional wisdom to positively disrupt the way we work, think and play. Products that don’t just anticipate, but fulfil, emerging need gaps. Products that forge one-to-one relationships with customers. Products that delight through innovation.Rokitt’s Co-founder and CTO, Rohit Mahajan captures the driving spirit behind Rokitt succintly: “We are passionate about innovation, transformation and empowerment, and we do everything with these tenets in mind! We look at various industries through the lens of market disruption and develop intuitive products that will transform and improve the way technology works for humanity.”Rokitt’s Research Labs - immersed in technology and software engineering - develop and play with next-gen engineering, prototype ideas and engineer algorithms. The company has already developed and delivered leading-edge products is in the domains of Mobile and Web Products, Augmented Reality Experiences, Enterprise Data Recovery, Testing & Security Solutions, Consumer Marketing Applications, Entrepreneurial Portals and Marketplaces, and Financial Services. Oksana Sokolovsky, Co-founder and President of Rokitt Inc., puts things in perspective: “Yes, Rokitt is a start-up but it’s different from any other. We are a dynamic, energetic and dedicated team that strives to make a difference. The Rokitt culture combines the spirit of a start up with years of professional maturity. Our products and solutions impact the everyday lives of consumers as well as global enterprises and governments around the world,”Rokitt is also creating digital technology professionals with hands-on skills through its popular Bootcamps in the US and India. These are professionals who will take on decisive roles in tomorrow’s workplaces, and inform the shape of things to come.Headquartered in New York and with offices in Kiev, Dubai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Gurgaon, Rokitt Inc. is well and truly ready to rock the industry. Stay tuned.Digital technologies are expected to add $1.3 trillion to the global economy by 2020. With over ten innovative products in the pipeline, buzz in industry circles is that Rokitt Inc’s valuation is set to soar. Though currently the organization is self-funded and has not been actively looking for investments, there is a feeling that with such ambitious expansion plans, several venture capitalists and institutions will try to step in the fray and try to acquire a piece of the action. The company spokesperson offered no comment.
Read More
Cyber Security & Malware Protection company FireEye teamed up with F5 Networks to defend against the evolving security threats to the enterprise.Customers will benefit from comprehensive security solutions that integrate application delivery infrastructure from F5 and advanced threat protection from FireEye Network Security. The agreement also includes a unified approach to worldwide sales, deployment and support, thereby helping to ensure the best possible end-to-end experience for customers.“Our partnership with F5 addresses critical business issues for our customers across the Asia Pacific region – matching IT growth and security to support the business,” said Bryce Boland, chief technology officer for Asia Pacific at FireEye. “We are bringing together leading application delivery technology with advanced threat protection to help Asia Pacific firms fend off today’s advanced threats.”Enterprise IT departments are challenged with supporting cloud-based applications and mobile environments while maintaining network reliability, security, and speed. The partnership between FireEye and F5 will feature the integration of key application delivery technologies with advanced threat management platforms to accelerate application deployment, performance, and security. Customers will also benefit from the following:“Pervasive trends like cloud, mobility and the Internet of Things, together with the growing complexity of the threat landscape, demand a shift in security approaches in Asia Pacific,” said Manu Bonnassie, senior vice president, F5 Networks. “The partnership between F5 and FireEye goes beyond technology integration to combine engagement and solution delivery to address the increasingly sophisticated security challenges of enterprises in Asia Pacific.”(BW Online Bureau)
Read More
Twitter Inc named co-founder and interim Chief Executive Jack Dorsey as its permanent CEO, ending months of speculation about who would take the reins at the company. Dorsey will remain head of fast-growing mobile payments company Square, which he also co-founded, potentially setting up conflicts of interest. Twitter had previously said the CEO job would be a full-time position, which seemed to exclude Dorsey if he continued to run Square. Some investors had expressed concerns about whether Dorsey could run both Twitter and Square, which is expected to go public later this year. However, Twitter's shares rose 1.9 per cent to $26.80 in premarket trading. The move comes at a time when Twitter is working to rekindle user growth. Twitter's second-quarter monthly average users grew at the slowest pace since the company went public in 2013. Dorsey has served as interim CEO of the microblogging service since former CEO Dick Costolo stepped down on July 1. Dorsey will continue to serve as a member of Twitter's board, but will no longer be chairman. Costolo resigned from the board on September 30, the company said on Monday. "We're working to change the composition of our board," Dorsey tweeted. Adam Bain, previously Twitter's president and head of revenue and once considered a favorite for the top job, was named chief operating officer. Square, which pioneered the use of instant payments over smartphones and is worth about $6 billion based on its most recent round of funding, plans to file for an initial public offering soon, according to a source familiar with the situation. That will require substantial time from Dorsey, who will have to spend weeks courting investors. But some investors said Dorsey was able to do both jobs, and was a more effective leader now than in 2008, when the co-founder was fired from his first stint as Twitter CEO. Investors and analysts have lauded Dorsey's success at Square and faster product rollouts at Twitter since he took the helm in July. Those include a widely available "buy now" button that allows users to make purchases directly through Twitter; Project Lightning, expected to roll out later this year and which would allow users to follow live events through selected tweets and photos; and a partnership with Square that lets users to make political donations through Twitter. Twitter said there were no plans to provide Dorsey with direct compensation for his role as CEO.(Reuters)
Read More
Acer India has unveiled its latest range of projectors including the new V7500 (Rs 99,000) projector with superb clarity packed into a sophisticated design, the Acer P1285B feature rich Projector (Rs 42,000) with multimedia playback and Auto Keystone correction, the 1080P resolution P5515 with 2D keystone and 4 corner correction, the Acer H6517BD (Rs 79,000) with magnificent video quality, the award winning C250 pico projector (Rs 33,000), and the P1387W projector (Rs 73,000) for best value projection in the Indian market today.S. Rajendran, Chief Marketing Officer, Acer India, said, "The new range of Acer projectors target various consumer segments and keeps in mind their respective requirements. All our devices are designed and developed after a comprehensive analysis of the consumer needs. Our R&D team develops features that solve the particular need of our target consumers. The whole new range of projectors brings complete wireless connectivity to all industry verticals, resulting in easier setup, cleaner-looking entertainment spaces, and lower installation costs. We've introduced our world-leading ExtremeEco technology to enable up to 30,000 hours of lamp life in LED projectors, giving our customers access to bright picture performance, energy savings, and a lower total cost of ownership (TCO)."He also said, “Image quality has always been of utmost importance for us, which is why our focus has been on both high brightness and vibrant color reproduction. With the new range of large venue projectors, we’ve provided our customers with the very best images they could get with a wide array of installation options, making it easier to obtain the brightest, sharpest images.”All of the new projectors support MHL®, so that mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets can be easily connected and the screen content mirrored to play games, watch videos, or even make presentations. Wireless projection capabilities for all newly launched models can be enabled via an optional wireless dongle. All the models feature Acer proprietary ColorBoost3D and ColorSafe II enhancement technologies to provide true and natural colours even after extended use.(BW Online Bureau)
Read More
The affordable segment of smartphones today is not only getting powerful hardware but they are also getting aesthetic design and finish. Take for instance the Oppo Mirror 5 which comes with a metal frame in the middle and what seems like front and back glass. However, the back is actually made of plastic with an appealing shiny finish and a polygon pattern underneath, like a shattered mirror. The handset also offers the perfect size and weight which fits and feels perfectly great in the hand.The back is removable although the battery cannot be removed. The panel covers the microSD card slot and two SIM card slots. The metal frame has a nice brushed finish and apart from housing the volume and power buttons, the 3.5mm audio jack and the microUSB port there is also an infrared blaster port. Oppo has chosen to include capacitive keys at the bottom of the display instead on-screen ones. The 5-inch display itself doesn’t looks that bad on the first glance, but it somehow doesn’t feel very sharp due to its 960x540 resolution. Today smartphones priced at 5K are being shipped with a display that has at least an HD 720p display, however Oppo chose to use a low resolution display. Save costs maybe? Or to get better battery? Whatever may be the reason, it might not appeal to some consumers, but frankly it doesn’t hamper the experience entirely. Even at this resolution things looks great.In the hardware department a Snapdragon 410 quad-core processor powers the smartphone with 2GB of RAM which provides enough resources to handle daily tasks like checking emails, browsing and checking all your social media accounts. There is 16GB of storage which is expandable upto 128GB. There is an 8MP camera at the back and a 5MP camera in the front both of which work quite snappy. The handset also support 4G LTE connectivity and 2420mAH battery juices up the device.Running on Android 5.1.1 with newest version of Color OS 2.1 on top which surprisingly runs very smooth and feels very light. Oppo has done some homework and has cleaned up its user interface and made it quite snappy. It does however look very similar to Xiaomi’s MIUI, maintaining some of the elements of Color OS. The camera app also sees a new look and again would remind you of the app on most of the new Mi smartphones and yes, the iPhone. It has a simple and clean look and performs very smooth along with a bunch of modes and filters. Focusing is fast and even the shutter doesn’t offer any sort of lags. Pictures come fairly good and the app also offers a special UltraHD mode which can interpolate pixels to produce a 24MP image. It isn’t however any better in terms of quality, just a large size. Apart from that you also get a slow shutter mode, a night mode, an HDR mode and also a GIF mode to make small animated images. Since there is an infrared blaster port Oppo has also included a remote control app which supports most of the appliances you might have in your house including televisions, set top boxes, airconditioners, DVD players and projectors.The handset is overpriced for the features it offers as it launched with a price tag of Rs. 15,999 and can bought for about Rs. 14,999 which is still expensive considering that handset like the Moto G 3rd Gen and even the Xiaomi Mi4i are priced lower and offer better specifications. Go for the Oppo Mirror 5 only if you care more about good looks and a smooth software experience. Pictures: Kunal Khullar
Read More
Maggie BuggieRapid advances in mobile and digital technologies mean that automotive companies could soon face a challenge from some significant new entrants, including some of the biggest names in technology. In the face of this impending competition, improving the Digital Customer Experience (DCX) and delivering more personalized mobile and social communications will be central to retaining and attracting new customers.The latest edition of Capgemini’s annual Cars Online report finds that one half of all customers surveyed would be interested in buying a car from a technology company such as Apple or Google, with young people (65 per cent) and those in growth markets (China 74 per cent; India 81 per cent) most likely to do so. Not only is software recognized as becoming more central to new, increasingly connected vehicles and developments such as autonomous driving, but tech companies are also seen as more customer-centric by many people.Yet OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) have some key advantages that can help them to overcome such challenges. Moreover, with the right partnerships in place, technology companies could become allies rather than threats.Automotive companies cannot afford to delay. Recent forecasts from Juniper Research estimate that connected cars will represent one fifth of the car market globally by 2019. One of the key messages: “Big Data analytics will play an increasingly important role in areas such as telematics.” [http://www.juniperresearch.com/press/press-releases/connected-cars-to-be-20pc-of-global-car-market]According to the Capgemini report more personalized communications through all phases of the vehicle purchasing lifecycle—interest, purchase, ownership, repurchase—can help OEMs to build long-term loyalty, a key opportunity that currently is often neglected. Social media, for example, is becoming increasingly important in car transactions, and particularly in the interest phase: 57 per cent of customers across all markets are likely to post information about their car-buying experience, up from 48 per cent a year earlier, while 30 per cent-40 per cent of customers in mature markets and 80 per cent in growth markets are likely to be influenced by positive comments on social media.Across all markets the majority of customers (66 per cent-71 per cent) say email is their preferred communications channel when they make a purchase, but contact through websites/social media and smartphone apps is growing. OEMs and dealers can gain advantage by providing a seamless, individualized and interactive customer experience across all platforms.That will require coherent technology and business strategies. By harnessing mobile, social media and analytics technologies, for example, customer data can be used to provide more targeted and personalized communications. The report shows that most customers are prepared to allow access to their data, provided they know why it is needed, although they still have serious concerns over security and privacy. More encouraging for OEMs: they score the highest levels of trust among consumers.The challenge now is to build on that trust and demonstrate that OEMs have the IT knowledge to safeguard data. If developments such as connected car services and advanced driver assistance systems are really going to take off, alliances with technology companies and telcos could play an important role and at the same time see off some of the competition.The author, Maggie Buggie, is vice president and global head of digital sales and marketing at CapgeminiConnect with Maggie on Twitter | LinkedInDisclaimer: Opinions expressed on this column reflect the writer’s views and not the position of the Capgemini Group
Read More
According to a study by Gartner on 'Adoption of Cloud ERP, 2013 Through 2023', which extensively investigated about companies ranging in size from $10M to $10B across North America, EMEA, APAC and Latin American markets, has revealed that cloud ERP is the potential replacement for aging core ERP systems that are out of support or running on an old technology platforms such as mainframes. Although ERP remains the backbone of IT operations for many organisations, whether to move it to Cloud remains a challenging questions for many CIO's today. While some basic service like HR, CRM which may have limited impact on an organisation have been moved to cloud, enterprises are still not confident of moving their core ERP solutions supporting financials or supply chain management to cloud.Implementing ERP is a high-cost, multi-year, complex project for many organizations and the success rate of ERP has been as low as 60% in many countries. ERP till date has been hosted and implemented on -premise at the client location. In 2000 we saw evolution of hosted model where the platform can be off-site. However cloud has revolutionized the ERP space and we have witnessed top ERP providers like SAP and Oracle offering their services on cloud which has multiple benefits of lower cost and reduced implementation cycle. However, the question remains is cloud suitable for all enterprises irrespective of their company size, business complexities or security needs?Gartner report Predicts 2014: The Rise of the Postmodern ERP and Enterprise Applications World, Gartner predicts that by 2018, at least 30% of service-centric companies will move the majority of their ERP applications to the Cloud.Benefits of moving your ERP to Cloud 1. Cost: Cloud based ERP services are provided on pay-as-you-go model and it reduces the initial upfront capital expenditure of purchasing the software. Also the implementation and operational costs can be paid through subscription and are much lower than traditional ERP implementation, maintenance and hosting. This helps the CFOs to turn the ERP cost from Capex to Opex2. Ease of deployment: Traditional ERP takes months and often years to configure the system and make the company ready to implement the ERP solution, whereas cloud-based ERP systems have ready frameworks that drastically reduces the time required to GO LIVE. 3. Flexibility & Scalability: Cloud allows to add new features and business functionalities easily into the software without going through the traditional challenges of buying or configuring new software add-ons. For example, both SAP and Salesforce.com, offers applications such as advanced analytics, collaboration, finance management, through Web-based app stores like any other consumer apps. This makes cloud more attractive and apt for today's changing business requirements.4. Easy upgrades and access to latest software: Companies that have adopted ERP on Cloud can easily take the advantages of upgradations or enhancements in the system or whenever the service provider launches a new version without the cost or hassle associated with upgrading on-premise ERP software.5. Free Maintenance: Companies who have adopted hosted ERP solution, don't need to run their own software and hardware, thus getting rid of regular maintenance costs. They can focus on their core business without taking the hassles of managing in-house servers or hiring IT staffs for upkeep and maintenance. 6. Better Integration Through Other Systems: The cloud has been purposefully created for simple interoperability that complements the option for present or future utilization of extra products.7. Data Back-Ups: Third party cloud service providers takes utmost measures to ensure that there is no data loss. They come with redundancy plans which means the data is copied in minimum two locations. They provide better data security and disaster recovery plans.Challenges of Moving your ERP to Cloud1. Ensuring Data Security: It still remains the topmost concern while moving to cloud. ERP supports several departments and deals with critical financial/accounting, sales, customer data. Moving this data to cloud means less control of the enterprise on their data, exposure of the sensitive data to third party vendors. Though cloud providers guarantee stringent security measures and also bound to adopt the guidelines of various regulatory bodies, organizations should assess the vendor's security and regulatory policy and formally train their employees to mitigate risks.2. Limited customizations & integrations: Cloud may not be suitable for enterprises which needs highly tailored ERP packages to match their complex business processes. Also organisations with legacy ERP may face multiple challenges in integrating individual applications and data to support business processes."You should never assume that adopting cloud applications will magically provide value; it's essential to link business objectives to your ERP strategy to ensure value is realized, whether adopting on-premises or cloud applications," as said by Carol Hardcastle, research vice president at Gartner. The benefits of moving ERP to Cloud are undeniable particularly for medium and small businesses. There are several factors that an organisation should consider before moving to cloud such as:o Industry typeo company sizeo solution complexityo security needs Enterprises that require basic functionality, minimal customization, and limited integration are particularly appropriate for cloud-hosted solutions. As new technology disrupts the status quo, the once cutting-edge tools, processes, and business models get retired and Cloud Computing adoption in the ERP arena is witnessing rapid incorporation. Large enterprises with legacy ERP systems may not be able to move their processes overnight, they need to adapt over a period of time. Some companies may benefit from so-called hybrid models, where some ERP functionality is retained in a traditional hosted environment while other applications are implemented through the cloud. A large company with complex supply chain requirements, for example, might continue to maintain its customized ERP solution while using a cloud provider for selected business processes, such as talent management. To be successful in ERP adoption organizations need to develop a multi-year strategy for all significant business applications. The author, Hitendra Shinde, is Business Head - India, Blue Star Infotech
Read More
