Category: National

The 5th edition of Global Exhibition on Services (GES) 2019 was held at the Bangalore Palace, Bengaluru from 26 to 28 November 2019. Conducted under the aegis of the Ministry of Commerce, the event was jointly organised by the Services Export Promotion Council (SEPC) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). Services are the key driver of global trade. In terms of contributing towards GDP, FDI, exports and employment generation, services are becoming increasingly salient, both in developed and developing countries. In India too, the service sector has been contributing significantly to India’s gross value added with a share of approximately 60%, and India’s overall exports with a share of 38% in recent years. GES 2019 was conducted with the aim to engage Industry and Governments across the world to promote greater exchange of trade in services between India and the rest of the world and attempt to give the multifaceted Indian services the global visibility they deserve, simultaneously encourage trade at a global level. The previous edition of GES witnessed the formal recognition of 12 service sectors as the Champion Service Sectors, including Information Technology & IT enabled Services. This year, realising the potential of the Private Security Industry as the most potent workforce capable of generating foreign exchange, the Ministry of Commerce invited Central Association of Private Security Industry (CAPSI) to participate in the event. CAPSI established a large pavilion at the site and displayed their might in concert with its member agencies. Kunwar Vikram Singh, Chairman, Mahesh Sharma, Secretary General, Maj Gen K Majumdar (Retd), CEO – CAPSI; as well as Vikram Vig, Manager – Standards & Quality Assurance attended the event. The Industry was represented by Anil Puri along with his staff from AP Securitas, AM Luthra from L Group, VV Katti, President, CAPSI & MD, Guardwell, Rajesh Raviraj, Exelity Skill Training Academy, and Ravindranath, NST Academy. The spectacular sight of smartly turned out security guards attracted a lot of visitors to the stall, especially the foreign dignitaries. The eminent dignitaries who visited CAPSI stall were Sudhanshu Pandey, Additional Secretary with Darpan Jain, Joint Secretary – Ministry of Commerce, Ashit Mohan Prasad, DG, Internal Security Division, Karnataka Police, and Virendra Gupta, Deputy Director General, CII. The Chairman during his interaction with the dignitaries impressed upon the potential and tremendous work being performed by the private security industry. The theme ‘Securing my Square inch of Motherland’ was appreciated by all. The three day exhibition was inaugurated by Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce & Industry & Railways, GoI. Actively supported by the Government of Karnataka, the event was attended by a large number of luminaries from various service sectors and government officials. Over 100 delegates from various friendly countries interacted with participant sector representatives. Various issues pertaining to the sector were deliberated over the three days. Service sectors established over 200 stalls to show case their prowess. The event is a big success and CAPSI members has said to have gained a lot from attending the event.  

IBM recently launched Skills Build platform in collaboration with Directorate General of Training under the aegis of Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE). As part of the programme, a two-year advanced diploma in IT, networking and cloud computing, co-created and designed by IBM, will be offered at the Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) & National Skill Training Institutes (NSTIs). The platform will also be extended to train ITI & NSTI faculty on AI skills for future of work. Skills Build offers digital learning content from IBM and partners such as CodeDoor, Coorpacademy and Skillsoft. The digital platform will provide a personal assessment for cognitive capabilities and personality via MyInnerGenius to the students. They will then learn foundational knowledge about digital technologies, as well as professional skills such as resume-writing, problem solving and communication. Students will also receive recommendations on role-based education for specific jobs, that include technical and professional learning. This initiative is part of IBM’s global commitment to create a job-ready workforce and to build the next generation of skills needed for new collar careers. The platform is deployed with the support of leading NGOs like Unnati and Edunet Foundation. IBM Volunteers along with the NGOS will offer students personalised coaching and experiential learning opportunities. “Our collaboration with MSDE will help the next generation to compete in the global economy. Skills are the new currency and this program will address industries’ constant struggle for job-ready individuals. The platform will help students develop the technical and professional skills needed for competitive ‘new collar’ jobs. Skills Build platform will reinforce IBM’s commitment in enabling life-long learning in India and aligning with Skills India initiative by Government of India,” said Chaitanya Sreenivas, Vice President and HR Head, IBM India Pvt. Ltd. Commenting on the collaboration, Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey, Minister of State for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship said, “We are delighted to partner with IBM in empowering the students with newage capabilities and professional skills. This initiative will help the next generation to scale themselves to the changing market demands.” “We aim to make constant endeavours to skill our students in this technological age by ensuring that nation’s youth is skilled digitally to make them adapt to the new age technology and ensure industry readiness. DGT strives to digitally revolutionize the vocational training system in India,” said Dr. K.P. Krishnan, Secretary, Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship about this new partnership. IBM joined hands with Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE) in early 2018 to launch a firstof-its kind ‘New Collar Curriculum.’ Post the successful completion of the course, in September 2019, 19 students were offered a five month paid internship at IBM.  

Videonetics, the world’s leading visual computing platform development company has recently achieved No. 1 position as the video management software provider in India with the dominant market share of 36.1% – according to a recent IHS/ Informa Tech research report. Videonetics is the youngest and the only Indian VMS provider in the top 5 listing. Earlier, Videonetics was also ranked amongst the top 5 VMS providers in Asian market with the market share of 5.4%. “It is a prestigious honor to be recognized as an industry leader in VMS by IHS/ Informa Tech. This recognition validates our drive for high performance, innovation, differentiation and scalability,” said Dr. Tinku Acharya, Fellow IEEE, Founder & MD, Videonetics, “Building upon our award winning and patented AI & deep learning framework, we continue to achieve widespread adoption of our unified video computing platform (UVCP™), in smart and safe cities, aviation, industrial, education, BFSI, retail, and healthcare sectors.” Avinash Trivedi, VP – Business Development, Videonetics commented, “The findings of lHS/ Informa Tech research reaffirm our leadership position in the VMS market. We’ve always strived to bring more value to our partners, integrators and customers. I would like to dedicate this achievement to them for their continued support, commitment and excellent contribution to Videonetics growth.” Videonetics Intelligent Video Management Software Videonetics Intelligent Video Management Software (IVMS) is an open architecture, agnostic, scalable, and modular video management and analytics software. IVMS provides enterprise-class features without discriminating on the size of the project, and manages the video effectively, optimally and securely. IVMS offers flexible deployment environments to suit user’s preferences and needs. IVMS is a part of Videonetics’ patented UVCP™ which brings together other applications such as AI and deep learning based video analytics, intelligent traffic management applications and face recognition to address all of the video computing requirements. Built on open architecture, IVMS enables easy 3rd party integration with various sub systems such as access control, fire alarm systems, SCADA, intrusion detection, ICCC, C4I and IBMS systems. Videonetics Unified Video Computing Platform helps make sense of surveillance, by providing an end-toend solution for a wide range of applications. The platform is powered by the artificial intelligence and deep learning engine, which is trained on humongous data sets, making the solutions incredibly robust and smart. All Videonetics products and solutions are integrated yet modular, ONVIF compliant, OS and hardware agnostic, scalable and interoperable.  

Milestone Systems has been holding technology events for partners across the world based on region-specific demands for more than 10 years. This year, MPOP took place at Kochi in India during 13-15 November 2019 that witnessed over 140 partners including some of the most successful IP video system integrators, resellers and distributors. MPOP India 2019 served to demonstrate the power of video technology through the advantages of open platform. The event discussed industry hot topics such as access control, intrusion detection, analytics and the latest network camera technology. “Leveraging India’s fast-growing economy and an increasing demand for security, Milestone Systems is committed and focused on capturing the untapped opportunities in India. We are here to offer various open platform solutions to meet our end users’ security and non-security needs. Events such as MPOP serve as a great platform to further strengthen our partner relations and overall network across the country,” said Ritesh Deokar, Country Manager India, Milestone Systems. At the event, Milestone Open Platform Community partners also showcased their Milestone-integrated solutions (integration with XProtect®) such as the latest IP cameras, server and storage hardware, video analytics, cloud solutions, access control, wireless, body worn cameras and perimeter protection. The event also saw many ‘India first’ technologies such as Eins, InnerRange, Boring Lab, Quanergy and Awiros as part of the Milestone Systems portfolio. Sharing his experience at the event, Kandarp Jhala, Business Head, Safety and Security, Sigma-byte Computers Pvt. Ltd. stated, “The event offered an unparalleled opportunity for education, networking and peer-to-peer knowledge exchange. It helped partners like us learn several effective ways to generate new business leads and gain a better understanding of how the Milestone Systems community creates the best video solutions for their customers. This year’s MPOP was full of great information and updates on both strategy and portfolio. The partner and customer success stories shared were also highly valuable.” “MPOP in Kochi provided an excellent opportunity for the world’s leading manufacturers and experts from the open platform community to come together to showcase technologies and solutions that are integrated to the open Milestone Systems software platform. I never knew that there are so many solutions built on the Milestone Systems platform. We are very excited about the future of the video technology industry in India,” said Gaurav Mangal, AGM Head SBU – Security & Surveillance, Toshniwal Industries Pvt. Ltd. Deokar concluded, “We have been contributing to India’s flagship program ‘Smart Cities Mission’ initiative, and we are glad that participants have learned more about the infinite integration possibilities with Milestone Systems’ video management software XProtect®. In the coming years, together with our partners, we look forward to working with both government and private partners to build smarter and safer cities that will go beyond security for the future.” MPOP is a region-specific initiative where Milestone Systems provides in-depth sessions for business partners and IT professionals to share trends and technological advances in video management. Milestone Systems also conducts frequent partner training programs, events, learning days and webinars to help partners align with the latest trends and gain better understanding of the Milestone Systems community.  

End-user spending on public cloud services in India is forecast to total $3.4 billion in 2020, a 25% increase from 2019, according to Gartner, Inc. This double-digit growth will position India as the No. 3 country for end-user spending on public cloud services. China and Indonesia will be the countries with the highest growth rates in end-user spending on public cloud services in 2020. “Moving to the cloud and investing in public cloud services have become imperative to the success of digital business initiatives. It’s no longer a question of ‘why,’ but a matter of ‘when’ organizations can shift to the cloud,” said Sid Nag, Research Vice President at Gartner, “We have entered the cloud 2.0 era, where organizations are adopting a cloudfirst or a cloud-only strategy.” Cloud application services (SaaS) remains the segment where end-user organizations in India will spend the most and will represent 42% of overall public cloud services end-user spending in 2020. End-user spending on SaaS cloud application services in India will total $1.4 billion in 2020, an increase of more than 21% year over year. Organizations are moving their legacy applications to SaaS because it provides them with the flexibility of subscription-based consumption, in contrast to expensive license-based on-premises consumption models. “SaaS adoption is associated with a lower cost of entry, which is one of the reasons for the high investment in this segment in India, which is a price-sensitive market,” said Sid Nag. The next wave of changes that Indian CIOs foresee is consolidation in the cloud services market. “The disinvestment in data centres by small and niche cloud service providers has increased the opportunities for hyperscale vendors, such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft and Alibaba, to disrupt the cloud infrastructure services market rapidly,” said Sid Nag. Market leaders such as Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Alibaba and IBM currently dominate global cloud infrastructure services market, and will retain the lead as the market grows. Gartner predicts that, by 2021, 90% of global enterprise customers using cloud IaaS will take a multicloud approach. “Multicloud and hybrid approaches are becoming inherent to cloud adoption. Organizations want to take full advantage of best-of-breed solutions, and are therefore working with one or more cloud service providers,” added Sid Nag. Gartner clients can read more in the report “Forecast: Public Cloud Services, Worldwide, 2017-2023, 3Q19 Update” Gartner, Inc. is the world’s leading research and advisory company and a member of the S&P 500. They equip business leaders with indispensable insights, advice and tools to achieve their mission-critical priorities today and build the successful organizations of tomorrow. Their unmatched combination of expert-led, practitioner-sourced and data-driven research steers clients toward the right decisions on the issues that matter most. They are a trusted advisor and objective resource for more than 15,000 organizations in more than 100 countries – across all major functions, in every industry and enterprise size.  

Axis Communications concluded their three-day annual India SAARC partner summit – Axis Innovation Summit 2019 in Abu Dhabi. The summit, a combined event for the entire region, provided a platform to interact with key Axis channel partners from 5 countries as well as the Axis leadership team both from the region and Sweden. The event also helped facilitate a platform for technical showcase, and understand the challenges of key partners and cross pollination of ideas among key partners. The conference hosted interactive discussions around the growing importance of security in different verticals – retail, manufacturing, critical infrastructure, and education etc., in-depth panel discussion on innovation in cyber security and how it is interwoven with the organisation’s physical security needs, growing importance of surveillance in the middle-east, demonstration of new product launches and company’s vision, and way-forward. Axis Communications also felicitated their loyal partners and distributors for outstanding works in their respective fields. Speaking on the success of the Summit, Sudhindra Holla, Sales Director, India and SAARC said, “With a rich lineage of over 35 years globally and a strong Indian presence from 2007 we understand the pulse of the Indian market. At Axis Communications, we consider channel partners as our extended family and our strongest support system Axis Innovation Summit 2019 in Abu Dhabi Stimulating the Channel Partner Ecosystem in building customer relationships. We owe a significant amount of our success to our partners and we believe in recognising their efforts and contributions. Axis is a strong channel focused organisation and our association fosters company’s growth and helps in achieving our vision.” This Summit created a platform to share insights on how Axis can support them in leveraging new market opportunities both for small and mid-sized businesses. Additionally, a view on the business strategy, product innovations and solutions were also discussed in depth. The summit provided the channel partners and distributors an opportunity to engage and interact with top management from Axis Communications.  

BCD International, Inc. has recently received the commercial license from the Dubai Development Authority and thereby the company will open its Middle East branch in Dubai Internet City, Dubai in January 2020. The office will serve as the regional headquarters for Video Storage Solutions (VSS). VSS, one of BCD’s major divisions, will expand its global presence in the Middle East, Turkey, Africa & India (METAI) region to supply video recording and storage appliances to authorized security distributors of the region. These appliances are already engineered for video surveillance. “We are excited about the fantastic opportunity that our new Dubai Internet City office brings. As our client base and partner relations continue to grow in the Middle East, the decision to expand our physical presence is a logical step in order to be able to work more closely with them” -Rohit Khubchandani Regional Sales Director, BCD, METAI. “Along with the importance of proximity to our customers, this move also demonstrates a major commitment to the marketplace and ongoing growth of our company. Located in the heart of Dubai, the new location will serve as a regional hub enabling the company to service current clients more quickly and address the growing demand for our pre-engineered video recording appliances with guaranteed performance,” said Rohit Khubchandani, Regional Sales Director, BCD, METAI. VSS’ portfolio of video appliances come pre-engineered with Milestone XProtect®, Seagate SkyHawk surveillance grade drives, and its state-of-theart Storage Accelerator which significantly increases storage scalability, performance and reliability for Milestone Systems projects.  

Matrix Comsec, a leading manufacturer and provider of telecom and security solutions, has been awarded with the Dun & Bradstreet Business Excellence Award 2019 in the mid-corporate segment for Excellence in the Electrical and Electronic Goods category. Matrix received this award for achieving superlative all-round performance in terms of quality and efficiency in all functions including R&D, manufacturing, marketing, sales and finance. SME Business Excellence Awards 2019 is a joint initiative by Dun & Bradstreet and RBL Bank for recognizing and felicitating the leading SMEs and mid-corporates in India. The awards were presented on 20 November 2019 at Hyatt Regency, New Delhi. On winning this prestigious award, Ganesh Jivani, Chief Executive of Matrix said, “Matrix is focused on designing and manufacturing world-class cutting-edge security and telecom solutions for modern organizations. Matrix offers these solutions in more than 50 countries including many first-world technologically advanced nations. With 250+ R&D engineers and world-class infrastructure and equipment, Matrix is committed to R&D and cutting-edge products. This award is a validation of Matrix’s world-class innovation and design capabilities. I thank all our customers Matrix Wins the Dun & Bradstreet Business Excellence Award 2019 and channel partners for their trust in Matrix and congratulate the entire Matrix team for this outstanding achievement. This recognition would encourage us to work harder towards building future technologies and products.” There were stringent yardsticks and tough competition in all sectors as the awards were decided by eminent jury on various parameters of performance and best practices across the industry. The parameters considered for the awardees were total income, net profit, net worth, net profit margins, and growth in total income, growth in net profit, return on net worth and return on assets, among others. Front-runners in various categories were chosen on the basis of a composite score of the weighted parameters. This is the tenth edition of the Dun & Bradstreet SME Business Excellence Awards to recognize the contribution of high-performing Indian SMEs and their contributions to increasing the adoption of technology by organizations across the country. The Awards showcased the achievements of the winners on a nationwide platform, and also lend them global credibility through the D&B worldwide network. The event was graced by senior management from SMEs, government institutions, banks, financial institutions and tech companies.