D-Link Enhances IP Surveillance Options

D-Link, the end-to-end computer networking solutions provider for consumers and businesses, unveiled a new Internet-based surveillance product line - the network video recorders (NVR) - designed with advanced features and compact size to meet the camera monitoring needs of consumers, small office/home office (SOHO) users and small-to-medium businesses.

The DNS-722-4 and DNS-726-4 are based on D-Link's proven 2-bay network attached storage (NAS) device technology. The DNS-726-4 NVR Pro version works with D-Link as well as third party network cameras.

Both are standalone serial ATA RAID NVRs that feature a security lock, 24/7 recording with a PC, friendly graphical user interface (GUI) for multiple camera management and direct access for viewing live video or playing back recorded data through the Internet from anywhere at anytime.

One of the most powerful features of the cameras is flexible event management. The NVRs can monitor all camera "triggers" from motion detection or digital input interface. The DNS-726-4 can centrally control the digital output, email and recording of all networked cameras. For example, if camera 1 detects motion, the NVR can trigger camera 2 to record, camera 3 to emit light, and camera 4 to turn to the preset position.

An event log keeps track of log pages by date for easy look up, and multiple contact lists can be created for event notification.

D-Link DNS-722-4 and DNS-726-4 are available at an estimated street price of Rs. 32,000 and Rs. 55,000 respectively. Both these products are sold through D-Links vast network of value-added resellers, solution providers and distributors present all across India.

Samsung Unveils New Netbook on Windows 7

Samsung announced the launch of its ultra sleek and stylish Netbook N-140. With the launch of this new model, Samsung has emerged as a full-range player in the Indian market with a comprehensive line-up of Mini Notebooks, under its N series and advanced  R-series of Notebooks. This entire product range targets both the home user as well as the enterprise segment.

Designed for optimum mobility, the N-140s enhanced battery powered performance of 11 hours with a 6 cell battery, ensures total connectivity, even while youre on the go. This exceptional capability is guaranteed by energy efficient display, optimized processing performance with Windows 7 OS and Samsungs class-leading technology. It is the first netbook in the market which has a 250GB Hard Disc Drive.

The N140 comes with an spillproof keyboard and is priced at Rs. 24,990. With the launch of the Samsung N140, Samsung has a range of 4 Netbooks priced between Rs.18, 893 to Rs 27,990.

Transcend Card Readers Now Compatible With Windows 7

Transcend Information announces that its current range of USB card readers have all passed Windows 7 compatibility testing and are now fully qualified to bear the "Compatible with Windows 7" Logo.

Windows 7 is the newest version of the Microsoft Windows operating system. It is intended to be a more focused, evolutionary upgrade to the Windows product line, with the goal of being fully compatible with applications and hardware that are designed for use with its predecessor Windows Vista.

According to Austin Huang, Regional Head - Sales, SAARC&APAC, Transcend, said, We always strive to keep pace with technology. Our incessant R&D has made our products highly acceptable in the market. Now that Microsoft is launching its latest version of Windows operating system, Transcend users can freely use their card readers on Windows 7 computers without worrying about compatibility issues.

According to ChangeWave Research, the current satisfaction rate for Windows 7 is four times higher than Windows Vista. In order to ensure complete functionality when used with the new Windows 7 operating system, Transcend's card readers, including RDP8, RDP6, RDP5, RDP3 and RDP2 have all been confirmed to meet Microsoft's strict standards for Windows 7.Users now can freely use Transcend card readers on Windows 7 computers without worrying about compatibility issues.

Transcend's card readers have sleek, stylish designs with industry-leading thin compact dimensions that make them lightweight and easy to carry. All transcend card readers feature plug and play installation and clearly labeled slots to avoid confusion and save time. They also fully support the Secure Digital Association's SD2.0 (SDHC) standards and offer high-speed USB2.0 USB data transfer rates that make transferring music, video clips, pictures, documents and other files easier than ever. Now compatible with the Windows 7 operating system, Transcend's card readers are trusted by memory card users worldwide for their speed, reliability and compatibility.

AMD Unveils New Athlon II Processors

AMD announced several new AMD Athlon II processors that offer outstanding performance and low power consumption, while enabling sleek desktop PC designs and attractive price points.

In addition to the standard power processors, the full AMD Athlon II processor family now delivers high-performance, low-power dual-, triple- and quad-core processors to meet a range of computing needs. This variety and value enables OEMs and system builders to develop compelling PC solutions that address the market shift to power efficient, innovative PC designs optimized for Windows 7.

As PCs become increasingly affordable, many households are investing in second and third PCs to perform specific roles for individual family members. With the consumption of multimedia such as video and gaming both online and offline - continuing to rise, AMDs Mainstream Desktop Platforms enable a superior visual experience for consumers.

AMD low power desktop solutions help leading OEMs such as Acer, Dell, HP and Lenovo design PCs with low energy consumption, reduced heat and noise, all in sleeker consumer devices.

The AMD Athlon II processor family delivers a superior competitive value for mainstream consumers in productivity, HD video, slideshow, and 3D gaming tasks.

The AMD Athlon II X2 240e processor performs up to 70 percent better in media and entertainment benchmarks and delivers a processor cost saving of over $40 when compared to the Intel Core 2 Duo E7400, and enables a range of unique All-in-One and small form factor chassis.

With its additional cores, the AMD Athlon II X3 435 processor delivers processor cost savings of over $100 while providing up to 75 percent better media and entertainment performance when compared to the Intel Core 2 Duo E8500.

HP Introduces New Poster Designer Pro Software

Hewlett Packard introduced Poster Designer Pro- a software that enables all design power companies to achieve customized business artworks. HP, with its state of the art&most popular series of HP Designjet 510 & HP Designjet 110 large format printers, commands 90% market share in this segment. Businesses today subsist in an extremely competitive environment and it is essential to communicate value to their customers in a cost-effective manner. HPs Poster Designer Pro solution helps in creating in-house marketing collateral, designing and printing customer artwork, or producing special event advertising, with highest quality & high speed results.


In line with HPs commitment to make printing a hassle free, quick and affordable experience, we have come up with this new solution. Using HPs Poster Designer Pro you pay only a fraction of the cost compared to outsourced projects and it also helps in meeting tight deadlines or urgent requests with prints-on-demand, said Puneet Chadha, Director Graphic Solutions Business, Imaging & Printing Group, Hewlett-Packard India.

Acer To Conduct Reward Distribution Event

Acer concluded three day mega reward event for its channel partners, to acknowledge their exemplary performance during the month of September. The Shubha-Lakshmi scheme, part of Acers on going partner appreciation initiatives across the country in partnership with Microsoft, proved to be extremely successful. The company will be conducting reward distribution events across 12 cities in India, to felicitate its star channel partners, by gifting gold coins&watches.


This channel event, with a 'difference, had various stalls to entertain the family members of the companys channel partners. This novel event held in Delhi, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Pune, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Cochin, Nagpur, Guwahati conveys the companys belief that family encouragement & support is the backbone of success in any form of business.


September 2009 has been the best month ever, since Acer began operations in India, ten years back. We are sure all our partners will be as excited in joining us for this felicitation ceremony as we are in conducting it. This gesture reinforces Acers commitment to sustaining a rewarding relationship with our channel partners. All partners receiving rewards are from our retail channel community who have played a pivotal role in promoting genuine Microsoft OS on the Acer Hardware platform said W.S. Mukund, MD Acer India.


Commenting on Acers initiative, Rajan Anandan, MD, Microsoft India said Acers channel network has truly mitigated the challenges of the tough economic times to post stupendous success in business across the last month and Shubha Lakshmi is an innovative effort on part of the partner friendly Acer to acknowledge the passion which drove such business performance. I wish both Acer and its partner network even greater success.

BenQ Unveils its First All-In-One PC

BenQ announced the launch of its first all-in-one PC for the Indian market 18.5-inch nScreen i91 and 21.5-inch i221. The nScreen combines great looks with the latest features, and offers users a more enjoyable Internet surfing experience with its simple set-up and friendly interface. The streamlined, attractive design of the nScreen is a new personal statement in living aesthetics.

Getting rid of complicated cables and portals, the nScreen allows users to start enjoying the Internet after plugging in and switching on the machine through its simple installation and user interface. nScreen i91&i221 perfectly integrates a computer inside a high definition (HD) widescreen with an aspect ratio of 16:9.

BenQ integrates the interface of a plug-and-play device into the nScreen i91 & i221 to make operation even simpler. For example, a knob on the bottom right of the computer front functions as a power button and a volume control, much like a TV. Users can also buy an optional nScreen handset, which may be used together with a built-in 1.3M webcam as a simple Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) videophone to see and chat with families and friends more conveniently and affordably.

The nScreen has a host of additional features. For seniors, the nScreens virtual magnifier function makes reading easier. It also comes with a senior mode to lower high audio frequencies and make sound clearer. Professional users can easily open the nScreens back cover to upgrade hard drives or memory chips without using screwdrivers. With these customized features, BenQ is offering users simple digital enjoyment with maximum ease.

The BenQ nScreen i91 & i221 are available through all BenQ dealers in India and are priced from Rs 26999 onwards.

Gigabyte Unleashes Latest GV-R5700 series Graphics Cards

Gigabyte Technology announces the latest GV-R5700 series graphics cards.  Gigabytes GV-R577D5-1GD-B and GV-R575D5-1GD are built on the highly anticipated ATI RadeonTM HD 5700 Series GPUs- which utilizes the latest 826 million transistors on 40nm fabrication process and GDDR5 memory. Gigabyte HD 5700 Series graphics cards provide Microsoft DirectX 11, ATI Eyefinity Technology, ATI Stream technology, Quad mode ATI CrossFireX multi-GPU support, UDV 2 and PowerPlay, and offer an incredibly immersive HD gaming experience and unrivaled performance.

The Gigabyte HD 5700 Series graphics cards feature ATI's latest 2nd Generation TeraScale graphics engine, boasting the power of more than 2 teraFLOPS with 800 and 720 stream processors respectively. With 1GB GDDR5 memory, the Gigabyte HD 5700 Series provides twice the data per pin of GDDR3 memory at the same clock speeds. Utilizing ATI Eyefinity Technology, each gamer can run up to 3 displays from a single graphics board and expand the field of view across all displays. Gamers can enjoy the ultimate gaming experience with innovative wrap around multi-display capabilities with ATI Eyefinity Technology. Furthermore, benefiting from ATI Stream Technology, end-users can easily unleash the massive parallel processing power of GPU for physics, artificial intelligence, stream computing and ray tracing calculations, and tackle demanding tasks like video transcoding with incredible speed.

In addition, Gigabyte HD 5700 Series graphics cards fully support for Microsoft DirectX 11 for life-like realism and stunning 3D gaming effects. Gamers can get striking 3D visual effects and dynamic interactivity with DirectX 11 support, including features like Tessellation, HDR Texture Compression, Multi-threading and DirectCompute. Microsoft DirectX 11 brings new levels of visual realism to gaming on the PC and gamers can dominate the competition with Gigabyte GV-R5700 Series graphics cards.

Gigabytes GV R577D5-1GD-B is priced at Rs 10900 and GV-R575D5-1GD-B is priced at Rs 9900

Canon Pops Out Scratch & Win Offer

Canon India has introduced a special Mega festive delight offer for it discerning customers in India. In the lieu of making this Diwali special, Canon has introduced scratch&win offer where the customers stand a chance to win attractive prizes upto Rs 4999/- on the purchase of all digital imaging products. The offer is valid till 25th October 09.

Choosing the auspicious festival of Diwali and owing to the grandeur of the occasion, the Mega Festive Delight Offer enables customers to win a digital photo frame worth Rs 4999. Customers also stand a chance to win 100 free prints of their photographs or a personalized desktop calendar with purchase of every Canon camera.

Announcing the offer,Shunichi Senda, Director, Imaging Communication Products, Canon India said, Capturing the essence of festival, we are extremely delighted to present this special Diwali offer for our customers.  This is yet another effort from the brand to connect with its customers at large. We are confident that our customers will appreciate this exciting offer and enjoy a vibrant and fun-filled festival of lights alongside.

Expressing his views on the offer, Alok Bharadwaj, Senior Vice-President, Canon India said, We hope the festival of light this year bids farewell to the adversities of economic slowdown which has gripped our economy since Diwali last year. With this Mega festival delight offer, Canon is all set to delight its customers and bring fervour to this auspicious occasion for them. It has been our constant endeavour to provide relevant offers to our customers across geographical and cultural spread. Hence this Diwali, we are looking at an annual growth of 30% over the last year.

D-Link Announces Lifetime Warranty

D-Link announced that the Companys business solution products now include a Lifetime Warranty for business solution products to affirm continuous commitment to provide quality products&solutions.

Starting this October, D-Link business solution products purchased from D-Link or through authorized resellers and distributors will be covered by the Lifetime Warranty for as long as the product is owned by the original customer, or up to a period of five years after the products discontinuance, whichever occurs first.

Speaking about this new initiative Jayesh Kotak, VP Product Management, D-Link (India) Ltd. said, This is in line with companys focus to provide world class products/ Solutions and service. This warranty policy is certainly going to be a great win-win situation for our customers and is also testament of the quality of D-Link products

This new warranty will cover D-Links entire business solution product line, which includes smart switches, unmanaged and managed switches, business wireless, and firewall security appliances.

Delivering high quality products to its consumers has always been a key area of focus for D-Link. With the new Lifetime Warranty policy designed for its business solution products, D-Link affirms its commitment towards providing quality products and after sales support to build and increase customer confidence towards D-Links products and solutions.

Elaborating further, Raj Jadhav, VP Solution Consulting, Tech-Support&IT, D-Link (India) Ltd. said By offering a Lifetime Warranty we hope to provide our customers the ability to plan with confidence their network development roadmap for the future without having to worry about wastage of previously invested resources or product quality.

The Lifetime Warranty policy now includes D-Link business solution products sold in entire India through its vast network of D-Links value-added resellers, solution providers, Regional Distributors and National distributor.

AMD Rolls Out its Most Powerful Graphics Processor

AMD launched its most powerful processor ever created, found in its next-generation graphics cards, the ATI Radeon HD 5800 series graphics cards, and to fully support Microsoft DirectX 112, the new gaming and compute standard shipping shortly with Microsoft Windows 7 operating system, to the Indian Market.

Boasting up to 2.72 TeraFLOPS of compute power, the ATI Radeon HD 5800 series effectively doubles the value consumers can expect of their graphics purchases, delivering twice the performance-per-dollar of previous generations of graphics products. AMD has initially released two cards: the ATI Radeon HD 5870 and the ATI Radeon HD 5850, each with 1GB GDDR5 memory.  With the ATI Radeon HD 5800 series of graphics cards, PC users can expand their computing experience with ATI Eyefinity multi-display technology, accelerate their computing experience with ATI Stream technology, and dominate their gaming competition with superior gaming performance and full support of Microsoft DirectX 11, making it a must-have consumer  purchase just in time for Microsoft Windows 7 operating system.

The world today is moving in a direction where visual display is gaining importance in every field. From animation to design, arts to science, diamond cutting to commodity exchanges, modern computing demands state-of-the-art graphics rendering in order to produce results with finesse. This launch complements the phenomenon of "graphics everywhere".  As PCs become increasingly accepted and applications become more visual, many ordinary tasks can benefit from the graphic cards.  With more and more common applications requiring a GPU for better performance, the graphic card is truly becoming ubiquitous.

Games arent the only applications for graphics anymore. Many applications are already designed to take advantage of the massive parallel processing capabilities of the GPU. To help this phenomenon, ATI Radeon HD 5800 series of graphics cards, driven by the most powerful processor on the planet, is changing the game, both for the 'gamer' and the 'worker' in us, said Anirban Chakravartti, Director, Global Business Development, Professional Graphics, AMD.

Open standards, such as OpenCL, and implementation of GPGPU capabilities via ATI Stream technology, help developers avoid proprietary standards, giving them the flexibility to choose the standards they prefer. AMD is the first to market with full DirectX 11 support, designed to help make Windows 7 that much better, and with the unique experience of ATI Eyefinity technology. AMD has once again taken the crown, said Richard Huddy, Worldwide Developer Relations Manager, GPU Division, AMD.

Hitachi Unleashes New Fast Enterprise Drives

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies announced availability of two new 15,000 RPM Ultrastar hard drives for Tier 0/1, mission-critical, enterprise storage applications. The new drives include the Ultrastar C15K147, Hitachis first 15,000 RPM, 2.5-inch 6Gb/s Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) hard drive, and the new 600GB Ultrastar 15K600, the companys fourth generation 3.5-inch drive with either 6Gb/s SAS or 4Gb/s Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop (FCAL) interfaces. To help enterprises protect sensitive data and comply with privacy and data protection regulations, Hitachi now offers industry-compliant, self-encrypting, enterprise-class hard drives as an option across all of its 10,000 and 15,000 RPM Ultrastar drives.

Delivering performance and capacity in one streamlined package, the 600GB Ultrastar 15K600 offers the highest capacity in a 15,000 RPM 3.5-inch form factor, which gives it 33 percent more storage space when compared to its predecessor. Offered in a 6Gb/s SAS or 4Gb/s FCAL interface, the Ultrastar 15K600 provides the reliability and performance required for I/O-intensive applicationssuch as business processing, decision support, online transaction processing and multi-user applications. With continued sequential performance improvements from generation to generation, the Ultrastar is 23 percent faster than its predecessor. It also features the industrys largest cache buffer at 64MB. The Ultrastar 15K600 family is available in 300GB, 450GB and 600GB capacities.

Licensed to speed in small spaces, the new 2.5-inch Ultrastar C15K147 delivers 70 percent more space efficiency compared to standard 3.5-inch enterprise hard drives, allowing system integrators and OEMs to pack more high performance drives into compact servers for space-constrained data centers. By combining a small 2.5-inch form factor with the performance that only a 15,000 RPM drive can offer, the Ultrastar C15K147 delivers an 11 percent higher sequential performance, and a 23 percent faster seek time when compared to its 10,000 RPM cousin. And because the drive uses Hitachis patented Advanced Power Management technology, the Ultrastar C15K147 uses 50 percent less power than similar 3.5-inch Hitachi drives. The Ultrastar C15K147 is available in 73GB and 147GB capacities and features a 64MB cache buffer.

The Ultrastar C15K147 and 15K600 drives are now shipping into the channel and include a five-year warranty.

Siemens Purchases Rulestream Software Technology

Siemens PLM Software announced the purchase of the Rulestream software technology and brand assets, a leading engineer-to-order (ETO) software application for streamlining the business processes associated with custom-built products. Siemens PLM Software will offer the solution to its customers under the Rulestream brand name and assume full responsibility for ongoing software development and support.

For more than eight years, Rulestream software has employed effective knowledge capture and reuse to help companies rapidly engineer products to customer specification. They have achieved greater engineering throughput, higher sales win rates, better margin security, shorter lead times and lower costs, said Chuck Grindstaff, executive vice president of Products and chief technology officer of Siemens PLM Software. The Rulestream technologys ability to assist in simultaneously increasing revenues and lowering operating expenses makes it a compelling solution for the marketplace. As the newest member of our product family, it will serve as an ideal complement to our comprehensive suite of product development and lifecycle offerings.

ETO business processes are employed by a large and growing number of manufacturing industry segments, including power generation, HVAC, fluid flow technologies, heavy equipment, machinery, and the automotive and aerospace supply base. The increasing demand for customized or customer-specific product configurations creates a common set of challenges for these companies. There is constant competitive pressure for ETO manufacturers to increase the number, accuracy and win rate of their bids, while reducing order engineering lead time and optimizing resource utilization in manufacturing.

Genius Unveils New G-Shot V 1200 Digi Cam

Genius has rolled out its latest Digital CameraG-Shot V 1200. The 12 Megapixel G-Shot V1200 is a high resolution digital camera which has a stylish and compact design and comes with a 12 mega-pixel CCD sensor.

The new offering comes with a 2.7 color display and 3x optical zoom. The other notable features include anti-shaking to avoid any blurring when holding the camera by hand, an intelligent mode that helps the user to take a performance photo that automatically detects eight different types of scenes and chooses the appropriate camera settings, and a high ISO value up to 6400 reduce camera shaking effects.

The digital lifestyle product segment is growing at a rapid pace. Thats why we have been focusing on providing state-of-the-art digital lifestyle products to our consumers in India. The new G-Shot V series offerings are aimed at further strengthening our consumer electronics business and also to offer value to customers, informed Sandeep Ramani, Country Manager, OBM Sales Division, KYE Systems

The new offerings also have pre-composition mode to configure the background that the user wants, and more than 29 vivid scenes are available to get a clear image, along with an anti-blink mode. Both the options supports HCSD card up to 32GB and have 16:9 HD resolution to fit HD TV Ratio. The new products also support file formats like JPEG and MJPG.

The 12 Megapixel V series G-Shot V1200 will be available in India through its distributor at Rs 10995 and all Genius cameras will come with 2 years warranty.

Kingmax Adds UD-02 USB Flash Drive

Kingmax rolls out its latest urban style USB Flash Drive U drive UD02.  First launched limited edition of Yuppie black, Pinky lady and Celebrity Gold stands for three various urban characteristics, with the capacity up from 4GB to 32GB to fulfill different customers needs.

UD02 also adopted the Patent PIP Technology which features with waterproof, pressure resistance and the tolerance of high/low temperature (+100C ~ -40C) to provide completely data protection from external accidents. It obtains CE, FCC and BSMI standard certifications and complies with RoHS, Halogen free and PFOS/PFOA directives, available with 4GB, 8GB, 16GB and 32GB capacities and warranted by Kingmax with global lifetime.

HP Gets VP from Samsung

Put an end to the long speculations, which was prevailing after the resignation of Ravi Swaminathan, HP PSG got its new Vice President from Samsung. Sunil Dutt, Country Head, Mobile Business, Samsung India is planning to move to HP. In Samsung, he was responsible for sales and marketing for both Samsung GSM and CDMA mobile business.

Dutt has been working with Samsung for the past two years. Prior to Samsung he has worked with Nokia, Barista, Whirlpool, Wipro and Philips.

AMD Names Thomas Seifert CFO

AMD announced the appointment of Thomas Seifert as senior vice president and chief financial officer. Seifert, 46, will report to Dirk Meyer, AMD president and chief executive officer, and will have responsibility for leading the company's global financial organization. Seifert succeeds Robert Rivet, who was previously promoted to chief operations and administrative officer.

Thomas is a talented industry veteran with a wealth of knowledge and experience managing the operations and finances of companies in the most difficult and competitive sectors of the semiconductor industry, said Meyer.This knowledge and experience will enable him to further strengthen AMDs financial foundation and help accelerate our transformation into a product design and marketing leader.

Seifert joins AMD from Qimonda, where he most recently was a member of the Management Board as well as chief operating officer and chief financial officer.Previously, Seifert was senior vice president and general manager of the Wireline Business Group at Infineon AG

Trend Micro Endorses “Live Testing” Methodology Program

Trend Micro is endorsing a new third party anti-malware testing methodology that better reflects today's real-world conditions instead of using antiquated testing techniques that dont test computers against the latest threats coming from the Internet.

With its new approach to testing antivirus products, NSS Labs is providing two key metrics in addition to traditional threat detection rates: First, measurement of detection and blocking of threats based on their URL source; and second, measurement of the time delay between when a security vendor is first aware of a potential new threat and when protection from that threat is available at customer endpoints, the so-called time-to-protect.

We are pleased we performed well in these tests but, more importantly, we look forward to the advances in antimalware product testing that better align third party testing with the actual security provided to the customers of these products. The focus of third party testing should be on protection for the customers, which extends far beyond simple detection, commented Amit Nath, Country Manager, India&SAARC, Trend Micro.

In-the-cloud reputation systems boosted protection significantly on average and Trend Micro achieved the best download and execution protection. It became obvious from this test that Trend Micro has made considerable strides in adding cloud reputation-based protection to their arsenal, informed Rick Moy, President, NSS Labs.

In a group test of industry-leading consumer and corporate security products effectiveness against socially engineered malware, Trend Micro scored the best, proving again that the cloud-client layered-protection approach powered by the Trend Micro Smart Protection Network infrastructure out-performs competing solutions and provides the best possible malware protection available. The non-commissioned tests were independently conducted by NSS labs no vendor sponsorship was involved.

MindTree Joins Continua Health Alliance

MindTree announced that it has joined the Continua Health Alliance, a non-profit, open industry coalition of more than 200 technology, healthcare and fitness providers dedicated to establishing an ecosystem of connected personal health and fitness products and services.

With its vast experience and expertise, particularly in medical electronics and Bluetooth technology, MindTree will help the Alliance achieve its mission of establishing a system of interoperable personal telehealth solutions. As a Contributing Member, MindTree will also work with the Continua Working Groups to help create and test use cases, standardizations, technical guidelines, etc.

We look forward to sharing our technology expertise in helping Continua Alliance achieve its vision of connected health worldwide, said MindTree President and CEO, R&D Services, Vinod Deshmukh. Since MindTrees inception, we have been committed to providing cutting-edge R&D solutions and services, with an intellectual property (IP)-led approach. Now, as a member of the reputed Alliance, we will be able to further expand our expertise in medical electronics and influence in the personal health care devices market, he added.

MindTrees R&D Services business unit provides end-to-end product realization services to product companies with focus on segments like Automotive, Communication Systems, Consumer Appliances, Computer Peripherals, Industrial Systems, Medical Electronics, Networking, and Storage&Computing Systems. R&D Services provides IP-led Services, Semiconductor and Hardware Engineering, Software Engineering, Independent Testing, and Product Support to product companies around the globe. MindTrees technology building blocks, in the form of IP, ready-to-manufacture designs, and frameworks help bridge technology gaps and bring products to market faster.

Zotac Expands GeForce 200 Series Lineup

Zotac unleashes its new lineup of entry-level graphics cards -- the all new Zotac GeForce GT220 and 210 series graphics cards. Four new graphics cards join the existing Zotac GeForce 200 series lineup the Zotac GeForce GT220, GeForce GT 220 1GB Synergy Edition, GeForce GT 220 512MB Synergy Edition and the GeForce 210 Synergy Edition.

The new Zotac GeForce GT 220 and 210-based graphics cards take 3D performance and home theater integration to a whole new level with new technologies for superior performance, visuals and audio. 3D performance is enhanced with support for DirectX 10.1 and OpenGL 3.1 technologies for realistic visuals and unmatched performance.

Zotac GeForce GT 220 graphics cards feature 48 lightning-fast processing cores while the more affordable Zotac GeForce 210 features 16 processing cores. Despite the high-performance of the new Zotac GeForce GT 220 and 210 series graphics cards, the new graphics cards are energy efficient and consume little energy thanks to a new manufacturing process.

The new Zotac GeForce GT 220 and 210 series are our first graphics cards with graphics cards manufactured using the new 40nm manufacturing process. Thanks to the technological improvements, were able to deliver greater performance, value and energy efficiency for our entry-level customers, said Carsten Berger, marketing director, Zotac International.

New HDMI 1.3a compatibility with xvYCC and Deep Color technologies ensures the Zotac GeForce GT 220 and 210 series support connectivity with the latest displays and home theater receivers for richer and more detailed visuals and colors as well as superior digital 7.1-channel surround sound audio. NVIDIA PureVideo HD technology takes charge of video decoding for smooth playback of high-definition Blu-ray movies on the Zotac GeForce GT 220 and 210 series graphics cards.

We introduced digital 7.1-channel LPCM audio output with our Zotac GeForce 8 and 9 series graphics cards, which let users enjoy the loss-less Dolby Digital TrueHD and DTS-HD: Master Audio sound tracks in Blu-ray movies. The Zotac GeForce GT 220 and 210 series allow users to enjoy Dolby Digital TrueHD and DTS-HD: Master Audio while still being able to play the latest games with higher quality visual settings, Berger said.

The Zotac GeForce GT 220 and 210 series feature NVIDIA CUDA to accelerate everyday tasks such as video processing, converting and image editing.Its time to play with the new entry-level Zotac GeForce GT220 and 210 series graphics cards.

Fujitsu Enhances ETERNUS DX60 & DX80 Connectivity

Fujitsu offers enterprises greater flexibility in selecting the most suitable connectivity of entry-level disk storage systems to server hosts. ETERNUS DX60/DX80 systems are now available in a choice of three base models - Fibre Channel, iSCSI, or SAS. In addition, enterprise-class Solid State Drives (SSD) will allow ETERNUS DX80 to serve service levels for business-critical applications, which require the highest IOs per second. These enhancements will offer customers new ways to interface and lower their operational costs.

Dr. Helmut Beck, Vice President Storage Business at Fujitsu Technology Solutions says: The Fibre Channel versions of both systems had a great start and have been selling very well since their launch in June. Regarding performance they excelled ahead of all competitor systems, proven in various independent tests. The enhancements of the ETERNUS DX60/DX80 now provide further customer benefits, e.g. Solid State Drives allow higher performance levels, particularly to support database operation. With the launch of the new interfaces, we expand not only our Dynamic Infrastructures portfolio but we also successfully position ourselves in further market segments. From a customer perspective, Fujitsu is one of very few IT infrastructure vendors to offer businesses a 'connectivity of choice'.

ETERNUS DX60 and ETERNUS DX80 are a new generation of disk storage systems with enterprise-class reliability. Especially designed for small- and medium-sized businesses, the ETERNUS DX60/DX80 systems offer highly sophisticated reliability, are easy to manage and configure, and provide an affordable entry into network storage.

Moreover, they include lower-cost Nearline SAS drives instead of the more expensive SAS drives. The ETERNUS DX60/DX80 systems are scalable so that companies do not need to buy a new system when their business grows, because customers can easily scale up the existing systems. In addition, the ETERNUS DX60/DX80 includes high-end features for free, such as RAID migration, Data Block Guard, Redundant Copy, Disk Encryption and more.

Strontium Launches ‘Power Store Slim’ Hard Drives

Strontium announced external hard drive called the Strontium Power Store Slim. This portable hard drive features astonishing storage capacities of up to 500GB and strong data retention. It is the perfect portable storage solution for backing up and storing videos, photos, songs, graphics, documents, spreadsheets and more.

Ajay Kogta, Country Manager, Indian Subcontinent, Strontium Technology, said, Whether you are a professional or home user, these days it is essential to be able to carry your valuable data anywhere with you. Ultra compact, easy-to-use and secure, this USB 2.0 powered portable hard drive makes transporting and sharing data easier than ever. Being self powered, you can take the drive anywhere you go without worrying about needing external power or adapters.

With transfer rates up to 480Mbs, this device can backup your entire desktop or laptop in just minutes with one push of the backup button located on the drive's front panel. It utilizes the Clone PC software to provide a powerful and reliable backup solution, Ajay Kogta added.

Nikon Enhances its COOLPIX Range

Nikon India, further strengthened the COOLPIX range with the introduction of four new COOLPIX Style Series compact digital cameras, rich in style, loaded with features and at highly affordable prices. Continuing the tradition of cutting edge innovation, design and performance the COOLPIX S1000pj features the worlds first built-in projector, which enables consumers to share their images and videos in an all-new fun way. The ultra-stylish COOLPIX S70 features an enhanced interface and organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display technology for a new user experience, housed in a stylish camera body. Additionally, the COOLPIX S640 and COOLPIX S570, leaders in speed and affordability, respectively, complete the new smarter, cooler, simpler COOLPIX line.

These latest Nikon COOLPIX digital cameras reflect hallmarks of the COOLPIX line: performance, design and innovation. said Hidehiko Tanaka, Managing Director, Nikon India. With new features such as a built-in projector and new touch controls for viewing, shooting and zooming, these COOLPIX cameras will be appealing for every user category.
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The Nikon COOLPIX cameras incorporate Nikons world-class NIKKOR lenses, delivering accurate detail and brilliant color, as well as Nikons EXPEED digital image processing concept, which ensures high-quality pictures with stunning color and sharpness. A new enhancement to Nikons Smart Portrait System that helps create beautiful portraits includes an all-new Skin Softening feature designed to both smooth and even skin tones. Other COOLPIX features include Vibration Reduction (VR) Image Stabilization, minimizing blur that may appear in pictures, even in low-light or unsteady conditions; and Scene Auto Selector, which automatically recognizes the shooting situation and adjusts camera settings accordingly.

The COOLPIX S1000pj is available in Silver&Black color at all Nikon authorized dealer points across India for Rs 28,950. New to the COOLPIX line, OLED technology offers the benefits of vivid color The COOLPIX S70 is available across India at all Nikon authorized dealer points for Rs 21,950 in various colors including: Silver, Black&Pink.

The COOLPIX S640 is across India for Rs 19,950 and will be offered in various colors including: Silver, Black & Pink. The COOLPIX S570 is available across India for Rs 14,250 and will be offered in various colors including Silver, Black & Red.

Kingston Partners Spyrus for Government, Enterprise Data Security

Kingston Digital announced it has formed a partnership with Spyrus, Inc., development and manufacturer of advanced hardware-based encryption, authentication, and digital content security products. Under the partnership, Kingston will incorporate patented Secured by Spyrus technology into its DataTraveler USB Flash drives to deliver unsurpassed levels of security and encryption to government agencies and enterprise customers as well as consumers.

Spyrus hardware-based security was specifically designed to protect sensitive Department of Defense data, and we are proud to join with Kingston to introduce the strongest security protection available for government and enterprise markets in over 100 countries, said Tom Dickens, Chief Operating Officer for Spyrus. Our proven technologies surpass all others to protect customer data against the proliferation of cyber crime, cyber attacks and data loss.

The partnership allows us to address the latest requirements for secure USB Flash drives from governmental agencies that manage sensitive information. Features such as Suite B compliance and the XTS-AES Mode of Operation are examples of the advanced cryptographic capabilities we now have access to, said Nathan Su, Flash Memory Sales Director, APAC Region, Kingston.

ATEN Launches 2 and 4 Port USB 2.0 Peripheral Switch

ATEN International announced the release of its new 2- and 4-port USB 2.0 peripheral switches.  The US221A and US421A enable up to two or four PCs and Macs to share one multifunction printer or USB peripheral device, such as a scanner or a portable hard drive.

The peripheral focus can be given to a computer manually by using pushbuttons on the switch, the software-based configuration utility, or the Auto Switch function.  When the US221A or US421A connects to a USB printer, it automatically recognizes the computer sources of print jobs and alternates the focus by the printing order.  The Auto Switch function allows users to send print jobs at anytime.

Our latest USB 2.0 peripheral switches are compatible with both Windows and Mac, and with multifunction printer support. They are ideally used in small offices and homes with multiple computers.  The US221A and US421A allow users to easily share a USB device without network and help them to save money and space by reducing the purcahses of additinal hardware.  The swithces also bring a lot of convenience to users by eliminating the plug and unplug between computers, said Kevin Chen, president of ATEN International.

The US221A and US421A USB 2.0 Peripheral Switches have LED indicators to display port focus.  They can transfer data with the speed up to 480Mbps; making them a perfect solution to connect external hard drives or to print large files.

US221A and US421A USB 2.0 peripheral switches are available now.  The US221A is priced at INR 1,710 and the US421A is priced at INR 2,550.

Asus, Garmin Launches Location Based Handhelds

Asus, a technology-oriented company with an alliance with Garmin Ltd have unveiled their Garmin Asus Nuvifones M20 and G60 in the Indian market. Boasting compact designs and intuitive usability, these location based mobiles are aimed at customers looking for smart phones. With the nuvifone, Garmin-Asus intends to introduce location-centric approach in the lifestyle of the Indian people through their location based services.

Addressing the media at the launch of the phones, Edward Wang Business Head, Mobile Communication Business Asus) said "Garmin and Asus believe its important to offer Indian customers the latest and updated technology so that they can own a device that meets their individual desires and needs. The Garmin-Asus nifone series is an industry first to integrate a cutting-edge personal navigator with a premium phone. All in all, the nuvifone series will act as a complete package for the smart phone buyers as it will bring people together via location based services. Coupling the expertise of a multimedia phone and a location based device will offer both the premium services in one compact package to our consumers."

While Addressing the media, Rajat Tandon, Director, Sales-India, NAVTEQ said NAVTEQ is delighted that Garmin-Asus has chosen to use NAVTEQ maps in their nuvifone series. NAVTEQ has used its global capabilities to build a premium navigable map of India, unlike anything that has been available before.  We expect this focus on navigable data, coupled with our understanding of how consumers navigate, to provide a premium experience to users of the Garmin-Asus devices.

The Garmin-Asus nuvifone brings maps to life with high quality data from global map provider, NAVTEQ. Research indicates that when Indians ask for directions, the most commonly requested destinations are city centers and the most commonly provided cues include bank, hospitals, movie theaters and places of worship. The NAVTEQ map of India includes a significant collection of these commonly referred to Points of Interest.

Microsoft Debuts My Phone and Windows Marketplace

Microsoft Corporation India Pvt. Ltd. announced the availability of a new range of handsets from device partners, featuring Windows Mobile 6.5 - the latest version of Microsofts mobile phone software. With Windows Mobile 6.5, Windows Phones will deliver new customer experiences through an improved, easy-to-use and customizable user interface and an enhanced browsing experience. Microsoft is also debuting two new services, to bring added value to consumers - My Phone is an in-built, free service that offers 200MB of online storage to back up all contacts and phone information, and Windows Marketplace for Mobile offers consumers an easy way to find and purchase high quality mobile applications.

The new Windows Phones that are available today include Acer Be Touch E100, Acer Be Touch E101, Acer Neo Touch S200, Acer Be Touch E200 and HTC Touch 2, and will be the first to feature Windows Mobile 6.5. Additionally, some of the existing popular phones running Windows Mobile 6.1, namely - HTC Diamond 2, HTC Touch Pro 2, LG Eigen and Samsung Omnia Pro, can be upgraded to Windows Mobile 6.5. By the end of the year, this will extend to cover over 20 Phones featuring Windows Mobile 6.5, including a host of new phones that will be launched by device partners during the next three months.

Starting at Rs. 11,000 the new Windows Phones will be available across a range of styles and prices. Whether the consumer wants a touch phone with a large screen, a device with a keyboard for fast typing, or something sleek that will slip into the jeans pocket, Microsoft has a broad selection of form factors from Touch devices to Touch with QWERTY or Non- Touch with QWERTY, slide, slide-out QWERTY etc. to cater to every need.

We are delighted to offer the all new Windows Phone, powered by Windows Mobile 6.5 to consumers in India. Windows Phones have been designed to meet the evolving needs of todays consumer who moves seamlessly between work and play, said Hemant Sachdev, Joint Managing Director Consumer&Online, Microsoft India. He further added, Today consumers want to stay connected and updated on the people and information they care about most, and Windows Phones blend in the best of the Phone, PC and web. A great example of this is the new My Phone service available today, with which users can be assured that their contacts and data is safe even if the device is lost or damaged!

My Phone is a free service that helps people manage and protect the invaluable information stored on their phone, providing peace of mind and an easy restore option if the device is lost or damaged. It is a built-in service that helps manage and protect invaluable information - from contacts and appointments to SMS messages, photos, videos and more. It offers 200 MB of online storage and automatically synchronizes a phones content to a password-protected Web site. Consumers can also automatically upload photos and video from their Windows phone directly to the My Phone service, making it simple to preserve content that, in the past, would have only existed on the phone.

Motorola Intros 7 New Mobile Phones

 Motorola introduced a portfolio of seven new mobile devices that provide all you need to be connected. The Moto ZN300, a sleek slider with 3.1 megapixel camera for great imaging and sharing experience and the six MotoYuva WX Generation mobile phones include the stylish MotoYuva WX160 and MotoYuva WX180 candybar handsets with FM radio, the MotoYuva WX280 and MotoYuva WX288 with camera and sharing capabilities, and the MotoYuva WX390 and MotoYuva WX395 which combine all the WX features with added MP3 functionality.

Communication has never been more integral to our everyday lives. The Moto ZN300 and the MotoYuva WX Generation were created in response to this need to stay connected and the variety of ways in which we do so today. The result is seven stylish handsets with a range of great features that provide an option affordable to everyone, said Faisal Siddiqui, Country Head, Mobile Devices, Motorola India.

Moto ZN300 Intuitive multi-media handset is packed with powerful controls and features that let you connect and capture.A sleek combination of phone and camera that helps consumers to seize inspiration and share the content they create and love with the world, the MotoZN300 delivers a full imaging and multimedia experience, thanks to intuitive digital camera functionality and a strong feature set. The Moto ZN300 comes with a 3.1 megapixel camera, LED flash, 8x digital zoom and editing options, combined with powerful new video editing software.

You can use your Moto ZN300 to capture the moment, wherever you might be. Snap crystal clear pictures or capture a video using the 3.1 megapixel camera with LED flash and 8x digital zoom. Familiar functionalities bring all the comforts of a digital camera to the handset, such as a dedicated camera key and a Camera Mode Switch for easily shifting between camera, video and review modes. With the Moto ZN300, you intuitively know how to take the best shots, so you never lose the moment.

Controls light up on the Moto ZN300 screen to offer an uncluttered and intuitive imaging experience as the camera moves between Capture and Review modes. You can choose to send the images to friends and family or transfer or print photos using Stereo Bluetooth technology2 for wire-free printing and image sharing. And you can always store3 more music and memories on the ZN300 with up to 32GB of optional removable memory. Alternatively, share all your saved content with home computers and other devices3 using the USB 2.0 high speed connection, which enables transfers fifteen times faster than traditional USB 2.0 full speed.

For the first time on a Motorola phone, advanced video editing is available on the go. The Moto ZN300 features Video Mixer, a powerful new application that gives you the option to add customizable or preloaded transitions and sound effects to your videos. Instantly mix them with photos and audio files for a professional-looking clip, complete with transitions and overlays all from your handset.

With its versatile camera, advanced editing, and now Motorolas Video Mixer, the ZN300 is a powerful addition to our MotoZINE family, Faisal concluded. Thanks to the ZN300, theres really nothing now to stop you from showing the world what youve got.

Alcatel-Lucent Expands the Reach of its Mobile Security Solution

Alcatel-Lucent announced it has extended the reach of its mobile enterprise security solution for laptop computers as it is now available on the MiFi Intelligent Mobile Hotspot from Novatel Wireless. The MiFi Intelligent Mobile Hotspot is a mobile broadband device that creates a personal cloud of high-speed Internet connectivity that can be easily shared between multiple users and Wi-Fi devices.

Porting the award-winning OmniAccess 3500 Nonstop Laptop Guardian (NLG) solution to Novatel Wireless MiFi 2352 and 2372 Intelligent Mobile Hotspot, extends the market reach of the solution by providing a USB interface and worldwide carrier availability, while decreasing the cost of entry for customers seeking a worldwide, always-on mobile security solution. The combined offer makes the Alcatel-Lucent NLG the first enterprise application available on the MiFi device.

As the number of remote and mobile workers increases, organizations need to ensure they can securely track, manage and control laptops and the data they contain, said Michel Emelianoff, head of Alcatel-Lucent enterprise security. With the joint solution, organizations can economically extend their reach and control over mobile laptops, and protect assets and business critical information. Alcatel-Lucent continues to develop innovative solutions and creative ways to deploy them.

The Alcatel-Lucent OmniAccess 3500 NLG technology acts as a type of remote ignition key for laptops, leveraging 3G networks, GPS (global positioning satellite) and an automatic VPN (virtual private network) to provide always-on remote management, protection, tracking and remote kill functionality even when the laptop is turned off or offline. By working with encryption and patch management vendors, NLG delivers 24/7 protection of corporate assets and information, and can instantly install security patches to remote laptops to combat threats.

This new enhancement builds on features from the updated NLG release 2.0, which include High Availability Gateway distribution, user-guided location-based services application (GeoLocator) and enhanced language support (addition of double-byte characters) to make it easier for the IT department to manage their mobile assets while increasing user productivity.

Geodesic, Sybase to Offer Mobile Messaging Services

Geodesic, provider of a  mobile and desktop solutions for instant messaging, VoIP and Internet radio, announced it has partnered with Sybase 365, a subsidiary of Sybase to extend the breadth of Geodesics service portfolio and to further expand its large global user base.

Geodesic was looking for a partner who could deliver high quality, cost-effective messaging services with the broadest worldwide coverage, said Arvind Venkateswaran, Geodesics senior vice president and general manager. After looking at several options, we identified Sybase 365 as a proven mobile platform provider with the most extensive, private-operator-grade network for mobile messaging available. This partnership will enable Geodesic to extend its offering throughout Asia, Europe and beyond, bringing its mobile communication services to a significant number of new customers.

Geodesics leading mobile messaging solutions provide deep collaboration across the Internet, wireless devices and platforms. Leveraging Sybase 365s unrivalled global SMS, MMS and GRX interoperability and reach to 800 mobile operators, Geodesic will be able to reliably deliver its services to hundreds of customers around the world.

Sybase 365 is pleased to partner with Geodesic to expand its capabilities, bringing applications to market that leverage growing smart phone usage to make it more productive and cost-effective through unparalleled mobile messaging reach to mobile users around the world, said Matthew Tonkin, senior sales director, Asia, Sybase 365.

WD Appoints Sushil Bandi as Country Manager for India

WD announced the appointment of Sushil Bandi as Country Manager for the Indian Subcontinent. Reporting to Sharad Srivastava, Director Sales, India and South Asia, Sushil will be responsible for spearheading the overall sales, marketing and customer support function for the company in the subcontinent.

"We are very pleased to have Sushil on board, said Sharad Srivastava, Director Sales, India and South Asia.  I am confident that his illustrious career marked with a vast sales experience and strong channel and OEM relationships will prove invaluable in prosecuting the aggressive plans that we have for this market."

\In last four years, Western Digital has successfully mirrored its global success in the Indian hard drive market. This coupled with external factors such as the explosion of digital downloads and a heightened realization on storage needs presents a unique opportunity for me to steer the companys leadership to greater heights. commented Sushil Bandi on his appointment. This is a fantastic time to join WD, considering that the company is undoubtedly one of the pace-setters in the Indian storage marketplace. he added.

Sushil has over 20 years of experience in sales, marketing and distribution of IT products globally with specific coverage of Asian and European markets. Core competencies lie in creating markets and marketing of technology products. Prior to joining Western Digital, he was associated with Kobian Pte Ltd. Singapore for five years where he served as Country Manager - Europe. In his formative years, Sushil was associated with Cyberstar International (S) Pte Ltd. for five years and ACI Infotech Ltd. for ten years and was responsible for setting up OEM, import and dealer networks of IT peripherals distribution for the Indian Sub-Continent. Sushil holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Electronics from Mumbai University, India.

Brocade Outlines India Market Strategy

Brocade Communication Systems, networking Solutions Company that enables data-intensive businesses to optimize information connectivity, informed that it is leading the networking space in Asia Pacific. In the region, Brocade commands more than 80% of the Fiber Channel Switch and more than 90% of the Fixed-port Switch market in terms of both revenue and port shipments. With the acquisition of Foundry in early 2009, the company also has a rapidly growing Ethernet footprint with a presence in 17 locations in 9 countries.

Ian Whiting, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Sales&Marketing informed that Brocade has identified India as a strategic country of focus within the Asia-Pacific region and significantly increased its investments and commitment to the country.  In the last year alone, he informed, Brocade has doubled its employee base in the country and would do the same in the ensuing year as well.  India is a highly strategic country for the continued technology success of Brocade both in product development and engineering. Brocade has more engineers in India than anywhere else in the world outside of the United States. We have two R&D centers located in India at Bangalore and Pune focusing on SAN applications, FCoE/CEE applications, IP networking and ASIC design and testing. Additionally, Brocade also has sales offices in Mumbai, Bangalore and New Delhi, providing end to end networking solutions and services to its large customer base here, said Whiting.

In India, Brocade markets a complete product range of storage and ethernet networking products and solutions.  In addition to providing end to end products and solutions around SAN and IP Brocade also provides a common management framework for its products. To tie everything together, Brocades Global Services also offers professional services and world-class support to partners and customers in India.

Recently Brocade also expanded its global Alliance Partner Network with new channel programs designed to attract storage and IP networking channel resellers with more selective and profitable professional services, support, and warranty offerings. This will help Brocade identify and work with systems integrators which are able to address the enterprise space. Currently Brocade works directly with all major OEMs and is in the process of recruiting channels partners.

Elaborating on the business partnerships that Brocade has forged, Whiting said, Partnerships are part of Brocades DNA, and we are committed to open standards and solutions. Globally, Brocade has invested US$ 1 billion in cooperative development and testing with partners. Brocade plans to continue diversifying its routes to market through multi-tiered channels, as well as continue its strategic partnerships with OEMs.

In the current economic scenario managing costs and bandwidth demands continue to be the biggest challenges faced by user organizations the world over. Brocades 2009 customer research has revealed that the top drivers for IP Ethernet networking solutions are data growth, security, business continuity and disaster recovery. In the area of storage networking, companies are driven by the need to reduce cost, ensure business continuity and carry out virtualisation.

It is estimated that India will continue to lead the other countries with 10.2% growth in domestic IT spending projected for 2009, which would will propel a new market order in the domestic Indian IT/ITeS industry.  Most analysts have forecast a positive trend in the storage industry for India.  It is estimated that network storage would grow faster than the server market.  According to Indian media estimates, the network storage market grew by 25% during FY 2008-9 to reach Rs. 183.4 million, a trend that they expect the industry to maintain. A recent Gartner user survey revealed that 65% of the respondents in India plan to increase their 2009 budget for storage systems.

It is expected that by the year 2015 there will be 15 billion devices worldwide linking people and content. As PC penetration in India goes up and the Internet and networks become more pervasive, more and more corporations, including SMBs will increasingly turn to connected facilities and offices. This represents a huge opportunity for Brocade.

Datacom Selects IBM to Meet Aggressive Growth Plans

IBM announced a deal with Datacom Solutions, part of Videocon Industries group to provide a high-performance IT infrastructure and a range of business solutions to support Datacoms commercial launch this year and complete PAN India coverage over next two years. This partnership will help the telco to accelerate time-to- market for new services, adapt quickly to meet future market requirements, reduce operating expenditures and enhancing customer satisfaction levels.

Datacom's investment in IBM's Service Assurance solution, built on IBMs Service Provider Delivery Environment (SPDE) telecom industry framework, will provide them with leading Service Management and monitoring of critical services, application and network-based systems. This technology investment will provide Datacom an edge in a multi-vendor and multi-technology environment to monitor and manage the Core GSM and IP networks.

As a new entrant into the telecom market in India, we understand the significance of partnering with a company that can provide the necessary impetus for growth in this intensely competitive market, said V.N. Dhoot, Chairman, Videocon Group. Our obvious choice was IBM as it has an unmatched track record of building leadership in telecom in markets not only in India but worldwide. More importantly, we strongly feel that their vast industry experience and insights will be critical in achieving our ambitious growth target."

Datacom has received pan India UAS licenses and plans to roll out GSM services across the country. Having received spectrum in most circles, the company plans to launch its services in four circles this year and expand in other circles by the end of 2010. Additionally, Datacom has applied for National Long Distance (NLD) and International Long Distance (ILD) licenses and plans to establish a pan India network for NLD as well as ILD gateways. The enterprise segment of the telecom market is an area of focus for Datacom where it looks to carve a niche for itself.

The collaboration with IBM will give Datacom a powerful, secure and agile technology infrastructure benchmarked against the international telecommunications industry standards. said Avinash V. Joshi, director for Communications sector, IBM India and South Asia.

According to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, the wireless subscriber base increased from 415 million in May 09 to 427 million at the end of June 09 at a monthly growth rate of 2.9 percent. Subscription levels are currently witnessing higher growth rates in the underserved C category circles. To enable Datacom to garner substantial market share, IBM will provide technology and associated services, to build business solutions for billing, customer care and value-added services such as a Service Delivery Platform all built on top of IBMs industry framework, SPDE. This will allow Datacom to focus on its core business which is subscriber growth and customer satisfaction.

Siemens PLM Software Delivers Nx 7.0 with Hd3d

Siemens PLM Software announced the latest release of NX software, digital product development solution. With NX 7.0, Siemens PLM Software introduces HD3D, an open and intuitive visual environment to help global product development teams unlock the value of PLM information and significantly enhance their ability to make efficient and effective product decisions. In addition, NX 7.0 includes enhancements to synchronous technology the widely acclaimed computer-aided design, manufacturing and engineering analysis (CAD/CAM/CAE) productivity software introduced by Siemens PLM Software last year that will further accelerate a variety of product development tasks and expand the unmatched ability of NX to effectively work with data from third party CAD applications.

Our introduction of synchronous technology and its implementation into NX earned high praise, not only from the vast majority of CAD/CAM/CAE pundits and industry analysts, but more importantly from the companies that deployed it to boost their design productivity, said Joan Hirsch, vice president of Product Design Solutions, Siemens PLM Software. Todays launch of NX 7.0 builds on that productivity leadership with the addition of significant new synchronous technology functionality, and the exciting introduction of HD3D, an innovative environment that will accept data from a variety of sources to set a new standard for High-Definition visual analytics in product development.

Globalization and an escalating regulatory environment, coupled with the increasing sophistication of virtually all manufactured products, has created a complex product development process for companies worldwide. Hundreds of decisions need to be made throughout product development based on information that exists in a variety of formats and locations, and usually created by software applications from multiple vendors. The speed and accuracy with which those decisions can be made has a profound effect on a companys success.

A natural and effective way to address these obstacles is to use visual information as a way to communicate across barriers and level the playing field for all participants, said Joe Barkai, Practice Director of Product Lifecycle Strategies for IDC Manufacturing Insights. A collaborative decision-making process and visually-assisted tools that support it are essential for expeditious, informed and reliable decisions. Using these tools will facilitate better communication and understanding, and increase the fidelity of informed decisions across the enterprise.

The introduction of HD3D in NX 7.0 is part of Siemens PLM Softwares comprehensive approach to achieving this vision and establishing a new paradigm in visual analytics. HD3D is a visually-rich environment for working with virtually any type of PLM data. This environment will be common across NX and Teamcenter software, Siemens PLM Softwares industry-leading digital lifecycle management portfolio, and its open architecture will also allow for integration with a variety of third-party applications.
HD3D expands the power of NX and Teamcenter to visually deliver the information companies need to understand, collaborate, and make decisions in today's globally distributed and heterogeneous product development environments. HD3D provides a simple and intuitive way to collect, collate and present product information, where it can be immediately applied in critical decision-making. The implementation of HD3D in NX 7.0 will enable users to visually interrogate and evaluate a product design based on any type of data tracked in Teamcenter or NX, such as release status, weight thresholds, material type, delivery status, etc.

For example, an NX 7.0 user could run a report looking for parts that are currently in development and registered as on-schedule or late. The 3D NX model of the product will visually highlight all of the parts that are more than one week late and a cause for concern. Interactive tags are displayed on the screen and can be selected to navigate into more detailed information. With potentially thousands of parts in a given product, this visual feedback and interactive work environment eliminates the need to sort through written bills-of-materials and status reports to manually interpret where issues exist and what action to take.

In addition to this visual analytics capability based on PLM data, HD3D will be implemented within NX 7.0 Check-Mate, a standards-based checking application that ensures compliance with design criteria, consistency in CAD model file structure and adherence to a variety of corporate and industry standards. HD3D will enhance validation tools within Check-Mate with a new visual user interface for analyzing and reporting issues. Similar to the above example, the new environment improves decision making during product validation by providing an intuitive, visual means of viewing Check-Mate results and evaluating issues.

The synchronous technology enhancements in NX 7.0 impact all aspects of CAD/CAM/CAE. In addition to its obvious affect on productivity for product designers, the new functionality significantly benefits other members of the development team working with CAD data, including analysts and manufacturing engineers. These individuals primarily work with 3D models created by someone else and often times using a third-party CAD application.

Canon To Rope In More SIs

Its bolstering business time at Canon, as the company looks to appoint more than 20 new partners - mostly top notch system integrators both at national and state levels - to help it push into old and newer business segments. Recently the company introduced 24 new products and entry into the security surveillance market. The company now plans to take a solutions approach and wants partners who can sell the whole gamut of enterprise products going from printers to surveillance cameras. That is why it is now looking at partners with high technical capabilities. It has already appointed 21 SIs at the national level including Wipro, Dell, HCL security. At the state level it has picked 20 partners including Iris Computers. The target at this level is 45 SIs.

Sharing the qualities which company is looking in their distributors, VP Sajeevan, Assistant Director, Consumer System Products Division, Canon India, said, The prime thing is expertise. What they have been doing in last three years. We are looking these SIs for government and big projects so selection will be done accordingly. These SIs will accommodate all the Canon products form printing to surveillance. In fact Sajeevan points out that SI's with a connect with government selling will have an upper hand as Canon is also focussing on the government vertical in a big way.

Currently the company has 67 products in the IT peripherals portfolio and 10 new products in the security space. It has increased its market share in laser printer market to 41%, and registered an over all growth of 58% in the printer division.

Aruba Networks Appoints New Sales Director for India

Aruba Networks announced the appointment of Shalendra Singh as its Sales Director for India.Singh will be based in New Delhi and lead sales, partner, and reseller operations throughout India.

Singh brings with him over 15 years of IT and networking experience in the United States, Asia, and India. Prior to Aruba, Singh was the Vice President of Sales and Business Development at O-Zone Networks in India. He has also held key roles at IBM India, PeopleSoft Singapore, and webMethods.

Enterprise users are increasingly mobile and need secure access to business-critical information from anywhere within or outside the office.  Aruba's secure Wi-Fi solutions deliver that mobility, enhancing user productivity, resource utilization, and operating efficiency. By displacing overbuilt wired networks with streamlined wireless access, Aruba enables enterprises to rightsize wired infrastructure and lower operating, service, and labor expenses.  These benefits extend to branch offices and teleworkers, for which Aruba's remote networking solutions are refreshingly simple to use, offer military-grade security, and can be centrally managed with minimal IT overhead. With the option to use 3G cellular or other broadband connections, users can connect to the enterprise instantly from anywhere.

The wireless market in India is experiencing tremendous growth, and we believe a seasoned executive manager is essential in order to navigate the many potential opportunities and spur growth, said Albert Tay, Arubas Regional Managing Director for ASEAN&India.  We have invested heavily in the region, both in our Bangalore research and development center and a growing network of national sales representatives. Shalendra will be invaluable in driving new business and supporting our large and growing base of existing customers.

Sony Expands its Walkman Video MP3 Player Family

Sony India expands its Walkman Video MP3 player family with the new NWZ-S540 and the NWZ-E440 series . Company promisies superior audio and visual entertainment on-the-go with enhanced Sony audio technologies.

The NWZ-S540 series integrates Sonys new and exclusive Digital Linear Phase Speaker System in its slim and compact frame. Combined with its larger 2.4-inch LCD screen, the NWZ-S540 player allows users to share their favourite music effortlessly with friends and family. Promising a rich audio experience for audiophiles, the NWZ-E440 series is an affordable music player that features an extended battery life for longer music and video playback.

The Digital Linear Phase Speaker System is developed by Sony to enhance sound quality from stereo speakers.  The advanced audio technology allows for natural sound reproduction and powerful bass sounds to be amplified in a compact body. With superior sound quality brought about by the stereo speakers, the new Walkman S540 series and E440 series provide exceptional audio experiences for users who enjoy music on-the-go. Combined with Sonys unique Clear Audio Technology with Clear Stereo and Clear Bass the new Walkman players deliver excellent audio experience with crisper, cleaner sounds.

The NWZ S540 series is available in black colour whereas NWZ E 440 series is available in funky colors like pink, violet, red and black to zing up the users personality. They will be available across all Sony stores and authorized retail partners nationwide.Price starts from 5,990 for 4GB to 6,990 for 8GB.

Ramtron Announces MaxArias RF-enabled Wireless Memory

Ramtron International Corporation, developer and supplier of nonvolatile ferroelectric random access memory (F-RAM) and integrated semiconductor products, announced that it has begun beta sampling its first MaxArias wireless memory product to customers across several industries.  Ramtrons MaxArias wireless memory combines the low power, high speed, and high endurance features of Ramtrons nonvolatile F-RAM memory technology with wireless access to enable innovative data collection capabilities for a broad range of applications.

Ramtrons first family of wireless memory devices, named the MaxArias WM710xx product line, features F-RAM memory with passive UHF EPCglobal Class-1 Generation-2 wireless access in a transponder IC with 4-, 8-, and 16-Kilobit user memory densities.  The WM710xx family is ideal for applications spanning many industries including aircraft/industrial manufacturing, inventory control, maintenance tracking, building security, electronic toll collection, pharmaceutical tracking, and product authentication, among others. Production of WM710xx family is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2010.

With our MaxArias line, Ramtron is creating a new category of wireless memory products that bring new data collection capabilities to a host of applications, remarked Dan Secrest, Ramtrons senior marketing manager. Our MaxArias products will allow system integrators and users to reliably capture, transmit, and store more information using our RF-enabled devices. By employing the EPCglobal Gen-2 RFID protocol, coupled with our industry standard nonvolatile F-RAM, MaxArias can enhance efficiency in todays fast-paced, global supply chains.

Beta sampling of Ramtrons MaxArias family of wireless solutions is a critical step toward enlarging Ramtrons addressable market and strengthening our F-RAM leadership, said Bill Staunton, Ramtrons chief executive officer.  Our strategy is to build on our base of F-RAM memory business by leveraging low power F-RAM features to exploit emerging market opportunities and further differentiate F-RAM from other memory solutions, while continuing our aggressive pace of new product development.  Initially, we plan to focus on the RFID market, specifically high-value asset tracking and wireless metering, among others.

Salesforce.com Announces 5 Minutes Upgrade

Salesforce.com, the enterprise cloud computing company,  announced five-minute upgrades and a new partnership with Cisco, further extending its leadership position in cloud computing and bringing Service Cloud 2 to companies of all sizes. Companies will be able to access the Service Cloud 2 even during planned maintenance windows with the new five-minute upgrade technology. Making industry leading service and support technology available to companies of all sizes, salesforce.com and Cisco unveiled a complete call center running entirely in the cloud with a combined solution integrating telephony with CRM. The five-minute upgrade technology and new solution with Cisco are delivered with Service Cloud 2, salesforce.com's next generation solution for customer service. The Service Cloud 2 exponentially increases the quality of service, while lowering the cost, by leveraging the expertise of the community.

Upgrades and planned maintenance windows have always been viewed as a necessary evil in the world of software. Many times these upgrades actually made the application less useful with broken customizations and integrations. Ten years ago, salesforce.com built applications on the multi-tenant, real-time Force.com platform and was able to deliver completely seamless and invisible upgrades to customers three times a year. Salesforce.com delivered the industry's best technology, upgrades that improved its applications, and did it all without creating headaches for companies.

Today, salesforce.com is unveiling another revolution for the cloud computing industry with the new five-minute upgrade. The five-minute upgrade represents an incredible technology achievement demonstrating the power of the Force.com platform and infrastructure. Never before have companies been able to take advantage of the latest technology innovations and evolve their customer service at the rate they are able to with the Service Cloud 2.

Bharti Airtel and Cisco Form Strategic Business Alliance

Bharti Airtel, Cisco announced the formation of a strategic business alliance to help drive growth for Indian enterprises. The alliance will combine the strengths of Airtels network service and Ciscos Internet Protocol (IP) technologies and expertise to work together to create and sell in a phased manner a set of unique products and services - including managed data services, hosted unified communications, connected branch services and Cisco TelePresence. Airtel and Cisco will appoint a dedicated team to develop and manage these services to fulfill the requirements of customers across small, medium and large enterprises.Sanjay Mittal, Senior Vice President from Bharti Airtel, will lead the initiative with the support of a Governing Board comprising executives from both companies.

Commenting on the alliance, Manoj Kohli, CEO and Joint Managing Director, Bharti Airtel, said: This alliance is another step towards Bharti Airtels vision to be the partner of choice for both large and medium enterprises, supporting the Indian B2B growth story. With this unique alliance, we will expand our market coverage in the rapidly growing managed services market and simplify the purchase process for our mutual customers by facilitating joint sales, partner planning and customer engagements. After achieving leadership in the B2C segments, we are pursuing leadership in the B2B segments assiduously.

Wim Elfrink, Chief Globalisation Officer and Executive Vice President, Cisco Services, said: We are thrilled to join hands with Bharti Airtel in an innovative model for managed service providers. Building on the governments commitment to rapid broadband deployment, we will together create and deliver transformational services for large enterprise and small and medium-sized business customers. This collaborative relationship is built on the strategy that we do not simply give our customers what we have; instead we create what they need by developing new business models and services adapted to our customers diverse needs.

The vision of the strategic business alliance is to combine the unique differentiation and capabilities of Bharti Airtel and Cisco. Bharti Airtel brings strengths of market leadership and product expertise in network connectivity for large enterprises and small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), in addition to strong distribution and a network of systems integration partners. Cisco brings value through its IP-based capabilities, strengths in next-generation network solutions, and enterprise and SMB channels. The unique products and services offered by this alliance will incorporate Cisco technology with the Airtel network to target the burgeoning Indian managed services market.

Panache Plans Channel Expansion with Product Refresh

Panache, Small Form Factor (SFF) PCs and Thin Clients Company is looking for channel partners in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal. The Mumbai based giant open for tie ups in North East States as well. Panache is looking for exclusive tie ups with reputed channel partners in these states for its Mini PC and Thin Client range of products.

"The Channel Partners joining us will have amazing range of products which will help them in customer retention with better margins" said Director, Panache, Amit Rambhia.

Panache Smile PC is powered by Intel Atom N270 Processor, Intel 945 GSE Express Chipset with 2 GB DDR2 RAM, 320 GB HDD and with Giga LAN. Panache Smile PC is ideal as a Home&Office PC&for Point of Sale, Digital Signage, Kiosk, and Thin Client applications.

Panache, at present, have more than 10 per cent market share in the Thin Client and is looking to expand its market share to 40 per cent in the next one year.

"The demand for Smile PC has gone up exponentially after the successful launch in Mumbai and adjoining areas in September. We are looking forward to expand our reach in other parts of the country as well" said Rambhia. "Thin client has become de facto replacement for desktop for SMB and enterprise users, he added.

At present Panache have channel partners in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Gujarat for its range of product.

Technopark Receives ISO certification

Technopark, the state-of-the-art facility that belongs to Kerala IT, has been certified under Environmental Management Systems (ISO 14001:2004) and Safety Management System (OHSAS 18001:2007) for Design, Development, Marketing Services and Overall Maintenance of Infrastructure facilities for IT/ITES companies. The certification was carried out by the leading technical inspectorate, T S South Asia.

ISO 14001:2004 is a standard required for meeting Pollution Control Board (PCB) regulations.  It enhances sustainable growth by preventing pollution. OHSAS 18001:2007 maintained by Technopark enhances efficient security system, fire safety system, traffic regulation system for betterment of employee safety inside the campus.
Commenting on the achievement, Mervin Alexander, CEO, Technopark says, We are very delighted having received the certification. This speaks about Technoparks responsibility in ensuring a clean and green work environment. He further added, At Technopolis, e-waste management is being practiced to ensure a pollution free campus. Additionally, the OHSAS certification will enable Technopark to take control of any occupational health hazards and offer security to the employees. I find the team's commitment commendable in converting Kerala IT's philosophies into action.

Commenting on the success, Dr.Ajaykumar, IT Secretary, Government of Kerala said, These awards reflect Technoparks commitment to high performance and aggressive growth and simultaneously being environment conscious. Technoparks ranking encourages us to provide a great business environment and simultaneously take care of our ecosystem. Our next aim is to run the Techno Lodges schemes in a big way and take Rural BPO to the next level.

VeriSign Partners with Millennium IT

VeriSign, provider of Internet infrastructure services for the networked world, today announced its reseller partnership with Sri Lankas  premier technology solutions provider, Millennium Information Technologies Ltd (MillenniumIT), to provide businesses in Sri Lanka with comprehensive and secure e-commerce solutions. Under the terms of the agreement, MillenniumIT will provide customers across Sri Lanka with VeriSign Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Certificates to help protect e-commerce interactions online.

The partnership makes MillenniumIT the first authorised Sri Lankan reseller partner of VeriSign SSL Certificates. The partnership will also significantly reduce the cost of purchasing SSL Certificates for businesses in Sri Lanka. The accessibility of VeriSign SSL Certificates directly within the country will also make it easier for Sri Lankan companies to provide the highest standard of online security for their local and foreign clientele.

"With the growing Internet penetration in Sri Lanka, there is a growing need for a secure Web environment where users can feel assured their online transactions are safe, said Dr. Shekhar Kirani, Country Manager, VeriSign India. The partnership with MillenniumIT will help establish this higher degree of trust by providing a safer online experience. We are pleased to join hands with a reseller partner who shares our security vision and has the capability to deliver effectively to the market.

VeriSign recently achieved the milestone of issuing more than 4 million SSL Certificates to businesses globally. The company has deployed more than 12,000 EV SSL Certificates, making VeriSign the market leader with a 74 percent share of the EV SSL market. And every day, VeriSign conducts up to 1 billion Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) checks the most timely and efficient way for Web browsers to determine whether an SSL or user certificate is still valid or has been revoked and a key indicator of secure sessions initiated using VeriSign SSL Certificates.

Online security and the need for protection of confidential data is imperative for businesses that thrive in the online medium, said Rahal Jayawardene, Head of Security Business at Millennium Information Technologies Ltd. By offering market leading VeriSign technology at an affordable price to Sri Lanka, we will have the opportunity to establish practices that offer the safest possible experience to Web users.

SoftPro Systems Opens Global Product Development Centre in India

SoftPro Systems Ltd announced the inauguration of its first global development centre in Hyderabad, India. SoftPros Hyderabad development center will initially support the companys GRC software development activities and ongoing efforts to advance GRC globally.

With an initial contract of $3 million, SoftPro Systems Ltd has built the product centre with a capacity for 300 seats. The first phase of recruitment has resulted in close to 45 new employees who will be trained by Cura.  Work at the Hyderabad site will include software development, design, testing and internal support. The centre is part of the companys efforts to enhance its engineering workforce to help meet the increasing demand for GRC software using cutting edge technologies as well as other product development capabilities for Indian and global companies.

On the occasion, Bala Reddy, Chairman and MD, Softpro Systems Ltd said, We will be investing to develop cutting edge technologies and the development center is a step in that direction. The appalling corporate failures and economic recession witnessed over the past year has added to the importance of GRC projects, escalating it up the priority list of corporates in India and globally. The development center at SoftPro Systems marks the beginning of a new era where we will lead the way for GRC to become an integral part of every company in India.

Avi Eyal, CEO, Cura Software Solutions said, I am extremely pleased to be a small part of this GRC growth story in India. The opening of the new development centre will see our integration into the SoftPro Systems family growing stronger. We look forward to the development of the version 4 of the software and this hopefully will positively impact our expanding product roadmap while creating opportunities for growth and innovation in the region.

Vijay Rao, Vice Chairman, SoftPro Systems Ltd added, It is a big landmark for SoftPro Systems and more importantly it is our foray into product development in India. The development center has state of the art facilities with a capacity for over 300 seats which strongly positions us to expand into other IT development in the near future. We are confident of developing the version 4 soon which we believe will further boost the confidence that our customers have in us and help them optimize their performance levels.

Zenith Launches Private Cloud ‘Proud’

Zenith InfoTech announced the global launch of its latest, first of its kind computing platform Proud, a single infrastructure for running all business computing needs.

Proud has been engineered by over 250 computer scientists, across Belgium, Germany, Mumbai and Bangalore, working for more than 4 years, at a total cost of Rs. 175 crores. Proud is the most ambitious product development initiative ever undertaken by an Indian IT company.

Proud is a single centralized computing system which replaces the need for customers to buy computing and network hardware as separate and difficult to manage components. Customers can run their entire IT infrastructure within as virtual machines within the cloud environment be it desktops (which now run as virtual desktops), servers as well as appliances such as firewalls, routers and VoIP systems. Advanced functionality such as high-availability, instant failover, continuous backups, predictive failure monitoring and granular capacity management, which traditionally have been expensive and separately paid for items, are an integral part of the Proud platform. Prouds unique scale-out approach to computing, allows customers to add capacity when they need it without undergoing expensive rip and replace cycles.

Akash Saraf, CEO of Zenith InfoTech Ltd said, Proud is yet another breakthrough product created by Zenith InfoTech. Before Proud Zenith has successfully built SAAZ, an IT infrastructure management system and ARCA/BDR, a backup and disaster recovery product that have been implemented at 27,000 customer sites in the US, Canada, UK and Australia and have generated over Rs.350 crores in sales for Zenith InfoTech Limited over the past two years. With Proud we aim to completely change how businesses purchase and utilize their IT infrastructure. Our goal is to have at least 20,000 customers globally adopt the Proud platform within the next two years.

Proud fulfils the idea of utility/cloud computing, where IT is an operational cost instead of a capital expense and yet is privately owned by the customer. Proud allows businesses to run their existing software and applications without any modification and yet reap the benefits of cloud computing. Traditionally cloud computing needed customers to outsource their IT to a third party datacenter, however with Proud customers host, control and manage their cloud themselves. Proud also allows businesses the flexibility of using both commercial and open source software through a unique concept called virtual appliances.

With Proud, Zenith is providing CIOs and IT managers with an industrial strength computing infrastructure that is highly reliable, redundant, easy to manage and yet is cost effective. It allows these professionals to get a business computing platform that works all the time, provides them the flexibility to run different workloads as well as does not throw surprises in terms of unbudgeted and untimely upgrades. It gives the benefits of very high up-time along with low costs.