California-based broadband services and technology company VisSat has set up a R&D centre here – its second facility outside the US – to tap the high-speed Internet connectivity potential in the region.
The research and development (R&D) centre, which now has about 40 people, would scale it up to 250 over the next three years, ViaSat India’s Vice President Sathya Narayanaswamy said.
“There are about 40 employees. It will grow to 250 over the next three years. There is a huge growth market. There are about 13 crore Internet connections in India. It is nearly 10 per cent of the (total) population,” he told reporters.
Listed on Nasdaq, a US stock exchange, the company currently serves seven lakh customers in North America and Canada through the ViaSat-1 highest capacity satellite launched in 2012.
The Chennai facility would be the global research and development centre and its second after the United Kingdom facility outside US.
“Our first facility outside United States is in United Kingdom. So this will be second largest R&D Centre for us”, ViaSat Commercial Networks, Senior Vice-President, Kevin J Harkenrider said.
The company, however, declined to reveal the amount of the investments made at this centre.
He said the company planned to launch ViaSat-2 satellite broadband platform in 2017 that would more than double the bandwidth and increase coverage seven-fold over the prior generation.
“Now, we are planning to launch our second satellite ViaSat-1 by early 2017. It will be built by Boeing and will be launched from Ariane, French Guyana. That launch will help to us to cover across North America and across United Kingdom, Middle East and Africa”, he said.
In 2019, ViaSat will launch first of three ViaSat-3 class satellite platforms that would offer 1,000 Gbps of network capacity, making each satellite equal to the total capacity of all commercial satellites in space.
The third satellite system was planned to cover Asia Pacific region completing the company’s global coverage.
The company was in talks with the Ministry of Communications and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to launch their service in India, Harkenrider added.
VIJ APR ADI ABI
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Chennai / PTI / June 30th, 2016
Uniphore’s CEO says software built around speech will change the face of technology
: It was in 2007 that Umesh Sachdev struck upon the idea that took over his life.
“If voice could be used to communicate with machines, we would solve massive problems. That’s when we started building speech recognition and artificial intelligence based software products, which have today become Uniphore,” said Mr. Sachdev, Uniphore’s co-founder and CEO who recently made it to Time Magazine ’s 2016 list of 10 millennials changing the world.
After Mr. Sachdev and his co-founder Ravi Saraogi completed Computer Science engineering, they got onto the entrepreneurial stride and conceptualised the speech recognition software.
The idea was to reach millions of users who were not part of digital revolution due to illiteracy or language constraints.
“We wanted to use technology which allows people to interact with devices such as mobile phones in their vernacular languages and connect to the internet to access information and carry out transactions. That was the motivation to develop vernacular language speech recognition and voice biometrics,” said Mr. Sachdev, who started the venture at the IIT Research Park in Chennai.
Citing an example, the 30-year-old Sachdev said, “Imagine a housewife in a village who wishes to recharge her cable TV (DTH). Today, she is able to do so by dialling a number and saying her command in one of 14 Indian languages and the transaction is fulfilled.
In near future, these applications will be smarter. It will remind her that her daughter’s school fee is due and that she should also transfer it along with the TV bill.”
Empowering people
Having pioneered Indian and Asian vernacular languages, Uniphore is now investing in ‘natural language’ and ‘artificial intelligence’ capabilities.
“The impact of this, we believe, would empower people in various ways in the coming years,” Mr. Sachdev said.
The startup firm has added over 70 global languages and expanded to South East Asia, the Middle-East and the US.
Till date, the startup has received investment from a series of investors, including IDG Ventures India; India Angel Network; Ray Stata, the co-founder and Chairman of the Board of Analog Devices; and YourNest Angel Fund.
It also received seed investment from IIT Madras’ Rural Technology and Business Incubator; Villgro Innovations Foundation; and the National Research Development Corporation.
Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan has also invested an undisclosed amount in the firm.
Having pioneered Indian and Asian vernacular languages, Uniphore is investing in ‘natural language’
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Sangeetha Kandavel / Chennai – June 27th, 2016
From hand-crafting musical instruments to providing a platform for people to learn music… here’s the story of Musée Musical
There’s a reason why the doors to the entrance of Musée Musical are tall enough for elephants to walk through. In fact, they served the very purpose: the building was used to shelter the elephants of Parthasarathy Temple. Today, it brims with guitars, violins and veenas that gleam from glass cabinets that line the walls. Situated in a cosy corner off Anna Salai, the music ‘salon’ was started by a Portuguese music-lover called Misquith in 1842. “He repaired and serviced pianos and organs back then,” recalls Kishore Das, the CEO of the company.
“Called Misquith & Co., it had 16 branches, including in places such as Lahore and the Nilgiris. But he sold them all, owing to ill health,” he adds. “Prudhomme, a Frenchman bought the Madras branch — he was the one who gave it the current name. His friend Amy Rozario, a pianist and music teacher, was the director; my grandfather Giridhar Das worked as the financial director.”
Towards the early 1940s, when the Independence Movement was at its peak, Amy decided to leave the country. That’s when Giridhar Das bought over the company. For the first time since its founding, Musée Musical had an Indian at the helm.
Kishore Das, CEO, Musee Musical / Photo: V. Ganesan. / The Hindu
Today, seated in an office surrounded by hundreds of musical instruments, Kishore narrates the story of this “institution” that not only sold and taught music, but also made its own instruments. Musée Musical started to hand-craft its own instruments out of necessity. This was because the Government imposed a 330 per cent duty on importing musical instruments after Independence. The trend continued until 1996. During the intermittent years, the company was a haven for those who wanted to practise Western music. They rented out instruments at a nominal rate and provided a platform for those who wanted to learn music.
“Music is common to everyone. It cannot be divided by borders,” feels Kishore. “We’ve seen musicians suffer without access to instruments and wanted to make them available.” Today, they continue to make their own instruments, although on a small scale. “We’ve been an examination centre for the Trinity College, London, since 1901,” he adds.
At Musee Musical. / Photo: V. Ganesan. / The Hindu
The aisles of the store have seen ordinary men and women walk in as starry-eyed lovers of music and walk out as geniuses after years of training: think Ilaiyaraaja and A.R. Rahman. Kishore remembers seeing a young Ilaiyaraaja come to their store on foot all the way from Mylapore. “He went through a lot of hardship to learn music,” he says. “For me, the best thing about being in this field is that over the years, we’ve shown people that music can also be a career,” says Kishore. “We’ve been working with the Government and educational institutions towards that.”
Years of hosting musicians and musical instruments has changed something in the quaint building. It clings to us as we walk out through the elephant doors. You can’t exactly name the feeling — it’s a mix of an inexplicable calm and awe.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> Metroplus> Society / by Akila Kannadasan / Chennai – June 21st, 2016
Alagu Servai, in his sixties, is small-made, has a bald head and wears a perpetual smile. This farmer is known for his wit; on one occasion he even made chief minister J Jayalalithaa laugh when he messed up his speech papers at a felicitation ceremony organised by Madurai farmers in August, 2014. Alagu is back after a government sponsored trip to Thailand from May 22 to 29 to learn agricultural practices in that country. Excerpts from an interview.
Q: How was your trip to Thailand?
A: I was among 100 farmers sent to various countries to learn the agricultural practices followed there. I went to Thailand and visited various places of agricultural interest. The experience was an eye-opener and a learning experience.
Q: What differences did you find in the cultivation methods?
A: They cultivate everything we do, like paddy, sugarcane, banana and millets, but all of them through organic farming. Farmers get their subsidies as freebies directly from government.
Q: Anything overwhelming you have observed during the trip?
A: They have a paddy variety called ‘Madurai paddy’; it was named so in memory of Chola King Rajarajan who visited the country. Many paddy varieties were introduced from India when the Cholas maintained contact with the country, I was told.
Q: What technologies do you think could be adopted locally?
A: We can’t switch over to organic farming all on a sudden like they do. Thailand farmers cultivate coconuts in a different manner. They plant them in heaps instead of in pits like we do and use channels to keep water around the plants. Also farmers don’t hand over work to farm hands. They stay on in their farms for 8 hours. It is one of the good practices I found there. I will be sharing my experiences and lessons with our farmers soon.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Madurai / TNN / June 18th, 2016
Before the advent of cane sugar and mass production in factories, palm jaggery or palm candy used to be the local sweetener. But then, it lost sheen as it was unable to match the production of cane sugar.
One of the major impediments was that there was no mechanised method to produce like cane sugar. But, that tide is fast changing again as with its lower glycemic index is in demand over cane sugar.
Considering its huge potential, Thassim Beevi Abdul Kader College for Women has come out with a technology to produce with machines. This new technology was discussed during the international conference on food, nutrition and health organised by the college in Madurai from June 6 to 8.
Few pockets like Udangudi, Vembar in Tuticorin district, Sayalkudi in Ramanathapuram district and Srivilliputhur in Virudhunagar district are still famous for making palm jaggery from the sap of palm trees. They also make in conventional method by boiling palm sap for many hours to remove its impurities and store it in anaerobic containers where crystals are formed on threads tied inside the container. It takes 45 to 60 days to get in this manner.
The technology invented by the college provides in powder form within six hours.
Explaining the technology, S Muthumariswari, assistant professor, department of home science and research centre, said there is enormous demand for not just in India but from abroad as well. She has created the technology as part of her PhD research.
“In many places of Ramanathapuram district, people still make or powdered palm jaggery whenever there is a need. Considering the huge potential, we are making using machines,” she said.
The college has tied up with Coimbatore-based Dinu Technology to create the machine. J Dinesh from Dinu Technology said that similar to conventional method, in this technology too, palm sap is boiled and crystallised.
“Unlike 45 to 60 days, machine processing takes only six hours and sugar content may vary depending on the region. For instance, palm sap in Ramanathapuram district will have more sugar content than other places,” he explained.
It is said that there used to be five to eight crore palm trees in Tamil Nadu. After toddy tapping was banned, palm trees have seen a steady decline and there are only three crore now.
When demand for is said to revive palm cultivation, modern technology to manufacture it will be a great boon. But the machine cost is quite higher for poor palm farmers to afford, says Dr S Sumayaa, principal of the college urging government’s support in this regard.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India /News Home> City> Madurai / by Arockiaraj Johnbosco / TNN / June 08th, 2016
A worker giving final touches to the microwaveable earthern pans in a manufacturing unit in Palayamkottai, Tamil Nadu.— Photo: A. Shaikmohideen
The microwaveable pots, manufactured in T.N., have been popularised by a Dubai chef
The famous earthenware industry of Tamil Nadu’s Tirunelveli district, which is known for its quality pots and pans, has now started manufacturing microwave oven-friendly earthen pans that have won thousands of hearts in the Gulf.
Demand for samples
Five years ago, the executive chef of a star hotel in Dubai contacted S. Murugan of Kurichi in Palayamkottai after trawling through the Internet, and asked him for samples of the eco-friendly pans. Mr. Murugan followed the chef’s specifications and prepared the product that reportedly impressed him. The chef even recommended Mr. Murugan’s product to his other friends in the Gulf.
“We have our clientele in Dubai, Kuwait, Jordan and Qatar. The star hotels of the oil-rich nations use our pans for packing biryani meant for home delivery, instead of packing the mouth-watering dish in plastic or cardboard materials.”
Heat and eat
After stuffing the yummy biriyani in a use-and-throw earthenware pan, it is covered with a roti and kept in a hotbox. The customer, on receiving the delivery, needs to just put the pan in the microwave oven and heat it.
“Since we bake the pans in the kiln up to 950 degree Celsius, the earthenware pan can withstand the oven heat and this process will not affect the quality of biryani in anyway,” says Mr. Murugan.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Tamil Nadu / by P. Sudhakaran / Tirunelveli – June 16th, 2016
V.O. Chidambaranar Port here has received two awards, one each for achieving the second highest growth in traffic and for attaining the second position in Results Framework Document (RFD) target achievement for 2015-16. The VOC Port is among 12 major ports that achieved these feats.
S. Anantha Chandra Bose, Chairman, and S. Natarajan, Deputy Chairman, of V.O.C. Port Trust received the awards from Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Shipping, at a programme on June 4 in Goa when performance of ports was reviewed.
According to a statement from the VOC Port Trust on Tuesday, it handled an all time record cargo traffic of 36.85 million tonnes during 2015-16 and surpassed the previous year’s achievement of 32.41 million tonnes, registering an increase of 13.70 per cent. The Port also crossed the Ministry’s target of 36.80 million tonnes by handling 36.85 million tonnes.
Further, it performed exemplarily in achieving the various parameters of the RFD to enhance traffic throughput, augment capacity, provide efficient, prompt, safe and timely seaport service at optimum cost and improvefinancial parameters and administrative reforms.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Madurai / by Staff Reporter / Thoothukudi – June 08th, 2016
Arjun Shankar, creator of the ‘Breaking Bad’ board game. Photo: Yash Suda
A chance $100 ticket, and the opportunity of a lifetime. Arjun Shankar tells how he went about creating a board game based on Breaking Bad, and met its creator Vince Gilligan
Like every other teenager, Arjun Shankar got hooked on to Breaking Bad while still in college. He watched the 62 episodes 25 times.
In 2015, he quit his three-year-old auditing job in a multinational firm, decided to drop out of CA with one exam to clear, and started working on a board game based on the Emmy award-winning series — complete with the popular characters Walter White, Jesse Pinkman and Gus Fring; Meth labs and dollar rolls.
In eight months, after 15 different versions, a brand new Breaking Bad board game was born. “Probably, the only one in the world as of now,” he claims.
Arjun then went a step further. He decided to meet the creator of the series, Vince Gilligan. And early this year, he did.
The journey from the comfort of his home in KK Nagar to a red carpet event in LA, where he finally got to meet Vince, is a story that seems straight out of a movie script.
With no prior background in board games, except for playing the conventional Snakes and Ladders, Monopoly, and so on, Arjun went ahead to give life to a “path-breaking idea inside his head”.
“It was the time when Chennai was marooned due to the floods. There was nothing much to do anyway, so I locked myself up inside a five ft by eight ft store room for 19 hours every day, conceptualising the game. I cut off from friends, films, television and social media. Things were pretty bad at home as well. I come from a conservative family, and it was tough for my folks to understand and accept what I was doing,” recalls the 22-year-old.
“But, I held on to my passion. There were times when I worked till I almost passed out, woke up with a new idea all of a sudden, and worked on it for the next 12 hours. Though I lost nearly 25 kg in the last five months, mentally, I was never exhausted. I told myself it was something no one else in the world could do, but me,” he says.
Once the board game was ready, he created a one-man company called Tripeee Games, and applied for his U.S. visa. “I wanted to show Vince what I had created. I knew I was a ‘nobody’ with no network to reach the guy. But people always talk about destiny, about how the universe rearranges itself for those who wish for something, and I wanted to see if there was any truth in it,” he says. Turns out, there was.
“I got my U.S. visa in three days, and flew there in the next two days,” he says. Once there, he arranged to meet Vince’ lawyers at Santa Monica, LA, and presented before them the game prototype. Impressed with it, they said he would be put in touch with a higher authority. A few weeks passed before Arjun got any reply. “Vince’s direct lawyer got back to me saying she saw potential in the game, but could not sign a deal, as it needed to come through a proper channel,” he recalls.
The rights for the characters are with Sony Pictures, and to proceed with the development of the game, Arjun would need an investor who could help him get the rights, and a game developer. “I realised I still had a long way. Considering it as nothing more than a good learning process, I started packing my bags for India,” he says.
That’s when Arjun came across the public event ‘2016 PaleyFest’ at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood — Vince Gilligan was part of the panel. Call it divine intervention or just sheer luck, “but there was just one seat left in the first row of the hall for $100, and I spent the last few dollars left with me on it,” he says.
Arjun shares with us a video recording of the “biggest moment of his life”. In the video, Vince and the rest of the cast of Better Call Saul — an offshoot of Breaking Bad — are on the dais; and on the first row in the audience is our Chennai boy. When the moderator announces the session open to the audience, Arjun, all suited up, pounces at the opportunity. “I was numb. There were 1,500 people in the audience, and two heavyweight bouncers right in front of me. I knew that this was my only chance to talk to the director. So, I went ahead and grabbed the mike. I couldn’t remember a thing I spoke, until I saw the recording,” he says.
Arjun spoke to Vince about his story, took out the prototype of the game which he had taken along with him to the event, and asked feebly, ‘Would you like to see it?’ “Vince was perplexed. He probably hadn’t met anyone as crazy as me. However, he did agree to see it,” laughs Arjun. And, just like that, Arjun’s board game was screened on the big screen before hundreds in the audience, and probably thousands worldwide on their televisions. “Vince seemed pretty impressed, and said: ‘We will connect you with the right person’, before pointing at his assistant,” recounts Arjun, who was mentioned as a “bold game maker who pitched his invention to Vince”, on the next day’s Hollywood Reporter. “I hope Vince does not forget me and my creation in the near future,” he says.
That’s probably enough time for Arjun to get his game out.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> Metroplus> Television / Naveena Vijayan / May 30th, 2016
Freshdesk,on Monday announced the opening of a new regional office in Berlin, Germany. Freshdesk has doubled its customer base in just over a year, from 40,000 to 80,000 customers, with nearly a third of the business coming from Europe. Adding to their existing UK office, the new Berlin office will enable the company to better support and grow their mid-market and enterprise business in Continental Europe.
The Berlin office will be led by Arun Mani, Managing Director in Continental Europe. Mani joined Freshdesk in early 2016 with the goal of supporting the European market and growing the company’s presence in the region. Mani’s initial focus is on hiring exceptional talent in Berlin, to service customers in Europe and scale the business in the regions.
Prior to joining Freshdesk, Mani built and scaled a global sales team for AppNexus, growing revenue of their core network business by five times in just three years. Mani previously worked at McKinsey & Company and Accenture, managing client relationships and advising C-level executives on growth strategies and sales enablement. He also holds an MBA from INSEAD. “We understand that customer needs differ from region to region and we’re looking forward to expanding our presence in Europe. Our Berlin location presents an opportunity to provide a higher level of service, increase local awareness and be active members of the local business community,” said Mani. “Our team is already growing quickly and we are looking to make key hires in sales, marketing and project management before the year is over.”
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Chennai / Ranjani Ayyari / TNN/ May 30th, 2016
Organic coconut oil, which is one of the value-added products, brought out by Udumalpet Coconut Producers Company.
A group of traditional neera tappers from Udumalpet area have established market linkage with a Kochi-based firm to export value-added jaggery produced from neera.
The tie-up was made possible through an initiative taken by Udumalpet Coconut Producers Company, a consortium floated by around 1,000 coconut farmers from Udumalpet and Madathukulam blocks, with the support of Coconut Development Board.
“We have now grouped together 10 traditional tappers of neera, who have the licence to tap neera, for the purpose of producing jaggery from it. We plan to add 15 more traditional tappers into the fold,” S. Selvaraj, a farmer and chairman of Udumalpet Coconut Farmers Producers Company, told The Hindu .
The company has started dispatching the jaggery produced by the traditional neera tappers to the Kochi-based firm in batches to be exported to west Asian countries.
Presently handling orders to the tune of three tonnes a month, the volume was expected to go up when the demand picks up, said the farmers who were part of the initiative.
As part of diversification plans, the Coconut Producers’ Company plans to find export avenues to market organic coconut oil extracted from ‘organic copra’ using traditional methods.
Organic
“We have not added any chemicals or sulphur in the production process. The company has brought out the organic coconut on a pilot basis for domestic market in 250 ml, 500 ml and 1 litre bottles and given the common brand name of ‘snehalaya’, which is the name given for the range of agri products to be marketed by the member farmers,” said Mr. Selvaraj.
10 traditional tappers, who have the licence to tap neera, have been grouped together to produce jaggery from it
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Tamil Nadu / by Staff Reporter / Tirupur – May 30th, 2016
