DT May Issue 2021

INTERVIEW Page No : 10

“MICRON WILL CONTINUE TO STRENGTHEN THE CHANNEL NETWORK ACROSS UPCOUNTRY” Rajesh Gupta, Director, Country Manager – India Sales, Micron www. d i g it alt erminal.in

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CONTENT VO L -12, I SS UE -05 , MAY 2 0 2 1

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DT CONCLAVE 2021

DT Conclave 2021 On ‘Cybersecurity Evolved’ Gets Concluded Successfully

Publisher & Editor : Rajeev Ranjan Executive Editor : Jyoti Janda Assistant Content Manager : Jai Prakash

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INTERVIEW

“Micron Will Continue To Strengthen The Channel Network Across Upcountry”

Consulting Art Direction : Vikas Sharma Visualiser : Akriti Arora Graphic Designer : Shubham Tomar Editdesk : Shilpa Baghel Production Head : Rajiv Singh

Rajesh Gupta, Director, Country Manager – India Sales, Micron

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Nishchal Dua, Director of Marketing, Airmeet

Mr. Satish Pala, Senior Vice President – Digital Solutions, Indium Software Ramprakash Ramamoorthy, Director of Research at ManageEngine (Zoho Corporation)

GUEST ARTICLE

Five Fundamentals to Safeguard Businesses’ Most Valuable Asset - Data Ripu Bajwa, Director and General Manager, Data Protection Solutions, Dell Technologies

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011 - 45160276

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info@digitalterminal.in, editdesk@digitalterminal.in

AI BUZZ

AI is Redefining The Decision Making Process of Modern Day CTOs & CIOs

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Circulation: Ashok & Raju

EXCLUSIVE CHAT

“Airmeet Proved To Be A Sigh Of Relief For Those Who Could No Longer Conduct Their Events Offline”

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Marketing Executive : Balvinder Singh

EXPERT SPEAKS

Anyone Can Be At Risk of A Data Breach: Kaspersky On Air India & Dominos Data Leak

Printed, Published and Owned by Rajeev Ranjan from S-560, IInd Floor, School Block-2, Shakarpur, Delhi-92. Magazine printed at Sangat Printers Pvt. Ltd. C-105, Naraina Industrial Area, Phase I, New Delhi. Editor Brajesh Kumar. All rights reserved. Reproduction in any manner, in whole or in part, is prohibited.

Every possible care has been taken to print this magazine as the content have been sourced from in house writers, as well from other reliable sources including freelancers and content writers. We can not be held responsible for any mistakes or errors. We do not take responsibility for its absolute accuracy. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent courts and forums in Delhi only. While care is taken prior to acceptence of advertising copy, it is not possible to verify its contents, Digital Terminal cannot be held responsible for such contents, nor for any loss or damages incurred as a result of transactions with companies, associations for individuals advertising in its newspapers or publications. We therefore recommend that readers make necessary inquiries before sending any monies or entering into any agreements with advertisers or otherwise acting on an advertisement in any manner whatsoever

Dipesh Kaura, General Manager, Kaspersky (South Asia)

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Boost performance with Crucial DRAM and SSD upgrades.

DT CONCLAVE 2021

DT CONCLAVE 2021 ON ‘CYBERSECURITY EVOLVED’ GETS CONCLUDED SUCCESSFULLY

In line with efforts to empower Indian businesses, Digital Terminal successfully organized DT Conclave 2021 on 16 April. The virtual event received a resounding response from the IT fraternity. In today’s challenging cyber landscape scenario, the event was organized with the aim of providing critical insights on cyber security to enable organizations and the partner community to protect their digital assets. DT Conclave 2021 was based on “Cyber Security Evolved: Moving Towards Zero Trust Access”. The DT Conclave was live-streamed on the Airmeet virtual events platform, Facebook and YouTube. All digital platforms contributed to spreading important information on cyber security among IT leaders. The 2021 edition of DT Conclave will surely pave the way for organizations’ secure digital transformation journey as it shared the most sought knowledge on “zero trust 6

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access”.

Every year, Digital Terminal organises DT Conclave which always revolves around “DIGITAL TRANSFORMATIONEmpowering Indian Business”. This initiative has created a platform to boost & empower businesses in India through Digital Transformation. With a mission to provide all basics and important information on a single platform. This initiative has connected many organisations in building their digital transformation much easier in new normal. There is huge gap in the exact and true information about trends, adoption, security threats and challenges available in the open domain, through this platform we provide required knowledge to enterprise, SMBs and SMEs for their business continuity. This platform is also used to announce winners for DT

Tech Leadership Award which is given to person/organisations or initiatives for successfully managing digital journey.

The DT Conclave 2021 emphasized the need for cyber security, challenges and solutions for organizations. The speaker of the event, Mr. Ravindra Baviskar, Director - Sales Engineering (India and SAARC), Sophos Technologies Private Limited elaborated on how organizations can work more actively to strengthen their security framework in this epidemic. The role of CIOs, CSOs and CTOs has grown multifold over the years. They now need to pay extra attention to the security of organizations’ data infrastructure and make it more secure than before.

In addition, increasing cyber threats forced security officials to bring greater efficiency to their approach and provide additional benefits to their organization. www.digitalterminal.in

DT CONCLAVE 2021

DT Conclave 2021 addressed all key aspects that would help them increase their efficiency and enable them to work in a more efficient manner. The event was watched live by more than 300 viewers on Airmeet platform which was a complete interactive session for CTOs, CIOs and IT Heads from leading organisations across India. The event was also streamed on DT’s Facebook and YouTube channel for wider reach.

Commenting on the overwhelming response, Mr. Ravindra Baviskar, Director - Sales Engineering (India and SAARC), Sophos Technologies Private Limited said, “I am really overwhelmed for being part of this discussion. I really enjoyed being part of DT Conclave 2021. I hope I have served the purpose and contributed towards success of this event. I am always open to any advice or support required from Sophos. You can please reach out to DT for any type of resources/knowledge required for Cybersecurity, we will try to address that concern as well. I would like to thank DT and its entire team, who worked hard to bring this virtual event to empower Indian Business and help them in their digital transformation journey. & most important thank you all www.digitalterminal.in

who joined us live.”

Cyber security is a major concern for organizations in a digitally changing world. Being one of the most important assets, organizations are greatly improving their strategies to secure data. Since the pandemic has pushed organizations to operate remotely, the importance of a strong security strategy has grown significantly.

Employees working from home share perhaps the most vulnerable networks, leading to the risk of a serious data breach. The speaker of DT Conclave, in the informative session of DT Conclave 2021, pointed out the major challenges & solution for CIOs and CTOs. The digital terminal also honoured top-performing IT leaders for their commendable initiatives for cyber security. Publication organized a special session to announce winners of prestigious DT Cybersecurity Leadership Awards 2021 during the virtual event.

Amidst the ever-increasing cyber incidents, the role of IT leaders has increased as they are the core strength of any organization that takes initiative to protect their organizations from any challenge including cyber threats.

This recognition by Digital Terminal will definitely motivate them to work with higher efficiency in future.

Congratulating all winners, Ravi said, “I would like to appreciate DT for taking such initiative to honor such people who are real crusader of Cybersecurity Domain. DT Cybersecurity Leadership award will really acknowledge their efforts and role they play for all their respective organisation. Especially, in last one year, when the challenge was huge due to pandemic. They all really worked hard to secure their digital infra by working effortlessly even in Work from Home mode. They all truly deserve such recognition which will further motivate to work much better in days to come.”

Keeping on our legacy to deliver best platform, DT Conclave 2021 concluded successfully and served it’s purpose again. This will surely benefit the Indian businesses and enable them to strengthen their security infrastructure.

DT Conclave 2021 was sponsored by Sophos and entire event was executed

by News Dot Media Pvt. Ltd. Telecom Today was it’s media partners whereas Airmeet was it’s platform partner.

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CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE WINNERS

Dr. Sanjay Kumar Sharma Director (Computer Centre & Campus Network Facility), University of Hyderabad

Mr. Anil Kulkarni AGM-Information Technology, Manipal Global

Mr. Gopal Ghosh, AGM IT – Lead, Vikram Solar Limited

Mr. Akella Manga Sridhar Program Manager (Global Enterprise Security), DPO, Yash Technologies

Mr. Atul Bansal Group CIO, Gatewayrail Frieght

Mr. Ankit Jain Deputy General Manager, Podar Education Network

Mr. Shyamkumar Shinde Deputy General Manager, BPCL

Mr. Krishna Kamath Head IT, Shapoorji Pallonji

Mr. Nimai C Sahoo, GM(IT-Infra), Nalco

Mr. Avdhoot Bhogulkar Head of Networks and Security, Reliance

Mr. Satyavrat Mishra AVP - Corporate IT, Godrej Industries

Mr. Gunjan Goel, GM -Information & Business Process Group, Afcons Infrastructure Ltd.

Mr. Yogesh Kumar Bansal CISO, VP-IT, AAVAS Finance

Mr. Shailendra Choudhary VP-HEAD-IT, Interarch Buildings

Mr. Sathish Kamath, Asst. Director IT, Manipal EDU

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Mr. Gilbert Doss, Senior Information Technology Security Analyst, Quartesian

Mr. Manik Paul, Chief Information Officer (CIO), Century Plyboards (India) Limited Mr. Bharath Iyengar Vice President - ICT & Compliance, Valuemomentum

www.digitalterminal.in

BIG BYTE

GLOBAL CHIP SHORTAGE EXPECTED TO PERSIST UNTIL Q2 2022: GARTNER The worldwide semiconductor shortage will persist through 2021, and is expected to recover to normal levels by the second quarter of 2022, according to Gartner, Inc. “The semiconductor shortage will severely disrupt the supply chain and will constrain the production of many electronic equipment types in 2021.

Foundries are increasing wafer prices, and in turn, chip companies are increasing device prices,” said Kanishka Chauhan, principal research analyst at Gartner.

The chip shortage started primarily with devices, such as power management, display devices and microcontrollers, fabricated on legacy nodes at 8-inch foundry fabs, which have a limited supply. The shortage has now extended to other devices, and there are capacity constraints and shortages for substrates, wire bonding, passives, materials, and testing, all of which are parts of the supply chain beyond chip fabs.

These are highly commoditized industries with minimal flexibility/capacity to invest aggressively on a short notice.

Across most categories, device shortages are expected to be pushed out until the second quarter of 2022 (see Figure 1), while substrate capacity constraints could potentially extend to fourth quarter of 2022.

Figure 1. Gartner Index of Inventory Semiconductor Supply Chain Tracking - Projected Worldwide Semiconductor Inventory Index Movement, 2021-2022 Note: 1Q21 is a modelled estimate and is subject to change based on actual financials reported by vendors in 2Q21.

The index bar for 2Q21 to 4Q22 is only a directional estimate Source: Gartner (May 2021) www.digitalterminal.in

Gartner analysts recommend that OEMs dependent directly or indirectly on semiconductors take four key actions to mitigate risk and revenue loss during the global chip shortage: • Extend supply chain visibility – The chip shortage makes it essential for supply chain leaders to extend the supply chain visibility beyond the supplier to the silicon level, which will be critical in projecting supply constraints and bottlenecks and eventually, projecting when the crisis situation will improve.

• Guarantee supply with companion model and/or preinvestments – OEMs with smaller and critical component requirements must look to partner with similar entities and approach chip foundries and/or OSAT players as a combined entity to gain some leverage.

Additionally, if scale allows, preinvesting in a commoditized part of the chip supply chain and/or foundries, could guarantee the company a long-term supply.

how the shortage situation will evolve, a combination of relevant parameters can help guide organizations in the right direction.

“Since the current chip shortage is a dynamic situation, it is essential to understand how it changes on a continuous basis. Tracking leading indicators, such as capital investments, inventory index and semiconductor industry revenue growth projections as an early indicator of inventory situations, can help organizations stay updated on the issue and see how the overall industry is growing,” said Gaurav Gupta, research vice president at Gartner.

• Diversify supplier base – Qualifying a different source of chips and/or OSAT partner will require additional work and investment, but it would go a long way in reducing risk. Additionally, creating strategic and tight relationships with distributors, resellers and traders can help with finding the small volume for urgent components.

• Track leading indicators – While no relevant parameter by itself will project MAY 2021 I

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INTERVIEW

“MICRON WILL CONTINUE TO STRENGTHEN THE CHANNEL NETWORK ACROSS UPCOUNTRY” The Indian storage market is witnessing exponential growth and it continues to achieve new heights. The amount of data being generated has augmented the need for reliable, secure and cost-effective methods to store data. The market players in this domain endeavor to bring cutting-edge and next-generation storage solutions to enable the customers to achieve maximum efficiency. Micron is one of the leading storage solution providers that offer advanced storage products through its robust channel network. Rajeev Ranjan, Editor, Digital Terminal held an exclusive chat with Rajesh Gupta, Director, Country Manager – India Sales, Micron. Mr. Rajesh spoke about their product offerings, market landscape, and their channel strategy to accelerate their growth. Read below the excerpts: RAJEEV: PLEASE BRIEFLY SHARE YOUR VIEWS ON THE OVERALL GROWTH OF MICRON AND CRUCIAL IN THE INDIAN STORAGE MARKET IN YEAR 2020.

RAJESH GUPTA: Over the last FY, Micron’s business has grown rapidly in India for Micron branded Industrial/Embedded products as well as Crucial branded Consumer products. During the last year our market coverage has become wider across all market segments. Working with our commercial distributors the Crucial products are now available across all states and major cities in India.

Similarly, Micron Industrial products are now reaching more embedded solution developers and integrators at major Industrial clusters. We also have a good presence on the e-commerce platforms. During year 2020, we have also established reseller and VAR engagements in upcountry locations as well. Our endeavour is to continue to work with our distribution and reseller channel partners to expand our coverage further and make our products available widely and consistently across India.

Globally, Micron delivered strong revenue and earnings in FQ1, despite the ongoing challenges posed by the pandemic. We began shipping the industry’s most advanced NAND with 176 layers. And in DRAM, we made good progress on our 1-alpha node and are on track to begin volume production in the first half of calendar 2021. We believe DRAM is past the bottom of the industry cycle and expect improving trends through calendar 2021 as the digitization of the global economy continues, fueled by artificial intelligence, cloud, 5G, and the intelligent edge, including smart vehicles. Against this backdrop, Micron is poised to emerge stronger, and we are excited about our

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future RAJEEV: HOW INDIA IS IMPORTANT ‘AS A MARKET’ FOR MICRON? WHAT ALL INVESTMENT/EXPANSION PLANS YOU HAVE FOR THE INDIAN MARKET IN NEAR FUTURE? RAJESH GUPTA: India is an exciting market for Micron. Our wide range of memory & storage product portfolio covers Industrial electronics, Embedded, Mobile, Compute, Networking, Gaming and Consumer market segments. Micron delivers the industry’s most exhaustive and expansive portfolio of memory & storage products. In the coming years, Micron will continue to strengthen the channel network across upcountry for our Crucial branded Consumer DRAM and SSD products. We have embarked upon an ambitious branding exercise to cover many more markets. Similarly on the Embedded side our plan is to establish an engagement of trust and consistency with key OEMs, ODMs and EMS players for our industry leading products. As we know India is becoming a destination for mobile phone manufacturing with the ecosystem developing for very large scale of domestic and export potential.

Micron is ready with an impressive range of DRAM and NAND based products and solutions for this segment and will be able to support growth of this exciting segment.

RAJEEV: WHAT ARE THE UPCOMING TECHNOLOGY TRENDS IN THE INDIAN STORAGE MARKET? HOW DO YOU LOOK AT THESE TRENDS AND YOUR PREPAREDNESS TO TAP THE UPCOMING DEMANDS? RAJESH GUPTA: Calendar 2021 is shaping up to be a solid year, and our overall outlook across DRAM and NAND has

improved with broad strength across nearly all end markets and similar trend should be visible in India. The pandemic has driven changes in our economy that we believe would serve to accelerate the digital transformation of the economy and drive new opportunities for the industry. Recovery from the pandemic and pent-up demand are expected to drive strong demand growth in markets such as enterprise, cloud, desktop PCs, mobile, auto and industrial.

Some Key market segment specific pointers are as follows: • PC & Clients: Work From Home (WFH) has become a necessary tool of managing workforce for businesses and continues to drive the strong demand for Notebooks and Tablet PCs. We also expect the desktop market to improve as workers gradually return to the office this year.

Not only the demand for new PCs has improved we see a strong demand for existing PC upgrades as both consumer and Corporations maximize the utilization of IT resources and optimize costs and budgets. There is a significant increasing in Online Gaming both on Mobile phones as well as PCs as this becomes one of the viable entertainment option while staying indoors. This has resulted in solid growth in the demand of Gaming focused DRAM modules.

• Data Centre: This segment is expected to be strong in 2021, particularly in the second half of the year. This is due to improving enterprise demand, strengthening opportunities with cloud providers, and the introduction of new CPUs which will increase memory content. We expect migration to DDR5 picking up pace in 2H 2021. 5G mobile network deployments will drive healthy

www.digitalterminal.in

INTERVIEW

DRAM bit growth as well. We expect 5G related infrastructure deployments during 2H-2021.

• Mobile: Post Covid a strong rebound is smartphone unit sales is already visible and expected to show robust growth this year. The industry could also expect to benefit from higher content in 5G phones, which are forecast to double this year.

• Automotive: Auto unit sales are expected to grow significantly from last year while secular memory and storage content growth trends remain strong as electric vehicles (EVs) proliferate.

Rajesh Gupta, Director, Country Manager – India Sales, Micron

• AI & Big Data: In the Industry 4.0 era, AI will become more accurate and more ubiquitous, and we will start to see it filling in more gaps for simple tasks where people would traditionally. In a post-COVID world, more businesses adopting AI for use cases like these to create contactless experiences.

We will also see AI moving into infrastructure such as data centres and 5G base stations as neural network algorithms become more adept at workload and system error correction and recovery As the only company with a portfolio of DRAM, NAND and 3D XPoint technologies, Micron is uniquely positioned to benefit from the secular data growth that is driving the cloud, enterprise and networking markets. With a robust network of distributors with specialization in almost all end market segments Micron is in a good position of being a supplier of necessary products.

RAJEEV: PLEASE BRIEF ABOUT YOUR CHANNEL NETWORK IN INDIA. HOW DO YOUR OFFLINE CHANNEL PARTNERS HELP YOU TO REACH POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS AND SERVE THE RAPIDLY INCREASING DEMAND? RAJESH GUPTA: Micron’s business in India is fulfilled by distributors and is organized in two broad categories: Industrial and Commercial. Industrial Distribution focused on Industrial Electronics, Automotive and broad range of embedded segments covering ODMs, EMS and IDHs across India. Micron has Industry leading consumer products including SSDs and DRAM branded as Crucial. For the ‘Crucial’ branded consumer products, we are developing a strong network of resellers, VARs and www.digitalterminal.in

System Integrators across all 4 regions and multiple cities in India. The resellers and VAR/SI’s do a commendable job of making Crucial branded products available widely across retail counters and e-commerce market places.

The offline channel plays a critical role in fulfilling the requirement of a widespread consumer base for PC and tablet upgrades. The offline channel keeps a stock of multiple products in the local stores, helps educating consumers about aspects such as compatibility, performance and guide consumers in picking the right products to upgrade their systems. Many consumers prefer to see demonstrations and products before making a decision and offline channel provides them with the opportunity.

RAJEEV: WHAT ARE YOUR COMMITMENTS TO PROVIDE BEST SERVICE SUPPORT TO YOUR CUSTOMERS ACROSS INDIA? PLEASE BRIEF IF YOU HAVE ANY PLAN TO SCALE THE SERVICE INFRA ACROSS ALL MAJOR CITIES. RAJESH GUPTA: Pre and post sales

services are very important to improve customer satisfaction besides delivering high quality and reliable products.

Micron has invested in a wide network to provide warranty replacements widely cities across India with a network of 40 plus in city service centres. Micron has an exhaustive portfolio of memory and storage products for both Consumer and Industrial business segments. Each of the segment has a complex set up customers that are located widely across the country. The supply chain ecosystem is different for the Commercial and Industrial segments and requires unique skill sets and technology skills. Therefor along with pre & post-sales support coverage, Micron is establishing a training program fine-tuned to the needs of different channel segments. This shall help to train and equip a specific segment focused channel partner to deliver better service to customers.

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EXCLUSIVE CHAT

“AIRMEET PROVED TO BE A SIGH OF RELIEF FOR THOSE WHO COULD NO LONGER CONDUCT THEIR EVENTS OFFLINE” Since the pandemic has enforced people to be at their homes, the significance of the virtual meeting platforms has dramatically increased. COVID-19 has significantly promoted a big shift from in-person meetings to virtual meetings.

Organizations have embraced this change and actively adopted such virtual event platforms to hold meetings or events during existing pandemic. On the other hand, the education industry has also shifted to digital platforms and students now attend virtual classrooms with the help of such revolutionary platforms. The market players have been benefited a lot due to this sudden rise in demand. Airmeet, a leading Indian brand has also established its feet by offering advanced and an all-in-one virtual & hybrid event platform. Being a homegrown player, Airmeet has got a great response from the market in terms of adoption. To get insight over this specific industry and its market operations, Rajeev Ranjan, Editor, Digital Terminal interacted with Nishchal Dua, Director of Marketing, Airmeet. Read below the excerpts:

RAJEEV: CAN YOU PLEASE BRIEF ABOUT INITIAL IDEAS/VISION WHICH HELPED YOU IN ESTABLISHING AIRMEET? HOW IT ALL STARTED AND YOUR JOURNEY SO FAR? NISHCHAL DUA: As remote work enthusiasts, the founders were searching for ideas that would allow them to connect with their community without geographical limitations.

Amidst this quest in a pre-covid era, they stumbled upon an idea to build a platform that filled this need gap.

With Airmeet, our vision is to enable frequent community building initiatives through engaging virtual events and meet-ups that blur the lines between physical and digital events. We’ve had a fantastic run so far and we’ve grown 2000% quarterly since we started and have hosted more than 10,000 events.

We’ve also ventured into hosting one of its kind hybrid events that are receiving a tremendous response from our global audience.

RAJEEV: HOW DID AIRMEET HELP COMPANIES DURING LOCKDOWN / COVID-19 IN CONTINUING THEIR COLLABORATION OR MEETINGS? NISHCHAL DUA: Remote working as a concept was very new to our audience especially in India when the pandemic hit, and everyone was forced to adopt

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it overnight. While many relied on video conferencing platforms, they could not necessarily use them to host industry & corporate events, recruitment drives etc. These formats require a more sophisticated interface which was not accessible at affordable pricing or even otherwise. At this time, Airmeet proved to be a sigh of relief for those who could no longer conduct their scheduled events offline or plan a new one, by offering a multi-format event hosting virtual platform enabling them to take their scheduled events online without a hassle while keeping them engaged.

to no prior events experience.

Our interface amalgamates the essential characteristics of the offline event space and merges it effortlessly with the online. We therefore pioneered a community of professionals who discovered seamless execution of digitally native events during the pandemic. The power of virtual connections and frequent interactions with peers from the industry, located globally without incurring huge costs, was a win-win for all. We saw many corporates, firms, educational institutions conduct collaborative events on the platform during the lockdown and are continuing to do so. Airmeet’s fluid interface, scalable backend, and intuitive setup is also helping marketers and entrepreneurs organize successful events with limited

NISHCHAL DUA: Airmeet is an all-inone virtual and hybrid event platform that provides an array of opportunities to market. The platform facilitates live streaming on Facebook and YouTube allowing the host to get increased views for the sessions and thereby connecting to a larger group of prospective customers. Besides live streaming, the other marketing solutions that the platform offers are virtual ballroom, speed networking and, booth exhibition area.

RAJEEV: WHAT APPROACH MADE YOU BEST MAKE IN INDIA VIRTUAL MEET PLATFORM IN SO SHORT DURATION? NISHCHAL DUA: We are the first of its kind platform that was conceptualized and available in the country even before the COVID -19 pandemic made virtual events as relevant as they are today.

RAJEEV: WHAT ARE THE KEY EVENT MARKETING SOLUTIONS THAT AIRMEET OFFERS?

Virtual Ballroom is a feature that permits one to connect with attendees, hosts, and speakers in the networking lounge. One can also switch between tables in the ballroom freely and, join relevant conversations.

www.digitalterminal.in

EXCLUSIVE CHAT

Speed meetings automatically match participants with each other and cater to people that believe in short and powerful one-on-one conversations thereby building new and relevant connections. Event branding and booth exhibition area allows the brands to feature brand logos and branded content at the reception. Use brand colors and themes in stage backdrops.

Not just that, use brand colors on the event interiors to ensure brand recall and encourage exhibitors to put up stalls at the event to generate leads. The booth has striking features like a booth lounge for demos and discussions, company collaterals showcase like brochures, whitepapers, flyers, etc., and a CTA to receive interest from the visitors.

RAJEEV: CAN A BUSINESS GENERATE LEADS WHILE HOSTING THEIR EVENTS ONLINE? HOW DOES THIS WORK? NISHCHAL DUA: Virtual events are an ideal way to generate leads, offering numerous benefits. It is the ideal method to connect with the audience through a virtual space.

incorporated with hybrid events. The event’s content should shape the marketing, and some of the best ways to market your virtual event are: • Creating an engaging event page – This should incorporate each and every detail about the event – time, date, agenda, speakers and panelists, link to the event, payment options, if any.

• Keeping your SEO game strong – To rank up the event, use keywords while publishing your content. Put your keyword planning tool to use, discover what words people are searching for and, use them to promote the virtual event.

• Using email

marketing – Email is still an influential and effective marketing tool for businesses. Curate a relevant email list and share regular event updates with the prospective audience. Keep it simple and, to the point, to get the desired results.

• Leveraging your social media – Promote your virtual events, announce your event and, post across all social media platforms.

• Spreading the word with the help of sponsors – Collaborate with sponsors for cross- branding promotions – this helps you promote the event exponentially • Disseminating a press release – Write a press release, create a buzz about the virtual event, share information about the speakers, focus area, special take away etc.

Nishchal Dua, Director Marketing, Airmeet

A virtual event enables you to collect a lot more information from a virtual event about your attendees, their needs, expectations, interest and purchase intention, as compared to an on-ground event. These types of events entertain a much larger group of audience – giving access to a global audience. Additionally, lack of physical space allows unlimited numbers of people to participate and attend events.

RAJEEV: WHAT ARE SOME OF THE BEST WAYS TO MARKET YOUR VIRTUAL/HYBRID EVENT? NISHCHAL DUA: In the long run, the marketing ideas ought to be www.digitalterminal.in

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AI BUZZ

AI IS REDEFINING THE DECISION MAKING PROCESS OF MODERN DAY CTOS & CIOS

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he wide adoption of Artificial Intelligence is shaping many sectors and enabling the organizations to achieve sustainable growth. The wide impact of Artificial Intelligence across the verticals is expected to bring more efficiency and make the organizations future-ready.

AI is redefining the decision making process of modern day CTOs and CIOs for greater outcomes. The latest findings have shown the increasing impact and adoption of AI based solutions across major segment. MR. SATISH PALA, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT – DIGITAL SOLUTIONS, INDIUM SOFTWARE said, “The recent findings on AI are a culmination of interest, research and investment in AI technologies in the last decade or so. Implementation of AI technologies like ML, NLP, Computer Vision, RPA and Virtual tech has become a key factor in digital transformation of companies. It will not be a surprise to see AI driving businesses by 2030 globally.

While advanced tech companies have an upper hand now, it will eventually even out with rest of the companies embracing AI tech.”

INCREASED ADOPTION OF AIBASED SOLUTIONS “Indian organizations tend to follow the global market in adoption of new tech.

However Indian Fintech and Mobility players have shown the way to the whole world. Our payment solutions and innovative mobile apps have embraced AI tools and are growing rapidly due to the efficiencies and better customer experiences. Indian organizations in sectors such as manufacturing, healthcare, education and the government will adopt all AI tools as a major driver to boost the growth. Some will surge ahead and rest will follow eventually.

Especially in the new norm, efficient, creative and innovative business models are required and AI tools provide this edge” stated Satish Pala, Indium Software.

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SOLUTIONS TO OFFER Satish Pala, Indium Software said, “Indium Software has been enabling businesses with the adoption of next gen technologies for building solutions and products to gain the competitive edge. Some of our key differentiators that function as drivers for organizations to grow using advanced tech are: • ML based Analytics solutions like IOT Analytics, Customer Analytics, Image and Video Analytics • Our product, tex.AI which is an Ai based Text Analytics suite of solutions that offer Text Extraction, Redaction, Summarization & Classification. In addition, it includes other solutions such as data scraping, validation, clustering, topic modelling, etc. teX.ai helps produce structured data, metadata & insights. Some key benefits include: • Prioritize and address the focus areas based on topics being discussed in reviews and complaints • Reduce the time in extracting tables from various types of documents • Save time and effort by extracting & categorizing from large volumes of content.

MR. SATISH PALA, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT – DIGITAL SOLUTIONS, INDIUM SOFTWARE

• Our data engineering and full stack development solutions compliment our data analytics solutions to provide holistic solutions to our customers.

THE SALES MODEL TO SUPPORT THE GROWTH Talking about the sales model, Satish Pala, Indium Software added, “Our Sales model for solutions include channels like, Direct sales – We have sales team that are equipped to sell directly to our prospects. We also have Cloud Partner to sell alongside them or through them. Our Sales model for tex.ai product includes self-serve (POC and then sale), transaction sales (volume and licensing) and enterprise sales (product license and professional service).”

www.digitalterminal.in

AI BUZZ

ORGANIZATIONS BUILD SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MODELS AROUND DATA, AND AI PUTS THIS DATA TO BETTER USE

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igital Transformation strategy of enterprises is majorly witnessing the inclusion of AI, eventually it is reshaping the business models.

However the positive outcomes of AI is

underexplored and needs appropriate attention by the industry leaders. The organizations across the world are rapidly progressing under the wave of Artificial Intelligence.

Reports state that COVID-19 has brought AI to the epicenter of digital conversations and the world is looking up to India. The industry reports have brought surprizing results that point towards wider adoption of AI tools.

RAMPRAKASH RAMAMOORTHY, DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH AT MANAGEENGINE (ZOHO CORPORATION) said, “For several

years, ManageEngine has been advocating for digital transformation and the need to set up strong IT infrastructure. The McKinsey report emphasizes that front-runners in AI adoption are expected to benefit from an extraordinary increase in their cash flow and that the laggards are set to see negative cash flow in coming years. Because of the pandemic, the gap between the adopters and the laggards is only going to widen! Our advocacy for a strong IT base today and stronger AI adoption in the future is reiterated in McKinsey’s report.”

AI DRIVING THE GROWTH “Data is a key asset of modern-day organizations. Organizations today build successful business models around data, and AI puts this data to better use. With the increase in digital-first or digital-only brands across the globe, customer experience is not just limited to how clean your store is or how hospitable your customer service is, www.digitalterminal.in

but also how reliable your digital interface is. Customers don’t want to interact with an app or website that is slow or unreliable, and a security breach damages your reputation permanently. AI in your IT guarantees uptime and secures your digital infrastructure.

When it comes to future-proofing your RAMPRAKASH RAMAMOORTHY, DIRECTOR OF REAT MANAGEENGINE (ZOHO CORPORATION) company’s development, AI will play SEARCH a key role,” added by Ramprakash. fying the context of tickets and assigning them to the right technicians.”

LEVERAGING THE CAPABILITIES OF AI

Organizations are leveraging the benefits of Artificial Intelligence to propel their growth and simplify the day-today operations. Ramprakash further said, “At ManageEngine, we like to say we “eat our own dog food.” This means our IT runs on ManageEngine technology and services. We extensively use our products’ AI capabilities to secure our networks and ensure uptime. We provide an extensive user and entity behavior analytics system that is available via our security platform Log360 to make sure our security is not compromised by malicious actors. We also use our networking monitoring tools like OpManager, which has various AI features built in to look backward (anomaly detection) and forward (incident prediction) in time to help better forecast our network needs and mitigate outages.

All these systems point to our service delivery tool, ServiceDesk Plus, which utilizes advanced natural language processing techniques to ensure faster resolution of incoming tickets by identi-

SALES MODEL TO PUSH GROWTH MOMENTUM “As much as 50 per cent of our revenue in India is driven through the channel network. The channel program has been devised to cater to both value-added partners as well as system integrators. Some of our main partners include Softcell Technologies, Sonata Software, and System Integrators like Birlasoft, Zensar, TCS and Wipro.

Channel partners help us both in-terms of PAN India market reach and at the same time deliver value to our customers through implementation and consulting services. At ManageEngine, we strive hard to keep them up-to-date with the latest technologies, market trends through continuous training and certification programs. This ensures they have the competitive edge, besides enabling them to derive higher value for their business,” concluded by Ramprakash.

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LAPPY CORNER

ACER LAUNCHES NEW SWIFT X NOTEBOOK POWERED BY AMD RYZEN PROCESSOR The new Acer Swift X (SFX14-41G) notebook represents a new segment within the Swift portfolio.

The notebook includes a fingerprint sensor for more secure sign ins. The productivity capabilities of the Acer Swift X are further enhanced by up to 2 TB of SSD storage

Acer introduced the Swift X, the newest member of its popular Swift line of notebooks. Designed to take ultra-portable PC design to the next level, this ultrathinand-light laptop boasts an AMD Ryzen™ 5000 Series Mobile Processor with “Zen 3” architecture and the latest NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3050 Ti Laptop GPUs. “Acer’s new notebook models are designed to offer consumers the widest possible choice of high-performance, ultraportable computing devices,” said James Lin, General Manager, Notebooks, IT Products Business, Acer Inc. “Professionals need a clean-looking notebook that is compact enough to take with them throughout the day, but it also has to be powerful enough to run multiple resource-intensive programs at once. With every device we make, we’re always pursuing that balance.”

“Powered by the highly-efficient and extremely powerful AMD ‘Zen 3’ core architecture, the Acer Swift X delivers impressive battery life in a high-performance and ultraportable design,” said Saeid Moshkelani, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Client Business Unit, AMD. “We are proud to collaborate with key partners like Acer to deliver premium, no-compromise solutions for content creators, streamers and creative professionals.”

THIN, LIGHT AND POWERFUL The new Acer Swift X (SFX14-41G) notebook represents a new segment within the Swift portfolio, the first of its series to come powered with discrete graphics, all at an impressive 1.39 kg (3.06 lbs). Its NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Laptop GPU, based on NVIDIA’s Ampere architecture, combined with up to an AMD Ryzen™ 7 5800U Mobile Processor and 16 GB of RAM offers creative professionals such as video editors

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or photographers plenty of power. True to the Swift family, all this hardware has been fitted into a metal chassis just 17.9 mm (0.7 in) thin.

Windows Hello, AI-enhanced noise suppression for smoother video calls, and Acer BlueLightShield technology to help lessen eye strain during long editing sessions.

The productivity capabilities of the Acer Swift X are further enhanced by up to 2 TB of SSD storage, allowing all of a user’s work to be taken with them, and a fast-charging 59W battery that offers up to 17 hours of use.

COOL, QUIET EDITING

VIBRANT COLOR REPRESENTATION The Swift X features a 14-inch FHD IPS display with an 85.7% screen-to-body ratio, 300 nits brightness and 100% sRGB— enough for editing 4K video or getting photographs just right. A plentiful array of ports including full-function USB Type-C ensure ultra-fast data transfer, video streaming and battery charging, facilitating this process, while Wi-Fi 6 means faster overall connectivity.

The notebook also includes a fingerprint sensor for more secure sign ins through

Built with heavier work sessions in mind, the new Swift X leverages a fan with fifty-nine 0.3 mm blades and a pair of D6 copper heat pipes to optimize its thermal efficiency. A number of other innovations also improve the notebook’s cooling efficiency: an air inlet keyboard design expels around 8-10% more heat than a standard keyboard, and a stereo ring with an inclined plane sitting along the top of the fan delivers up to a 5-10% improvement in airflow.

PRICE AND AVAILABILITY The Acer Swift X (SFX14-41G) will be available in North America in June starting at USD 899.99; in EMEA in Summer 2021 starting at 899 EUR; and in China in Q3’21, starting at RMB 6,499.

www.digitalterminal.in

CYBERSECURITY

SOPHOS INTRODUCES ITS LATEST XDR SOLUTION FOR ENHANCED SECURITY Sophos announced Sophos XDR, the industry’s only extended detection and response (XDR) solution that synchronizes native endpoint, server, firewall, and email security.

With this comprehensive and integrated approach, Sophos XDR provides a holistic view of an organization’s environment with the richest data set and deep analysis for threat detection, investigation and response.

“We’re seeing an extraordinarily high level of complex ransomware and other cybercrime, and the need for effective, comprehensive cybersecurity has never been more critical or urgent,” said Dan Schiappa, chief product officer at Sophos. “Sophos XDR is a game-changing new solution for proactively defending against the most sophisticated and evasive attacks, especially those that leverage multiple access points to gain entry, move laterally to evade detection, and do as much damage as possible as fast as possible.”

ATTACKS ON STEROIDS Sophos also published new research, “Intervention halts a ProxyLogon-enabled attack,” detailing an attack against a large organization that began when the adversaries compromised an Exchange server using the recent ProxyLogon exploit. The research shows how the attackers moved laterally through the network and, over a two-week period, stole account credentials; compromised domain controllers; secured a foothold on multiple machines; deployed a commercial remote access tool to retain access to hacked machines; and delivered a number of malicious programs.

“As explained in the research report, the attackers returned repeatedly, sometimes with different tools and other times to deploy the same tool, such as Cobalt Strike, on different machines. They used a commercial remote access utility rather than the more standard RDP that threat hunters would more typically look for,” said Schiappa. “This report explains the complex nature of human-operated cyberattacks and how multi-stage, multi-vector incidents are difficult for IT security teams to track and contain.

The target simply couldn’t keep up with the attack activity taking place across all parts of the estate. Based on Sophos’ 2021 www.digitalterminal.in

State of Ransomware report, this issue is more widespread than this one incident.

More than 54% of IT managers surveyed said cyberattacks are too advanced for their IT teams to handle on their own. XDR is a critical defense component.”

DEEP THREAT ANALYSIS WITH RICH DATA SET Sophos XDR extends visibility across Sophos’ next-generation portfolio of solutions for an in-depth picture of threats.

At the heart of Sophos XDR is the industry’s richest data set. Sophos XDR offers two types of data retention, including up to 90 days of on-device data, plus 30 days of cross-product data in the cloud-based data lake. The unique approach of blending on-device and data lake forensics provides the broadest and most in-depth contextualized insights that can be leveraged by security analysts through Sophos Central and via open application programming interfaces (APIs) for ingestion into security information and event management (SIEM); security orchestration, automation and response (SOAR); professional service automation (PSA); and remote monitoring and management (RMM) systems.

The data lake hosts critical information from Intercept X, Intercept X for Server, Sophos Firewall, and Sophos Email. Sophos Cloud Optix and Sophos Mobile will also feed into the data repository later this year. Security and IT teams can easily access this data to run cross-product threat hunts and investigations, and to quickly drill into granular details of past and present attacker activity.

The availability of offline access to historical data further protects against lost or impacted devices.

Sophos additionally released a new version of its industry-best endpoint detection and response – Sophos EDR. New sched-

uled queries and customizable contextual pivoting capabilities make it faster and easier than ever for security analysts and IT administrators to identify, investigate and respond to security issues with speed and precision. Users further benefit with new pre-configured queries and powerful threat intelligence through integration with SophosLabs Intelix. Sophos EDR customers can access seven days of cloud hosted data (upgradable to 30 days) in the data lake, in addition to 90 days of on-device data.

“As one of the world’s top British fashion retailers with hundreds of stores worldwide, security is a top priority. We’re committed to protecting our loyal customers’ data, and that starts with securing our networks against advanced threats,” said Alistair Knowles, cyber security analyst at Ted Baker. “Sophos XDR provides critical visibility into a goldmine of valuable endpoint data, enabling us to detect and stop threats before they cause any damage. We can easily look for those needle in a haystack kind of incidents and determine their scope with both new and historical data at our fingertips. Integration with solutions like Splunk, for example, take it to the next level with even deeper insights. Once we have the forensics needed to neutralize a threat, Sophos’ Live Response capabilities enable us to remediate issues remotely, which is imperative in today’s remote working environments.”

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MARKET REPORT

HP CONTINUES TO LEAD INDIAN HCP MARKET WITH 34.1% MARKET SHARE According to the latest data released

by International Data Corporation (IDC) India’s hardcopy peripherals (HCP) market recorded its best Q1 in terms of unit shipment at the back of continuous demand for Inkjet printers. While the market witnessed a decline of 4.5% quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) during Q1 2021 (Jan-Mar), it registered shipments of 0.92 million units during the quarter posting a growth of 38.5% year-overyear (YoY), according to the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker, 1Q21 release.

In the inkjet segment, demand for printers remained strong from the home segment as schools and colleges continued to implement study from home. Following this, the inkjet segment noted a YoY growth of 56.2%. Within inkjet printers, the Ink tank printer segment grew steadily following improved availability and pent-up consumer demand. Vendors continued to be afflicted by issues such as limited production capacity of production hubs, availability of shipping vessels, and increased freight charges.

The laser printers’ segment (including copiers) recorded a YoY growth of 26.3% at the back of Laser Printers (excluding copiers) as the Government placed multiple orders towards the end of its financial year. For similar reasons, the Laser Copier segment, too, witnessed a YoY growth of 42.8% despite muted demand from Corporates.

“The Government demand could not be fulfilled completely because of its move to delist products with country of origin as China from Government e-Marketplace (GeM). As a result, multiple vendors were impacted since many top-selling models were delisted from GeM. While a few vendors found a workaround by acquiring shipments from manufacturing hubs in another country, others replaced the laser models on GeM with high-speed inkjet models having their country of origin as Vietnam, Thailand, or Japan,” says Bani Johri, Market Analyst, IPDS, IDC India.

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HP Inc. (excluding Samsung) maintained its leadership in the overall HCP market with a share of 34.1% and a growth in shipment of 39.6% YoY. The growth was primarily led by the inkjet segment, wherein HP grew by 109.4% YoY. However, its market share dropped to 22.7% as it occupied the 3rd position in the inkjet market. The growth in inkjet shipment was primarily boosted by ‘HP’s Ink Tank shipment, which was severely impacted last year during the same period. In the laser printer segment (excluding laser copiers), it grew by 15.8% YoY and continued to maintain its number #1 position with a 56.5% market share.

Epson occupied the 2nd position in the overall HCP market with a market share of 30.4% while registering a YoY growth of 27.0%. In the inkjet segment, Epson maintained its top position in the market with a share of 50.9%. This comes primarily at the back of Epson, having resolved the supply issues it was facing previously and taking advantage of the gap created in the market by other vendors.

Canon recorded a YoY growth of 62.1% and occupied 3rd position in the overall India HCP market, capturing a unit market share of 22.8%. In the inkjet segment, Canon observed a YoY growth of 98.6% even though it struggled with the shortage of certain models. In the laser segment (including laser copiers)

Canon maintained its 2nd position with a market share of 23.9% while struggling with the supply of LBP2900. In the laser copier segment, Canon grew by 36.7% YoY and continued to lead the copier market with a 27.9% market share because of its minimum dependence on Chinese manufactured products which helped them procure deals in the Government segment.

IDC INDIA MARKET OUTLOOK: “Consumer sentiment is expected to remain muted during 2Q21 as the country battles the second wave of the pandemic. However, supply issues are not expected to be as severe as last year as the country largely remains operational. While there are statewide lockdowns, there are almost negligible restrictions on interstate movement of goods or even import of goods from another country. Barring any 3rd wave of infections or a prolonged second wave, we can expect some recovery in consumer spending towards the second half of 2021. Enterprise demand is expected to remain muted in Q2 owing to state lockdowns and continued work from home forcing offices to remain closed.

Logistics, Pharma and Hospitals Sector are likely to remain decent from a printer demand perspective,” says Nishant Bansal, Senior Research Manager, IPDS, IDC India.

www.digitalterminal.in

GAMERS CORNER

ASUS LAUNCHES NEW LINEUP OF GAMING LAPTOPS, POWERED BY AMD RYZEN PROCESSOR The new ROG line-up features the latest advancements to deliver an uninterrupted and premium gaming experience to gamers. The gaming laptops are packed with powerful specifications that help gamers to exceed the boundaries of gaming to achieve a whole new level of gameplay.

ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) announced the availability of a new lineup featuring the latest AMD Ryzen™ 5000 H-Series Mobile Processors in India. Designed to boost your productivity and take your gaming experience to the next level, the new range of laptops include ROG Flow X13, which comes with a detachable eGPU (XG Mobile) support, ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE, ROG Zephyrus G15 and ROG Zephyrus G14.

The flagship ROG Flow X13 hits a perfect balance between power and ultra-portability with the compact 13-inch 1.3 kg chassis. It is the World’s most powerful 13-inch convertible gaming laptop which changes form freely on a slick 360° Ergolift hinge and offers opportunities to use the laptop in various mode as per the need.

As part of the Zephyrus line-up, ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE is designed to meet the all-rounder needs of the consumers from gaming to content creation and coding. It is made faster with the latest AMD Ryzen™ 9 5900HX processor and GeForce® RTX™ 3080 GPU. The laptop comes with the built-in ROG ScreenPad Plus secondary display making multitasking easy and features optimized apps that enhance your workflow.

ROG Zephyrus G15 features a sturdy design even machined down to ultrathin sizes, that keeps the chassis lightweight and portable. The durable magnesium-aluminium lid and deck protect the device against bumps and knocks, making it perfect for worry free portability. It features a 180° ErgoLift hinge that opens up more viewing angles than ever. The AMD Ryzen™ 9 5900HS mobile processor and cutting-edge GPUs up to the latest NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3070 offers the power and speed to maintain reliably high frame rates for a variety of popular games.

ROG Zephyrus G14 on the other hand is an aesthetically designed compact size laptop that easily slips into conventional laptop bags and backpacks. It is the first gaming laptop to integrate a fingerprint sensor and to utilize an SSO power button (single sign on). ROG Zephyrus G14 is also the first ROG laptop to feature an ErgoLift hinge www.digitalterminal.in

that tilts the keyboard at a more comfortable angle, enhancing cooling. It is built on cutting-edge 7nm technology, the AMD Ryzen™ 9 5900HS mobile processor and NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3060.

to deliver impactful performance, power and portability with great style.”

Commenting on new range of gaming computers, Arnold Su, Business Head, Consumer and Gaming PC, System Business Group, ASUS India, stated, “Our new ROG lineup is built on the philosophy to create an impact through innovations that envelop versatility in a compact design. We have introduced many industry-firsts and the flagship ROG Flow X13 is the latest to join the wagon, the most powerful 13-inch convertible gaming laptop. We are confident that the new ROG Flow X13 and ROG Zephyrus laptops will level up the gaming experience of the consumers while boosting productivity through advanced innovations. The laptops received an overwhelming response from the users in the global market and we are now hoping to replicate the experience in India.”

Flagship ROG Flow X13 laptop comes with a detachable eGPU, XG Mobile. XG Mobile’s exclusive PCIe 3.0x8 interface offers ultra-fast graphic delivery and lower latency than usual eGPU boxes.

Vinay Sinha, Managing Director – India Sales, AMD said, “Consumers demand ultimate performance and incredible power efficiency for long durations of gaming, content creation and productive tasks. The highly efficient “Zen 3” core architecture has enabled the Ryzen™ 5000 H-Series Mobile Processors to bring desktop class gaming into a lightweight convertible form factor with the new ROG Flow X13. The refreshed ROG Zephyrus series are a result of our combined commitment with ASUS

DETACHABLE EGPU FOR GAMING FLEXIBILITY

LATEST NVIDIA AND AMD PROCESSORS The Flow X13 comes with an AMD Ryzen™ 9 5900HS processor inside, an 8-core, 16-thread processor built on cutting-edge 7nm fabrication technology. The Ryzen™ 9 5900HS processor is up to 19% faster than the last gen. Paired with a discrete Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 GPU for high performance even when untethered from the XG Mobile eGPU. PRICE AND AVAILABILITY The starting price of Zephyrus Flow X13 is INR 1,19,990/The starting price of Zephyrus Duo 15 SE is INR 2,99,990/The starting price of Zephyrus G15 (2021) is INR 1,37,990/The starting price of Zephyrus G14 (2021) is INR 94,990/-

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NEWS IN BRIEF

RAHUL AGARWAL

QUITS LENOVO, SHAILENDRA KATYAL PROMOTED AS MD INDIA Lenovo has appointed Shailendra Katyal as Managing Director, Lenovo PCSD India, and Site Leader for Lenovo Group in India, effective May 1, 2021. He will succeed Rahul Agarwal, who has decided to move on from the company to pursue other interests, following 20 years at Lenovo.

“During this difficult time in India, we are working hard to ensure the safety of our employees, partners and customers. I am grateful that we have excellent leaders in place to bring our team together and offer this support. I am confident in Shailendra’s success thanks to his extensive experience in Lenovo and in the industry. I would also like to thank Rahul for everything he has done to maximize Lenovo’s growth over the past two decades. He has contributed immensely to the company’s success. I wish him the best as he pursues new opportunities in the entrepreneurial space,” said Amar Babu, President, Lenovo Asia Pacific.

KASPERSKY DETECTS TWO NOTORIOUS RANSOMWARE FAMILIES ACTIVE IN APAC REGION Kaspersky confirms that 2020 was the year of “Ransomware 2.0” in Asia Pacific (APAC). Expert from the global cybersecurity company also discussed two no-

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torious ransomware families particularly eyeing victims in the region --- REvil and JSWorm. Almost always a “targeted ransomware”, Ransomware 2.0 refers to the groups who moved from hostaging data to exfiltrating data, coupled with blackmailing. The aftermaths of a successful attack include significant monetary loss and damaging reputation loss. “2020 was the most productive year for ransomware families who moved from hostaging data to exfiltrating data, coupled with blackmailing. In APAC, we noticed an interesting re-emergence of two highly-active groups, REvil and JSWorm.

Both resurfaced as the pandemic rages in the region last year and we see no signs of them stopping anytime soon,” says Alexey Shulmin, Lead Malware Analyst at Kaspersky.

QUALCOMM INTRODUCES SNAPDRAGON 7C GEN 2 COMPUTE PLATFORM

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. debuted the Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 7c Gen 2 compute platform, the second generation of the Company’s breakthrough entry-level platform for always on, always connected Windows PCs and Chromebooks with efficient performance and support for multi-day battery life.

During the Qualcomm Snapdragon Compute: Scaling the Mobile Compute Ecosystem Virtual Announcement, the Company shared that devices powered

by Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 will upgrade entry-level device experiences with enhanced camera and audio capabil-

ities, integrated LTE connectivity, AI acceleration, enterprise-grade security features, and the long-lasting battery life that users deserve. The addition of Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 to the compute platform portfolio will enable customers to scale device offerings and address user demands. With leading notebook performance, support for multi-day battery life, intelligent AI, integrated LTE connectivity, and advanced camera and audio features, this platform will set a new standard for entry-level consumer, enterprise, and education devices.

SOPHOS ENDPOINT PRODUCTS RANKED 1ST IN SE LABS’ PROTECTION TESTS

Sophos announced that its endpoint products have ranked first in all three of SE Labs’ protection tests, achieving an unprecedented 100% total accuracy score across the board. Sophos Intercept X won the enterprise and small business categories, and Sophos Home Premium was a top consumer security product. Sophos Intercept X is the industry’s most sophisticated endpoint security solution, offering multiple layers of security for unparalleled protection against advanced attacks. It combines anti-ransomware technology, deep learning artificial intelligence, exploit prevention, and active adversary mitigations to stop the widest range of threats. Endpoint detection and response (EDR) advancements make Intercept X the first EDR solution designed for both security analysts and IT administrators, enabling them to quickly identify, investigate and respond to security issues.

www.digitalterminal.in

NEWS IN BRIEF

ESET REPORTS ANDROID STALKERWARE ON THE RISE IN MOBILE DEVICES

Mobile stalkerware, which is software silently installed by stalkers onto victims’ mobile devices without their knowledge, is on the rise, ESET Research finds. In 2019, ESET telemetry recorded almost five times more Android stalkerware detections than in 2018, and in 2020, almost 1.5 times more were recorded than in 2019.

ESET researchers manually analyzed 86 stalkerware apps for the Android platform, provided by 86 different vendors. This analysis identified many serious security and privacy issues that could result in a third party – an attacker – taking control of a victim’s device, taking over a stalker’s account, intercepting a victim’s data, framing a victim by uploading fabricated evidence, or achieving remote code execution on a victim’s smartphone. Across 58 of these Android applications, ESET discovered a total of 158 security and privacy issues that can have a serious impact on a victim; indeed, even the stalker or the app’s vendor may be at some risk.

INDIAN IT SERVICES MARKET GREW 5.97% IN 2020, SAYS IDC In 2020, the Indian IT & Business Services market was valued at USD 13.41 Billion and recorded a 5.41% year-overyear (YoY) growth as compared to 8.43% www.digitalterminal.in

in 2019, according to the International Data Corporation’s (IDC) Worldwide Semi-annual Services Tracker . The reduced growth rate is due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on businesses in the country. Of the IT & Business Services market, the IT Services market contributed 77.06% and grew by 5.97% in 2020 compared to the 8.91% growth in 2019. Further, as per IDC, the IT & Business Services market will begin picking up momentum gradually from 2021 onwards due to increased spending in areas like cloud, application modernization, artificial intelligence, automation, etc. The IT & Business Services market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 7.18% between 2020-2025 and reach US$18.97 billion by the end of 2025.

CHANGING WORKING PATTERNS SPARK SURGE IN DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT: REPORT

Equinix, Inc. announced the findings of its annual global study of the views of IT decision-makers on the biggest technology trends affecting businesses worldwide and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on digital infrastructure plans. Surveying 2,600 IT decision-makers from diverse enterprises across 26 countries in the Americas, Asia-Pacific and EMEA regions. Digitization and business investment in digital infrastructure have increased as a result of COVID-19.

46% of the digital leaders surveyed in

Asia-Pacific said they have accelerated digital transformation plans because of the pandemic, while 44% said their budgets have been increased to satisfy the rapid growth in digital demands.

There has also been a major overhaul of IT strategies to meet the challenges emerging from the pandemic. In Asia-Pacific, about two thirds said they have revised their IT strategy as a result of COVID-19, while 64% said they want to invest in technology to be more agile post-COVID.

DELL INTRODUCES POWERPROTECT BACKUP SERVICE IN INDIA

Dell Technologies introduces Dell PowerProtect Backup service in India and expanded services for Google Cloud and AWS customers. The Dell EMC PowerProtect Backup Service offers cloud-based data protection designed to deliver SaaS applications including M365 and Salesforce without increasing IT complexity. PowerProtect Backup Service can also protect data on endpoint devices, such as desktops and laptops. In addition to ensuring data is recoverable, the service provides eDiscovery, data security, and compliance capabilities.

Additionally, Dell Technologies decided to OEM with Druva to meet the customer demands for protecting SaaS apps and other cloud workloads along with endpoints while leveraging a SaaS platform. Druva is the fastest growing cloud data protection provider with over 4000 enterprise customers and over 200PB of data under management. Dell Technologies customers can also safeguard traditional and cloud-native applications in hybrid cloud environments by leveraging PowerProtect Data Manager. Customers have workloads and applications that vary greatly, some that live on premises and some that require a public cloud.

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CHANNEL FOCUS

EMUDHRA APPOINTS INGRAM MICRO AS ITS AUTHORIZED DISTRIBUTOR FOR EMSIGNER

Ingram Micro has announced the addition of emSigner by eMudhra to its Cloud portfolio in India. emSigner is a secure cloudbased automated workflow-cum-signings solution which can be accessed from anywhere at any time. It allows users to define their own workflows and sign legally binding documents online in a way that is faster and more secure than executing paper documents.

Commenting on the partnership, Jyotil Mankad, Director & Head of Cloud Business at Ingram Micro India said, “At Ingram Micro Cloud we are constantly expanding our portfolio and adding innovative technologies to help our channel partners be at the forefront of the evolution and adoption of cloud solutions. Our partnership with eMudhra aligns well with this strategy and we are excited about taking their e-signature solution, emSigner, to market. The solution presents significant opportunities for our channel partners as it delivers value across several areas of a customer’s business.”

Kaushik Srinivasan, Senior Vice President, and Head - Product at eMudhra said, “We are delighted to sign the distribution agreement with Ingram Micro India to promote paperless transformation using emSigner, our flagship eSignature workflow solution with support for AADHAAR/ PAN-based eSign. This partnership will give a major boost to our cloud operations in India and help businesses large and small across the region adopt eSignatures to streamline operations, drive better customer experience and save huge cost.”

“By bringing synergies of the two companies together, this strategic partnership is intended to enable paperless and presence-less transactions under Digital India vision,” he explains.

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BD SOFT APPOINTED AS NATIONAL DISTRIBUTOR OF CYBERNX FOR INDIAN MARKET

CyberNX strengthens its presence in the Indian Markets, announces BD Soft as its National Distributor for Offline presence.

BD Soft, is one of the largest security distributors, to Internet security technology, with several national and international brands in its portfolio, for SMB and enterprise level solutions.

As part of this partnership, BD Software will distribute CyberNX’s suite of products & services through its 1000+ strong channel partner network. Leveraging its reach, CyberNX shall enable a seamless flow of products and services especially targeted to the BFSI Industry, as its future customers.

Speaking on the partnership Mr. Krishnakant Mathuria, Co-Founder, CyberNX says “The Covid19 situation, has well alarmed the industry to growing cyber risks and the need for concrete cyber security framework. We believe our solutions with proven BD Soft’s wellbuilt reach, will provide us the necessary impetus to help the industry in these challenging times” Commenting on the launch, Mr. Zakir Hussain, Director, BD Software Pvt. Ltd. said, “At BD Soft, we have always believed in forging robust partnerships with companies that benefit both our partners and customers by offering them unique value propositions. We have been observing CyberNX’s journey from its inception and, in a very short span of time, they have achieved a strong clientele, which is very impressive. With our strong network and reach the partnership offers great synergy.”

SAVEX TO BUY BENGALURU BASED INFLOW TECHNOLOGIES DISTRIBUTION COMPANY

Savex Technologies, Mumbai-based India’s third-largest Information and Communication Technology distributor has signed a definitive agreement to buy a majority stake in the Bengaluru-based Value Added Distributor Inflow Technologies. The value for which this acquisition deal has been signed is undisclosed. The acquisition process will be completed through the next two years. As of now, Savex Technologies will buy a controlling stake and the remaining share will be acquired by 2023.

Both the distributors are well positioned in the Indian distribution space. Inflow Technologies will continue to operate as a separate entity under the leadership of Byju Pillai. Post this acquisition, Inflow Technologies will be significantly benefited by the expertise of Savex Technologies.

Savex Technologies has 107 sales offices, and 42 stock locations which caters to more than 12000 partners every month in 750 cities.

Savex is associated with more than 42 manufacturers and sells around 50000 products. The overall operational excellence of Savex Technologies will help Inflow Technologies to further grow its roots and reach to a wider audience.

Whereas, Savex Technologies will also grow its product portfolio after pulling Inflow under its umbrella. The acquisition will definitely augment its security, storage and networking portfolio. The combined revenue will give a huge push to Savex establishment and will further strengthen its leadership position in the Indian distribution market.

www.digitalterminal.in

CHANNEL FOCUS

SOPHOS AWARDED TOP PERFORMING PARTNERS ACROSS APJ

RP TECH INDIA ANNOUNCED COVID-19 VACCINATION DRIVE FOR ITS CHANNEL PARTNERS

Sophos announced its top performing channel partners across Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) for their business commitment and success over the last financial year. The awards were announced during the Sophos virtual APJ Partner Power Hour and Awards on 11th May.

Qlik announced the winners of its annual Global and Regional Partner Awards at its annual customer and partner event QlikWorld, recognizing the Qlik partner community for excellence in several different categories.

This year, partners in India were awarded in three categories1. The Partner of the Year was awarded to SM Networks & Solutions Pvt. Ltd for its impressive year-on-year growth along with achieving a sizeable number of deals in the last financial year.

2 Distributor of the Year went to Satcom Infotech Pvt. Ltd. for its outstanding work providing on-ground technical support to Sophos especially on ESG business.

3. Rising Star of the Year was awarded to PSR IT Services Pvt Ltd, which achieved strong revenue growth through Sophos’ next-gen product portfolio.

“Partners are lifeline of our business in the region. They have an equal contribution in Sophos’ success of protecting so many organizations of all sizes. Partner awards are just one of the many ways we honor and empower our partners,” said Sunil Sharma, Managing Director, India and SAARC, at Sophos.

“Every year we award our top performing partners, but the last year was special.

The accelerated digital transformation due to the ongoing pandemic has put tremendous pressure on partners to protect customers from increased cybercrimes.

We acknowledge the dedication and hard work that our partners put to provide next generation cybersecurity and safe working environment to customers. All this while partners themselves were learning to work in a new way.” www.digitalterminal.in

QLIK DECLARES THE WINNERS OF ITS GLOBAL AND REGIONAL PARTNER AWARDS

RP tech India has announced the launch of All India COVID-19 Vaccination Drive for its channel partners. Under the drive, partners will get rewards for vaccination.

The objective of the vaccination drive is to encourage RP tech partners to take the COVID-19 vaccine and protect themselves and their loved ones from the deadly coronavirus infection.

Launching the initiative, Mr. Rajesh Goenka, Director, Sales & Marketing, RP tech India, said, “The second wave of corona pandemic is more severe and deadly. The cases are rising at an exponential rate across the country. We care for our partners and as a responsible organization, want to make sure that our channel ecosystem stays safe and healthy. The vaccination drive aims to encourage partners to secure their vaccine shot and help the government and healthcare system in the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Partners who get the first dose of vaccination will receive an RP tech Gift voucher worth Rs 500/-, whereas partners who secure the second dose will be rewarded with RP tech Gift voucher worth Rs 1000/-

“The value and depth of our partner relationships shone through last year, despite the unprecedented challenges 2020 presented to business across the globe,” said Poornima Ramaswamy, EVP of Global Solutions and Partners at Qlik. “As customers looked to quickly pivot their businesses and activate real-time data in the cloud, our partner ecosystem rose to the challenge. With Qlik, our partners helped companies around the world rapidly adopt data integration and analytics solutions that helped identify through insights the best opportunities within a dynamically changing landscape.”

“We are honored to receive the Global System Integrator Partner of the Year Award from Qlik. We believe this recognition highlights our strong and successful focus on data literacy and modern data analytics,” said Shail Jain, Global Lead, Data & AI at Accenture. “While data is one of a company’s most valuable possessions, there is always the challenge of managing and analyzing that data for better insights and business decisions. The combination of Accenture’s deep industry experience, functional business knowledge, analytics skills, cloud-first approach and global delivery capabilities, alongside Qlik’s expertise in data discovery, integration, visualization and guided analytics, supports our clients at any stage in their path to becoming a data-led business.”

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NEW ARRIVALS KINGSTON NV1 NVME PCIE SSD IN INDIA

Kingston Technology announces the launch of the NV1 NVMe™ PCIe SSD. With efficient performance in a single-sided M.2 design, NV1 is the ideal entry-level drive for first-time NVMe users with laptops and small form factor PCs. NV1 is a substantial storage solution with capacities up to 2TB. It features read/write speeds up to 2,100/1,700MB/s1, respectively, thus delivering 3x the performance of a SATA-based SSD. NV1 uses less power, emits less heat and has quicker load times making it ideal for users who appreciate responsiveness and ultrafast data access but have systems with limited space. NV1 is available in 500GB, 1TB, and 2TB capacities2 and is backed by a limited three-year warranty4, free tech support and legendary Kingston reliability.

PORTRONICS ‘BEEM 200 PLUS’ LED PROJECTOR

Portronics announces the launch of ‘BEEM 200 Plus’- a Wi-Fi LED Projector.

This Wi-Fi LED projector comes with multiple connectivity options, with an in-built VGA Port, USB Port, HDMI, SD Card slot. It also allows device mirroring, from both Android and iOS devices directly to the projector. The multimedia LED projector comes with a 30,000-hour Bulb life for endless 24

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hours of playing. Portronics’s wireless projector promises a bright, vivid, and HD video quality with 4W in-built speakers for fantastic sound and a theater-like experience. Its extra-large display ensures a premium viewing experience at home for complete entertainment with family and friends.

The ‘BEEM 200 Plus’ is available for just INR 19,999/- and currently at introductory discounted prices in all leading online and offline stores. It is backed by 1- year warranty.

REALME SMART TV

Realme announced the launch of new realme Smart TV 4K in two sizes 43” & 50”. The realme Smart TV 4K is an all round package that delivers 4K cinematic experience to the consumers with Dolby Vision® imaging technology and has obtained the highly acclaimed TÜV Rheinland Low Blue Light Certification. With the latest Android 10.0 version in realme Smart TV 4K, viewers will have access to unlimited content like Prime Video, Netflix, YouTube and Google Play. Priced at INR 27,999 for 43”and INR 39,999 for 50”, the first sale of the latest realme Smart TV 4K is scheduled for June 04 from 12 noon onwards on realme.com, Flipkart. com and mainline channels. realme Smart TV 4K features a powerful 4K UHD processor from MediaTek, a quadcore 64-bit architecture, an ARM Cortex A53 1.5GHz CPU, and a new Mali G52 GPU. realme Smart TV 4K uses 2GB RAM with 16GB Flash ROM.

VAIO SE14 AND SX14 LAPTOPS VAIO has launched two new laptops VAIO SE14 and VAIO SX14 in the Indian market. These products are powered

by an 11th Gen Intel processor. The minimalist design of new SE14 with Metal+plastic chassis and upto 12 hours battery life for outside work and conference optimization will help the new SE14 to become the mostdesired debutant design in current times. VAIO SE14 has technologically powerful and futuristic design, Intel Tiger Lake CPU with Iris Xe Integrated GPUs, Thunderbolt 4 with light gaming support, single/Multiple Conference Mode and 1080P IR Front Web Camera.

The VAIO SX14 is faster, lighter and its durable design makes mobility less cumbersome. The VAIO SX14 laptop comes with some impeccable features which include a Intel Core I7 Processor, 14-inch screen and 4K Ultra HD Display and crystal-clear sound with the Dolby Audio speakers. A USB Type-CTM port, 3 USB ports, an HDMI port, a VGA connector and a LAN connection makes it a user-friendly device that provides multiple connectivity options for users. The starting price of VAIO SE14 and SX14 is Rs 88,990 and 1,72,990 respectively.

BENQ GS2 WIRELESS PROJECTOR BenQ announced the launch of GS2, a portable LED wireless projector designed for family-oriented entertainment and learning as well as outdoor lifestyles. Wireless casting of larger-than-life projections of movies, videos, music, and learning materials in any setting, the GS2 projector is splash-proof with IPX2 certification, drop-proof, and works with virtually any wireless or wired source device. The GS2 is equipped with streaming content that once can access with Smart control www.digitalterminal.in

NEW ARRIVALS

app that allows you quick and easy access of the projector with your own mobile without leaving the couch. GS2 portable projector removes boundaries by combining extraordinary features such as stylish design, powerful performance with 3 hour battery life and Bluetooth speakers. GS2 delivers long-lasting High Definition picture quality with precise colors and razorsharp clarity coupled with a 20,000 hour maintenance-free Solid state LED light source. Available with 2 years carry-in warranty, this power packed product is available on Amazon at a Best buy price of INR 59,990.

OBS and promises to deliver a quality sound when connected to Mac, PC, PS4 or PS5. HyperX expanded its standalone microphone line with the HyperX Quadcast S. Certified by TeamSpeak and Discord, the HyperX Quadcast S works well on top streaming platforms like XSplit, OBS Studio, and Streamlabs OBS and promises to deliver a quality sound when connected to Mac, PC, PS4 or PS5. The all-new QuadCast S is a USB microphone featuring radiant RGB lighting effects, which can be customized with HyperX NGENUITY software to add flair and style to any setup. It comes equipped with a built-in anti-vibration shock mount that uses elastic rope suspension to isolate the mic and suppress the sound of bumps and accidental rumbles.

FITBIT LUXE WELLNESS TRACKER

HYPERX QUADCAST S MICROPHONE

HyperX expanded its standalone microphone line with the HyperX Quadcast S. Certified by TeamSpeak and Discord, the HyperX Quadcast S works well on top streaming platforms like XSplit, OBS Studio, and Streamlabs

www.digitalterminal.in

Fitbit announced Fitbit Luxe™, a fashion-forward fitness and wellness tracker designed to help you take a more holistic approach to your health and wellness. Luxe also gives you insights into your wellbeing through the Health Metrics dashboard in the Fitbit app to help you identify changes which could be caused by increased stress or fatigue. With Luxe, you’ll get six-months of Fitbit Premium for added support and deeper analysis of your data. Luxe is a beautiful, sleek tracker with a color touchscreen and up to five days of battery life. Luxe gives you access to Fitbit’s wide range of health and wellness features to support a

holistic approach to healthy living. Get insights into your wellbeing in the Fitbit app with the Health Metrics dashboard which tracks your breathing rate, heart rate variability (HRV), resting heart rate (RHR), skin temperature variation and coming soon, oxygen saturation (SpO2).

REDMI WATCH

Redmi launched its first-ever Redmi Watch in India. The newly launched watch with an in-built GPS + GLONASS comes packed with advanced health tracking features combined with 1.4’’ TFT LCD color display for easy activity monitoring. Redmi watch features a 1.4’’ inch high-resolution color display that provides sharp and clear visuals indoors, as well as under direct sunlight. With 200+ watch faces and 4 changeable color straps, the watch simply blends in with any outfit and can be customized based on the look of the day. Featuring an in-built GPS + GLONASS, the new Redmi smartwatch allows users to accurately track their trajectory, speed, distance, and calories burnt during workouts. With a 230mAh battery, the smartwatch can last up to 10 days on a single charge. The smartwatch comes with 5ATM water resistance which means it can track and record movements underwater. Redmi Smart Watch is available for INR 3,999.

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GUEST ARTICLE

FIVE FUNDAMENTALS TO SAFEGUARD BUSINESSES’ MOST VALUABLE ASSET - DATA Authored by Ripu Bajwa, Director and General Manager, Data Protection Solutions, Dell Technologies abilities. While many of these attacks may not be as sensational as ransomware, they can be even more devastating.

Considering these threats and that organizations’ security parameter is expanding beyond the traditional four walls into their employees’ homes, here are five fundamentals one should keep in mind from a cybersecurity perspective:

We have entered a new decade and it won’t be wrong to state the new decade has brought with itself several new ways of managing and operating a business. Most of the organizations are operating remotely to steer through the new normal and maintain business continuity. These new remote working models have created multiple endpoints in data chains, providing cyber attackers not one, but multiple access points to an IT infrastructure’s nucleus - data. It is not surprising to note that, as per The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeITY), till August 2020, almost 7 lakh cyber-attacks were faced by Indian citizens, commercial and legal entities.

Hackers and cyber-criminals are always on the look for new methods of entry, one of which is below the PC operating system. Low-level attacks often take advantage of weak system configurations and firmware vulner26

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• Protect devices above and below the operating system (OS) In addition to having modern solutions in place to prevent unknown threats and respond quickly and efficiently to attacks across the endpoint, network and cloud, you must also choose devices that have protection and detection capabilities below the OS at the PC BIOS level, where we’re seeing a significant rise of attacks. The PC BIOS lives deep inside the PC and controls core functions like booting the PC. Often when the PC BIOS is compromised, the attacker remains hidden while the PC has credentialed access to the network and data.

• Ensure the physical security of a device and its data- The physical protection of a device is just as important as the cybersecurity deployed on and within the device. If you are using public spaces to work, remember to use a privacy shield so your data is protected from prying eyes. Also, enabling chassis intrusion detection tools will notify the user and send an alert to the system administrator if

any physical tampering of the device takes place.

• Move to a password-plus strategyEnhance passwords with biometrics, implement multifactor authentication and utilize digital certificates for stronger protection. Cost and complexity barriers are breaking down, making biometrics like fingerprint and facial recognition, easier to adopt.

Also consider using password managers to create strong, complex and unique passwords which are then stored in a secure repository.

• Train employees routinely on smart security practices- This is especially important with many working from a home environment. Implement a security training program and include regular tests like sending test phishing emails to keep employees skills sharpened. And don’t forget, security training is equally important for security practitioners and IT managers as it is for any other employee.

• Make room for usability and protection to co-exist. Even if you have the best security tools, if they’re hard to use or hinder productivity, they will be ignored or defeated by your employees, leaving your organization at risk. Successful security solutions must be easy to deploy, easy to maintain and easy to use.

We know that the threat landscape is constantly evolving, so flexibility is key. Organizations should assess the tools they have, invest in the future and remember to adapt with the threat landscape. By focusing on foundational elements, like the five above, you can ensure your organization is off to a strong start today and in the future. www.digitalterminal.in

BRAND CONNECT

DELL INTRODUCES ITS LATEST COMMERCIAL PCS IN INDIA Dell has brought its new lineup of premium commercial PCs for Indian customers. All the latest PCs are powered by industry leading features that provide an exceptional user experience. With the new portfolio of intelligent, collaborative, and sustainable devices, Dell is pushing the boundaries to seamlessly integrate work experiences into daily lives.

Dell Technologies in India announced the availability of its latest commercial PC portfolio. The latest series of Latitude, Precision and OptiPlex are designed to transform work experiences and enable users to seamlessly work from anywhere.

periences, the Latitude 9420 comes with a powerful built-in speakerphone and camera enhancements that provide automatic light correction and background blur. The device is the world’s first business PC with Express Sign-in 2.0 enabled by Intel® Visual Sensing Technology for a faster and more reliable auto-wake and lock. The Latitude 9420 is powered by 11th Gen Intel Core vPro processors based on the Intel® Evo™ platform that provides increased performance and simplified manageability. Users can also multitask on fast connections with WiFi 6E or 5G LTE. SMART COMPUTING TO IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY AND COLLABORATION

“The advent of ‘work from anywhere’ creates genuine needs for companies to adapt and support their employees to stay productive and can work collaboratively, even when working remotely,” said INDRAJIT BELGUNDI, SENIOR DIRECTOR AND GENERAL MANAGER, CLIENT SOLUTIONS GROUP, DELL TECHNOLOGIES INDIA. “Dell Technologies’ Remote Work Readiness Index revealed that productivity equipment and tools are the top tech resources employees need from employers as they continue to adapt. The new intelligent PCs we officially announce today make it possible to work smarter and collaborate easier, so we can give our best selves in all that we do.”

INTRINSICALLY PROTECTED FOR SECURE WORK Dell’s longtime intrinsic security approach builds intelligent and automated security deep within each system to provide the industry’s most secure commercial PCs. The Latitude 9420 and 9520 deliver advanced security features like SafeShutter, the industry’s first automatic webcam shutter that knows when to automatically open or close by syncing with video conferencing applications, so users can work securely and confidently from anywhere.

Designed as collaborative business PCs with the best connectivity and collaboration ex-

www.digitalterminal.in

Dell has further modernized its commercial portfolio with the exclusive Dell Optimizer software, which uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to automatically finetune application performance and battery life, while improving audio quality and connectivity. Express Response with Intel® Adaptix Technology, helps improve overall application performance for frequently used applications.

The new product line-up includes Latitude 7320 detachable, a sleek, lightweight and ready to support the “do-from-anywhere” work style. It features ComfortView Plus low blue light solution that eases eye strain and fatigue delivering the most comfortable viewing experience. The Latitude 7320 detachable comes with a 13-inch display and an advanced 5 MP front-facing camera, with Temporal Noise Reduction (TNR) to bring brighter, sharper visuals to video calls The new Latitude 7420 features 4K UHD display, enhanced speakers and Intelligent Audio.

For those wanting a larger screen size, the Latitude 7420 offers both clamshell and 2-in-1 form factors with a 14-inch display.

CLEVER DESIGN TO RESHAPE ANY WORKSPACE Dell OptiPlex continually reimagines the desktop experience. The Ultra series combine the sleekness of an All-in-One with the flexibility of a desktop in a beautiful zero footprint solution. The new OptiPlex 7090

Ultra is the world’s most flexible modular all-in-one experience for a streamlined workspace and increased productivity with built-in AI from Dell Optimizer.

The OptiPlex 5090 comes in three form factors – Tower, Small Form Factor and Micro.

The OptiPlex 5090 Tower delivers entry commercial VR content experiences with the latest NVIDIA™ 1660 Super and AMD® graphics. Built with 11th Gen Intel® up to Core™ i7 processors and doubled max memory from previous generation, it provides better performance while running multiple or large applications.

PRODUCT PRICING (EXCLUSIVE OF TAXES) • The Dell Latitude 7320 starts at INR 85,000 • The Dell Latitude 7410 Chromebook starts at INR 94,500 • The Dell Latitude 7420 starts at INR 90,000 • The Dell Latitude 9420 starts at INR 1,36,000 • The Dell Latitude 9520 starts at INR 1,45,000 • The Dell Latitude 5320 starts at INR 77,500 • The Precision 3560 starts at INR 74,500 • The OptiPlex 7090 Ultra and 3090 Ultra start at INR 47,500 and INR 43,000 respectively • The OptiPlex 5090 starts at INR

46,500

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EXPERT SPEAKS

ANYONE CAN BE AT RISK OF A DATA BREACH: KASPERSKY ON AIR INDIA & DOMINOS DATA LEAK

the recent few years. These data leak incidents took place due to many factors and not just because of the lack of security at the organization’s end. It is important for businesses to understand the factors that can cause a data breach in order to be fully prepared to prevent an incident, or mitigate the risks caused by it.

Businesses who are a victim of a data breach today not only are responsible to protect their consumer’s data, but also prevent it from being misused by the cybercriminals as an aftermath of a data breach.”

Dipesh Kaura, General Manager, Kaspersky (South Asia)

Amidst the increasing cyberattacks across the country, Air India has confirmed that the passport data of around 4.5 million passengers was leaked online. On the other hand, Domino’s Pizza has also faced a severe cyberattack. The personal data of 180 million customers who had placed their order with Domino’s Pizza has been exposed on the dark web.

The data includes name, mobile number, GPS location and email address.

These cyber incidents have come at a time when the country is undergoing COVID-19 pandemic and IT teams are facing challenges on the front of securing their IT infrastructure.

An internet security researcher named Rajshekhar Rajaharia alleged that the hacker has created a search engine on Dark Web due to which 28

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anyone can search the personal information of Domino’s customers. This is a very serious threat to the privacy of people and it may lead to big trouble. Taking a lesson from these data breach incidents, organizations should emphasize on strengthening their IT infrastructure and should ensure the security of their customer’s data. It’s really a time for the organizations to adopt effective measures to boost the security infrastructure and not being a victim of any cyber incident in near future.

While sharing concern on the recent cyberattacks on companies like Air India and Dominos, Dipesh Kaura, General Manager, Kaspersky (South Asia) said, “India has seen numerous instances of organizations becoming a victim of a data breach incident in

He further added, “Anyone can be at risk of a data breach — from individuals to high-level enterprises and governments. More importantly, anyone can put others at risk if they are not protected. In general, data breaches happen due to weaknesses in: Technology and User behavior.

While enterprises build a robust security infrastructure for their networks, they often fail to protect themselves from the two other equally important aspects: Human error and third party services/ providers. The weaknesses in technology can be either at the organization’s end or it can be a security flaw of the third party/ supply chain provider of an organization.”

“Human being the weakest link in the cybersecurity ecosystem, it also becomes essential for enterprises to regularly train their non-IT staff and create an awareness amongst them in order to protect their consumer’s data from being exposed in a data breach incident due to threats like phishing, malware and brute force attacks. Regular system updates and proactive disclosure of such incidents also help businesses in creating a stronger strategy to fight against data breaches.” www.digitalterminal.in

OPINION

5 MAJOR SAAS TRENDS TO CHECK OUT IN 2021 AUTHORED BY VIKAS BHONSLE, CEO, CRAYON SOFTWARE EXPERTS INDIA The software industry has witnessed a complete revolution, thanks to the rapid progress in cloud computing technologies.

Purchasing software is now history, as customers today can easily subscribe to a particular SaaS (Software as a Service) and scale it up or down as per their requirement.

SaaS product development services are accelerating the cloud computing market. Gartner predicts that cloud spending in India will total $4.4 billion in 2021, a growth of 31.4% in 2021 from the previous year.

POPULARITY FOR SAAS SaaS business model is preferable because of a few fundamental factors that apply universally. Flexible payment options and scalability are the top two factors, as it helps businesses decide their priorities and also subscribe only to the required services. In the SaaS model, operational expenses reduce as both computing and storage demands are largely taken care of by the SaaS provider.

Also, software gets constantly updated and improvised, as the user behaviour is analysed round the clock, and accordingly, the features are updated for better performance.

Currently, the biggest advantage of the SaaS model has been its ease-in-accessibility factor. Since lockdown several businesses have adopted the SAAS model thus enabling the mobility of accessing applications from any digital device and location, making it mobile-friendly and decentralised.

With SaaS, inter-departmental collaboration has increased as now it is easier to share files, work on projects and stay connected with different teams in the same organization. Also, security-wise, most of the SaaS models are more secure and come with pre-existing disaster recovery and business continuity plans, regardless of any data breach or system failure.

THE GROWTH PARADIGM www.digitalterminal.in

The need to reduce expenses and stay connected primarily driven by the ongoing pandemic has been a huge reason for the growth in SAAS offerings. Businesses have realised that SAAS models are the best way to be digitally efficient that allow their businesses to survive and thrive.

This rising demand has also increased the market demand and competition for better and improved SaaS services.

PRESENTED BELOW ARE THE 5 MAJOR SAAS TRENDS TO LOOK FOR IN 2021 1. AI AND MACHINE LEARNING: AI is projected to have a market value of $733.7 billion by 2027. AI makes sense and gives value to the enormous data that any digital solution generates. Hence SaaSwill see the adoption of AI in multi-folds in the coming month. AI-based algorithms provide calculated analysis and prediction that helps business optimize their processes, make informed decisions and automates repetitive tasks, saving businesses time and money.

2. SAASMOBILE APP TRENDS: India’s mobile usage is projected at 900-million by 2023, with nearly two-thirds of the population estimated to have internet access and a mobile device. With SaaS adoption, we are already accessing the app versions of the software on our phone. The year will see a simplified user experience (UX), ultra-responsive app features and functionality, with factors like task optimization, one-swipe actions, online payment, and intuitive filtering capabilities. In the upcoming months, immersive mobile technologies like augmented and virtual reality will also find prominence in mobile apps. Overall, advanced and user-friendly mobile experiences will be at the forefront of the SaaS adoption criteria.

3. VERTICAL SAAS: SaaSservices can be divided into vertical and horizontal. In the latter, the service is focused on clients across any sector and industry. In the former, as understood, the service will be customised, targeting clients within specific industries and supply chains.

For example, companies will come with industry-specific analytics solutions

customised separately for industries such as healthcare, retail, manufacturing, transportation, storage, education, etc.

In vertical SaaS, the solutions are more adaptable, customer-centric, and focusing on niche features. This gives SaaSproviders KPIs to provide better scope for upselling and reselling, lowering customer acquisition cost.

4.MICRO-SAAS: Micro-SaaSare majorly the small players who provide limited or complementary solutions to their customers. These are mostly add-on services to existing platforms or services that fill the gap of the one missing feature in an existing SaaSproduct.

5. PAAS: With the coming times, the SaaSindustry will evolve and increase in volume and portfolio, which is a primary growth factor for customer retention on top of customer acquisition. A SaaSconversion into PaaS (Platform as a Service) means that the software providers will be adding other custom apps as add-ons to their original offerings.

CONCLUSION The SaaS industry is here to stay and grow further revving on all engines.

SaaS is not only more user-friendly and scalable, but it also ensures data availability even in case of disasters. Hence it is a complete go-to-option for businesses and individuals. As data continues to be the driving force behind current business strategies, SaaS model is only going to be an increasingly convenient and affordable option across industries.

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BRAND SUPPORT

TECH BRANDS CAME TOGETHER TO SUPPORT INDIA DURING 2ND COVID WAVE India has witnessed the most challenging time during the 2nd wave of Covid-19 pandemic which affected India on a very huge level. The cases of coronavirus skyrocketed in a very short span of time and it endangered the lives of countless people across India. In such unprecedented times, leading tech companies came forward and announced help to support India in the fight against this pandemic.

VIVO ANNOUNCED AID WORTH RS. 10 CRORES FOR COVID RELIEF

India is witnessing the second wave of Covid-19 infections, which has put extreme pressure on domestic healthcare. With its steadfast commitment to India, vivo has announced aid worth INR 10 crores to extend support for COVID relief efforts. This also includes a donation of INR 2 crores that vivo had announced recently. As part of the ‘vivoCares’initiative, vivo has undertaken several initiatives to help out those in need during this devastating second wave of COVID-19. vivo will donate oxygen concentrators worth INR 6 crores that will be distributed to various government hospitals to support the COVID relief measures.

Reiterating vivo’s commitment to India and its people, Nipun Marya, Director, Brand Strategy, vivo India, said, “We are facing one of the worst crises in the history of humanity, and it is important for all of us to support each other 30

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in these unprecedented times. vivo is committed to its people, and these initiatives are just a small step to extend our support to the communities. We all are in this together and will get through by helping each other.”

SAMSUNG SUPPORTS INDIA’S FIGH AGAINST COVID-19 WITH $5 MILLION DONATION

Samsung has pledged USD 5 million (INR 37 Crores) as its contribution to India’s fight against the current surge of Covid-19, providing donations to central and state governments, and boosting the healthcare sector with essential medical equipment for hospitals, as part of its citizenship initiatives. The decisions have been taken after due consultations with various stakeholders in India and assessing the immediate needs of local administrations. In

addition, to help the healthcare system that has been stretched over the last few weeks, Samsung will provide USD 2 million worth of medical supplies, including 100 Oxygen Concentrators, 3,000 Oxygen Cylinders and one million LDS syringes. These will be offered to the states of Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Additionally, as part of its people initiative, Samsung will cover the vaccination costs for over 50,000 eligible employees and beneficiaries in India, with an aim to safeguard their lives, as vaccine doses become available. This will also include all Samsung Experience Consultants, who work at electronics retail stores across the country.

LENOVO ANNOUNCED INR 80 MILLION AID FOR COVID-19 RELIEF IN INDIA

As India struggles with the latest, brutal wave of COVID-19, Lenovo is supportwww.digitalterminal.in

BRAND SUPPORT

ing employees, partners, customers and friends in their efforts to stay safe.

Lenovo has committed INR 80 million (approximately US$1 million) towards COVID-19 relief to meet India’s shortterm and long-term requirements, via the Lenovo Foundation. Of this funding, INR 50 million will be donated in the form of medical equipment consisting of oxygen concentrators, refillable oxygen cylinders, invasive ventilators and oximeters are being donated to hospitals where the need is high.

The remaining INR 30 million will be dedicated to hospital extensions and supporting medical frontline workers. In partnership with America India Foundation (AIF), Lenovo is setting up hospital extension facilitiesin state government hospitals in Gurugram and Bangalore.

These are prefabricated mobile air-conditioned hospital facilities with ICU beds, ventilators and oxygen concentrators. Lenovo also invites all employees, partners, customers to contribute to this cause and donate medical equipment to those in need.

OPPO DONATED 1000 OXYGEN CONCENTRATORS TO SUPPORT INDIA’S FIGHT AGAINST COVID-19

Helping India stay strong in the battle against the second wave of COVID 19, OPPO India has distributed 1000 oxygen concentrators across various hospitals in cities like Lucknow, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Ghaziabad, Hapur, Meerut, Baghpat, Bulandshahar, Shamwww.digitalterminal.in

li, and Agra to support the covid relief measures. Further, expressing their gratitude to the frontline workers for their relentless service, the brand has also donated 5300 OPPO Band Style to front-line warriors of the Delhi Police, Greater Noida Authority, and Cyberabad Police. In addition to the contributions towards society, OPPO India has also made efforts to encourage their customers to practice the precautionary lockdown enforced in different regions of the country. The brand announced the extension of the repair warranty of all of its products until 30th June 2021 applicable to products whose warranty expires during the lockdown period. The scheme is applicable across product categories including smartphones and accessories such as chargers, data cable, and earphones.

ACER SUPPORTS INDIA IN COVID-19 PANDEMIC, DONATES OXYGEN CONCENTRATORS

Acer announced that it is donating oxygen concentrators help India fight the COVID-19 crisis. Leveraging its global presence, the company is procuring oxygen concentrators for India at this time of need and the first batch of oxygen concentrators has arrived in the country for immediate distribution.

Apart from this Acer India has also contributed oxygen cylinders to NGOs who run COVID-19 healthcare centres including all the expenses for continuous re-filling of the cylinders which has enabled them to save lives.

Commenting about the contribution, Mr. Harish Kohli, President & MD, Acer

India, said, “While the doctors and hospitals are doing everything they can to save precious lives, the country also needs an immediate and coordinated response from every corporate to render whatever help they can. As a company who has been in India for over two decades it is our responsibility to come to the need of the nation at a time like this. We hope the oxygen concentrators supplied by Acer will go in some way to help provide this life-saving treatment to critical COVID-19 patients.”

RX INFOTECH DONATES AMBULANCE TO FIGHT AGAINST PANDEMIC

When Covid-19 is raging across the country and devastating lives of millions around, saviors and fighters are emerging from each segment of the society. One such initiative is taken by Rx Infotech P Ltd (Lapcare) by donating a fully functional Ambulance to the PRAYAS Society.

PRAYAS Society is run by 20+ IT companies across Delhi NCR. The group is dedicated to help Patients, Hospitals, and Families in the figt against Covid-19. The society has been relentlessly involved in arranging Hospital beds, medication, oxygen cylinders & concentrators, ambulances, and financial help to the affected families. We applaud the efforts being put by Rx Infotech and PRAYAS Society during these testing times.

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Always-on security for always-on businesses

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RNI No - DELENG/2010/31992

RNI No - DELENG/2010/31992