DT September Issue 2019

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S EPTEMBER

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PAG E - 32

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GAMING KEYBOARDS | HEADSETS | MICE | MOUSEPADS | MEMORY | SSD | USB DRIVES

CONTENT 06 LAUNCH PAD

VOL - 10, I SSUE - 9, SE PTE MBE R 2 019

08 COVER STORY

ASUS Expands Its Flagship Range of VivoBook with Three New Launches X403, X509 & X409

Publisher & Editor : Rajeev Ranjan Executive Editor : Jyoti Janda Consulting Editor : N k Goyal Assistant Content Manager : Jai Prakash Content Coordinator : Suraj Rawat Office Coordinator : Raju Thapa Consulting Art Direction : Vikas Sharma

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MARKET LEADER

HPE Emerges as No. 1 Brand in Indian x86 Server Market, Followed

by DELL

21

GUEST COLUMN

The Promise of 5G and Edge Data Centres of Tomorrow Mr. B.S. Teh, Senior vice president -global sales & sales operations, Seagate Technology

22

REALLY HOT

HyperX FURY DDR4 RGB Memory Modules Ambrane AFB 38 Smart Fitness Band GIGABYTE Ultra-Fast AORUS NVMe Gen4 SSD Portronics Affordable Breeze II Wireless Speaker

24 FACE 2 FACE “We Greatly Value Our Partner Community and Work Closely with Them in India” Alok Sharma, Country Manager, Channels (India & SAARC), Autodesk

23

INTERVIEW

Visualiser : Akriti Arora Production Head : Rajiv Singh Marketing Executive : Balvinder Singh Circulation: Harish Chander / Arjun

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28

NEWS IN BRIEF

Kingston Technology Recognized as The Top DRAM Module Supplier Sophos Recognized as Best Small Business Endpoint Security Solution

by SE Labs Dell Comes With Aggressive Online Go-To-Market Strategy for Small Businesses Seagate Technology Helps BBC Media Action with Its Storage Solutions

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LAUNCH PAD

ASUS Expands Its Flagship Range of VivoBook with Three New Launches X403, X509 & X409 In order to expand its VivoBook portfolio, ASUS introduced three new laptops in India. With this launch, ASUS commits to offer performance-based and value for money devices to its users.

The laptop range that comprises X403, X509 and X409 are truly outstanding and stylish as well. You can carry these laptops anywhere as they are very lightweight and ultra-portable.

L-R — Arnold Su, Consumer Notebook & ROG Business Head and Jonas Chen, Country Product Manager, Consumer Notebook Asus India ASUS has announced a volley of brand new VivoBook laptops: X403, X409, and X509. The latest range of new launches pushed the envelope when it comes to the ‘affordable, all-rounder’ market positioning of VivoBook. In fact, while the new products belong to a comfortable price range, they pack premium features, hard to be rivalled in this class of offering.

VivoBook X403 is an unparalleled offering, giving users the freedom from carrying a power adapter, with 24-hours long battery life. It is accompanied

by VivoBook X509, which is arguably the most stylish laptop, offering the best value-for-money within the price range. Furthermore, VivoBook X509 packs powerful features, including highperformance 8th Generation Intel® Core™ U-series processors and the latest NVIDIA® MX230 discrete graphics. Perfect for everyday utility, the sleek and smart VivoBook X409 comes in transparent silver and slate grey colours, offering Intel® Core™ i58265U Processor 1.6 GHz (6M Cache, up to 3.9 GHz).

Commenting on the latest launch, Arnold Su, Head of Consumer Notebooks and ROG Business, Asus India, said, “For ASUS, the Indian market is of prime importance. Being committed to bringing the latest innovation and best-in-class offerings to our users in India, we are glad to unveil the three brand new VivoBook offerings: X403, X509 & X409. Each of these laptops have been crafted with precision, introducing a unique attribute in the market today.

We are hopeful that the users in pursuit of extremely portable, advanced, and thin and light laptops would opt for the latest VivoBook offerings.”

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ASUS VivoBook 14 (X403) Amazing Display : The 14” VivoBook X403 features Full HD (1920 x 1080), the display is only made better with four-sided NanoEdge display.

Furthermore, owing to the 4.1mm slim-bezel design, VivoBook X403 is extremely compact, offering 87% screen-to-body ratio. The video quality is only enhanced with ASUS Tru2Life Video Technology that optimises the sharpness and contrast of the video through intelligent algorithm.

Latest CPU & GPU : Powered by up to an 8th Generation Intel Core i7-8565 quad-core processor, VivoBook X403 offers efficient and powerful performance on the go. It also features plenty of ports, including USB 3.1 Type-A, USB Type-C™ (USB-C™), HDMI output, an audio combo jack for headphones and microphones, and an SD card reader.

ASUS VivoBook X509 Stylish & Powerful : Laptop is packed with powerful mobile components that include highperformance 8th Generation Intel® Core™ U-series processors and the latest NVIDIA® MX230 discrete graphics. The VivoBook X509 features a large 15.6inch display and features the NanoEdge display bezels that maximize their screen sizes while minimizing their body size.

Fast & Secure with Fingerprint Sensor: Vivobook X509 comes with fingerprint sensor, and is equipped with PCIe SSD, which is much faster than the traditional SATA SSD

Fantastic Display: As a 15-inch mainstream laptop, VivoBook X509 features a standard 15.6inch panel size which comes in a Full HD (1920 x 1080) resolution. These displays are greatly enhanced with ASUS Tru2Life Video technology that analyses every pixel in every video frame to increase contrast, sharpness, and smooth playback.

ASUS VivoBook X409 Sleek & Compact : Weighing only 1.6kg, VivoBook X409 is another undeniably portable offering under the VivoBook series. The stylish laptop comes in transparent silver and slate grey colours.

Furthermore, the 14” X409 offers a Full HD 1920x1080 resolution.

Fast & Secure with Fingerprint Sensor: Vivobook X409 comes with fingerprint sensor, and equipped with PCIe SSD, which is much faster than the traditional SATA SSD Powerful Performance: Tailor-made for everyday utility, VivoBook X409 is powered by Intel® Core™ i5-8265U Processor 1.6 GHz (6M Cache, up to 3.9 GHz). It also supports Intel UHD Graphics 620, to support everyday work and productivity.

Pricing & Availability ASUS VivoBook 14 X403 is priced at INR 54,990/ASUS VivoBook 14 X409 is priced from INR 32,990/ASUS VivoBook 15 X509 is priced from INR 30,990/(They will be available online on Amazon, Paytm and on offline channels)

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ASUS – Wins 11+ awards every day

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• ASUS Business Manager - Update driver/BIOS easily with live update and offer ASUS useful security SW(ex USB lock) * I/O port options may vary by model or region Powered by Intel® Core™ Processors. Intel® Inside®. Extraordinary Performance Outside. Found at: https://www.asus.com/Mini-PCs/ Intel, the Intel Logo, Intel Inside, Intel Core, and Core Inside are trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and/or other countries.

ASUS Representatives: Chennai: 9094003141 Delhi: 9310604085

Gujarat: 9727945556 Kerala: 9745111198

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For Sales Enquiries : billy_cheng@asus.com

For feedback, email reachus@asus.com or info_india@asus.com

COVER COVER STORY STORY

THE GREAT RISE OF PREMIUM PC MARKET IN INDIA PC market has evolved a lot during last five years as technology advancement remains core focus for players who are into offering computing machines to consumers across the globe. With each passing day new innovations are fuelling huge demand for PCs who are built on latest technology offerings. Nowadays, PCs are not only meant for work related resources, but these have become primary devices for entertainment as well. Consumers have started spending a lot on buying premium devices at extra cost to avail the advance technology features. The growth of premium PCs market in India is very encouraging for all brands due to it’s surge in demand in recent time. The brands are betting big on the premium PC segment and are constantly introducing latest laptops which meet the customer’s expectations. In recent years, the transition of customers from traditional PCs to premium PCs increased many folds and is still have much pace. Boost in purchasing power of common man and easy finance options are two key reason for this market to bloom further. There are lot of opportunities for brands and partners in this PC market segment. To share more about this market, DT has worked on story below to update channel partners across India about the upcoming opportunities in the premium PCs market.

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COVER LAUNCH STORY PAD

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OVERALL PC MARKET POSITION IN Q2 2019 The India traditional PC market (inclusive of desktop, notebook, workstation) shipped 3.4 million units, recording a solid 49.2% year-onyear (YOY) growth, according to IDC's Asia/ Pacific Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker, 2Q19. This growth was mainly due to commercial segment driven by ELCOT education deal fulfilment under which Tamil Nadu Government plans to distribute around 1.5 million laptops to students. Notebook category grew by 81% YoY contributing 74.3% of the overall India traditional PC market.

This growth is again attributed to the ELCOT deal. Ultraslim category, with a share of 21.1% of the total notebook's category, grew by 92.7%.

SEGMENT HIGHLIGHTS The consumer PC market declined by 14% YoY. The expected revival post-elections remained subpar and the overall pessimism of previous few quarters continued in Q2.

The footfalls in LFR's and branded shops remained weak. While, the online channel picked up towards the end of the quarter.

Also, the consumer response to "back to school" campaigns was less than expected.

Dell channel partners faced credit issues leading to inventory correction, thereby

impacting fresh consumer shipments. The Gaming PC segment, however, grew by 41.1% and continues to be one bright spot in the struggling consumer PC market.

says Bharath Shenoy, Market Analyst, PC, IDC India.

The overall commercial PC market grew by 108% in 2Q19; taking the total shipments to 2.43 million units. This growth was driven by a single 1.11 million units ELCOT deal. Even outside ELCOT, the commercial market did well with a growth rate of 12.6% YoY.

LENOVO: Lenovo led the India traditional PC market in 2Q19 with overall market share of 46.2%.

It saw a YoY overall growth of 283% mainly backed by ELCOT shipment in the commercial segment. Outside ELCOT, it fared well in education and BFSI segments. The vendor, however, saw a YoY decline of 14% in the consumer segment. Owing to slow response to "back to school" campaigns, Lenovo, just like other vendors struggled to fare well in the consumer segment.

"The model code of conduct impacted the first two months of the quarter, but things picked up post-election.

Strong performance from the SMB sector and corporates because of Windows 10 refresh coupled with a strong performance from the BFSI sector and increased global refresh orders helped commercial segment stay positive,"

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TOP 4 COMPANY HIGHLIGHTS:

HP INC.: Despite posting strong quarter across consumer as well as commercial segments, HP Inc. slipped to second spot in 2Q19. It had an overall market share of 22.4% in 2Q19 though it observed a YoY growth of 5.9%.

Despite challenges in consumer segment, the vendor delivered strong performance in the gaming segment. HP has started to

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COVER STORY

ACER Acer has been always consistent about their growth story in the Indian PC market.

Continuing the growth momentum, Acer has been able to perform well in the Q2 2019.

Acer has maintained its position among top 4 PC brands in India with a 10% market share. The brand has performed really well throughout the year and in the gaming segment, its top product line including Acer Predator and Nitro has seen steady growth across the Indian subcontinent. Also the consumer PCs have helped the brand to maintain its market share in double figure.

BEING PREMIUM MACHINES In recent time, all major brands enhanced their premium PCs offering to target this huge upcoming opportunity. They all are working very hard to innovate and bring such solutions which customers are looking in high end machines. Vickram Bedi, Senior Director, Personal Systems, HP Inc. India, said in an earlier press statement, “At HP, we are committed to reinvent the PC experience for consumers through new paradigms of computing innovation. We understand the

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VICKRAM BEDI, SENIOR DIRECTOR, PERSONAL SYSTEMS, HP INC.

We understand the needs of our customers and leverage our design and engineering capabilities to build premium devices that exceed their expectations of design, performance and quality.

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ANAND SUBRAMANYA, DIRECTOR, PRODUCT MARKETING, DELL INDIA

The surging At Dell, we are committed to demand of provide our customers with p r e m i u m the highest quality product PCs is highly experiences and to ensure this, we attributed derive insights from our customer to several feedback. factors such as blend of new demand a better version and an upgrade technologies, increase in purchasing power of customers from their previous PCs and notebooks. and many more. These factors are playing Today, brands offer a lot of EMI options to major role in expansion of this segment’s their consumers, making it convenient for users to purchase products of their choice. reach across the verticals.

Dell offers a plethora of options targeted Dell has been a big contender especially at students and tier 3 & 4 users, to ensure in the premium PC category as it has wide that cost doesn’t become a hindrance when range of products that cater to the masses. it comes to purchasing a PC of their choice.

According to Anand Subramanya, Director, Premium PCs have become more affordable Product Marketing, Dell India “Currently, as compared to before. For example, a we are expecting an increased demand for gaming and Thin & Light product today starts high-end portfolio because of increase in at INR 57000 onwards. purchasing power of the consumers and the increased demand for high performance Acer, one of the leading market player and machines. At Dell, we are committed to high-end premium PCs manufacturers, has provide our customers with the highest seen the growth trajectory in the recent quality product experiences and to ensure years and has catered the market with some this, we derive insights from our customer excellent innovative PCs. “Acer is seeing feedback. In addition to this, some of the more demand for Premium PCs in India due factors like repeat buyers, easy EMI options to its efficient features, productivity, better and affordability have collectively given a design, thin & light combination, gaming major push to the rise of premium PC market features, convertible designs and much more. These are becoming the key drivers for in India.” the next level of growth in the industry” said According to Dell, Consumers who have Chandrahas Panigrahi, Consumer Business already had an experience in the past, now Head and CMO, Acer India.

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DELL INC.: Dell Inc. had a relatively weak quarter as its T2/T3 channel partners faced credit issues.

The vendor slipped to the third spot as its share fell to 14.2% in 2Q19. The vendor had a YoY decline of 10.1%. It had a weak consumer quarter where it witnessed a YoY dip of 40.4%. However, it managed to clock 13% growth in the commercial segment which helped the vendor regain some ground lost in the consumer market. It fared well on BFSI and IT/ITES segments which led to relatively better commercial performance.

needs of our customers and leverage our design and engineering capabilities to build premium devices that exceed their expectations of design, performance and quality.”

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focus more on the e-tail channel and expects it to drive its gaming notebook sales. Owing to its increased focus on the SMB segment, HP registered a strong growth of 17% in a commercial segment on a YoY basis.

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While Rahul Agarwal, CEO & MD, Lenovo India, said in a press statement earlier, “The pace of disruption in the smartphone market is raising the bar for innovation in the PC segment and consumers are demanding similar features in all their devices, including laptops. Artificial intelligence (AI) coupled with smart features like facial unlock, voice assistant, makes Lenovo’s Yoga S940 the smartest ultraslim laptop yet. Lenovo’s Yoga S940 is designed for the power users who value security and privacy, alongside a more convenient, personalised and immersive experience. As being leader in the ultraslim category in India, Lenovo continues to raise the bar for innovation and the new range of ultraslim PCs promise sophisticated design with invincible performance.”

Sharing insight about growth driving factors, Shivangi Bhadauria, Marketing Specialist, MSI India NB said, “In this dynamic business world, we are witnessing a major shift in consumer needs and preferences from conservative spenders to aspirational

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Acer has also expanded its gaming portfolio of laptops and desktops in India and going all aggressive on the gaming front. Gaming is expected to reach a market value of 1 billion USD by 2020 and close to 190 million new gamers in the year 2019.

consumers.

CHANDRAHAS PANIGRAHI, CONSUMER Today’s tech BUSINESS HEAD AND CMO, ACER INDIA savvy world Acer is seeing more demand for is driven by Premium PCs in India due to its a pragmatic efficient features, productivity, raceThe better design, thin & light Millennials. combination, gaming features, Gone are the convertible designs and much more. days when job security was a motivational RAHUL AGARWAL, CEO & MD, factor. Today LENOVO INDIA d r e a m s , passion and The pace of disruption in the recognition are smartphone market is raising the new fuel to the bar for innovation in the PC the fire. A boom segment and consumers are demanding similar features in all in nonventional their devices, including laptops. jobs like animation, a rc h i t e c t u re , film making, KEY TRENDS SHAPING THE MARKET visual effects which require high performance machine to help faster processing. Thus, The market players are closely observing creating a demand for premium PC’s. the shift towards premium PCs in recent Furthermore, Consumers with time are able years and always come up with new and to differentiate between attributes that a innovative machines based on current mainstream PC has to offer over a high-end technology trends. HP being leader recently device.” launched most innovative laptops for Indian customers. The new Spectre Folio Arnold Su, Head of Consumer Notebooks and and Spectre x360 Always Connected PCs ROG Business, Asus India, said during one of are gigabit class LTE Intel based laptops, the recent product launch statement, “Since providing an advanced connectivity that is Indian market is of prime importance for us in more secure than traditional public Wi-Fi ASUS, it has been our endeavour to meet the networks. The devices support anano-SIM growing demands of the Indian consumers slot under the display to easily and quickly and provide them with the latest innovations. connect to cellular networks for blazing fast To the same end, we are glad to unveil the Internet and data. These devices are built for latest additions to our ZenBook family. modern consumers who want stylish devices While the series ZenBook 14 (UX434) and that can support their on-the-go lifestyle.

ZenBook 15 (UX534) brings our revolutions Secondary ScreenPad touchscreen to the Anurag Arora, Category Head – Consumer, fore, ZenBook Flip 13 is world’s slimmest Personal Systems, HP Inc. India, said in a convertible laptop. We are affirmative that press announcement, “We are excited to our Indian users will appreciate the cutting- bring the next level innovation of our widely edge offerings by ASUS and look forward to a acclaimed Spectre series to India. At HP, we positive response.” understand the evolving requirement of the consumers by merging beautiful design

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“We are also seeing an increased demand for PCs from repeat buyers or purchasers who are welcoming our innovations with a keen eye. Acer’s premium range of Laptops in India like Swift, Aspire 6 Avengers, Aspire 5 Slim, Switch 5, Concept D, Chromebooks, etc. are seeing faster growth in the premium PC segment than the traditional laptop segment.

Acer is predicting the premium segment as a percentage will grow faster than the traditional personal computer segment or mainstream computers. Though, they have a huge role to play in the market but expected to grow at a slow pace,” Chandrahas added further.

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COVER STORY

“We are also witnessing a significant reduction in the product footprint. On the commercial front, Dell’s Latitude 7400 2-in-1 is the smallest, thinnest and lightest device in its class, equipped with express technologies that enables workers to be faster and more productive. For our XPS range, we have incorporated a 13” laptop in an 11” form factor with an infinity edge display and narrow bezels which makes the experience more immersive in nature. In addition to a smaller footprint, minimum bezels and immersive displays, battery backup also becomes an essential factor in a buyer’s purchase decisions. Dell's customer-centric approach allows us to work backwards by listening to customers, understanding their problems and then offering them solutions to cater to their requirements to the maximum extent” Anand added further.

Gaming PCs are now in demand across young Indian gamers who are taking this as serious career option. “With the world’s largest youth population, India is one of the fastest growing gaming markets in the world. Opportunities for expanding the gaming community and enabling vivid gameplay experiences across

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continue. But as the IT industry never stands still, so does emerging technologies. While this can be unstoppable, we can still talk about some of the top trends below that are being talked of in the tech town, at present.

A. Convertible and slim laptops: Thin and convertible laptops are the most versatile fusions in the current Indian market since its a freedom to the users to go all out and use the technology the way they want in their own a convenient style. The slim design comes with an additional feature with a handy mode. The technology can be used in

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With the ever-evolving consumer profiles and needs, Dell is witnessing a significant growth in the Indian gaming PCs market, thin and light segment. Dell offers a versatile range of product portfolio to its consumers. “In terms of innovation, products are becoming slimmer & lighter with more battery life & better front of screen experience which meets the need of both gamers and professionals on the go. In gaming, the Alienware m15 R2 comes packed with an OLED display to cater to the gaming needs of the consumers. In addition, the Alienware Area 51-m does total justice to its ‘Legend’ design language when it comes to product innovation and is a true desktop replacement with 100% upgradability” said Anand Subramanya, Dell India.

a variety of ARNOLD SU, HEAD OF CONSUMER form factors NOTEBOOKS AND ROG BUSINESS, have never been ASUS INDIA more exciting.

Since Indian market is of prime Gamers are importance for us in ASUS, it has highly engaged, been our endeavour to meet the are enthusiastic growing demands of the Indian about their consumers and provide them with technology, the latest innovations. and seek out the best. The 9th Gen Intel® Core™ mobile SHIVANGI BHADAURIA, MARKETING processors SPECIALIST, MSI INDIA NB d e l i v e r unmatched In this dynamic business world, g a m i n g we are witnessing a major shift in performance consumer needs and preferences on laptops. from conservative spenders to I n t e l ’ s aspirational consumers technology innovation continues to set the rate and pace for the growth of four modes like Notebook, Display, Tent, and competitive gaming, delivering tools for Tablet. gamers to play, view, compete and stream,” Roshni Das, Director - Marketing, Intel India, B. 5G Laptops: The 5G technology in laptops has made their way ahead in the current PC said in a press statement recently. industry and if you are giving thought only While commenting on the latest trends, for Smartphones then you need to think Chandrahas said, “The last few years in the again since many companies are introducing premium PC industry has seen the gaming their 5G devices to the people. PC makers are segment booming at a fast pace. Specifically, going to launch 5G powered laptops as well 2018 -19 has seen many trends and and will be entering a whole new world of innovations in technology and is expected to possibilities.

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and outstanding performance along with an Always Connected PC experience.”

C. Cloud Gaming: We all have heard about Cloud gaming and that is exciting and comparatively a new technology in India.

Sometimes it also referred to as Gamingas-a-Service, or GaaS, which is a new way of playing games that takes advantage of the power of servers. It also facilitates storage at low cost for individuals and Big data penetration for firms. It’s more like Netflix than online gaming.

D. Artificial Intelligence: In today’s time, Artificial intelligence (AI) helps driving the

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potential for the growth of society and the economy. As India is moving digital, the growing saturation of technologies is playing a vital role in the lives of Indians. AI helps in Intellectual equation solving, Acuity, Learning Planning Ability to manipulate and move objects. According to an Accenture report published in December 2017, AI alone can add $957 billion, or 15% of the current gross value added, to the Indian economy by 2035.

on the growing opportunities and identify the potential buyers to serve them better which will further push the brands’ growth journey.

E. Augmented and Virtual Reality: AR and VR technologies are influencing the gaming industry towards the next level which is not only bounded to phones but has also reached in large scope in PC and home consoles as well. VR experience can be similar to or completely different from the real world whereas Augmented Reality keeps the real-world focus, but just adds elements to enhance the user’s experience.

For example, Google Glass, introduced by Google as an augmented reality tool created for the workforce. Such as IKEA Mobile App, Pokémon Go App, Disney Colouring Book, etc.

“We are witnessing a remarkable growth in the market because partners have gradually realized that consumers are interested in purchasing the products that suit their requirements.

Today, partners are aggressively promoting the products and have understood that consumers are finding value and immense potential in premium products. With the advent in technology and massive internet penetration, consumers have become more aware and hence partners today, showcase the products for users to touch and feel before purchasing them. At present, Dell has more than 680 Dell Exclusive stores and the aim is to provide the right tech advice, demonstrations and walk in experiences to the potential buyers” said Anand Subramanya, Dell India. “We have trained personnel’s to look into consumer queries and educate them on the latest innovations.

Online promotion is also an imperative for Dell to communicate and further engage with the users. For the gaming enthusiasts, we are working towards creating an inclusive and holistic ecosystem by providing them not only with cutting-edge technology, but also with relevant platforms to connect with the gaming community through initiatives like Gamers connect, Dell Futurist programs etc.”

PARTNER STRENGTH TO CAPITALIZE ON OPPORTUNITIES Channel partners play a very crucial role for PC brands to consolidate their leadership over the market. At the onset of growing premium PC market in India, we see huge opportunities for the traditional partners.

Channel partners at the core can capitalize

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Intel’s technology innovation continues to set the rate and pace for the growth of competitive gaming, delivering tools for gamers to play, view, compete and stream

Shivangi Bhadauria, MSI India NB commented, “MSI is all about brand awareness and visibility from 2019. We are trying to penetrate the Indian markets extensively with 2 new retail stores inaugurated in last month. We are now looking at a total of 6 exclusive brand store and 200+ channel partners in over 30 cities. By 2020, we tend to increase these numbers to 300 channel

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MSI has been focused on bringing high end PCs to target professionals who work on such premium PCs. “Gaming and content creation are very competitive market. Every day there is a new possibility and everyday there is new innovation. Consumers can no longer be fooled as they are well informed and definite as to what they really desire. With portability as the new mantra, companies have now started to realize the correlation between high performance & mobility. Therefore, MSI from 2018 have embraced the change of – “bigger screens on smaller bodies, “stated by Shivangi.

ROSHNI DAS, DIRECTOR - MARKETING, INTEL INDIA

partners and 8 more exclusive brand stores across metro cities. Having said that, it is pivotal we provide every support possible to build and maintain the synergy between us and our channel partners. For every new acquisition made by MSI in terms of a retail store, it is followed by a gaming tournament organized at their store to promote traffic and provide them a chance to meet with new potential clients. Prerequisite to this we have our social media team promoting the event on our page followed by some exciting bundle promotions.”

“Year by year, we are observing an evolvement among our channel partners in order by being responsive to the changing market trends towards the premium PCs segment. A major change has been noticed which is the shift of customers from just computing only laptops to more premium ones, with advanced functions. Our channel partners prove at the forefront of the brand by presenting the product in the right manner to the right customers. They play a crucial role in providing an extensive reach of the products to the customers. Considering the same, our partners are quite enthusiastic regarding our Premium PC segment due to the rise in PC demand among customers. Further, we would like to highlight the constant support we receive from our partners who believe in simplicity, predictability, and profitability.

Acer’s corporate model has the select motivation on the channel and it is designed to support the partners and customers” stated Chandrahas Panigrahi, Acer India.

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MARKET LEADER

HPE Emerges as No. 1 Brand in Indian x86 Server Market, Followed by DELL The overall server market in India witnessed a Year-over-Year (YoY) decline of 1.0% in terms of revenue to reach $350.2 million in 2Q19 versus $353.9 million in 2Q18, according to the latest Asia/Pacific Quarterly Server Tracker (excluding Japan), 2Q19. The x86 server market

Vendor Highlights: In 2Q19, Hewlett Packard Enterprise regained its position as the leading player in the India x86 server market with revenue of $108.4 million and revenue share of 34.4%. Hewlett Packard Enterprise grew YoY by 15.5% with major wins coming in from telecommunication v e r t i c a l .

Dell Technologies was the second leading player with a revenue share of 22.8% at a revenue of $71.7 million.

Dell Technologies failed to register big wins in this quarter contributing to 13.8% YoY decline in their performance.

Cisco was ranked third with a revenue share of 6.6% followed by Lenovo which came in at the fourth position with a revenue share of 5.6 %.

accounts for 89.9% of the overall server market in terms of revenue. The contribution to the x86 server market primarily came from professional services, telecommunication, and retail verticals. The market segment witnessed large deals from IT and ITeS customers, nationalized banks, telecom service providers, and e-retail in India during 2Q19.

The overall x86 server market declined YoY by 4.9% in terms of revenue to be valued at $314.8 million in 2Q19 from $330.9 million in 2Q18. Despite the decline, verticals such as banking and telecommunications registered YoY growth of 66.6% and 20.9% respectively, whereas retail registered the highest YoY growth of 936.2% in the x86 market, during 2Q19.

The non-x86 server market increased YoY by 54.2% to reach $35.5 million in revenue, in 2Q19. IBM tops the market with a revenue share of 75.9%, followed by Oracle with a share of 20.2% and Hewlett Packard Enterprise with 3.9% during 2Q19. Banking remained top vertical with 68.8% revenue share followed by manufacturing and professional services with 18.7%, and 8.0% respectively, during 2Q19.

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"Indian enterprises are transitioning from on-premise servers and virtual servers to cloud workloads. We have noticed spend on compute platforms shifting from traditional IT towards private cloud and public cloud," says Harshal Udatewar, Market Analyst, Server, IDC India.

IDC India Forecast Indian economy is at its slowest pace following a sharp dip in demand across sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, utilities, and construction, but government spending looks positive towards bringing market growth back on track. From an enterprise standpoint, increased spending is expected to be coming from the telecommunication vertical and local data center providers. Investments from telecommunication service providers would be driven by projects related to OSS, BSS, IMS stack for value-added services, VoLTE, VRAN, 5G testbed programs towards 5G development, while local cloud service providers would invest in expanding their infra capacity in the coming quarters. IDC expects banking tech refreshes towards the end of 2019. At present, IDC India x86 server market is expected to witness a QoQ decline of 12.9% during Q3 2019.

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PRODUCT REVIEW

KODAK 4K SMART TV

The smart TV manufacturer Super Plastronics which is also a brand licensee of Kodak, recently introduced its latest 4K 43UHDX SMART LED Smart TV range in India. This TV is one of the affordable 4K Smart TV currently in India.

The brand sent this newly launched smart TV to DT for review and report you all about its performance.

If you are looking for a big screen sized Smart TV under budget then it can be a perfect choice as the 43 inch 4K ultra HD screen gives an amazing viewing experience. You will definitely forget the typical TV viewing experience after watching your favourite programs on this TV. For the connectivity options, you are getting 2 USB ports to connect Pen Drive, Card Reader or any other device through USB cable. It also features 3 HDMI ports to attach a set-top box or projector or any other device. On the other side, you also get multiple AV connectivity options to boost better AV experience. All the connectivity options are very elegantly designed at the back of this TV for better accessibility.

You generally don’t expect a premium user experience from budget TV but Kodak TV assures you to offer 4K 3840 x 2160 Ultra HD - 4X resolution. This television comes with 500 nits of brightness so that you can enjoy your clean content. Apart from HDR10 and 4K support, this television also comes with a Wide Color Enhancer Plus feature that helps improve the quality of the image and provide you better viewing experience.

On the software front, this TV comes with the

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latest version of Quick Interface which is based on Android 7.0. Also, the TV runs on 1.5 GHz Quad Core A53 CPU that enhances its speed of working. This Kodak television is powered by 1 GB of RAM and comes with 8 GB of storage. This advanced, power-packed television delivers seamless performance and lets you download applications, songs or videos as per your choice.

You are getting some pre-installed applications like YouTube, Hotstar, Zee5, Sony Live, and Netflix, so you can enjoy your favourite content through all these apps.

During our review, Kodak 43UHDX SMART LED TV performed really well and it has some pretty exciting features which make it an ideal LED TV for modern entertainment requirements.

Moreover watching the movie on large 43 inch 4K LED screen gives amazing experience. The sound quality through 24W powerful speakers is truly amazing and enhance the TV viewing experience. While based on our own usage experience, we give Kodak 4K 43UHDX SMART LED TV four stars out of five.

Equipped with powerful 24 W speakers, the Kodak television brings a wow factor to your content. These builtin speakers also support surround sound audio. So while watching any movie, video song or listening to any MP3, you will be amazed by its remarkable sound quality. We quite enjoyed listening to songs on this TV due to its excellent speaker quality.

This 4K Smart TV is available for Rs. 22, 999/-, exclusively on Flipkart and comes with 1 year warranty.

DTV Rating

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SMARTPHONE - JUST IN

iPHONE 11 SERIES SMARTPHONE LAUNCHED IN INDIA AT STARTING PRICE OF RS. 64900/enjoy a more vivid viewing experience for HDR videos and photos, and the Super Retina XDR display is even more power efficient.

FASTEST PERFORMANCE WITH THE BEST BATTERY LIFE : As iPhone 11 series is featuring Apple’s A13 Bionic chip, Apple claims that it is the fastest chip ever in a smartphone, and provides unparalleled performance for every task iPhone 11 series handle.

A13 Bionic chip features up to 20 percent faster CPU and GPU than A12.

A13 Bionic is built for machine learning, with a faster Neural Engine for realtime photo and video analysis, and new Machine Learning Accelerators that allow the CPU to deliver more than 1 trillion operations per second.

Together, A13 Bionic and iOS 13 make up the best machine learning platform in a smartphone.

Apple launched much awaited iPhone 11 series smartphone globally at a mega launch event at San Francisco. The new series of iPhones include iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max. The new generation of iPhone runs on iOS 13 which delivers a seamless experience with software and hardware integration unlike any other smartphone. iOS 13 introduces a dramatic new look with Dark Mode, a more private way to sign in to apps and websites with Sign In with Apple, and an all-new Maps experience.

With advanced Camera and Photos features, photo editing is more comprehensive and intuitive with powerful new tools that now extend to video editing.

Portrait Lighting adjustments can be made right in the Camera app to adjust the intensity of light on a subject, and a

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new High-Key Mono effect creates a beautiful, monochromatic look for Portrait mode photos.

Apple CEO, Tim Cook stated, “The iPhone 11 Pro is designed for customers who want the “most sophisticated technology.”

PRECISION DESIGN AND DISPLAY : The iPhone 11 series features the toughest glass ever in a smartphone. It is rated IP68 for water resistance up to 2 meters for up to 30 minutes, and is protected against accidental spills from common liquids such as coffee and soda. The beautiful 6.1-inch all-screen Liquid Retina display features wide colour support and True Tone for a more natural viewing experience. iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max features the new Super Retina XDR display, a custom-designed OLED, provides users an immersive HDR viewing experience for movies and other highdefinition video with up to 1,200 nits brightness.

The iPhone 11 Pro comes in 5.8 inch screen size whereas iPhone 11 Pro Max comes with a 6.5 inch large screen. With a 2 million-to-one contrast ratio with true blacks, pro users can

ALL-NEW DUAL-CAMERA SYSTEM: iPhone 11 introduces a dual-camera system with all-new Ultra-Wide and Wide cameras that are deeply integrated into iOS 13, offering the highest quality video in a smartphone and major advancements in photography for the ultimate camera experience. The dual-camera system lets users easily zoom between each camera while Audio Zoom matches the audio to the video framing for more dynamic sound. With iOS 13, powerful video editing tools are accessible to everyone with the ability to rotate, crop, increase exposure and apply filters to videos instantly all within the new, easy-to-use Camera interface.

The iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro max comes with a new triple-camera system that provides a pro-level camera experience with an UltraWide, Wide and Telephoto camera, delivering huge improvements to low-light photography and offering the highest quality video in a smartphone that is great for shooting action videos. Each camera in the triple-camera system records brilliant 4K video with extended dynamic range and cinematic video stabilisation. All new iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max will be available in India from starting at just Rs. 64,900/-, 99,900/-, and INR 109,900 /- respectively.

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SMARTPHONE- JUST IN

XIAOMI INTRODUCES MI A3 SMARTPHONE WITH 48MP TRIPLE REAR CAMERA Xiaomi announced Mi A3 the latest smartphone in their lineup of Android One-powered phones with the world’s highest resolution camera setup. Mi A3 features Sony’s 48MP IMX586 sensor, coupled with an 8MP ultra-wide and a 2MP depth sensor. The 48MP large half-inch sensor allows maximum details to be captured while retaining the quality of the image.

usage. The 15.6cm (6.08) Super AMOLED display offers vivid colours, deeper blacks and increased power efficiency enabling an immersive viewing experience.

Mi A3 also sports a 32MP front camera, enabling the device to have the highest megapixel count for a camera setup in the world. The 32MP camera has a Super Pixel size of 1.6μm allowing crisp and detailed selfies even in low light.

Taking forward the legacy of offering a perfect blend of performance and power-efficiency, Mi A3 combines the Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 mobile platform with Android One. The octacore chipset is coupled with upto 6GB LPDDR4X RAM and 128GB of UFS 2.1 storage enabling incredibly smooth and fast user experience. Mi A3 brings a 4030mAh battery with 18W fast charging with a 10W charger in the box.

Mi A3 embodies a new design language bringing functionality and poise to the A series.

It features a glass sandwich design with an ergonomic form factor facilitating one-handed

Mi A3 runs on the Android 9 Pie operating system out of the box, bringing features like the Google Assistant, Digital Wellbeing and Adaptive Battery.

SAMSUNG LAUNCHES STUNNING GALAXY NOTE 10 AND NOTE 10+ SMARTPHONES IN INDIA Samsung unveiled Galaxy Note10 and Galaxy Note10+, two stunning and powerful flagship devices that will take the productivity and creativity of millennial users to the next level.

The Most Powerful Galaxy Note10 line is inspired by a generation that flows seamlessly between work and life, giving them the freedom to work the way they want, and showcase their creative spirit, all on-the-go.

With just 30 minutes of charge, the Galaxy Note10+ lasts through the day with up to 45W wired charging capability.

Powered by a 7nm processor, G a l a x y Note10+ and Note10 comes with 12GB and 8GB RAM. Stream, game, or download at unbelievable speeds even when multitasking. The intelligent processor also preloads frequently used apps for a fast launch.

The Galaxy Note10 opens the Note to users who want the power of the S Pen and ultimate productivity in a compact form factor, packing a 6.3-inch Cinematic Infinity Display into the most compact Note yet. The Galaxy Note10+ features the biggest Note display ever with a 6.8-inch Cinematic Infinity Display on a device that’s still easy to hold and easy to use. Go wide for a 123° field of vision with the 16MP Ultra-Wide Camera. Crop in with the 12MP Wide-angle Camera, or get closer with 2x optical zoom on the 12MP Telephoto Camera.

The Wide-angle camera auto-adjusts to the surrounding light: F1.5 mode brings light into dark scenes, F2.4 mode keeps things sharp in bright daylight, and Night Mode brightens up Galaxy Note10+ will be available starting super low light scenes.

INR 79,999, while Galaxy Note10 is priced

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at INR 69,999. Galaxy Note10+ will be available in two variants – 12GB RAM + 256GB memory and 12GB RAM + 512GB memory. With a Micro SD card, consumers can add additional 1TB storage to the Galaxy Note10+. Galaxy Note10 will be available with 8GB RAM + 256GB memory (no Micro SD).

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PRODUCT REVIEW

Infinix HOT 8 Smartphone 4 GB RAM | 64 GB ROM 16.56 cm (6.52 inch) HD+ Display 13MP + 2MP + Low Light Sensor 8MP Front Camera 5000 mAh Battery Helio P22 (MTK6762) Processor

Infinix is one of the budget smartphone brands in India and had launched a few excellent devices like Smart 3 Plus, HOT 7, HOT 7 Pro and many other successful models. Infinix has been seeking to expand its consumer base in India and to serve them with better, Infinix has launched HOT 8 smartphone for Indian customers. With this new announcement, Infinix has extended its most successful HOT smartphone product range.

The phone comes in four amazing color options which are Quetzal Cyan, Cosmic Purple, Shark Grey, and Midnight Black. So you can choose any of the colors as these colors are pretty cool and will make you feel premium while holding the smartphone into your hands. We got the phone for review in Quetzal Cyan color and we can say that the phone was looking very classy and its shining body drives everyone’s attention.

Infinix HOT 8 smartphone is very slim and lightweight. The weight of this smartphone is just 179 grams. The curves given on the corners are very beautiful and it helps you while putting the phone into your pocket. Furthermore, the volume and power button is placed beautifully, you get both the buttons on the right side so you can press these buttons with the use of just one thumb.

Let’s talk about the in-box accessories, as you

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are getting a USB cable, a charging adapter, a SIM tray ejector pin, some documents like user guide manuals, a warranty card, and a complimentary back cover. Apart from these, Infinix has also provided a screen protector film that will safeguard your phone from scratches.

You will be disappointed bit as this phone does not comes with earphone.

Infinix HOT 8 is powered with XOS 5.0 Cheetah, based on Android Pie 9 which gives fast and smooth user experience. The phone has Helio P22 Octa-core 64 bit processor and 2.0 GHz GPU that makes this phone more powerful and performance-oriented. You can play popular games and can use many other apps at the same time. The performance will not be affected and the phone will run smoothly because of its better processor.

HOT 8 has a large 6.52-inch HD+ Drop Notch Display that produces 720*1600 pixel resolution. We are quite satisfied with its display because while watching the YouTube videos on it, it was overall a very remarkable experience for us. Its bright colors and the high contrast ratio impresses a lot and ultimately it feels so amazing to do multitasking with this phone.

The smartphone boasts an AI-powered Triple rear camera setup. It features 13 MP main camera + 2 MP Depth Sensor and a low light sensor. We clicked pictures and recorded videos in extreme low light conditions and it didn’t disappoint us thanks to its QLED flash. It also has an 8 MP AI selfie camera along with a dedicated front flash. Its selfie camera clicks

real-type selfies and if you are selfie addicted then it can be a great choice for you.

The massive 5000 mAh battery is one of the best things you are getting in this budget. This battery size would never let your phone out of the charge so you can play games, listen to music, watch videos and can do a lot more with HOT 8. During the review, we didn’t charge this phone for about 2 days and still, we had much battery in hand. Also, the fingerprint and face unlock features are truly fascinating due to the lightning-fast speed. Both the features are so quick and as we feel, it is faster than any other phone in this category.

PRICING & AVAILABILITY So the Hot 8 smartphone is available with 4GB RAM and 64GB internal storage. This amazing smartphone is now sold on Flipkart and priced at Rs. 7999/-. But if you buy this phone before 31st October, you can avail a discount of 1000 Rupees as a part of an ongoing special festive sale on Flipkart. So the current effective price of this phone is Rupees 6999/-.

DTV RATING We tested this newly launched phone and very much satisfied with its performance. With its high performing operating system and an extremely powerful processor, the phone is an ideal choice for the budget smartphone buyers. Its elegant design and the vivid display makes you mesmerized. We give Infinix HOT 8 Smartphone 4 star rating based on all tested parameters.

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GUEST COLUMN

THE PROMISE OF 5G AND EDGE DATA CENTRES OF TOMORROW AUTHORED BY MR. B.S. TEH, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT -GLOBAL SALES AND SALES OPERATIONS, SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY

5G connectivity is no longer a distant dream for India. With its ambition to roll-out the next generation wireless technology in tandem with the rest of the world, India is making rapid progress at the policy level to pave way for a timely and efficient rollout of 5G by 2020. Commercial deployment of 5G networks will unleash the power of Internet of Things (IoT), enabling connections by more than a million devices per square mile.

It will bring about a fundamental shift in how industries use networks and leverage data while also fuelling widespread adoption of futuristic technologies such as connected cars and intelligent retail. Since data is the lifeblood of these technologies, the country is staring at a deluge of digital data, with much of it mandating real-time analysis.

According to IDC, by 2025 each connected person will have at least one data interaction every 18 seconds, and real-time data will increase 30-fold – equivalent to almost onefifth of the global datasphere.

This need for real-time analysis of large volumes of data will serve as a major driver for the rise of the edge, which can process information at much faster speeds than would be possible when transmitting it first to a core data centre or a cloud server farm.

Building Data Centres of Tomorrow As more 5G-enabled devices come online and begin churning out data, today’s model of centralized cloud will need support from

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the edge – impacting the size and location of data centres that are built in the future.

Take autonomous vehicles as an example – the vast majority of the data generated from their sensors must be analysed in real time so that critical decisions can be made on the spot, without the latency that comes with processing data in the cloud. In order to cater to this and many other new age applications, enterprises will turn towards building edge capabilities, with more storage hubs in regional markets and smaller cities, as well as micro data centres at the edge of the network—in novel locations, such as in parking lots, on municipal rights of way, and at the base of telephone towers.

Telephone towers are where the arrival of 5G can really have an impact. As more computing power and storage are needed to handle rapidly growing numbers of edge applications, it makes sense to place these edge data centres on top of existing infrastructure. These edge data centres will be characterized by their remote-operability, location and relatively small size (hundreds of square feet, not thousands). They will be self-contained, highly-integrated, and compact.

But Cloud Will Remain the Data Custodian However, it is important to note that the data created at the edge cannot remain at the edge because the edge will have limits in scale, flexibility, and manageability. In

fact, the edge will serve as an important intermediary (between the core and the endpoint) where analytics will happen, and results will be stored to fuel real-time decisions and latency-sensitive services.

Once the first-order value extraction is done, data will move to the cloud for second-order processing and long-term storage, or may be deleted when insights from it have been extracted. In 2025, IDC predicts that 49% of the world’s stored data will reside in public cloud environments. Hence, what we will see will be the rise of an edge-with-cloud model, rather than an edge-replacing-cloud alternative.

A New Edge-Powered Digital Order The edge and cloud are not mutually exclusive – the future will be about both working together to help businesses make smarter decisions instantly and drive up productivity, efficiency and customer satisfaction. The huge data centre model will still thrive and be vital to all kinds of businesses and as demand for edge devices and applications increases, this part of the network could see exponential growth. At the same time, an unprecedented way in which we create and act upon data at the edge of the network will create new markets and unlock new value.

In order to keep growing and stay ahead of the curve, businesses must invest in taking advantage of this new field of edge-powered opportunity.

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REALLY HOT

HyperX FURY DDR4 RGB Memory Modules

Ambrane AFB 38 Smart Fitness Band

HyperX, the gaming division of Kingston Technology, announced the launch of its FURY DDR4 RGB memory modules India. The new memory kits are cost effective, high-performance upgrades for Intel and AMD’s latest platforms. They feature Plug N Play3, which enables automatic memory overclocking at standard DDR4 1.2V settings. They also feature Intel XMP-ready profiles optimized for Intel’s latest platform. The FURY

DDR4 RGB memory range is now available with speeds of up to 3466MHz, as 8GB and 16GB single modules and in kits of two and four with 16GB, 32GB and 64GB capacities. The HyperX FURY DDR4 RGB comes equipped with an LED light bar with fluid RGB lighting effects and utilizes HyperX Infrared Sync, which allows the modules to remain synchronized. HyperX FURY DDR4 RGB memory range in India starts with an MRP of INR 4,900 and will be available through HyperX’s network of retail and e-tail outlets.

Ambrane introduces the ‘Smart Fitness Band ‘AFB 38’. This stylish fitness band comes with TFT LCD colour screen display that is readable even in sunlight.

The compact screen can display all the essential fitness information, clearly, whenever you need it, with just a flick of the wrist. You can monitor your health with AFB-38’s 24-hour dynamic advance heart rate monitor. Equipped with lithium polymer battery it has 7 days of standby time. This fitness band features an Activity Tracker that monitors over 18 activities ranging from pedometer calculation to calories burnt throughout the day along with sleep monitoring. It also features 11 sports modes that calculate your movement whenever you indulge in any sports activity. With its IP68 certified built, this waterproof band is resistant to dust, sand and water up to 1.5 Meters, making it ideal for daily wear be it gym, jogging or any other outdoor place.

GIGABYTE Ultra-Fast AORUS NVMe Gen4 SSD

Portronics Affordable Breeze II Wireless Speaker

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd, announced the new NVMe architecture and PCIe 4.0 interface based M.2 SSD. GIGABYTE Ultra Durable certified, the new SSD has undergone rigorous stress tests to ensure that the SSD performs at an elite level users expect from an AORUS product.

AORUS NVMe Gen4 SSD uses an all new PCIe 4.0 controller with Toshiba Bisc4 Nand Flash memory particles, providing up to a 40% performance boost over PCIe 3.0 which translates to 5000MB/s sequential read speeds. Whether reading data or booting up games, the SSD boasts data transfer rates at unprecedented speeds. The new series offers 3 capacity options at 500GB, 1TB, 2TB, comes in 2280 module sizing, and supports the PCIe 4.0x4 M.2 interface. Whereas SATA SSDs use data and power cables, the M.2 SSDs are easier to configure with its cable free design which also improves airflow in the chassis, increasing overall heat mitigation.

Portronics has added yet another powerful speaker “Breeze II”, to its existing series of wireless speakers.

Breeze II has 7 Coloured LED Lights creating a mesmerising a m b i e n c e while it plays music.

Breeze II has powerful 20W inbuilt speakers which offer unbelievably clear sound output and relaxing bass. If one wishes to enjoy true stereo output, then two of these compact speakers can tango together with captivating stereo output using the built-in TWS feature via Bluetooth V4.2. This TWS speaker has a 2000mAh lithium-Ion battery that can play non-stop music for more than 7 hours. The speaker is smartly designed and it automatically goes to sleep mode after 20 minutes of non-operation.

When you get bored of your playlist you can easily switch to FM mode and tune into your favourite FM stations. Portronics Breeze II is available at a very affordable price-point of INR 3,999/- with a 1-year warranty

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INTERVIEW

“OUR MISSION IS TO PROVIDE A SUPERIOR SMARTPHONE EXPERIENCE TO ALL OUR CONSUMERS” MR. ARIJEET TALAPATRA, CEO, TRANSSION HOLDINGS INDIA Smartphones have made human life much simpler and so there is chaos among end-users to get the latest smartphones with top-line features. The growth is highly attributed to the new innovations happening across this industry. Due to immense opportunities, there are many brands who are trying to gain more market share by each passing day. DT recently interacted with Mr. Arijeet Talapatra, CEO of TRANSSION Holdings India to know more about the smartphone market growth. He spoke over itel’s performance and how they are expanding their business in the Indian market.

DT: HOW DO YOU SEE THE SMARTPHONE MARKET AND ITS GROWTH IN INDIA? ARIJEET: India is the second largest smartphone market in the world after China. According to the Counterpoint Research report, smartphone shipments in India grew to 37 million units, single-digit annually during Q2 2019 setting a second-quarter shipment record. This leads to an increase in demand and affordable prices increase the appetite for consumption of smartphones. If we talk about the distribution mediums—the online channel has definitely resulted in more sales and made smartphones available on-the-go but talking about the offline medium on the other hand, still remains the largest channel for mobile phone distribution in India and is crucial for the long-term success for any brand in India. The smartphone industry is definitely booming with a lot of trends—be it full screen display, dual camera, face unlock technology, artificial intelligence, etc. Over the last years, itel is aiming towards fuelling the aspiration of the masses thereby, empowering the Indian consumers in rural and semi-urban markets with magical technological experience.

DT: WHAT IS YOUR GO-TO-MARKET STRATEGY FOR THE INDIAN MARKET? ARIJEET: One of the key reasons for itel’s success is the unique Go-To-Market strategy— an offline ‘only’ consumer-centric brand for the masses. The strategy has helped itel break away from the clutter and reach a wider user base in tier-3 markets and below thereby making itel within the reach of every consumer in India.

At itel, we always want to render powerful and innovative technology to our consumers. We

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are a consumer-centric company; hence we continuously study the needs of the consumers from all the markets and keep up with the latest trends in technology thereby translating those insights into products which are accessible to our customers and can change their lives. In the last one year, itel has also driven full-fledged and impactful regional branding activities across all key festivals to make their customers’ celebrations more delightful and memorable through its marketing campaigns and a refreshed portfolio. itel is a brand for the masses and believes in creating affinity across its audience segments through associations that would strike an immediate chord with its consumers.

DT: HOW DO YOU SEE THE FUTURE OF FEATURE PHONES IN INDIA? ARIJEET: According to the recent Counterpoint

report, the feature phone market has continued to grow over the last three years. In 2019, a little more than 400 million feature phones will be sold globally. Further, feature phone shipments are expected to reach one billion units by 2021.

Feature phones are evolving basic consumer needs and are equally in demand as compared to smartphones. In the era of revolution in feature phones, the transformation is at its pace; feature phones have a foreseeable future in the mobile phone industry as there is a favorable reception of feature phones by consumers in the Indian markets. The consumption of feature phones mostly lies in tier-3 and below regions.

DT: PLEASE BRIEF US ABOUT YOUR DISTRIBUTION MODEL. ARIJEET: itel has a vigorous footprint via mass

India with 970+ plus channel partners and more than 1 lakh retailers enabling the company to cater to the length and the breadth of the country along with 950+ service touchpoints to cater to the post-sales need of our consumers in India. itel is a channel-driven company and our channel partners play an integral part for our business; fortifying our channel is key for us. In order to boost the channel strength, we believe their profitability and growth along with the brand plays an imperative role. We have also rolled out multiple partner-focused schemes and distribution engagement programs at a localized level that help us in strengthening our relationship with our partners. itel believes to be part of every celebration and goes an extra mile to bring that smile to its partners and consumers.

DT: PLEASE BRIEF ABOUT YOUR SERVICE SUPPORT MODULE. HOW MANY SERVICE CENTERS DO YOU HAVE CURRENTLY? ARIJEET: At itel, our mission is to provide a

superior smartphone experience to all our consumers through unique service proposition. itel was a pioneer in launching the unique service proposition of 100 days’ replacement warranty, the promise which showcases the quality offerings that we provide to our consumers. To bolster the service offerings across its brands, TRANSSION Holdings launched its exclusive after-sales service brand, ‘Carlcare’ in India.

TRANSSION India has COCO (company-owned, company-controlled) service centres – one in Noida and another in Mumbai. Additionally, we have over 950+ service touchpoints in India. We certainly have been a trendsetter in the industry when it comes to service proposition.

market distribution and is present across PAN

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FACE2FACE

“WE GREATLY VALUE OUR PARTNER COMMUNITY AND WORK CLOSELY WITH THEM IN INDIA” Alok Sharma, Country Manager, Channels (India & SAARC), Autodesk Autodesk’s business model across all key global markets is through partner-led customer engagement. Autodesk has an omni-channel system for reselling of software that provides easier access to a broader portfolio of technology for business owners and enhance access to the best of 3D design software for Indian customers. But recently, the channel community alleged that the company is offering 20% discounts to the customers who are buying directly from their online store. The issue was also raised by FAIITA recently and had approached Autodesk to seek the clarification over this ongoing issue. Digital Terminal, being channel publication also contacted the company to know their stand on this issue. Alok Sharma, Country Manager, Channels (India & SAARC), Autodesk, had interacted with Rajeev Ranjan, Editor, Digital Terminal (DT) and expressed his commitment for channel community. Read the excerpt below to know more about Autodesk commitment, plans and support for channel partners across India.

DT: WHAT IS YOUR BUSINESS MODEL IN INDIA? HOW DO YOU SELL YOUR SOLUTIONS ACROSS ALL CONSUMERS VERTICALS IN INDIA? ALOK: In India, we have an e-store and sell via channel, which provides our customers great convenience and choice. India is one of the most successful markets for Autodesk in terms of synergy with the channel community to drive holistic business growth of the entire ecosystem. They continue to trust, thrive and grow with us, as we continue to scale new heights of business growth and momentum in India. We are confident that by working closely with our partner community we will be able to provide greater availability, accessibility and affordability of advanced design technology to our customers in India. We have democratized the adoption of design technologies with a highly effective and flexible subscriptiononly licensing model. Customers can choose from quarterly, or annual lengths when they purchase a subscription via their local reseller and partners.

DT: DO YOU HAVE ANY PRICE CONTROL OVER THE PRODUCTS SOLD IN INDIA? ALOK: All our channel partners are independent and free to determine the retail prices at which they want to sell Autodesk software to their respective customers. Hence, reseller prices may vary and is also subject to currency fluctuation. We greatly value our partner community and work closely with them to drive adoption of 3D Design software 24

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in India. Our customers are free to choose which partners they wish to work with and purchase from.

DT: CAN YOU PLEASE BRIEF ABOUT YOUR ENTIRE CHANNEL ECOSYSTEM FOR INDIAN MARKET? ALOK: In India, we have 3 distributors, Redington India Ltd., TechData and ARK Infosolutions Pvt. Ltd. We also have 2 Platinum partners, MicroGenesis CADSoft Pvt. Ltd. and Capricot Technologies Pvt Ltd. We work closely with a strong and trusted network of channel partners to provide greater affordability, availability and accessibility to our bestin-class design technologies. Our channel ecosystem in India includes, 40+ partners (both VAD and VARs). We work very closely with our distributors on business growth and are highly optimistic about the future of our business in India. Our partners continue to grow with us and we are excited about the future growth opportunities. In fact, sales from indirect channels have grown 30% worldwide Year-on-Year as per Q1 financial data released earlier this year.

Our partner ecosystem continues to grow as we increase our footprint in India. Recently, we added 15 partners to our India channel ecosystem with Tech Data being the latest addition to our partner network.

DT: HOW DO YOU ASSURE TO HAVE ALL SORT OF RESOURCES AND SUPPORT AVAILABLE FOR CHANNEL PARTNERS?

ALOK: Through trainings and resources to sales and technical teams of our partners, and access to Autodesk sales, and marketing resources and support, we help our partners to thrive and succeed in the era of cloudbased technologies. Our partners continue to grow and we are happy to add value to their business. Our goal is to drive greater adoption of Autodesk’s advanced and cutting-edge 3D Design technology among customers across different industry sectors – Manufacturing, Construction & Infrastructure, Media & Entertainment. The role of partners in achieving this goal is an absolute imperative.

DT: HOW DO YOU PUSH YOUR PARTNERS IN VALUE CHAIN? HOW DO YOU TAKE CARE OF THEIR OVERALL BUSINESS GROWTH? ALOK: In addition, our partner ecosystem is heavily invested in promoting adoption of Autodesk software. For example, software Implementation services, software adoption programs to name a few are important revenue streams for our partners besides selling our products. Customers routinely reach out to our partner community for such services. Autodesk is also investing to help partners build services muscle. As recently as Aug 2019 alone, Five Autodesk partners have announced new services offering build with Autodesk products & technology. We also recently completed Five cities partner enablement workshops which was attended by more than 150+ partners, sales and technical resources.

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GAMERS CORNER

Lenovo Launches Legion Y740 & Legion Y540

Laptops for Gaming Enthusiasts

Lenovo launched the power-packed new gaming laptops Y740 and Y540 under its prtominent gaming brand Legion. The brand also introduced the new and innovative range of desktops, accessories and displays, targeting emerging gamers. These powerful and feature-rich laptops would surely help the hardcore gamers to explore their gaming skills and play with more ease.

Lenovo introduced its latest offerings under its gaming brand- Legion along with a new range of desktops, displays and accessories, for the growing gaming community in India.

Made for today’s avid gamers, Legion Y740 and Legion Y540 are redesigned from the ground up to be stylish on the outside and savage inside and strikes a smooth balance between a sleek sophisticated exterior and epic gaming performance. Listening to gamers, integrating their feedback and anticipating their needs are a big part of what drives Legion’s customercentric innovation.

Lenovo introduced its latest offerings under its gaming brand- Legion along with a new range of desktops, displays and accessories, for the growing gaming community in India. Made for today’s avid gamers, Legion Y740 and Legion Y540 are redesigned from the ground up to be stylish on the outside and savage inside and strikes a smooth balance between a sleek sophisticated exterior and epic gaming performance. Listening to gamers, integrating their feedback and anticipating their needs are a big part of what drives Legion’s customer-centric innovation.

Speaking at the launch, Shailendra Katyal, Executive Director, Consumer PCSD, Lenovo India said, “This new breed of gamers live a multi-faceted life that balances work, family and social life, and are connected by their passion for gaming. Which is why our Legion portfolio, co-created with gamers, is designed to look just as great in a living room as it would in a conference room. This new gaming line-up is engineered to handle the toughest gaming tournaments while retaining a clean aesthetic that won’t feel out of place in any environment.”

“With the world’s largest youth population, India is one of the fastest growing gaming markets in the world. Opportunities for expanding the gaming community and enabling vivid gameplay experiences across a variety of form factors have never been more exciting. Gamers are highly engaged, are enthusiastic about their technology, and seek out the best. The 9th Gen Intel®

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Core™ mobile processors deliver unmatched gaming performance on laptops. Intel’s technology innovation continues to set the rate and pace for the growth of competitive gaming, delivering tools for gamers to play, view, compete and stream.”

- Roshni Das, Director Marketing, Intel India.

Legion Y740: Upgraded style and savagery The Lenovo Legion Y740 is made of precisely machined aluminum and anodized in a sophisticated Iron Gray color with narrow borders. It includes fully customizable RGB lighting behind the keyboard and inside the thermal venting for a fun and immersive experience. The Lenovo Legion Y740 Laptop improves on the redesigned gaming laptop introduced last year with a big performance boost powered by up to NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Max-Q GPU, as well as brighter, optional Dolby Vision-enabled displays to match its Dolby Atmos Speaker System with Dolby Sound Radar. Packed with 9th Gen Intel® Core™ i7 laptop processor, Y740 is designed to support the latest PC gaming experiences, from playing the newest titles in 4K to sharing HDR screenshots—all with Intel’s stunning media-rich graphics.

Legion Y540: Desktop-caliber gaming on the go The Lenovo Legion Y540 is a step up for mainstream gamers on the go, boosted by up to the latest NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 6G GDDR6 GPU and more power on a single charge. With its thin bezels, the Y540 packs more than 2 million pixels into a 15-inch FHD display. Combined with up to 144 Hz refresh rate, 300 nits of brightness, and an IPS Antiglare screen, this laptop brings your favorite games to life, for breathtakingly immersive gameplay on the go. Packed with 9th Gen Intel® Core™ i7 laptop processor and upto 1 TB SSD, Y540 is powerful enough to handle today’s action-packed MOBAs (multiplayer online battle arena) or heart-pounding FPS (first-person shooters).

Lenovo’s Legion range, price and availability: Legion Y740, 15-inch, is available at the starting price of INR 1,29,990 while Legion Y540, 15-inch is available at the starting price of INR 69,990.

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CHANNEL BUZZ

Canon India Opens First Exclusive ‘Canon Image Square’ Store in Kerala

Cooler Master Appoints Kaizen Infoserve to Boost Service Support Across India Cooler Master has partnered with Kaizen Infoserve to handle service of Cooler Master product.

Canon India further expanded its retail outreach in Kerala, with the inauguration of its first experiential Canon Image Square (CIS) store in Alappuzha. Located at Reliance Mall, Vadakkal, Alappuzha, the launch further strengthens the brand’s regional penetration in the state.

Canon takes pride in being a complete 360 degree imaging solutions provider, with its input to output product expertise. CIS are exclusive stores where customers can have complete hands on experience of the products before purchasing, ranging from entry level cameras to high end professional cameras.

Expressing his delight, Mr. Eddie Udagawa, Vice President, Consumer Imaging & Information Centre, Canon India said, “Kerala is an extremely important market for us and therefore, we are delighted to launch our first CIS store in Alappuzha. A beautiful town, best known for its scenic views and beautiful houseboat cruises, it is a popular destination amongst tourists and hence has attracted interest from both aspiring and professional photographers. Keeping this in mind, our CIS store will be the perfect destination for the photography enthusiasts to experience our unique ‘input to output’ offerings, committed to elevate the imaging experiences of the consumers.”

The CIS stores provide a comprehensive range of photography and home printing solutions along with a range of Inkjet/Laser printers and cartridges. To leverage further growth in the market, CIS also exhibits wide range of unmatched Canon lenses ensuring full photography experience to the consumers in the store. Additionally, CIS provides easy finance facilities such as EMI through various credit cards, paper finance and cashback options.

REVE Antivirus Adds North East Region of India to Its Distribution List REVE Antivirus announced that it has launched its range of IT Security Products in the North East region of India adding Assam and Meghalaya to the distribution list. Northeast market is the new addition of REVE Antivirus after its expansion in states such as Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Punjab, and Haryana to name a few. Mr. Sanjit Chatterjee, CEO, REVE Antivirus comments on this new market expansion, “We are quite happy to make our range of IT Security Suite available in the North East Market – Assam & Meghalaya from our complete range of IT Security products that include SoHo and Endpoint Security Solutions.” In Assam, REVE Antivirus has its distributors in Guwahati, which is an important commercial hub of the entire region.

Apart from official distributors, several resellers are signing up to resell REVE products in the market.

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As a brand, Cooler Master is known to provide timely service to its partners and customers, with Kaizen will be able to provide a shorter TAT. With an intent, a partner may walk in with the product to their nearest Kaizen location, as a process Kaizen will first review the request, check the product for physical damage and make sure its in original state. The replacement to customers in metro cities will be given hand to hand (if stocks available) and for those in Tier 2 cities in TAT of 7days. Kaizen`s presence in 50 locations pan India, give the advantage to serve as many customers as we can. For any queries partners may call Kaizen Toll Free no. - 1800 425 4234. For Second level escalation they may call Mr. Harshal Tank at +91 9137136215.

Mrs. Meenu Jain, Country Manager, India said, ‘We have always aimed towards giving the best to our partners, not just in terms of products but also providing them the best service. We know we have done a right job when we know our customers are happy and satisfied using our products.

We aim to keep our motto and customer interest with this appointment.’

‘Customer service methodology has taken a huge face shift in the current decade, Kaizen has outpaced the synergy with its advanced technology in terms of Technology, Process, System and reaching to the requirements of Customers. Commitment to customers is the key to our success and this tie-up is the fruit of our commitment to the customers and channel community of cooler master. At Kaizen we continuously harness our deliverables and map the deliverables depending on the requirements of customers’, said Murali Krishnan, Head, Kaizen Infoserve.

TechnoBind Associates with Super Micro to Distribute Its Solutions Across India TechnoBind announced the availability of Super Micro's latest products, resource-saving server and 5G edge solutions with TechnoBind for India market. The other Super Micro's solution that TechnoBind will be responsible for increasing visibility in India is 5G and IoT Edge solutions that address the increasing demands of 5G transition of supporting infrastructure. "We feel privileged to be associated with Super Micro.

They are strongly committed to providing customers the newest technologies which help them drive leading performance and improved TCO with higher server performance", said Mr. Adrian Johnson, Director - Technology at TechnoBind. "Super Micro's latest Resource-Saving servers deliver better data center performance, better TCO and have less impact on the environment. To address the demand for game-changing 5G infrastructure, Super Micro introduced new 5G and IoT Edge products that support all open container architectures not only to accelerate analytics and AI at the Edge but also to enable anything anywhere as a Service. All these products are available and catered by TechnoBind across India market."

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CHANNEL BUZZ

Compuage Honoured ASUS T3 Partners Kaspersky Conducted 4 City Partner Engagement Program Along with with Exciting Thailand Trip Ingram Micro

Channel partner scheme announced by Compuage in JFM (Jan, Feb, Mar) for Asus range of notebooks received huge participation from T3 partners in North. Over 30 partners qualified for a 3 nights 4 days trip to Bangkok & Pattaya. It was a leisure trip foctused on enhancing & maintaining relationship with partners. Team that departed on 1st Aug had a great time for 3 days visiting Sri Racha Zoo, Noong Nooch Village, Coral Island, Safari World & Marine Park, City Tour, they also had a lot of fun and frolic activities and returned with the fondest memories. Bhavesh H Mehta, Director & COO – Compuage Infocom Limited said, “Partners passion for any scheme is of utmost important for business growth and we aim to continue such programs which help us reach out to newer heights. We are pleased to see their commitment towards our business”. “I would like to thank all our partners for the continued support for Asus notebooks business” he further added.

DIGISOL Strengthens Its Distribution Network by Appointing SG Enterprises for Mumbai In a bid to expand distribution network, DIGISOL Systems Ltd. announces the appointment of SG Enterprises, as its distributor for Mumbai region. The strategic alliance aims to strengthen DIGISOL’s presence amongst electrical and Networking System Integrators Market in the region. DIGISOL has been introducing a gamut of futuristic networking products under its active networking, structured cabling and FTTH range for channel which aims to fulfill growing networking requirements of future. This association will help DIGISOL achieve a stronger foothold in the Mumbai market, as SG Enterprises holds expertise in distribution of Network and Server racks and other VDI components and works closely with System Integrators and Electrical Contractors in the western region. Commenting on the partnership, Mr. Devendra Kamtekar, CEO, DIGISOL Systems said, “We are delighted to appoint SG Enterprises as our distributor for Mumbai region. With this association, our distribution network has become stronger and we are confident that SG Enterprise’s expertise will further contribute to our persistent growth.” DIGISOL’s offering includes Wireless LAN, Broadband Routing, Switching and Structured Cabling, FTTH solutions that caters to SOHO, SMB and SME segments. DIGISOL has PAN India presence with 20 regional distributors, 200+ Stockist Partners, and 5000+ DIGISOL Valued Partners (Resellers).

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Kaspersky recently conducted a very successful partner engagement program with its national B2B distributor Ingram Micro in four metro cities - Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Mumbai. The series of events saw active participation from 200+ partners who were engaged in strategic discussions around taking Kaspersky’s wide enterprise solution portfolio to their customer base. Through the program ‘Winning Together’, Kaspersky and Ingram Micro have further strengthened their partnership. As it has been Kaspersky’s tradition, they decided to conduct these programs to not just communicate their strategy and demonstrate key products, but also to bring the Ingram Micro partners on board with Kaspersky. At the meeting, Mr. Anand Shringi, Channel Head, South Asia, Kaspersky and Mr. Ebenezer Stephan, Regional Head, Kaspersky deliberated in detail Kaspersky’s profile for the partners. They spoke about their very successful partner program Kaspersky Sales Army, which is an exclusive incentive program to appreciate the partner sales & pre-sales team’s hard work and to reward them.

Dell Comes With Aggressive Online Go-To-Market Strategy for Small Businesses Augmenting the successful direct selling sales model of its small business vertical, Dell in India announced an online go-to-market strategy for its small business (SB) customers. With this move, Dell has amplified its commitment to SBs, a priority segment. Over the last 33 years, Dell has played the role of a trusted partner for small businesses and understands the opportunity for growth in the segment. Leveraging the company’s global legacy in selling directly to this customer base, Dell has emerged as the only original equipment manufacturer (OEM) in India, to do so. Having served these customers for more than a decade in India, Dell understands the pulse of small businesses and has been solidifying its presence to become the one-stop-shop for technology needs. Through the online direct sales mechanism, customers will enjoy a seamless purchase experience as per their preference. Customers will be able to choose from award-winning products and further customize configurations as per respective IT needs.

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NEWS IN BRIEF

ASUS Sets 246 World Records for Fastest 1P and 2P Server Performance

Sophos Recognized as Best Small Business Endpoint Security Solution by SE Labs Sophos announced it was named the 2019 Best Small Business Endpoint security solution by SE Labs in its inaugural “Annual Report.”

The new report recognizes Intercept X Advanced as the industry’s best for endpoint threat protection based on strong product performance following months of in-depth testing. SE Labs “tested more than 50 different products using over 5,000 targeted attacks. These attacks were run in a realistic way using publicly available hacking tools,” according to the report. “To ensure our testing is as realistic and useful as possible, we monitor real-world breaches from a technical point of view. This allows us to adapt and change our testing in a similar way to how real attackers operate.” Intercept X Advanced consistently ranks best at detecting and stopping attacks. It achieved 100 percent Total Accuracy Ratings for enterprise and small business endpoint protection in SE Labs’ 2019 endpoint protection test reports. It’s also earned AAA ratings in every SE Labs test to date.

C. Sukumaran to Lead The Image Communication Product Division of Canon India ASUS announced that a total of 246 world records have been set by its rack servers, including GPGPU (general-purpose computing on graphics processing units) servers and multi-node servers. As recorded by the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation (SPEC) for benchmarks measuring computing-intensive performance, ASUS dual-processor (2P) servers ESC8000 G4 and RS720Q-E9 achieved the highest scores for compute-intensive applications, and the ASUS single-processor (1P) RS300-E10 server set 70 new best-performance records.

ESC8000 G4 is a 4U GPGPU series 2P server with support for up to eight double-deck graphics cards for AI training, high-performance computing (HPC), content creation, rendering, gaming, VR and AR, and professional visualization applications. Its patented adaptable topology design allows it to automatically switch to single- or dual-root topologies through ASMB9iKVM, making it ideal for AI learning or High Performance Computing environments. ESC8000 G4 holds 64 world records for compute-intensive applications across SPEC CPU® 2017 benchmark packages SPECint 2017 rate and SPECfp 2017.

RS720Q-E9, a 2U4N high-density 2P server, set a record of 97 benchmarks for compute-intensive applications across SPEC CPU® 2017 benchmarks packages SPECint 2017 rate and SPECfp 2017. RS720Q-E9 is designed for processing-intensive environments such as data center and private cloud applications. It supports two to eight processors (28 cores per processor) and 48 DIMMs for up to 6 TB of memory. All ASUS servers that achieve the world-record 2P performance results are based on 1st and 2nd Generation Intel® Xeon® scalable processors.

ASUS has over 23 years of expertise in the server industry and a dedicated team of engineers specializing in server hardware design, software/ firmware integration, and performance tuning and optimization for a broad range of applications. The record-setting performance of these new ASUS servers underscores the ASUS commitment to pursuing continuous system optimization and performance tuning to deliver solutions of the highest quality. As of August 1, 2019, ASUS servers have set 246 performance benchmark records. ASUS servers feature exclusive Performance Boost technology to achieve the best server performance and agility by tuning servers to match workload requirements. This technology improves workload throughput by maximizing processor frequency and boost power, making it ideal for time-sensitive applications such as financial services or data center operations.

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Canon India announced the expansion of responsibilities of Mr. C Sukumaran, as he takes on the mantle of heading Image Communication Products division, along with spearheading Consumer System Products (CSP) division at Canon India. He will now be serving as the Director, Consumer System Products Division and Image Communication Products (ICP) Division. He takes on the leadership role for ICP from Mr. Eddie Udagawa who has moved to Singapore and will be taking up his new role as Vice President, Regional CII (Consumer Imaging and Information Centre) Group, Canon Singapore Pte. Ltd. As part of his new profile, Mr. Sukumaran will be responsible for the supervision and development of the ICP business along with the CSP business in India. With a deep insight into marketing strategies and sales planning, along with thorough knowledge of business executions, Mr. Sukumaran will be playing an instrumental role towards strengthening the market presence of the camera business in India and strategize to take Canon India to new heights.

Seagate Technology Helps BBC Media Action with Its Storage Solutions Seagate Technology is helping the BBC’s international development charity, BBC Media Action, store and deliver content to improve people’s lives around the world. Specifically, the charity’s media and communication efforts reinforce governance, improve people’s health, strengthen the resilience of vulnerable groups and help them survive, and recover from, humanitarian emergencies. To support BBC Media Action’s creative workflow, Seagate is donating 90 10TB and 12 4TB IronWolf Pro hard drives to be installed in Synology NAS servers, helping the charity to store their rushes securely and back up their broadcast content safely. Previously, BBC Media Action stored content across a patchwork of different solutions. Very few of these solutions included RAIDconfigured devices and fewer still were backed up to secondary storage.

Given the challenging environments in which the charity works, this left them particularly vulnerable. For high workloads and collaborative environments such as this, the new set-up with IronWolf Pro and Synology NAS provides 24x7 remote access, backup and file sharing. As the IronWolf drive has been specially made for NAS devices it comes with several features that you wouldn’t normally find in a standard internal hard drive.

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NEWS IN BRIEF

MAIT Talks with Government Officials for Acer Predator League 2020 for APAC Reason Growth of Electronics and IT Manufacturing in to Start From 14th October India It is time for Indian PUBG gamers to gear up and get ready as the much Manufacturers Association of Information Technology (MAIT) along with its industry representatives held a meeting with Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, Hon’ble Minister, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and other senior Government officials to discuss the way forward on the growth of the electronics and IT manufacturing industry in India. The meeting, held in Vigyan Bhavan was attended by several MAIT members including HP, Dell, Lenovo , Netweb Technologies, CISCO, Rosenberger and many more. Speaking about the meeting, Mr. Nitin Kunkolienker, President, MAIT said, “We have been working closely with the ministry to remove any bottlenecks in the growth path of the industry so that electronics and IT manufacturing can flourish in the country. We have had a very promising discussion with Hon’ble Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad which has resulted in specific action points, in line with the government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative which can help in significantly strengthening the sector.”

TP-Link to Offer More Secure Networking Solutions in Partnership with Avira Avira is partnering with TP-Link to protect smart home users from internet threats. Avira SafeThings®, a security solution embedded in the router, will transform TP-Link’s Wi-Fi routers into home protectors. TP-Link is teaming up with Avira to ensure comprehensive protection for all internet connected devices in the home, including smart TVs, smart thermostats and all the other IoT devices connected to the home network that cannot usually run security software. Powered by Avira SafeThings, select TPLink Wi-Fi routers will include a complete home network security solution with privacy features, malware and DDoS protection, and more. Avira SafeThings uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to detect anomalies in the behavior of smart devices, intercepting cyberattacks, unauthorized remote access, malware, and other threats. A mobile application gives users visibility over all connected devices, and helps keep them secure. TP-Link and Avira will work continuously to enhance the security of the Wi-Fi routers.

Konica Minolta Showcased State-of-the-art Print Samples Using Its Industrial Printers at PackPlus 2019 In a development which highlights its clear technological superiority in the digital printing domain, Konica Minolta Business Solutions has participated at the recently-concluded PackPlus 2019, organised at New Delhi. Speaking on the participation, Mr. Kuldeep Malhotra, Vice President - Sales, Konica Minolta Business Solutions India Pvt Ltd said, “There has been a huge surge in the demand for hyper-personalised and short-run print jobs over the past couple of years, particularly in the labels and packaging space. As a domain-leading OEM, Konica Minolta is actively catering to this evolving market requirement with its range of top-of-the-line industrial printers. Prominent events such as PackPlus 2019 provide us with the perfect platform to showcase the value that our products can unlock for the country’s print and printing businesses. We are delighted with the impressive response that we have received at the event and are looking to build on it with greater industry participation in the coming months.”

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coveted Predator Gaming League preliminaries are about to kick-off here in India. The registrations for PGL 2020 India are set to commence from 14th October 2019, with the regional tournament starting from 1st November 2019. The winning team will get to participate in one of the most anticipated competitions, the Asia Pacific Predator League 2020, to be held in Manila on February 22-23, 2020 at the SM Mall of Asia Arena, Pasay City. Prior to that, all 17 regions will start registrations for their local qualifier competitions in October, before going to Manila in February 2020 to fight the final battle. Predator will gather the best gamers in 17 regions from Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Australia, India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Myanmar. Only the determined and strong-willed in the PUBG and DOTA2 games will capture the prize pool value at US$400,000.

Super Plastronics Aims to Attain 10% Market Share in The Karnataka Market Super Plastronics Pvt. Ltd. (SPPL) is celebrating its three consecutive successful years of selling KODAK HD LED TVs in the consumer electronics segment in India. On this occasion, Mr. Avneet Singh Marwah announced brand’s on Karnataka. It is an important market for the brand and with presence in over 2300 cities and towns, he aims to capture 10% market share in Karnataka by 2020. Commenting on the development, Mr. Avneet Singh Marwah, Director, SPPL said, “The strong traction KODAK HD LED TV has received in the past three years is a testament of our confidence of leveraging Kodak’s brand legacy and revitalizing its brand recall in the minds of customers across India. We have started our journey by launching on online e-commerce channels to ensure immediate brand visibility and slowly and gradually we have grown to be present in 2300 cities and towns appx.”

K7 Computing Hosted AVAR Cyber Conclave in Bangalore K7 Computing Private Limited hosted the prestigious AVAR Cyber Conclave 2019 in Bangalore, India. With the attackers exploiting the vulnerabilities in the systems, globally, the massive damage wrought by the cybercriminals may be fathomed by the estimates of losses due to ransomware alone amounting to over USD 8 billion (approximately INR 56,700 crore). The aim of the event was to generate greater awareness in industry for having a concrete blueprint for ensuring data security at all ends. Speaking about AVAR Cyber Conclave, J Kesavardhanan, MD & CEO, K7 Computing said, “The aim of AVAR is to bring all stakeholders, those who are helping to fend off the cyber-threats and attacks, onto a single platform to share information on the various threats that arise every now and then. AVAR shall organise such events regularly in the country so that more and more people can be part of such events.” Highlighting about the need to have stringent data security policies being adopted by the companies, Allan Dyer, Chairman, AVAR, said, “All countries need to work together. We have to move against the cybercriminals by moving away from retribution to attribution.We have to ensure that every stakeholder in the ecosystem is educated about cyber threats and ways to protect their data from being attacked. This would need a collective approach from companies across the globe.”

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RNI No: DELENG/2010/31992