TikTok Surpasses YouTube and Instagram in News Reach

TikTok has officially overtaken YouTube and Instagram as the leading social app for news among young people in 2025. According to fresh Pew Research data, 43% of U.S. adults aged 18–29 now regularly get their news from TikTok, compared to 41% from YouTube and Facebook, and 40% from Instagram.

Key Findings

• TikTok leads the pack: For the first time, TikTok is the top social media platform for news among young Americans.
• Close competition: YouTube and Facebook are tied at 41%, while Instagram follows at 40%.
• Other platforms lag: X (formerly Twitter) sits at 21%, and Reddit at 18%.
• Social media dominance overall: 67% of young adults say they often or sometimes rely on social media for news, compared to 60% who use traditional news websites.

Why TikTok is Winning

• Short-form video appeal: TikTok’s algorithm delivers bite-sized, engaging news clips that match young audiences’ consumption habits.
• Community-driven content: Users often encounter news through creators, commentary, and stitched videos rather than traditional outlets.
• Platform investment: TikTok has rolled out tools for publishers and community fact-checking, making it more credible as a news source.
• Cultural relevance: TikTok’s meme-driven, fast-moving style resonates with younger audiences who prefer conversational and visual formats over long articles.

Risks & Challenges

• Misinformation: TikTok’s viral nature means false or misleading content can spread quickly.
• Algorithmic bias: News exposure depends heavily on TikTok’s recommendation system, which may skew perspectives.
• Credibility gap: While TikTok is popular, traditional outlets still hold more trust among older demographics.
• Regulatory scrutiny: Governments are increasingly concerned about TikTok’s influence on public opinion and its role in shaping political discourse.

Comparison Table

Platform	% of Young Adults (18–29) Using for News	Strengths	Weaknesses
TikTok	43%	Engaging short-form video, cultural relevance, creator-driven	Misinformation risk, algorithm bias
YouTube	41%	Long-form depth, established creators	Less immediacy, slower trend adoption
Facebook	41%	Broad reach, community groups	Declining youth engagement, credibility issues
Instagram	40%	Visual storytelling, lifestyle + news blend	Less focus on hard news
X (Twitter)	21%	Real-time updates, breaking news	Toxic discourse, declining trust
Reddit	18%	Niche communities, in-depth discussion	Fragmented, not mainstream

TikTok’s rise marks a seismic shift in how younger generations consume news — away from traditional outlets and even away from older social platforms, toward algorithm-driven, creator-led ecosystems.

Bajaj Finserv Signs up Kwik.ID as their Exclusive Video KYC Partner

Signs partnership with Bajaj Finserv and Shinhan Bankon the back of superior product performance and quality differentiation

Kwik.ID, India’s fastest Video KYC solution announces another win by signing a partnership with Bajaj Finserv and Shinhan Bank as part of their significant growth trajectory in Q2. Kwik.ID’s solutions and impressive KYC completion rate of 85% will enable these financial services providers with convenient customer acquisitions, quicker customer onboarding and other financial operations.

Kwik.ID’s AI-powered face-match and OCR tech-backed document verification enhances the V-KYC process as it identity fraud in real-time. Moreover, Kwik.ID has made 100% RBI-compliant solution by using 7x lesser resources when compared to market standards, thus resulting in significantly high efficiencies in customer onboarding costs.

Monish Salot, Co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Think Analytics said, “It was a long and competitive evaluation processes, at the end of which Bajaj Finserv has chosen Kwik.ID as their exclusive V-KYC partner. This is a great vindication of our focus on product excellence, and flexible user-journey design. Bajaj and Shinhan as client partners further highlights the domain expertise we bring to the table, in addition to 250-300% monthly growth in volumes we have witnessed during COVID. We understand regulated entities and we build for enterprise scale and with startup agility”.

Mr. Cho Sung Bok - Director of IT India, Shinhan Bank, “We are glad to join hands with Kwik.ID as the product offers all relevant features and modules necessary to carry out successful Video and Digital KYC sessions, such as security, infrastructure and bandwidth support. We are confident that this association will drive significant operational efficiency and customer convenience improvements; we look forward to our fruitful association.” Kwik.ID has designed a seamless, user-friendly online onboarding journey for Regulated Entities, a much needed solution in these digitally demanding times. A product of Think Analytics, Kwik.ID has acquired 10+ clients this quarter, including RupeeRedee, New India Cooperative Bank, Arohan Microfinance, Zest Money, and more. 

Espousal, a Virtual Wedding Fair to Support the Wedding Industry Recover from the Impact of COVID19

The event is aimed at supporting wedding planners, photographers, caterers, artists and many others in the wedding industry to recover from the impact of COVID19

ZEROIN, an event management company, will host ‘Espousal’, a first of it’s kind online wedding exhibition. The virtual event will be held on 11th and 12th September. Like many other sectors, the wedding industry has taken a tremendous hit due to COVID19. From wedding planners, photographers to event spaces, the $50billion wedding industry is facing a number of challenges due to the pandemic. With an aim to help wedding planners and other players in the wedding industry recover from the impact of COVID19, Zeroin is hosting the online wedding expo 'Espousal'. From photographers to caterers, make up artists to wedding designers, Espousal has a comprehensive list of service providers who will be a part of the event. To register for the event, please visit https://bit.ly/2XrGDV9

With over 200 online stalls, Espousal offers visitors a chance to directly interact with wedding planners, jewellery designers, photographers, food caterers, venue planners, bridal salons, mehendi artists, florists, skin care professionals etc. To help the industry navigate through the challenges, Espousal will have a host of experts from the wedding industry across the globe who will conduct sessions  on the future of the global wedding industry and the emerging trends. Some of the prominent speakers are Prasad Bidapa, Fashion Choreographer and Stylist, Samit Garg, Co-Founder & Director, E Factor & SkyWaltz, Amalia Roseti, PR and International Events & Wedding, London, Samar Shawareb, Founder and CEO – Arabia Weddings, Jordan, Elisa Mocci, Founder - Elisa Mocci Events, Italy, Vikram Mehta, Founder, Mpire Events, Mumbai to name a few.

Commenting on the event, Shikha Nahata, Co-Founder and Partner, Zeroin says “ Over the last few months, wedding ceremonies and the wedding industry have undergone tremendous changes. The big fat Indian wedding has been replaced by intimate and memorable gatherings. Though wedding celebrations are now conducted on a much smaller scale, it still requires a whole lot of planning and meticulous execution. If you are one among those planning an intimate wedding or if you are planning to wait it out for your big day, Espousal is a great place to find everything you need to plan your wedding”

At Espousal, visitors can watch video presentations by vendors that they are interested to know more about, participate in a virtual tour of products, interact with service providers in separate meeting rooms and get samples of products physically delivered.

Vendors who are interested to participate in the event and book a stall, can reach out to +91 9008715708

Govt Blocks 118 Mobile Apps including PUBG, Baidu and WeChat Work

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India invoking it’s power under section 69A of the Information Technology Act read with the relevant provisions of the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking of Access of Information by Public) Rules 2009 and in view of the emergent nature of threats has decided to block 118 mobile apps (see Appendix below of this post) since in view of information available they are engaged in activities which is prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has received many complaints from various sources including several reports about misuse of some mobile apps available on Android and iOS platforms for stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users’ data in an unauthorized manner to servers which have locations outside India. The compilation of these data, its mining and profiling by elements hostile to national security and defence of India, which ultimately impinges upon the sovereignty and integrity of India, is a matter of very deep and immediate concern which requires emergency measures.

The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, Ministry of Home Affairs has also sent an exhaustive recommendation for blocking these malicious apps.. Likewise, there have been similar bipartisan concerns, flagged by various public representatives, both outside and inside the Parliament of India. There has been a strong chorus in the public space to take strict action against Apps that harm India’s sovereignty as well as the privacy of our citizens.

On the basis of these and upon receiving of recent credible inputs that information posted, permissions sought, functionality embedded as well as data harvesting practices of above stated Apps raise serious concerns that these Apps collect and share data in surreptitious manner and compromise personal data and information of users that can have a severe threat to security of the State.

In the interest of sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India and security of the State. And using the sovereign powers, the Government of India has decided to block the usage of certain Apps, used in both mobile and non-mobile Internet enabled devices. These apps are listed in the attached appendix.

This move will safeguard the interests of crores of Indian mobile and internet users. This decision is a targeted move to ensure safety, security and sovereignty of Indian cyberspace.

Appendix

1. APUS Launcher Pro- Theme, Live Wallpapers, Smart
2. APUS Launcher -Theme, Call Show, Wallpaper, HideApps
3. APUS Security -Antivirus, Phone security, Cleaner
4. APUS Turbo Cleaner 2020- Junk Cleaner, Anti-Virus
5. APUS Flashlight-Free & Bright
6. Cut Cut – Cut Out & Photo Background Editor
7. Baidu
8. Baidu Express Edition
9. FaceU - Inspire your Beauty
10. ShareSave by Xiaomi: Latest gadgets, amazing deals
11. CamCard - Business Card Reader
12. CamCard Business
13. CamCard for Salesforce
14. CamOCR
15. InNote
16. VooV Meeting - Tencent Video Conferencing
17. Super Clean - Master of Cleaner, Phone Booster
18. WeChat reading
19. Government WeChat
20. Small Q brush
21. Tencent Weiyun
22. Pitu
23. WeChat Work
24. Cyber Hunter
25. Cyber Hunter Lite
26. Knives Out-No rules, just fight!
27. Super Mecha Champions
28. LifeAfter
29. Dawn of Isles
30. Ludo World-Ludo Superstar
31. Chess Rush
32. PUBG MOBILE Nordic Map: Livik
33. PUBG MOBILE LITE
34. Rise of Kingdoms: Lost Crusade
35. Art of Conquest: Dark Horizon
36. Dank Tanks
37. Warpath
38. Game of Sultans
39. Gallery Vault - Hide Pictures And Videos
40. Smart AppLock (App Protect)
41. Message Lock (SMS Lock)-Gallery Vault Developer Team
42. Hide App-Hide Application Icon
43. AppLock
44. AppLock Lite
45. Dual Space - Multiple Accounts & App Cloner
46. ZAKZAK Pro - Live chat & video chat online
47. ZAKZAK LIVE: live-streaming & video chat app
48. Music - Mp3 Player
49. Music Player - Audio Player & 10 Bands Equalizer
50. HD Camera Selfie Beauty Camera
51. Cleaner - Phone Booster
52. Web Browser & Fast Explorer
53. Video Player All Format for Android
54. Photo Gallery HD & Editor
55. Photo Gallery & Album
56. Music Player - Bass Booster - Free Download
57. HD Camera - Beauty Cam with Filters & Panorama
58. HD Camera Pro & Selfie Camera
59. Music Player - MP3 Player & 10 Bands Equalizer
60. Gallery HD
61. Web Browser - Fast, Privacy & Light Web Explorer
62. Web Browser - Secure Explorer
63. Music player - Audio Player
64. Video Player - All Format HD Video Player
65. Lamour Love All Over The World
66. Amour- video chat & call all over the world.
67. MV Master - Make Your Status Video & Community
68. MV Master - Best Video Maker & Photo Video Editor
69. APUS Message Center-Intelligent management
70. LivU Meet new people & Video chat with strangers
71. Carrom Friends : Carrom Board & Pool Game-
72. Ludo All Star- Play Online Ludo Game & Board Games
73. Bike Racing : Moto Traffic Rider Bike Racing Games
74. Rangers Of Oblivion : Online Action MMO RPG Game
75. Z Camera - Photo Editor, Beauty Selfie, Collage
76. GO SMS Pro - Messenger, Free Themes, Emoji
77. U-Dictionary: Oxford Dictionary Free Now Translate
78. Ulike - Define your selfie in trendy style
79. Tantan - Date For Real
80. MICO Chat: New Friends Banaen aur Live Chat karen
81. Kitty Live - Live Streaming & Video Live Chat
82. Malay Social Dating App to Date & Meet Singles
83. Alipay
84. AlipayHK
85. Mobile Taobao
86. Youku
87. Road of Kings- Endless Glory
88. Sina News
89. Netease News
90. Penguin FM
91. Murderous Pursuits
92. Tencent Watchlist (Tencent Technology
93. Learn Chinese AI-Super Chinese
94. HUYA LIVE – Game Live Stream
95. Little Q Album
96. Fighting Landlords - Free and happy Fighting Landlords
97. Hi Meitu
98. Mobile Legends: Pocket
99. VPN for TikTok
100. VPN for TikTok
101. Penguin E-sports Live assistant
102. Buy Cars-offer everything you need, special offers and low prices
103. iPick
104. Beauty Camera Plus - Sweet Camera & Face Selfie
105. Parallel Space Lite - Dual App
106. "Chief Almighty: First Thunder BC
107. MARVEL Super War NetEase Games
108. AFK Arena
109. Creative Destruction NetEase Games
110. Crusaders of Light NetEase Games
111. Mafia City Yotta Games
112. Onmyoji NetEase Games
113. Ride Out Heroes NetEase Games
114. Yimeng Jianghu-Chu Liuxiang has been fully upgraded
115. Legend: Rising Empire NetEase Games
116. Arena of Valor: 5v5 Arena Games
117. Soul Hunters
118. Rules of Survival

Ranveer Singh Launches Online Education App: Eduauraa

• Founded and led by CEO Akanksha Chaturvedi, Eduauraa aims to democratize the online education sector in India.
• Eduauraa has brought on Ranveer Singh as the brand ambassador in a bid to empower over 310 million students in India
• Eduauraa is now available on Android, iOS, ZEE5 and web browsers

 Eduauraa, is a premium digital learning platform created with a vision to utilize world-class technology and make quality education available in every corner of India at an affordable price. Eduauraa's educational content accurately follows the syllabus for each of their 9 boards in both, Hindi and English, not only for video lectures but also Value Added Services (VAS) content like e-books, test papers, MCQ's, mind maps and past papers.

Through a strategic partnership with ZEE5, India's Entertainment Super-app, customers can enjoy all of this, in addition to 1.25 lac hours of bespoke premium entertainment content across genres and languages, starting at just INR 999 per year. This association will redefine education and entertainment with a reach of 75 million households countrywide.

In India, 85% of people earn below 8 lakhs a year, yet private school expenses of a single child have risen from INR 55,000 in 2005 to INR 1,25,000 in 2015. Limited access to good education in India has led to a surge in tuition culture, with tuitions accounting for 15% of the total expenditure on private education and about 11-12% of the average family income is dedicated to tuitions. These factors contribute towards making education a privilege and not a right. However, Eduauraa aims to close this gap by providing the best quality education at affordable rates for students of class 6 to 10 in 4 subjects - Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Biology.

The Indian youth ranked second last among the 73 countries that participated in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Eduauraa aspires to change this statistic by giving access to the superior learning tools within their app to every child so they can easily understand and absorb concepts. A team of teachers from India's top 10 schools, Subject Matter Experts, visualizers, animators, editors and directors help create an engaging learning experience so every child now gets a level playing field. 

Ranveer Singh Brand Ambassador & Akanksha Chaturvedi, Founder & CEO of Eduauraa

Ranveer Singh, Brand Ambassador of Eduauraa, commented, "When Akanksha told me about Eduauraa and their vision to democratize education, it resonated with me. Eduauraa will allow every child in this country to create their own destiny and shine. The right education for every child in India will help them shatter glass ceilings and fulfil their aspirations. I am excited to be part of this journey and I wish Eduauraa all the very best in their mission."

Akanksha Chaturvedi, Founder and CEO of Eduauraa commented, "India currently ranks 112th out of 188 countries on the global education index. This is a ranking that speaks volumes about the accessibility of quality education in our country. My aim with Eduauraa is to be instrumental in changing our current global education ranking. With the onset of digitalisation in our country, we saw a sizable shift in pricing of services or products but even after learning modified to E-learning, the pricing element was the key problem. When I started analysing this, one question that I kept asking was if OTT platforms can provide accessible entertainment at INR 999/- a year why can't education do the same? And today with Eduauraa, we have democratised education and E-learning in India. We are also extremely excited to have Ranveer Singh as our brand ambassador. His vibrant personality resonates with our young and passionate brand ethos."

Primary features of Eduauraa:

Customized to syllabus for ICSE + CBSE + 7 state boards - Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu to Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

• Convenient user interface with a built-in navigation system, aided by a voice search feature
• Content design- Video lectures with 2D/3D & alpha animations, images and real-life examples
• Value added services- Mind-maps for diagrammatic representation and revision, MCQ's, e-books, passed papers, objective & subjective test papers
• Eduauraa Proficiency Quotient to analyze a student's progress
• Eduauraa Assistant for easy study scheduling

EPQ for self- evaluation in the app:

Eduauraa uses technology for  evaluation analytics so students are provided with detailed insights into learner's progress during the course:

• Adaptive tests
  • The difficulty of the test is determined by the students' performance such that it will get harder or easier following a correct or incorrect answer respectively.
• Knowledge tests
  • Eduauraa's AI uses answers to assess user knowledge levels on a specific topic, allowing for active and engaging participation

Eduauraa offers 3 levels of subscription packages:

• Base video pack subscription - INR 999/- per year (introductory offer)
  • Includes annual subscription to Eduauraa and Zee5 premium
  • 6000+ hours of video content made by India's top teachers (download enabled)
  • 2D/3D & alpha animations in each video
  • Eduauraa Assistant
• VAS pack subscription- INR 1999/- per year
  • Includes all Value-Added Services materials like- e-books, test papers, mind maps and past papers
  • Eduauraa Proficiency Quotient (EPQ)
  • Eduauraa Assistant
• All inclusive subscription - INR 2499/ - per year (introductory offer)
  • All access to Eduauraa content + Zee5 premium + VAS services

The app also offers a free guest user version, enabling access to limited sample content for an unlimited time span. Eduauraa's immersive learning experience is built so that every student in India has access to the best education at any time.

Download the Eduauraa app here now:

Play Store: bit.ly/34Mkghx 
App Store: apple.co/316KCIN

Website- https://eduauraa.com/ 

IIIT Technology Venture Partners Funds ₹20 Lacs each in DaveAI and Stack Finance

IIIT Technology Venture Partners invested an amount of INR 20 Lacs in DaveAi - a Bengaluru based AI sales augmentation platform for enterprises used by brands to create sales experiences on the web, VR, and AR.

The startup, founded in 2016 by Dr Ananthakrishnan Gopal, Ashok Balasundaram and Sriram P H, has also received funding from Mumbai Angels, and participation from GHVAccelerator and Mohan Kumar - CEO of Crestere Technologies LLP.

"We are very happy to jointly invest along with Mumbai Angels and GHV Accelerators in Dave.AI as we see them playing a critical role in the new world where the retail industry will transform completely and companies like Dave.AI will be a game-changer. Their intersection of retail understanding and application of technology will make this an unmatched offering. We at IIIT Technology Partners are looking forward to working with Sriram and the team to support them through our industry connections, mentoring and the unique value IIIT Hyderabad brings through their faculty and knowledge in leading technologies" quoted Viiveck Verma, Co-Founder and Partner at IIIT Technology Venture Partners.

IIIT Technology Venture Partners has also invested INR 20 Lacs in Stack Finance, a startup founded by Smriti Tomar, that enables a healthier financial lifestyle by automating investments, expenses, and borrowing under a single platform along with friends and family, an AI-powered intelligent and personalized manager. The platform helps people to save, meet bills, end the overspending cycle, and develop financial IQ, right at their fingertips.

"Our fund’s philosophy has been to support aspiring startups that are solving common issues on a large-scale using technology. Stack finance is a perfect fit in for us, as they are one of the pioneers to leverage RBI’s AA framework with deeptech solutions to help millennials meet their financial goals”, said Ajay Jain, Founding Partner,  IIITH Seed Fund.

IIIT Technology Venture Partners is one of its kind fund, initiated by first-in-the-world coming together of an educational institute and private investors to create a funding mechanism which intersects with Technology knowledge from IIIT and Mentoring and Industry connects through Investors and Partners. The fund focus on investing in early-stage startups at Seed stage which has technology as a major element or an enabling element. The fund initiative has been actively making investments in early-stage startups for the past several years.

NSRCEL launches AIM Catalysts to Help Early-Stage Startups

NSRCEL, the startup and innovation hub at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, launched, in virtual mode, a programme for entrepreneurs called ‘AIM Catalysts’, where  early-stage startups, with sustainable ideas, will be welcomed for incubation.

AIM stands for Niti Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission.       

The AIM Catalysts programme at NSRCEL was launched in the presence of IIMB Director Dr. Rishikesha T. Krishnan, Ramanan Ramanathan, Mission Director, AIM, Ishita Agarwal, Programme Director, AIM, Prof. Venkatesh Panchapagesan, Chairperson, NSRCEL, Prof. Suresh Bhagavatula, Professor of Entrepreneurship, IIMB, and Rajiv Sawhney, COO, NSRCEL.

“NSRCEL was among the first six incubation centres in the country to be supported by the Atal Innovation Mission,” said Prof. Suresh Bhagavatula.

Prof. Venkatesh Panchapagesan emphasized the need for a centre like NSRCEL to adapt to the new norm, make progress during the pandemic, and launch new initiatives, programmes and partnerships. “NSRCEL is also open to taking in global ventures,” he added.

Ramanan Ramanathan pointed out that COVID has created “some never-imagined opportunities for startups in terms of assistive, preventive and curative solutions”. He emphasized importance of teamwork amongst startups, academia, government, and other enablers of the startup ecosystem. “To be catalysed into growth and nurtured from the time it is an idea till it becomes a successful business, the ‘AIM Catalysts’ programme is going to have a tremendous impact in a startup’s life,” he said.

In her overview of the Atal Innovation Mission initiative, Ishita Agarwal listed the number of entrepreneurs impacted, the jobs created, and the mentoring sessions held. She also spoke of NSRCEL being a team player and guiding upcoming incubators. “It’s very important for startups to think about ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ and forge ahead,” she said.

#1 on the Green500 - Supermicro and Preferred Networks (PFN) Collaborate to Develop the World's Most Efficient Supercomputer

Deep Learning Supercomputer MN-Core™ Achieves Record 21.11 Gigaflops Performance-Per-Watt Based on Real-World Scientific Application Benchmarks  

Super Micro Computer, Inc. (Nasdaq: SMCI), a global leader in enterprise computing, storage, networking solutions and green computing technology, today announced that its collaboration with Preferred Networks achieved the #1 ranking for the Green500 semi-annual industry assessment.  The MN-3 reached a record 21.11Gigaflops of performance-per-watt on a benchmark run that delivered a total performance of 1.62 Petaflops.  This efficiency achievement is 15% higher than the previous Green500 record of 18.404 Gflops/W, which was recorded in June 2018.

"Supermicro was excited to work with PFN on this exceptional system supporting machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) applications and energy efficiency," said Charles Liang, CEO and president of Supermicro. "The Green500 international recognition confirms that Supermicro delivers exceptional products – resource-saving, superior design, and high-reliability to the market."

PFN partnered with Supermicro to develop this customized server, which addresses a wide range of applications that require ultra-fast communications. Based in Japan, PFN strives to solve complex problems that utilize deep learning, robotics, and other advanced technologies.

"We are very pleased to have partnered with Supermicro, who worked with us very closely to build MN-3, which was recognized as the world's most energy-efficiency supercomputer," stated Yusuke Doi, VP of Computing Infrastructure at Preferred Networks. "We can deliver outstanding performance while using a fraction of the power that was previously required for such a large supercomputer."

The PFN solution is based on the Supermicro GPU server that utilizes Intel^® Xeon^® CPUs, and MN-Core boards developed by Preferred Networks. This advanced system offers up to 6TB of DDR4 memory, and multiple GPUs or accelerators, as well as the interconnects that enable ultra-fast communications between GPUs.

PFN Supercomputer

The PFN supercomputer can serve many users simultaneously. The initial cluster consisted of 48 servers- four interconnect nodes, and five 100GbE switches. There was a total of 2,080 CPU cores, housed in a 7U high rack-mounted unit.

Learn more about the Green500 supercomputer.

Follow Supermicro on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook to receive their latest news and announcements.

About Super Micro Computer, Inc.

Supermicro (Nasdaq: SMCI), the leading innovator in high-performance, high-efficiency server technology, is a premier provider of advanced Server Building Block Solutions® for Data Center, Cloud Computing, Enterprise IT, Hadoop/Big Data, HPC and Embedded Systems worldwide. Supermicro is committed to protecting the environment through its "We Keep IT Green®" initiative and provides customers with the most energy-efficient, environmentally-friendly solutions available on the market.

Supermicro, Server Building Block Solutions, and We Keep IT Green are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Super Micro Computer, Inc.

All other brands, names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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Jio Platforms' success gives hope to struggling Indian IT vendors impacted by COVID-19, says GlobalData

• Challenges faced by Indian IT vendors are in stark contrast to global counterparts


• Indian tech companies have traditionally been IT services giants


• Interest in Jio Platforms will augur well for other Indian tech companies

Global technology companies have seen a rapid increase in their valuation over the past six months - with the most notable example being Apple passing the US$2 trillion mark in market capitalization (MCap) value. In contrast, many Indian IT vendors are struggling, having been affected considerably by the COVID-19 outbreak. While traditional Indian IT services giants have been waiting to tide over the impact of the pandemic, Jio Platforms has transformed into a tech juggernaut. While it may be difficult for others to replicate what Jio has achieved, the interest in Jio will definitely augur well for other Indian technology companies at a time when enterprises across the world are gearing up for digitization, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

Nishant Singh, Director of Technology at GlobalData, says: "While Indian IT vendors seeing such stark contrast to global counterparts is unfortunate, this is just the nature of the IT services business model, which, in contrast to software, needs projects in the pipeline. With the COVID-19 outbreak, enterprises halted all non-critical expenses, including plans to upgrade or transform their IT infrastructure. This has had an impact on Indian IT companies, since most of their revenues are from IT services.

"A lot of the faith in global technology companies comes from the fact that they have a pretty robust suite of intellectual property, including hardware, software and ecosystems that serve consumers and enterprises alike. The growth in stock prices merely reaffirms that technology companies – primarily 'Big Tech' companies – are well poised to tide over the pandemic-induced recession."

Big Indian technology companies such as TCS, Infosys, Wipro and HCL have traditionally been IT services giants. Unlike their counterparts in the software space, IT services companies typically do not have a large stash of intellectual property, making it slightly difficult for the market to distinguish between the IT services companies. For example, TCS – India's biggest IT services company – has only managed to recover the valuation it had lost owing to the pandemic. The company has also been in the news recently due to the intellectual property lawsuit filed against it by Epic Systems Corp.

Despite these struggles, the near future should see the market showing more confidence in the traditional Indian IT vendors. Singh adds: "With enterprises across the world now gearing up for digitization, Indian IT services vendors will witness a lot of action. Coupled with the market euphoria witnessed for Jio, the technology landscape in India could well witness a drastic revival in investor confidence."

Analysts available for interview. Please contact Aarti Chandrseker at the GlobalData Press Office for comment on +91 40 6616 6809 / +44 (0)207 936 6400 or email: pr@globaldata.com.

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IIT Bombay Students launch Indian Alternative to Scanning Apps, With AI Features

Here comes an indigenous alternative to Chinese document-scanning apps, following Government of India’s decision to ban 59 mobile apps which were prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India. AIR Scanner, a free-of-cost mobile application, has been developed Rohit Kumar Chaudhary and Kavin Agrawal, two final-year B.Tech students in the Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Bombay. Their inspiration comes from Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s clarion call for an Aatma Nirbhar Bharat.


AIR Scanner has been launched on Independence Day, 15th August 2020. The AI (Artificial Intelligence) based Reading Assistant & Document Scanner app can scan documents and also read to users who have difficulty in reading English.

“Initially, we had been working on developing an app to make reading experience easy for people who find it difficult to read English. It was then that the Indian government banned many Chinese apps including mobile scanner apps. After the ban on Chinese app – CamScanner, we surveyed and found that people are facing issues in scanning and organising documents through their mobile phones. It was then we decided to add scanning features too to our existing AIR App”, says Rohit Kumar Chaudhary, one of the developers.

What makes this app special are its exclusive safety features.

The document you scan using your mobile camera will be saved in PDF format and will be stored in the device only. “AIR Scanner app does not collect any information about the user and all the documents are stored in the phone’s local storage. We are not using any cloud storage to store the documents of the users. The app guarantees complete user security.”, Rohit Kumar added.

The app is free of cost and at the same time completely secure. “Many scanner apps require users to sign-in to their apps. Once you sign-in to the application, they automatically back-up all your documents and your personal information into their cloud. This is where the security issue arises. AIR Scanner app doesn’t even require you to sign-in”, he said.

With this app, every user can enjoy all the document scanner features such as scanning, organizing and sharing documents without worrying about its security.

Kavin Agrawal

Added advantage of this app is its Artificial Intelligence feature that reads out the scanned pages and also provides meaning of the selected word to the user in 40 different languages.


“The motivation behind this innovation is to help people in education. As of now, it is available in English language only, but we are planning to make it available in multiple languages which will make it easy for anyone to read any language. Soon we are planning to convert this project into a Start-Up.


As of now there are 1500 downloads from the Play Store. Currently it is available for Android users only but soon it will be released for iOS users too”, he said.

The application can be downloaded from the following link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hind.airscanner.

Punjab Launches mSeva WhatApp ChatBot, Built by eGov Foundation

In this new normal, when everyone across the country is maintaining social distance and trying to avoid outdoor activities with a goal to fight against the pandemic, the Hon'ble Chief Minister of Punjab, Capt. Amarinder Singh launched the mSeva WhatApp ChatBot on 27th August 2020 for the citizens of Punjab, with a mission to provide better accessibility, flexibility, and a contactless way to avail services from their local governments.

Using this mSeva WhatsApp Chatbot, which is built by eGov Foundation on its DIGIT stack, filing and tracking is as easy as chatting on Whatsapp. This innovative service has currently been piloted in 4 Municipal Corporations - Phagwara, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Hoshiarpur, and 1 Municipal council - Zirakpur. As soon as the pilot is successfully completed, the citizens across 167 ULBs in Punjab will be able to use the WhatsApp Chatbot to file and track the status of the reported greivances.

With more than 400 million users, India has become the largest market for WhatsApp globally. PMIDC and eGov Foundation are working together to expand the slew of services on mSeva WhatsApp bot, and in the next 3-4 months, the citizens across Punjab will also be able to view and make payments of their water and sewerage bills via mSeva WhatsApp Chatbot. 

In the launch event, Shri Ajoy Sharma, CEO, PMIDC stated, "Public grievance redressal in a time bound manner is of paramount importance for the Govt of Punjab. As a part of the 'Digital Citizen Services First' approach, we digitized  citizen-centric municipal services since 2018 and more than 8 modules can be accessed via web portal and mobile app. Extending the services, we now aim at the resolution of civic complaints with the widely used messaging platform, WhatsApp. Driving a paradigm shift from clicks to personalized seamless conversations will result in improved citizen experience and  foster belongingness among citizens with speedy resolution of issues." 

Citizens can access the chatbot either by giving a missed call or sending a Whatsapp message to +91-8750975975. Once the chat is initiated, the chatbot will guide them to file their complaints from a list of grievances for their specific location, attach images to support the complaints raised and track the status of each of the complaints, thereby eliminating the need to visit the ULB office in person or logging in to a web portal and navigating through various screens. As citizen engagement demands ease, accessibility, greater responsiveness, and accountability from local government, mSeva WhatsApp bot will truly bring the government closer to the citizen at the convenience of their phone.

Viraj Tyagi, CEO, eGov Foundation expressed, "It has always been our endeavour to offer improved convenience and inclusive access to  citizens in  towns and cities across India.  Our open technology platform - the DIGIT Urban Stack - is powering this ambition and we have partnered with Punjab Govt over the last two years for a state wide deployment. Now, we have introduced citizen services on WhatsApp, one of the most popular instant messaging applications in the world. Citizens simply chat on mSeva WhatsApp bot  to raise and track their grievances, without visiting an office or downloading an app. It is convenient,easy to access, transparent and secure. We plan to introduce additional services like billing & payment of municipal charges in near future."

About eGov Foundation

eGov Foundation was established in 2003 by Nandan Nilekani and Srikanth Nadhamuni to partner with city administrators in their drive to leverage the transformative power of technology for the better quality of life in our cities and to make them sustainable. We are joined by Nilekani Philanthropies, Omidyar Network and Tata Trust as our long term benefactors.

In order to address the need for scale and speed eGov has built a DIGIT platform- a Public Digital Good that can be used by Governments, Enterprises, and civil society to co-create and deploy locally relevant solutions. Over the last 17 years, we have partnered with more than 1000+ towns and cities across India and more than 12 Cr Citizens have benefited from our platform. And know that there is much more to do to build a thriving, digitally-enabled ecosystem in all 4400+ towns and cities in India.

Irish-based ROQU Group launches world-first 'Health Passport' Digital Platform to Support Increased Global COVID-19 Testing

• World-first technology developed by ROQU Group to protect society, economy, and jobs
• Irish trial commences with national partners in healthcare, agriculture, education, childcare, logistics, entertainment, and other sectors
• Irish-engineered digital platform, in partnership with advanced diagnostics, delivers test results within 15 minutes, allowing businesses to operate in a safely controlled environment

The Irish-based ROQU Group has announced the pilot launch of Health Passport, a world-first digital platform designed to facilitate increased COVID-19 testing for businesses and the public.

Engineered in Ireland, the platform combines the latest digital technologies with highly accurate and validated COVID-19 testing solutions, delivering results in as little as 15 minutes. The platform will enable businesses and individuals to quickly minimise risks related to COVID-19 and ensure they can continue daily activities.

Health Passport is launching with a trial involving a select range of national participants representing a diverse range of industry sectors: healthcare (hospital, nursing home), logistics, agriculture, education, childcare, entertainment, and others.

Supporting businesses, protecting communities

The platform has been developed to help national economies by enabling businesses to remain open through continuous proactive testing of employees, identifying positive results at the earliest stage whilst simultaneously protecting communities by offering increased testing.

"Around the world, there is continued frustration and disappointment due to COVID-19 restrictions," said Robert Quirke, President and CEO of ROQU Group, at today's launch.

"Health Passport is designed to put a safety net in place where none currently exists, allowing economies to recover and thrive in a controlled environment," said Mr Quirke. "It is a world-first innovation, proudly engineered in Ireland to the highest standards, that will enable business and society to finally move forward. The game changer has finally arrived."

Works with all official COVID-19 tests

Health Passport has been developed specifically to work in harmony with all official COVID-19 tests, including laboratory swab and blood tests, and the very latest rapid testing solutions soon to be launched.

"Using our global visibility, we are helping local companies by making the best COVID-19 testing solutions readily available to all," said ROQU's Robert Quirke. "As testing and research continues to improve, we want to ensure that Irish society and economy can easily access testing solutions that offer the highest levels of clinical validation.

"The purpose of the pilot trial is to demonstrate how Health Passport works across a variety of real-life business and social scenarios," he added.

Amid calls for increased testing for the public, ROQU says that newly engineered rapid tests can provide the solution needed to stop the spread of the virus. Where no testing solution is already in place, Health Passport is providing the very latest rapid antibody blood tests and rapid antigen swab tests, which deliver a highly accurate diagnosis in less than 15 minutes. The testing solutions are engineered, manufactured, and clinically validated in Europe.

"Current situation not sustainable"

"We are all aware that the current situation regarding viral outbreaks in businesses and communities is simply not sustainable," said Robert Quirke. "There are too many gaps in the current testing system that are hindering our ability to get the economy and normal life back on track. It is time to immediately close those gaps.

"This platform provides the breakthrough we have been waiting for and can become the standard solution for business, travel, education, healthcare, events and all aspects of daily life," said Mr Quirke. "Every person on the Health Passport platform now represents one life and one job protected."

ROQU Group has announced that, in addition to Ireland, the Health Passport platform will be launched in the US, UK, Italy, Kenya and Germany, with other locations to follow. Health Passport has been developed as part of ROQU's international philanthropic and altruistic mission.

ABOUT ROQU GROUP

Founded and headquartered in Dublin, ROQU Group works with international Governments to fulfil projects of national importance, including economic development and strategic problem-solving.

www.healthpassportireland.ie | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | LinkedIn

Omnivore launches The Future of Indian Agriculture and Food Systems: Vision 2030 Report

Omnivore, India’s leading agritech venture capital firm, today launched its report on The Future of Indian Agriculture and Food Systems: Vision 2030. The report, a bold vision for agritech, explores how new technologies, demographic trends, and climate change will impact Indian agriculture and food systems over the next decade.

The report highlights eight key trends, as detailed below, that will drive the future of agriculture in India, with the critical caveat that climate change could negate this positive direction if not reckoned with:

• Precision agriculture and automation creating a “farm of one”
• Biotechnology will produce tastier, more nutritious, and eco-friendly crops
• Farms & farmers will be connected, digitized, and smart
• Farmer-consumer intimacy will improve value for both
• Majority of rural jobs will be of higher value and non-agro
• More fresh greens, harvested and delivered, on-demand
• Diversity, quality, and sustainability of food sources will increase
• Food will increasingly (and scientifically) replace medicine

The report points out the need for investment in horticulture, dairy, poultry, aquaculture, and food processing. It anticipates a future with significant advances in farm mechanization and automation, including farm robots taking over labor intensive tasks and reducing drudgery. The report further notes that India’s agricultural workforce in the future will be smaller, younger, and more gender diverse, and will move towards higher productivity jobs. Beyond encouraging more womenpreneurs, the rural non-farm economy will become actively digitized, stimulating a mass entrepreneurship movement around agricultural technologies.

Another striking trend that the report points out is Khet to Kirana: the increased demand for traceability and transparency in the food supply chain for both the farmer and the consumer. With middle class driving consumption, the growing concern of food hygiene, nutrition, and sustainability will increase awareness about labels and food hygiene. Over 90% of kirana stores across the country will be digitized by 2025 and be linked to modern traceable logistics which will further benefit the transparency of supply chain between the farmer and consumer.

Commenting on the report, Jinesh Shah, Managing Partner, Omnivore said, “India’s agritech sector is witnessing a paradigm shift catalysed by digitisation and rural smartphone penetration. Spearheading this change are agritech startups who are driving a transformation in Indian agriculture towards profitability, resilience, nutrition, and sustainability. Our Vision 2030 report clearly shows that innovation, technology, and agritech entrepreneurship will deliver tremendous growth in the next decade.”

The Future of Indian Agriculture and Food Systems: Vision 2030 was built on the advice and inputs of a range of experts, entrepreneurs, and advisors in the agricultural ecosystem in India and abroad, who added practical knowledge and experience to statistical trends. This study was commissioned before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, but many of the trends have been accelerated by the pandemic, particularly those associated with digitalization, food safety, and traceability. Fundamentally, Omnivore has a philosophy of optimism for the future, and belief in the importance of disruption of the status quo. Authored by Umang Prabhakar (previously with Dalberg) and Subinder Khurana (a Venture Partner at Omnivore based in Delhi), the entire Omnivore team helped brainstorm ideas and offered support throughout the study.

About Omnivore

Omnivore is a venture capital firm, based in India, that funds entrepreneurs building the future of agriculture and food systems. Omnivore pioneered agritech investing in India, backing over 20 startups since 2011. Every day, Omnivore portfolio companies drive agricultural prosperity and transform food systems across India, making farming more profitable, resilient, and sustainable. Omnivore’s current agritech investment themes include Farmer Platforms, Precision Agriculture, Rural Fintech, B2B Agri Marketplaces, Innovative Foods, Agribusiness SaaS, Post-Harvest Technologies, Agri Biotech, and Farm to Consumer (F2C) Brands.

Annual FORTUNE Global 500 List Features 133 Chinese Co.s , 121 US Firms with Walmart maintaining Top Spot

 2020 Ranking Features 133 Chinese Companies, 121 U.S. Companies, and 53 Japanese Companies

Walmart Maintains Top Spot; 18 companies make their debut

NEW YORK, Aug. 26, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- This month, FORTUNE announced the FORTUNE Global 500 for the 2019 fiscal year, ranking the world's largest corporations by revenue. Walmart claimed the top spot for the seventh consecutive year, and for the 15th time since 1995. For the first time ever, Mainland China (including Hong Kong) has the most companies on the list, up five from last year with 124. Adding Taiwan, the total for Greater China is 133. The U.S. held steady with 121, and Japan gained one for a total of 53. The companies on the 2020 list are based in 225 cities and 32 countries around the world. This year there are 14 women CEOs of FORTUNE Global 500 companies.

FORTUNE Global 500 companies generated revenues totaling more than one-third of the world's GDP. They generated $33.3 trillion in revenues (up 2%), $2.06 trillion in profits (down 4%) and employ 69.9 million people worldwide. Saudi Aramco (No. 6) netted $88 billion in profits, and is the FORTUNE Global 500's most profitable company for the second consecutive year.

THE FORTUNE GLOBAL 500 TOP 10 LIST:

1. Wal-Mart Stores (U.S.)
2. Sinopec (China)
3. State Grid (China)
4. China National Petroleum (China)
5. Royal Dutch Shell (Netherlands)
6. Saudi Aramco (Saudi Arabia)
7. Volkswagen (Germany)
8. BP (Britain)
9. Amazon.com (U.S.)
10. Toyota Motor (Japan)

View the complete ranking here. 

Explore a data visualization of the history of the Global 500.

In his foreword to the Aug./Sept. 2020 issue of FORTUNE, Editor-in-Chief Clifton Leaf writes: "There were precisely zero Global 500 companies based in mainland China in 1990 when we began our survey. Today there are more giant for-profit enterprises there than anywhere else on earth. […] It should go without saying (but, unfortunately, too often goes unsaid) that cross-border trade is precisely what made America the first economic superpower—long before it made China one. American companies exported $2.5 trillion worth of goods and services in 2019, up from $487 billion three decades earlier—a greater than fivefold increase in nominal dollars. Even adjusting for inflation, the growth rate is 152%. (For those who believe imports have increased at a substantially faster rate over the past three decades, prepare to be shocked: In inflation-adjusted terms, imports have grown 160%, barely more than exports.)"

On the U.S.-China economic rivalry, Geoff Colvin writes: "The shift in the Global 500 is significant because this rivalry is founded on economic might. Analysts can quibble over which country's economy is biggest. The U.S. remains well ahead when the comparison is based on currency exchange rates, with 2019 U.S. GDP of $21.4 trillion vs. China's $14.3 trillion. But based on purchasing power parity, a measure that adjusts for the countries' differing price levels, China is slightly ahead of the U.S.—$21.4 trillion vs. $20.5 trillion as of 2018, the most recent year for which the World Bank has data. The gap is probably wider now and continuing to widen."

Companies are ranked by total revenues for their respective fiscal years ended on or before March 31, 2020.  All companies on the list must publish financial data and report part or all of their figures to a government agency. Figures are as reported, and comparisons are with the prior year's figures as originally reported for that year.

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SpeaQin - A Made in India Video Conferencing Solution

Driven by the demand for remote and virtual work, 2020 has exposed us to the necessity of video conferencing be it at any corner of the world. An individual today, is not just dependent on the phone he/she uses but feels the importance to be productive and get acquainted to the new aged technology. Standing tall to the consumer’s demands and requirements, A Pune based B2B Technology and scalable demand generation company, VLMS - Verified Leads & Marketing Services Global successfully launches its homegrown video conferencing solution called 'SpeaQin' (Spea:king), on 5th August, 2020 a Made in India video conferencing solution.

SpeaQin allows seamless communication in scheduling a remote video conference between two parties. It highly focuses on the simplicity and security of the end users as no meeting data is stored on the servers. Through SpeaQin, an individual, groups and organizations can collaborate remotely with ease on multiple platforms. The solution consists of industry leading features like, seamless video meetings for up to 100 participants at a time, easy screen sharing, unmatched video-bandwidth ratio, connection from any device, among others. SpeaQin dashboard gives users control over their meetings where they can access meeting reports, invite participants, create events and set unique meeting preferences among other features.

SpeaQin offers a 3-level plan for its users like, Basic, Advanced and Custom. SpeaQin is currently offering a free 1-month trial for users which will incorporate features like

• Unlimited usage for multiple participants.
• Access to the SpeaQin Dashboard
• No meeting time limit
• Join by phone dial in
• HD video and voice Quality
• Supports low bandwidth usage
• Screen Share
• Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption with AES 256 bits encryption

Along with its unique features and facilities, SpeaQin is also a part of a bigger platform that encompasses a myriad range of consultancy services. This platform is rightly called as ‘XperTalk’ which connects individuals and institutions to service providers, both at consultants, freelance and organizational levels. This adds on to the advantage for innumerable experts to provide their services and help grow their business and reach. To add on, XperTalk also intends to connect to smaller regional communities and single work seeking professionals to provide their services.

Commenting on the launch Mr. Nikhil Devar, Co-Founder and COO says, “With video conferencing becoming the new normal, data security has become paramount and we need India based solutions to cater to this growing need. Video conferencing has moved beyond office workplaces to educational institutions, hospitals, tourism, shopping, etc, and to industries that may not have tapped into this medium of organised business before. The opportunities are immense and so is the responsibility of keeping everyone's data safe. We are here to offer a "Made in India" affordable solution that not only caters to the basic needs of providing video conferencing but also a customized dashboard that allows individuals and organizations to track past and future conferences, access reports, data etc. Our aim is to offer the best online conferencing facility which is also light on the pocket. It is time we moved away from big data collectors to support home-grown local solutions whose objective is to provide you the best service while also maintaining your privacy online.”

Mr. Amaan Kazi, Co-Founder and CMO says, “We always do a market viability and assessment before introducing a new product or service in the market. According to our analysis by our consulting firm Verified Market Research, the number of one on one meetings would reduce to less than half in the upcoming year due to the advent of newer video conferencing technology also considering the effects of the ongoing COVID- 19 pandemic. We believe, we are in the right time and right geography to scale our services. Hence, we are glad to introduce SpeaQin to our Indian and global audiences which will not only act as a platform for scheduling remote communications but also will focus on the safety and precautions of our end users. SpeaQin is our phase 1 roll out of our Online consulting Marketplace which leverages the power of automation to allow you to connect with Subject Matter experts.”

Mr. Pratiek Phand, Co-Founder and CSO says, “The need for video communication has increased tremendously be it at any corner of the world or at any organisational level. While various providers look to offer easy video conferencing solutions, user data security and privacy remain key concerns. With the launch of SpeaQin, we have introduced our consumers to various tools and facilities that drive simplicity and practicality of a video communication solution. We are constantly upgrading our services in order to drive up the productivity and usefulness of the platform whilst maintaining high levels of data privacy.”

SpeaQin envisions to become India's very own video conferencing unicorn.

Website Link: https://speaqin.com/pricing/

Infosys Launches AI-driven Solution to Automate Helpdesk Operations

'Infosys Cognitive Email Workbench' leverages Blue Prism's Digital Workforce to drive Intelligent Automation

 Infosys (NYSE: INFY), a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting, today announced the launch of AI-driven 'Cognitive Email Workbench' solution that gives enterprises the ability to augment query management and scale their helpdesk operations, significantly enhancing productivity and customer satisfaction. To develop this solution, Infosys leveraged its partnership with Blue Prism, a leading Robotic Process Automation (RPA) provider and a strategic partner. Infosys and Blue Prism joined hands in 2017 to help enterprises drive intelligent automation capabilities across multiple industries.

Infosys Cognitive Email Workbench is an AI-based assisted automation solution that allows clients to eliminate manual resolution and build near-touchless contact centers. It combines the intelligence of AI and Natural Language Processing (NLP), with Blue Prism's intelligent automation platform and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) capabilities. It also adds skills critical for enabling assisted and unassisted email responses, thereby giving customer helpdesks the flexibility to focus on requests actually requiring manual intervention. Integrating seamlessly with enterprises' existing IT, the solution:

• Senses and proactively addresses customer and partner queries received over email through highly personalized responses
• Understands customer intent by extracting attributes from emails and triggers necessary actions
• Suggests personalized offers through customer analytics, helps with auto-responses, amplifies helpdesk effectiveness and improves customer satisfaction

Balakrishna D R, SVP, Service Offering Head - ECS, AI and Automation, Infosys, said, "Working with our clients, we are noticing two dominant trends – the need for them to be resilient to effectively address real world problems; and accelerated intelligent automation adoption to leverage actionable insights. Together with Blue Prism, we are launching a solution that addresses both these imperatives while enabling enterprises to proactively and efficiently address their customer and partner queries. This is a validation of our partnership with Blue Prism and together, we will continue to launch industry relevant intelligent automation solutions."

"Our partnership with Infosys is an illustration of how we are enabling our global clients to scale and drive an enterprise wide AI vision," says Linda Dotts, Chief Partner Strategy Officer for Blue Prism. "Together, a Blue Prism Digital Workforce and the 'Infosys Cognitive Email Workbench' will transform helpdesk operations, bring in new efficiencies and play an impactful role in driving digital transformation."

About Infosys Ltd.

Infosys is a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting. We enable clients in 46 countries to navigate their digital transformation. With nearly four decades of experience in managing the systems and workings of global enterprises, we expertly steer our clients through their digital journey. We do it by enabling the enterprise with an AI-powered core that helps prioritize the execution of change. We also empower the business with agile digital at scale to deliver unprecedented levels of performance and customer delight. Our always-on learning agenda drives their continuous improvement through building and transferring digital skills, expertise, and ideas from our innovation ecosystem.

Visit www.infosys.com to see how Infosys (NYSE: INFY) can help your enterprise navigate your next.

90% of Industrial Enterprises will Utilize Edge Computing by 2022, Finds Frost & Sullivan

Multi-access edge computing market to reach $7.23 billion by 2024

Frost & Sullivan's recent analysis, 5G and Edge Computing—Cloud Workloads Shifting to the Edge, Forecast to 2024, finds that edge computing is a foundational technology for industrial enterprises as it offers shorter latencies, robust security, responsive data collection, and lower costs. In this hyper-connected industrial environment, edge computing, with its solution-agnostic attribute, can be used across various applications, such as autonomous assets, remote asset monitoring, data extraction from stranded assets, autonomous robotics, autonomous vehicles, and smart factories. Despite being in a nascent stage, the multi-access edge computing (MEC) market—an edge computing commercial offering from operators in wireless networks—is estimated to grow at an astounding compound annual growth rate of 157.4%, garnering a revenue of $7.23 billion by 2024 from $64.1 million in 2019.

For further information on this analysis, please visit: http://frost.ly/4f9

"The recent launch of the 5G technology coupled with MEC brings computing power close to customers and also allows the emergence of new applications and experiences for them," said Renato Pasquini, Information & Communication Technologies Research Director at Frost & Sullivan. "Going forward, 5G and MEC are an opportunity for telecom operators to launch innovative offerings and also enable an ecosystem to flourish in the business-to-business (B2B) segment of telecom service providers using the platform."

Pasquini added: "From the perspective of the MEC ecosystem, software—edge application and solutions—promises the highest CAGR followed by services—telecom operators' services, cloud providers' infrastructure-as-a-service, and edge data center colocation services."

Frost & Sullivan predicts that approximately 90% of industrial enterprises will utilize edge computing by 2022, presenting immense growth prospects for MEC market participants, including:

• Telecom operators should work on solutions and services to meet the requirements for connected and autonomous cars.


• System integrators should provide end-to-end solutions, which would be a significant value addition for enterprises because 5G requires specific skillsets.


• The combination of 5G and the new specialized hardware-based mobile edge compute technologies can meet the market's streaming media needs now and in the future.


• Telecom operators must partner with cloud providers and companies with abilities related to artificial intelligence, machine learning, and computer vision to design solutions for autonomous cars, drone delivery, and others.


• Companies in the MEC space must capitalize on the opportunity for innovation and new developments that utilize 5G and MEC, such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), which can also be applied to games.

5G and Edge Computing—Cloud Workloads Shifting to the Edge, Forecast to 2024 is the latest addition to Frost & Sullivan's Information & Communication Technologies research and analyses available through the Frost & Sullivan Leadership Council, which helps organizations identify a continuous flow of growth opportunities to succeed in an unpredictable future.

About Frost & Sullivan

For over five decades, Frost & Sullivan has become world-renowned for its role in helping investors, corporate leaders and governments navigate economic changes and identify disruptive technologies, Mega Trends, new business models and companies to action, resulting in a continuous flow of growth opportunities to drive future success. Contact us: Start the discussion.

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Kent RO Extends Artificial Intelligence Product Portfolio

Launches Touchless Face Attendance System toEnhance Employee safety post COVID-19

In wake of COVID-19 outbreak, KENT RO Systems Limited, the most trusted water purifying brand, has announced yet another breakthrough product- KENTCamAttendance,a Next-GenTouchless Attendance System based on FacialRecognition. The new innovation of KENT is the extension of AI product portfolio which was launched last year with KENTCamEye.

KENT CamAttendance  Features:   - AI Face Recognition: AI based computer vision for face detection & face recognition   -Mask compliance: Inbuilt algorithm for optional mask detection   -Real Person Detection: Patented algorithm to differentiate between real person & a HD photo/video   -High Accuracy & Speed: Face Recognition takes less than a second with an accuracy of >99.9%   -Smart Alerts: System alerts in cases of anomalies like employee not wearing a mask etc.

Post COVID-19, managing employee attendance system has become a nightmare for the industry as the use existing biometric attendance machines has been prohibited. With no other reliable attendance capturing mechanism, the industry has switched back to manual attendance which is error prone and difficult to manage. The helpless situation is not only a problem for HR managers, but for employees too as they are still being forced to use biometric machines in many places.

To fill this lag, KENT has stepped forward with its Next-Gen Touchless Attendance based on Facial Recognition. It uses AI based computer vision to capture and recognize the face of an employee for attendance purpose. It is managed via a secure cloud application that stores employee records and employee photos anddata which can be seamlessly integrated with existing HRMS. It is a faster and more reliable system than the manual attendance. Most importantly, the product is designed and manufactured in India with data &servers also residing in India.

Kent CamAttendance launched by Dr. Mahesh Gupta. CMD & Mr. Varun Gupta, Director Kent RO Systems Ltd (2)

Furthermore, multiple KENT CamAttendance devices can be deployed in one premises and across different sites. All CamAttendance devices can be controlled centrally from the cloud and data from all CamAttendance devices also comes to the cloud in real-time. Company HR can view all data from the cloud and generate employee attendance.

Employees and supervisors can use the optional mobile app for added functionalities such as check-in via mobile, which allows one to mark attendance through mobile via face recognition and/or geo location. The mobile feature also offers leave application, attendance regularization and approval. Furthermore, with the help of the team view functionality,one can check attendance of team members through a consolidated view including their physical locations on a map.

Commenting on the new KENT CamAttendance solution, Mr. Mahesh Gupta, CMD, Kent RO Systems Ltd. said, “This new product is in sync with our philosophy to ensure the well-being of people.  We believe that safety should never be compromised. The pandemic triggered us to come up with this product. We are confident and excited to bring to market a much-needed product that improves employee confidence & safety in these pressing times.

This unique and a revolutionary solution will help to capture & manage attendance without risking infection via surface transmission. KENT CamAttendance is touchless attendance system which uses facial recognition and Artificial Intelligence to completely eliminate the need of tactile interaction as experienced in biometric or manual systems.”  

“This product is a result of extensive R&D and has been completely designed and developed in India.” he further added.

The KENT CamAttendance system has been priced competitively at INR 25,000 + taxes. A nominal annual fee is also payable for using the cloud platform.

KENT has roped in Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan as the brand ambassador for KENT CamAttendance. King Khan is also the ambassador of KENT CamEye launched last year - Next-Gen Car Camera that ensures 100% Security for your family and your Car.

IIT Roorkee Researchers Find A Breakthrough for Treatment Against Systemic Candidiasis Infection

Dr. Rohatgi with her Phd scholar in their lab at IIT ROORKEE

Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee have demonstrated that vaccination using a fungal strain protein can protect against systemic candidiasis (C. tropicalis) infection in a mice model. Systemic Candidiasis refers to a group of infections caused by drug-resistant fungal species. The study by Manisha Shukla and Soma Rohatgi, working at Molecular & Translational Immunology laboratory at the Department of Biotechnology, IIT Roorkee, has been published in the American Society for Microbiology journal ‘Infection and Immunity.’

Systemic candidiasis refers to a spectrum of infections affecting blood, heart, eyes, brain, bones and many more. It is caused by yeast strains belonging to the Candida family. Common symptoms of the disease include fever and chills that do not improve with antibiotics. Candidemia can also cause septic shock and therefore may be associated with symptoms such as low blood pressure, fast heart rate, and rapid breathing. According to an estimate, it accounts for 6.51 cases per 1,000 ICU admissions that is equivalent to 90,000 cases in India. (Source:https://www.gaffi.org/india-has-one-of-the-highest-rates-of-candida-bloodstream-infection-in-the-world/)

"Due to a progressive shift towards non-albicans Candida species and the emergence of antifungal drug resistance, systemic candidiasis infections caused by Candidatropicalis species are a matter of concern, especially in tropical countries. As such, developing vaccines and alternative immunotherapies is of paramount importance” said Prof. Soma Rohatgi, chief author and Assistant Professor at IIT Roorkee.

According to lead author Manisha Shukla, “a subunit vaccine candidate can prove effective due to a variety of reasons”. The researchers have shown that Sap2-parapsilosis vaccination can improve mice survival during candidiasis by means of humoral and cellular immunity. The research also demonstrated that higher amounts of Sap2-specific antibodies are beneficial during systemic candidiasis. This research will pave the way for future studies in the development of anti-Candida vaccines.

The research was supported from funding from SRIC, IIT Roorkee; DBT Ramalingaswami Fellowship and DST SERB Grant to Prof. Soma Rohatgi.

IIT Roorkee is an institute of national importance imparting higher education in engineering, sciences, management, architecture and planning, and humanities and social sciences. Since its establishment in 1847, the Institute has played a vital role in providing technical human resources and know-how to the country.