Bharti Airtel launches emergency alert service

Bharti Airtel today launched an 'emergency alert service' enabling its subscribers to send alert message with location details to 10 mobile numbers.

"During an emergency, Airtel mobile customers can now send an alert with their geographic location to their closest 10 loved ones simultaneously with just a call, facilitating an access to easy and quick help," Airtel said in a statement.

Subscribers can even send a 'SAFE' SMS indication to a pre-defined group of 10 family members and friends and keep them informed of their wellbeing in case when out alone and during any natural calamity or disaster with just one click, it added.

Customers opting for 'Emergency Alert Service' will be charged Rs 30 for 30 days and they can send this alert even if they don't have minimum balance in their account.

To send an emergency alert, the subscribers can give a call to 55100 and the number registered by him or her will receive voice and SMS alerts with location details of the customer.

Airtel customer can also send this alert through SMS by typing HELP in the message box and sending it to 55100 which will be then transmitted on all the 10 numbers

Stricter emission norms for telecom towers from 1st September

Stricter radiation emission norms for mobile towers came into effect from today, with a view to reduce emission to one-tenth of the present levels.
Failure to stick to the prescribed levels will attract a penalty of Rs 5 lakh per tower.
Radiation norms for mobile handsets have been made more stringent, but cell-phone makers have been given a year to comply with new guidelines.
Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal had yesterday said the new limits for towers were 10 times more stringent than norms followed in most parts of the world.

The Telecom Enforcement Resource and Monitoring (TERM) cells would conduct random audits. A fine of Rs 5 lakh per tower can be imposed if any operator is found lagging in meeting the prescribed levels.
Telecom Secretary R Chandrasekhar said 95 per cent of the nearly 500,000 towers in the country have already geared up to meet the new standards.
As per the new norms, mobile handsets have been prescribed with a lower specific absorption rate (SAR) of 1.6 watts/kg averaged over one gram of human tissue as compared to 2 watts/kg measured over 10 grams of human tissue at present.
All new handsets, either manufactured in the country or imported, have to follow the revised SAR levels, while one-year extension has been given to companies to phase out the existing phones which are in stock.
"Existing handsets can continue to be used or will have to be phased out during the course of next year so that September 1, 2013 all handsets used in India must comply with these norms," Sibal had said.
The new guidelines ban roof-top towers with multiple antennas and call for avoiding installing base station antennas in lanes narrower than 5 meters.

Apple loses patent case against Samsung in Japan

In a setback to Apple Inc. a Tokyo court on Friday said that Samsung Electronics' mobile devices did not violate an Apple Inc patent.

Last week Apple won more than $1.0 billion in a massive US court victory over Samsung with jurors finding that the South Korean firm had "willfully" infringed on Apple's patents.

The Tokyo District Court gave the ruling on Apple's claim that Samsung illegally copied technology from its iPhone and iPad computer for some of its Galaxy smartphones and tablet.

Apple is seeking 100 million yen ($1.27 million) in compensation from Samsung's Japanese units, and has accused it of stealing technology used to transfer music and video files, according to Jiji Press.

Tokyo District Judge Tamotsu Shoji directed Apple to pay costs of the lawsuit after his verdict, the latest decision in a global dispute between the technology giants over patents used in mobile devices.

Following the ruling Samsung shares rose, erasing earlier losses.

“It’s hard to believe the products belong to the range of technologies of the claimant,” Shoji said in dismissing Apple’s case.

Samsung welcomed the decision, the company said in a statement. Carolyn Wu, a spokeswoman for Apple, declined to comment.

Reliance Communications bags multiple government orders worth Rs.150 crores

Reliance Communications, India's fully integrated telecommunications service provider has won Rs.150 crores multiple orders from central and state governments.

Reliance Communications has signed long term contract with The Department of Post, Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (BMC), Madhya Pradesh Border Checkpost Development Company Limited along with Karnataka DISCOM and Chattisgarh DISCOM.

Karnataka DISCOM has signed an agreement for five years with Reliance for rolling out MPLS service across 850 locations and Wireless data connectivity across 60000 data acquisition points whereas Chattisgarh DISCOM has signed a six year contract with Reliance for rolling out MPLS service across 250 locations.

The MPLS VPN service by Reliance is on a secure network of high speed wireless last mile connectivity and provides the remote offices or traveling users an access to the central organizational network. The remote users of the network are authenticated and the data is secured with firewall and encryption technologies in order to prevent disclosure of private information to unauthorized parties.

The Department of Post has decided to embrace Information Technology in its roadmap to offer superior customer experience to citizens and have chosen Reliance Communications for hosting their servers over a 3000 sq.ft space at Dhirubhai Ambani Konowledge City in Navi Mumbai. The Disaster Recovery site will be customized and built over 2000 sq. ft of space in Mysore.

This site will be operated and maintained for 5 years with special engineering expertise to manage and minimize the consumption of power, which would be almost three times lower than the industry practice. As a result of this automation, the money transfer process through Post Offices will be much faster and secured. This contract is a demonstration of Reliance Communications’ strength in terms of Project Engineering, Globally Benchmarked Infrastructure and Best Practices that are followed in Data Centre Operations.

Reliance Communications successfully runs Managed Services Contract for its global customers and have decided to bring the expertise to India. Reliance has recently signed a Facility Management contract for 3 years with the biggest Municipal Corporation of the country, Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (BMC) to outsource its IT infrastructure covering its data centre located in Worli along with 24 ward offices across Mumbai. This contract covers operations of Data Centre, Training of BMC IT Staff, Maintenance of IT & Non IT infrastructure, Operating Systems & Application Management.

Reliance Communications has managed to create ubiquitous presence with world class infrastructure and will now also offer its services to Madhya Pradesh Border Checkpost Development Company Limited towards automated checkpost operation. MP border Checkpost Development Company Limited has entered into a 13 year contract for all its locations with Reliance wherein, Reliance Communications will create network for them to carry both data and video traffic which will be the backbone for this first of its kind Public Private Partnership project.

Commenting on this announcement, Punit Garg, President & CEO, Global Enterprise Business Unit, Reliance Communications Limited said, “We are delighted to be a partner-of-choice for various departments of Central & State Government of India providing them with Data Centers, IT infrastructure and Connectivity services. The services provided by us will help the common man for faster and secure transactions thus, helping the departments to streamline their activities through automation and high speed last mile connectivity. Reliance currently has 21 Data Centers spread across the globe, nine of which are in India and have been adding practically one facility in India, every year.”

The third party Data Center market is growing exponentially in India with more and more enterprises interested in outsourcing their Data Center infrastructure to specialist service providers. Reliance, being the pioneer and market leader in this business, is able to garner a disproportionate share of this growing market.

Reliance is currently the leader in Data Centre market with 550,000 sq.ft of space and will remain the undisputed leader with addition of new Data Centers in India.

Apple to launch mini iPad in October 2012

If reports are be believed, Apple will launch its iPad in October after the release of the latest version of its iPhone next month.

"First comes the latest iteration of the tech giant's hugely popular smartphone, which will be unveiled at an as yet unannounced event on September 12," said the All Things Digital website.

"Only after the next-generation iPhone is out the door and on sale will Apple announce the smaller iPad it's been working on," it said.

Apple will announce the iPhone 5, or whatever it chooses to call the new smartphone, on Sept. 12. But its smaller iPad mini will not make its debut until October, according to All Things D.

Citing several sources, ATD said the rumored iPad mini will hit store shelves after the iPhone 5 is safely in the hands of the Apple faithful.

According to ABC news, the smaller iPad is expected to have a 7.85-inch display, be less expensive than the current iPad, and have a smaller charging port. Although Steve Jobs had expressed that the smaller tablet category was “dead on arrival,” an internal Apple email revealed in the Apple v. Samsung trial revealed the Jobs had warmed up to the idea before his passing.

Wipro Technologies joins Google Cloud Platform Partner Program

Wipro Technologies, the Global Information Technology, Consulting and Outsourcing business of Wipro Ltd on Monday announced that it has joined the Google Cloud Platform Partner Program as a Services Partner.

Recognizing that almost every product or IT service will be either cloud resident or cloud attached, Wipro’s Integrated Cloud Solutions and R&D Services team is eager to leverage Google’s Cloud Platform for Wipro’s IT and R&D customers worldwide.

“The Google Cloud Platform Partner Program enables us to help our clients develop new cloud-based solutions that drive their success in the IT and Product R&D by building on the power of the Google Cloud Platform,” said Dr. Anurag Srivastava, Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President, Wipro Global IT Business. “The Google Cloud Platform offers a broad set of application development, cloud storage, large scale computing, and Big Data capabilities that enable us to deliver on our promise of serving our customers with desired business variability and excellent user experience.”

Google’s Cloud Platform products enable customers to implement Cloud app solutions, such as mobile apps, social apps, business process apps, and websites, using Google App Engine and Google Cloud SQL, Cloud storage solutions, such as high-end backup and recovery, active archiving, global file sharing/collaboration, and primary SAN/NAS, using Google Cloud Storage.

The Google Cloud Platform Partner Program includes Services Partners such as systems integrators, IT consultant firms, developers, web designers, and other professional services companies that help clients design, develop, and manage new cloud-based solutions. Customers benefit by engaging with Wipro Technologies, which has invested in developing the skills needed to build these powerful new solutions on top of Google’s Cloud Platform.