To mark International Women’s Day 2014 Kaspersky Lab uncovers the reasons why women behave more safely when using the Internet. A report about sexual differences in online safety behaviour shows that males tend to take a higher frequency of risks, while the female attitude towards security promises a longer life – women live on average six years longer than men do. Studies show that lifestyle has a greater bearing on different life expectations than genes or hormones do.
According to a European study, women use the Internet just as enthusiastically as men, but they do so in different ways. In cooperation between Kaspersky Lab and the University of Wuerzburg (Germany) a report about sexual differences was developed, the main findings show that men tend to search for entertainment, games and sexual content while women look for communication and interaction with friends or romantic partners.
Professor Dr Frank Schwab, media psychologist at the University of Wuerzburg said: “Twice as many men as women reported different sorts of malware attacks during the period of the study. Girls are expected to be more responsible, obedient, and sexually restrained, thus, depending on one’s gender, certain roles are performed, leading to the stereotype gender differences”. So, who has it right – does greater risk really bring greater reward?
When it comes to taking risks, women are happy to leave this to the men. Why would women put themselves in danger when there are men volunteering to take all the risks? The female way seems to be not only more secure in an online world but also more promising in terms of a long life. Also, the women’s caring characters lead to more communicative and considerate behaviour both online and off. In terms of risk taking, they seem to take the more reasonable, considered path resulting in risk avoidance and a safer way of life.
“There’s an increased risk of infection from visiting certain types of web site – including pornographic and gambling sites. It’s not the content of these sites per se that makes them less safe, but the fact that they attract high numbers of visitors – and where there are visitors, there will be criminals.
This provides cybercriminals with a large pool of potential victims human psychology also plays into their hands where some of these sites are concerned; victims are typically less willing to complain if they get infected whilst using one of these sites, than say a banking site, or fall victim to a scam, when accessing pornographic content.”, explains David Emm, Security Researcher at Kaspersky Lab.
Safety however, remains an important topic for all, but particularly for men, who have a tendency to forget or overlook the risks. In general, anti-virus software should be installed on any device which is connected to the internet.
Kaspersky Lab is the world’s largest privately held vendor of endpoint protection solutions. The company is ranked among the world’s top four vendors of security solutions for endpoint users*. Throughout its more than 15-year history Kaspersky Lab has remained an innovator in IT security and provides effective digital security solutions for large enterprises, SMBs and consumers. Kaspersky Lab, with its holding company registered in the United Kingdom, currently operates in almost 200 countries and territories across the globe, providing protection for over 300 million users worldwide.
SME Talk India
Gartner 2014 Magic Quadrant names Kaspesky Lab a ‘Leader’
Kaspersky Lab has been named a ‘Leader’ in the Gartner 2014 Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms for the third year in a row.* Kaspersky Lab believes this latest Gartner report honour once again confirms the company’s status as a top provider of endpoint protection solutions, according to a company statement.
The Gartner Magic Quadrant is an annual market research report based on complex analysis of the endpoint protection platforms of 18 IT security vendors. It can be utilized as a benchmark for companies seeking to evaluate vendors and products in the IT security industry, and can play an important role in the purchase decisions of enterprises on a global scale. Gartner evaluates vendors in two categories: “completeness of vision” and “ability to execute”. “Completeness of vision” includes 8 evaluation criteria: market understanding, marketing strategy, sales strategy, offering strategy, business model, vertical/industry strategy, innovation and geographic strategy. The “ability to execute” criteria include factors such as the vendor’s overall viability, market responsiveness/record, operations, sales execution/pricing, marketing execution and customer experience.
The Magic Quadrant categorizes the included vendors of the research into four groups: “Leaders”, “Challengers”, “Visionaries” and “Niche Players”. “Leaders” demonstrate balanced progress and effort in the execution and vision categories. Their capabilities in advanced malware protection, data protection and/or management features raise the competitive bar for all products on the market, and they are shaping the course of the industry. Kaspersky Lab was included in this “Leaders” group for the third consecutive year based on these criteria. The company has continued to improve its position on the graph and was positioned second furthest for “completeness of vision” among the other companies in the Leaders portion of the Magic Quadrant.
The company’s flagship security solution – Kaspersky Endpoint Security for Business – has been recognized by businesses and IT leaders as a solution that not only delivers rapid and accurate malware detection, but also integrates numerous client management tools into a single management console. Some of these security management functions include vulnerability analysis, patch management, application inventory, application control, MDM, and centrally managed file-level and full-disk encryption, with preboot authentication for hard drives and removable devices.
Commenting on this recent achievement, Nikolay Grebennikov, Chief Technology Officer of Kaspersky Lab, said: “Our ambition is to see a safe and secure cyberspace by providing the ultimate protection to our clients, and we believe our latest position within the Gartner Magic Quadrant shows that we are on the right path. This is a great achievement for us and I think it shows that our long-term strategy of investing heavily in technologies and expertise continues to bring great results. It’s very encouraging to see that our efforts are being acknowledged by the leading IT market researcher.”
*Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms, Peter Firstbrook, John Girard, Neil MacDonald, January 8, 2014.
About Gartner Magic Quadrant Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organisation and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.Kaspersky Lab is the world’s largest privately held vendor of endpoint protection solutions. The company is ranked among the world’s top four vendors of security solutions for endpoint users**. Throughout its more than 16-year history Kaspersky Lab has remained an innovator in IT security and provides effective digital security solutions for large enterprises, SMBs and consumers. Kaspersky Lab, with its holding company registered in the United Kingdom, currently operates in almost 200 countries and territories across the globe, providing protection for over 300 million users worldwide. Learn more at kaspersky.com.
** The company was rated fourth in the IDC rating Worldwide Endpoint Security Revenue by Vendor, 2012. The rating was published in the IDC report “Worldwide Endpoint Security 2013–2017 Forecast and 2012 Vendor Shares (IDC #242618, August 2013). The report ranked software vendors according to earnings from sales of endpoint security solutions in 2012.
VivaConnect launches iVote, a product that empowers voting through a missed call
Voting plays a pivotal role when it comes to choosing our political leaders, favorite film stars & artists, reality show contestants, favorite brands and services, of which the traditional pattern has been visit to polling booths, filing nomination forms, posting mails and the more recent SMS voting.
New horizon
Considering the high paced lifestyle of the metropolitan and the reach barrier of the rural regions, many of these systems fell short on multiple levels. However, the picture seems to be brighter on the horizon, all thanks to the Mobile phone once again.
Missed call voting system
Mobile phone technology has greatly revolutionised our activities and its latest dose comes in form of ‘Missed Call Voting System’. Finally a superior means to cast one’s valuable vote easily over mobile, that too without spending a paisa.
The Mumbai-based VivaConnect, India’s Largest Voice and Missed Call Company has launched iVote – A product that empowers voting through a missed call. In an interview, Vikram Raichura, Managing Director, vivaConnect speaks to Jayashankar Menon about the ground breaking technology and more. Excerpts:
JM: How does mobile phone comes into the picture of voting?
VR: A vote is highly valuable as it increases the credibility to a particular person or a cause. Hence two aspects are highly important, easy accessibility to voting mechanism and having maximum participation. So what better mode than a Mobile phone. We have built iVote, a product to handle national level voting over a missed call, Making it easier and free. It acts as a fair system of voting and easier for every section of society.
JM: Can you elaborate on iVote?
VR: iVote is powering voting for ZEE Cine Awards 2014, World’s Biggest Viewer’s Choice Awards (ZCA). VivaConnect has joined in as an official voting partner for the event as ZCA 2014 puts the viewers in the judge’s seat to award the stars of the film fraternity. Viewers across India are requested to give a missed call over 1800 103 7788, which is followed by them receiving a voice call to cast their vote. A smooth IVR system takes the caller through different categories and the nominations and registers votes by inputs through keypad. Just within few hours of going live, the lines have been flooded with votes from urban to rural audiences of India. Yet this is just one case, iVote is beneficial for brands to know public opinion over products, conducting surveys by new channels, interactive contests and more. With this product uplifting power of every individual, we can certainly foresee a day where our ministers too shall be chosen casting a vote over mobile.
JM: Please talk about VivaConnnect and its business interests…
VR: VivaConnect is India’s leading Mobile Marketing Company having the largest Non-VAS infrastructure for Voice and Missed Calls besides SMS, Email and Mobile App Development. Established in 2001, we enable businesses to reach, engage and analyse our consumers across the mobile horizon, powering billions of interactions till date. We also manage a daily traffic of 15 million outbound calls through our pool of over 800 PRI’s. We ideate, develop, and deliver ‘Awesome’ mobile marketing initiatives and experiences for brands, television networks and enterprises by meeting the ever-changing and diverse customer needs on our most preferred device, the Mobile.
JM: Can you name few of your clients?
VR: Citibank, Standard Chartered Bank, Eureka Forbes, Zee Cine Awards to name a few.
JM: What is your company’s vision?
VR: Our vision is in sharing the marvels of communication to make a million business prosper. VivaConnect provides solutions that requires zero literacy, zero cost and zero balance (over mobile/telco platform). We have a passion to create tools that facilitate communication’s ecosystem over mobile phone. As of now, mobile phone, as it is, is the preferred mode of the customer.
JM: What, according to you, is the key to success?
VR: We believe exploration is the key to success, hence we explore to create better products, better user experiences for better technology and possibilities that come with every challenges.
JM: What according to you is the biggest contributing factor towards VivaConnect’s growth?
VR: The biggest contributing factor towards our growth is our playful culture and attitude that allows evolving with time and doesn’t restrict ourselves. We create products that gives consumer a WOW experience. We contribute to business and individual’s through our platforms such as mobile apps, voice, missed calls and SMS on mobile. We work with customers on the consultative model wherein we engage and interact with them to understand their process, objectives, requirements and accordingly ideate, create and deliver solutions.
JM: Can you throw some light on your company’s tagline: ‘Your Business Raised to the Power of Infinity’?
VR: Our tagline reflect our belief that there are infinite possibilities available to grow business as we contribute to it through mobility. VivaConnect’s solutions empower from masses to classes, i.e. Tring! Tring! Customers to Tap! Customers thus breaking all kinds of barrier. We believe in living the future Now and not just dreaming it. We differntiate ourselves by How we do it and not what we do it. Our solutions produce 20X results and 5X lower cost compared to televisin and print media.
JM: Are you always open towards adding new technologies and platforms to your products and solutions?
VR: Yes, we believe that mobile sepectrum has opened a while new era of opportunities across the verticals. With the kind of products VivaConnnect is developing, it will have more than a million users globally by next two years. Among SMBs, we work with retail, small financial companies, manufacturing and NGOs. We are currently witnessing higher demand for mobile marketing solutions from business and brands for reaching both rural and urban India.
JM: Right now, how many SMBs VivaConnnect serve?
VR: Currently, VivaConnect serves in excess of 100 SMBs and an estimated 6,000 users.
JM: Can you talk about the accolades VivaConnect has bagged so far?
VR: VivaConnect is a recepient of prestigious awards including Red Herring Top 100 Asia 2012, Top 100 Small Business 2011 and the Best SME (E-Commerce) at CNBC Emerging India Awards 2009.
Kaspersky Lab experts provide SMEs some recommendations
When entrepreneurs decide to start their own business, they are focused almost entirely on the product or service they provide, and how they can sell it to customers. Rightly so, since without a product that people want to purchase, there is no business.
The rest of their attention goes into dealing with business logistics – finding an office or production space; completing tax registration forms; investing in computers for employees, etc. One item that is typically neglected during this frenzied period of activity is IT security.
By the time a very small business decides to address IT security, it’s typically because they have already become a victim of cybercrime, or because the business owner saw a news report about malware stealing credit cards from business and panicked while wondering if this could happen to his own business. In either scenario, IT security then becomes an urgent priority while employees scramble to find the right solution. Kaspersky Lab experts know there is a better way. By adding basic IT security measures into the startup plan, entrepreneurs can save themselves time, money, and aggravation down the line, and protect themselves from malware that could cause enough damage to drive the company out of business.
How to Startup with Security
There is no ‘one size fits all’ solution for startups and very small businesses. There are, however, a few golden rules – and this checklist will help business owners ensure the essential elements of IT security are in place.
Step 1: Take Inventory
New businesses almost certainly won’t have an in-house IT expert, but at least their IT inventory is small enough to be managed with relative ease. Make a simple Excel list of all laptops and workstations, as well as servers and routers, in the business. This list should also include notes for all the business-critical applications used on each machine.
Step 2: Assign Priority
On this new list of equipment and applications, add notes to define the tasks that each particular machine performs, and how dependent your business operations are on each particular task. Give the most vital pieces of IT equipment a Category 1 rating, while machines that perform less critical functions can receive a Category 2 or even Category 3 rating. For example, for a business that primarily conducts online sales, the Email server is a Category 1 piece of equipment. For store-front businesses, the point-of-sale “cash register” computer becomes Category 1. Ideally, no more than half of the total computers in the business should be Category 1, since the goal of this step is to identify which pieces of the network require the highest level of protection, and which are less important.
Step 3: Protect the Perimeter
Here is a very basic step that still must not be overlooked – ensure the business has a functioning firewall, which can block malicious web-traffic from entering the network, and can stop thieves from smuggling data to outside the network. For many small companies the firewall will be included in the Internet router, so owners should check with their Internet Service Provider to ensure the firewall is properly configured.
Step 4: Protect Your Data Where it Lives – the File Server
Once a business has several employees collaborating on documents, it makes sense to have a small file server – such as Exchange, Sharepoint, or other simple appliances – so information can be centralized and accessed by all. But with all the data on a file server, the server becomes critically important and requires strong anti-malware protection. More importantly, backing up the data on this server becomes vital. Ensure an automated data backup task is scheduled on a daily basis. These backups can be saved to another server, an external hard drive, or to a cloud repository. By taking the time now to configure a daily automated backup task, these backups could save the business in the event of an IT disaster in the coming years.
Step 5: Protect Your PCs…
The computers used every day by employees are obviously the backbone of the business, and owners should invest in their protection accordingly. Modern malware can evolve over the course of a few hours to defeat simple anti-virus scanners, and business owners would be wise to seek a full security suite with multiple layers of protection. This includes features like a desktop firewall, proactive detection capabilities, and application controls. It’s also a good idea to include a password manager program on employee computers, which stores their passwords in an encrypted vault and automatically enters the passwords when prompted. Few things make security professionals cringe like seeing passwords written down on pieces of paper next to a computer!
Step 6: …and Your Macs and Androids
It’s important to include non-Windows machines in the business security strategy as well. For example, if the business uses a Mac for graphic design, it needs the same umbrella of protection provided by the network firewall. Owners would also be wise to install a security program on the Mac itself, since Macs can actually become warehouses for PC malware and spread infections across the office, or worse, to customers. Also, if employees plan to access business documents from their smartphones or take documents to go on their tablets, make sure those mobile devices have some sort of anti-virus and anti-theft program installed. That way, if the phone ever gets lost, employees can at least remotely wipe the business information from the missing device.
Step 7: Monitor it all Centrally
With the foundation of IT security now built into the business’s network perimeter, file server and endpoint machines…how does the owner keep track of it all? Ideally, this protection will come from a single security solution – such as Kaspersky Small Office Security, a newly launched third version – that protects all the pieces of the business with fewer than 25 employees, and lets owners view the status of each piece from a single console. Its key solution includes new features such as, Safe Money to Protect Online Banking , Enhanced Mobile Device Support, Automatic Exploit Prevention, Password Manager, Online Backup along with Web Policy Management, Data Encryption and File Backup, Central Management that help small businesses stay ahead of modern security challenges and this easy-to-use product that doesn’t require business owners to be IT experts. As we know complexity is the enemy of security, and if you can get a single security solution to do it all, your life will be less complex and more secure at the same time.
With these core protection elements in place, IT security won’t need to be cobbled together frantically and expensively as the business grows over the years. More importantly, business owners can feel safe that their life’s work and the data of their customers are protected, and they can get back to focusing on the reason they opened their own business in the first place.
Kaspersky Lab is the world’s largest privately held vendor of endpoint protection solutions. The company is ranked among the world’s top four vendors of security solutions for endpoint users*. Throughout its more than 16-year history Kaspersky Lab has remained an innovator in IT security and provides effective digital security solutions for large enterprises, SMBs and consumers. Kaspersky Lab, with its holding company registered in the United Kingdom, currently operates in almost 200 countries and territories across the globe, providing protection for over 300 million users worldwide. Learn more at kaspersky.com.
SMEs not free from cybercriminals, Kaspersky
There’s nothing small about “small” business. Within the global economy, small-to-medium sized businesses (SMBs) collectively generate trillions of dollars and employ millions of workers. SMBs are typically categorised as businesses with fewer than 500 employees, but what about the smallest of all businesses?
According to IDC estimates, there are an estimated 80 million businesses worldwide that operate with fewer than ten employees. These ‘very small businesses’ business are often operated in homes, and the business’s ‘founder and president’ is usually the same person who orders paper for the printer. And yet these organisations will process millions, if not billions, of dollars in 2013.
Another reality of these 80 million very small businesses (VSBs) is that the vast majority don’t have employees or resources dedicated to building their IT networks. In many cases, the same employee responsible for ordering printer paper is also responsible for maintaining the computers and networks that keep VSBs connected to their customers.
Despite their smaller size, VSBs have some key needs in common with their larger business counterparts, in particular the need to protect important data – such as customer data and their own financial information – while banking online and processing customer orders. They share an unfortunate similarity as well – they can easily become victims of cybercrime, says a statement issued by Kaspersky.
Too Small to Be Noticed?
Two common assumptions shared by small businesses, and particularly among VSBs, are:
• My small business is safe from cybercriminals, because they won’t waste their time targeting me
• My small business doesn’t have anything worth stealing
Contradictions
There is plenty of evidence to contradict the first point. For instance, in Verizon’s 2013 Data Breach Investigations Report, which includes data from worldwide forensic investigations, found that of the 621 data breaches analysed, 193 breaches – more than 30 percent – occurred at companies with 100 or fewer employees. The second point is equally untrue, since whenever a business makes a sale online, they almost always access some form of private customer data, such as their name, address, and credit card number. This basic information certainly has value to cybercriminals, and the financial information of the small business itself has value as well.
In fact, some cybercriminals prefer targeting very small businesses instead of larger businesses, since they believe many VSBs aren’t fully protected and are thus an easy target for a quick pay-day. Like all predators, cybercriminals set their sights on the weakest targets – with the lack the budget, and low levels of staff sophistication on a topic like security, VSBs are making an easy target and the chances of the thieves getting caught is much lower.
Consequences
For a fledgling business, a single security incident can easily push it into financial ruin. According to 2013 Global Corporate IT Security Risks survey (conducted by B2B International, in conjunction with Kaspersky Lab), the worldwide average cost of a data breach for a small or medium sized business can be as high as $36,000 USD. This amount includes the average amount of lost business opportunities, as well as costs to hire an external IT expert to remediate the immediate problem, and possibly purchase new equipment.
For a very small business, a five digit cost to respond to a cybersecurity incident can be a crushing blow. Beyond the immediate costs, a security breach can also create a more long-term and intangible effect – the loss of your customers’ trust. If a customer is forced to cancel a credit card because their personal information was stolen from a business, that customer will likely be angry enough to never do business with that organization again. For VSBs that offer services involving sensitive information – such as tax records found in small financial services businesses – the customer could potentially sue the business. Lastly, many businesses are required by law to report certain types of data breaches. If their security practices are deemed to be below the minimum requires set by industry regulations, the business could face steep fines.
So what should VSBs / SMBs do to protect themselves?
Here are three quick tips:
1) Understand that no company is ‘too small to be noticed’ by the bad guys – even small companies have intellectual property, bank accounts, and in most cases, customer data.
2) Keep it Simple – Small businesses should select SMB-specific software or select vendors that are well-known for providing intuitive, comprehensive security software in order to avoid the trap of paying too much for something they will struggle to use.
3) Key Areas for Investment – Look into Encryption technologies after you’ve invested in basic anti-virus. Data encryption is vital for any company that processes and stores the payment information of customers, and is often required by law. If encrypted data is stolen or lost, there is a good chance the criminals will never be able to harvest the stolen data, leaving your customers protected.
Kaspersky Lab has security solutions which can protect businesses with fewer than 25 employees. Kaspersky Lab recently released a third version of their KSOS (Kaspersky Small Office Security), a key solution that includes new features such as, Safe Money to Protect Online Banking , Enhanced Mobile Device Support, Automatic Exploit Prevention, Password Manager, Online Backup along with Web Policy Management, Data Encryption and File Backup, Central Management that help small businesses stay ahead of modern security challenges and this easy-to-use product that doesn’t require business owners to be IT experts.
Kaspersky Lab is the world’s largest privately held vendor of endpoint protection solutions. The company is ranked among the world’s top four vendors of security solutions for endpoint users*. Throughout its more than 16-year history Kaspersky Lab has remained an innovator in IT security and provides effective digital security solutions for large enterprises, SMBs and consumers. Kaspersky Lab, with its holding company registered in the United Kingdom, currently operates in almost 200 countries and territories across the globe, providing protection for over 300 million users worldwide. Learn more at kaspersky.com.
Sona Group launches ‘Masterpreneur India’ Series to promote MSMEs in India
Recognising the potential of the Indian entrepreneurial spirit and to provide a thrust to same, the Sona Group, India’s leading auto components manufacturers, has launched ‘Masterpreneur India’ season one with CNBC Awaaz, according to a company statement.
This annual series is a five year property and will search for budding entrepreneurs across the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in India to challenge them to come and drive innovative thinking into their businesses. Supported by the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, and Trade India.com the entrepreneurial business growth partner, Masterpreneur has received a total of 830 entries at the initial round. Any business ranging between Rs. 25 lakh to Rs. 10 crore with at least two years in existence and a business model that is innovative, scalable and not easy to replicate have qualified to present their case in this reality business show.
Sunjay Kapur, Vice Chairman and Managing Director Sona Koyo said: “Masterpreneur is a platform to recognize the spirit of entrepreneurship in you. As often seen, inadequate finance, limitations in resources and even the right counsel can be a hindrance to pursuing one’s business ambition. We strongly believe that with the support of our partners, we can provide a fillip to deserving entrepreneurs. I am extremely excited and overwhelmed by the response we have received; the quality of entries made it extremely challenging for us to shortlist them. This is going to be exciting”.
MSMEs in India play a significant role in the growth story of the nation. With about 3.6 crore such enterprises in the market today, it contributes over eight percent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and provides for employment opportunities to over eight crore people.
However, only 34 percent of these have access to banks and financial institutions, while the rest raise money through informal channels. With a debt demand in the market of Rs. 32 lakh crore today, only 6 lakh crore is financed through the formal sector, chiefly by Public Sector Banks. In addition to this, lack of proper knowledge and skill development, advisory support and little or no access to adequate technologies and an uncertain market make it difficult to survive or even venture out for some of these entrepreneurs. The sector has been witnessing a slow growth with its share of exports falling from 40 per cent to 36 percent lately as per news reports.
Masterpreneur will be one such platform where these shortlisted candidates will get an opportunity to be mentored by industry luminaries. They will also get a life time opportunity to be trained by experts as well as meet with venture capitalists and angel investors. This would help to provide them with a holistic perspective and guidance on how their business case can be strengthened.
While the semifinal rounds for Masterpreneur scheduled for November 15th to November 16th, 2013 in New Delhi, the show is expected to be aired on 30th November with the North-West regional rounds and then progress into the other regional rounds. Three semi-finalists from each region will be selected from each region that will be flown to Delhi where they will undergo the mentorship programme. Subsequently, four contestants will be shortlisted for the national finals which will be held in New Delhi.
The show will culminate with the awards night on 29th November’2013, a gala evening that will also see the release the dossier containing the 48 shortlisted cases from each region for the season. This will be circulated to select members among the business community from among venture capitalists, angel investors, business houses and other members of the business community.
As the name suggests, this reality show promises to be exciting and will be a significant step in bringing together India’s best and aspiring talent and encourage them to present their business acumen in front of established business luminaries. This is a small yet critical initiative from Sona to encourage Indian entrepreneurship and help drive inclusive economic growth.
Regional rounds are being aired as follows:
30th Nov -1st Dec: 5.30pm, Zonal round (Delhi + Mumbai)
7th Dec – 8th Dec: 5.30pm, Zonal round (Kolkata + Bangalore)
14th Dec – 15th Dec: 5.30pm, Semi finals
21stDec – 22nd Dec: 5.30pm, Semi finals
28thDec – 29th Dec: 5.30pm, Finale
January: A half an hour show covering the journey of the winner
January: A half an hour show covering the journey of the runners up
For more information on Masterpreneur, please visit: masterpreneurindia.in.com.
SONA KOYO Steering Systems Ltd, (SONA) is the flagship company of the SONA Group of Companies. The company is India’s largest manufacturer of steering systems and is the supplier of choice to major auto manufacturers with over 45% domestic market share, supplying steering gears, columns and RPS assemblies to almost all Indian passenger car and utility vehicle manufacturers. More information about the company is available on the website sonagroup.com.
11th China Products Exhibition at Bombay Convention and Exhibition Centre, Goregaon from November 26-28,
Being organised since 2004, the 11th edition of China Products Exhibition will take place from November 26-28, 2013 at the Bombay Convention and Exhibition Centre, Goregaon (East), Mumbai. The longest running China Exhibition in India and also the definitive international sourcing platform for Indian business enterprises, this unique trade expo showcases more than 40 industries and verticals, according to an official statement.
The 11th China Products Exhibition will have an added attraction in the form of a Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) pavilion where companies from Hong Kong will showcase their range of stylish and contemporary products. Providing complimentary business matching services, the Exhibition assists Indian businesses in meeting their future business partners from China and Hong Kong.
The current edition is covering an extensive range of products across a wide section of industries like consumer electronics and durables, home appliances, fashion jewellery and accessories, machinery, machine tools, mechanical and electrical equipment and parts, power tillers, hydraulic equipment, grinding products, UPVC doors, wallpaper, medical equipment, traditional Chinese medicine, ceramic products, food and beverages, toys, LED products, silk, leather, fibres and yarns.
Powering Indian entrepreneurs to succeed for the 11th consecutive year, the Exhibition will help Indian enterprises source machinery and components from China – providing quality products at lower rates and logistics costs – thus bringing down manufacturing costs. Additionally, Indian traders, importers and distributors can source an extensive range of consumer products at more affordable prices for the burgeoning retail industry.
Despite the global and local scenario, the Indian economy is growing due to strong domestic consumption. With a rising middle class population expected to reach 267 million by 2015-16, as well as the world’s youngest population, the consumption pattern is expected to shift from food items to discretionary spending. The show offers an excellent opportunity for brands and companies to develop businesses in the areas of services and manufacturing along with the growing consumer market. India is also home to 48.8 million SMEs and 5,000 and large enterprises. This in itself is a huge potential market for companies to service the SME market owing to increasing need for efficiency and collaboration.
The trade show is being organized by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), Sub-councils of Commercial Industry, Guangdong, Ningbo, Hangzhou, Sichuan, Wuhan, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), Department of Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation of Guangdong Province and Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute. The Exhibition is supported by the All India Association of Industries (AIAI), the India-China Chamber of Commerce and Industries (ICCCI), the Indian Merchants’ Chamber (IMC) and managed by Worldex India. For further details please log onto chinamumbaiexpo.com
ZyXEL launches UAG4100 Unified Dual-radio Access Gateway in India
ZyXEL Communications, a world-class networking company that provides innovative, reliable Internet solutions for customers ranging from telecommunications service providers, small and medium sized businesses to home users, yesterday introduced ZyXEL UAG4100 Unified Access Gateway–a new hospitality gateway that delivers best-in-class services and achieves high customer satisfaction for businesses in the hospitality industry, according to a company statement. Upon the success deploying N4100 in over 8,000 hotels worldwide, the ZyXEL UAG4100 provides an advanced gateway with larger scalability to help generate revenues.
Nowadays people are used to enjoy Internet connection anytime, anywhere, and a majority of them often carry more than one mobile device around. Most of the existing networking infrastructures in hospitality environments cannot catch this trend, resulting in intermittent connection and customer complaints.
The UAG4100 supports dual radio frequencies, 2.4GHz and 5GHz, to serve two times of users than legacy Wi-Fi gateways. The design of dual radio automatically switches to 5GHz when 2.4GHz band is fully occupied, and digests traffic flow to avoid unstable data transmission due to the shortage of bandwidth. The UAG4100 also adopts a management platform that can handle up to 300 wired or wireless users simultaneously while prioritizing the bandwidth usage of each account. It ensures Internet connection quality, prevents bandwidth abuse and therefore increases customer satisfaction with better Internet surfing experience.
The UAG4100 Unified Access Gateway helps hospitality businesses confronting the regulatory compliance challenges by recording user account information, MAC addresses, source and destination IPs, etc. for government auditing if requested.More and more governments are seriously requiring publicly accessible Internet services to record online traffics with regulations like the widely known EU Data Retention Directive (2006/24/EC). It requires businesses to retain Internet usage records for a certain period of time. Hospitality businesses need to comply with these data retention regulations to avoid legal fines and regulatory penalties; but this can become a significant burden for the owners if they do not have the right equipment.
The UAG4100 takes advantage of embedded billing functions, and premise owners can utilize it to generate optimal access privileges to customers. Billing features include Web portal authentication, user-agreement login and RADIUS server authentication. The ZyXEL UAG4100 further supports SMS ticketing feature that passes the username and password required for logging into the mobile devices owned by a particular user. Subscribers can conveniently keep the information on their devices while preventing the risk of losing printed tickets.
In order to cover larger venues, more access points are to be deployed. To the venue owners, accomplishing deployments quickly without affecting business operations is the biggest concern. Integrated with a WLAN controller, the UAG4100 helps installation of access points without pre-configuration. When a UAG4100 establishes connection with access points, the settings will be applied to each access point immediately, and Wi-Fi monitoring as well as management can be centrally performed via the UAG4100. It eliminates the hassles that would have come with Wi-Fi deployments.
The new-generation UAG4100 Access Gateway is available now. It helps venue owners to quickly build up networks, manage users and deliver non-stop services. For complete feature and application details, please visit zyxel.com or contact your local ZyXEL representatives.
ZyXEL Communications Corp, founded in 1989, is a world-class, networking company that provides innovative and reliable Internet solutions. As one of the early modem manufacturers, ZyXEL has gone through transformations in the fast-paced networking industry. Today, ZyXEL is one of the few companies in the world capable of offering complete networking solutions for Telecommunications service providers, small and medium-sized businesses, and digital home users for a wide range of deployment scenarios. Telco solutions include Central Office Equipments, Customer Premises Equipments, Wired and Wireless Access Network Devices, and Carrier Switches. SMBs and Enterprise solutions include Unified Security Gateways, LAN Switches, WLAN, and IP Telephony. Digital Home solutions include Network Connectivity Devices and Multimedia Solutions.
NETGEAR adds two new products to its ReadyNAS portfolio
NETGEAR, a global networking company that delivers innovative products to consumers, businesses and service providers, today announced ReadyNAS® 3220 and ReadyNAS 4220, powerful new additions to the award-winning ReadyNAS product family. The new devices are the latest network-attached-storage (NAS) products to run on the revolutionary ReadyNAS OS, introduced in March 2013, that delivers high value, high performance storage with enterprise features to small and medium-sized businesses (SMB). Available for the first time in 2U rackmount form with twelve-bay capacity, the new ReadyNAS 3220 and 4220 enable easy storage for businesses supporting up to 500 concurrent users, according to a company statement.
NETGEAR has taken features and capabilities which were previously available only from expensive, large-enterprise vendors and after dramatically
simplifying deployment and manageability provided SMBs with affordable, powerful, and reliable NAS storage. ReadyNAS 3220 and 4220 feature a sleek new interface and the ReadyCLOUD web portal for full file management from any browser. Moreover, the newest members of the portfolio are the highest performing ReadyNAS solutions available which support 10GbE infrastructures, boast the latest in performance capability, and include innovative technologies such as unlimited snapshots and cloud-managed replication for dramatically reducing any possibility of data loss. Commenting on the product, Subhodeep Bhattacharya, Regional Director, India and SAARC, NETGEAR said: “The 3220 and 4220, which are the top of the ReadyNAS line provides customers with an advanced, easy-to-use solution for centralising, securing, and controlling access to digital assets. These cutting-edge rackmount devices are designed as ‘storage made easy’ and are built on a custom platform that lets you do more with your vital business data than you ever thought possible. With ReadyNAS, you’re getting the most storage value for your IT budget”. ReadyNAS 3220 and 4220 are virtualisation-ready with iSCSI support, thin
provisioning capability, and certification for interoperability with VMware® and Microsoft® — powerful tools for businesses taking advantage of virtual infrastructures. The NETGEAR ReadyNAS 3220 and ReadyNAS 4220 are currently available with NETGEAR’s authorised distributors in India. The price for ReadyNAS 3220 starts from Rs. 4, 00,000 and ReadyNAS 4220 from Rs 5, 50,000. Both products come with warranty of five years. NETGEAR (NASDAQGM: NTGR) is a global networking company that delivers innovative products to consumers, businesses and service providers. For consumers, the company makes high performance, dependable and easy to use home networking, storage and digital media products to connect people with the Internet and their content and devices. For businesses, NETGEAR provides Networking, storage and security solutions without the cost and complexity of big IT. The company also supplies top service providers with retail proven, whole home solutions for their customers. NETGEAR products are built on a variety of proven technologies such as wireless, Ethernet and Powerline, with a focus on reliability and ease-of-use. NETGEAR products are sold in around 29,000 retail locations around the globe, and through 41,000 value-added resellers. The company’s headquarters are in San Jose, Calif., with additional offices in 25 countries. NETGEAR is an ENERGY STAR® partner.
ZyXEL forges alliance with QNAP for 10G Ethernet Powered NAS Solution
ZyXEL Communications, a leading provider of secure broadband networking, Internet access, connected home and routing products, yesterday announced their partnership with QNAP which is a leading commercial Network Attached Storage (NAS) provider to create affordable, high performance 10G Ethernet powered NAS solution packs for small to mid-size companies (SMB), according to a company statement. The solution packs include ZyXEL’s XGS1900 series Web-managed smart 10G Ethernet switches and QNAPs TS-870U-RP NAS appliance.
To capitalise on the benefits of virtualization, SMBs need a lightning fast network and high performance storage solution. Field-tested to ensure optimal performance, the ZyXEL 10G switches and QNAP NAS solution pack meets the SMBs unique needs. The joint solution assures compatibility with a range of virtualization platforms offering data centres operators the reliability of a robust solution at an attractive price point.
Pinaki Chatterjee, Executive Director Distribution Channel & Business Development, ZyXEL India said: “ZyXEL being a leading Telecom brand plays a crucial rolei n bringing telecom and high end technologies within a reach of common man. It believes in providing end to end solution to its dedicated partners and customers with a commitment of stability, performance and affordability. In this process we are happy to take forward our relationship with QNAP to the next level by integrating our 10G solution with their high end storage solution as well as integrating IP Surveillance requirements with them as they are one of the most innovative and strongest storage brand globally”, .
Together, the ZyXEL 10G switches and QNAP NAS alleviate network congestion and deliver back-up and disaster recovery capabilities to SMBs. This is critical as more connected devices are added to the network, and the popularity of applications like video processing, business analytics and multimedia that demand large bandwidths and big storage keep escalating.
On the partnership of with ZyXEL Networking company for 10 G solutions for QNAP Small and medium storage, Sanjay Biswal Sales Manager-India, QNAP said: “QNAP has happily announced about go to market strategy with ZyXEL for their XGS 1900 Series switches. The XGS -1900 series switches are robust & cost effective network switch for small and medium segment customers. It will help both the organization for provide cost effective High Speed DATA Storage solutions. The High Speed Storage will be used for Surveillance Purpose/ Media and Broadcasting / DATA Centre and high speed data access scenario”.
Constrained by limited resources, many SMBs utilize affordable virtualization technology to improve operational efficiency and maintain data security. Leveraging virtualisation enables SMBs to make better use of their resources – both infrastructure and staff.
The XGS1900 series include 24 and 48 port 10G Web smart switches (XGS1910-24/48). The XGS1910-24 (48) switch comes with 2 (4) enhanced small form-factor SFP+ ports for 10G uplinks and / or stacking. This cost-saving feature eliminates the need for additional modules for 10G support. Some of the main features include outstanding performance and efficiency in network traffic management, Quality of Service (QoS) and a variety of VLAN features such as Media Access Control (MAC), protocol-based VLAN and guest VLAN.
TS-870U-RP / TS-1270U-RP: The TS-x70 series include the 12-bay TS-1270U-RP and the 8-bay TS-870U-RP aim to offer business users a superb high-performance yet budget-friendly 10 GbE NAS solution. Powered by a high performance Dual-core Intel 2.4GHz processor, the new TS-x70 series are equipped with 4GB DDR3 RAM, which can be upgraded to 16GB optionally. These models can store up to a maximum of 48 TB or 32 TB of storage to fulfill various business applications including high speed backup, server virtualization, iSCSI IP-SAN, video storage and centralized shared storage.
ZyXEL Communications Corp, established in 1989, is a world-class networking company providing innovative and reliable Internet solutions. As one of the early modem manufacturers, ZyXEL has gone through transformations in the fast-paced networking industry. Today, ZyXEL is one of the few companies in the world capable of offering complete networking solutions for Telcos, small to medium-sized businesses, and digital home users for a wide range of deployment scenarios. Telco solutions include Central Office Equipments, Customer Premises Equipments, Wired and Wireless Access Network Devices, and Carrier Switches. SMB and Enterprise solutions include Unified Security Gateways, LAN Switches, WLAN, and IP Telephony. Digital Home solutions include Network Connectivity Devices and Multimedia Solutions.
The News Hour India by Kenath Jayashankar Menon 