In the News

In a move that should worry local providers, large multinationals, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft and IBM, have announced the launch of data center facilities in India over the last year to capture the thriving local cloud computing demand. However, in this case, it is the Indian providers who seem to be gaining from the MNCs’ move. Because the data centers launched by these large multinationals, including AWS and Microsoft, are all owned by Indian providers.

International Association of Microsoft Channel Partners (IAMCP), India West board inaugurated the new chapter in Pune. There exists a large Microsoft partner ecosystem in Pune; 250 plus Microsoft partners are based in the city. The chapter aims to create a networking forum for local partners and help them collaborate on business opportunities and network with Microsoft to evaluate new opportunities in order to grow their business.

In an industry first, customers can now complete an end to end recharge and make bill payments using Cortana, Microsoft’s voice-based smart assistant. Freecharge, India’s fastest growing digital payments platform has enabled voice support transactions on its Windows 10 app version. Cortana works by using the ‘Favorites’ feature in the app. It recognizes the name that users set in Favorites and enables a transaction for those favorites without even opening the Freecharge app.

Speaking at the sidelines of a Microsoft conference taking place in Bengaluru, Microsoft India Chairman Bhaskar Pramanik outlined the company’s plans to build Aadhaar-enabled products for the Digital India initiative. “Think about an Aadhaar-embedded Skype,” said Pramanik, “where you use the Aadhaar to verify your identity. Right now you verify your ID using IOTP (a one-time password) but it could be verified using your iris, for example.”

Technology giant Microsoft today said sectors like healthcare, banking, financial services and insurance as well as startups are among the leading users of its local cloud services in India.
The US-based company, which had launched its local data centers in India in September last year, said state governments are also experimenting with the cloud platform to solve challenges in education, healthcare and agriculture.

Backwards compatibility with Xbox 360 games on the Xbox One has helped a number of classics like Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 and Red Dead Redemption reach a number of new players this generation. However, not every backwards compatible title has performed so well in terms of frame rate. However, some users have noted improved performance with the latest system update. Mike Ybarra, Director of Program Management, Xbox, further confirmed on Twitter that the latest update helped improve V-sync and reduced overall input lag for games.

Microsoft’s board authorized the buyback of an additional $40 billion of stock on top of an existing $40 billion repurchase program. This is to keep up a strategy of returning money to shareholders as its cash pile grows. Reportedly, the global software maker also raised its quarterly dividend by 8.3 percent to 39 cents a share. The company’s stock has jumped 31 percent in the past year, giving Microsoft a market capitalization of $442.7 billion, the third-largest in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.

Microsoft launched the Nokia 216 Dual SIM at Rs 2,495. The phone comes with a 2.4-inch QVGA display (240×320 resolution), running on Nokia Series 30+ operating system, with up to 32GB of storage via MicroSD card support. The handset features a VGA camera (0.3-megapixels) with an LED flash module on both the front and back. Nokia 216 Dual SIM will be available in India from October 24 in black, grey and blue.

The ninth batch of startups chosen for the Microsoft Accelerator in Bangalore has a distinct theme of AI and data analytics. This aligns with Microsoft’s strategic push to be an AI platform coupled with its Azure cloud computing platform. “I think artificial intelligence and data analytics will be in the DNA of every company,” said Bala Girisaballa, CEO, Microsoft Accelerator.

Microsoft is working to untangle user accounts that straddle both its consumer and corporate cloud services, helping administrators keep a tighter lid on corporate data. “Users might think that their personal Microsoft account is business-compliant and that they’re in compliance when they save business documents to their OneDrive,” Ariel Gordon, a Microsoft Identity Principal Program Manager, wrote in a recent blog post, explaining why creating a personal Microsoft Account with work email is a bad idea.