Recent News

Following through on promises from new CEO Satya Nadella, Microsoft continues to add support for non-Microsoft technologies, allowing them to run on the company’s Azure cloud hosting platform. “There are a wide variety of platforms and technologies that developers and IT managers like to use. We’re just trying to assure that regardless of your choice, it will work well on Azure,” said Doug Mahugh, a technology evangelist for Microsoft Open Technologies, a subsidiary that develops software and tools for non-Microsoft platforms.

Microsoft’s net income stood at $4.6 billion for the fourth quarter, according to the company’s earnings report. Sales rose by 18 percent to $23.38 billion in the same period, said the company, based in Redmond, Washington. Expense discipline and success with cloud-based services helped the increase, Microsoft reported. “I’m proud that our aggressive move to the cloud is paying off – our commercial cloud revenue doubled again this year to a $4.4-billion annual run rate,” said CEO Nadella.

In an opinion piece, Microsoft India Chairman Bhaskar Pramanik suggested that India needs to do a lot of catching up in terms of full utilization of cloud technology. While he felt that the Indian Government should be credited for certain policies like “Cloud First” to ensure that all future applications are going to be developed in the cloud, he said that the country still has miles to go in the implementation of this technology.

Srikanth Karnakota, Head, Servers and Cloud Platform, Microsoft India, stated that cloud technology is impacting various facets of government business. The twin issues of privacy and security have hindered the adoption of public cloud in the past, which is why hybrid cloud is truly helping governments and the world. This model allows for control in a data center environment, which is solely run and managed by the user, while also providing all the benefits of the public cloud.

Citing several examples, Prakash Kumar, National Technology Officer, Microsoft India, tried to bust the most common myths surrounding security in the cloud. He stated that the service removes the burden of building and maintaining large computer systems, provides unlimited computing and storage capacity, increases disaster preparedness by building backup and simplifies access. Mr. Kumar also said that half of the US government has migrated to the cloud, while Microsoft alone hosts almost a million servers, providing further proof that the cloud was secure and cost-friendly.

In order to make the features of the Windows Phone easier on customers, Microsoft has launched a website, which will feature demos on how to use and configure their latest smartphones. The site’s comprehensive walkthroughs cover screen personalization, messaging services and gaming alongside transferring contacts and other data from devices outside the Windows environment.

The leading bank has recently released a dedicated mobile banking app for customers to keep track of their finances on-the-go. The new app is available for download on the Windows Phone Store for phones on the Windows 8 operating system. Its extensive features include fund transfers, bill payment and an account view across credit cards, loans and Public Provident Fund accounts. Users can also reach ICICI customer care directly from the application.

Thanks to the geographic importance of the India market, a Microsoft spokesperson has confirmed that the Indian workforce will experience a small fraction of the 18,000 expected job cuts. This global move comes as the software major incorporates Nokia’s operations and aims to strengthen Windows Phone sales. “Making these decisions to change are difficult, but necessary,” CEO Nadella said. “Having a clear focus is the start of the journey, not the end,” he added.

In an interview, Srikanth Karnakota, Director – Server and Cloud Business, Microsoft India, explains how SQL 2014 promises to help firms dissolve data silos. He suggests that users—whether they are at operations, frontline or backend support—should all be able to analyse the data that is flowing across their system. SQL, with its Windows Azure connectivity and BI offerings from Excel, can help make powerful insights happen.

Disney India has announced the launch of a new game based on the Bollywood actor’s latest release ‘Kick’. The app extends the movie’s storyline into an interactive and engaging environment, where the player will take on the role of Khan’s Robin Hood-esque character. Users can experience both robbing and escaping gameplays consecutively with this app. “Gaming today has emerged as one of the top entertainment sources on mobile phones in the country and Indians love Bollywood,” Disney India Vice President and Head (Interactive) Sameer Ganapathy said.