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Face to Face

Built on Feedback: How SPARK and Elevate Shape Securonix's Marketing

VINNY SHARMA Senior Director- Global, Field & Channel Marketing, Securonix Evolving Marketing Strategy for the AI Era We are spending less time talking about AI as a category and more time showing what it can actually do We are spending less time talking about AI as a category and more time showing what it can actually do for a security team. Customers want to understand whether AI can help them investigate faster, reduce repetitive work, improve response, and give analysts more time to focus on higher-value decisions. That gives us a more practical way to talk about Sam, our AI SOC Analyst, because Sam performs work across triage, investigation, and response while analysts remain in control. We are also creating more opportunities to hear directly from customers, partners, and security leaders. Securonix SPARK is a good example. It gives us a forum for candid discussion around our products, customer experience, and broader market priorities. Those conversations help shape our messaging, our programs, and, in some cases, the product itself. The Elevate Partner Program plays a similar role within our partner ecosystem. Growth in this market depends on strong relationships, shared value, and giving partners a clear way to take the Securonix story to customers. Technology-driven Trust, Partner Ecosystems, and Customer Experience Trust is central to how we talk about AI. Customers want to understand what the AI is doing, why it is taking an action, and where human judgment remains part of the process. With Securonix, Sam performs defined work across triage, investigation, and response within the Agentic Mesh, with governance and human oversight built into the process. That makes the conversation around AI much more concrete and easier for customers to evaluate. On the marketing side, data helps us understand which issues customers care about, how they engage with us, and where their priorities are changing. We use those insights to improve our content, sharpen our campaigns, and make the overall customer experience more relevant. Digital channels help us maintain those conversations through customer stories, webinars, social content, thought leadership, and direct engagement. SPARK adds another layer by giving us a direct feedback loop with customers and partners, which helps us improve how we communicate and how we engage with them.

Face to Face

Building a Customer-Centric Marketing Strategy with AI and Data

VARUN SINGH Marketing Consultant Optoma Technology (India) Evolving Marketing Strategy for the AI Era AI is transforming marketing from a function focused on communication and campaign execution The marketing era is evolving fast. It is not only about brand awareness anymore, it has to take part in getting growth and find out what are customers' expectations and desires. We are using AI and data technology to gain better understanding of consumer behavior, enhance targeting and ensure our communication is relevant. At the same time, we want to preserve the human side of marketing. Telling interesting stories, establishing strong relationships with customers and having a proper grasp of the market remain very important. Thus, we aim to combine these component—applying advanced technologies and making the customer the main point. Brand Positioning in Competitive Market Our objective today is to provide a unique selling offer based on our solid understanding of the customer’s issues we work on. In the world where each technology company speaks about the same subjects (AI, automation, transformational change), being just a speaker and saying nothing meaningful will not lead to success anymore. We must be able to demonstrate strong business results and benefits. We are also trying to make our marketing more measurable by not limiting ourselves to traditional metrics of success and attempting to discover how marketing influences the sales pipeline and the growth of the customer base. Additionally, one more focus for us now consists in building an AIcentered marketing structure where technology makes our work more efficient while human capabilities still remain the key elements of our business processes. Technology-driven Trust, Partner Ecosystems, and Customer Experience At Optoma, we see AI, data analytics and digital channels not simply as marketing tools, but as enablers of a more connected ecosystem across customers, channel partners and our internal teams. Our approach is to use technology to make the customer journey more relevant, transparent and responsive, while helping our partners make better business decisions. AI is increasingly becoming an important part of how customers discover and evaluate technology. We are therefore strengthening our digital content across search, social media and AI-led discovery platforms with richer product information, application-based content, comparisons, FAQs and real-world use cases. Data analytics is equally important in understanding market and customer behaviour. We analyse campaign performance, search trends, website engagement, product interest and channel-level market insights to understand what customers are actually looking for. For our channel partners, digitalisation is about enabling business rather than replacing the channel. Partners remain a critical part of the customer journey, particularly in the professional AV, education and enterprise segments where consultation, demonstration, installation and after-sales support are important. We are using digital platforms, product content, training initiatives and data-led communication to give partners better access to product knowledge, marketing assets and customer insights.

Face to Face

Built on Feedback: How SPARK and Elevate Shape Securonix's Marketing

VINNY SHARMA Senior Director- Global, Field & Channel Marketing, Securonix Evolving Marketing Strategy for the AI Era We are spending less time talking about AI as a category and more time showing what it can actually do We are spending less time talking about AI as a category and more time showing what it can actually do for a security team. Customers want to understand whether AI can help them investigate faster, reduce repetitive work, improve response, and give analysts more time to focus on higher-value decisions. That gives us a more practical way to talk about Sam, our AI SOC Analyst, because Sam performs work across triage, investigation, and response while analysts remain in control. We are also creating more opportunities to hear directly from customers, partners, and security leaders. Securonix SPARK is a good example. It gives us a forum for candid discussion around our products, customer experience, and broader market priorities. Those conversations help shape our messaging, our programs, and, in some cases, the product itself. The Elevate Partner Program plays a similar role within our partner ecosystem. Growth in this market depends on strong relationships, shared value, and giving partners a clear way to take the Securonix story to customers. Technology-driven Trust, Partner Ecosystems, and Customer Experience Trust is central to how we talk about AI. Customers want to understand what the AI is doing, why it is taking an action, and where human judgment remains part of the process. With Securonix, Sam performs defined work across triage, investigation, and response within the Agentic Mesh, with governance and human oversight built into the process. That makes the conversation around AI much more concrete and easier for customers to evaluate. On the marketing side, data helps us understand which issues customers care about, how they engage with us, and where their priorities are changing. We use those insights to improve our content, sharpen our campaigns, and make the overall customer experience more relevant. Digital channels help us maintain those conversations through customer stories, webinars, social content, thought leadership, and direct engagement. SPARK adds another layer by giving us a direct feedback loop with customers and partners, which helps us improve how we communicate and how we engage with them.

Face to Face

Building a Customer-Centric Marketing Strategy with AI and Data

VARUN SINGH Marketing Consultant Optoma Technology (India) Evolving Marketing Strategy for the AI Era AI is transforming marketing from a function focused on communication and campaign execution The marketing era is evolving fast. It is not only about brand awareness anymore, it has to take part in getting growth and find out what are customers' expectations and desires. We are using AI and data technology to gain better understanding of consumer behavior, enhance targeting and ensure our communication is relevant. At the same time, we want to preserve the human side of marketing. Telling interesting stories, establishing strong relationships with customers and having a proper grasp of the market remain very important. Thus, we aim to combine these component—applying advanced technologies and making the customer the main point. Brand Positioning in Competitive Market Our objective today is to provide a unique selling offer based on our solid understanding of the customer’s issues we work on. In the world where each technology company speaks about the same subjects (AI, automation, transformational change), being just a speaker and saying nothing meaningful will not lead to success anymore. We must be able to demonstrate strong business results and benefits. We are also trying to make our marketing more measurable by not limiting ourselves to traditional metrics of success and attempting to discover how marketing influences the sales pipeline and the growth of the customer base. Additionally, one more focus for us now consists in building an AIcentered marketing structure where technology makes our work more efficient while human capabilities still remain the key elements of our business processes. Technology-driven Trust, Partner Ecosystems, and Customer Experience At Optoma, we see AI, data analytics and digital channels not simply as marketing tools, but as enablers of a more connected ecosystem across customers, channel partners and our internal teams. Our approach is to use technology to make the customer journey more relevant, transparent and responsive, while helping our partners make better business decisions. AI is increasingly becoming an important part of how customers discover and evaluate technology. We are therefore strengthening our digital content across search, social media and AI-led discovery platforms with richer product information, application-based content, comparisons, FAQs and real-world use cases. Data analytics is equally important in understanding market and customer behaviour. We analyse campaign performance, search trends, website engagement, product interest and channel-level market insights to understand what customers are actually looking for. For our channel partners, digitalisation is about enabling business rather than replacing the channel. Partners remain a critical part of the customer journey, particularly in the professional AV, education and enterprise segments where consultation, demonstration, installation and after-sales support are important. We are using digital platforms, product content, training initiatives and data-led communication to give partners better access to product knowledge, marketing assets and customer insights.

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Connecting Data Protection And Zero Trust For The Dpdp Era

VIVEK GUPTA Cybersecurity Practice Lead, Hitachi Systems Turning Partnership Into Impact Hitachi's edge is rich, two-decades-deep experience in data security and protection - built well before zero trust became a category. That experience is what we bring to the Zscaler relationship, helping both Zscaler and the customer adopt data protection and zero trust with precedent behind every decision, not a generic playbook. Our Zscaler Data Security certification and recognized ZTNA delivery status put us squarely at the intersection of regulatory compliance and Zero Trust security. We translate regulatory requirement into technical control. That's our positioning: architecture built around regulatory compliance first, with Zero Trust as the mechanism that delivers it. Customers simply lack visibility into where their PII data lives. Beyond that, most aren't aware of how the DPDP Act specifically impacts their organisation. We address both by giving them that visibility first, before anything else. Bringing Dpdp Compliance Into A Security Framework With respect to DPDP, DSPM gives visibility into where regulated data sits, DLP and CASB govern how it moves and is protected. Hitachi brings these together into one coherent architecture rather than disconnected tools, so the customer sees a single solution mapped to their compliance need. Besides, because we manage the customer, we get to know them well at the time an actual incident is happening. Our SOC team, with threat intel capability, is able to quantify the incident - leading to faster containment and faster notification. Ztna In The Context Of Dpdp Compliance We position Zscaler Private Access (ZPA) beyond a network access tool - as a data protection control. By limiting access to only what's needed, it directly reduces how much sensitive data is exposed if an identity is compromised, which is the language boards and CISOs care about. One Security Architecture, Multiple Regulations We build architecture complying to NIST frameworks. That gives customers, irrespective of the sector that they are from, a single security architecture that satisfies multiple sector mandates at once, without compliance fatigue. Key Message To Customers We demonstrated what we're doing as a Glasswing partner for Anthropic and OpenAI, and how this helps customers get visibility and correlation on their PII data. That's the message and the starting point for a customer's DPDP compliance journey in the AI era with Hitachi and Zscaler.

VAR Speak

From Zero Trust To End-to-end Cyber Defence

RAJESH MATHKAR Director - Wysetek Systems Technologists Turning Partnership Into Impact The partnership between Zscaler and Wysetek brings two things Indian enterprises rarely get together: a worldclass zero-trust platform and an operator that delivers it end-to-end. Zscaler provides the Zero Trust Exchange — inline, cloud-native, always current. Wysetek, through our Cyber Defence Centre, provides the 24×7 operations layer — detection engineering, response, tuning, and compliance reporting. Zscaler brings the platform; Wysetek brings the operations. Together, we help enterprises move from a deployed control to a fully operated, outcome-driven programme Bridging The Zero Trust Adoption Gap Deploying Zscaler is straightforward; operating it into outcomes is where many programmes may stall. That gap between adoption and outcomes is what we bridge. The journey has four stages: deploy the platform; integrate Zscaler telemetry into the SOC; instrument detection engineering, response, and continuous tuning; then operate 24×7 toward measurable business outcomes. Our Cyber Defence Centre carries the customer through the last three stages. The AI surge raises the bar on both sides — attackers now use AI for phishing, reconnaissance, and agentic intrusion. The CDC responds with an Inverted Cognitive SOC: AI-first correlation and reasoning at machine speed, humans applying judgement on top. Rethinking The Traditional SOC A traditional SOC is human-first: analysts triage alerts one by one, correlate manually, escalate for investigation. Tools support the humans. The Inverted Cognitive SOC flips that: AI does the first-pass cognition — AI driven Triaging, initial investigation /Analysis & correlation to provide AI Intelligence and ensure faster response. Three things change. Analyst time is spent on large volume alerts saving them from Alert fatigue, not triage, and Mean-time-to-detect and respond drop because the correlation loop no longer waits in a human queue. And the SOC scales without proportional headcount growth — critical in a market where SOC talent is genuinely scarce. Strengthening End-to-end Cybersecurity Post Scalezee Acquisition The Scalezee acquisition rounds out Wysetek's stack. Previously, our strength was network, user, and identity security — including running Zscaler estates. Scalezee brings DevSecOps and cloud-managed services. The combined offering lets one partner run the security programme across the full stack — from code commit, through the pipeline, into cloud workloads, across the Zscaler-secured network and user layer, and into the SOC that watches all of it. For enterprises running Zscaler alongside cloud-native workloads, we close a lot of the seams where programmes usually leak. Key Takeaway From Zenith Live Mumbai That well-run security is silent security. The state we work toward — for every customer of the Cyber Defence Centre — is one where the CISO isn't paged at 3 AM, the board isn't reading about the company in the newspaper, and SOC analysts are hunting rather than firefighting. “Silent” doesn't mean nothing is happening; it means everything that's happening is being seen, understood, and handled before it becomes a story. That is what zero trust was always meant to enable. And that is what Wysetek's Cyber Defence Centre is built to deliver.

VAR Speak

Connecting Data Protection And Zero Trust For The Dpdp Era

VIVEK GUPTA Cybersecurity Practice Lead, Hitachi Systems Turning Partnership Into Impact Hitachi's edge is rich, two-decades-deep experience in data security and protection - built well before zero trust became a category. That experience is what we bring to the Zscaler relationship, helping both Zscaler and the customer adopt data protection and zero trust with precedent behind every decision, not a generic playbook. Our Zscaler Data Security certification and recognized ZTNA delivery status put us squarely at the intersection of regulatory compliance and Zero Trust security. We translate regulatory requirement into technical control. That's our positioning: architecture built around regulatory compliance first, with Zero Trust as the mechanism that delivers it. Customers simply lack visibility into where their PII data lives. Beyond that, most aren't aware of how the DPDP Act specifically impacts their organisation. We address both by giving them that visibility first, before anything else. Bringing Dpdp Compliance Into A Security Framework With respect to DPDP, DSPM gives visibility into where regulated data sits, DLP and CASB govern how it moves and is protected. Hitachi brings these together into one coherent architecture rather than disconnected tools, so the customer sees a single solution mapped to their compliance need. Besides, because we manage the customer, we get to know them well at the time an actual incident is happening. Our SOC team, with threat intel capability, is able to quantify the incident - leading to faster containment and faster notification. Ztna In The Context Of Dpdp Compliance We position Zscaler Private Access (ZPA) beyond a network access tool - as a data protection control. By limiting access to only what's needed, it directly reduces how much sensitive data is exposed if an identity is compromised, which is the language boards and CISOs care about. One Security Architecture, Multiple Regulations We build architecture complying to NIST frameworks. That gives customers, irrespective of the sector that they are from, a single security architecture that satisfies multiple sector mandates at once, without compliance fatigue. Key Message To Customers We demonstrated what we're doing as a Glasswing partner for Anthropic and OpenAI, and how this helps customers get visibility and correlation on their PII data. That's the message and the starting point for a customer's DPDP compliance journey in the AI era with Hitachi and Zscaler.

VAR Speak

From Zero Trust To End-to-end Cyber Defence

RAJESH MATHKAR Director - Wysetek Systems Technologists Turning Partnership Into Impact The partnership between Zscaler and Wysetek brings two things Indian enterprises rarely get together: a worldclass zero-trust platform and an operator that delivers it end-to-end. Zscaler provides the Zero Trust Exchange — inline, cloud-native, always current. Wysetek, through our Cyber Defence Centre, provides the 24×7 operations layer — detection engineering, response, tuning, and compliance reporting. Zscaler brings the platform; Wysetek brings the operations. Together, we help enterprises move from a deployed control to a fully operated, outcome-driven programme Bridging The Zero Trust Adoption Gap Deploying Zscaler is straightforward; operating it into outcomes is where many programmes may stall. That gap between adoption and outcomes is what we bridge. The journey has four stages: deploy the platform; integrate Zscaler telemetry into the SOC; instrument detection engineering, response, and continuous tuning; then operate 24×7 toward measurable business outcomes. Our Cyber Defence Centre carries the customer through the last three stages. The AI surge raises the bar on both sides — attackers now use AI for phishing, reconnaissance, and agentic intrusion. The CDC responds with an Inverted Cognitive SOC: AI-first correlation and reasoning at machine speed, humans applying judgement on top. Rethinking The Traditional SOC A traditional SOC is human-first: analysts triage alerts one by one, correlate manually, escalate for investigation. Tools support the humans. The Inverted Cognitive SOC flips that: AI does the first-pass cognition — AI driven Triaging, initial investigation /Analysis & correlation to provide AI Intelligence and ensure faster response. Three things change. Analyst time is spent on large volume alerts saving them from Alert fatigue, not triage, and Mean-time-to-detect and respond drop because the correlation loop no longer waits in a human queue. And the SOC scales without proportional headcount growth — critical in a market where SOC talent is genuinely scarce. Strengthening End-to-end Cybersecurity Post Scalezee Acquisition The Scalezee acquisition rounds out Wysetek's stack. Previously, our strength was network, user, and identity security — including running Zscaler estates. Scalezee brings DevSecOps and cloud-managed services. The combined offering lets one partner run the security programme across the full stack — from code commit, through the pipeline, into cloud workloads, across the Zscaler-secured network and user layer, and into the SOC that watches all of it. For enterprises running Zscaler alongside cloud-native workloads, we close a lot of the seams where programmes usually leak. Key Takeaway From Zenith Live Mumbai That well-run security is silent security. The state we work toward — for every customer of the Cyber Defence Centre — is one where the CISO isn't paged at 3 AM, the board isn't reading about the company in the newspaper, and SOC analysts are hunting rather than firefighting. “Silent” doesn't mean nothing is happening; it means everything that's happening is being seen, understood, and handled before it becomes a story. That is what zero trust was always meant to enable. And that is what Wysetek's Cyber Defence Centre is built to deliver.

Cyber Security

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Cyber Security

IBM and Red Hat Address Over 400 Previously Unknown Open Source Vulnerabilities

IBM and Red Hat announced that Lightwell has identified and remediated more than 400 previously unknown vulnerabilities in widely used Java libraries. The companies also announced the general availability of Lightwell Clearinghouse, which allows enterprise customers to submit specific open source software dependencies for priority review and remediation. The milestone addresses a growing business risk. As autonomous AI agents become capable of combining several lower-risk software weaknesses into a more serious attack, companies need to do more than identify vulnerabilities. They need a practical way to develop, test and deploy fixes in the software that supports critical applications. Moving from finding vulnerabilities to remediating them Many security tools can identify potential problems, but detection alone does not remove the risk. Organizations also need fixes that work with the software versions already running in production and can be introduced without disrupting business operations. Through Lightwell, Red Hat and IBM have uncovered, remediated, and backported fixes for more than 400 previously unknown bugs in widely deployed, production-grade software. The work shows that even mature codebases require continued attention as threats evolve. Red Hat and IBM are focusing engineering resources on this foundational software to help reduce risk across enterprise systems. How Lightwell works Lightwell builds on IBM and Red Hat’s commitment to secure open source software for the AI era. The initiative combines several key capabilities: · Open source engineering expertise from Red Hat and IBM; · Red Hat’s deep open source community relationships; · Advanced AI-assisted engineering workflows; and · Red Hat’s secure software supply chain capabilities and build infrastructure. This powerful engine rapidly develops version-specific fixes for open source application dependencies in production systems. The remediations are delivered through secured repositories that connect with customers’ existing IT processes. This allows organizations to address difficult or previously unknown vulnerabilities without replacing their current security scanners, software repositories, development pipelines or testing processes. Through Light Well Network, IT teams can access verified patches, bring remediated software into their existing workflows and establish an ongoing process for addressing vulnerabilities. With the general availability of Lightwell Clearinghouse, customers can submit specific open source vulnerabilities to IBM and Red Hat for priority review, remediation and fixes that can be applied to older software versions still in use. In alignment with Red Hat's open source leadership, applicable fixes developed through Lightwell are contributed back to upstream open source projects under responsible disclosure protocols. This helps the broader open source ecosystem benefit from Lightwell's scale while maintaining embargo protections for Clearinghouse participants. Gunnar Hellekson, vice president and general manager, Lightwell, Red Hat said, "AI agents shifted the threat landscape overnight, exploiting old dependencies at machine speed. They do not care if a codebase is ten years old or otherwise considered stable, because one small crack is all it takes to chain an attack together. Finding those bugs is only half the battle: the real work is backporting fixes directly into active production apps so customers do not have to pick between security and uptime. Finding and neutralizing 400+ novel vulnerabilities so quickly shows how fast Lightwell can move, and we are just getting started."

Cyber Security

Kaspersky and KidZania put children’s cyber safety under the spotlight

Kaspersky and KidZania bring families into hands-on cyber investigations as data highlights rising AI chatbot use, greater smartphone exposure to risky content, and the need for practical cyber safety education among Indian children and families. Kaspersky, a global cybersecurity and digital privacy company, and KidZania India hosted a Media Family Day at the Kaspersky Cyber Investigation Centre at KidZania Delhi NCR, near GIP Mall, Noida. The event brought parents and children together to participate in the cybersecurity role-play experience available to visitors since the Centre opened in April 2026. The initiative focused on how children’s online behaviour is evolving in India and how cyber awareness can be developed through practical experiences. Smartphones emerge as a key exposure point According to anonymised data from Indian users of Kaspersky Safe Kids for Q1 2026, communication and media platforms account for a significant share of children’s online activity. On Windows devices, Internet, Communication & Media was the most-visited category at 43.44%, followed by Software, Audio, Video at 34.99%. Android showed a similar pattern, with 39.86% and 34.89%, respectively. However, the data also highlights a notable difference in exposure to risky content. Adult content accounted for 5.71% of children’s activity on Android, nearly three times its 1.91% share on Windows. Alcohol, tobacco and narcotics-related content remained relatively small but consistent across both platforms, at 0.26% on Android and 0.29% on Windows. The findings point to smartphones as an important area of concern, particularly as they are often less supervised than computers. At the same time, children’s app usage is increasingly reflecting the growing presence of artificial intelligence in their daily digital lives. AI chatbots enter children’s app habits Kaspersky Safe Kids data covering app usage in India over a recent six-month period placed ChatGPT seventh among the Top 20 apps used by children, with a 2.41% share. It ranked ahead of Zoom, Roblox and Telegram, while YouTube, WhatsApp and Instagram accounted for 30.68%, 29.14% and 10.24%, respectively. ChatGPT was the only AI chatbot in the Top 10. The trend is also reflected in Kaspersky’s global findings, which showed AI-related apps and services moving from sixth to third place in children’s Google searches worldwide between May 2025 and April 2026. Commenting on the findings, Jaydeep Singh, General Manager for India at Kaspersky, said, “Children in India are now turning to AI chatbots for homework, quick answers and even conversation, alongside the messaging and video apps they have used for years, and most of this is happening on smartphones, where supervision tends to be lightest. That changes what cyber awareness needs to look like. It is no longer enough to tell a child not to click a suspicious link. They also need to learn to question what a chatbot tells them, to recognise when a message is designed to manipulate them, and to know when to ask an adult for help.” “Today was about letting parents see that learning happen first-hand. When a child works through a phishing case at the Cyber Investigation Centre and then explains it to their parents, it shows why hands-on learning stays with them in a way a warning does not. That is what we set out to build with KidZania: an instinct for online safety that children carry back to the devices they use every day,” he added. Children take on cyber investigator roles The Media Family Day began with a welcome address by Jaydeep Singh, followed by an overview of the Kaspersky-KidZania partnership. Families then participated in a guided KidZania experience that included the Cyber Investigation Centre, followed by an interaction and Q&A with the Kaspersky team. At the Centre, children aged six and above take on the role of cyber investigators. They work at dedicated stations equipped with Kaspersky security software and investigate simulated cases involving phishing, identity theft and cyberbullying. The experience is designed to help children identify online threats, practise safer browsing and respond to realistic cybersecurity scenarios. Each 20-minute session can accommodate up to six children, with participants receiving a personalised Cyber Investigator card after completing their mission. The Centre operates at both KidZania India locations in Mumbai and Delhi NCR. Speaking at the event, Tarandeep Singh Sekhon, Chief Business Officer, KidZania India, said, “At KidZania, we believe children learn best when they get to experience the real world for themselves. And today, the real world also includes the digital world. The Kaspersky Cyber Investigation Centre brings this reality into KidZania in a very engaging way — children become cyber investigators, solve real-life inspired cases and discover how to stay safer online through doing, rather than simply being told. The Kaspersky team has done a brilliant job of taking what can be a complex subject and turning it into an experience that is simple, immersive and genuinely fun for children. We see them walking out excited about the cases they have cracked and often talking about them with their parents. For us, that is the real power of this partnership — making an important life skill something children can experience, understand and remember.” Kaspersky outlines practical steps for parents Kaspersky has also recommended that parents keep regular conversations open with children about their online activities and establish clear ground rules. It advises families to give smartphones the same attention as computers by using content filters and parental controls. The company also recommends teaching children that AI-generated answers can be incorrect, encouraging them to verify chatbot responses and avoid sharing personal information with AI tools. Parents should also help children recognise phishing and other manipulation tactics, including unexpected links, prize offers and urgent requests received through messaging apps, games or email. Kaspersky further advises parents to review privacy and safety settings regularly as children’s app usage changes. As part of its partnership with KidZania, the company is offering a package that includes a 30-day free trial, up to 40% off on Premium protection and a complimentary one-year Safe Kids subscription worth INR 1,439.

Cyber Security

IBM and Red Hat Address Over 400 Previously Unknown Open Source Vulnerabilities

IBM and Red Hat announced that Lightwell has identified and remediated more than 400 previously unknown vulnerabilities in widely used Java libraries. The companies also announced the general availability of Lightwell Clearinghouse, which allows enterprise customers to submit specific open source software dependencies for priority review and remediation. The milestone addresses a growing business risk. As autonomous AI agents become capable of combining several lower-risk software weaknesses into a more serious attack, companies need to do more than identify vulnerabilities. They need a practical way to develop, test and deploy fixes in the software that supports critical applications. Moving from finding vulnerabilities to remediating them Many security tools can identify potential problems, but detection alone does not remove the risk. Organizations also need fixes that work with the software versions already running in production and can be introduced without disrupting business operations. Through Lightwell, Red Hat and IBM have uncovered, remediated, and backported fixes for more than 400 previously unknown bugs in widely deployed, production-grade software. The work shows that even mature codebases require continued attention as threats evolve. Red Hat and IBM are focusing engineering resources on this foundational software to help reduce risk across enterprise systems. How Lightwell works Lightwell builds on IBM and Red Hat’s commitment to secure open source software for the AI era. The initiative combines several key capabilities: · Open source engineering expertise from Red Hat and IBM; · Red Hat’s deep open source community relationships; · Advanced AI-assisted engineering workflows; and · Red Hat’s secure software supply chain capabilities and build infrastructure. This powerful engine rapidly develops version-specific fixes for open source application dependencies in production systems. The remediations are delivered through secured repositories that connect with customers’ existing IT processes. This allows organizations to address difficult or previously unknown vulnerabilities without replacing their current security scanners, software repositories, development pipelines or testing processes. Through Light Well Network, IT teams can access verified patches, bring remediated software into their existing workflows and establish an ongoing process for addressing vulnerabilities. With the general availability of Lightwell Clearinghouse, customers can submit specific open source vulnerabilities to IBM and Red Hat for priority review, remediation and fixes that can be applied to older software versions still in use. In alignment with Red Hat's open source leadership, applicable fixes developed through Lightwell are contributed back to upstream open source projects under responsible disclosure protocols. This helps the broader open source ecosystem benefit from Lightwell's scale while maintaining embargo protections for Clearinghouse participants. Gunnar Hellekson, vice president and general manager, Lightwell, Red Hat said, "AI agents shifted the threat landscape overnight, exploiting old dependencies at machine speed. They do not care if a codebase is ten years old or otherwise considered stable, because one small crack is all it takes to chain an attack together. Finding those bugs is only half the battle: the real work is backporting fixes directly into active production apps so customers do not have to pick between security and uptime. Finding and neutralizing 400+ novel vulnerabilities so quickly shows how fast Lightwell can move, and we are just getting started."

Cyber Security

Kaspersky and KidZania put children’s cyber safety under the spotlight

Kaspersky and KidZania bring families into hands-on cyber investigations as data highlights rising AI chatbot use, greater smartphone exposure to risky content, and the need for practical cyber safety education among Indian children and families. Kaspersky, a global cybersecurity and digital privacy company, and KidZania India hosted a Media Family Day at the Kaspersky Cyber Investigation Centre at KidZania Delhi NCR, near GIP Mall, Noida. The event brought parents and children together to participate in the cybersecurity role-play experience available to visitors since the Centre opened in April 2026. The initiative focused on how children’s online behaviour is evolving in India and how cyber awareness can be developed through practical experiences. Smartphones emerge as a key exposure point According to anonymised data from Indian users of Kaspersky Safe Kids for Q1 2026, communication and media platforms account for a significant share of children’s online activity. On Windows devices, Internet, Communication & Media was the most-visited category at 43.44%, followed by Software, Audio, Video at 34.99%. Android showed a similar pattern, with 39.86% and 34.89%, respectively. However, the data also highlights a notable difference in exposure to risky content. Adult content accounted for 5.71% of children’s activity on Android, nearly three times its 1.91% share on Windows. Alcohol, tobacco and narcotics-related content remained relatively small but consistent across both platforms, at 0.26% on Android and 0.29% on Windows. The findings point to smartphones as an important area of concern, particularly as they are often less supervised than computers. At the same time, children’s app usage is increasingly reflecting the growing presence of artificial intelligence in their daily digital lives. AI chatbots enter children’s app habits Kaspersky Safe Kids data covering app usage in India over a recent six-month period placed ChatGPT seventh among the Top 20 apps used by children, with a 2.41% share. It ranked ahead of Zoom, Roblox and Telegram, while YouTube, WhatsApp and Instagram accounted for 30.68%, 29.14% and 10.24%, respectively. ChatGPT was the only AI chatbot in the Top 10. The trend is also reflected in Kaspersky’s global findings, which showed AI-related apps and services moving from sixth to third place in children’s Google searches worldwide between May 2025 and April 2026. Commenting on the findings, Jaydeep Singh, General Manager for India at Kaspersky, said, “Children in India are now turning to AI chatbots for homework, quick answers and even conversation, alongside the messaging and video apps they have used for years, and most of this is happening on smartphones, where supervision tends to be lightest. That changes what cyber awareness needs to look like. It is no longer enough to tell a child not to click a suspicious link. They also need to learn to question what a chatbot tells them, to recognise when a message is designed to manipulate them, and to know when to ask an adult for help.” “Today was about letting parents see that learning happen first-hand. When a child works through a phishing case at the Cyber Investigation Centre and then explains it to their parents, it shows why hands-on learning stays with them in a way a warning does not. That is what we set out to build with KidZania: an instinct for online safety that children carry back to the devices they use every day,” he added. Children take on cyber investigator roles The Media Family Day began with a welcome address by Jaydeep Singh, followed by an overview of the Kaspersky-KidZania partnership. Families then participated in a guided KidZania experience that included the Cyber Investigation Centre, followed by an interaction and Q&A with the Kaspersky team. At the Centre, children aged six and above take on the role of cyber investigators. They work at dedicated stations equipped with Kaspersky security software and investigate simulated cases involving phishing, identity theft and cyberbullying. The experience is designed to help children identify online threats, practise safer browsing and respond to realistic cybersecurity scenarios. Each 20-minute session can accommodate up to six children, with participants receiving a personalised Cyber Investigator card after completing their mission. The Centre operates at both KidZania India locations in Mumbai and Delhi NCR. Speaking at the event, Tarandeep Singh Sekhon, Chief Business Officer, KidZania India, said, “At KidZania, we believe children learn best when they get to experience the real world for themselves. And today, the real world also includes the digital world. The Kaspersky Cyber Investigation Centre brings this reality into KidZania in a very engaging way — children become cyber investigators, solve real-life inspired cases and discover how to stay safer online through doing, rather than simply being told. The Kaspersky team has done a brilliant job of taking what can be a complex subject and turning it into an experience that is simple, immersive and genuinely fun for children. We see them walking out excited about the cases they have cracked and often talking about them with their parents. For us, that is the real power of this partnership — making an important life skill something children can experience, understand and remember.” Kaspersky outlines practical steps for parents Kaspersky has also recommended that parents keep regular conversations open with children about their online activities and establish clear ground rules. It advises families to give smartphones the same attention as computers by using content filters and parental controls. The company also recommends teaching children that AI-generated answers can be incorrect, encouraging them to verify chatbot responses and avoid sharing personal information with AI tools. Parents should also help children recognise phishing and other manipulation tactics, including unexpected links, prize offers and urgent requests received through messaging apps, games or email. Kaspersky further advises parents to review privacy and safety settings regularly as children’s app usage changes. As part of its partnership with KidZania, the company is offering a package that includes a 30-day free trial, up to 40% off on Premium protection and a complimentary one-year Safe Kids subscription worth INR 1,439.

Software

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Software

New Relic Comes Up with Infrastructure 360 to Power Reliable AI Workloads

New Relic announced the launch of Infrastructure 360, a comprehensive solution empowering platform engineering, infrastructure and operations teams to drastically reduce incident response times by giving teams an end-to-end view of their cloud resources, dependencies, and configuration changes. With New Relic’s existing infrastructure observability capability as its foundation, Infrastructure 360 is built directly on top to deliver a significantly deeper level of information with a dedicated user interface (UI). This provides engineers with the operational foundation to ensure their teams can deploy AI with confidence. Bringing visibility, guardrails, and context to modern infrastructure management To support modern development, platform engineers must balance four critical pillars: velocity, reliability, cost, and security. However, in the AI era, where infrastructure scaling happens at unprecedented speed and complexity, managing these four pillars has become increasingly untenable using legacy tools. As AI-driven workloads rapidly scale and change underlying resources, the risk of unmonitored edits and silent configuration drift grows exponentially. Half of major production outages stem directly from these untracked infrastructure changes. When an incident occurs, teams are often forced to jump between disconnected tools, struggling to answer basic questions about what is running, monitored, or recently changed. To address these challenges, platform engineering must provide a consistent operational foundation with an end-to-end view of the constantly shifting underlying infrastructure without restricting developer agility. Infrastructure 360 brings unified visibility into all cloud resources, coverage, dependencies, and configuration changes. It helps platform engineers quickly see what changed and correlate configuration updates with performance issues. It also discovers AWS and Azure resources and highlights where metrics coverage is missing, helping teams identify monitoring gaps before they become troubleshooting blind spots. With deeper dependency mapping across applications, Kubernetes, networks, load balancers, and gateways, teams can better understand where an issue originates and what it may impact. The result is faster troubleshooting with a much stronger infrastructure context. "Unlike legacy monitoring platforms that force engineers to piece together host data across fragmented product silos, New Relic consolidates infrastructure, applications, and logs into a single, unified database," said New Relic CTO Michael Frendo. "With Infrastructure 360, we leverage this single-source-of-truth architecture to track exact configuration changes and deep cross-stack dependencies in real time. By eliminating the blind spots and data friction common in multi-tool setups, we deliver the rock-solid, high-fidelity telemetry engine required to keep complex production AI applications running with absolute stability and predictability." Key features and benefits of Infrastructure 360 include: Automated Resource Discovery & Instrumentation gaps: Infrastructure 360 agentlessly scans connected AWS and Azure accounts to map out all active cloud resources, identifying what exists regardless of its monitoring state. It proactively provides instrumentation blind spots with guided onboarding workflows, transforming passive reporting into active remediation of blind spots. Configuration Change Tracking & Explorer : The solution automatically captures and stores infrastructure change events in AWS, Azure service configurations and Kubernetes object manifests. Engineers can use the Configuration Explorer to view exact property-level before-and-after diffs, instantly correlating application performance spikes with recent deployments. Advanced App-Infra Topology Mapping: Moving far beyond APM-to-host connections, Infrastructure 360 maps dependencies connecting APM directly to underlying cloud networks, load balancers, application gateways, databases amongst many others, to eliminate production issues. Enhanced Data Foundation for New Relic Autopilot : The deep relationship and configuration change data gathered by Infrastructure 360 serves as a critical foundation for AI and automation capabilities. When paired with New Relic Autopilot—a set of automated SRE agents that investigates, explains, and helps fix incidents using real-time data from your environment—this rich operational intelligence enables the AI to make significantly more accurate and context-aware decisions. Unified Workflow and Intelligence: Unified visibility for platform engineering, infrastructure and operations teams provide reliability, cost and security lenses. All active alerts, observability blind spots, config changes across all of infrastructure are accessible through Infrastructure 360. Availability Infrastructure 360 will be available to New Relic customers in public preview on October 13.

Software

GoDaddy simplifies web app deployment with new Node.js hosting offering

GoDaddy launched Node.js Hosting to help customers publish web apps more easily, whether they built them themselves, hired a freelancer, or used an AI coding tool. Developers and AI coding agents can also create, deploy and manage apps entirely through the GoDaddy API, without opening a dashboard. AI coding tools make it easier to build websites and applications, but getting them online still often means dealing with hosting, security, domains and other technical setup. Node.js Hosting quickly handles many of those important steps for customers. When users upload an app as a zip file or connect a GitHub repository to GoDaddy Node.js Hosting, a private preview is created. When they are ready to publish, they connect their domain. Node.js Hosting handles the rest, automatically setting up HTTPS, a content delivery network (CDN) and a web application firewall. The GoDaddy API gives developers and AI coding tools programmatic control over the app lifecycle, including creating apps, uploading source code, publishing apps, managing environment secrets and reading build and application logs. Every app has separate preview and publish environments, so changes can be tested before they go live. Authentication uses a Personal Access Token (PAT), allowing automated tools to deploy without manual sign-in. “Getting an app working shouldn’t mean you now have to learn how to host it,” said Bhala Dalvi, CTO, products and AI at GoDaddy . “Too often, builders have to leave the tool they’re using and work through a separate hosting setup just to get their app online. With GoDaddy Node.js Hosting, we’re bringing deployment into that same workflow through our API. GoDaddy handles the build and hosting infrastructure, so people can spend their time improving their app.” From Finished App to Live Website Node.js Hosting helps GoDaddy customers - Deploy from code, not a dashboard. Create apps, deploy, manage secrets and read logs through the GoDaddy API, with PAT authentication for automated tools. · Run apps the way they were built. Apps run as persistent Node.js processes, supporting apps that keep information in memory, run background jobs or maintain open connections. · Spend less time on setup. Upload a zip file or connect a GitHub repository, and GoDaddy handles framework detection, dependency installation and deployment automatically. · Publish with security built in. Published apps include automatic HTTPS, a CDN, a web application firewall and a managed MySQL database. · Keep costs predictable. Node.js Hosting is included with GoDaddy Web Hosting plans, with no per-request, per-gigabyte or per-build-minute charges.

Software

New Relic Comes Up with Infrastructure 360 to Power Reliable AI Workloads

New Relic announced the launch of Infrastructure 360, a comprehensive solution empowering platform engineering, infrastructure and operations teams to drastically reduce incident response times by giving teams an end-to-end view of their cloud resources, dependencies, and configuration changes. With New Relic’s existing infrastructure observability capability as its foundation, Infrastructure 360 is built directly on top to deliver a significantly deeper level of information with a dedicated user interface (UI). This provides engineers with the operational foundation to ensure their teams can deploy AI with confidence. Bringing visibility, guardrails, and context to modern infrastructure management To support modern development, platform engineers must balance four critical pillars: velocity, reliability, cost, and security. However, in the AI era, where infrastructure scaling happens at unprecedented speed and complexity, managing these four pillars has become increasingly untenable using legacy tools. As AI-driven workloads rapidly scale and change underlying resources, the risk of unmonitored edits and silent configuration drift grows exponentially. Half of major production outages stem directly from these untracked infrastructure changes. When an incident occurs, teams are often forced to jump between disconnected tools, struggling to answer basic questions about what is running, monitored, or recently changed. To address these challenges, platform engineering must provide a consistent operational foundation with an end-to-end view of the constantly shifting underlying infrastructure without restricting developer agility. Infrastructure 360 brings unified visibility into all cloud resources, coverage, dependencies, and configuration changes. It helps platform engineers quickly see what changed and correlate configuration updates with performance issues. It also discovers AWS and Azure resources and highlights where metrics coverage is missing, helping teams identify monitoring gaps before they become troubleshooting blind spots. With deeper dependency mapping across applications, Kubernetes, networks, load balancers, and gateways, teams can better understand where an issue originates and what it may impact. The result is faster troubleshooting with a much stronger infrastructure context. "Unlike legacy monitoring platforms that force engineers to piece together host data across fragmented product silos, New Relic consolidates infrastructure, applications, and logs into a single, unified database," said New Relic CTO Michael Frendo. "With Infrastructure 360, we leverage this single-source-of-truth architecture to track exact configuration changes and deep cross-stack dependencies in real time. By eliminating the blind spots and data friction common in multi-tool setups, we deliver the rock-solid, high-fidelity telemetry engine required to keep complex production AI applications running with absolute stability and predictability." Key features and benefits of Infrastructure 360 include: Automated Resource Discovery & Instrumentation gaps: Infrastructure 360 agentlessly scans connected AWS and Azure accounts to map out all active cloud resources, identifying what exists regardless of its monitoring state. It proactively provides instrumentation blind spots with guided onboarding workflows, transforming passive reporting into active remediation of blind spots. Configuration Change Tracking & Explorer : The solution automatically captures and stores infrastructure change events in AWS, Azure service configurations and Kubernetes object manifests. Engineers can use the Configuration Explorer to view exact property-level before-and-after diffs, instantly correlating application performance spikes with recent deployments. Advanced App-Infra Topology Mapping: Moving far beyond APM-to-host connections, Infrastructure 360 maps dependencies connecting APM directly to underlying cloud networks, load balancers, application gateways, databases amongst many others, to eliminate production issues. Enhanced Data Foundation for New Relic Autopilot : The deep relationship and configuration change data gathered by Infrastructure 360 serves as a critical foundation for AI and automation capabilities. When paired with New Relic Autopilot—a set of automated SRE agents that investigates, explains, and helps fix incidents using real-time data from your environment—this rich operational intelligence enables the AI to make significantly more accurate and context-aware decisions. Unified Workflow and Intelligence: Unified visibility for platform engineering, infrastructure and operations teams provide reliability, cost and security lenses. All active alerts, observability blind spots, config changes across all of infrastructure are accessible through Infrastructure 360. Availability Infrastructure 360 will be available to New Relic customers in public preview on October 13.

Software

GoDaddy simplifies web app deployment with new Node.js hosting offering

GoDaddy launched Node.js Hosting to help customers publish web apps more easily, whether they built them themselves, hired a freelancer, or used an AI coding tool. Developers and AI coding agents can also create, deploy and manage apps entirely through the GoDaddy API, without opening a dashboard. AI coding tools make it easier to build websites and applications, but getting them online still often means dealing with hosting, security, domains and other technical setup. Node.js Hosting quickly handles many of those important steps for customers. When users upload an app as a zip file or connect a GitHub repository to GoDaddy Node.js Hosting, a private preview is created. When they are ready to publish, they connect their domain. Node.js Hosting handles the rest, automatically setting up HTTPS, a content delivery network (CDN) and a web application firewall. The GoDaddy API gives developers and AI coding tools programmatic control over the app lifecycle, including creating apps, uploading source code, publishing apps, managing environment secrets and reading build and application logs. Every app has separate preview and publish environments, so changes can be tested before they go live. Authentication uses a Personal Access Token (PAT), allowing automated tools to deploy without manual sign-in. “Getting an app working shouldn’t mean you now have to learn how to host it,” said Bhala Dalvi, CTO, products and AI at GoDaddy . “Too often, builders have to leave the tool they’re using and work through a separate hosting setup just to get their app online. With GoDaddy Node.js Hosting, we’re bringing deployment into that same workflow through our API. GoDaddy handles the build and hosting infrastructure, so people can spend their time improving their app.” From Finished App to Live Website Node.js Hosting helps GoDaddy customers - Deploy from code, not a dashboard. Create apps, deploy, manage secrets and read logs through the GoDaddy API, with PAT authentication for automated tools. · Run apps the way they were built. Apps run as persistent Node.js processes, supporting apps that keep information in memory, run background jobs or maintain open connections. · Spend less time on setup. Upload a zip file or connect a GitHub repository, and GoDaddy handles framework detection, dependency installation and deployment automatically. · Publish with security built in. Published apps include automatic HTTPS, a CDN, a web application firewall and a managed MySQL database. · Keep costs predictable. Node.js Hosting is included with GoDaddy Web Hosting plans, with no per-request, per-gigabyte or per-build-minute charges.

Peripherals

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Peripherals

Consistent Launches 16-Port Gigabit Ethernet Switch for High-Speed Networking

Featuring 16 Gigabit ports, 32Gbps switching bandwidth, Plug & Play setup and a compact desktop design Consistent Infosystems , a leading IT hardware, surveillance, and electronics brand, launches its 16-Port Gigabit Ethernet Desktop Switch (CT-DS-16PG) , designed to provide high-speed and reliable wired connectivity for homes, offices and professional networking setups. Equipped with 16 Gigabit Ethernet ports and a compact desktop form factor, the switch offers a practical solution for expanding wired network connectivity. Designed for easy placement and everyday use , the 16-Port Gigabit Ethernet Desktop Switch has a sleek black finish with a rectangular design , complemented by a dark grey front panel and yellow accent detailing . The 16 Ethernet ports are neatly arranged for convenient connection of compatible network devices, while its compact form factor makes it easy to place on desks or alongside existing networking equipment. The switch features 16 x 10/100/1000 Mbps Gigabit ports , along with 32Gbps switching bandwidth and 23.808Mbps forwarding capacity for efficient data transfer and stable network performance. It also supports Auto MDI/MDIX , eliminating the need for crossover cables, while Plug & Play functionality enables quick installation without complex configuration. It allows users to connect computers, printers, IP cameras, storage devices and other compatible equipment. For enhanced reliability, the switch comes with lightning protection to help safeguard the device against electrical disturbances. It is powered by an external 12V DC / 1A power adapter and supports an operating temperature range of -20°C to 55°C, making it suitable for different working environments. Commenting on the launch, Yogesh Agrawal, CMD and Co-Founder, Consistent Infosystems , said, “As more devices become part of our everyday work and home environments, having a reliable network is increasingly important. With our new 16-Port Gigabit Ethernet Desktop Switch, we wanted to offer a simple and dependable solution that makes expanding a wired network easier.” With its combination of high-speed Gigabit connectivity, multiple ports, easy installation and compact design, the switch provides a practical solution for expanding wired networks. Pricing and Availability The Consistent 16-Port Gigabit Ethernet Desktop Switch carries an MRP of INR 6,999 and is available through Consistent Infosystems’ extensive channel partner network across India and can also be purchased online at shop.consistent.in .

Peripherals

HAMMER launches KO2 ear-hook sports earbuds with 25dB ANC and 80-hour playtime in India

Priced at INR 1,299, the lightweight KO2 TWS earbuds pair a secure ear-hook fit with Bluetooth 6.0, quad-mic noise cancellation and 13mm drivers, targeting runners, gym-goers and active users who find conventional earbuds slip during workouts. HAMMER, an Indian mass-market and mass-premium lifestyle electronics brand, has introduced the KO2 Sports TWS Earbuds, designed for users who train hard and need audio gear that stays in place. The earbuds feature an ergonomic ear-hook design aimed at running, gym sessions and everyday active use, addressing a common complaint that standard earbuds slip because of sweat or poorly shaped fits. The company also notes that neckbands can be uncomfortable and headphones are impractical during intense exercise. Secure fit for active users The KO2's ear-hook locks around the ear to help prevent the earbuds from slipping or falling off during runs, workouts and outdoor activities. The soft silicone build is sweat-resistant and skin-friendly, while the lightweight 62.4g design is meant to support extended wear through the day. Connectivity and noise control The earbuds run on an advanced Bluetooth v6.0 chip, which the company says brings faster pairing, more stable connectivity and better efficiency, with fewer interruptions whether users are exercising, commuting or on the move. For focus, the KO2 offers 25dB Active Noise Cancellation, supported by four MEMS microphones that reduce surrounding noise. The quad-mic setup also aims to improve voice pickup on voice and video calls. Sound and battery Large 13mm Titanium Dynamic Drivers are designed to deliver deeper bass and a bold, immersive sound. A built-in voice assistant allows hands-free control, and full touch controls let users manage music and calls directly from the earbuds. HAMMER claims up to 80 hours of playtime at 50% volume. The Type-C charging case supports fast charging and can be fully charged in under two hours. Commenting on the launch, Rohit Nandwani, Founder & COO, HAMMER, said: "The KO2 is designed for people who don't want their earbuds getting in the way of their workout. From the secure ear-hook fit and lightweight 62.4g design to 25dB ANC, 13mm drivers, advanced BT v6.0 and long battery life, HAMMER has focused on the features that matter when you're moving. Whether you're running, training or travelling, KO2 is built to stay with you," The HAMMER KO2 Sports TWS Earbuds are available in an Elegant Purple colour at INR 1,299 on HammerOnline.in, Flipkart, Blinkit, Swiggy and Amazon.

Peripherals

Consistent Launches 16-Port Gigabit Ethernet Switch for High-Speed Networking

Featuring 16 Gigabit ports, 32Gbps switching bandwidth, Plug & Play setup and a compact desktop design Consistent Infosystems , a leading IT hardware, surveillance, and electronics brand, launches its 16-Port Gigabit Ethernet Desktop Switch (CT-DS-16PG) , designed to provide high-speed and reliable wired connectivity for homes, offices and professional networking setups. Equipped with 16 Gigabit Ethernet ports and a compact desktop form factor, the switch offers a practical solution for expanding wired network connectivity. Designed for easy placement and everyday use , the 16-Port Gigabit Ethernet Desktop Switch has a sleek black finish with a rectangular design , complemented by a dark grey front panel and yellow accent detailing . The 16 Ethernet ports are neatly arranged for convenient connection of compatible network devices, while its compact form factor makes it easy to place on desks or alongside existing networking equipment. The switch features 16 x 10/100/1000 Mbps Gigabit ports , along with 32Gbps switching bandwidth and 23.808Mbps forwarding capacity for efficient data transfer and stable network performance. It also supports Auto MDI/MDIX , eliminating the need for crossover cables, while Plug & Play functionality enables quick installation without complex configuration. It allows users to connect computers, printers, IP cameras, storage devices and other compatible equipment. For enhanced reliability, the switch comes with lightning protection to help safeguard the device against electrical disturbances. It is powered by an external 12V DC / 1A power adapter and supports an operating temperature range of -20°C to 55°C, making it suitable for different working environments. Commenting on the launch, Yogesh Agrawal, CMD and Co-Founder, Consistent Infosystems , said, “As more devices become part of our everyday work and home environments, having a reliable network is increasingly important. With our new 16-Port Gigabit Ethernet Desktop Switch, we wanted to offer a simple and dependable solution that makes expanding a wired network easier.” With its combination of high-speed Gigabit connectivity, multiple ports, easy installation and compact design, the switch provides a practical solution for expanding wired networks. Pricing and Availability The Consistent 16-Port Gigabit Ethernet Desktop Switch carries an MRP of INR 6,999 and is available through Consistent Infosystems’ extensive channel partner network across India and can also be purchased online at shop.consistent.in .

Peripherals

HAMMER launches KO2 ear-hook sports earbuds with 25dB ANC and 80-hour playtime in India

Priced at INR 1,299, the lightweight KO2 TWS earbuds pair a secure ear-hook fit with Bluetooth 6.0, quad-mic noise cancellation and 13mm drivers, targeting runners, gym-goers and active users who find conventional earbuds slip during workouts. HAMMER, an Indian mass-market and mass-premium lifestyle electronics brand, has introduced the KO2 Sports TWS Earbuds, designed for users who train hard and need audio gear that stays in place. The earbuds feature an ergonomic ear-hook design aimed at running, gym sessions and everyday active use, addressing a common complaint that standard earbuds slip because of sweat or poorly shaped fits. The company also notes that neckbands can be uncomfortable and headphones are impractical during intense exercise. Secure fit for active users The KO2's ear-hook locks around the ear to help prevent the earbuds from slipping or falling off during runs, workouts and outdoor activities. The soft silicone build is sweat-resistant and skin-friendly, while the lightweight 62.4g design is meant to support extended wear through the day. Connectivity and noise control The earbuds run on an advanced Bluetooth v6.0 chip, which the company says brings faster pairing, more stable connectivity and better efficiency, with fewer interruptions whether users are exercising, commuting or on the move. For focus, the KO2 offers 25dB Active Noise Cancellation, supported by four MEMS microphones that reduce surrounding noise. The quad-mic setup also aims to improve voice pickup on voice and video calls. Sound and battery Large 13mm Titanium Dynamic Drivers are designed to deliver deeper bass and a bold, immersive sound. A built-in voice assistant allows hands-free control, and full touch controls let users manage music and calls directly from the earbuds. HAMMER claims up to 80 hours of playtime at 50% volume. The Type-C charging case supports fast charging and can be fully charged in under two hours. Commenting on the launch, Rohit Nandwani, Founder & COO, HAMMER, said: "The KO2 is designed for people who don't want their earbuds getting in the way of their workout. From the secure ear-hook fit and lightweight 62.4g design to 25dB ANC, 13mm drivers, advanced BT v6.0 and long battery life, HAMMER has focused on the features that matter when you're moving. Whether you're running, training or travelling, KO2 is built to stay with you," The HAMMER KO2 Sports TWS Earbuds are available in an Elegant Purple colour at INR 1,299 on HammerOnline.in, Flipkart, Blinkit, Swiggy and Amazon.

Industry Event

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Industry Event

PTA Builds a Collaborative Ecosystem for IT Leaders and Technology Stakeholders

SOURAV DAS GROUP CHIEF OF DIGITAL & IT, RUPA & CO. AND CHAIRMAN OF PTA "PTA or Philanthropic Technical Association is trying to build an ecosystem. The ecosystem includes the CIOs and IT heads, who are the practicing IT leaders, technology providers, academia and policy makers. So, with this platform, a lot of us have come together and doing some very innovative work. So, PTA was established two years ago, in 2024, and it’s been a very long journey. We are presently about 130 members in Kolkata and West Bengal. Also, we have a working committee and try how we can help build the ecosystem. We have done a lot of leadership talks, regular discussions, and networking sessions. We did a lot of master classes and workshops and a lot of community workshops where we go and donate time and certain things. After PTA was established, we did some very interesting exercises like Santa Comes to CIO, PTA Leadership Talk, with Bengal Chambers we partnered in their programs etc."

Industry Event

Net Protector Cyber Security Considers Partners as "Extended Arm" of Its Growth Strategy in India

JAGANNATH PATNAIK HEAD, SALES AND MARKETING STRATEGY, NET PROTECTOR “Net Protector Total Security is one of the premium consumer brands in India. In enterprise, we are now putting our foot very strongly. We have an array of enterprise products. We have EDR cloud-based and on-premise, also EPS cloud-based and on-premise. We also have multifactor authentication. In your organization, if you want to give authentication to any number of people, you can use this multifactor authentication. DLP is one of the most important products and without it your organization cannot be safe and secure. Our DLP not only covers the digital parameters, even if somebody gives a print and tries to steal the physical data, when the print is given, the DLP manager will come to know there is some unauthorized printing that has been given. We have Krypton Enterprise Backup on cloud as well as on-premises. Krypton Enterprise AI Insight – this is to deep-dive AI technology to put all your enterprise-level security part of it. Net Protector is a Made in India product and no foreign technology is imported into it. It is all developed indigenously. The data is in India as our datacenter is in India. So, your security is completely within the country's premises.”

Industry Event

PTA Builds a Collaborative Ecosystem for IT Leaders and Technology Stakeholders

SOURAV DAS GROUP CHIEF OF DIGITAL & IT, RUPA & CO. AND CHAIRMAN OF PTA "PTA or Philanthropic Technical Association is trying to build an ecosystem. The ecosystem includes the CIOs and IT heads, who are the practicing IT leaders, technology providers, academia and policy makers. So, with this platform, a lot of us have come together and doing some very innovative work. So, PTA was established two years ago, in 2024, and it’s been a very long journey. We are presently about 130 members in Kolkata and West Bengal. Also, we have a working committee and try how we can help build the ecosystem. We have done a lot of leadership talks, regular discussions, and networking sessions. We did a lot of master classes and workshops and a lot of community workshops where we go and donate time and certain things. After PTA was established, we did some very interesting exercises like Santa Comes to CIO, PTA Leadership Talk, with Bengal Chambers we partnered in their programs etc."

Industry Event

Net Protector Cyber Security Considers Partners as "Extended Arm" of Its Growth Strategy in India

JAGANNATH PATNAIK HEAD, SALES AND MARKETING STRATEGY, NET PROTECTOR “Net Protector Total Security is one of the premium consumer brands in India. In enterprise, we are now putting our foot very strongly. We have an array of enterprise products. We have EDR cloud-based and on-premise, also EPS cloud-based and on-premise. We also have multifactor authentication. In your organization, if you want to give authentication to any number of people, you can use this multifactor authentication. DLP is one of the most important products and without it your organization cannot be safe and secure. Our DLP not only covers the digital parameters, even if somebody gives a print and tries to steal the physical data, when the print is given, the DLP manager will come to know there is some unauthorized printing that has been given. We have Krypton Enterprise Backup on cloud as well as on-premises. Krypton Enterprise AI Insight – this is to deep-dive AI technology to put all your enterprise-level security part of it. Net Protector is a Made in India product and no foreign technology is imported into it. It is all developed indigenously. The data is in India as our datacenter is in India. So, your security is completely within the country's premises.”

Voice of Channel Chief

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Voice of Channel Chief

Enabling Secure, AI-Ready Cloud Transformation

Atul Gupta Director - RX Infotech As organizations accelerate cloud adoption and AI initiatives, the focus has shifted from simply moving workloads to building secure, compliant, and scalable digital environments. Lapcare supports this transition through offering premium dependable technology solutions that enables partners to build secure, productive, and future-ready digital environments Overcoming the Toughest Barriers in Cloud Migration Cloud migration today is no longer a technology refresh—it is a strategic business transformation. At Lapcare, we believe the biggest challenge in migrating legacy workloads such as ERP, CRM, or inventory management systems to the cloud is ensuring business continuity while preserving data integrity and security. Many organizations rely on customized legacy applications that are deeply integrated with day-to-day operations. Our approach is to adopt a phased migration strategy, beginning with a comprehensive assessment, followed by workload prioritization, rigorous testing, and secure data migration. This minimizes disruption while enabling customers to modernize their IT environment with confidence. Aligning Cloud Migration with AI Adoption and Compliance Requirements The rapid adoption of Generative AI, coupled with India's Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act and data localization requirements, has significantly changed how organizations plan their cloud journey. Cloud infrastructure must now be designed with security, governance, compliance, and scalability at its core. At Lapcare, we see cloud modernization as the foundation for AI-driven innovation. Organizations require secure, compliant, and high-performance infrastructure to unlock the full potential of AI, analytics, and intelligent automation. As a trusted technology brand, we support this transformation through a comprehensive portfolio of IT peripherals, networking products, storage solutions, power solutions, and enterprise accessories that enable reliable hybrid and cloud-first workplaces. Building Long-Term Customer Value Beyond Cloud Migration Looking beyond migration, the greatest long-term opportunity for Value-Added Resellers (VARs) and solution partners lies in delivering end-to-end managed services that combine AI enablement, cybersecurity, cloud optimization, and lifecycle support. Customers increasingly seek strategic technology partners rather than product suppliers. Our focus is to strengthen this ecosystem by providing high-quality, dependable technology solutions that empower partners to build secure, productive, and future-ready digital environments. As cloud adoption accelerates across India, we believe sustainable value will come from helping businesses continuously optimize, secure, and innovate on their cloud investments rather than viewing migration as a one-time project.

Voice of Channel Chief

Intelegain Technologies Builds Recurring Customer Value Beyond Cloud Migration

Neeraj Gargi, CTO & Director - Intelegain Technologies At Intelegain Technologies, cloud migration is approached as a business transformation initiative rather than a technology project. By combining structured migration planning, AI-led process transformation, and continuous security optimization, the company helps organizations reduce risk, improve operational performance, and create long-term business value beyond migration. Overcoming the Toughest Barriers in Cloud Migration Disruption to an established infrastructure initially brings internal challenges related to factors such as change management, TCO, and stakeholder alignment. Once buy-in is secured from internal stakeholders, organizations can begin evaluating other factors that influence the cloud migration strategy, including: Ø Licensing complexities from OEMs related to running workloads on-premises versus in the public cloud. Ø Regulatory compliance requirements for migrating business-critical applications to the public cloud, although most compliance frameworks support cloud adoption with appropriate adjustments to the migration strategy. Ø System integration requirements with external applications and third-party platforms. Ø Understanding the TCO implications when transitioning from a CAPEX to an OPEX model. The following is an industry-proven approach as cloud migration strategy: Discovery: We conduct an end-to-end assessment of the existing IT landscape — legacy applications, their dependencies, and their actual relevance to current business needs. This phase is designed to answer three fundamental questions: What exists? What is being used? What can be retired? Take Baby Steps: We follow a repeatable, workload-by-workload framework that allows each application to move at its own pace: Discover → Assess → Prioritize → Pilot → Migrate → Optimize . Throughout this journey, the focus stays on business outcomes, not migration metrics. Success is measured by improved performance, reduced costs, stronger compliance, and tangible value delivered to the business. Building Long-Term Customer Value Beyond Cloud Migration The biggest long-term value creation opportunity is not in migration itself, but in the intersection of AI and security. Migration revenues are finite. Once the workload is moved, the project ends. The real opportunity is creating recurring business value after migration. Guided AI Led Business Process Transformation Most customers do not need another chatbot. They need measurable improvements in productivity, customer experience, revenue, compliance, and operational efficiency. Organizations should therefore begin with clearly defined business objectives rather than the technology itself, focusing on metrics such as revenue growth, customer acquisition, customer retention, employee productivity, working capital reduction, faster decision making, and compliance improvement. Driving Cloud and Data Security As organizations accelerate their digital transformation journeys, maintaining a strong security posture is no longer optional—it is a fundamental business requirement. For solution providers and technology partners, helping customers strengthen and continuously improve their security posture creates significant long-term business value. Security is not a one-time implementation project; it requires ongoing monitoring, optimization, policy enhancements, compliance assessments, and adaptation to an evolving threat landscape. This creates opportunities for recurring engagement through managed security services, security operations, compliance consulting, vulnerability management, and cloud security optimization.

Voice of Channel Chief

Enabling Secure, AI-Ready Cloud Transformation

Atul Gupta Director - RX Infotech As organizations accelerate cloud adoption and AI initiatives, the focus has shifted from simply moving workloads to building secure, compliant, and scalable digital environments. Lapcare supports this transition through offering premium dependable technology solutions that enables partners to build secure, productive, and future-ready digital environments Overcoming the Toughest Barriers in Cloud Migration Cloud migration today is no longer a technology refresh—it is a strategic business transformation. At Lapcare, we believe the biggest challenge in migrating legacy workloads such as ERP, CRM, or inventory management systems to the cloud is ensuring business continuity while preserving data integrity and security. Many organizations rely on customized legacy applications that are deeply integrated with day-to-day operations. Our approach is to adopt a phased migration strategy, beginning with a comprehensive assessment, followed by workload prioritization, rigorous testing, and secure data migration. This minimizes disruption while enabling customers to modernize their IT environment with confidence. Aligning Cloud Migration with AI Adoption and Compliance Requirements The rapid adoption of Generative AI, coupled with India's Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act and data localization requirements, has significantly changed how organizations plan their cloud journey. Cloud infrastructure must now be designed with security, governance, compliance, and scalability at its core. At Lapcare, we see cloud modernization as the foundation for AI-driven innovation. Organizations require secure, compliant, and high-performance infrastructure to unlock the full potential of AI, analytics, and intelligent automation. As a trusted technology brand, we support this transformation through a comprehensive portfolio of IT peripherals, networking products, storage solutions, power solutions, and enterprise accessories that enable reliable hybrid and cloud-first workplaces. Building Long-Term Customer Value Beyond Cloud Migration Looking beyond migration, the greatest long-term opportunity for Value-Added Resellers (VARs) and solution partners lies in delivering end-to-end managed services that combine AI enablement, cybersecurity, cloud optimization, and lifecycle support. Customers increasingly seek strategic technology partners rather than product suppliers. Our focus is to strengthen this ecosystem by providing high-quality, dependable technology solutions that empower partners to build secure, productive, and future-ready digital environments. As cloud adoption accelerates across India, we believe sustainable value will come from helping businesses continuously optimize, secure, and innovate on their cloud investments rather than viewing migration as a one-time project.

Voice of Channel Chief

Intelegain Technologies Builds Recurring Customer Value Beyond Cloud Migration

Neeraj Gargi, CTO & Director - Intelegain Technologies At Intelegain Technologies, cloud migration is approached as a business transformation initiative rather than a technology project. By combining structured migration planning, AI-led process transformation, and continuous security optimization, the company helps organizations reduce risk, improve operational performance, and create long-term business value beyond migration. Overcoming the Toughest Barriers in Cloud Migration Disruption to an established infrastructure initially brings internal challenges related to factors such as change management, TCO, and stakeholder alignment. Once buy-in is secured from internal stakeholders, organizations can begin evaluating other factors that influence the cloud migration strategy, including: Ø Licensing complexities from OEMs related to running workloads on-premises versus in the public cloud. Ø Regulatory compliance requirements for migrating business-critical applications to the public cloud, although most compliance frameworks support cloud adoption with appropriate adjustments to the migration strategy. Ø System integration requirements with external applications and third-party platforms. Ø Understanding the TCO implications when transitioning from a CAPEX to an OPEX model. The following is an industry-proven approach as cloud migration strategy: Discovery: We conduct an end-to-end assessment of the existing IT landscape — legacy applications, their dependencies, and their actual relevance to current business needs. This phase is designed to answer three fundamental questions: What exists? What is being used? What can be retired? Take Baby Steps: We follow a repeatable, workload-by-workload framework that allows each application to move at its own pace: Discover → Assess → Prioritize → Pilot → Migrate → Optimize . Throughout this journey, the focus stays on business outcomes, not migration metrics. Success is measured by improved performance, reduced costs, stronger compliance, and tangible value delivered to the business. Building Long-Term Customer Value Beyond Cloud Migration The biggest long-term value creation opportunity is not in migration itself, but in the intersection of AI and security. Migration revenues are finite. Once the workload is moved, the project ends. The real opportunity is creating recurring business value after migration. Guided AI Led Business Process Transformation Most customers do not need another chatbot. They need measurable improvements in productivity, customer experience, revenue, compliance, and operational efficiency. Organizations should therefore begin with clearly defined business objectives rather than the technology itself, focusing on metrics such as revenue growth, customer acquisition, customer retention, employee productivity, working capital reduction, faster decision making, and compliance improvement. Driving Cloud and Data Security As organizations accelerate their digital transformation journeys, maintaining a strong security posture is no longer optional—it is a fundamental business requirement. For solution providers and technology partners, helping customers strengthen and continuously improve their security posture creates significant long-term business value. Security is not a one-time implementation project; it requires ongoing monitoring, optimization, policy enhancements, compliance assessments, and adaptation to an evolving threat landscape. This creates opportunities for recurring engagement through managed security services, security operations, compliance consulting, vulnerability management, and cloud security optimization.

Technotainment

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Technotainment

Zee Escalates Copyright War Against JioStar

Zee Entertainment has asked the Delhi High Court to initiate contempt proceedings against JioStar , the Reliance-Disney joint venture, alleging continued use of Zee's copyrighted music despite a standing injunction. The petition, filed on September 21, 2026, marks a sharp escalation in a dispute that has simmered since April. The case began in April 2026, when Zee sued JioStar seeking $3 million in damages over roughly 50 alleged copyright violations involving content from its music division. In May, the Delhi High Court granted an injunction ordering JioStar to stop using, publishing, broadcasting, streaming or uploading any of Zee's licensed works. Zee says that order was ignored. The company has documented six separate instances of alleged continued infringement between May and July, which it now describes in its contempt filing as "wilful disobedience" and "illegal and active exploitation" of its copyrighted material. JioStar has pushed back on the characterization. Its lawyers have previously called the alleged violations "unintentional" and "purely residual in nature," arguing the company had already removed the bulk of Zee's content once the underlying licensing agreements expired. JioStar declined to comment on the latest allegations. The court heard the matter on September 26 and has asked JioStar to respond, with the next hearing set for December 2026. The stakes go beyond a single injunction. JioStar, formed through an $8.5 billion merger of Reliance and Disney's Indian media assets in 2024, commands roughly 34.2% of India's television market and hundreds of millions of streaming users. Zee, one of India's oldest broadcasters, holds close to 18% television market share and owns a music library of more than 19,450 songs. This is not the only front between the two companies. They are also contesting Bollywood film broadcast rights and remain locked in a separate, unresolved London arbitration over a cricket broadcasting deal that Reliance values at $1 billion. As India's media and streaming landscape consolidates around a handful of dominant players, content and music rights are becoming a central battleground, making disputes like this one increasingly consequential for how broadcasters position themselves across television, streaming and digital platforms.

Technotainment

Aishwarya Rai Steals the Show at Paris Fashion Week

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan once again commanded global attention as she closed L'Oréal Paris' Le Défilé, staged this year at Place Joffre with the Eiffel Tower and École Militaire as a dramatic backdrop. The Bollywood star walked in her ninth edition of the annual showcase, cementing her status as one of the event's most anticipated regulars. For the finale walk, Aishwarya wore a custom creation from Syrian luxury label Yara Shoemaker's Fall 2026 Couture collection: a sculpted black velvet gown layered with tulle for structure and softness, finished with three-dimensional fringe detailing that added movement with every step. The showstopping element was a dramatic velvet cape embellished with pearls and crystals, designed with a galaxy-inspired shimmer that caught the light as she moved down the runway. Stylist Mohit Rai completed the look with a diamond-encrusted crown, sparkling diamond rings, and matching pumps. True to her signature aesthetic, Aishwarya kept her beauty look understated, letting the couture and cape carry the moment rather than competing with it. The styling was designed, in Mohit Rai's approach, to make her runway appearance feel "larger than life." She shared the runway with an international lineup of celebrities and L'Oréal Paris ambassadors, including Kendall Jenner, Simone Ashley and Celine Dion, reinforcing the show's reputation as a global celebration of beauty and diversity. The appearance has already triggered strong reactions across Indian social media, with fans celebrating her continued dominance on one of fashion's biggest international stages. Le Défilé has become a fixture of Aishwarya's international presence, and this year's edition, held against one of Paris' most iconic landmarks, only reinforced why her closing walk remains one of the show's most talked-about moments each year.

Technotainment

Zee Escalates Copyright War Against JioStar

Zee Entertainment has asked the Delhi High Court to initiate contempt proceedings against JioStar , the Reliance-Disney joint venture, alleging continued use of Zee's copyrighted music despite a standing injunction. The petition, filed on September 21, 2026, marks a sharp escalation in a dispute that has simmered since April. The case began in April 2026, when Zee sued JioStar seeking $3 million in damages over roughly 50 alleged copyright violations involving content from its music division. In May, the Delhi High Court granted an injunction ordering JioStar to stop using, publishing, broadcasting, streaming or uploading any of Zee's licensed works. Zee says that order was ignored. The company has documented six separate instances of alleged continued infringement between May and July, which it now describes in its contempt filing as "wilful disobedience" and "illegal and active exploitation" of its copyrighted material. JioStar has pushed back on the characterization. Its lawyers have previously called the alleged violations "unintentional" and "purely residual in nature," arguing the company had already removed the bulk of Zee's content once the underlying licensing agreements expired. JioStar declined to comment on the latest allegations. The court heard the matter on September 26 and has asked JioStar to respond, with the next hearing set for December 2026. The stakes go beyond a single injunction. JioStar, formed through an $8.5 billion merger of Reliance and Disney's Indian media assets in 2024, commands roughly 34.2% of India's television market and hundreds of millions of streaming users. Zee, one of India's oldest broadcasters, holds close to 18% television market share and owns a music library of more than 19,450 songs. This is not the only front between the two companies. They are also contesting Bollywood film broadcast rights and remain locked in a separate, unresolved London arbitration over a cricket broadcasting deal that Reliance values at $1 billion. As India's media and streaming landscape consolidates around a handful of dominant players, content and music rights are becoming a central battleground, making disputes like this one increasingly consequential for how broadcasters position themselves across television, streaming and digital platforms.

Technotainment

Aishwarya Rai Steals the Show at Paris Fashion Week

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan once again commanded global attention as she closed L'Oréal Paris' Le Défilé, staged this year at Place Joffre with the Eiffel Tower and École Militaire as a dramatic backdrop. The Bollywood star walked in her ninth edition of the annual showcase, cementing her status as one of the event's most anticipated regulars. For the finale walk, Aishwarya wore a custom creation from Syrian luxury label Yara Shoemaker's Fall 2026 Couture collection: a sculpted black velvet gown layered with tulle for structure and softness, finished with three-dimensional fringe detailing that added movement with every step. The showstopping element was a dramatic velvet cape embellished with pearls and crystals, designed with a galaxy-inspired shimmer that caught the light as she moved down the runway. Stylist Mohit Rai completed the look with a diamond-encrusted crown, sparkling diamond rings, and matching pumps. True to her signature aesthetic, Aishwarya kept her beauty look understated, letting the couture and cape carry the moment rather than competing with it. The styling was designed, in Mohit Rai's approach, to make her runway appearance feel "larger than life." She shared the runway with an international lineup of celebrities and L'Oréal Paris ambassadors, including Kendall Jenner, Simone Ashley and Celine Dion, reinforcing the show's reputation as a global celebration of beauty and diversity. The appearance has already triggered strong reactions across Indian social media, with fans celebrating her continued dominance on one of fashion's biggest international stages. Le Défilé has become a fixture of Aishwarya's international presence, and this year's edition, held against one of Paris' most iconic landmarks, only reinforced why her closing walk remains one of the show's most talked-about moments each year.

Investments

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Investments

Jio’s Mega IPO: Selling India’s Digital Future, Not Just Telecom

Jio Platforms is preparing for what could become India’s largest-ever IPO, with an estimated $3.8 billion issue and an enterprise valuation of $143–146 billion, or more than ₹12 lakh crore. The proposed fresh issue represents only about 2.9% of post-issue equity, creating a relatively scarce public float around an exceptionally large digital asset. What is Jio’s real USP? Jio's biggest strength is scale combined with infrastructure ownership. Its telecom arm has more than 500 million mobile customers and roughly 39% of India's mobile connections. It also has 268.5 million 5G customers and operates what it describes as the largest standalone 5G network outside China. But investors are unlikely to value Jio simply as another telecom operator. Its larger proposition is an integrated digital ecosystem spanning mobile connectivity, broadband, 5G, cloud, enterprise services, AI and digital platforms. This provides multiple opportunities to monetise essentially the same enormous customer and network base. Financially, the business already has considerable substance. FY26 revenue reached ₹1,46,885 crore and profit after tax ₹30,053 crore, growing 14.5% and 15% respectively. Its EBITDA margin was reported at 51.91%, while cash generation after capital expenditure improved significantly. Another major validation comes from its shareholders. Meta and Google invested heavily in Jio Platforms in 2020, alongside KKR, Silver Lake, General Atlantic, Mubadala, TPG and others. That history helps Jio present itself to global investors as a technology platform rather than merely an Indian telco. How successful could the IPO be? The ingredients for a strong offering are clearly present: market leadership, profitability, massive digital scale, global institutional backing, 5G leadership and India's expanding digital economy. Reports say feedback from international roadshows has been positive, and the Indian IPO market currently has strong retail and institutional participation. However, I would not assign a numerical “success rate” before final pricing, subscription data and the red-herring prospectus are available. At a $143–146 billion enterprise valuation, valuation itself becomes the central test. Investors must believe that future AI, cloud, enterprise and digital-services revenues justify paying a technology-platform premium rather than a conventional telecom multiple. There are warning signs within that comparison. Jio's enormous customer base is attractive, but its mobile ARPU was ₹214 versus ₹257.2 for Bharti Airtel in the March 2026 quarter, while return on average net worth was 9.4% against Airtel's 20.3%. The Fintech Challenge Jio's opportunity becomes particularly interesting when viewed against India's fintech ecosystem. India has world-class digital public infrastructure and enormous transaction volumes, but fintech is becoming a profitability game rather than simply a user-acquisition game. The sector reportedly achieved aggregate profitability in FY25, while valuations have become more realistic and investors increasingly reward sustainable earnings. Jio therefore has a potentially powerful advantage: distribution . Telecom connectivity, identity relationships, devices, merchant reach, consumer engagement and digital services can dramatically reduce customer-acquisition costs for adjacent financial offerings. But scale alone does not guarantee fintech dominance. The bottlenecks will be regulatory compliance, financial-data privacy, cybersecurity, fraud, customer trust, competition and monetisation. Financial services operate under much tighter regulatory and risk constraints than telecom. Jio would also face deeply entrenched banks, UPI platforms, payment companies, fintech specialists and wealth-tech players. There is also an important distinction: Jio Platforms should not automatically be treated as synonymous with Jio Financial Services. The IPO investment thesis should therefore be based on businesses and economic interests actually contained within Jio Platforms rather than assuming every Reliance digital or financial venture sits inside the listed entity. The Bigger Bet The IPO's most compelling story is therefore not simply “500 million telecom customers.” It is all about connecting Eco-system as the platform including Connectivity to 5G to Broadband ,next is the Cloud, Enterprise with AI, Digital Services to the Global Technology Platform. If Jio successfully converts this infrastructure and customer scale into higher-value AI, cloud and enterprise revenues, the valuation could look strategically justified. If those businesses fail to monetise at scale, investors could eventually question why Jio deserves a technology-company premium. Jio's masterstroke is that it is asking investors to value not what the company was built as—a telecom operator—but what it wants to become: India's foundational digital infrastructure and AI platform . That makes the IPO potentially historic, but also places enormous expectations on execution after listing.

Investments

Tokenisation Takes Payments Beyond Borders

Tokenisation is emerging as the next major layer of global payment security, with cross-border transactions representing a significant new opportunity, according to Rishi Chhabra, Country Manager, Visa India. India has already achieved considerable scale. More than half a billion cards in the country are tokenised , creating a foundation for safer digital payments and future payment innovation. Tokenisation replaces sensitive card credentials with unique digital tokens. This reduces exposure of actual card information during transactions, limiting the value of compromised payment data to fraudsters. The impact extends beyond security. Chhabra highlighted improvements in payment success rates following tokenisation , benefiting consumers, merchants and financial institutions by reducing unnecessary transaction failures. The next opportunity is cross-border commerce. International transactions naturally involve greater complexity because the consumer, merchant, issuing bank and payment infrastructure can operate across different countries and regulatory environments. An overseas bank may therefore perceive a transaction originating in another country as carrying greater risk. Tokenisation can provide additional confidence to issuers when authenticating and authorising such payments. This becomes increasingly important as Indian consumers travel internationally and domestic businesses sell to global customers. Secure payment credentials could help reduce friction without compromising protection. The development also reflects the changing card ecosystem. Physical cards, virtual cards, device-based payments and card-on-file tokenisation are increasingly becoming parts of an interconnected digital payment architecture. Meanwhile, UPI has dramatically expanded India's digital payment culture. Rather than eliminating cards, its growth is pushing the broader industry toward simpler, faster and more secure payment experiences. The larger transformation is from digitising payments to tokenising trust . As commerce becomes increasingly borderless, payment networks must establish confidence between institutions that may never directly interact. Tokenisation could become an important trust layer connecting consumers, merchants, banks and digital platforms across borders.

Investments

Jio’s Mega IPO: Selling India’s Digital Future, Not Just Telecom

Jio Platforms is preparing for what could become India’s largest-ever IPO, with an estimated $3.8 billion issue and an enterprise valuation of $143–146 billion, or more than ₹12 lakh crore. The proposed fresh issue represents only about 2.9% of post-issue equity, creating a relatively scarce public float around an exceptionally large digital asset. What is Jio’s real USP? Jio's biggest strength is scale combined with infrastructure ownership. Its telecom arm has more than 500 million mobile customers and roughly 39% of India's mobile connections. It also has 268.5 million 5G customers and operates what it describes as the largest standalone 5G network outside China. But investors are unlikely to value Jio simply as another telecom operator. Its larger proposition is an integrated digital ecosystem spanning mobile connectivity, broadband, 5G, cloud, enterprise services, AI and digital platforms. This provides multiple opportunities to monetise essentially the same enormous customer and network base. Financially, the business already has considerable substance. FY26 revenue reached ₹1,46,885 crore and profit after tax ₹30,053 crore, growing 14.5% and 15% respectively. Its EBITDA margin was reported at 51.91%, while cash generation after capital expenditure improved significantly. Another major validation comes from its shareholders. Meta and Google invested heavily in Jio Platforms in 2020, alongside KKR, Silver Lake, General Atlantic, Mubadala, TPG and others. That history helps Jio present itself to global investors as a technology platform rather than merely an Indian telco. How successful could the IPO be? The ingredients for a strong offering are clearly present: market leadership, profitability, massive digital scale, global institutional backing, 5G leadership and India's expanding digital economy. Reports say feedback from international roadshows has been positive, and the Indian IPO market currently has strong retail and institutional participation. However, I would not assign a numerical “success rate” before final pricing, subscription data and the red-herring prospectus are available. At a $143–146 billion enterprise valuation, valuation itself becomes the central test. Investors must believe that future AI, cloud, enterprise and digital-services revenues justify paying a technology-platform premium rather than a conventional telecom multiple. There are warning signs within that comparison. Jio's enormous customer base is attractive, but its mobile ARPU was ₹214 versus ₹257.2 for Bharti Airtel in the March 2026 quarter, while return on average net worth was 9.4% against Airtel's 20.3%. The Fintech Challenge Jio's opportunity becomes particularly interesting when viewed against India's fintech ecosystem. India has world-class digital public infrastructure and enormous transaction volumes, but fintech is becoming a profitability game rather than simply a user-acquisition game. The sector reportedly achieved aggregate profitability in FY25, while valuations have become more realistic and investors increasingly reward sustainable earnings. Jio therefore has a potentially powerful advantage: distribution . Telecom connectivity, identity relationships, devices, merchant reach, consumer engagement and digital services can dramatically reduce customer-acquisition costs for adjacent financial offerings. But scale alone does not guarantee fintech dominance. The bottlenecks will be regulatory compliance, financial-data privacy, cybersecurity, fraud, customer trust, competition and monetisation. Financial services operate under much tighter regulatory and risk constraints than telecom. Jio would also face deeply entrenched banks, UPI platforms, payment companies, fintech specialists and wealth-tech players. There is also an important distinction: Jio Platforms should not automatically be treated as synonymous with Jio Financial Services. The IPO investment thesis should therefore be based on businesses and economic interests actually contained within Jio Platforms rather than assuming every Reliance digital or financial venture sits inside the listed entity. The Bigger Bet The IPO's most compelling story is therefore not simply “500 million telecom customers.” It is all about connecting Eco-system as the platform including Connectivity to 5G to Broadband ,next is the Cloud, Enterprise with AI, Digital Services to the Global Technology Platform. If Jio successfully converts this infrastructure and customer scale into higher-value AI, cloud and enterprise revenues, the valuation could look strategically justified. If those businesses fail to monetise at scale, investors could eventually question why Jio deserves a technology-company premium. Jio's masterstroke is that it is asking investors to value not what the company was built as—a telecom operator—but what it wants to become: India's foundational digital infrastructure and AI platform . That makes the IPO potentially historic, but also places enormous expectations on execution after listing.

Investments

Tokenisation Takes Payments Beyond Borders

Tokenisation is emerging as the next major layer of global payment security, with cross-border transactions representing a significant new opportunity, according to Rishi Chhabra, Country Manager, Visa India. India has already achieved considerable scale. More than half a billion cards in the country are tokenised , creating a foundation for safer digital payments and future payment innovation. Tokenisation replaces sensitive card credentials with unique digital tokens. This reduces exposure of actual card information during transactions, limiting the value of compromised payment data to fraudsters. The impact extends beyond security. Chhabra highlighted improvements in payment success rates following tokenisation , benefiting consumers, merchants and financial institutions by reducing unnecessary transaction failures. The next opportunity is cross-border commerce. International transactions naturally involve greater complexity because the consumer, merchant, issuing bank and payment infrastructure can operate across different countries and regulatory environments. An overseas bank may therefore perceive a transaction originating in another country as carrying greater risk. Tokenisation can provide additional confidence to issuers when authenticating and authorising such payments. This becomes increasingly important as Indian consumers travel internationally and domestic businesses sell to global customers. Secure payment credentials could help reduce friction without compromising protection. The development also reflects the changing card ecosystem. Physical cards, virtual cards, device-based payments and card-on-file tokenisation are increasingly becoming parts of an interconnected digital payment architecture. Meanwhile, UPI has dramatically expanded India's digital payment culture. Rather than eliminating cards, its growth is pushing the broader industry toward simpler, faster and more secure payment experiences. The larger transformation is from digitising payments to tokenising trust . As commerce becomes increasingly borderless, payment networks must establish confidence between institutions that may never directly interact. Tokenisation could become an important trust layer connecting consumers, merchants, banks and digital platforms across borders.

Make In India

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Make In India

Netweb Raises ₹1,200 Crore to Fuel AI Growth

Homegrown high-end computing company Netweb Technologies has raised ₹1,200 crore through a Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP), marking its first equity capital raise since its stock-market listing in July 2023. The fundraise attracted strong participation from domestic and international institutional investors, underlining growing investor interest in India's rapidly expanding AI and high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure market. Marquee participants included Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Nomura Asset Management, Amundi Asset Management and Think Investments, alongside major Indian mutual funds including ICICI Prudential, HDFC, Kotak, Tata, Motilal Oswal, Edelweiss, Invesco and Bank of India Mutual Fund. Under the QIP, Netweb allotted 2,505,219 equity shares with a face value of ₹2 each at an issue price of ₹4,790 per share, including a premium of ₹4,788 per share. The company plans to use the proceeds primarily to strengthen working capital as it prepares to execute an anticipated expansion in its order book. A portion will also be available for general corporate purposes. Netweb Chairman and Managing Director Sanjay Lodha described the QIP as an important milestone and said institutional participation reflected confidence in both the company's performance and the long-term opportunity in AI and high-end computing infrastructure. The timing is significant. India's demand for AI servers, GPU infrastructure, supercomputing, private AI clouds and sovereign computing capacity is accelerating as enterprises, government agencies and research institutions increase AI deployments. This is also making India's computing infrastructure market increasingly competitive. Domestic companies such as Netweb will have to compete with global technology majors and other infrastructure providers for enterprise, government and hyperscale AI investments. Access to fresh capital could therefore become a strategic advantage. As AI models become more computationally demanding, vendors capable of supplying high-density computing infrastructure quickly and at scale will be better positioned to capture the emerging opportunity. Despite the fundraise, Netweb shares were trading 4.26% lower at ₹5,225 on the BSE on Tuesday afternoon. The near-term market reaction notwithstanding, the ₹1,200-crore institutional backing highlights a larger trend: India's AI race is rapidly becoming an infrastructure race—and capital will be critical to winning it.

Make In India

India’s Underwater Robot War Begins

India's deep-tech competition is moving beneath the ocean. Odisha-based Coratia Technologies has secured a ₹66-crore Indian Navy contract for indigenous underwater remotely operated vehicles (UWROVs), signalling the emergence of underwater robotics as a strategic technology market. Founded in 2021 and incubated at NIT Rourkela, Coratia develops remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). Equipped with cameras, sonar, positioning systems and AI-based inspection capabilities, its robots can inspect locations where sending human divers can be expensive, difficult or dangerous. The technology has applications far beyond defence. Bridges, dams, ports, ship hulls, offshore infrastructure, pipelines and undersea communication cables all require inspection and monitoring, creating a potentially large dual-use market. Coratia's Indian Navy contract under the Ministry of Defence's iDEX initiative represents an important validation of indigenous technology. Its Jalasimha platform has undergone open-sea trials and testing beyond 1,485 feet, while integrating sonar, imaging, leak detection and AI-powered analytics. But Coratia will not have the market to itself. Kochi-based EyeROV has also secured a ₹47-crore Indian Navy order and operates across defence and industrial inspection. Chennai-based Vikra Ocean Tech is developing deep-water ROVs, autonomous surface vessels and amphibious robots. Competition will therefore increasingly revolve around depth, autonomy, endurance, AI analytics, sensor fusion, payload capability, reliability and cost. Companies capable of combining robotic hardware with intelligent data analysis will have an advantage over those providing inspection hardware alone. The opportunity is particularly important because subsea infrastructure is becoming strategically critical. Undersea cables carry enormous volumes of international digital traffic, while ports, offshore energy installations and naval infrastructure require continuous monitoring and protection. India's defence modernisation is simultaneously creating a powerful domestic customer. The Navy is investing across autonomous maritime surveillance, underwater warfare and indigenous platforms, potentially giving Indian startups the scale and operational validation needed to compete internationally. The next stage could see competition expand from individual robots toward complete AI-powered maritime intelligence platforms connecting underwater vehicles, autonomous surface systems, sonar, computer vision and command centres. Coratia's ₹66-crore breakthrough therefore represents more than a startup success. It signals the beginning of an indigenous underwater robotics race, where Indian deep-tech companies could challenge imported systems while building technologies for defence, infrastructure and the rapidly expanding blue economy.

Make In India

Netweb Raises ₹1,200 Crore to Fuel AI Growth

Homegrown high-end computing company Netweb Technologies has raised ₹1,200 crore through a Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP), marking its first equity capital raise since its stock-market listing in July 2023. The fundraise attracted strong participation from domestic and international institutional investors, underlining growing investor interest in India's rapidly expanding AI and high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure market. Marquee participants included Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Nomura Asset Management, Amundi Asset Management and Think Investments, alongside major Indian mutual funds including ICICI Prudential, HDFC, Kotak, Tata, Motilal Oswal, Edelweiss, Invesco and Bank of India Mutual Fund. Under the QIP, Netweb allotted 2,505,219 equity shares with a face value of ₹2 each at an issue price of ₹4,790 per share, including a premium of ₹4,788 per share. The company plans to use the proceeds primarily to strengthen working capital as it prepares to execute an anticipated expansion in its order book. A portion will also be available for general corporate purposes. Netweb Chairman and Managing Director Sanjay Lodha described the QIP as an important milestone and said institutional participation reflected confidence in both the company's performance and the long-term opportunity in AI and high-end computing infrastructure. The timing is significant. India's demand for AI servers, GPU infrastructure, supercomputing, private AI clouds and sovereign computing capacity is accelerating as enterprises, government agencies and research institutions increase AI deployments. This is also making India's computing infrastructure market increasingly competitive. Domestic companies such as Netweb will have to compete with global technology majors and other infrastructure providers for enterprise, government and hyperscale AI investments. Access to fresh capital could therefore become a strategic advantage. As AI models become more computationally demanding, vendors capable of supplying high-density computing infrastructure quickly and at scale will be better positioned to capture the emerging opportunity. Despite the fundraise, Netweb shares were trading 4.26% lower at ₹5,225 on the BSE on Tuesday afternoon. The near-term market reaction notwithstanding, the ₹1,200-crore institutional backing highlights a larger trend: India's AI race is rapidly becoming an infrastructure race—and capital will be critical to winning it.

Make In India

India’s Underwater Robot War Begins

India's deep-tech competition is moving beneath the ocean. Odisha-based Coratia Technologies has secured a ₹66-crore Indian Navy contract for indigenous underwater remotely operated vehicles (UWROVs), signalling the emergence of underwater robotics as a strategic technology market. Founded in 2021 and incubated at NIT Rourkela, Coratia develops remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). Equipped with cameras, sonar, positioning systems and AI-based inspection capabilities, its robots can inspect locations where sending human divers can be expensive, difficult or dangerous. The technology has applications far beyond defence. Bridges, dams, ports, ship hulls, offshore infrastructure, pipelines and undersea communication cables all require inspection and monitoring, creating a potentially large dual-use market. Coratia's Indian Navy contract under the Ministry of Defence's iDEX initiative represents an important validation of indigenous technology. Its Jalasimha platform has undergone open-sea trials and testing beyond 1,485 feet, while integrating sonar, imaging, leak detection and AI-powered analytics. But Coratia will not have the market to itself. Kochi-based EyeROV has also secured a ₹47-crore Indian Navy order and operates across defence and industrial inspection. Chennai-based Vikra Ocean Tech is developing deep-water ROVs, autonomous surface vessels and amphibious robots. Competition will therefore increasingly revolve around depth, autonomy, endurance, AI analytics, sensor fusion, payload capability, reliability and cost. Companies capable of combining robotic hardware with intelligent data analysis will have an advantage over those providing inspection hardware alone. The opportunity is particularly important because subsea infrastructure is becoming strategically critical. Undersea cables carry enormous volumes of international digital traffic, while ports, offshore energy installations and naval infrastructure require continuous monitoring and protection. India's defence modernisation is simultaneously creating a powerful domestic customer. The Navy is investing across autonomous maritime surveillance, underwater warfare and indigenous platforms, potentially giving Indian startups the scale and operational validation needed to compete internationally. The next stage could see competition expand from individual robots toward complete AI-powered maritime intelligence platforms connecting underwater vehicles, autonomous surface systems, sonar, computer vision and command centres. Coratia's ₹66-crore breakthrough therefore represents more than a startup success. It signals the beginning of an indigenous underwater robotics race, where Indian deep-tech companies could challenge imported systems while building technologies for defence, infrastructure and the rapidly expanding blue economy.

Deepfake

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Deepfake

DigiCert Turns PQC Plans Into Action

DigiCert has announced the general availability of DigiCert Quantum Central, designed to help enterprises move beyond post-quantum cryptography (PQC) planning and establish a measurable programme for quantum readiness. The urgency is growing. According to DigiCert’s 2026 Quantum Readiness Outlook, 87% of organizations are planning, testing or implementing PQC initiatives, yet only 7% have deployed quantum-safe or hybrid cryptography. This exposes a significant execution gap between recognizing quantum risk and actually mitigating it. Quantum Central addresses one of the biggest challenges: fragmented cryptographic visibility. It consolidates information from DigiCert ONE, network scans, certificate lifecycle platforms, key vaults, CSV files and software or cryptographic bills of materials into a unified inventory. Organizations can then define cryptographic policies, identify violations, prioritize remediation and assign ownership. Integration with workflows including Jira and DigiCert Trust Lifecycle Manager helps translate identified risks into operational action. An inventory-aware AI assistant helps teams interpret cryptographic exposure and identify appropriate next steps. Centralized dashboards provide visibility into remediation status, policy compliance and overall cryptographic posture, while APIs allow additional systems and cryptographic data to be connected. The broader challenge is that migrating to quantum-safe security will be a multiyear transformation, particularly for enterprises operating complex legacy applications, infrastructure and PKI environments. Organizations therefore need crypto-agility—the ability to discover, replace and manage cryptographic algorithms without disrupting business operations. This is particularly important against the “ harvest now, decrypt later ” threat, where encrypted information captured today could potentially be decrypted when sufficiently capable quantum computers become available. The significance of Quantum Central is therefore its attempt to make PQC operational rather than theoretical. For CISOs, the priority is shifting from asking when quantum computing will become a threat to understanding where vulnerable cryptography exists today, who owns it and how quickly it can be migrated. Quantum readiness is no longer only a future-security discussion—it is becoming a present-day cryptographic engineering and governance programme. Resources: · Organizations can deploy PQC today to protect their network traffic from harvest now, decrypt later attacks. Read ourwhite paper, Recommendations for Quantum Safe TLS, for more details. · Check the quantum readiness of your organizations and others’ websites with our online PQC Checker . · Learn the basics about post quantum cryptography and understand the urgency to start quantum readiness now in DigiCert’s PQC for Dummies Guide.

Deepfake

AI Cheating Is Redefining Hiring Fraud

Artificial intelligence is transforming recruitment—but it is also creating a new generation of candidate fraud, making it increasingly difficult for employers to determine whether the person being assessed genuinely possesses the demonstrated skills. HirePro’s Candidate Integrity in Job Assessments and Interviews 2026 report reveals that cheating concerns in assessments jumped from 32% in FY22 to 45% in FY26—meaning nearly one in two assessments analysed showed an integrity concern. The study carries significant weight, drawing on annual samples of approximately one million assessments and 100,000 interviews between FY21 and FY26. Traditional external assistance remains the largest source of assessment malpractice, accounting for 43% of cases, but newer technology-enabled methods are expanding rapidly. AI-assisted cheating now accounts for 12% of assessment malpractice and recorded 50% relative growth in just one year. Mobile and secondary devices contributed 13%, while video or screen manipulation represented 9%. The problem is also moving into interviews. AI-assisted cheating accounted for 18% of interview malpractice, while device-based cheating reached 20%. Interestingly, conventional identity fraud declined from 65% of interview malpractice in FY23 to 28% in FY26, suggesting that recruitment fraud itself is evolving toward more sophisticated methods. Generative AI can provide candidates with real-time answers, coding assistance and interview guidance. Combined with camera manipulation or identity substitution, this challenges traditional remote-proctoring mechanisms. For employers, the risk extends beyond making a poor hiring decision. Fraudulent recruitment can potentially create cybersecurity, insider-risk, intellectual-property and compliance exposure, particularly when employees receive privileged access to enterprise systems. The message is clear: hiring can no longer depend on one-time identity verification. Organisations increasingly need continuous identity assurance, behavioural intelligence, liveness verification and AI-manipulation detectionthroughout assessments and interviews. In the AI era, recruitment is becoming another critical frontier of digital trust.

Deepfake

DigiCert Turns PQC Plans Into Action

DigiCert has announced the general availability of DigiCert Quantum Central, designed to help enterprises move beyond post-quantum cryptography (PQC) planning and establish a measurable programme for quantum readiness. The urgency is growing. According to DigiCert’s 2026 Quantum Readiness Outlook, 87% of organizations are planning, testing or implementing PQC initiatives, yet only 7% have deployed quantum-safe or hybrid cryptography. This exposes a significant execution gap between recognizing quantum risk and actually mitigating it. Quantum Central addresses one of the biggest challenges: fragmented cryptographic visibility. It consolidates information from DigiCert ONE, network scans, certificate lifecycle platforms, key vaults, CSV files and software or cryptographic bills of materials into a unified inventory. Organizations can then define cryptographic policies, identify violations, prioritize remediation and assign ownership. Integration with workflows including Jira and DigiCert Trust Lifecycle Manager helps translate identified risks into operational action. An inventory-aware AI assistant helps teams interpret cryptographic exposure and identify appropriate next steps. Centralized dashboards provide visibility into remediation status, policy compliance and overall cryptographic posture, while APIs allow additional systems and cryptographic data to be connected. The broader challenge is that migrating to quantum-safe security will be a multiyear transformation, particularly for enterprises operating complex legacy applications, infrastructure and PKI environments. Organizations therefore need crypto-agility—the ability to discover, replace and manage cryptographic algorithms without disrupting business operations. This is particularly important against the “ harvest now, decrypt later ” threat, where encrypted information captured today could potentially be decrypted when sufficiently capable quantum computers become available. The significance of Quantum Central is therefore its attempt to make PQC operational rather than theoretical. For CISOs, the priority is shifting from asking when quantum computing will become a threat to understanding where vulnerable cryptography exists today, who owns it and how quickly it can be migrated. Quantum readiness is no longer only a future-security discussion—it is becoming a present-day cryptographic engineering and governance programme. Resources: · Organizations can deploy PQC today to protect their network traffic from harvest now, decrypt later attacks. Read ourwhite paper, Recommendations for Quantum Safe TLS, for more details. · Check the quantum readiness of your organizations and others’ websites with our online PQC Checker . · Learn the basics about post quantum cryptography and understand the urgency to start quantum readiness now in DigiCert’s PQC for Dummies Guide.

Deepfake

AI Cheating Is Redefining Hiring Fraud

Artificial intelligence is transforming recruitment—but it is also creating a new generation of candidate fraud, making it increasingly difficult for employers to determine whether the person being assessed genuinely possesses the demonstrated skills. HirePro’s Candidate Integrity in Job Assessments and Interviews 2026 report reveals that cheating concerns in assessments jumped from 32% in FY22 to 45% in FY26—meaning nearly one in two assessments analysed showed an integrity concern. The study carries significant weight, drawing on annual samples of approximately one million assessments and 100,000 interviews between FY21 and FY26. Traditional external assistance remains the largest source of assessment malpractice, accounting for 43% of cases, but newer technology-enabled methods are expanding rapidly. AI-assisted cheating now accounts for 12% of assessment malpractice and recorded 50% relative growth in just one year. Mobile and secondary devices contributed 13%, while video or screen manipulation represented 9%. The problem is also moving into interviews. AI-assisted cheating accounted for 18% of interview malpractice, while device-based cheating reached 20%. Interestingly, conventional identity fraud declined from 65% of interview malpractice in FY23 to 28% in FY26, suggesting that recruitment fraud itself is evolving toward more sophisticated methods. Generative AI can provide candidates with real-time answers, coding assistance and interview guidance. Combined with camera manipulation or identity substitution, this challenges traditional remote-proctoring mechanisms. For employers, the risk extends beyond making a poor hiring decision. Fraudulent recruitment can potentially create cybersecurity, insider-risk, intellectual-property and compliance exposure, particularly when employees receive privileged access to enterprise systems. The message is clear: hiring can no longer depend on one-time identity verification. Organisations increasingly need continuous identity assurance, behavioural intelligence, liveness verification and AI-manipulation detectionthroughout assessments and interviews. In the AI era, recruitment is becoming another critical frontier of digital trust.

Start-UP

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Start-UP

Synopsys joins CII's Dx-EDGE to take engineering simulation to India's MSMEs

Under the national digital transformation programme, the company will offer MSMEs and technical institutions access to its Ansys simulation tools through demonstrations, training and knowledge sessions, aiming to boost innovation, efficiency and competitiveness. Synopsys, Inc., a leader in engineering solutions from silicon to systems, has collaborated with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) as a Technology Solution Provider (TSP) on the Dx-EDGE (Digital Excellence for Growth and Enterprise) initiative. The national programme aims to accelerate digital transformation across India's Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). Through the engagement, Synopsys will help MSMEs and technical institutions access relevant digital technologies and expertise. Dx-EDGE brings together MSMEs, academia, technology solution providers and government stakeholders to advance digital adoption and innovation across the country. Spearheaded by CII with the support of the NITI Frontier Tech Hub (NITI FTH) and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), it seeks to give MSMEs access to technology, knowledge and an ecosystem that can make them more digitally capable, competitive and resilient. Bringing Ansys simulation to MSMEs Using its Ansys portfolio of engineering simulation and computer-aided engineering (CAE) capabilities, Synopsys aims to help MSMEs evaluate and adopt digital engineering tools that can enhance innovation, operational efficiency and business competitiveness. The collaboration will focus on raising awareness of, and access to, advanced simulation technologies through expert-led knowledge sessions, hands-on technology demonstrations, training programmes and technology showcases. Murali Pullela, Country Head (Simulation & Analysis), Synopsys, said: "MSMEs are an important engine of India's industrial growth. Enabling broader access to advanced engineering technologies is essential to strengthening their competitiveness and innovation capacity. Through our engagement with Dx-EDGE, MSMEs will gain greater access to engineering simulation through technology demonstrations, knowledge-sharing initiatives, and hands-on training. We look forward to working with CII to help businesses understand how digital engineering can support better decisions, accelerate innovation and enable significant time and cost savings." Ponnuswami. M, Chairman, Dx-EDGE CII, said, "India's MSMEs are at the forefront of its ambition to build a globally competitive and digitally enabled economy. Dx-EDGE can bridge the technology adoption gap by connecting MSMEs with the right expertise, solutions and ecosystem partners. Collaborating with Synopsys as our Technology Solution Provider will strengthen this effort and bring advanced engineering simulation capabilities closer to MSMEs and technical institutions. This will allow India's MSMEs to explore practical applications of cutting edge technologies for better productivity and competitiveness." Reaching institutions through DTFCs and training Synopsys will engage with MSMEs and technical institutions through the Dx-EDGE ecosystem, including its network of Digital Transformation Facilitation Centres (DTFCs). These centres are platforms where faculty and students work directly with MSMEs to support digital transformation, while gaining practical exposure to emerging technologies and industry requirements. The company will also list its Ansys products, solutions and services on the Dx-EDGE platform and provide relevant training modules. Participating MSMEs and technical institutions will be able to access information and resources on its engineering simulation capabilities, with virtual and in-person sessions and technology demonstrations forming part of the programme's activities. A pathway to digital adoption The programme is designed to help MSMEs understand the role of advanced simulation in modern engineering and explore technologies that can support product development, engineering optimisation and digital transformation. According to the Dx-EDGE initiative, MSMEs can undergo a Digital Maturity Diagnostic to identify their existing capabilities, gaps and opportunities. A customised Digital Strategy Roadmap then guides the phased adoption of technologies suited to their operational and growth needs. Through the collaboration, Synopsys is expanding access to its Ansys portfolio for India's MSMEs, supporting a more innovative, competitive and digitally empowered manufacturing ecosystem.

Start-UP

TypeSafe’s $10B Jev Bet

TypeSafe AI , developer of the fast-rising Jev model, is reportedly in early talks to raise at least $1 billion at a valuation exceeding $10 billion. Some investors have offered to lead the potential round, although discussions remain preliminary. The extraordinary part is the speed. TypeSafe emerged from stealth on September 15 with a $40 million seed round led by DCVC and a reported valuation of around $200 million. Within nine days, funding discussions implied a potential 50-fold valuation increase. Founder Diogo Almeida previously worked at OpenAI on instruction-following techniques that contributed to the development of ChatGPT. But Jev takes a different approach: rather than generating language, it is designed to help software make structured decisions. Jev produces a Choice or Score accompanied by a confidence level between zero and one. High-confidence decisions can be automated, uncertain cases reviewed, and low-confidence cases escalated to humans. TypeSafe claims Jev is dramatically faster and cheaper than frontier LLMs, although those benchmarks remain company-reported. Investor excitement accelerated after Jev appeared on Vercel’s AI Gateway. Within 24 hours, nearly 13% of paid teams reportedly tried the model, making it the gateway’s fastest-adopted model. However, usage occurred during free access, so it does not necessarily demonstrate recurring paid demand. The investment thesis therefore rests on three factors: Almeida’s AI pedigree, Jev’s differentiated non-generative architecture, and unusually rapid developer experimentation. The bigger question is whether commercial evidence can catch up with valuation expectations. A $10 billion valuation would represent a major bet that “typed decision” models become an important automation layer—and that Jev can defend that position as competitors inevitably emerge.

Start-UP

Synopsys joins CII's Dx-EDGE to take engineering simulation to India's MSMEs

Under the national digital transformation programme, the company will offer MSMEs and technical institutions access to its Ansys simulation tools through demonstrations, training and knowledge sessions, aiming to boost innovation, efficiency and competitiveness. Synopsys, Inc., a leader in engineering solutions from silicon to systems, has collaborated with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) as a Technology Solution Provider (TSP) on the Dx-EDGE (Digital Excellence for Growth and Enterprise) initiative. The national programme aims to accelerate digital transformation across India's Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). Through the engagement, Synopsys will help MSMEs and technical institutions access relevant digital technologies and expertise. Dx-EDGE brings together MSMEs, academia, technology solution providers and government stakeholders to advance digital adoption and innovation across the country. Spearheaded by CII with the support of the NITI Frontier Tech Hub (NITI FTH) and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), it seeks to give MSMEs access to technology, knowledge and an ecosystem that can make them more digitally capable, competitive and resilient. Bringing Ansys simulation to MSMEs Using its Ansys portfolio of engineering simulation and computer-aided engineering (CAE) capabilities, Synopsys aims to help MSMEs evaluate and adopt digital engineering tools that can enhance innovation, operational efficiency and business competitiveness. The collaboration will focus on raising awareness of, and access to, advanced simulation technologies through expert-led knowledge sessions, hands-on technology demonstrations, training programmes and technology showcases. Murali Pullela, Country Head (Simulation & Analysis), Synopsys, said: "MSMEs are an important engine of India's industrial growth. Enabling broader access to advanced engineering technologies is essential to strengthening their competitiveness and innovation capacity. Through our engagement with Dx-EDGE, MSMEs will gain greater access to engineering simulation through technology demonstrations, knowledge-sharing initiatives, and hands-on training. We look forward to working with CII to help businesses understand how digital engineering can support better decisions, accelerate innovation and enable significant time and cost savings." Ponnuswami. M, Chairman, Dx-EDGE CII, said, "India's MSMEs are at the forefront of its ambition to build a globally competitive and digitally enabled economy. Dx-EDGE can bridge the technology adoption gap by connecting MSMEs with the right expertise, solutions and ecosystem partners. Collaborating with Synopsys as our Technology Solution Provider will strengthen this effort and bring advanced engineering simulation capabilities closer to MSMEs and technical institutions. This will allow India's MSMEs to explore practical applications of cutting edge technologies for better productivity and competitiveness." Reaching institutions through DTFCs and training Synopsys will engage with MSMEs and technical institutions through the Dx-EDGE ecosystem, including its network of Digital Transformation Facilitation Centres (DTFCs). These centres are platforms where faculty and students work directly with MSMEs to support digital transformation, while gaining practical exposure to emerging technologies and industry requirements. The company will also list its Ansys products, solutions and services on the Dx-EDGE platform and provide relevant training modules. Participating MSMEs and technical institutions will be able to access information and resources on its engineering simulation capabilities, with virtual and in-person sessions and technology demonstrations forming part of the programme's activities. A pathway to digital adoption The programme is designed to help MSMEs understand the role of advanced simulation in modern engineering and explore technologies that can support product development, engineering optimisation and digital transformation. According to the Dx-EDGE initiative, MSMEs can undergo a Digital Maturity Diagnostic to identify their existing capabilities, gaps and opportunities. A customised Digital Strategy Roadmap then guides the phased adoption of technologies suited to their operational and growth needs. Through the collaboration, Synopsys is expanding access to its Ansys portfolio for India's MSMEs, supporting a more innovative, competitive and digitally empowered manufacturing ecosystem.

Start-UP

TypeSafe’s $10B Jev Bet

TypeSafe AI , developer of the fast-rising Jev model, is reportedly in early talks to raise at least $1 billion at a valuation exceeding $10 billion. Some investors have offered to lead the potential round, although discussions remain preliminary. The extraordinary part is the speed. TypeSafe emerged from stealth on September 15 with a $40 million seed round led by DCVC and a reported valuation of around $200 million. Within nine days, funding discussions implied a potential 50-fold valuation increase. Founder Diogo Almeida previously worked at OpenAI on instruction-following techniques that contributed to the development of ChatGPT. But Jev takes a different approach: rather than generating language, it is designed to help software make structured decisions. Jev produces a Choice or Score accompanied by a confidence level between zero and one. High-confidence decisions can be automated, uncertain cases reviewed, and low-confidence cases escalated to humans. TypeSafe claims Jev is dramatically faster and cheaper than frontier LLMs, although those benchmarks remain company-reported. Investor excitement accelerated after Jev appeared on Vercel’s AI Gateway. Within 24 hours, nearly 13% of paid teams reportedly tried the model, making it the gateway’s fastest-adopted model. However, usage occurred during free access, so it does not necessarily demonstrate recurring paid demand. The investment thesis therefore rests on three factors: Almeida’s AI pedigree, Jev’s differentiated non-generative architecture, and unusually rapid developer experimentation. The bigger question is whether commercial evidence can catch up with valuation expectations. A $10 billion valuation would represent a major bet that “typed decision” models become an important automation layer—and that Jev can defend that position as competitors inevitably emerge.

Cryptocurrency

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Cryptocurrency

WazirX launches India’s first AI co-pilot for crypto trading

WazirX has announced the launch of WazirX AI , an intelligent trading assistant designed to help users research crypto markets, understand their portfolios and act on trading opportunities in real time without moving between charts, news feeds, signal groups and trading screens. The agent is integrated into the WazirX app and website, and users can ask questions, receive researched insights with supporting charts, and approve real trades instantly, all from one unified interface. Before users trade, WazirX AI shows them their live portfolio update. It then uses their risk preferences to recommend the right position size. “Crypto markets operate 24/7, but traders should not have to spend their day moving between charts, news feeds and trading screens,” said Nischal Shetty, founder, WazirX . “WazirX AI combines market research, portfolio monitoring and trade preparation into one conversation, reducing the time and effort required to evaluate an opportunity and act on it. The AI streamlines the workflow, and enables a faster and easier decision making process.” How it works WazirX AI follows an ‘Ask-Understand-Decide’ model. It can coordinate market-data, technical-analysis, portfolio and order-management across a multi-step request, giving users a quick route from identifying an opportunity to making an informed decision. · Conversational market research: Users can ask about live prices, market news and macroeconomic developments. The co-pilot responds with a clear summary and supporting charts. · Portfolio briefings: Users can request a live overview of their account and connected WazirX balances, including portfolio value, profit and loss, open positions, etc. The same information can also be requested by users as a daily morning brief. · Trade execution in chat: Users can place trades directly within a conversation. WazirX AI presents each proposed order through an approval card and can size the position according to the user’s risk settings. · AI-powered alerts: Users can create monitoring instructions in everyday language, for example, “Tell me if BTC breaks key support.” WazirX AI evaluates the condition and sends a notification when the condition is met. A user can ask WazirX AI to screen INR futures for four-hour momentum, retain opportunities meeting a specified risk-reward threshold, validate the shortlist across multiple timeframes and prepare an order showing entry price, leverage, margin, stop-loss, take-profit and estimated loss. The assistant can then prepare an order displaying the entry price, leverage, margin, stop-loss, take-profit and estimated loss - all within the same conversation. Before placing a trade, traders can spend hours gathering market context, poring over charts, analysing technical indicators, identifying patterns and trends, and working out entry, exit and risk levels. With WazirX AI, that entire process is transitioned into one conversational experience, helping users access relevant insights and complete their analysis in under 10 minutes. The co-pilot continues watching user-defined market conditions and only sends a notification when those conditions require attention. To democratize access to this technology, WazirX is launching a Paper Trading Sandbox where every user begins with a simulated US$100,000 balance. This allows users to explore the entire research-to-trade workflow, test strategies, and build confidence before using real funds.

Cryptocurrency

X to Add Stock and Crypto Trading

X is preparing to move deeper into financial services, with plans to let users trade stocks and cryptocurrencies directly from their timelines. The feature, described by head of product Nikita Bier, will introduce “Smart Cashtags,” interactive ticker labels that allow buying and selling without leaving the app. The rollout is expected within weeks. By tapping a symbol in a post, users could view market data and execute trades, effectively blending social conversation with real-time investing. Owner Elon Musk has long pushed to transform the platform into an all-encompassing digital utility. He recently said internal testing is underway for X-Money , the company’s in-house payments system, with an external beta likely within a couple of months. Musk’s ambition goes far beyond peer-to-peer transfers. In earlier remarks to employees, he framed payments as covering a user’s entire financial life—transactions, savings, and even securities—arguing that such integration could eventually reduce the need for traditional banking relationships. If delivered, trading and payments would mark a dramatic expansion of X’s role, positioning it at the intersection of social media, fintech and digital identity. The move also intensifies competition with brokerage apps, crypto exchanges and payment platforms already fighting for user engagement. For X, finance may become the engine that converts attention into transactions.

Cryptocurrency

WazirX launches India’s first AI co-pilot for crypto trading

WazirX has announced the launch of WazirX AI , an intelligent trading assistant designed to help users research crypto markets, understand their portfolios and act on trading opportunities in real time without moving between charts, news feeds, signal groups and trading screens. The agent is integrated into the WazirX app and website, and users can ask questions, receive researched insights with supporting charts, and approve real trades instantly, all from one unified interface. Before users trade, WazirX AI shows them their live portfolio update. It then uses their risk preferences to recommend the right position size. “Crypto markets operate 24/7, but traders should not have to spend their day moving between charts, news feeds and trading screens,” said Nischal Shetty, founder, WazirX . “WazirX AI combines market research, portfolio monitoring and trade preparation into one conversation, reducing the time and effort required to evaluate an opportunity and act on it. The AI streamlines the workflow, and enables a faster and easier decision making process.” How it works WazirX AI follows an ‘Ask-Understand-Decide’ model. It can coordinate market-data, technical-analysis, portfolio and order-management across a multi-step request, giving users a quick route from identifying an opportunity to making an informed decision. · Conversational market research: Users can ask about live prices, market news and macroeconomic developments. The co-pilot responds with a clear summary and supporting charts. · Portfolio briefings: Users can request a live overview of their account and connected WazirX balances, including portfolio value, profit and loss, open positions, etc. The same information can also be requested by users as a daily morning brief. · Trade execution in chat: Users can place trades directly within a conversation. WazirX AI presents each proposed order through an approval card and can size the position according to the user’s risk settings. · AI-powered alerts: Users can create monitoring instructions in everyday language, for example, “Tell me if BTC breaks key support.” WazirX AI evaluates the condition and sends a notification when the condition is met. A user can ask WazirX AI to screen INR futures for four-hour momentum, retain opportunities meeting a specified risk-reward threshold, validate the shortlist across multiple timeframes and prepare an order showing entry price, leverage, margin, stop-loss, take-profit and estimated loss. The assistant can then prepare an order displaying the entry price, leverage, margin, stop-loss, take-profit and estimated loss - all within the same conversation. Before placing a trade, traders can spend hours gathering market context, poring over charts, analysing technical indicators, identifying patterns and trends, and working out entry, exit and risk levels. With WazirX AI, that entire process is transitioned into one conversational experience, helping users access relevant insights and complete their analysis in under 10 minutes. The co-pilot continues watching user-defined market conditions and only sends a notification when those conditions require attention. To democratize access to this technology, WazirX is launching a Paper Trading Sandbox where every user begins with a simulated US$100,000 balance. This allows users to explore the entire research-to-trade workflow, test strategies, and build confidence before using real funds.

Cryptocurrency

X to Add Stock and Crypto Trading

X is preparing to move deeper into financial services, with plans to let users trade stocks and cryptocurrencies directly from their timelines. The feature, described by head of product Nikita Bier, will introduce “Smart Cashtags,” interactive ticker labels that allow buying and selling without leaving the app. The rollout is expected within weeks. By tapping a symbol in a post, users could view market data and execute trades, effectively blending social conversation with real-time investing. Owner Elon Musk has long pushed to transform the platform into an all-encompassing digital utility. He recently said internal testing is underway for X-Money , the company’s in-house payments system, with an external beta likely within a couple of months. Musk’s ambition goes far beyond peer-to-peer transfers. In earlier remarks to employees, he framed payments as covering a user’s entire financial life—transactions, savings, and even securities—arguing that such integration could eventually reduce the need for traditional banking relationships. If delivered, trading and payments would mark a dramatic expansion of X’s role, positioning it at the intersection of social media, fintech and digital identity. The move also intensifies competition with brokerage apps, crypto exchanges and payment platforms already fighting for user engagement. For X, finance may become the engine that converts attention into transactions.

Channel Guru

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Channel Guru

iValue Journey to a Public Company

A MILESTONE OF CONSISTENT GROWTH DRIVEN BY PEOPLE AND PARTNERSHIPS. For every organisation, there are defining moments that mark both a reflection on the past and a commitment to the future. For iValue, our Private Equity investment in 2019 and now our successful listing on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) are such milestones. The iValue story has never been about visibility for its own sake. From the very beginning, we focused on building quietly, working closely with OEMs, partners and Enterprises, and staying true to one belief: technology creates lasting value only when it solves real business challenges. THE VISION THAT DROVE US From inception in 2008, iValue has been driven by a clear vision: to be the most valued technology enabler and Aggregator in the digital transformation space. That meant choosing away from the conventional path, and being a Trusted advisor, to our system Integrators and Enterprises. Our purpose was clear: curate and integrate the best technologies, address real business challenges, and help enterprises thrive in the ever evolving IT Landscape. We built our business on three fundamental pillars: deep relationships, domain expertise, and an unwavering focus on enterprise value. These principles shaped us into being a trusted advisor. Today, we serve over 8,000 enterprises across sectors, working with more than 100+ OEMs and 800+ channel partners. This includes trusted engagements with the Top 100 Brands across BFSI, ITES, Telecom, Manufacturing, and Conglomerates. But the numbers only tell part of the story. The real story is about how we've consistently aimed to be different, building differentiators that deliver value across the ecosystem. WHERE TECHNOLOGY MEETS BUSINESS OUTCOMES This philosophy manifests in how we approach enterprise challenges. Our expertise spans across four critical technology domains reshaping enterprises in: Cybersecurity, Information Lifecycle Management, Data Centre Infrastructure, Application Lifecycle Management and Hybrid Multi-Cloud. Today’s Business depend on Digital Applications more than ever before. Hybrid- cloud environment provides business with much needed flexibility with scalability for their core applications. Our Application Lifecycle Management offerings enable enterprises to build secure and scalable digital applications for hybrid cloud deployment needs. Information Lifecycle Management solutions empower enterprises to get the best insights from its vast data towards building predictable and profitable business. we Curate solutions from Code to Cloud needs, to meet every enterprise need around Performance, Availability, Scalability and Security of its critical digital applications. Our 24*7 Managed services help customers proactively identify and address needs to ensure business continuity. Each domain is interconnected. Together, they represent an integrated approach to the app-driven economy, enabling enterprises to build, secure, and scale their end-to-end digital capabilities. Our Center of Excellence (CoE) showcase these best-of-breed technologies in real-time, thus validating the impact of adopting these technologies in a customer’s environment, helping large and medium enterprises make risk-free, informed investment decisions. A MARKET IN TRANSFORMATION The Indian IT product market reached $81.2 billion in 2024, making it the second largest in Asia Pacific (excluding Japan), with projections to exceed $106 billion by 2028, according to IDC. But market size alone doesn't capture the transformation underway. Enterprises are fundamentally changing how they buy / consume technology and more importantly how they do business. They're moving from on-premise to hybrid multi-cloud architectures, prioritizing AI and automation, escalating cybersecurity investments in response to evolving threats, and modernizing legacy applications and infrastructure through API-driven integration and microservices. • Most importantly, they're Large Enterprises are not looking for transactional vendors anymore. The IDC report on the Future of Tech Distribution in India highlights this shift: Large and Medium enterprises now seek technology aggregators and advisors who understand their business challenges, simplify complexity, and enable secure, accelerated growth through new-age technology adoptions. This transformation validates everything we've built. As enterprises prioritize digital transformation initiatives, our role as a technology aggregator and consultant becomes increasingly critical. 18 YEARS IN THE MAKING Our CFO, Swaroop MVN, compared our journey to a rocket launch. "The ignition was 2008," he explains. "Since then, we've had multiple 'firsts'—first customer practices, Centre of Excellence (CoE), our ASPL acquisition, expansion into South East Asia, Private Equity investments, Institutionalizing our teams, and now going public." From our first OEM relationship to the 100+ strategic alliances we maintain today, identifying new technology partnerships has been our foundation. Each achievement— supporting enterprises through regulatory shifts, powering digital initiatives like UPI, GST, and Aadhaar, helping banks secure millions of transactions daily, and enabling hybrid-cloud adoption at scale—has been realized together with our partners. Equally important are our customers, who trusted us to guide their digital journeys. Their challenges shaped our solutions. Their ambitions drove our innovation. THE HUMAN ELEMENT Perhaps the most emotional part of listing day was recognizing what it took to get here. As Krishna Raj Sharma noted, “This journey didn’t start with just three promoters. Behind every success is a huge team. And behind every team member, families who gave their strength and support. Seeing our children in front of the bell reminded us this milestone is about legacy as much as it is about growth.” Our 400+ team members bring technical mastery, passion, and customer-first commitment to every engagement. They are consultants, problem-solvers, and trusted advisors to our customers. This listing celebrates them most of all. Sunil Kumar Pillai, Chairman and Managing Director, puts it simply: "This milestone belongs to every person who has been part of iValue's journey. From the earliest employees who believed in our vision, to our partners who stood by us through market shifts, to our customers who trusted us with their most critical assets—this listing is a celebration of you all. OUR COMMITMENT FORWARD As we enter this new chapter with public market accountability, our growth strategy is anchored in four key areas: advancing AI, ALM, cybersecurity, and hybrid cloud services. We're enhancing our capabilities in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and cloud services to meet evolving enterprise needs for analytics, automation, enterprise security, and multi-cloud solutions. We're expanding our application lifecycle management offerings with platforms that streamline development cycles and accelerate delivery. We're growing our geographic footprint in South East Asia and beyond, diversifying markets and building new partnerships. And we're deepening our expertise in the app-driven economy, delivering solutions for mobile-first and app-centric enterprises. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- iValue Infosolutions Creating Value for Investors, Enterprises, and India’s Digital Future iValue Infosolutions’ listing on NSE & BSE marks a defining step in our journey of enabling secure and transformative digital enterprises. With 17 years of consistent growth, 8,000+ enterprise relationships, and a trusted partner ecosystem of 600+ system integrators, this milestone reflects our strong foundation and forward-looking vision. As digital adoption accelerates across India and SAARC–SEA markets, iValue is uniquely positioned at the intersection of cybersecurity, cloud, and data innovation. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “As we reflect on where we started and where we stand today, one thing is clear: the listing is not an end point. It’s a beginning of a new chapter with an opportunity to strengthen our purpose, widen our reach, and deepen our impact. The journey ahead will demand more discipline and compliance, more innovation and resilience. And we are ready because we walk it together.” - Sunil Kumar Pillai, Chairman & Managing Director, iValue Group For Krishna Raj Sharma, the moment is deeply personal: "When we started out, the vision was simple—to make technology meaningful for enterprises. Over time, that vision grew into a culture of collaboration, continuous learning, adaptation, and building long-term trust. Reaching the Stock Exchange is a proud moment, but more than that, it is a humbling one. It reminds us of the responsibility we carry to our employees, OEM, partners, customers, and now our shareholders." Whether empowering enterprises with AI-driven cybersecurity to protect people and data, guiding banks through compliance mandates that safeguard trust, or enabling telcos and governments to modernize infrastructure for citizen-centric services — our focus has always been on addressing real human challenges through carefully curated technologies. iValue will continue as a trusted advisor. We view this listing not merely as a financial achievement, but as an opportunity to amplify impact, bringing more technologies to more businesses, deepening investments in people and partnerships, and continuing to shape India's digital future. To our Employees: thank you for your expertise, passion, and sacrifices. To our OEMs: Thank you for your partnership during every Milestone. To our Partners: thank you for your collaboration and innovation. To our Customers: thank you for your trust and ambition. To our Investors and Shareholders: thank you for believing in our journey. The future is exciting, but our values remain the same: Innovation, integrity, commitment, and customer-first thinking. These will continue to guide iValue in this new chapter.” - Krishna Raj Sharma, Executive Director, iValue Group The iValue story has always been about people, partnerships, and purpose. Let’s Continue to create Value with iValue, together.

Channel Guru

We don't just sell products - we architect solutions - RAH INFOTECH

"We don't just sell products - we architect solutions. Our channel- first philosophy of 'we succeed when our partners succeed' has driven 50% year- on-year growth for two decades." - Ashok Kumar, Founder & Managing Director, RAH Infotech As RAH Infotech celebrates its 20th anniversary, the company stands as a testament to India's rapidly evolving IT distribution landscape. What began as a technology distributor in 2005 has transformed into India's fastest-growing specialty value-added distributor, consistently delivering over 50% year-on-year growth while serving Fortune 500 companies and government agencies across 17 locations. On this milestone occasion, VARINDIA caught up with Ashok Kumar, Founder & Managing Director, and Rahul Yadav, Chief Growth Officer, to decode the success story behind RAH Infotech's remarkable journey from a startup to India's leading cybersecurity and cloud solutions distributor, representing over 30 global technology leaders and serving more than 1,000 enterprises through a robust network of 500+ channel partners. How RAH Infotech is driving technological adoption and business growth across India, with this what is the road-map for the FY 2025-26? Ashok Kumar: At RAH Infotech, we've been at the forefront of India's digital transformation for nearly two decades, maintaining over 50% year-on-year growth since 2005. This consistent growth trajectory reflects the trust Indian IT reseller community has placed in our value-added distribution capabilities. We drive technological adoption through end-to-end solutions - consulting, technical assistance, and implementation services - rather than just product distribution. Our network of 500+ channel partners and 1,000+ enterprise customers, including Fortune 500 companies and government agencies, enables comprehensive market reach across every vertical. The key to our success has been identifying market needs early and introducing cutting- edge technologies from global leaders before competitors. We've consistently anticipated technology shifts - from traditional networking to cloud-first architectures, from perimeter security to zero trust models, and from reactive to proactive cyber defense strategies. For FY 2025-26, our roadmap focuses on digital infrastructure modernization, cybersecurity excellence, and strategic expansion. We're expanding cloud computing solutions through partnerships with leading vendors and, while doubling down on cybersecurity with innovations like Digital Trishul for executive threat monitoring. We're also strengthening our India and international footprint while focusing on AI, IoT, and machine learning distribution. Our investment in emerging technologies positions us to capture the next wave of digital transformation as Indian enterprises embrace Industry 4.0 and smart infrastructure initiatives. RAH Infotech boasts a diverse product and solution portfolio, representing some of the world's most renowned technology brands. Can you name the sectors you are addressing? Ashok Kumar: We serve diverse sectors including BFSI, which drives significant growth through regulatory compliance requirements and digital banking initiatives, government and public sector through massive digitization programs and smart city projects, healthcare with critical data protection and telemedicine infrastructure, hospitality with secure guest networks and contactless solutions, automotive with Industry 4.0 and connected vehicle technologies, education with hybrid learning platforms, manufacturing with operational technology security, and telecommunications with 5G infrastructure and edge computing solutions. Our comprehensive solution domains span cybersecurity covering network security, endpoint protection, application security, and identity management. We provide networking solutions from infrastructure to SD-WAN, cloud computing including hybrid and multi-cloud services, data management with backup and recovery solutions, plus application security and performance optimization. We represent industry leaders like Radware, Hitachi Vantara, ForeScout, Trend Micro, Netskope, AlgoSec, BMC, Checkmarx, Commvault, and Varonis, positioning us as a one-stop-shop for complete IT infrastructure needs. This comprehensive approach allows our partners to address complex customer requirements with integrated solutions rather than point products. Can you share the presence of RAH Infotech in India and the global footprint? Rahul Yadav: RAH Infotech has built a strong pan-India presence with strategic international expansion. We're headquartered in Gurgaon with our operations spanning across the nation. We maintain strong pan-India presence through 17 strategic locations covering metros to tier-2 cities, supported by 500+ VARs and system integrators who form the backbone of our distribution network. Our international footprint spans Singapore for APAC operations, UK and Netherlands for European markets, USA for North American partnerships, UAE for Middle East expansion, and Nepal for SAARC regional coverage. This global reach enables us to leverage international best practices while bringing cutting-edge technologies to India first, often ahead of direct vendor entries. Our geographical strategy focuses on proximity to customers and partners, ensuring rapid response times and local market understanding. Each location houses technical experts who understand regional compliance requirements, language preferences, and business practices. This localized approach has been crucial in government sector wins where understanding state-specific procurement processes and regulatory frameworks makes the difference. Our employee strengthof 228 professionals has grown 12% year-over-year, with one-third being technical experts - a key differentiator in value-added distribution. These technical resources include certified engineers, solution architects, and cybersecurity specialists who provide pre-sales consulting, solution design, and post-deployment support. This combination of local market knowledge and global reach positions us uniquely to serve both multinational corporations and growing Indian enterprises, earning recognition as 'Top APAC Technology Distributor.' What is the key strategy of RAH Infotech for partner empowerment considering the evolving tech industry? Rahul Yadav: Partner empowerment remains our success cornerstone. Unlike competitors moving to direct sales, we maintain channel-first approach because partners' success drives ours. This philosophy has created lasting relationships - many partners have been with us for over five years despite industry consolidations and vendor changes. Our strategy centers on technical excellence with one-third technical workforce providing comprehensive training, certifications, and hands-on support, plus business development assistance including partnerships with consulting firms and Big Four companies. We've invested significantly in partner enablement programs including technical bootcamps, sales methodology training, and market development funds. Our partners receive not just product training but business consulting on market positioning, competitive differentiation, and customer engagement strategies. We also provide demo equipment, proof-of-concept support, and technical resources for large deal closures. We offer competitive margins, flexible financing through our vendor finance programs, and performance-based incentives including international trips and recognition awards, while generating qualified leads from our Fortune 500 and government relationships. Our lead-sharing model ensures partners get first opportunity on deals in their territories. As there are increasing demands for cloud-based solutions, how RAH Infotech is equipped with cloud migration framework? Ashok Kumar: Cloud adoption is now essential for business agility and cost optimization, and we've positioned ourselves as comprehensive enablement partners rather than simple technology distributors. Our framework begins with detailed infrastructure and business assessments, followed by cloud- first strategy development that considers regulatory requirements, data sovereignty, and business continuity needs. We offer hybrid multi-cloud solutions maintaining flexibility between on-premises and cloud workloads through our strategic partnerships with leading cloud and infrastructure vendors. Our cloud expertise extends beyond basic migration to include application modernization, DevOps integration, and cloud-native architecture design. We help organizations break down monolithic applications into microservices, implement containerization strategies, and establish continuous integration/continuous deployment pipelines for faster innovation cycles. Security integration is paramount through partnerships with Netskope for Zero Trust Network Access, Saviynt for comprehensive identity governance and administration, and Radware for application protection against DDoS attacks and web threats. Our LT ZERO collaboration addresses comprehensive data storage, automated backup, long-term archiving, and regulatory compliance concerns including GDPR and local data protection requirements. We modernize applications to be cloud-native rather than simple lift- and-shift migrations, while providing 24/7 managed services including proactive monitoring, performance optimization, cost management, and security incident response. Industry-specific frameworks address BFSI regulatory compliance, government data sovereignty mandates, and healthcare protection requirements under various privacy regulations. RAHUL YADAV EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, RAH INFOTECH Can you share RAH Infotech's proactive stance on cyber security solutions? Rahul Yadav: Cybersecurity is our foundation, not just a solution area. With threats evolving rapidly during geopolitical instability, we've adopted proactive approaches. Our Digital Trishul launch with RiskProfiler.io offers 24/7 dark web and executive monitoring, protecting high- ranking officials from personal cyber threats like credential theft and social engineering. Through Netskope, we implement Zero Trust Access ensuring "never trust, always verify" authentication. Our comprehensive portfolio covers network security with next- gen firewalls, application security through web application firewalls, data security via Varonis partnership, identity security through Saviynt and Delinea, plus advanced endpoint protection. Our specialized government and critical infrastructure solutions, combined with SOC capabilities and AI-powered threat intelligence, enable proactive threat hunting rather than reactive responses. We architect comprehensive security postures that are globally best-in-class yet locally relevant to India's threat landscape.

Channel Guru

iValue Journey to a Public Company

A MILESTONE OF CONSISTENT GROWTH DRIVEN BY PEOPLE AND PARTNERSHIPS. For every organisation, there are defining moments that mark both a reflection on the past and a commitment to the future. For iValue, our Private Equity investment in 2019 and now our successful listing on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) are such milestones. The iValue story has never been about visibility for its own sake. From the very beginning, we focused on building quietly, working closely with OEMs, partners and Enterprises, and staying true to one belief: technology creates lasting value only when it solves real business challenges. THE VISION THAT DROVE US From inception in 2008, iValue has been driven by a clear vision: to be the most valued technology enabler and Aggregator in the digital transformation space. That meant choosing away from the conventional path, and being a Trusted advisor, to our system Integrators and Enterprises. Our purpose was clear: curate and integrate the best technologies, address real business challenges, and help enterprises thrive in the ever evolving IT Landscape. We built our business on three fundamental pillars: deep relationships, domain expertise, and an unwavering focus on enterprise value. These principles shaped us into being a trusted advisor. Today, we serve over 8,000 enterprises across sectors, working with more than 100+ OEMs and 800+ channel partners. This includes trusted engagements with the Top 100 Brands across BFSI, ITES, Telecom, Manufacturing, and Conglomerates. But the numbers only tell part of the story. The real story is about how we've consistently aimed to be different, building differentiators that deliver value across the ecosystem. WHERE TECHNOLOGY MEETS BUSINESS OUTCOMES This philosophy manifests in how we approach enterprise challenges. Our expertise spans across four critical technology domains reshaping enterprises in: Cybersecurity, Information Lifecycle Management, Data Centre Infrastructure, Application Lifecycle Management and Hybrid Multi-Cloud. Today’s Business depend on Digital Applications more than ever before. Hybrid- cloud environment provides business with much needed flexibility with scalability for their core applications. Our Application Lifecycle Management offerings enable enterprises to build secure and scalable digital applications for hybrid cloud deployment needs. Information Lifecycle Management solutions empower enterprises to get the best insights from its vast data towards building predictable and profitable business. we Curate solutions from Code to Cloud needs, to meet every enterprise need around Performance, Availability, Scalability and Security of its critical digital applications. Our 24*7 Managed services help customers proactively identify and address needs to ensure business continuity. Each domain is interconnected. Together, they represent an integrated approach to the app-driven economy, enabling enterprises to build, secure, and scale their end-to-end digital capabilities. Our Center of Excellence (CoE) showcase these best-of-breed technologies in real-time, thus validating the impact of adopting these technologies in a customer’s environment, helping large and medium enterprises make risk-free, informed investment decisions. A MARKET IN TRANSFORMATION The Indian IT product market reached $81.2 billion in 2024, making it the second largest in Asia Pacific (excluding Japan), with projections to exceed $106 billion by 2028, according to IDC. But market size alone doesn't capture the transformation underway. Enterprises are fundamentally changing how they buy / consume technology and more importantly how they do business. They're moving from on-premise to hybrid multi-cloud architectures, prioritizing AI and automation, escalating cybersecurity investments in response to evolving threats, and modernizing legacy applications and infrastructure through API-driven integration and microservices. • Most importantly, they're Large Enterprises are not looking for transactional vendors anymore. The IDC report on the Future of Tech Distribution in India highlights this shift: Large and Medium enterprises now seek technology aggregators and advisors who understand their business challenges, simplify complexity, and enable secure, accelerated growth through new-age technology adoptions. This transformation validates everything we've built. As enterprises prioritize digital transformation initiatives, our role as a technology aggregator and consultant becomes increasingly critical. 18 YEARS IN THE MAKING Our CFO, Swaroop MVN, compared our journey to a rocket launch. "The ignition was 2008," he explains. "Since then, we've had multiple 'firsts'—first customer practices, Centre of Excellence (CoE), our ASPL acquisition, expansion into South East Asia, Private Equity investments, Institutionalizing our teams, and now going public." From our first OEM relationship to the 100+ strategic alliances we maintain today, identifying new technology partnerships has been our foundation. Each achievement— supporting enterprises through regulatory shifts, powering digital initiatives like UPI, GST, and Aadhaar, helping banks secure millions of transactions daily, and enabling hybrid-cloud adoption at scale—has been realized together with our partners. Equally important are our customers, who trusted us to guide their digital journeys. Their challenges shaped our solutions. Their ambitions drove our innovation. THE HUMAN ELEMENT Perhaps the most emotional part of listing day was recognizing what it took to get here. As Krishna Raj Sharma noted, “This journey didn’t start with just three promoters. Behind every success is a huge team. And behind every team member, families who gave their strength and support. Seeing our children in front of the bell reminded us this milestone is about legacy as much as it is about growth.” Our 400+ team members bring technical mastery, passion, and customer-first commitment to every engagement. They are consultants, problem-solvers, and trusted advisors to our customers. This listing celebrates them most of all. Sunil Kumar Pillai, Chairman and Managing Director, puts it simply: "This milestone belongs to every person who has been part of iValue's journey. From the earliest employees who believed in our vision, to our partners who stood by us through market shifts, to our customers who trusted us with their most critical assets—this listing is a celebration of you all. OUR COMMITMENT FORWARD As we enter this new chapter with public market accountability, our growth strategy is anchored in four key areas: advancing AI, ALM, cybersecurity, and hybrid cloud services. We're enhancing our capabilities in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and cloud services to meet evolving enterprise needs for analytics, automation, enterprise security, and multi-cloud solutions. We're expanding our application lifecycle management offerings with platforms that streamline development cycles and accelerate delivery. We're growing our geographic footprint in South East Asia and beyond, diversifying markets and building new partnerships. And we're deepening our expertise in the app-driven economy, delivering solutions for mobile-first and app-centric enterprises. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- iValue Infosolutions Creating Value for Investors, Enterprises, and India’s Digital Future iValue Infosolutions’ listing on NSE & BSE marks a defining step in our journey of enabling secure and transformative digital enterprises. With 17 years of consistent growth, 8,000+ enterprise relationships, and a trusted partner ecosystem of 600+ system integrators, this milestone reflects our strong foundation and forward-looking vision. As digital adoption accelerates across India and SAARC–SEA markets, iValue is uniquely positioned at the intersection of cybersecurity, cloud, and data innovation. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “As we reflect on where we started and where we stand today, one thing is clear: the listing is not an end point. It’s a beginning of a new chapter with an opportunity to strengthen our purpose, widen our reach, and deepen our impact. The journey ahead will demand more discipline and compliance, more innovation and resilience. And we are ready because we walk it together.” - Sunil Kumar Pillai, Chairman & Managing Director, iValue Group For Krishna Raj Sharma, the moment is deeply personal: "When we started out, the vision was simple—to make technology meaningful for enterprises. Over time, that vision grew into a culture of collaboration, continuous learning, adaptation, and building long-term trust. Reaching the Stock Exchange is a proud moment, but more than that, it is a humbling one. It reminds us of the responsibility we carry to our employees, OEM, partners, customers, and now our shareholders." Whether empowering enterprises with AI-driven cybersecurity to protect people and data, guiding banks through compliance mandates that safeguard trust, or enabling telcos and governments to modernize infrastructure for citizen-centric services — our focus has always been on addressing real human challenges through carefully curated technologies. iValue will continue as a trusted advisor. We view this listing not merely as a financial achievement, but as an opportunity to amplify impact, bringing more technologies to more businesses, deepening investments in people and partnerships, and continuing to shape India's digital future. To our Employees: thank you for your expertise, passion, and sacrifices. To our OEMs: Thank you for your partnership during every Milestone. To our Partners: thank you for your collaboration and innovation. To our Customers: thank you for your trust and ambition. To our Investors and Shareholders: thank you for believing in our journey. The future is exciting, but our values remain the same: Innovation, integrity, commitment, and customer-first thinking. These will continue to guide iValue in this new chapter.” - Krishna Raj Sharma, Executive Director, iValue Group The iValue story has always been about people, partnerships, and purpose. Let’s Continue to create Value with iValue, together.

Channel Guru

We don't just sell products - we architect solutions - RAH INFOTECH

"We don't just sell products - we architect solutions. Our channel- first philosophy of 'we succeed when our partners succeed' has driven 50% year- on-year growth for two decades." - Ashok Kumar, Founder & Managing Director, RAH Infotech As RAH Infotech celebrates its 20th anniversary, the company stands as a testament to India's rapidly evolving IT distribution landscape. What began as a technology distributor in 2005 has transformed into India's fastest-growing specialty value-added distributor, consistently delivering over 50% year-on-year growth while serving Fortune 500 companies and government agencies across 17 locations. On this milestone occasion, VARINDIA caught up with Ashok Kumar, Founder & Managing Director, and Rahul Yadav, Chief Growth Officer, to decode the success story behind RAH Infotech's remarkable journey from a startup to India's leading cybersecurity and cloud solutions distributor, representing over 30 global technology leaders and serving more than 1,000 enterprises through a robust network of 500+ channel partners. How RAH Infotech is driving technological adoption and business growth across India, with this what is the road-map for the FY 2025-26? Ashok Kumar: At RAH Infotech, we've been at the forefront of India's digital transformation for nearly two decades, maintaining over 50% year-on-year growth since 2005. This consistent growth trajectory reflects the trust Indian IT reseller community has placed in our value-added distribution capabilities. We drive technological adoption through end-to-end solutions - consulting, technical assistance, and implementation services - rather than just product distribution. Our network of 500+ channel partners and 1,000+ enterprise customers, including Fortune 500 companies and government agencies, enables comprehensive market reach across every vertical. The key to our success has been identifying market needs early and introducing cutting- edge technologies from global leaders before competitors. We've consistently anticipated technology shifts - from traditional networking to cloud-first architectures, from perimeter security to zero trust models, and from reactive to proactive cyber defense strategies. For FY 2025-26, our roadmap focuses on digital infrastructure modernization, cybersecurity excellence, and strategic expansion. We're expanding cloud computing solutions through partnerships with leading vendors and, while doubling down on cybersecurity with innovations like Digital Trishul for executive threat monitoring. We're also strengthening our India and international footprint while focusing on AI, IoT, and machine learning distribution. Our investment in emerging technologies positions us to capture the next wave of digital transformation as Indian enterprises embrace Industry 4.0 and smart infrastructure initiatives. RAH Infotech boasts a diverse product and solution portfolio, representing some of the world's most renowned technology brands. Can you name the sectors you are addressing? Ashok Kumar: We serve diverse sectors including BFSI, which drives significant growth through regulatory compliance requirements and digital banking initiatives, government and public sector through massive digitization programs and smart city projects, healthcare with critical data protection and telemedicine infrastructure, hospitality with secure guest networks and contactless solutions, automotive with Industry 4.0 and connected vehicle technologies, education with hybrid learning platforms, manufacturing with operational technology security, and telecommunications with 5G infrastructure and edge computing solutions. Our comprehensive solution domains span cybersecurity covering network security, endpoint protection, application security, and identity management. We provide networking solutions from infrastructure to SD-WAN, cloud computing including hybrid and multi-cloud services, data management with backup and recovery solutions, plus application security and performance optimization. We represent industry leaders like Radware, Hitachi Vantara, ForeScout, Trend Micro, Netskope, AlgoSec, BMC, Checkmarx, Commvault, and Varonis, positioning us as a one-stop-shop for complete IT infrastructure needs. This comprehensive approach allows our partners to address complex customer requirements with integrated solutions rather than point products. Can you share the presence of RAH Infotech in India and the global footprint? Rahul Yadav: RAH Infotech has built a strong pan-India presence with strategic international expansion. We're headquartered in Gurgaon with our operations spanning across the nation. We maintain strong pan-India presence through 17 strategic locations covering metros to tier-2 cities, supported by 500+ VARs and system integrators who form the backbone of our distribution network. Our international footprint spans Singapore for APAC operations, UK and Netherlands for European markets, USA for North American partnerships, UAE for Middle East expansion, and Nepal for SAARC regional coverage. This global reach enables us to leverage international best practices while bringing cutting-edge technologies to India first, often ahead of direct vendor entries. Our geographical strategy focuses on proximity to customers and partners, ensuring rapid response times and local market understanding. Each location houses technical experts who understand regional compliance requirements, language preferences, and business practices. This localized approach has been crucial in government sector wins where understanding state-specific procurement processes and regulatory frameworks makes the difference. Our employee strengthof 228 professionals has grown 12% year-over-year, with one-third being technical experts - a key differentiator in value-added distribution. These technical resources include certified engineers, solution architects, and cybersecurity specialists who provide pre-sales consulting, solution design, and post-deployment support. This combination of local market knowledge and global reach positions us uniquely to serve both multinational corporations and growing Indian enterprises, earning recognition as 'Top APAC Technology Distributor.' What is the key strategy of RAH Infotech for partner empowerment considering the evolving tech industry? Rahul Yadav: Partner empowerment remains our success cornerstone. Unlike competitors moving to direct sales, we maintain channel-first approach because partners' success drives ours. This philosophy has created lasting relationships - many partners have been with us for over five years despite industry consolidations and vendor changes. Our strategy centers on technical excellence with one-third technical workforce providing comprehensive training, certifications, and hands-on support, plus business development assistance including partnerships with consulting firms and Big Four companies. We've invested significantly in partner enablement programs including technical bootcamps, sales methodology training, and market development funds. Our partners receive not just product training but business consulting on market positioning, competitive differentiation, and customer engagement strategies. We also provide demo equipment, proof-of-concept support, and technical resources for large deal closures. We offer competitive margins, flexible financing through our vendor finance programs, and performance-based incentives including international trips and recognition awards, while generating qualified leads from our Fortune 500 and government relationships. Our lead-sharing model ensures partners get first opportunity on deals in their territories. As there are increasing demands for cloud-based solutions, how RAH Infotech is equipped with cloud migration framework? Ashok Kumar: Cloud adoption is now essential for business agility and cost optimization, and we've positioned ourselves as comprehensive enablement partners rather than simple technology distributors. Our framework begins with detailed infrastructure and business assessments, followed by cloud- first strategy development that considers regulatory requirements, data sovereignty, and business continuity needs. We offer hybrid multi-cloud solutions maintaining flexibility between on-premises and cloud workloads through our strategic partnerships with leading cloud and infrastructure vendors. Our cloud expertise extends beyond basic migration to include application modernization, DevOps integration, and cloud-native architecture design. We help organizations break down monolithic applications into microservices, implement containerization strategies, and establish continuous integration/continuous deployment pipelines for faster innovation cycles. Security integration is paramount through partnerships with Netskope for Zero Trust Network Access, Saviynt for comprehensive identity governance and administration, and Radware for application protection against DDoS attacks and web threats. Our LT ZERO collaboration addresses comprehensive data storage, automated backup, long-term archiving, and regulatory compliance concerns including GDPR and local data protection requirements. We modernize applications to be cloud-native rather than simple lift- and-shift migrations, while providing 24/7 managed services including proactive monitoring, performance optimization, cost management, and security incident response. Industry-specific frameworks address BFSI regulatory compliance, government data sovereignty mandates, and healthcare protection requirements under various privacy regulations. RAHUL YADAV EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, RAH INFOTECH Can you share RAH Infotech's proactive stance on cyber security solutions? Rahul Yadav: Cybersecurity is our foundation, not just a solution area. With threats evolving rapidly during geopolitical instability, we've adopted proactive approaches. Our Digital Trishul launch with RiskProfiler.io offers 24/7 dark web and executive monitoring, protecting high- ranking officials from personal cyber threats like credential theft and social engineering. Through Netskope, we implement Zero Trust Access ensuring "never trust, always verify" authentication. Our comprehensive portfolio covers network security with next- gen firewalls, application security through web application firewalls, data security via Varonis partnership, identity security through Saviynt and Delinea, plus advanced endpoint protection. Our specialized government and critical infrastructure solutions, combined with SOC capabilities and AI-powered threat intelligence, enable proactive threat hunting rather than reactive responses. We architect comprehensive security postures that are globally best-in-class yet locally relevant to India's threat landscape.

Channel Chief

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Channel Chief

From Endpoint to Cloud: SonicWall Builds a Unified Security Future

As cyber threats become increasingly sophisticated and AI-driven, endpoint security is emerging as a critical line of defense. SonicWall is expanding beyond its traditional network security roots to position itself as a broader cybersecurity platform, bringing together network, cloud, endpoint and user protection. With EDR, MDR and AI-powered threat detection at the core of its strategy, the company is focused on helping organizations detect, respond to and recover from threats faster. Debasish Mukherjee, Vice President, Regional Sales APJ, SonicWall explains how this integrated approach is particularly relevant in India, where rapidly digitizing SMBs and distributed enterprises are seeking simpler, scalable security solutions that can strengthen resilience without adding operational complexity How does EDR strengthen SonicWall’s overall cybersecurity portfolio? EDR helps SonicWall shift from being seen mainly as a network security company to a broader cybersecurity platform provider. Its portfolio now supports the full attack chain: preventing threats at the network and cloud edge, detecting suspicious endpoint behavior, investigating attacks, responding quickly, and restoring affected systems. This positioning is especially relevant for SonicWall in India, particularly among MSMEs and distributed enterprises, where customers often prefer simple, integrated security over multiple point products. SonicWall’s unified Capture Client approach is built around that need for simplicity. SonicWall Capture Client uses advanced Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) capabilities to give organizations stronger control over endpoint health. Administrators can trace threat origins and movement, terminate or quarantine threats, and restore endpoints to their last known healthy state after infection or compromise. Key features include: Comprehensive Feature Set: Next-generation antivirus (NGAV), behavior-based malware protection, Windows rollback, vulnerability insights, device control, and centralized policy management. Unified Visibility: A cloud-based dashboard with multi-tenant support and remote troubleshooting. MDR Advantage: 24/7 Security Operations Center (SOC) access, proactive threat hunting, and regular audits to maintain strong security hygiene. Flexibility: No minimum commitment requirements and a 21-day Proof of Concept for easy evaluation. Furthermore, SonicWall recently announced the launch of SonicWall Endpoint Security, a unified endpoint protection solution purpose-built for managed service providers (MSPs) serving small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs). Available as a standalone Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) tool or as a Managed Detection and Response (MDR) service, fully managed by the SonicSentry security operations center, the platform brings powerful threat protection, automated threat response and one-click ransomware restore. The solution is powered by SonicWall’s patented Real-Time Deep Memory Inspection (RTDMI) engine to stop advanced threats in real time. How is SonicWall addressing AI-driven attacks, ransomware and evolving endpoint threats? Platform Strategy for a more complex threat landscape As cyberthreats grow more complex, SonicWall is positioning itself as the cybersecurity platform of choice for MSPs and MSSPs protecting diverse, distributed environments. The company is focused on delivering a tightly integrated security ecosystem that combines advanced threat protection, managed security services (MSS), managed detection and response (MDR) through SonicSentry, Cloud Secure Edge, and unified visibility across endpoints, networks, and cloud workloads. Partner-Led scale and faster response By aligning innovation with the operational needs of service providers, SonicWall enables partners to scale more efficiently, respond faster to threats, and deliver measurable value to customers. This partner- first model is central to SonicWall’s growth strategy and helps MSSPs and MSPs lead in today’s fast-changing cybersecurity market. Using AI and ML to stay ahead of emerging threats SonicWall uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to identify and respond to evolving cyber risks, including AI-driven attacks, ransomware, and advanced endpoint threats. As connectivity, data exchange, and digital transformation accelerate, these technologies help organizations innovate while maintaining strong protection, resilience, and business continuity. What are SonicWall’s key new products, and what security challenges do they address? SonicWall’s recent product innovations are designed to secure the modern distributed enterprise wherever users, applications, and workloads operate. Gen 8 strengthens protection at the network edge NSv extends security to cloud and virtual environments Cloud Secure Edge delivers Zero Trust access for users and applications EDR brings advanced detection and response to endpoints Where do you see the biggest cybersecurity opportunities and gaps in India? India represents a significant growth opportunity for SonicWall as rapid digitalization continues to widen the cybersecurity gap—especially among SMBs, mid-market organizations, and distributed enterprises. The country’s vast SMB ecosystem is adopting digital tools quickly, but many businesses still need stronger, more integrated security to protect expanding users, applications, cloud services, and endpoints. The core challenge is that many organizations are digitizing faster than they are maturing their cybersecurity practices. They may have firewalls, endpoint tools, or cloud services in place, but often lack the integrated architecture, operational discipline, and in-house expertise needed to manage risk effectively. The most common gaps include overexposed access, continued reliance on legacy VPNs, and reactive rather than proactive security models. Identity, cloud, and credential-based attacks now account for nearly 85% of actionable alerts globally, making India’s SMB-heavy and rapidly evolving economy especially exposed. While security spending is rising, investment often goes toward adding new tools rather than strengthening fundamentals such as patching, access hygiene, continuous monitoring, and response readiness. This creates a strong opportunity for SonicWall to help Indian organizations close these gaps with enterprise-grade protection delivered through a simpler, integrated platform. By working closely with MSPs and MSSPs, SonicWall can also support businesses that need ongoing security management, faster threat response, and practical guidance to improve cyber resilience. How will the new portfolio create opportunities for VARs, MSPs and MSSPs? SonicWall’s expanded portfolio gives partners a stronger opportunity to move beyond one-time product sales and build complete, recurring cybersecurity services. VARs can broaden their footprint across network, endpoint, cloud, virtual firewall, and Zero Trust solutions. Further, SonicWall being a 100% channel driven organisation continues to strengthening its position as a preferred cybersecurity platform for MSPs and MSSPs securing distributed, high-risk environments. The strategy is centered on an integrated ecosystem that helps service providers simplify operations, respond faster to threats, and deliver measurable value to customers. We base our strategy around these four pillars that shape the partner growth: Unified platform A single-pane-of-glass security services platform that integrates AI to help managed partners protect SMB environments more efficiently. AI-driven protection An active security platform that uses advanced threat intelligence to improve real-time detection, prevention, and response. Simplicity and lower cost A focus on reducing vendor sprawl, simplifying security operations, and lowering total cost of ownership for customers. Partner-led delivery A partner-driven model that gives SMBs access to enterprise-grade cybersecurity without requiring large in-house teams or budgets. How can SonicWall help organizations strengthen security and support DPDP Act readiness? DPDP readiness is fundamentally about protecting personal data across its full lifecycle, and cybersecurity plays a critical role in enabling that protection. SonicWall helps organizations build the technical foundation needed to support DPDP-aligned security practices through network security, endpoint protection, Zero Trust access, cloud security, and threat detection and response. At the same time, no cybersecurity product alone can make an organization DPDP compliant. SonicWall’s role is to help customers strengthen the safeguards, visibility, and response capabilities that form part of a broader privacy and compliance program. This is especially important for India’s SMB and mid-market organizations, where the priority is to make strong data protection practical, scalable, and easier to manage. What are SonicWall’s key priorities for India and APAC over the next 12–18 months? India will continue to be one of SonicWall’s most important markets and innovation hubs over the next 12–18 months. The country is not only a major growth opportunity, but also a key contributor to SonicWall’s global product development, with hundreds of employees and a strong R&D presence in Bangalore supporting AI-driven detection, threat intelligence, and threat-prediction capabilities used across the company’s global platform. This strategic resource in India is expected to grow manifolds in the coming months. As mentioned, SonicWall has been embedding AI into its security technologies for more than seven years, and India’s engineering talent plays a meaningful role in advancing that roadmap. Combined with India’s rapidly digitizing SMB ecosystem, expanding cloud adoption, strong channel network, and deep pool of cybersecurity and AI expertise, the market is expected to shape SonicWall’s global security strategy as much as it benefits from it.

Channel Chief

Veeam Enabling Enterprises Build Trust, Security and Compliance for AI

Veeam Software launched its VeeamON Tour India 2026 in Mumbai, bringing together enterprise leaders, government stakeholders, partners and customers to address data governance, protection and trust as AI adoption accelerates. The event focused on DPDP compliance, data localization, ransomware resilience, sovereign-ready infrastructure and AI governance, while showcasing innovations including the DataAI Command Platform and Veeam Data Platform. Speaking on the sidelines, Sandeep Bhambure, Vice President and Managing Director, India & SAARC, Veeam Software highlighted how these solutions help organizations strengthen security, ensure compliance and enable workload portability across evolving hybrid, virtualized and containerized IT environments. AI, how does Veeam plan to help enterprises balance rapid AI adoption with strong data compliance, privacy, and security governance? One of the biggest inhibitors to AI adoption at enterprise scale has been the absence of a dedicated AI and data trust layer. Existing security frameworks from the pre-AI era were primarily designed around preventing unauthorised human access to sensitive data through perimeter-based security models such as network and application security. However, these approaches are no longer sufficient in the AI era because organisations now also need controls for AI agents, not just humans. At the same time, the unstructured data landscape is expanding rapidly. Globally, nearly 230 zettabytes of information are expected to be created, with almost 90% of it being unstructured data. In the BI era, enterprises largely operated on structured and transactional data. However, the AI era is fundamentally driven by unstructured data. This means that large volumes of enterprise data that previously remained dormant are now becoming accessible and usable through LLMs and AI agents. Alongside this, the threat landscape is becoming increasingly sophisticated. AI agents themselves are now emerging as one of the biggest threats to enterprise data security, with one in eight cyberattacks being carried out by AI agents and a significant number of attacks originating from shadow data or shadow AI environments. For enterprises, the challenge of scaling AI securely has therefore become extremely complex. The missing layer between enterprise data sources, AI models, AI control planes and industry-specific agents is the AI and data trust layer. This is precisely what Veeam is addressing through the Data AI Command Platform. Through this single platform, Veeam enables customers to manage security, compliance, governance, privacy and data resilience within one integrated framework. Traditionally, organisations would have needed multiple disconnected products to achieve these capabilities, resulting in fragmented environments and operational complexity. The Data AI Command Platform instead delivers these foundational capabilities through a unified architecture designed specifically for AI-scale environments. At the core of the platform is the Data Command Graph, which provides enterprises with complete visibility into their data estate at a granular level. This allows organisations to understand whether data is mission-critical, whether it contains PII, how frequently it is being accessed, who or what is accessing it and whether it is relevant to regulatory frameworks such as GDPR, DPDP or RBI- related compliance requirements. With the upcoming Veeam Data Platform V13.1, is Veeam seeing a clear shift from legacy hypervisors to open-source and container-based environments, and how is it capitalising on this transition? Yes, we are seeing a growing number of organisations moving even mission- critical applications away from traditional Broadcom VMware environments toward alternative hypervisors and increasingly toward containerised environments as well. Application modernisation is happening at a significant scale, particularly within the financial services industry. As enterprises modernise workloads from traditional virtualised environments into Kubernetes and other container platforms, the earlier approaches to data protection and resilience no longer remain sufficient. Organisations now require native Kubernetes backup and recovery capabilities specifically designed for these modern environments. This is an area where Veeam is helping customers through its Kasten solution, which is designed to support Kubernetes-native backup and recovery requirements. Veeam already supports a broad range of hypervisors and has been helping enterprises migrate workloads from one hypervisor platform to another. Because of the way Veeam’s backup architecture works, customers can back up workloads from virtually any virtualised platform and recover them onto another platform. This flexibility is becoming increasingly valuable as enterprises explore hypervisor portability strategies.

Channel Chief

From Endpoint to Cloud: SonicWall Builds a Unified Security Future

As cyber threats become increasingly sophisticated and AI-driven, endpoint security is emerging as a critical line of defense. SonicWall is expanding beyond its traditional network security roots to position itself as a broader cybersecurity platform, bringing together network, cloud, endpoint and user protection. With EDR, MDR and AI-powered threat detection at the core of its strategy, the company is focused on helping organizations detect, respond to and recover from threats faster. Debasish Mukherjee, Vice President, Regional Sales APJ, SonicWall explains how this integrated approach is particularly relevant in India, where rapidly digitizing SMBs and distributed enterprises are seeking simpler, scalable security solutions that can strengthen resilience without adding operational complexity How does EDR strengthen SonicWall’s overall cybersecurity portfolio? EDR helps SonicWall shift from being seen mainly as a network security company to a broader cybersecurity platform provider. Its portfolio now supports the full attack chain: preventing threats at the network and cloud edge, detecting suspicious endpoint behavior, investigating attacks, responding quickly, and restoring affected systems. This positioning is especially relevant for SonicWall in India, particularly among MSMEs and distributed enterprises, where customers often prefer simple, integrated security over multiple point products. SonicWall’s unified Capture Client approach is built around that need for simplicity. SonicWall Capture Client uses advanced Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) capabilities to give organizations stronger control over endpoint health. Administrators can trace threat origins and movement, terminate or quarantine threats, and restore endpoints to their last known healthy state after infection or compromise. Key features include: Comprehensive Feature Set: Next-generation antivirus (NGAV), behavior-based malware protection, Windows rollback, vulnerability insights, device control, and centralized policy management. Unified Visibility: A cloud-based dashboard with multi-tenant support and remote troubleshooting. MDR Advantage: 24/7 Security Operations Center (SOC) access, proactive threat hunting, and regular audits to maintain strong security hygiene. Flexibility: No minimum commitment requirements and a 21-day Proof of Concept for easy evaluation. Furthermore, SonicWall recently announced the launch of SonicWall Endpoint Security, a unified endpoint protection solution purpose-built for managed service providers (MSPs) serving small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs). Available as a standalone Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) tool or as a Managed Detection and Response (MDR) service, fully managed by the SonicSentry security operations center, the platform brings powerful threat protection, automated threat response and one-click ransomware restore. The solution is powered by SonicWall’s patented Real-Time Deep Memory Inspection (RTDMI) engine to stop advanced threats in real time. How is SonicWall addressing AI-driven attacks, ransomware and evolving endpoint threats? Platform Strategy for a more complex threat landscape As cyberthreats grow more complex, SonicWall is positioning itself as the cybersecurity platform of choice for MSPs and MSSPs protecting diverse, distributed environments. The company is focused on delivering a tightly integrated security ecosystem that combines advanced threat protection, managed security services (MSS), managed detection and response (MDR) through SonicSentry, Cloud Secure Edge, and unified visibility across endpoints, networks, and cloud workloads. Partner-Led scale and faster response By aligning innovation with the operational needs of service providers, SonicWall enables partners to scale more efficiently, respond faster to threats, and deliver measurable value to customers. This partner- first model is central to SonicWall’s growth strategy and helps MSSPs and MSPs lead in today’s fast-changing cybersecurity market. Using AI and ML to stay ahead of emerging threats SonicWall uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to identify and respond to evolving cyber risks, including AI-driven attacks, ransomware, and advanced endpoint threats. As connectivity, data exchange, and digital transformation accelerate, these technologies help organizations innovate while maintaining strong protection, resilience, and business continuity. What are SonicWall’s key new products, and what security challenges do they address? SonicWall’s recent product innovations are designed to secure the modern distributed enterprise wherever users, applications, and workloads operate. Gen 8 strengthens protection at the network edge NSv extends security to cloud and virtual environments Cloud Secure Edge delivers Zero Trust access for users and applications EDR brings advanced detection and response to endpoints Where do you see the biggest cybersecurity opportunities and gaps in India? India represents a significant growth opportunity for SonicWall as rapid digitalization continues to widen the cybersecurity gap—especially among SMBs, mid-market organizations, and distributed enterprises. The country’s vast SMB ecosystem is adopting digital tools quickly, but many businesses still need stronger, more integrated security to protect expanding users, applications, cloud services, and endpoints. The core challenge is that many organizations are digitizing faster than they are maturing their cybersecurity practices. They may have firewalls, endpoint tools, or cloud services in place, but often lack the integrated architecture, operational discipline, and in-house expertise needed to manage risk effectively. The most common gaps include overexposed access, continued reliance on legacy VPNs, and reactive rather than proactive security models. Identity, cloud, and credential-based attacks now account for nearly 85% of actionable alerts globally, making India’s SMB-heavy and rapidly evolving economy especially exposed. While security spending is rising, investment often goes toward adding new tools rather than strengthening fundamentals such as patching, access hygiene, continuous monitoring, and response readiness. This creates a strong opportunity for SonicWall to help Indian organizations close these gaps with enterprise-grade protection delivered through a simpler, integrated platform. By working closely with MSPs and MSSPs, SonicWall can also support businesses that need ongoing security management, faster threat response, and practical guidance to improve cyber resilience. How will the new portfolio create opportunities for VARs, MSPs and MSSPs? SonicWall’s expanded portfolio gives partners a stronger opportunity to move beyond one-time product sales and build complete, recurring cybersecurity services. VARs can broaden their footprint across network, endpoint, cloud, virtual firewall, and Zero Trust solutions. Further, SonicWall being a 100% channel driven organisation continues to strengthening its position as a preferred cybersecurity platform for MSPs and MSSPs securing distributed, high-risk environments. The strategy is centered on an integrated ecosystem that helps service providers simplify operations, respond faster to threats, and deliver measurable value to customers. We base our strategy around these four pillars that shape the partner growth: Unified platform A single-pane-of-glass security services platform that integrates AI to help managed partners protect SMB environments more efficiently. AI-driven protection An active security platform that uses advanced threat intelligence to improve real-time detection, prevention, and response. Simplicity and lower cost A focus on reducing vendor sprawl, simplifying security operations, and lowering total cost of ownership for customers. Partner-led delivery A partner-driven model that gives SMBs access to enterprise-grade cybersecurity without requiring large in-house teams or budgets. How can SonicWall help organizations strengthen security and support DPDP Act readiness? DPDP readiness is fundamentally about protecting personal data across its full lifecycle, and cybersecurity plays a critical role in enabling that protection. SonicWall helps organizations build the technical foundation needed to support DPDP-aligned security practices through network security, endpoint protection, Zero Trust access, cloud security, and threat detection and response. At the same time, no cybersecurity product alone can make an organization DPDP compliant. SonicWall’s role is to help customers strengthen the safeguards, visibility, and response capabilities that form part of a broader privacy and compliance program. This is especially important for India’s SMB and mid-market organizations, where the priority is to make strong data protection practical, scalable, and easier to manage. What are SonicWall’s key priorities for India and APAC over the next 12–18 months? India will continue to be one of SonicWall’s most important markets and innovation hubs over the next 12–18 months. The country is not only a major growth opportunity, but also a key contributor to SonicWall’s global product development, with hundreds of employees and a strong R&D presence in Bangalore supporting AI-driven detection, threat intelligence, and threat-prediction capabilities used across the company’s global platform. This strategic resource in India is expected to grow manifolds in the coming months. As mentioned, SonicWall has been embedding AI into its security technologies for more than seven years, and India’s engineering talent plays a meaningful role in advancing that roadmap. Combined with India’s rapidly digitizing SMB ecosystem, expanding cloud adoption, strong channel network, and deep pool of cybersecurity and AI expertise, the market is expected to shape SonicWall’s global security strategy as much as it benefits from it.

Channel Chief

Veeam Enabling Enterprises Build Trust, Security and Compliance for AI

Veeam Software launched its VeeamON Tour India 2026 in Mumbai, bringing together enterprise leaders, government stakeholders, partners and customers to address data governance, protection and trust as AI adoption accelerates. The event focused on DPDP compliance, data localization, ransomware resilience, sovereign-ready infrastructure and AI governance, while showcasing innovations including the DataAI Command Platform and Veeam Data Platform. Speaking on the sidelines, Sandeep Bhambure, Vice President and Managing Director, India & SAARC, Veeam Software highlighted how these solutions help organizations strengthen security, ensure compliance and enable workload portability across evolving hybrid, virtualized and containerized IT environments. AI, how does Veeam plan to help enterprises balance rapid AI adoption with strong data compliance, privacy, and security governance? One of the biggest inhibitors to AI adoption at enterprise scale has been the absence of a dedicated AI and data trust layer. Existing security frameworks from the pre-AI era were primarily designed around preventing unauthorised human access to sensitive data through perimeter-based security models such as network and application security. However, these approaches are no longer sufficient in the AI era because organisations now also need controls for AI agents, not just humans. At the same time, the unstructured data landscape is expanding rapidly. Globally, nearly 230 zettabytes of information are expected to be created, with almost 90% of it being unstructured data. In the BI era, enterprises largely operated on structured and transactional data. However, the AI era is fundamentally driven by unstructured data. This means that large volumes of enterprise data that previously remained dormant are now becoming accessible and usable through LLMs and AI agents. Alongside this, the threat landscape is becoming increasingly sophisticated. AI agents themselves are now emerging as one of the biggest threats to enterprise data security, with one in eight cyberattacks being carried out by AI agents and a significant number of attacks originating from shadow data or shadow AI environments. For enterprises, the challenge of scaling AI securely has therefore become extremely complex. The missing layer between enterprise data sources, AI models, AI control planes and industry-specific agents is the AI and data trust layer. This is precisely what Veeam is addressing through the Data AI Command Platform. Through this single platform, Veeam enables customers to manage security, compliance, governance, privacy and data resilience within one integrated framework. Traditionally, organisations would have needed multiple disconnected products to achieve these capabilities, resulting in fragmented environments and operational complexity. The Data AI Command Platform instead delivers these foundational capabilities through a unified architecture designed specifically for AI-scale environments. At the core of the platform is the Data Command Graph, which provides enterprises with complete visibility into their data estate at a granular level. This allows organisations to understand whether data is mission-critical, whether it contains PII, how frequently it is being accessed, who or what is accessing it and whether it is relevant to regulatory frameworks such as GDPR, DPDP or RBI- related compliance requirements. With the upcoming Veeam Data Platform V13.1, is Veeam seeing a clear shift from legacy hypervisors to open-source and container-based environments, and how is it capitalising on this transition? Yes, we are seeing a growing number of organisations moving even mission- critical applications away from traditional Broadcom VMware environments toward alternative hypervisors and increasingly toward containerised environments as well. Application modernisation is happening at a significant scale, particularly within the financial services industry. As enterprises modernise workloads from traditional virtualised environments into Kubernetes and other container platforms, the earlier approaches to data protection and resilience no longer remain sufficient. Organisations now require native Kubernetes backup and recovery capabilities specifically designed for these modern environments. This is an area where Veeam is helping customers through its Kasten solution, which is designed to support Kubernetes-native backup and recovery requirements. Veeam already supports a broad range of hypervisors and has been helping enterprises migrate workloads from one hypervisor platform to another. Because of the way Veeam’s backup architecture works, customers can back up workloads from virtually any virtualised platform and recover them onto another platform. This flexibility is becoming increasingly valuable as enterprises explore hypervisor portability strategies.

Data Centre

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Data Centre

Aurionpro Bags ₹150 Crore Order from Global Hyperscaler

Aurionpro Solutions is pleased to announce a significant expansion of its engagement with a leading global hyperscaler, with the Company securing a new order valued at ₹150 crore for the supply, installation, testing, and commissioning of an AI-ready data centre in Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra. The project is scheduled to be delivered over the next nine months and marks the third significant project awarded by the hyperscaler to Aurionpro in less than a year. The latest win underscores the growing scale and depth of this relationship, taking the value of projects close to ₹ 300 crores. A key addition to this project is Aurionpro’s first deployment of skid-based modular systems, which marks an important step in the Company’s backward-integration strategy, strengthening its manufacturing capabilities while enabling greater control over quality, execution and deployment timelines for critical data centre infrastructure. Bhaskar Bhattacharya, EVP & Head – Enterprise Business, Aurionpro said, “We thank our customer for reposing its continued faith in Aurionpro. India’s rapidly expanding AI ecosystem is driving unprecedented demand for advanced, AI-ready data centre infrastructure, creating a significant growth opportunity for us. Our ongoing backward-integration strategy, including the planned addition of in-house manufacturing capabilities for critical components, enables us to expand our presence across the value chain, enhance execution efficiency, and strengthen our competitive positioning. We believe these capabilities will further establish Aurionpro as a partner of choice and will bring further wins, driving sustained growth across this business.”

Data Centre

CtrlS Taps Ciena Optical Technology to Power Hyperscaler Networks

To support growing bandwidth requirements driven by AI and cloud services, CtrlS Datacenters (CtrlS) is working with Ciena to build five metro networks connecting nine data centers across Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, New Delhi, and Noida, to deliver up to 100 Tb/s of capacity. This initiative is part of a larger Managed Optical Fiber Network (MOFN) deployment for a leading hyperscaler and supports CtrlS’ strategy to offer high-speed connectivity for India’s growing cloud and AI-driven network demands. “We see growing demand from enterprises and hyperscalers for reliable data center interconnect solutions,” said Sridhar Pinnapureddy, Founder & CEO, CtrlS Datacenters. “Ciena’s optical innovations and network management capabilities strengthen our ability to provide resilient network services that meet the performance expectations of the world's most demanding digital businesses.” “CtrlS has been steadily building its data center roadmap to serve India’s fast-growing digital economy, which is further accelerated by AI,” said Prashant Ramesh Malkani, Vice President and General Manager, India, Ciena. “With this upgrade, CtrlS is boosting network performance to accelerate the next wave of digital adoption in one of the world’s fastest growing digital markets.” CtrlS is deploying Ciena’s WaveLogic 5 Extreme (WL5e)-powered Waveserver platform and 6500 Reconfigurable Line System (RLS), with the help of the Ciena Services team running end-to-end project management. Ciena’s Navigator Network Control Suite will help automate network operations and accelerate service delivery.

Data Centre

Aurionpro Bags ₹150 Crore Order from Global Hyperscaler

Aurionpro Solutions is pleased to announce a significant expansion of its engagement with a leading global hyperscaler, with the Company securing a new order valued at ₹150 crore for the supply, installation, testing, and commissioning of an AI-ready data centre in Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra. The project is scheduled to be delivered over the next nine months and marks the third significant project awarded by the hyperscaler to Aurionpro in less than a year. The latest win underscores the growing scale and depth of this relationship, taking the value of projects close to ₹ 300 crores. A key addition to this project is Aurionpro’s first deployment of skid-based modular systems, which marks an important step in the Company’s backward-integration strategy, strengthening its manufacturing capabilities while enabling greater control over quality, execution and deployment timelines for critical data centre infrastructure. Bhaskar Bhattacharya, EVP & Head – Enterprise Business, Aurionpro said, “We thank our customer for reposing its continued faith in Aurionpro. India’s rapidly expanding AI ecosystem is driving unprecedented demand for advanced, AI-ready data centre infrastructure, creating a significant growth opportunity for us. Our ongoing backward-integration strategy, including the planned addition of in-house manufacturing capabilities for critical components, enables us to expand our presence across the value chain, enhance execution efficiency, and strengthen our competitive positioning. We believe these capabilities will further establish Aurionpro as a partner of choice and will bring further wins, driving sustained growth across this business.”

Data Centre

CtrlS Taps Ciena Optical Technology to Power Hyperscaler Networks

To support growing bandwidth requirements driven by AI and cloud services, CtrlS Datacenters (CtrlS) is working with Ciena to build five metro networks connecting nine data centers across Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, New Delhi, and Noida, to deliver up to 100 Tb/s of capacity. This initiative is part of a larger Managed Optical Fiber Network (MOFN) deployment for a leading hyperscaler and supports CtrlS’ strategy to offer high-speed connectivity for India’s growing cloud and AI-driven network demands. “We see growing demand from enterprises and hyperscalers for reliable data center interconnect solutions,” said Sridhar Pinnapureddy, Founder & CEO, CtrlS Datacenters. “Ciena’s optical innovations and network management capabilities strengthen our ability to provide resilient network services that meet the performance expectations of the world's most demanding digital businesses.” “CtrlS has been steadily building its data center roadmap to serve India’s fast-growing digital economy, which is further accelerated by AI,” said Prashant Ramesh Malkani, Vice President and General Manager, India, Ciena. “With this upgrade, CtrlS is boosting network performance to accelerate the next wave of digital adoption in one of the world’s fastest growing digital markets.” CtrlS is deploying Ciena’s WaveLogic 5 Extreme (WL5e)-powered Waveserver platform and 6500 Reconfigurable Line System (RLS), with the help of the Ciena Services team running end-to-end project management. Ciena’s Navigator Network Control Suite will help automate network operations and accelerate service delivery.

E-Commerce

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E-Commerce

Paytm Joins Forces with Visa to Bring Offers on Metro Travel, Recharges and Bill Payments

Paytm (One 97 Communications Limited) has partnered with Visa to bring exclusive offers across Metro travel, mobile recharges and everyday bill payments on Paytm. Visa credit and debit cardholders can get 50% off up to ₹50 on Metro ticket bookings through Paytm, with no minimum transaction value. The offer can be availed twice per card each month. For instance, a ₹100 Metro ticket booked on Paytm using an eligible Visa card gets ₹50 off, bringing direct savings to daily and frequent commuters across metro networks. Visa cardholders can also get 25% off up to ₹20 on Metro ticket bookings through Paytm, with no minimum transaction value. This offer can be availed five times per card each month, adding further savings for regular metro commuters. The partnership also extends savings to recurring household payments. From October 1, 2026, Visa Classic Debit and Visa Platinum Debit cardholders can get a flat 10% off up to ₹100 on payments of ₹299 or more across mobile prepaid and postpaid recharges, electricity, water, broadband, DTH, gas cylinder, piped gas and FASTag. Visa Platinum Credit cardholders can get a flat 5% off up to ₹100 on payments of ₹299 or more across mobile prepaid and postpaid recharges, electricity, water, broadband, DTH, gas cylinder and piped gas. These offers can be availed once per card per month per user. Vikash Jalan, COO - Consumer Payments, Paytm, said, "Our partnership with Visa brings greater value to everyday payments on Paytm, from Metro travel to mobile recharges and household bills. Exclusive Visa offers across these frequent spends make everyday payments on Paytm more rewarding for consumers." Ramakrishnan Gopalan, Head of Products & Solutions, India & South Asia, Visa, said, “Digital payments are now deeply woven into everyday life in India, from daily commute to routine household expenses. Visa continues to power these transactions through secure, trusted and rewarding payment experiences. Partnering with Paytm, we are bringing added value to another key everyday payment use case, helping Visa cardholders save more on categories that matter most while advancing our commitment to be the best way to pay and be paid.” Here’s how to avail the Visa offers on Paytm: ● Open the Paytm app and select Metro ticketing, mobile recharge or the relevant bill payment category ● Proceed to payment and choose the eligible Visa credit or debit card ● Apply the applicable promo code before completing payment - For the 50% Metro offer, use VISADC50 for Visa debit cards and VISACC50 for Visa credit cards - For the 25% Metro offer, use VISADC for Visa debit cards and VISACC for Visa credit cards ● For recharges and bill payments, use VISACLASSICDC for Visa Classic Debit Cards, VISAPLATINUMDC for Visa Platinum Debit Cards or VISAPLATINUMCC for Visa Platinum Credit Cards. The recharge and bill payment offers are valid from October 1 to December 31, 2026.

E-Commerce

Ai+ cuts prices on Nova and Pulse smartphones for Flipkart's Big Billion Days, starting at ₹8,999

Ai+ Smartphone has announced festive pricing for its Nova and Pulse series on Flipkart, with models running from the ₹8,999 Pulse 2 to the ₹49,999 NovaFlip foldable, all built in India and powered by NxtQuantum OS. Ai+ Smartphone on Tuesday announced festive pricing for its Nova and Pulse series on Flipkart's Big Billion Days 2026. The lineup starts at ₹8,999 including bank offers, and the company says the phones are built in India and run on its NxtQuantum OS. Ai+ says the range is designed for everyday use, with long battery life, clear cameras and smooth displays at prices that stay within reach. Entry-level and mid-range: Pulse and Nova 2 models The Pulse 2 and Pulse 2 FE anchor the range at ₹8,999 each. The Pulse 2 offers a 6000mAh battery and a 50MP AI camera, while the Pulse 2 FE runs a MediaTek G81 chip with a 50MP camera. The ₹8,999 price of the Pulse 2 FE includes bank offers. Moving up, the Nova 2 5G is priced at ₹11,999 and offers a 6000mAh battery, a 50MP AI camera and dual 5G. The Nova 2 Neo 5G costs ₹12,999 and pairs a Dimensity 6300 processor with a Sony IMX582 camera sensor. The Nova 2 Power 5G comes with a 7000mAh battery and a dual-colour design, priced at ₹15,999 or ₹16,999 depending on the variant, including bank offers. Premium picks: Nova 2 Pro, Nova 2 Ultra and NovaFlip The Nova 2 Pro 5G, powered by a Dimensity 7100 chip, is priced at ₹16,999 or ₹17,999 depending on the variant, including bank offers. The Nova 2 Ultra 5G, at ₹18,999 including bank offers, features a 1.5K AMOLED display, IP68 rating and a Dimensity 7400 processor. At the top of the range is the NovaFlip 5G, a foldable with dual AMOLED displays and a 50MP camera, priced at ₹49,999. The company positions it for buyers who want something new. Ai+ says every model in the series is meant to be a reason to upgrade rather than a compromise.

E-Commerce

Paytm Joins Forces with Visa to Bring Offers on Metro Travel, Recharges and Bill Payments

Paytm (One 97 Communications Limited) has partnered with Visa to bring exclusive offers across Metro travel, mobile recharges and everyday bill payments on Paytm. Visa credit and debit cardholders can get 50% off up to ₹50 on Metro ticket bookings through Paytm, with no minimum transaction value. The offer can be availed twice per card each month. For instance, a ₹100 Metro ticket booked on Paytm using an eligible Visa card gets ₹50 off, bringing direct savings to daily and frequent commuters across metro networks. Visa cardholders can also get 25% off up to ₹20 on Metro ticket bookings through Paytm, with no minimum transaction value. This offer can be availed five times per card each month, adding further savings for regular metro commuters. The partnership also extends savings to recurring household payments. From October 1, 2026, Visa Classic Debit and Visa Platinum Debit cardholders can get a flat 10% off up to ₹100 on payments of ₹299 or more across mobile prepaid and postpaid recharges, electricity, water, broadband, DTH, gas cylinder, piped gas and FASTag. Visa Platinum Credit cardholders can get a flat 5% off up to ₹100 on payments of ₹299 or more across mobile prepaid and postpaid recharges, electricity, water, broadband, DTH, gas cylinder and piped gas. These offers can be availed once per card per month per user. Vikash Jalan, COO - Consumer Payments, Paytm, said, "Our partnership with Visa brings greater value to everyday payments on Paytm, from Metro travel to mobile recharges and household bills. Exclusive Visa offers across these frequent spends make everyday payments on Paytm more rewarding for consumers." Ramakrishnan Gopalan, Head of Products & Solutions, India & South Asia, Visa, said, “Digital payments are now deeply woven into everyday life in India, from daily commute to routine household expenses. Visa continues to power these transactions through secure, trusted and rewarding payment experiences. Partnering with Paytm, we are bringing added value to another key everyday payment use case, helping Visa cardholders save more on categories that matter most while advancing our commitment to be the best way to pay and be paid.” Here’s how to avail the Visa offers on Paytm: ● Open the Paytm app and select Metro ticketing, mobile recharge or the relevant bill payment category ● Proceed to payment and choose the eligible Visa credit or debit card ● Apply the applicable promo code before completing payment - For the 50% Metro offer, use VISADC50 for Visa debit cards and VISACC50 for Visa credit cards - For the 25% Metro offer, use VISADC for Visa debit cards and VISACC for Visa credit cards ● For recharges and bill payments, use VISACLASSICDC for Visa Classic Debit Cards, VISAPLATINUMDC for Visa Platinum Debit Cards or VISAPLATINUMCC for Visa Platinum Credit Cards. The recharge and bill payment offers are valid from October 1 to December 31, 2026.

E-Commerce

Ai+ cuts prices on Nova and Pulse smartphones for Flipkart's Big Billion Days, starting at ₹8,999

Ai+ Smartphone has announced festive pricing for its Nova and Pulse series on Flipkart, with models running from the ₹8,999 Pulse 2 to the ₹49,999 NovaFlip foldable, all built in India and powered by NxtQuantum OS. Ai+ Smartphone on Tuesday announced festive pricing for its Nova and Pulse series on Flipkart's Big Billion Days 2026. The lineup starts at ₹8,999 including bank offers, and the company says the phones are built in India and run on its NxtQuantum OS. Ai+ says the range is designed for everyday use, with long battery life, clear cameras and smooth displays at prices that stay within reach. Entry-level and mid-range: Pulse and Nova 2 models The Pulse 2 and Pulse 2 FE anchor the range at ₹8,999 each. The Pulse 2 offers a 6000mAh battery and a 50MP AI camera, while the Pulse 2 FE runs a MediaTek G81 chip with a 50MP camera. The ₹8,999 price of the Pulse 2 FE includes bank offers. Moving up, the Nova 2 5G is priced at ₹11,999 and offers a 6000mAh battery, a 50MP AI camera and dual 5G. The Nova 2 Neo 5G costs ₹12,999 and pairs a Dimensity 6300 processor with a Sony IMX582 camera sensor. The Nova 2 Power 5G comes with a 7000mAh battery and a dual-colour design, priced at ₹15,999 or ₹16,999 depending on the variant, including bank offers. Premium picks: Nova 2 Pro, Nova 2 Ultra and NovaFlip The Nova 2 Pro 5G, powered by a Dimensity 7100 chip, is priced at ₹16,999 or ₹17,999 depending on the variant, including bank offers. The Nova 2 Ultra 5G, at ₹18,999 including bank offers, features a 1.5K AMOLED display, IP68 rating and a Dimensity 7400 processor. At the top of the range is the NovaFlip 5G, a foldable with dual AMOLED displays and a 50MP camera, priced at ₹49,999. The company positions it for buyers who want something new. Ai+ says every model in the series is meant to be a reason to upgrade rather than a compromise.

Data Privacy

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Data Privacy

High-Speed Precision: How Hikrobot’s DP Series Powers Real-Time 3D Inspection

The Hikrobot 3D Laser Profiler (DP Series) delivers high-precision, non-contact surface measurement through advanced laser triangulation. Designed for realtime applications, the device generates micrometer-level 3D point clouds, depth images, and detailed profiles. Equipped with an integrated edge-computing architecture, the DP Series processes data at speeds up to 49 kHz without taxing host CPU resources. Consequently, it has achieved global adoption across key manufacturing hubs, including India, for consumer electronics, EV battery assembly, automotive manufacturing, and PCB inspection. TARGETED PRODUCT TIERING Hikrobot categorizes its profile sensors into four distinct performance classes: • DP2000 Series: The industrial workhorse featuring 3,200 profile points, scan rates up to 23.9 kHz, and IP67 protection. Key models like the MV-DP2240-01P deliver Z-axis resolution down to 6.47 μm. • DP3000 Series: A high-precision line offering scan rates up to 46.7 kHz alongside enhanced light sensitivity, 95% laser uniformity, and ultra-low noise profiling. • DP4000 Series: The flagship series featuring a 2000x2000 sensor array, up to 4,000 pixels per line, telecentric optics, and maximum 49 kHz scanning. • Binocular Single-Line Series: Integrates dual cameras with a single laser projector to capture complex geometry without optical shading or occlusions. KEY TECHNICAL INNOVATIONS • Sub-Pixel Center Extraction: Onboard algorithms track laser reflections down to 0.05-pixel accuracy. • Stray Light Halo Filtering: Suppresses glare on reflective, metallic, or wet surfaces. • Single-Frame HDR: Combines varied exposures in a single pass to inspect high-contrast materials simultaneously. • Multi-Camera Stitching: Merges multiple sensor views into unified 3D point clouds for large-scale targets. • Built-in Post-Processing: Executes spatial filtering, time-domain filtering, and point interpolation directly on the device INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS • EV Batteries: Detects air bubbles on blue film surfaces, surface droplets, and structural dents in soft-pack batteries. • Consumer Electronics: Executes Z-axis height checks, coplanarity testing, and gap/flush measurements. • Automotive: Inspects black rubber seals, weld seams, seatbelt weaves, and metallic casings for micro-defects.

Data Privacy

Meta Faces $40 Billion Privacy Reckoning

Meta Platforms is confronting one of the most consequential privacy penalties ever sought against a technology company in the United States, after New Mexico asked a state judge to impose between $35 billion and $40 billion in penalties over misleading statements concerning Facebook users’ data. The dispute traces back to the Cambridge Analytica scandal , in which personal information belonging to as many as 87 million Facebook users was harvested through a third-party application without their consent. New Mexico’s lawsuit, filed in 2021, argued that Meta misrepresented who could access users’ information and how the platform handled privacy, misinformation and harmful content. 26 Statements Found Misleading The scale of the verdict is particularly significant. Jurors examined 29 statements made by Meta and its leadership and concluded that 26 were misleading . Based on the audiences for those statements, the jury calculated more than 43 million violations of New Mexico’s consumer-protection law. State law permits penalties of up to $5,000 per violation . Applying that maximum mechanically would produce a vastly larger theoretical figure. New Mexico instead proposed $35–$40 billion, with its lawyers arguing that a substantial but lower amount would better withstand constitutional scrutiny over excessive penalties. Meta strongly disputes that calculation. The company has urged Judge Francis Mathew to cap penalties at approximately $3.45 billion , arguing that New Mexico failed to demonstrate that consumers were actually deceived and maintaining that Meta does not sell users' personal data. The company also argues that the state's proposed penalty is disproportionate to the conduct examined at trial. The Bigger Issue Is Accountability The importance of this case extends beyond the eventual dollar amount. Traditionally, privacy enforcement has often focused on an identifiable data breach, unauthorized disclosure or measurable consumer injury. Here, the dispute puts considerable weight on what a digital platform told consumers about its practices. That distinction matters. Privacy is increasingly becoming an issue not simply of protecting databases but of proving that corporate representations, consent mechanisms, third-party access controls and actual data-processing practices are aligned. The case also illustrates how seemingly routine statements can create enormous cumulative exposure when consumer-protection statutes calculate violations across millions of users. For large digital platforms, therefore, privacy communication can become a financial and governance risk alongside cybersecurity itself. A Warning for the AI Era The implications become even broader as technology companies expand into generative AI and autonomous agents. AI systems can collect, infer, combine and act upon enormous volumes of personal information. Organizations may therefore have to demonstrate not merely that data is encrypted or protected, but why it was collected, whether valid consent existed, who accessed it, what an AI system inferred from it and how resulting decisions were made. This makes privacy governance increasingly inseparable from AI governance. Consent records, data lineage, purpose limitation, third-party controls, audit trails and evidence of compliance are becoming critical components of enterprise technology architecture. The New Mexico case is also part of wider legal pressure on Meta. In a separate New Mexico proceeding concerning alleged harms to young users, a court in August ordered Meta to pay $567 million into a youth mental-health fund and imposed platform changes; Meta said it would appeal. Judge Mathew is expected to determine the penalty in the privacy case later in October. Until that ruling, the $35–$40 billion figure remains New Mexico's request, not an amount Meta has been ordered to pay. Whatever the final figure, the broader message for technology companies is already clear: data privacy is moving from a compliance checklist toward measurable corporate accountability. In the AI economy, what companies promise about data may become almost as important as how securely they store it.

Data Privacy

High-Speed Precision: How Hikrobot’s DP Series Powers Real-Time 3D Inspection

The Hikrobot 3D Laser Profiler (DP Series) delivers high-precision, non-contact surface measurement through advanced laser triangulation. Designed for realtime applications, the device generates micrometer-level 3D point clouds, depth images, and detailed profiles. Equipped with an integrated edge-computing architecture, the DP Series processes data at speeds up to 49 kHz without taxing host CPU resources. Consequently, it has achieved global adoption across key manufacturing hubs, including India, for consumer electronics, EV battery assembly, automotive manufacturing, and PCB inspection. TARGETED PRODUCT TIERING Hikrobot categorizes its profile sensors into four distinct performance classes: • DP2000 Series: The industrial workhorse featuring 3,200 profile points, scan rates up to 23.9 kHz, and IP67 protection. Key models like the MV-DP2240-01P deliver Z-axis resolution down to 6.47 μm. • DP3000 Series: A high-precision line offering scan rates up to 46.7 kHz alongside enhanced light sensitivity, 95% laser uniformity, and ultra-low noise profiling. • DP4000 Series: The flagship series featuring a 2000x2000 sensor array, up to 4,000 pixels per line, telecentric optics, and maximum 49 kHz scanning. • Binocular Single-Line Series: Integrates dual cameras with a single laser projector to capture complex geometry without optical shading or occlusions. KEY TECHNICAL INNOVATIONS • Sub-Pixel Center Extraction: Onboard algorithms track laser reflections down to 0.05-pixel accuracy. • Stray Light Halo Filtering: Suppresses glare on reflective, metallic, or wet surfaces. • Single-Frame HDR: Combines varied exposures in a single pass to inspect high-contrast materials simultaneously. • Multi-Camera Stitching: Merges multiple sensor views into unified 3D point clouds for large-scale targets. • Built-in Post-Processing: Executes spatial filtering, time-domain filtering, and point interpolation directly on the device INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS • EV Batteries: Detects air bubbles on blue film surfaces, surface droplets, and structural dents in soft-pack batteries. • Consumer Electronics: Executes Z-axis height checks, coplanarity testing, and gap/flush measurements. • Automotive: Inspects black rubber seals, weld seams, seatbelt weaves, and metallic casings for micro-defects.

Data Privacy

Meta Faces $40 Billion Privacy Reckoning

Meta Platforms is confronting one of the most consequential privacy penalties ever sought against a technology company in the United States, after New Mexico asked a state judge to impose between $35 billion and $40 billion in penalties over misleading statements concerning Facebook users’ data. The dispute traces back to the Cambridge Analytica scandal , in which personal information belonging to as many as 87 million Facebook users was harvested through a third-party application without their consent. New Mexico’s lawsuit, filed in 2021, argued that Meta misrepresented who could access users’ information and how the platform handled privacy, misinformation and harmful content. 26 Statements Found Misleading The scale of the verdict is particularly significant. Jurors examined 29 statements made by Meta and its leadership and concluded that 26 were misleading . Based on the audiences for those statements, the jury calculated more than 43 million violations of New Mexico’s consumer-protection law. State law permits penalties of up to $5,000 per violation . Applying that maximum mechanically would produce a vastly larger theoretical figure. New Mexico instead proposed $35–$40 billion, with its lawyers arguing that a substantial but lower amount would better withstand constitutional scrutiny over excessive penalties. Meta strongly disputes that calculation. The company has urged Judge Francis Mathew to cap penalties at approximately $3.45 billion , arguing that New Mexico failed to demonstrate that consumers were actually deceived and maintaining that Meta does not sell users' personal data. The company also argues that the state's proposed penalty is disproportionate to the conduct examined at trial. The Bigger Issue Is Accountability The importance of this case extends beyond the eventual dollar amount. Traditionally, privacy enforcement has often focused on an identifiable data breach, unauthorized disclosure or measurable consumer injury. Here, the dispute puts considerable weight on what a digital platform told consumers about its practices. That distinction matters. Privacy is increasingly becoming an issue not simply of protecting databases but of proving that corporate representations, consent mechanisms, third-party access controls and actual data-processing practices are aligned. The case also illustrates how seemingly routine statements can create enormous cumulative exposure when consumer-protection statutes calculate violations across millions of users. For large digital platforms, therefore, privacy communication can become a financial and governance risk alongside cybersecurity itself. A Warning for the AI Era The implications become even broader as technology companies expand into generative AI and autonomous agents. AI systems can collect, infer, combine and act upon enormous volumes of personal information. Organizations may therefore have to demonstrate not merely that data is encrypted or protected, but why it was collected, whether valid consent existed, who accessed it, what an AI system inferred from it and how resulting decisions were made. This makes privacy governance increasingly inseparable from AI governance. Consent records, data lineage, purpose limitation, third-party controls, audit trails and evidence of compliance are becoming critical components of enterprise technology architecture. The New Mexico case is also part of wider legal pressure on Meta. In a separate New Mexico proceeding concerning alleged harms to young users, a court in August ordered Meta to pay $567 million into a youth mental-health fund and imposed platform changes; Meta said it would appeal. Judge Mathew is expected to determine the penalty in the privacy case later in October. Until that ruling, the $35–$40 billion figure remains New Mexico's request, not an amount Meta has been ordered to pay. Whatever the final figure, the broader message for technology companies is already clear: data privacy is moving from a compliance checklist toward measurable corporate accountability. In the AI economy, what companies promise about data may become almost as important as how securely they store it.

Cloud Computing

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Cloud Computing

LTM Deepens Partnership with Google Cloud to Help Accelerate Gemini Enterprise Adoption

LTM announced an expanded collaboration with Google Cloud to help accelerate adoption of Google Cloud’s Gemini Enterprise. The collaboration will help organizations build, deploy, and scale AI-powered solutions by combining Gemini Enterprise capabilities with LTM's deep industry expertise, engineering talent, and global delivery capabilities. As part of this collaboration, LTM is making significant investments to strengthen its Gemini Enterprise capabilities through a dedicated Gemini Enterprise Center of Excellence (CoE), Specialized Talent and Delivery Capabilities and the development of Industry-Focused AI Solutions that will be showcased at the upcoming, state-of-the-art Gemini Enterprise Customer Experience Center. These efforts are designed to help organizations drive enterprise-wide AI adoption, operationalize intelligent workflows, and realize business value from AI at scale. The collaboration focuses on three key pillars: · Gemini Enterprise Center of Excellence (CoE): Dedicated AI, cloud, and industry expertise to help enable enterprise-scale deployments of Gemini Enterprise. · Specialized Talent and Delivery: Forward Deployed Engineers, specialists in Google’s Gemini AI models, and advanced training & certification programs to help clients move high-value AI use cases from concept to production. · Industry-Focused AI Solutions and Gemini Enterprise Customer Experience Center: AI-powered solutions tailored to key industries, including BFSI, Manufacturing, Retail & CPG, Media & Entertainment, and Energy & Utilities, showcased at the upcoming Gemini Enterprise Customer Experience Center. By combining LTM's domain expertise and transformation capabilities with Gemini Enterprise, LTM aims to help organizations move beyond isolated AI pilots. LTM’s collaboration with Google Cloud will help enable enterprises to build and orchestrate AI-powered workflows, deploy intelligent agents, and embed AI into business processes with the governance, security, and scale required for long-term business success. "Enterprises are looking to move beyond AI experimentation and scale adoption with clear business outcomes. Through our expanded collaboration with Google Cloud around Gemini Enterprise, we are combining advanced AI capabilities, specialized talent, and industry expertise to help clients accelerate transformation and realize business value faster," said Krishnan Iyer, Chief Growth Officer, LTM.

Cloud Computing

Qualys announces real-time cloud security posture management

Qualys has introduced Real-Time Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM). Integrated directly into the Qualys Enterprise TruRisk Platform, this new capability continuously monitors cloud environments, instantly detects changes as they happen, and provides contextual risk insights and remediation guidance. As organisations increasingly adopt multi-cloud infrastructures across AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and hybrid environments, their IT infrastructure is changing constantly. New cloud resources can be added, access permissions modified, and workloads moved or scaled within minutes. However, many security teams still rely on traditional CSPM tools that use periodic security scans that run every few hours or days, creating a gap between when a risk emerges and when it is detected. A misconfiguration or exposed resource can therefore remain unnoticed until the next scan, potentially becoming an active business risk. Qualys is addressing these issues with the introduction of Real-Time CSPM to continuously monitor cloud environments and identify changes as they happen. It delivers instant detection by evaluating each finding in context, correlating posture data with vulnerabilities, asset criticality, and exploitability, while providing remediation guidance for security risks across multi-cloud environments. This helps security teams spot and address issues in real time without having to wait for the next scheduled scan. Qualys Real-Time CSPM enables: Instant Risk Detection : Catches posture changes like loose IAM permissions, exposed S3 buckets, or Kubernetes drift as they happen, using context to surface high-priority risks immediately. Proactive Remediation : Offers step-by-step remediation workflows that integrate directly with Jira and ServiceNow, and automates fixes to maintain compliance with NIST, CIS Benchmarks, and PCI-DSS. Scalable Multi-Cloud Coverage : Natively scans over 200 cloud services, including serverless functions and containers without agents. “Imagine an air traffic controller working with a screen that refreshes every 15 minutes. You can follow the pattern, but not the moment of impact. Similarly, in cloud security, anything less than real-time visibility limits your ability to respond to what is changing right now,” said Shrikant Dhanawade, Director of Product Management at Qualys . “In an era where cloud threats move at the speed of code, Qualys Real-Time CSPM unifies risk quantification, instant remediation, and AI-driven workflows into a seamless, closed-loop cloud security engine, and ensures your posture is always one step ahead.” Real-Time CSPM integrates cloud posture findings with vulnerability data, endpoint visibility and compliance controls. It evaluates misconfigurations based on exploitability, asset importance, and the systems they affect, providing a hyper-prioritized list of remediation actions. While built for immediate intervention, it still supports scheduled scans for periodic reporting as needed.

Cloud Computing

LTM Deepens Partnership with Google Cloud to Help Accelerate Gemini Enterprise Adoption

LTM announced an expanded collaboration with Google Cloud to help accelerate adoption of Google Cloud’s Gemini Enterprise. The collaboration will help organizations build, deploy, and scale AI-powered solutions by combining Gemini Enterprise capabilities with LTM's deep industry expertise, engineering talent, and global delivery capabilities. As part of this collaboration, LTM is making significant investments to strengthen its Gemini Enterprise capabilities through a dedicated Gemini Enterprise Center of Excellence (CoE), Specialized Talent and Delivery Capabilities and the development of Industry-Focused AI Solutions that will be showcased at the upcoming, state-of-the-art Gemini Enterprise Customer Experience Center. These efforts are designed to help organizations drive enterprise-wide AI adoption, operationalize intelligent workflows, and realize business value from AI at scale. The collaboration focuses on three key pillars: · Gemini Enterprise Center of Excellence (CoE): Dedicated AI, cloud, and industry expertise to help enable enterprise-scale deployments of Gemini Enterprise. · Specialized Talent and Delivery: Forward Deployed Engineers, specialists in Google’s Gemini AI models, and advanced training & certification programs to help clients move high-value AI use cases from concept to production. · Industry-Focused AI Solutions and Gemini Enterprise Customer Experience Center: AI-powered solutions tailored to key industries, including BFSI, Manufacturing, Retail & CPG, Media & Entertainment, and Energy & Utilities, showcased at the upcoming Gemini Enterprise Customer Experience Center. By combining LTM's domain expertise and transformation capabilities with Gemini Enterprise, LTM aims to help organizations move beyond isolated AI pilots. LTM’s collaboration with Google Cloud will help enable enterprises to build and orchestrate AI-powered workflows, deploy intelligent agents, and embed AI into business processes with the governance, security, and scale required for long-term business success. "Enterprises are looking to move beyond AI experimentation and scale adoption with clear business outcomes. Through our expanded collaboration with Google Cloud around Gemini Enterprise, we are combining advanced AI capabilities, specialized talent, and industry expertise to help clients accelerate transformation and realize business value faster," said Krishnan Iyer, Chief Growth Officer, LTM.

Cloud Computing

Qualys announces real-time cloud security posture management

Qualys has introduced Real-Time Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM). Integrated directly into the Qualys Enterprise TruRisk Platform, this new capability continuously monitors cloud environments, instantly detects changes as they happen, and provides contextual risk insights and remediation guidance. As organisations increasingly adopt multi-cloud infrastructures across AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and hybrid environments, their IT infrastructure is changing constantly. New cloud resources can be added, access permissions modified, and workloads moved or scaled within minutes. However, many security teams still rely on traditional CSPM tools that use periodic security scans that run every few hours or days, creating a gap between when a risk emerges and when it is detected. A misconfiguration or exposed resource can therefore remain unnoticed until the next scan, potentially becoming an active business risk. Qualys is addressing these issues with the introduction of Real-Time CSPM to continuously monitor cloud environments and identify changes as they happen. It delivers instant detection by evaluating each finding in context, correlating posture data with vulnerabilities, asset criticality, and exploitability, while providing remediation guidance for security risks across multi-cloud environments. This helps security teams spot and address issues in real time without having to wait for the next scheduled scan. Qualys Real-Time CSPM enables: Instant Risk Detection : Catches posture changes like loose IAM permissions, exposed S3 buckets, or Kubernetes drift as they happen, using context to surface high-priority risks immediately. Proactive Remediation : Offers step-by-step remediation workflows that integrate directly with Jira and ServiceNow, and automates fixes to maintain compliance with NIST, CIS Benchmarks, and PCI-DSS. Scalable Multi-Cloud Coverage : Natively scans over 200 cloud services, including serverless functions and containers without agents. “Imagine an air traffic controller working with a screen that refreshes every 15 minutes. You can follow the pattern, but not the moment of impact. Similarly, in cloud security, anything less than real-time visibility limits your ability to respond to what is changing right now,” said Shrikant Dhanawade, Director of Product Management at Qualys . “In an era where cloud threats move at the speed of code, Qualys Real-Time CSPM unifies risk quantification, instant remediation, and AI-driven workflows into a seamless, closed-loop cloud security engine, and ensures your posture is always one step ahead.” Real-Time CSPM integrates cloud posture findings with vulnerability data, endpoint visibility and compliance controls. It evaluates misconfigurations based on exploitability, asset importance, and the systems they affect, providing a hyper-prioritized list of remediation actions. While built for immediate intervention, it still supports scheduled scans for periodic reporting as needed.

Gaming

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Gaming

Krafton Doubles Down on India Beyond Gaming

Krafton has committed another $250 million toward investments in India, extending well beyond gaming as the South Korean firm behind Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) chases opportunities across the country's wider technology and digital ecosystem. The pledge, confirmed on September 4, 2026, brings Krafton's total direct India investment to roughly $500 million. The announcement came alongside a meeting between Krafton Chairman Chang Byung-gyu and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, where the two discussed deeper gaming and technology collaboration. The fresh capital will be deployed over three to four years, separate from Krafton's existing $433.5 million India-focused venture growth fund built with partners Naver and Mirae Asset. This round shifts focus. Rather than gaming alone, the money will target artificial intelligence, robotics and deep tech startups, part of a deliberate push to build a sustainable secondary revenue stream beyond BGMI, which remains Krafton's dominant India franchise. The company has already backed around 18 companies in India, including four to five gaming studios, with stakes in Nodwin Gaming, Loco, Pratilipi, Kuku FM and One Impression. BGMI's own history explains why diversification matters to Krafton. After India banned PUBG Mobile in 2020 amid tensions with China, Krafton relaunched a localized version as BGMI in 2021, routing infrastructure through Microsoft Azure instead of Tencent. The game was banned again in 2022, returned on a trial basis in 2023, and has since crossed 260 million downloads; a lighter version, BGMI Lite, is planned by the end of 2026. Krafton is also building local capacity beyond capital, launching the KIGI Academy to train game development and software engineering talent, and recently acquiring Pune-based Nautilus Mobile, maker of Real Cricket. The strategy reflects India's scale: over 700 million smartphone users and a billion internet subscribers make it central to Krafton's global growth plans. But the company's India business still leans heavily on BGMI, a franchise with a track record of regulatory disruption, meaning the pivot into AI, robotics and deep tech carries a different, largely untested risk profile for the firm.

Gaming

India's Gaming Law Hits a Registration Wall

Four months after India's new online gaming framework took effect, not a single game has been registered under it. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) told the Central Information Commission that as of September 1, 2026, the Online Gaming Authority of India (OGAI) had approved zero registrations, while receiving 201 gaming-related complaints. The disclosure came through a Right to Information request seeking details on permitted games, complaints, and enforcement action against illegal platforms. MeitY initially cited older 2023 IT intermediary rules, which the applicant challenged as incomplete. During CIC proceedings, the ministry clarified that the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025, along with its 2026 rules, represents a distinct regulatory approach from earlier guidelines, with Commissioner P.R. Ramesh noting that RTI law obligates disclosure of existing records, not new interpretations. The Act, passed by Parliament in August 2025, marks a sharp shift from self-regulation to an outright ban on "online money games," any game involving financial stakes. It prohibits real-money gaming and related advertising entirely, restricts financial institutions from facilitating gaming-related fund transfers, and closes off any registration pathway for money games. Only two categories remain eligible for registration: e-sports, which is exempt from the ban and actively promoted by the government, and online social games that charge subscription fees but do not allow wagering. Neither category has produced a single application since the rules became effective in May 2026. The stakes are significant. India's gaming sector was valued at roughly Rs 1.7 lakh crore ($23 billion), with real-money gaming alone worth $3.2 billion and supporting about 130,000 jobs across 1,900 companies before the ban reshaped the industry. The rollout has also triggered legal pushback, with affected companies challenging the framework in the Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi High Courts, adding further uncertainty to an already stalled registration process. With zero registrations and mounting complaints four months in, the numbers suggest India's new gaming regulator is still struggling to operationalize a law that fundamentally restructured one of the country's fastest-growing digital industries.

Gaming

Krafton Doubles Down on India Beyond Gaming

Krafton has committed another $250 million toward investments in India, extending well beyond gaming as the South Korean firm behind Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) chases opportunities across the country's wider technology and digital ecosystem. The pledge, confirmed on September 4, 2026, brings Krafton's total direct India investment to roughly $500 million. The announcement came alongside a meeting between Krafton Chairman Chang Byung-gyu and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, where the two discussed deeper gaming and technology collaboration. The fresh capital will be deployed over three to four years, separate from Krafton's existing $433.5 million India-focused venture growth fund built with partners Naver and Mirae Asset. This round shifts focus. Rather than gaming alone, the money will target artificial intelligence, robotics and deep tech startups, part of a deliberate push to build a sustainable secondary revenue stream beyond BGMI, which remains Krafton's dominant India franchise. The company has already backed around 18 companies in India, including four to five gaming studios, with stakes in Nodwin Gaming, Loco, Pratilipi, Kuku FM and One Impression. BGMI's own history explains why diversification matters to Krafton. After India banned PUBG Mobile in 2020 amid tensions with China, Krafton relaunched a localized version as BGMI in 2021, routing infrastructure through Microsoft Azure instead of Tencent. The game was banned again in 2022, returned on a trial basis in 2023, and has since crossed 260 million downloads; a lighter version, BGMI Lite, is planned by the end of 2026. Krafton is also building local capacity beyond capital, launching the KIGI Academy to train game development and software engineering talent, and recently acquiring Pune-based Nautilus Mobile, maker of Real Cricket. The strategy reflects India's scale: over 700 million smartphone users and a billion internet subscribers make it central to Krafton's global growth plans. But the company's India business still leans heavily on BGMI, a franchise with a track record of regulatory disruption, meaning the pivot into AI, robotics and deep tech carries a different, largely untested risk profile for the firm.

Gaming

India's Gaming Law Hits a Registration Wall

Four months after India's new online gaming framework took effect, not a single game has been registered under it. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) told the Central Information Commission that as of September 1, 2026, the Online Gaming Authority of India (OGAI) had approved zero registrations, while receiving 201 gaming-related complaints. The disclosure came through a Right to Information request seeking details on permitted games, complaints, and enforcement action against illegal platforms. MeitY initially cited older 2023 IT intermediary rules, which the applicant challenged as incomplete. During CIC proceedings, the ministry clarified that the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025, along with its 2026 rules, represents a distinct regulatory approach from earlier guidelines, with Commissioner P.R. Ramesh noting that RTI law obligates disclosure of existing records, not new interpretations. The Act, passed by Parliament in August 2025, marks a sharp shift from self-regulation to an outright ban on "online money games," any game involving financial stakes. It prohibits real-money gaming and related advertising entirely, restricts financial institutions from facilitating gaming-related fund transfers, and closes off any registration pathway for money games. Only two categories remain eligible for registration: e-sports, which is exempt from the ban and actively promoted by the government, and online social games that charge subscription fees but do not allow wagering. Neither category has produced a single application since the rules became effective in May 2026. The stakes are significant. India's gaming sector was valued at roughly Rs 1.7 lakh crore ($23 billion), with real-money gaming alone worth $3.2 billion and supporting about 130,000 jobs across 1,900 companies before the ban reshaped the industry. The rollout has also triggered legal pushback, with affected companies challenging the framework in the Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi High Courts, adding further uncertainty to an already stalled registration process. With zero registrations and mounting complaints four months in, the numbers suggest India's new gaming regulator is still struggling to operationalize a law that fundamentally restructured one of the country's fastest-growing digital industries.

Security & Surveillance

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Security & Surveillance

Secureye Phoenix Series Cameras Get BIS-ER Certification from STQC Directorate under MeitY

Secureye has received BIS-ER approval for its Phoenix series of IP and CCTV cameras from the Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification (STQC) Directorate under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India. The approval covers Phoenix series camera ranges. The approval adds to Secureye’s focus on developing surveillance products suited to the requirements of the Indian market. The Phoenix range has been designed keeping Indian operating conditions and the needs of consumers, businesses and institutions in mind, while also giving channel partners products backed by the applicable regulatory compliance. The Phoenix series comprises different camera configurations for day-to-day surveillance requirements. Depending on the model, the range includes features such as dual-light night vision, infrared and white-light illumination, built-in microphones and network-based monitoring. These features allow the cameras to be used across homes, offices, commercial establishments and other locations where surveillance requirements can vary. BIS-ER refers to the Essential Requirements framework applicable to specified electronic and IT products. CCTV cameras are among the product categories covered under the relevant Essential Requirements notified by MeitY. The STQC Directorate carries out testing and certification-related activities under this framework. Speaking about the approval, Atul Gupta, Director, Secureye said, “Make in India is not only about manufacturing products within the country, but also about understanding the requirements of Indian consumers and building products accordingly. The BIS-ER approval for the Phoenix series strengthens our efforts in this direction. It also gives our channel partners greater confidence while taking these products to customers across different markets in India. Our focus will remain on developing reliable surveillance solutions that meet local requirements and support our partners in serving customers better.” Secureye has developed the Phoenix series as part of its IP surveillance portfolio, with different camera configurations addressing varied security requirements. The Phoenix Color Master range adds colour imaging capabilities to the portfolio, providing another option for applications where image clarity and colour reproduction are important considerations. Manoj Gupta, Managing Director, Fortune Marketing said, “Our channel partners play an important role in taking Secureye products to customers across India. Regulatory compliance is increasingly becoming an important consideration when surveillance products are selected, particularly for institutional and larger projects. The BIS-ER approval gives our partners another point of assurance while recommending the Phoenix range. At the same time, the focus on Indian consumer requirements helps us build a stronger connect between the products and the markets we serve.” Secureye has been operating in the security and surveillance sector for more than two decades. Its portfolio covers CCTV and IP cameras, biometric systems, access control products, smart locks, video door phones and other security solutions. The company has stated that its network includes more than 500 products, 20,000 projects, 25,000 customers and 24 branches across India. The BIS-ER approval further strengthens Secureye’s surveillance portfolio for the Indian market. The company continues to focus on products that combine technology, regulatory compliance and suitability for local operating conditions, while working with its channel network to make its security solutions accessible to customers across the country.

Security & Surveillance

From Make in India to Design in India: The Next Chapter for Security Technology

India’s security technology ecosystem is at an inflection point. The success of Make in India has helped establish a strong foundation for domestic electronics manufacturing, expanded local production capabilities, and encouraged companies to build increasingly sophisticated technology ecosystems within the country. But as the industry matures, the next question is no longer simply how much technology India can manufacture. It is how much of that technology India can conceive, engineer and own. The next chapter, therefore, is about moving from Make in India to Design in India . For a sector as strategically important as security technology, this distinction matters. A surveillance camera is no longer just a hardware product assembled on a production line. It is an increasingly sophisticated combination of image sensors, processors, artificial intelligence, computer vision, compression technologies, cybersecurity, firmware and software. The real competitive advantage lies in the intelligence embedded within the device and the ecosystem built around it. This is where India has an opportunity to move decisively up the value chain. Designing for India, Not Just Manufacturing in India India presents a security environment unlike almost any other market. Surveillance systems need to operate across extreme heat, dust, humidity and varied environmental conditions, while also addressing challenges around bandwidth, connectivity, power availability and large-scale deployment. A solution designed for a completely different operating environment may be manufactured locally, but that does not necessarily make it truly Indian technology. Designing in India means starting with these realities. It means developing cameras and security platforms that understand the demands of Indian infrastructure, from densely populated urban environments and transport networks to industrial facilities, public institutions and critical infrastructure. It means engineering for scale, reliability and cost efficiency without compromising intelligence or security. CP PLUS has increasingly approached this opportunity by building capabilities across the technology stack rather than viewing manufacturing in isolation. Its manufacturing ecosystem provides the scale required to serve a rapidly expanding market, while its R&D capabilities across India and overseas contribute to product development, engineering and technological innovation. This combination is important because manufacturing scale can create capacity, but engineering depth creates differentiation. From Assembly to Intellectual Property The evolution of India's electronics industry can broadly be viewed as a progression: first importing technology, then assembling products, followed by local manufacturing and, increasingly, local research and development. The logical next step is indigenous intellectual property. For security technology, that could mean developing greater expertise in areas such as artificial intelligence, image processing, video compression, edge computing, cybersecurity, computer vision and semiconductor technologies. These are the layers that increasingly determine what a security product can actually do. CP PLUS's investments in technology development and collaborations with organisations across the technology ecosystem reflect this broader shift. Partnerships with institutions such as CDAC, VVDN and L&T Semiconductor Technologies, alongside its work around AI and secure device architecture, demonstrate how the Indian security industry can increasingly participate in technology creation rather than simply technology consumption. The significance goes beyond individual products. When critical technologies are designed and engineered closer to the markets where they are deployed, companies gain greater control over product roadmaps, performance optimisation, cybersecurity and long-term innovation. For customers, it can translate into technology that is better aligned with their operating realities. For the country, it contributes to a deeper and more resilient technology ecosystem. The Scale of India's Security Challenge India does not simply need security products that work in India . It needs security infrastructure capable of operating at Indian scale. Consider the sheer diversity of applications: railway networks spanning thousands of kilometres, airports and metro systems, banking networks, industrial facilities, government establishments, smart-city infrastructure and increasingly connected homes and businesses. Each environment generates enormous volumes of data and demands different levels of intelligence, reliability and response. This makes technologies such as intelligent video compression and edge AI increasingly consequential. The objective is no longer simply to capture more video. It is to extract more intelligence from every stream while using network and storage resources efficiently. Processing intelligence closer to the point of capture can reduce latency, improve responsiveness and support applications where immediate decisions matter. And for us at as CP PLUS, operating across consumer, enterprise and large-scale security deployments, this evolution creates an opportunity to bring together manufacturing scale, technology development and deployment experience into a unified innovation ecosystem. Security Technology Is Becoming Strategic Technology There is another reason the transition towards indigenous design matters: security infrastructure is increasingly becoming critical infrastructure. Surveillance systems today support public safety, transportation, banking, industrial operations, government facilities and large-scale infrastructure projects. A camera can therefore be more than a device; it can become a connected endpoint within a larger security architecture. That makes cybersecurity, device integrity and trusted technology increasingly important. CP PLUS's focus on technologies such as CP PLUS Trusted Core (CTC) reflects this changing understanding of security. Secure boot, hardware-level protection and encryption are no longer peripheral considerations; they are becoming fundamental to building trustworthy connected security devices. The future of security technology will consequently be shaped by companies that can bring together multiple disciplines: hardware engineering, software, AI, cybersecurity, manufacturing and domain expertise under one innovation framework. From “Made Here” to “Created Here” The Make in India movement has already demonstrated that India can become a major manufacturing hub for technology. The next opportunity is to demonstrate that India can also become a source of original technological thinking. For the security industry, that means moving beyond the question of where a product is manufactured and asking a more consequential question: where was its intelligence created? CP PLUS's evolution mirrors this larger transformation. From building manufacturing capabilities and expanding its R&D footprint to investing in AI, cybersecurity, technology partnerships and indigenous innovation, the journey reflects a broader ambition for India's security technology ecosystem. The transition from Make in India to Design in India is not about replacing manufacturing. It is about building on it. Because the strongest technology ecosystems are not defined by their ability to produce what the world has already invented. They are defined by their ability to engineer what the world will need next . And for India's security technology industry, that future is increasingly being designed here.

Security & Surveillance

Secureye Phoenix Series Cameras Get BIS-ER Certification from STQC Directorate under MeitY

Secureye has received BIS-ER approval for its Phoenix series of IP and CCTV cameras from the Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification (STQC) Directorate under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India. The approval covers Phoenix series camera ranges. The approval adds to Secureye’s focus on developing surveillance products suited to the requirements of the Indian market. The Phoenix range has been designed keeping Indian operating conditions and the needs of consumers, businesses and institutions in mind, while also giving channel partners products backed by the applicable regulatory compliance. The Phoenix series comprises different camera configurations for day-to-day surveillance requirements. Depending on the model, the range includes features such as dual-light night vision, infrared and white-light illumination, built-in microphones and network-based monitoring. These features allow the cameras to be used across homes, offices, commercial establishments and other locations where surveillance requirements can vary. BIS-ER refers to the Essential Requirements framework applicable to specified electronic and IT products. CCTV cameras are among the product categories covered under the relevant Essential Requirements notified by MeitY. The STQC Directorate carries out testing and certification-related activities under this framework. Speaking about the approval, Atul Gupta, Director, Secureye said, “Make in India is not only about manufacturing products within the country, but also about understanding the requirements of Indian consumers and building products accordingly. The BIS-ER approval for the Phoenix series strengthens our efforts in this direction. It also gives our channel partners greater confidence while taking these products to customers across different markets in India. Our focus will remain on developing reliable surveillance solutions that meet local requirements and support our partners in serving customers better.” Secureye has developed the Phoenix series as part of its IP surveillance portfolio, with different camera configurations addressing varied security requirements. The Phoenix Color Master range adds colour imaging capabilities to the portfolio, providing another option for applications where image clarity and colour reproduction are important considerations. Manoj Gupta, Managing Director, Fortune Marketing said, “Our channel partners play an important role in taking Secureye products to customers across India. Regulatory compliance is increasingly becoming an important consideration when surveillance products are selected, particularly for institutional and larger projects. The BIS-ER approval gives our partners another point of assurance while recommending the Phoenix range. At the same time, the focus on Indian consumer requirements helps us build a stronger connect between the products and the markets we serve.” Secureye has been operating in the security and surveillance sector for more than two decades. Its portfolio covers CCTV and IP cameras, biometric systems, access control products, smart locks, video door phones and other security solutions. The company has stated that its network includes more than 500 products, 20,000 projects, 25,000 customers and 24 branches across India. The BIS-ER approval further strengthens Secureye’s surveillance portfolio for the Indian market. The company continues to focus on products that combine technology, regulatory compliance and suitability for local operating conditions, while working with its channel network to make its security solutions accessible to customers across the country.

Security & Surveillance

From Make in India to Design in India: The Next Chapter for Security Technology

India’s security technology ecosystem is at an inflection point. The success of Make in India has helped establish a strong foundation for domestic electronics manufacturing, expanded local production capabilities, and encouraged companies to build increasingly sophisticated technology ecosystems within the country. But as the industry matures, the next question is no longer simply how much technology India can manufacture. It is how much of that technology India can conceive, engineer and own. The next chapter, therefore, is about moving from Make in India to Design in India . For a sector as strategically important as security technology, this distinction matters. A surveillance camera is no longer just a hardware product assembled on a production line. It is an increasingly sophisticated combination of image sensors, processors, artificial intelligence, computer vision, compression technologies, cybersecurity, firmware and software. The real competitive advantage lies in the intelligence embedded within the device and the ecosystem built around it. This is where India has an opportunity to move decisively up the value chain. Designing for India, Not Just Manufacturing in India India presents a security environment unlike almost any other market. Surveillance systems need to operate across extreme heat, dust, humidity and varied environmental conditions, while also addressing challenges around bandwidth, connectivity, power availability and large-scale deployment. A solution designed for a completely different operating environment may be manufactured locally, but that does not necessarily make it truly Indian technology. Designing in India means starting with these realities. It means developing cameras and security platforms that understand the demands of Indian infrastructure, from densely populated urban environments and transport networks to industrial facilities, public institutions and critical infrastructure. It means engineering for scale, reliability and cost efficiency without compromising intelligence or security. CP PLUS has increasingly approached this opportunity by building capabilities across the technology stack rather than viewing manufacturing in isolation. Its manufacturing ecosystem provides the scale required to serve a rapidly expanding market, while its R&D capabilities across India and overseas contribute to product development, engineering and technological innovation. This combination is important because manufacturing scale can create capacity, but engineering depth creates differentiation. From Assembly to Intellectual Property The evolution of India's electronics industry can broadly be viewed as a progression: first importing technology, then assembling products, followed by local manufacturing and, increasingly, local research and development. The logical next step is indigenous intellectual property. For security technology, that could mean developing greater expertise in areas such as artificial intelligence, image processing, video compression, edge computing, cybersecurity, computer vision and semiconductor technologies. These are the layers that increasingly determine what a security product can actually do. CP PLUS's investments in technology development and collaborations with organisations across the technology ecosystem reflect this broader shift. Partnerships with institutions such as CDAC, VVDN and L&T Semiconductor Technologies, alongside its work around AI and secure device architecture, demonstrate how the Indian security industry can increasingly participate in technology creation rather than simply technology consumption. The significance goes beyond individual products. When critical technologies are designed and engineered closer to the markets where they are deployed, companies gain greater control over product roadmaps, performance optimisation, cybersecurity and long-term innovation. For customers, it can translate into technology that is better aligned with their operating realities. For the country, it contributes to a deeper and more resilient technology ecosystem. The Scale of India's Security Challenge India does not simply need security products that work in India . It needs security infrastructure capable of operating at Indian scale. Consider the sheer diversity of applications: railway networks spanning thousands of kilometres, airports and metro systems, banking networks, industrial facilities, government establishments, smart-city infrastructure and increasingly connected homes and businesses. Each environment generates enormous volumes of data and demands different levels of intelligence, reliability and response. This makes technologies such as intelligent video compression and edge AI increasingly consequential. The objective is no longer simply to capture more video. It is to extract more intelligence from every stream while using network and storage resources efficiently. Processing intelligence closer to the point of capture can reduce latency, improve responsiveness and support applications where immediate decisions matter. And for us at as CP PLUS, operating across consumer, enterprise and large-scale security deployments, this evolution creates an opportunity to bring together manufacturing scale, technology development and deployment experience into a unified innovation ecosystem. Security Technology Is Becoming Strategic Technology There is another reason the transition towards indigenous design matters: security infrastructure is increasingly becoming critical infrastructure. Surveillance systems today support public safety, transportation, banking, industrial operations, government facilities and large-scale infrastructure projects. A camera can therefore be more than a device; it can become a connected endpoint within a larger security architecture. That makes cybersecurity, device integrity and trusted technology increasingly important. CP PLUS's focus on technologies such as CP PLUS Trusted Core (CTC) reflects this changing understanding of security. Secure boot, hardware-level protection and encryption are no longer peripheral considerations; they are becoming fundamental to building trustworthy connected security devices. The future of security technology will consequently be shaped by companies that can bring together multiple disciplines: hardware engineering, software, AI, cybersecurity, manufacturing and domain expertise under one innovation framework. From “Made Here” to “Created Here” The Make in India movement has already demonstrated that India can become a major manufacturing hub for technology. The next opportunity is to demonstrate that India can also become a source of original technological thinking. For the security industry, that means moving beyond the question of where a product is manufactured and asking a more consequential question: where was its intelligence created? CP PLUS's evolution mirrors this larger transformation. From building manufacturing capabilities and expanding its R&D footprint to investing in AI, cybersecurity, technology partnerships and indigenous innovation, the journey reflects a broader ambition for India's security technology ecosystem. The transition from Make in India to Design in India is not about replacing manufacturing. It is about building on it. Because the strongest technology ecosystems are not defined by their ability to produce what the world has already invented. They are defined by their ability to engineer what the world will need next . And for India's security technology industry, that future is increasingly being designed here.

Cyber Crime

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Cyber Crime

Trump Mobile Breached: 3,615 Customers Exposed Before Phones Arrive

Trump Mobile has suffered a significant data breach, with a new cybercrime group called BYOD claiming responsibility for exposing the personal information of 3,615 customers. The hack occurred even before many customers received their phones. The compromised data includes names, email addresses, and home addresses of customers who paid $100 advance deposits months ago. Many victims are still waiting for their devices to arrive while their personal information has already been leaked. In a stunning revelation, BYOD stated that when Trump Mobile was informed of the breach, the company replied: "We've no team to handle this." This response has raised serious questions about the company's cybersecurity preparedness. The breach highlights concerning gaps in Trump Mobile's data protection infrastructure. Customers who trusted the brand with their personal information now face potential privacy risks and identity theft concerns. The timing is particularly damaging, as the company has already faced criticism for delayed phone deliveries. Now, it must contend with a security crisis that suggests inadequate planning and resource allocation. Affected customers are left wondering how their data will be used and whether they will receive compensation. The company has not yet issued a public statement addressing the breach. This incident serves as a cautionary tale for consumers about the importance of scrutinizing emerging companies' security measures before sharing sensitive personal information.

Cyber Crime

One Missed Patch from Accenture, FBI Secrets Exposed

The FBI removed an Accenture contractor on Monday after a breach exposed sensitive personal details of thousands of bureau employees, Reuters reported, citing two sources. FBI cyber chief Brett Leatherman said the contractor failed to install a security patch issued specifically to protect the platform. Sources identified the breached system as Oracle PeopleSoft and named Accenture as its manager. The leaked data is alarming. It reportedly included descriptions of named employees' counterintelligence roles, street addresses of human intelligence operatives, and medical and psychiatric records. Some former officials have called it a major blow to the bureau's operational security. There is one hopeful development. A key suspect linked to the ShinyHunters hacking group was detained in Jordan and is reportedly cooperating, which may help the FBI understand the scope of the damage. Accenture said it remains proud to support the FBI's mission. The implications reach well beyond one contractor. Exposed operative identities create risks of coercion, blackmail and physical harm that no password reset can undo. The incident also intensifies scrutiny of how government agencies outsource critical systems to IT service giants. The technology bottlenecks are familiar. Patching large enterprise platforms such as PeopleSoft is slow and laborious, because updates must be tested to avoid disrupting many users. Third-party management adds another layer of blind spots, since agencies often lack real-time visibility into whether vendors have applied fixes. The lesson is stark: security is only as strong as the weakest link in the supply chain. Continuous patch verification, zero-trust architecture and enforceable vendor accountability are now operational necessities.

Cyber Crime

Trump Mobile Breached: 3,615 Customers Exposed Before Phones Arrive

Trump Mobile has suffered a significant data breach, with a new cybercrime group called BYOD claiming responsibility for exposing the personal information of 3,615 customers. The hack occurred even before many customers received their phones. The compromised data includes names, email addresses, and home addresses of customers who paid $100 advance deposits months ago. Many victims are still waiting for their devices to arrive while their personal information has already been leaked. In a stunning revelation, BYOD stated that when Trump Mobile was informed of the breach, the company replied: "We've no team to handle this." This response has raised serious questions about the company's cybersecurity preparedness. The breach highlights concerning gaps in Trump Mobile's data protection infrastructure. Customers who trusted the brand with their personal information now face potential privacy risks and identity theft concerns. The timing is particularly damaging, as the company has already faced criticism for delayed phone deliveries. Now, it must contend with a security crisis that suggests inadequate planning and resource allocation. Affected customers are left wondering how their data will be used and whether they will receive compensation. The company has not yet issued a public statement addressing the breach. This incident serves as a cautionary tale for consumers about the importance of scrutinizing emerging companies' security measures before sharing sensitive personal information.

Cyber Crime

One Missed Patch from Accenture, FBI Secrets Exposed

The FBI removed an Accenture contractor on Monday after a breach exposed sensitive personal details of thousands of bureau employees, Reuters reported, citing two sources. FBI cyber chief Brett Leatherman said the contractor failed to install a security patch issued specifically to protect the platform. Sources identified the breached system as Oracle PeopleSoft and named Accenture as its manager. The leaked data is alarming. It reportedly included descriptions of named employees' counterintelligence roles, street addresses of human intelligence operatives, and medical and psychiatric records. Some former officials have called it a major blow to the bureau's operational security. There is one hopeful development. A key suspect linked to the ShinyHunters hacking group was detained in Jordan and is reportedly cooperating, which may help the FBI understand the scope of the damage. Accenture said it remains proud to support the FBI's mission. The implications reach well beyond one contractor. Exposed operative identities create risks of coercion, blackmail and physical harm that no password reset can undo. The incident also intensifies scrutiny of how government agencies outsource critical systems to IT service giants. The technology bottlenecks are familiar. Patching large enterprise platforms such as PeopleSoft is slow and laborious, because updates must be tested to avoid disrupting many users. Third-party management adds another layer of blind spots, since agencies often lack real-time visibility into whether vendors have applied fixes. The lesson is stark: security is only as strong as the weakest link in the supply chain. Continuous patch verification, zero-trust architecture and enforceable vendor accountability are now operational necessities.

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