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A grand evening marked by the presence of 400 luminaries from the ICT industry, distinguished government dignitariesand who's who of public sector enterprises stood witness to the 12th VARINDIA IT Forum and the unveiling of the 3rd VARINDIA Brand Book. Built around the theme, 'Broadband for Sustainable Development,' the Forum succeeded in striking the right chord in exploring and discussing new evolving topics around it, thus setting the ball rolling for the evening.
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The event started with the lighting of the ceremonial lamp in the presence of the Chief Guest for the evening, Dr. B. K GAIROLA ,Mission Director, NeGP, Government of India and other eminent guests, Shri. Savitur Prasad, Principal Integrated Financial Adviser (Army) - Govt. of India; Mr. Vinit Goenka, National Co-convener, BJP’s Information Technology (IT) Cell; Mr. Anwar Shirpurwala, Executive Director- MAIT; Mr. Mukul Mathur, Director - Channels & Marketing, IBM India/South Asia; Mr. Ajay Kaul, Geo Head North and Channel Leader- Dell India; Dr. Harold D'Costa (Cyber Expert-Law enforcement agencies - Cyber Crime; Mr. Ashish Kapahi- Regional Director-Distree, Mr. Rameesh Kailasam Sr.Director- APCO Worldwide , Col. H.P.S. Bawa - CEO,Webel Technology LTD , Mr. sanjay Behl, Senior Consultant-CERT-IN, Col. Nayan Pani, CIO- Amtrak Technologies, Mr. S.N.Zindal, CTO- BITS Pilani, Mr.Vipin Tyagi, Director -C DOT, Government of India Mr. Jagannath Pattnaik, CEO- NNR IT solutions; besides Ms. S Mohini Ratna, Editor - VARINDIA and Mr. Deepak Kr. Sahu, Publisher - VARINDIA.
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Mr. Vinit Goenka, National Co-convener, BJP’s Information Technology (IT) Cell shared with the audience how the newly elected NDA leadership is steering its efforts to understand the pain areas and take possible actions, "My party and my govt., both are serious about changing what was happening here. I am here to understand from you what you want us to do and how we can the course of this country, your pain areas. My role in the party is to listen, collate and forward these issues, suggestions to the top leadership. IT has an impact on any industry or business, irrespective of sectors. A small investment by the govt. in terms of policy can result into huge returns."
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Vipin Tyagi, Director - C DOT, Government of India talked about some myths that is floating around in the broadband industry, "Broadband is in the initial stage of penetration. TRAI report points out the total no. of broadband subscribers at 16 million but if we include mobile, the number goes up to 156 million. Even today against the world average download speed of 15.1 MB, the download speed monitored on a real-time basis is only 5.1 MB in India. Infrastructure is yet to be built up in India and a European study says that 90% of investment is still to happen. Still, I am hopeful that we will grow at par with other nations as we have that potential and infrastructure."
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Touching on sustainable development, Dr. B. K GAIROLA Director, Mission NeGP, Government of India said, "Technology is good as long as it is used for common man. We get broadband today but the question is if it is equitably distributed or available to everybody in the country. The answer is no and there is no hope that we will get it. Mr. Modi has got only one element in his agenda and that is development. But this development has to be coupled with sustainable development if we think of it for the long run. There are 3 pillars on which we work for sustainable development - Economic growth, sustainable inclusion and environmental balance that we talk about. If we look at all the 3 components, every country is now working on National Broadband policy. Broadband today is considered as a Right just like food or Air. When international agencies talk about broadband, they assume education will help in improving and developing it further."
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Shri. Savitur Prasad, Principal Integrated Financial Adviser (Army) - Govt. of India talked about transparency in the system and how the rise of Social Media is facilitating it, "There are challenges that cripple the govt. Products manufactured outside are being sold at cheaper rates inside the country. Even the Ministry of Commerce, instead of giving an impetus to manufacturing in the country is accepting these products and is distributing them in different ministries. This is a huge loss to the country as well as to those unemployed youths who are left jobless because of such a policy on the part of the govt. If the govt. buys something, it should bear the tag of 'Made in India.'"
In the corporate presentation section, corporate like Dell, Fortinet and Axis Communications participated and showcased and spoke about their latest solutions and products. Speaking on connected security, Deepak Batra, Sr. marketing head, Dell software Group gave an insight about the trends that are driving IT, Dell’s security point of view and how Dell is going to deliver on its promise of connected security. Sharing a brief of what Fortinet has been doing in IT security, Mr. Parikshit Gangaher, Reg. Mgr-North, Fortinet Inc discussed about Network security solutions that customers have been using for a while and about its performance. Mr. Vintcy Kwatra, Dist. Account Manager, Axis Communications showed several videos to the audience to showcase its different surveillance cameras and video solutions and the technologies used in it.
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[Unveiling of the 3rd edition of the Brand Book ( From left to right) Mr. Mukul Mathur, Director – Channels & Marketing, IBM India/South Asia, , Dr. Harold D’Costa- Cyber Expert-Law enforcement agencies - Cyber Crime, Mr. Rameesh Kailasam Sr.Director- APCO Worldwide, Mr. Vipin Tyagi, Director- C Dot, Govt. of India, Mr. Ashish Kapahi- Regional Director-Distree, Shri.Savitur Prasad, Principal Integrated Financial Adviser (Army) - Govt. of India, Mr. Ajay Kaul, Geo Head North and Channel Leader- Dell India, Mr. Vinit Goenka, National Co-convener, BJP’s Information Technology (IT) Cell , Dr. B. K GAIROLA, Mission Director, NeGP, Government of India, Col. H.P.S. Bawa-CEO, Webel Technology LTD, Col. Nayan Pani,CIO- Amtrak Technologies, Ms. S. Mohini Ratna, Editor- VAR INDIA and Mr. Deepak Kumar Sahu, CMD and Publisher-VARINDIA and kalinga Digital Media]
The unveiling of the third edition of the Brand Book was the most exciting and awaited phase of the event. The unveiling was done by the Honorable Chief Guest Dr. B. K GAIROLA Director, Mission NeGP, Government of India in the presence of other revered guests.
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[Panel Discussion session on : Emerging Trends in Cyber Security and I Governance , Picture from Left to Right : Mr. Aneesh Dhawan, Regional Sales Head, VMware, Mr. Rameesh Kailasam Sr.Director- APCO Worldwide, Mr. K Mohan Raja- GGM-Railtel Corporation of India, Mr. Ashish Kapahi- Regional Director-Distree , Dr. Harold D’Costa- Cyber Expert-Law enforcement agencies - Cyber Crime, Col. H.P.S. Bawa - CEO,Webel Technology LTD and Mr. Mukul Mathur, Director – Channels & Marketing, IBM India/South Asia]
The panel discussion towards the end of the event touched on the topic of 'Emerging Trends in Cyber Security and I Governance' and was moderated by Mr. Rameesh Kailasam, Sr.Director- APCO Worldwide. The participatory speakers in the discussion were Dr. Harold D’Costa, Cyber Expert-Law enforcement agencies; Mr. Ashish kapahi, Regional Director - APAC, DISTREE; Mr. K Mohan Raja- GGM-Railtel Corporation of India; Col. H.P.S. Bawa - CEO,Webel Technology LTD; Mr. Aneesh Dhawan, Regional Sales Head, VMware India Introduction and Mr. Mukul Mathur, Director - Channel & Marketing, IBM. The discussion emphasized on the need emerging trends in Cyber Security and Internet governance across businesses, enterprises and govt. where more and more adoption of technology is happening. Critical infrastructure is one area where focus is increasing, whether it is physical assets or digital assets. For some it also means critical data belonging to citizens and nations. The comp lete distrust on supply chain pattern is another area where the issue of security is being focused on. The panelists gave their individual insights on each of these areas.
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Like every other year, the awards for Most Trusted Companies and Brand of Excellence have been given away to 11 corporates based on the votes casted on the company's website. The 5 companies felicitated under the category of Most Trusted Companies are CISCO SYSTEMS INDIA PVT LTD, F5 NETWORKS PTE LIMITED, VMWARE SOFTWARE INDIA PVT.LTD, EMC DATA STORAGE SYSTEMS INDIA PVT LTD and HP INDIA SALES PVT LTD. The Brand of Excellence awards have been given to 5 companies that include MCAFEE INDIA SALES PVT LTD, SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS INDIA PVT LTD, CANON INDIA PVT LTD, DELL INDIA PVT LTD and DLINK INDIA LTD. Where GAJSHIELD INFOTECH INDIA PVT. LTD has been awarded the EMERGING BRAND in UTM.
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The Lucky Draw contest by VARINDIA and sponsored by Dell generated much interest from the audience, with 3 lucky winners walking away with Dell tablets.
