Tag: Business News

  • Dell Technologies’ 2025 predictions and APJ perspectives: Rise of agentic AI, scalable enterprise AI, sovereign AI initiatives – CRN

    Dell Technologies’ 2025 predictions and APJ perspectives: Rise of agentic AI, scalable enterprise AI, sovereign AI initiatives – CRN

    Dell Technologies held the Predictions 2025 Media Briefing ​in Asia Pacific & Japan (APJ). The virtual briefing, hosted by Dell Technologies’ John Roese, Global Chief Technology Officer and Chief AI Officer, and Peter Marrs, President, Asia Pacific, Japan and Greater China, highlighted emerging trends poised to reshape the technology industry in 2025 and beyond. The discussion, driven by Roese’s vision for the future of technology, focused on how Dell Technologies is partnering with customers to navigate these trends and capitalise on the innovation opportunities in the region.

    “No matter which technology you explore today, there is a connective tissue into the AI ecosystem,” said Roese. “Every technology is now either enabling AI or is enabled by AI. We are evolving from static and reactive AI to a more dynamic, autonomous, interactive and profound set of tools that will allow us to go beyond what we have been able to do so far.”

    The Rise of Agentic AI Architecture

    Roese predicted that Agentic AI signifies a paradigm shift in human-AI interaction. “The word of 2025 will be Agentic. It is a defining advancement in AI technology and will be a catalyst for significant progress in how we approach AI architecturally”.

    The maturation of generative AI is giving rise to sophisticated AI agents capable of autonomous operation, natural language communication, and seamless collaboration with both humans and AI agents. These specialised agents will possess a diverse range of skills, transforming industries and revolutionising workflows. Marrs echoed this sentiment, stating, “APJ is experiencing rapid advancements in AI readiness and deployment, fuelled by substantial investments projected to reach $110 billion by 2028[1].” He added, “This growth is evident in the burgeoning AI-ready data center market across the APJ region.” The increasing complexity of these agent systems, as envisioned by Roese, will necessitate the rapid evolution of technology stacks to support their diverse architectures.

    Strategies for scaling enterprise AI success

    Building on Roese’s framework, the briefing addressed the crucial need for enterprises to scale AI effectively. Organisations are increasingly prioritising tangible return-on-investment and business value from their AI initiatives, often establishing dedicated AI committees led by Chief AI Officers or CIOs. This pragmatic approach is reflected in the rising success rates of GenAI pilot projects.

    “In our view, 2025 will be the year when we see enterprise AI truly scale and get into full production,” said Roese.

    Marrs noted that “AI maturity varies significantly across APJ, with some organisations focused on scaling existing deployments while others are still addressing fundamental infrastructure, talent, and service needs.”  He pointed to the financial services sector, where organisations are increasingly leveraging AI for fraud detection and deploying digital humans for customer service, as an example of more mature AI adoption. Conversely, some healthcare providers are still focused on building the foundational infrastructure and data management capabilities needed to support AI-driven diagnostic tools and streamlined patient care. The Dell AI Factory is playing a key role in enabling this transformation.

    Successfully scaling AI, as Roese emphasised, requires businesses to prioritise their most impactful processes and build a reusable, scalable AI foundation. Marrs showcased successful AI deployments in APJ, adding, “Organisations are leveraging AI to enhance cybersecurity, optimise cloud services, personalise learning, and transform film production,” validating Roese’s vision for enterprise AI adoption.

    In APJ, Marrs observed increasing regulatory diversity and privacy concerns are driving enterprises toward privatised and on-premise AI adoption.

    Embracing Sovereign AI for localised innovation

    A key trend highlighted by Roese was the rise of Sovereign AI efforts by countries to create localised AI ecosystems aligned with their culture, language, and data security needs. He explained that this concept focuses on a nation’s ability to generate AI value and differentiation using its own infrastructure and data, fostering ecosystems that reflect local intellectual property and priorities.

    He noted diverse approaches to Sovereign AI. Some are building national AI resources that serve both government and private sectors by providing access to compute power and data capacity. Others are pursuing collaborative strategies where governments, rather than creating infrastructure, encourage private industries to modernise and lead AI ecosystems through proactive co-design.

    Convergence of AI technologies

    The convergence of AI with other emerging technologies was a key theme of Roese’s presentation. “AI’s true potential lies in its connections with other emerging technologies,” Roese stated, highlighting the synergistic potential of combining AI with advancements in areas like quantum computing, intelligent edge, Zero Trust security, 6G technologies, and digital twins. The combined power of quantum computing and AI will be a game-changer for numerous industries. It will provide the necessary computing power to apply AI to complex fields like material science, drug discovery, and optimisation problems, areas where traditional computing methods face limitations.

    Roese also pointed out AI’s broad impact across industries, from revolutionising telecommunications network operations to transforming the PC into an integral part of the AI infrastructure. The proliferation of AI-optimised PCs, such as Dell’s own offerings, and the increasing adoption of on-premises AI solutions continues to demonstrate AI’s pervasive integration into the broader tech ecosystem.

    The AI evolution reshaping the workforce

    Roese’s vision for the future of work emphasises the transformative impact of AI on the job market, requiring organisations to invest in developing their workforce’s AI fluency. As AI agents handle more routine tasks, human roles will evolve to focus on higher-level strategic thinking, creative problem-solving, and complex decision-making.

    “AI is creating these new high-level jobs and is a catalyst for dramatic investment into infrastructure with an enormous positive impact on job creation,” Roese noted. “We know that there are going to be basic jobs that AI can do easily and repeatedly. However, the exciting part is that there are new jobs being created everywhere – software composers, AI interpreters and thermal plumbers to name a few.”

    Marrs acknowledges that the talent and resource gaps in APJ highlights the urgent need for AI skills development in the region. The future of AI, hinges on collaboration – between humans and AI, and between organisations and their technology partners. Dell Technologies is committed to helping APJ businesses harness the power of AI and drive a future powered by intelligent collaboration.

    “Looking ahead,” Marrs concluded, “strong human-to-AI and human-to-human collaboration will be key to driving a shared digital future.”

  • Indeed-Nasscom unveil future of work 2024 report: Navigating jobs, workforce, and workplace in an AI-driven world – CRN

    Indeed-Nasscom unveil future of work 2024 report: Navigating jobs, workforce, and workplace in an AI-driven world – CRN

    The world of work is undergoing a rapid transformation, driven by technological advancements, changing employee expectations, and macroeconomic uncertainties. To explore the future of Jobs, Workforce, and Workplace, Indeed and Nasscom launched the fourth edition of their Future of Work report – Balancing Priorities in an AI-driven World at Indeed’s flagship event, FutureWorks 2024. The report highlights key trends in the job market, the role of AI in recruitment, and updates to simplify, accelerate, and humanise hiring processes.

    Future of work: AI, Analytics, and Cloud are the “holy trinity”

    Increasing integration of technology into workstreams is fundamentally reshaping traditional job roles. With the increasing adoption of AI across organisational functions, AI/ML and Analytics continue to dominate as the most in-demand job family, while Cybersecurity has overtaken Cloud to become the second-most sought-after domain. The top five in-demand job roles include Data Scientist/Analyst, AI/ML Expert, Cybersecurity Specialist, Cloud Architect/Engineer, and DevOps Engineer. In response, HR leaders emphasise core technical skills, a strong learning mindset, and analytical thinking and problem-solving abilities as the primary selection criteria. Meanwhile, both the current and future workforce regard AI/GenAI proficiency, creativity, communication, and leadership skills as critical to success.

    The adoption of GenAI tools has seen a dramatic increase over the past year, evolving from proof-of-concept experiments to widespread commercial applications. A large portion of the workforce now actively leverages GenAI for diverse applications, including coding, programming, content creation, and beyond. The future workforce (students) is particularly using GenAI for Learning & Development, enhancing general knowledge, improving communication skills, seeking mentorship and advice, and exploring AI’s vast capabilities.

    Notably, 70% of respondents from the current workforce express confidence in their readiness for the evolving job roles of the future. This optimism is largely fuelled by regular skilling and upskilling initiatives, driven both by mandated organisational programs and proactive self-learning efforts, underscoring a collective commitment to adapt to the rapidly changing job landscape.

    Furthermore, as organisations become increasingly data-driven, AI, Analytics, and Cloud have emerged as the “holy trinity” driving this transformation. In tandem with this shift, HR functions are becoming progressively tech-enabled across the value chain. Companies are leveraging AI in various aspects of the recruitment and hiring process, such as automating CV screening to identify top candidates, generating gender-neutral job descriptions, enhancing knowledge sharing and learning initiatives, and streamlining candidate evaluation.

    Workplace evolution: Hybrid models and the gig economy on the rise

    While the future of work remains predominantly hybrid, the return to office is gaining momentum, with the average time spent in the office increasing by 1.2x. Key drivers of this shift include the need for stronger cultural connections, enhanced cross-team collaboration, improved employee engagement, increased leadership interactions, role-specific or customer-driven requirements, and a more immersive learning experience.

    Further, there has been a noticeable increase in willingness among both the current and future workforce to embrace the gig model. Approximately 35% of each group expressed openness to gig opportunities, a significant rise from 23% for the current workforce and 28% for the future workforce in the previous year. Key skills driving demand for gig roles in the technology sector include Generative AI & Automation, Information and Cyber Security, Digital Transformation, Solution Architecture, and Data Engineering.

    Gen Z and Millennials continue to represent the majority of the tech workforce. Across generations, factors such as brand value and opportunities for learning and growth remain key considerations when selecting an employer. Additionally, job satisfaction, job security, work-life balance, and career growth consistently rank among the top priorities for both generations when deciding to stay with an organisation.

    Sashi Kumar, Head of Sales, Indeed India said, “Indeed and Nasscom come together, to bring unmatched insights and clarity to critical conversations about the future of work. This partnership highlights the importance of upskilling, embracing hybrid models, and adapting to automation. With nearly 70% of respondents eager to apply new skills in real-world settings, the report underscores the need for organisations to bridge the gap between current readiness and future demands. By combining human creativity with AI-driven innovation, businesses can lead confidently in this new era of work.”

    Sangeeta Gupta, Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer at Nasscom, said, “The future of work, workforce, and workplace continues to evolve as organisations embrace a ‘people-centric’ approach, addressing the needs of both current employees and the future workforce. Advancements in technologies, particularly AI and ML, are driving a transformation in the job market, reshaping the skills required—spanning both technical expertise and analytical or soft skills. Technology companies must implement policies and processes that are not only aligned with the changing dynamics but also adaptable to the continuous evolution of the workforce landscape.”

  • Elastic announces general availability of elastic cloud serverless powered by search AI lake – CRN

    Elastic announces general availability of elastic cloud serverless powered by search AI lake – CRN

    Elastic announced the general availability of its Elastic Cloud Serverless powered by a re-architectured Elastic search that is built on an industry-first Search AI Lake optimised for real-time applications. It combines vast storage with low-latency querying and all of the strengths of Elasticsearch’s AI and search capabilities.

    “The need for scalability within search has never been more prevalent,” said Maribel Lopez, Founder & Principal Analyst of Lopez Research. “Serverless architecture supports the development of AI-powered search applications because it offers significant benefits in terms of scalability, cost-efficiency, and flexibility for modern software development. Companies need this type of architectural flexibility to navigate a rapidly changing AI landscape without having to make scale or performance trade-offs.”

    Elastic Cloud Serverless is engineered to tackle high-volume, complex, and high-performance workloads—from retrieval augmented generation (RAG) to threat detection. By decoupling compute from storage, indexing from search and using cost-effective cloud-native object storage, the architecture scales seamlessly while retaining the rapid, low-latency querying performance and AI relevance capabilities of Elasticsearch.

    “Ingesting data and querying the cluster showed nearly zero latency using Elastic Cloud Serverless,” said Madison Bahmer, Senior Principal Enterprise Architect, Two Six Technologies. “It is really fast and extremely easy to set up; we provisioned a new project without needing technical expertise.”

    Streamlined solutions that start fast and search faster

    The fully managed Elastic Cloud Serverless offers both streamlined solutions and pricing. The new solution-specific pricing aligns costs with actual usage tailored to the different needs of security, observability, and search — offering greater flexibility and predictability.

    By focusing on resource-based metrics like data ingestion, storage, and compute units, Elastic makes it easier for customers to manage budgets and scale as needed — enabling more control to manage workloads across different applications.

    In addition, new volume pricing for security and observability data—using a tiered pricing model—simplifies scaling by reducing costs per unit as data usage increases, making it easy for customers to set up new projects for search, observability and security.

    • Elasticsearch Serverless lets developers rapidly build AI-powered search applications with the latest features, save time managing infrastructure, and scale up or down to meet their needs.
    • Elastic Observability Serverless enables a hassle-free experience without the overhead of managing the Elastic Stack or manually scaling capacity.
    • Elastic Security Serverless provides security analysts with a new cloud deployment option for their security analytics and SIEM use cases.

    “What has stood out to our team with Elasticsearch Serverless is its ease of use,” said Marcel Makus, Development Manager at SAP Concur. “Elastic search Serverless is simple to use as a fully managed service, and it takes virtually no time to set up a new project. We’ve also been impressed with how well Elastic delivers on its autoscaling capabilities.”

    “With our fully managed Elastic Cloud Serverless, we’re helping customers save more, scale fast, and search faster,” said Ken Exner, Chief Product Officer at Elastic. “By removing operational overhead, developers can rapidly build AI-powered search applications without concern for latency or scalability. Our Search AI Lake inherently supports dense vectors and features such as hybrid search, faceted search, and relevance ranking, which are especially vital for applications like GenAI and RAG.”

  • Wipro and SIAM.AI build AI assistant for tourism authority of Thailand with NVIDIA AI – CRN

    Wipro and SIAM.AI build AI assistant for tourism authority of Thailand with NVIDIA AI – CRN

    Wipro Limited announced a collaboration with SIAM.AI, a member of the NVIDIA Cloud Partner program in Thailand. The companies will leverage NVIDIA accelerated computing and software to develop an AI-powered digital assistant for the Tourism Authority of Thailand. This collaboration will utilise infrastructure, data and networks within the country, advancing Thailand’s sovereign AI objectives.

    The AI-powered virtual assistant, ‘Sukjai’—powered by the NVIDIA AI Enterprise software platform, SIAM.AI and Wipro’s Enterprise Generative AI (WeGA) Studio—will provide domestic and international travelers with personalised, up-to-date, and timely information to deliver highly tailored experiences, while enabling the Tourism Authority to seamlessly service a growing number of tourists.

    Specifically, ‘Sukjai’ will provide 24/7 support and information on things such as transportation guidelines and schedules, destinations and lodging availability, recommended activities based on interest, and crowd flow information at top attractions, etc. It will offer customised recommendations based on individual preferences and include info on emergency services as well as safety and security alerts.

    Vinay Firake, CEO, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa (APMEA), Wipro Limited, said, “We are excited to collaborate with SIAM.AI and utilise NVIDIA’s technology to transform the tourism experience in Thailand. This initiative highlights our deep expertise and investments in delivering highly customised AI solutions, designed to achieve the unique objectives of our clients. With the expected increase in sovereign AI initiatives across geographies, this collaboration with SIAM.AI and the Thai government marks an important milestone in bringing such services to a broader set of clients across markets.”

    Ratanaphon Wongnapachant, CEO, SIAM.AI Cloud, said, “Our collaboration with Wipro exemplifies how we’re bringing together global expertise and local knowledge to serve Thailand’s digital future. Through this partnership, we’re leveraging NVIDIA’s advanced AI infrastructure while maintaining our commitment to data sovereignty and local value creation. This initiative demonstrates how Thailand can work with global leaders while maintaining control of our AI destiny and advancing our position as a key player in Southeast Asia’s AI landscape.”

    John Fanelli, Vice President of Enterprise Software, NVIDIA, said, “Created by Wipro and SIAM.AI with full-stack NVIDIA AI software and accelerated computing, the ‘Sukjai’ large language model will provide a foundation for Thailand to build AI applications that the nation’s enterprises and small business owners can use to enhance travel experiences and open up new economic opportunities.”

    ‘Sukjai’ will initially provide services in Thai and English. Wipro will continue to train the underlying models with the NVIDIA NeMo platform based on user feedback, creating ever-more elevated and seamless experiences. The virtual assistant will be built based on responsible AI principles, such as transparency, data privacy, and human oversight, leveraging Wipro’s Responsible AI framework.

  • Kore.ai’s ‘AI for Work’ accelerates AI adoption and business outcomes across users, teams and the enterprise – CRN

    Kore.ai’s ‘AI for Work’ accelerates AI adoption and business outcomes across users, teams and the enterprise – CRN

    Kore.ai announced AI for Work, a comprehensive AI platform designed to break information silos, streamline business workflows, and elevate employee experience. It transforms how enterprises harness AI to make work more efficient, intelligent, and valuable across all levels of the organisation. Based on beta customer results, companies achieved 30-50% faster information retrieval, workflow automation, and higher productivity overall with AI for Work.

    Redefining the Modern Workplace

    Knowledge workers spend 30% of their time searching for information across fragmented systems. While point solutions offer limited capabilities, enterprises need a comprehensive platform that securely connects information sources and enables AI innovation across teams.

    Gartner estimates that, by 2028, 33% of enterprises will include agentic AI, up from less than 1% in 2024.

    AI for Work revolutionises workplace operations through core differentiated capabilities:

    • Secure Enterprise Search: Advanced RAG-powered search with role-based access delivers context-aware answers across authorised documents and applications. With its 100+ pre-built connectors and ability to create new ones without coding, it delivers instant ROI.
    • Universal Orchestrator: LLM prompt-based applications and copilot tools can’t handle complexity—they hallucinate or remain siloed in individual applications.
      AI for Work coordinates complex workflows across specialised AI agents that can search, reason, summarise, generate content, and directly integrate with APIs. Supports intelligent planning, real-time context sharing, and session management to deliver seamless multi-step task execution.
    • Enterprise Marketplace: Pre-built AI agent solutions for HR/IT/Recruitment and numerous agentic templates for common business workflows.
    • Agentic applications (Prompt Library & Studio): Pre-built agentic applications that can execute multi-step workflows with precision; prompt library and no-code tools to create multi-step AI agentic workflows across enterprise applications.
    • Extensible Agentic Platform: Built to easily integrate with different LLMs, and custom and third-party assistants or copilots with admin controls for guardrails and compliance, perfect for business teams to create, customise, and scale AI solutions, responsibly.

    Transforming Enterprise Nerve System

    “The modern enterprise is at a tipping point where knowledge workers must shift from navigating complexity to driving meaningful outcomes. Existing tools and workflows don’t match the pace of innovation and the demand for efficiency,” said Raj Koneru, CEO and Founder of Kore.ai. “AI for Work brings the convergence of intelligence, accessibility, and empowerment. By combining advanced RAG based search, multiagent AI automation, and a no-code AI agent platform, we’re not just enhancing productivity—we’re democratising AI innovation at every level of the organisation to shape the future of work.”

    Future-Ready Workforce Solutions

    Enterprises using AI for Work have achieved remarkable results, with a US-based investment banking company reporting that every search by its wealth advisors delivered 4x faster and more accurate answers from over 100,000 reports and knowledge artifacts. Additionally, a large pharmaceutical company has used AI automation for over 70% of routine IT support tickets.

    “Generative AI is shaking up every aspect of work,” said Yuliya Teteryuk, Customer Care Director at Autodoc. “We are passionate about using technology to empower our people. That’s why we partnered with Kore.ai to integrate AI into our customer and employee support operations. We have observed 74% first-call resolution and significant savings. Our people are happier. We are excited about the simplicity, potential, and benefits AI for Work bring to the table.”

    Platform for Enterprise Innovation

    “Enterprises today grapple with fragmented knowledge and siloed systems,” said Prasanna Arikala, Chief Technology Officer at Kore.ai. “AI for Work transforms this reality by unifying enterprise intelligence and automation in a secure platform that grows with your organisation’s needs. Built on our agent platform – and trusted by over 400 Fortune 2000 companies for its security, compliance, and governance features – it enables enterprises to turn tribal knowledge into strategic assets, democratise AI innovation, and reimagine how work gets done.”

  • Zendesk strengthens APAC leadership with key executive hire – CRN

    Zendesk strengthens APAC leadership with key executive hire – CRN

    Zendesk announced the appointment of technology industry veteran and customer experience specialist Mitch Young to the Asia Pacific leadership position, effective immediately. In this role he will be responsible for driving the company’s growth in the region, working across markets including Australia, India, Japan, and Singapore among others. Zendesk’s regional business serves iconic and fast-growing brands in industries including financial services (and fintech), retail, and manufacturing. It is also home to engineering hubs in Melbourne and Singapore which are contributing to global product development.

    Young has held roles in IBM and most recently, ServiceNow where he led the region for nearly six years before taking a sabbatical. He is based in Melbourne. Extensive experience in various regional roles has seen Young live in Singapore and Shanghai while overseeing business growth in mature as well as emerging markets in Asia Pacific. Zendesk will leverage his vast knowledge of the region’s markets to build on one of the fastest-growing regions for the company.

    “This is a time of massive opportunity for us at Zendesk. As the company delivering the most comprehensive suite of AI-powered CX solutions, we are at an exciting inflection point. This aligns well with the macro opportunities in APAC, the region that is poised to deliver exponential growth in the global economy” said Young, speaking on his new role, “I am excited to be here, and work with our teams to support APAC businesses as they position themselves to take advantage of these growth possibilities.”

    Zendesk’s recently announced CX Trends report found that APAC CX leaders who embrace AI are 172% more likely to report high ROI from AI. And AI is raising the bar of what constitutes exceptional service–72% of APAC consumers expect more personalised service with AI. “What I find most exciting about the CX space, at this time particularly, is how AI is enabling efficiencies and productivity gains across the board. Eighty-two percent of agents in APAC believe that having an AI copilot would help them do their job better. We’re partnering with businesses whose impetus is retaining and growing their customer base, amid growing economies but also growing competition,” Young commented further on the APAC landscape.

  • Shiv Nadar University, Delhi – NCR to co-host the Innovation & Impact Summit 2024 in Partnership with Times Higher Education

    New Delhi, 05th December 2024: Shiv Nadar University, Delhi-NCR, in collaboration with the Times Higher Education (THE), a leading global platform for higher education data and insights, is set to host the highly anticipated Innovation & Impact Summit 2024. This event is scheduled for December 10-12, 2024, in New Delhi, will focus on the pivotal role higher education plays in driving global innovation and measuring its societal impact.

    This Summit is taking place in India for the first time. It will bring together over 300 delegates and 100+ renowned speakers from across the globe, including top academic leaders, government representatives, industry experts, and thought leaders. It is also open to students and will feature a special panel with students and their reflections.

    Professor Ananya Mukherjee, Vice-Chancellor of Shiv Nadar University, Delhi- NCR, said, “As an Institution of Eminence, one of our main mandates is to bring global visibility to higher education in India, with a view to building strong global collaborations and partnerships. This summit is an effort in that direction. Amongst the topics of discussion are AI, space, health, energy, sustainability to name a few – as well as the spectrum of social innovations and philanthropy. My hope is that many seeds of collaboration will be sown during these three days, resulting in new innovations in the near future”.

    Phil Baty, Chief Global Affairs Officer, Times Higher Education, said, “We are delighted to collaborate with Shiv Nadar University, Delhi – NCR to host the summit. This partnership highlights our shared commitment to advancing higher education and promoting innovation. We look forward to bringing together thought leaders and experts from around the globe to the summit.”

    The Innovation & Impact Summit 2024 aims to explore how universities worldwide can adopt sustainable and equitable approaches to blend technology, processes, and services in addressing the world’s most pressing challenges.

  • RingCentral fuels growth and innovation in India with new Bangalore office – CRN

    RingCentral fuels growth and innovation in India with new Bangalore office – CRN

    RingCentral announced the opening of its new state-of-the-art office in Bangalore. This investment underscores RingCentral’s commitment to India as a pivotal center for innovation, facilitating business collaboration and reinforcing the company’s rapid growth trajectory in the region. The new office unveiling follows RingCentral recently obtaining approval of a PAN-India license from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), authorising service delivery across all 22 telecom circles in the country.

    “India is a critical market for RingCentral, and our opening of this new office is a testament to our strong belief in the incredible talent and innovation that thrives in India,” said Kira Makagon, Chief Innovation Officer & CMO at RingCentral. “This expansion not only strengthens our presence in a key strategic region, but also fuels our mission to drive groundbreaking innovative solutions in global business communications.”

    Located in a prime location next to the Swami Vivekanand Road metro station, with convenient access to Indiranagar’s vibrant social scene, restaurants, and shopping, the new facility is designed to accommodate 700+ employees. With numerous collaboration spaces, wellness rooms, and an in-house cafeteria, the office provides a world-class work environment focused on employee engagement and well-being.

    “Our local presence, combined with our AI-driven cloud communications and contact center solutions, positions us to be a true partner for Indian businesses seeking to elevate their internal employee collaboration and drive superior customer experiences,” said Sathesh Murthy, MD & Engineering Head, RingCentral. “We are incredibly excited to expand our presence in Bangalore and contribute to the growth of the local tech community.”

    RingCentral’s investment in India extends beyond infrastructure. The company is actively expanding its R&D efforts in areas such as AI, Business Collaboration, Contact Center solutions, and next-generation communication technologies catering to global customer needs, further solidifying its commitment to the Indian market. The company is also scaling its customer support, service engineering, and site reliability engineering (SRE) teams to ensure exceptional service for its growing customer base in the region.

  • AWS and DSCI collaborate to power India’s cybersecurity startup and ISV community with generative AI – CRN

    AWS and DSCI collaborate to power India’s cybersecurity startup and ISV community with generative AI – CRN

    Amazon Web Services (AWS) India Private Limited announced it is collaborating with the Data Security Council of India (DSCI) to support a cohort of startups and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) in India to innovate in cybersecurity using generative Artificial Intelligence (AI). This initiative supports the vision outlined for DSCI’s National Centre of Excellence for Cybersecurity Technology Development (N-CoE), a joint initiative with the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) which aims to encourage security product development and innovation in India, and advance India as a destination for cybersecurity research and entrepreneurship. The N-CoE nurtures and accelerates early-stage startups focused on cybersecurity and privacy solutions, and has incubated 140+ start-ups across 15 domains.

    This new initiative will provide startups and ISVs in India with resources, training, and access to AWS services in generative AI, enabling them to take advantage of industry-leading large language models (LLMs) and foundation models (FMs), AI tools, and infrastructure to accelerate product development, and gain experience in rapid prototyping and scaling. AWS subject-matter experts in security solutions and AI, and leaders from DSCI will mentor the startups in the cohort, and facilitate hands-on learning and collaboration for them, including technical concepts and adherence to security controls, compliances, and privacy requirements.

    Startups and ISVs will also learn about commercialisation and international expansion opportunities through AWS Marketplace, a curated digital catalog which customers can use to find solutions specific to their needs, and other tailored programs for domestic and global markets.

    “At DSCI, we are focussed about helping startups advance their innovation edge and marketability in cybersecurity. The emergence of generative AI in advancing product development is a significant opportunity for startups, and this new initiative will boost the opportunity for them to access industry-leading LLMs, tools, infrastructure, services, and expertise from AWS to augment capabilities of their products,” said Vinayak Godse, CEO, DSCI. “AWS is renowned, and its cloud and AI technology not only enable startups and ISVs to build cutting-edge products, but also scale them to the global market.”

    “Security is top priority for us at AWS, and building a safe cyberspace is of paramount importance to help drive the growth of India’s digital economy. We are committed to foster innovation in India’s cyberspace, and are excited to collaborate with DSCI to enable builders leverage generative AI, and catalyse cybersecurity innovation,” said Sundar V.G., Director – Business Development, AWS India Private Limited. “Generative AI is a transformational technology that can supercharge cybersecurity professionals and innovation in many ways, for example by helping development teams understand risk better and prioritise security alerts, automating threat responses, deploying intelligent threat detection, or driving down costs in product development.”

    For more than 18 years, AWS has helped more startups launch, build, and succeed than any other cloud provider. Organisations of all sizes are also generative AI services from AWS to innovate, improve efficiency, enhance decision-making, and deliver more value to their customers.

    In cybersecurity for example, Infopercept, an India-based global platform-led managed security services company provides offensive security, defensive security, and security compliance through its platform Invinsense, by building on AWS. Infopercept uses AWS CloudFormation to maintain the security, compliance, and operational integrity of its customers’ environments, and uses Amazon Q to accelerate software development and integrate chatbot capabilities in its platform. Amazon Security Lake serves as a logical extension of the Invinsense platform, integrating with Amazon Bedrock for generative AI, while Amazon QuickSight visualises current and future attack trends. Infopercept is listed on the AWS Marketplace.

    Also, Cloudanix, a Y Combinator-backed cybersecurity startup co-headquartered in Pune, helps companies improve their operational excellence and security posture. A cloud-native application protection platform (CNAPP), Cloudanix secures code, cloud, workloads, and identities. It also helps customers with remediation which is powered by generative AI using Amazon Bedrock and Amazon SageMaker. The AWS Marketplace is enabling Cloudanix to distribute its offerings to customers in a seamless manner and collaborate with other solution providers in the AWS Partner Network across the US, India, MENA, and ASEAN countries. Cloudanix is an AWS ISV Accelerate partner.

  • New Research from NetApp finds one in five companies unable to recover data after cyberattack – CRN

    New Research from NetApp finds one in five companies unable to recover data after cyberattack – CRN

    NetApp announced the release of its latest report analysing the state of cybersecurity and offering actionable insights to help organisations strengthen their cyber resiliency. The Futurum Group study, “Cloud, Complexity, AI The Triple Threat Demanding New Cyber Resilience Strategies” sponsored by NetApp, provides a comprehensive analysis of evolving cyber threats and resiliency strategies.

    The study, which surveyed over 1,300 cybersecurity leaders across industries worldwide, reveals that more than 54 percent of organisations experienced a cyberattack in the past 12 to 18 months, with one in five unable to recover lost data. The report highlights the urgent need for enterprises to leverage intelligent data infrastructure to address growing risks posed by sophisticated threats, operational complexity, and the challenges of hybrid multi-cloud environments.

    “The findings highlight the urgency for organisations to rethink their cybersecurity strategies in an era of escalating threats,” said Gagan Gulati, General Manager for Data Services at NetApp. “To reduce risks and ensure faster recovery, businesses must adopt an intelligent data strategy that prioritises secure-by-design infrastructures, embedding security at the core of their data management approach. With data as a company’s most valuable asset, resilient storage solutions—such as those offered by NetApp—serve as the last line of defense in a comprehensive security strategy, safeguarding critical information and enabling long-term success in hybrid multi-cloud environments.”

    Key Findings:

    • Cloud Security Risks: Misconfigurations and vulnerabilities in hybrid multi-cloud environments are now among the top threats, outpacing traditional attacks like ransomware. As organisations rely increasingly on hybrid cloud infrastructures, addressing these vulnerabilities is critical to maintaining data security and operational continuity.
    • Tool Sprawl Challenges: Seventy percent of respondents use more than 40 cybersecurity tools, with 84 percent citing operational complexity as a major inhibitor to cyber resiliency. This complexity creates protection gaps and inefficiencies, underscoring the need for tool consolidation and integrated solutions to streamline operations.
    • AI in Cybersecurity: Forty percent of organisations are leveraging AI for threat detection, with plans to expand its use for automating response and recovery. AI’s ability to identify and mitigate threats at scale is powerful, but balancing its use with managing false positives and ensuring robust human oversight is essential to its success.
    • Data Classification is Key: Organisations with strong data classification frameworks recover from attacks more effectively, emphasising its role as a cornerstone of cyber resiliency. This underscores the importance of embedding intelligent data infrastructure that not only classifies and protects data but also enables real-time anomaly detection and resilient recovery, enabling business continuity even in worst-case scenarios.
    • Increased Investment: Over 90 percent of respondents plan to increase cybersecurity spend in the next 12 to 18 months, focusing on integrated and proactive solutions. Proactive investment can address the rising cost of cyberattacks and the growing complexity of threats, ensuring resilience and operational trust.

    NetApp’s Intelligent Data Infrastructure framework helps organisations address the cyber resiliency challenges revealed in this report by enabling organisations to take a proactive approach to data protection. By leveraging advanced data classification, AI-driven threat detection, and integrated security measures, organisations can more easily implement stringent governance practices, detect and respond to threats in real time, and maintain compliance with evolving industry standards. As highlighted by the report, organisations with resilient data infrastructure have seen significant improvements in recovery times and overall data security, demonstrating that it is a critical component in modern cybersecurity strategies.

    “This survey sheds light on the critical role of visibility and data-centric strategies in navigating the evolving cybersecurity landscape,” said Daniel Newman, CEO, The Futurum Group. “By harnessing intelligent data infrastructure solutions, organisations can better protect their assets, ensure recovery, and thrive amidst disruption.”

    The report emphasises the critical role of AI and integrated technologies as game-changers in combating increasingly sophisticated attack vectors. By leveraging AI alongside robust data classification and consolidated toolchains, enterprises can mitigate risks more effectively, reduce response times, and enhance visibility across sprawling hybrid multi-cloud environments.