Tata Motors announces new IMPACT design language for its upcoming passenger vehicles

Tata Motors is making appreciable progress in terms of design, something that’s very evident with the Zest, Bolt and more than ever with the new Zica. The company plans to transform its image of a maker of average, and sometimes boring looking cars to one that makes exciting cars. In that context, the company today announced its new IMPACT Design language for its upcoming passenger vehicles. The recently unveiled ZICA, that we test drove a few weeks back is the first new product under this design language. According to an official release by the company “the IMPACT design forms the over-arching design brand which stands for ‘Immediate IMPACT at first sight and lasting IMPACT over time.’

In case of most reputed international carmakers, the family look of the cars is expressed by a design philosophy which more or less defines how the cars from the stable will look like. For example, Hyundai has tasted immense success with its Fluidic Sculpture design philosophy; another example would be Ford’s Kinetic Design philosophy. According to the brand, the ZICA truly embodies the IMPACT Design. It distills the fine points of auto design with styling and lines that accentuate modern India and its global citizens.

Here’s what Tata Motors have to say about the definition of their new IMPACT design language.

It is after keeping the media-saturated customer in mind that a new design language had to be created. Something that could break the clutter and reinvent the wheel every time it was applied. And thus, the IMPACT design philosophy was created.

IMPACT Design further distills the design elements that can be expected from all Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles. It will be achieved through key design elements on the Exterior and Interior.

The Exteriors design will be defined through ‘EXciting’, ‘EXpressive’ and ‘EXtraordinary’ features:

1. Exciting architecture and pleasing proportions will be standard e.g. best in segment size & location of the wheels, perfectly proportioned cabin to body ratio and hood to cabin relationship
2. Expressive surfaces and graphics e.g. front face framed by the Humanity Line; dynamism amplified by the Slingshot line; movement created by the Diamond Window
3. Extraordinary: Details inspired by Indian Architecture

According to Mr. Pratap Bose, Head, Design, Tata Motors, “You can either win or lose a potential customer within the first 20 seconds of them seeing a car. However, the customer stays with you based on the long-term experience they have with the product or service. IMPACT DESIGN is exactly about an Immediate and a Lasting Impact, Design has in our lives, and environment. From ‘INtelligent’ use of space, ‘INviting’ interiors and ConnectNext features that make you feel ‘INtouch’ with the world inside to EXpressive, EXciting’, and EXtraordinary exterior features. With the ZICA we have started this journey.”

According to Mr. Mayank Pareek, President, Passenger Vehicle Business Unit, Tata Motors, “Today, the automakers are developing innovative technologies to cater to the needs of the new generation of customers. Design is among the key factors for car purchase decisions. Tata Motors recognizes this and presents IMPACT Design – as a key focus for the company’s passenger vehicle strategy.  The new, youthful, energetic and bold character of the passenger vehicles by Tata Motors is sure to make a lasting impact on our customers and on the Indian roads.”

While all of that sounds good and a tad optimistic in out opinion, the Zica does look like an evolved product in terms of design. Would you agree that the ZICA is a true embodiment of Tata Motors’ IMPACT design philosophy? Do share your views with us via comments or through one of our social channels.

Volkswagen Gave An Apology Sandwich With The Reveal Of Its Budd-e Concept Car In-Between

Volkswagen’s head brand ambassador Herbert Diess quickly got the emissions fiasco apologies out of the way on stage at CES on Tuesday and then unveiled two connected and all-electric concept cars of the future, the e-Golf Touch and the much-anticipated Budd-e microbus.

Diess was in the running for VW CEO shortly after Martin Winterkorn resigned in fall 2015, amidst a revelation the German car manufacturer had deliberately placed emissions-cheating software in more than 500,000 vehicles sold in the United States. Matthias Muller is now the company’s CEO.

The U.S. government filed a lawsuit against Volkswagen on Monday in Detroit, Michigan. Diess took to the stage at the Cosmopolitan’s Chelsea Theater in Las Vegas this evening to address the situation.

“The current issue for diesel engines is certainly nothing to be proud of. We disappointed our customers and the American people. We are truly sorry and I apologize. We are disappointed that this could happen within the company we love. I assure you, we are doing everything we can to make things right. And we are working night and day to find effective technical remedies for our customers and the authorities worldwide. In total, up to 11 million VW group cars are affected by this issue. For the large majority of these cars, we have already worked out approved solutions. In Europe, this holds true for about 8.5 million affected cars. Resolutions have been ratified by the European authorities and we will start to repair these cars this month. Most of them will be fixed within 2016. Here in the US, the set of regulations is different compared to Europe. It’s more demanding due to nitrogen oxide and less demanding due to CO2. We’re working hard to create an effective package for the US authorities.”

Diess then proceeded to wow the crowd with the concept cars – both of which focus heavily on some digital touches Volkswagen hopes will give the company a good foothold in the connected car race.

The Budd-e, a pint-sized version of the company’s legendary hippie van looked almost Tron-like as it glowed in the dark onstage – as if to let us know we’re now in the future. It also stayed true to what seems to be the automotive theme of CES this year – connection to everything on command. The Budd-e will let you know if a visitor is at the front of your house, what’s in your fridge and “make sure your robot cleaner is ready” before you get home, according to one LG exec who came onstage during the presentation.

The car is also equipped to handle package pickup and delivery with a built-in drop box in the back where a delivery person can drop off and pick up packages wherever your car is parked. 

Budd-e also seems to be adherent to “the force.” The handleless car doors will automatically open at the command of your voice. Diess demonstrated this onstage as the driver inside said politely, “Hello Budd-e, please open the passenger door.” 

The e-Golf Touch is an updated version of the Golf R Touch concept car Volkswagen showcased last year. But this one is electric, comes with a 9.2-inch touchable dashboard resembling an iPad, and is compatible with Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and MirrorLink.

One of the cool things about the e-Golf is the personalization. Different drivers can set preferred driving features in the cloud and upload them onto the tablet dashboard.

Gestures like the waving of your hand can control things like volume and the e-Golf is WiFi enabled and equipped with phone charging outlets in the front and rear seats of the car. Should no Internet connection be available, the car is also equipped with a USB Type-C port.

The presentation also touched on a strong theme among many car manufacturers at CES this year – automated driving. “Volkswagen is rapidly entering the digital world, utilizing machine learning and mapping,” Diess told the crowd.

Note VW bought HERE, one of the largest digital mapping companies, last summer.

The company also unveiled a partnership with Mobileye, a vision technology company with an advanced driver assistance system that helps boost cars to a near self-driving experience.

“The human eye is really complicated and it’s really hard to replicate,” Co-founder and CTO of Mobileye Ammon Shashua said onstage at the VW event. “In the future we’ll live in a digital world…the camera will continue to be a critical sensor.”

A big theme for both cars was clearly about connection, but the Budd-e was definitely about the design. The car and the home cross-pollinate well in VW’s vision for the future Internet of Things, be it on the road or in the cloud and Volkswagen’s CEO indicated that these futuristic rides “could be a reality by the end of the decade.”

“The car of the future will make a difference. It will make our world a better place and Volkswagen will make sure most people can afford it,” Diess said.

He ended his speech with a return to what his company plans to do to make things right with the U.S. market. “We’re doing everything we can to work on the current diesel issue in the U.S.,” he said. “We’re working very hard to do so and confident we will provide solutions very soon.”

Maximum subscriber growth from Category C circles not translating into revenues

With maximum growth being recorded by the circles of Jammu & Kashmir, Bihar, and Assam, category `C’ are recording the maximum subscriber growth. However, this subscriber growth is not translating into revenue growth

Jammu & Kashmir recorded a subscriber growth of 16% with the number of subscribers increasing from 8.25 million at the end of June 2014 to 9.6 million at the end of June 2015, as per data released by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. J&K circle is closely followed by Bihar where the subscriber base grew from 63.16 million at the end of June 2014 to 72.6 million at the end of June 2015. Bihar recorded a subscriber growth of 15% if one compares the total number of subscribers in June 2014 with subscriber number in June 2015.
On the other hand, Assam, which is also a category `C’ circle recorded a growth of 13% with subscribers increasing from 15.5 million at the end of June 2014 to 17.5 million at the end of June 2015.

However these three circles continue to record one of the lowest revenues for telcos. J&K recorded revenue of Rs 518.7 crore in AMJ 2015 while Bihar recorded revenue of Rs 2558.8 crore in the same time period. On the other hand, Assam recorded revenue of Rs 839 crore in AMJ 2015.

Jammu & Kashmir has a teledensity of 76.9% while Bihar and Assam have teledensity of 51.1% and 53.9% respectively, underlining a need of network expansion and addition of further subscribers from these circles.

Experts have been saying for long that the next wave of subscriber growth is going to come from the rural segment. The top three circles recording maximum revenue growth are predominantly rural. Telcos have largely ignored the country’s hinterland because Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) continues to remain low. The investment in rural expansion usually translates to long gestation period before a telecom operator is able to generate revenue or break even.

However it is a chicken and egg situation. Unless and until they expand more users will not come on board and revenue from existing subscribers is unlikely to increase if products specifically targeted at them are launched.

With 84.75 million (at the end of June 2015) subscribers, UP (E) has the largest subscriber base in India. UP (E) circle is closely followed by Tamil Nadu (79.96 million subscribers-June 2015) and Maharashtra (76.89 million, June 2015).

Social Commerce Startup Carousell Is Raising $50M To Expand In Asia

Carousell, a three-year-old mobile marketplace that enables social commerce, could emerge as the next big e-commerce player in Southeast Asia. That’s because, according to multiple sources in to the investor and e-commerce communities in Southeast Asia, the Singapore-based company is currently trying to raise a whopping $50 million Series B to expand its footprint across Asia.

Carousell did not reply to multiple requests for comment or confirmation of its fundraising plans.

Founded in May 2012, Carousell’s app is a peer-to-peer commerce marketplace, much like a Craigslist for mobile. Users post items that are for sale, those interested in buying them then initiative a conversation to finalize a price, payment (which happens outside of the app, for now) and a place to meet/mailing options to deliver to goods. The company’s tagline — “Snap to Sell, Chat to Buy” — emphasizes the focus on social commerce made easy. (Developing its tech — and potentially adding an in-app payment system — could also be on the cards for such a big round, but that’s us speculating as this has not been confirmed by sources.)

Timing would certainly suggest that Carousell is out in the field raising new capital. It’s been more than a year since it closed a $6 million Series A led by Sequoia in November 2014. It previously took an $800,000 seed investment led by Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten.

At the time of that Series A, we reported that “eventually, Carousell’s founders hope to take it further into the Asia-Pacific region” and that’s exactly what this round — which we understand that the company has been talking to investors about for around a month — is aimed at doing.

The Carousell service is currently available in Singapore, Indonesia and Taiwan, where it can be access via iOS and Android apps as well as its website. The exact scope of the startup’s planned expansion isn’t clear, but more markets in Southeast Asia — such as Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines — are likely to be priorities, in addition to reaching other parts of the wider Asian continent.

While Carousell has spawned a dedicated following and gone beyond early adopters — as the existence of parody Tumblr “Carouhell,” which documents some of the stranger stories from the service, shows — its mission is challenging. Most e-commerce happens on larger, well-backed sites like Rocket Internet’s Lazada and Zalora, SoftBank-backed Tokopedia in Indonesia, and social networks like people’s Facebook and Instagram pages. Building out the Carousell marketplace/platform is an addition challenge beyond encouraging people to sell their goods via a P2P system.

That said, the genre seems to have plenty of potential in Asia — and Southeast Asia, in particular — where many people are thrifty and private sales of unwanted or no longer used items are commonplace offline. In the emerging peer-to-peer commerce space, there are few sites with the calibre of investors or size of funding of Carousel. Another $50 million in the kitty would certainly help to move things forward.

Hyatt Is Latest Hotel Brand Hacked After Finding Malware On Its Payment System

Hyatt, the global hotel chain with 627 properties across more than 50 countries, is the latest in its industry to suffer a cyber security attack.

In an announcement devoid of specific information or details, the company revealed that it “recently identified malware on computers that operate the payment processing systems for Hyatt-managed locations.” Upon that discovery, it said, it began an investigation with third-party security experts that remains ongoing.

Hyatt didn’t say how many of its locations were affected, how exactly customer data might be compromised, nor how many customers may be impacted. It did say, though, that it has created a dedicated webpage where it will post updates from the investigation — that’s hyatt.com/protectingourcustomers.

Hyatt is just the latest hotelier to get hit by such an attack. Hilton, Starwood andMandarin Oriental are among the others to have been hacked this year alone.

Micromax to invest Rs 300Cr for 3 manufacturing plants in India

Indian smartphone manufacturer Micromax will invest Rs 300 crore in India over the next few months to set up three new manufacturing units, reportsIBNLive. The new plants will be set up in Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Telangana, and will be operational by next year.

As of now, Micromax claims that it has allotted 20 acres of land in Telangana and 25 acres in Rajasthan for the manufacturing plants. The construction on both these plants will begin soon, while the location for the Andhra Pradesh will be decided soon. Overall, the company aims to have a capacity of 4 million units once these plants are fully functional. It will invest Rs 100 crore in each plant.

Micromax currently has an assembly unit in Rudrapur which produces around 1 million units, accounting for one third of the company’s requirements, with the rest of the units imported from China. The company had started manufacturing at this plant in April last year, where it also manufactures all the tablets sold in the country. Interestingly, Micromax mentions that by 2017, it will start to manufacture batteries and other components in India.

Manufacturing in India: The Indian government has been encouraging domestic companies to start manufacturing electronics goods within the country instead of importing them and had approved a National Policy on Electronics. Since then, various smartphone manufacturers have said they will start manufacturing in India or have already started doing so.

– Last month, Optiemus Infracom, the founder of the domestic mobile brand Zen Mobile, signed a joint venture with Wistron Corporation to set up a mobile manufacturing unit in Noida.

– Various manufacturers have tied up with Foxconn to manufacture phones in India. Earlier this month, Oppo started contract manufacturing in India in partnership with Foxconn while in September, Gionee tied up with Foxconn and Dixon to manufacture its phones in India. In June, the company started making Xiaomi phones in the country.

– The month before, Foxconn was in talks with Adani Enterprises to form a joint venture (JV), likely to make iPhones in India. The company had first reported in June that it could possibly set up base in India to manufacture iPhones, iPads and iPods for Indian and international sales.

– In August, Lenovo started the local production of smartphones with Flextronics under a contract manufacturing deal at its Sriperumbudur plant.

– Videocon Mobile Phones, Videocon Group’s mobile company, started manufacturing mobile phones in the country.

– In June, homegrown mobile phone maker Celkon opened its first manufacturing unit in the country in Telangana.

– In March, Samsung and Sony had announced plans for setting up manufacturing bases in India as a part of the Make in India initiative.

– Earlier this year, Spice Group said it would invest Rs 500 crores to set up a manufacturing unit in Uttar Pradesh.

Amazon Beats Flipkart as the Most Visited eCommerce Site; Gifts Vouchers to All Users

After two and a half years of setting foot in India, Amazon.in has claimed to have become the most visited e-commerce site in India. In order to celebrate this occasion, Amazon has decided to give away a gift voucher worth Rs 200 to every buyer who will buy anything worth a minimum of Rs 500 today.

Jeff Bezos said that “We have built a vibrant marketplace with tens of thousands of sellers offering everyday low prices on India’s largest selection of over 30-Million products and bringing alive our promise to the customers. We will keep growing our investments in India and continue to work hard for our Indian sellers and customers.”

The terms of the offer limit the beneficiary to one gift card. The Gift card will be automatically added to your account on or before January 20 2016. The offer will be valid only till 12AM today and it will hold good for all modes of delivery including COD.

In October, a time when e-commerce companies battle out to sell make the most of the festive season Amazon.in topped the comScore list with a cumulative visit of 200-Million while its arch rival Flipkart attracted a lesser 164 million visitors. Amazon also seems to have achieved the largest growth rate in visitors from the mere 85-Million in October 2014 to 200-Million in October 2015.

Interestingly, although Amazon.in saw 7- percent of its sales from the mobile app it still witnessed a sizeable 30-Million visitors on its desktop site. All the while Flipkart had been busy forcing out its App only strategy literally barring buyers from using their desktop site, a much controversial move which was sort of redacted later. Amazon has always been bullish when it comes to the Indian markets it is infact heavily investing on the Indian front, first the $2-Bn warchest and also the recent promise to invest a total of $5-Bn for the Indian operations.

Surface Vs. iPad Battle Gets Competitive As Microsoft Outsells Apple

Thanks to its iPad family, Apple has been comfortably at number one in the ‘Top Brands’ chart for US tablet sales throughout 2015. At least it was until October, when Microsoft’s sales of the Surface devices spiked and pushed Cupertino’s slabs down to second place.

The research on sales figures comes from 1010data Ecom Insights Panel (via WinBeta) and suggests that Apple’s iPad was not the top-selling tablet brand online in October 2015. While it has been on top for the first nine months of the year in terms of online sales, Microsoft took over in month ten with a 45 percent share of online sales, compared to Apple’s 17 percent.

Apple is in the historically unusual role of playing the establishment figure, with Microsoft casting the Surface brand as the scrappy underdog.

Yes, Microsoft is coming from along way back, which means growth in percentage terms will always look far better than that of any incumbent player. October was also the month when the Surface Pro 4 and the Surface Book went on sale, generating more heat in the sales than previous months. But the Surface trend has generally been upwards, running close to Apple in August and September.

It remains to be seen if the new hardware release numbers are simply a spike from sales to the geekerati and will be exceeded by the expected Apple spike in November thanks to the iPad Pro, or whether the trend will continue. If the latter, Microsoft can look forward to reaching double-figures in the annualised market share on the strength of a strong calendar quarter to close out the year.

There are two things that do stand out to me. The first is that Microsoft is capturing the ‘underdog’ story arc very nicely. No matter that the Surface devices started with Windows 8, have been through multiple iterations, and are only now reaching maturity, the story that the public is taking in is one where Microsoft is back and not only challenging Apple but gathering strategic wins against Cupertino.

The Surface devices, because of their higher price points, are contributing to a much higher ‘average retail price’ of $844, compared to the iPad’s average of $392. Again, there are a number of mitigating circumstances, primarily the lack of ‘budget’ Surface devices and a Surface Mini with a seven-inch screen, but the story that Microsoft is delivering with the Surface is one of desirable hardware, luxury prices that are worth paying, and an exclusive (almost secret) club that you have the privilege of joining.

It’s as if Redmond has been studying the Apple playbook from the first decade of the twenty-first century. And that worked out rather nicely for Apple…

India’s Nexus Venture Partners Announces New $450M Fund

Nexus Venture Partners — the top-tier Indian VC firm which counts Snapdeal, Etsy-like Craftsvilla and medtech startup Lybrate in its portfolio — has reloaded for more deals after it announced its newest $450 million fund.

The fund, which is the nine-year-old firm’s fourth to date, takes it to over one billion in capital under management — becoming the first Indian VC to reach that milestone. Nexus, which has invested in more than 60 companies to date, said the capital will be used for seed and early stage deals once again. In particular, the firm is looking closely at retail, financial services, health and education in the consumer space, in addition to promising companies in the enterprise space.

Nexus’ previous fund — its third — closed at $270 million in 2012, but now it has ramped up in line with increased interest and activity in India’s startup space.

“We are thankful to our investors that continue to back us and believe in our investment philosophy,” Naren Gupta, cofounder and managing director of the firm said in a statement. “Most significantly, the Nexus team is fortunate to have exceptional entrepreneurs partner with us on their journey to build market leading companies.”

Other firms to raise new funds this year include Helion Ventures, Accel, and Qualcomm. New York-based Tiger Global, the hedge fund that has been among the most active investors in India, closed $2.5 billion in new capital last week, while Japan’s SoftBank has pledged to spend more than $10 billion on deals with India-based startups.Sequoia, SAIF and Lightbox are among other well-funded and active VC firms in India.

Leading Indian Classifieds Site Quikr In Talks To Acquire Real-Estate Portal Commonfloor

Quikr, which claims to be India’s largest classifieds site, is in talks to acquireCommonfloor, a property listings portal. A source says the deal will be worth roughly $200 million and help Quikr build its real-estate listings vertical into an industry leader.

In a statement to the press, Commonfloor said:

“We are in the middle of fund-raising, and there are multiple options on the table. We have not yet finalized one. We are working at multiple levels to ensure our growth takes place in a sustained manner. As a company policy we do not comment on speculations, therefore kindly hold on as we will inform all the stakeholders when the time is ripe. We are committed to our vision of organizing real estate industry in India.”

Quikr and Commonfloor are both Tiger Global portfolio companies. Quikr has raised $346 million so far, according to CrunchBase. Its other investors include Investment AB Kinnevik, and Warburg Pincus. Commonfloor’s total funding is $62.9 million, raised from Tiger Global, Google Capital, and Accel.

Quikr has been developing a real-estate listings portal, but acquiring Commonfloor will save it years of work to build a market, since Commonfloor, which was founded in 2007, already claims to be India’s top real-estate listings portal.

The classifieds company reportedly tried to buy Housing.com, a Commonfloor competitor, this summer, but the claims were dismissed by Housing.com chief executive officer Rahul Yadav.

While India’s real-estate market has struggled with slow sales and too much inventory, many observers believe it is set for a recovery over the next five years thanks to several factors, including GDP growth and steps by the administration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make housing affordable and allow foreign investment in real estate projects.

Amazon Is Giving Away Unlimited Cloud Storage For $5.00

Amid a slew of deep discounts appearing on the web today as a part of the shopping holiday Black Friday, Amazon has introduced one deal that’s sort of a no brainer. The company is giving away unlimited online storage on its cloud servers for just five dollars. The normal price for this is $60 per year, so this – 92% off – represents a significant savings.

The deal is aimed at promoting Amazon’s Cloud Drive service – an online storage site that competes with similar services like Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft’s OneDrive, and more. Cloud Drive allows you to store documents, music, photos, videos and other files in the cloud, which you can access from any web-connected device, including smartphones and tablets by way of Amazon’s Cloud Drive mobile applications.

However, be aware that if you’re planning to use the now $5 service primarily for photo backups, you may already have that option enabled. Amazon Prime currently offers free, unlimited photo backup as one of its benefits, so you may not need to sign up for Cloud Drive if you don’t need to archive other file types, as well.

What’s also great about this deal is that it’s not just being offered to newcomers, as a way to incentivize them to try out Amazon Cloud Drive for the first time. Current customers can take advantage of discount, too, says Amazon – you’ll be given a prorated refund on your current plan after you buy the $5.00 deal.

But be aware that the $5.00 is not a one-time fee. Cloud Drive is sold as an annual subscription, which means when the service comes up for renewal, you may be again paying full price (unless the company runs a similar promotion, of course.)

For Amazon, giving away storage space – basically a commodity at this point – is not much of a burden. The company introduced the option for unlimited cloud storage earlier this year, with the simplified pricing to make it competitive with tiered-based services that charge more than Amazon’s $5 per month to host so many files.

But at the end of the day, consumers may not choose their storage service based solely on price – user experience, including ease-of-use and feature set, will also come into play. While Amazon’s software has gotten better over the past months, it’s still not as developed or as polished a service as those from rivals like Google, Microsoft, Dropbox, Box and others. Competitors’ cloud drives tie into their other services – like their software for collaborate document editing in the cloud, for example, among other things.

But for $5.00, there’s really not much reason not to grab a huge chunk of online storage space for yourself – at least for the year ahead.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Places A Big Bet On Containers

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) is launching a slew of updates and new products related to containers at Docker’s developer conference in Barcelona today. Together, all of these amount to a big bet on containers on HPE’s part.

“We view containers as a disruptive technology,” HPE’s acting VP in charge of the company’s incubator partners and strategic alliances Tana Rosenblatt told me. “Not that containers are a new technology, but it’s relevant as enterprises look to a hybrid environment. We view the partnership with Docker — which we are formalizing — as a very important one because we like their approach, we like what they have to offer. Our strategy is: embrace and extend. We have a lot of IP that we have developed around dev and ops and the bridging of the two. And we believe that combined with Docker, this makes it even more of a value proposition for our enterprise customers.”

In practice, this means the new HP Helion Development Platform 2.0, HPE’s Platform-as-a-Service offering for hybrid clouds which is also launching today, now supports Docker out of the box. Developers and IT operators will now be able to use the service to deploy microservices packed as Docker containers, for example.

HPE is also expanding its StormRunner cloud load and performance testing solution and its AppPulse mobile performance monitoring tools to allow developers to test, deploy and monitor Dockerize applications.

HPE Sitescope, the company’s cloud monitoring tool, now also includes support for Docker Swarm clusters. With this, admins can now map and monitor all the layers of a Docker cluster from Swarm to cluster notes, the Docker daemon, running containers and specific workloads.

Also new is Docker support in the HPE Codar release management service and support for Docker images in the HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage arrays and the HPE StoreVirtual software-defined storage solutions.

To tie all of this together, HPE will also soon offer 24×7 enterprise container support, as well as a Docker reference architecture and a new reference guide for developers who want to deploy containers in their hybrid clouds.

Rosenblatt tells me that HPE (or HP, at the time), decided to make this bet on containers about a year and a half ago. While HP has long worked with container technology in some form or another, Docker clearly galvanized interest in this technology. “Docker has made the timing now,” she said. “We really doubled down in January.” She also stressed that HPE wants to offer its customers a container solution that spans from “physical to cloud.”

Ultimate Guide to Setup VoIP and Make Free Calls

For starters, let me tell you a few things about VoIP. This is a technology that lets users make calls over the internet (Voice over Internet Protocol). VoIP is a part of a larger system, we call Internet Telephony, the system that allows sharing files or sending text messages over the internet. It basically moves the use of a phone on the internet.

What is VoIP? How you can use it to reduce Telephone bills?

Although, to use an internet system such as VoIP, you will need a smartphone connected to the internet or a telephony adapter, for your phone back home (this TA plugs into your DSL modem or cable and into the phone), but, nowadays these are all over the place, and you can get them at reasonable prices, it’s not that much of a drawback. I’m sure by now, the question on everyone’s mind is: “Why would I want VoIP? My PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) connection works well.” My answer to this question is: “Money!”, VoIP is the cheapest method of calling you will ever find.

For the purpose of this tutorial, I’ll talk about 2 categories: first of all, it’s the land line VoIP service (hardware based). This service uses the TA to connect your old telephone to the internet. This system requires you to have an internet connection, and furthermore, to make a subscription to one of many VoIP plans available from different carriers, also you will need to buy the hardware necessary to set up your VoIP system (such as TA and/or telephone), these do not come cheap, I’ve seen this equipment from $50 and up to $300.

These VoIP services cost way less than regular phone subscriptions, so you will definitely even out your investment, but they do have some minor setbacks. For example, if you are using your broadband connection intensely (downloading a movie or something data intensive), the quality of your call might be slightly lower. But apart from that, you have a really good telephone service with the lowest cost you could find (some offer unlimited calls in the US and Canada, and as low as $0.30/min for international calls).

Top 5 VoIP Phones to try out

Here are a few VoIP services you would be interested in. Keep in mind that with all of these, you will not have heavy equipment and cables running all over your house, these are all simple systems, that could be used just like regular phones.

1. Skype Phones

Until recently, I never known Skype offered phones. But now that I know, I must admit it’s one of the best VoIP services around. For $80, you will get the Skype Phone (or the USB phone for less than that) and you can enjoy unlimited calls world wide for as little as $13.

2. PhoneGnome

The oldest player here, PhoneGnome is one of the best in the business. They offerunlimited VoIP calls and the VoIP phone for $99. Plus you don’t have a monthly bill. And for $5/month, you can have 10 numbers where you can call unlimited.

3. Ooma

A bit more expensive than PhoneGnome, the equipment costs $250 and you only pay a $12/year tax and that’s it. This service is way more cheaper than your PSTN service. You get the TA and you can plug in any phone you want.

4. Vonage

One of the most known services in this industry with quite an experience, Vonageoffers a full package at $80/equipment and you have to pay a monthly subscription of $25, but you have included unlimited calls in US, Canada and other 60 countries.

5. magicJack

This service is a cross between software and hardware services. The magicJack is a USB device that connects to your computer, and to it you connect your phone. The equipment costs $40 for the first year, and $20/year after that. And that’s all, you call free of charge in the US and Canada, and for international calls you get a pretty low cost (under $0.34/min).

Top 5 VoIP Software

The second way to setup VOIP is software based. This will most likely be the one you are best used to. This type of VoIP can handle video calls and screen sharing (see article about best screen sharing apps) or voice calls. This type of VoIP is more wide spread than the hardware based one because of its flexibility. You can install the app on your PC or smartphone and talk to anyone else who is using it. And since nearly everyone has an IM app (Skype, Yahoo, Google Talk, MSN etc), and because most of these IMs have the option of voice calls, it’s really easy to stay connected.

These services do not need much introduction, you all know what they care capable of and what they offer, but I’ll name a few nonetheless:

1. Skype

Microsoft’s newest acquisition is the the best known VoIP service in the world. It offers a host of features, it has low cost rates and it’s really easy to use, both on PC/Mac or smartphone.

2. Yahoo! Voice

Yahoo! is better known for its Y!M (Yahoo! Messenger) and its really cool mail service. You have seen how good the voice calls on the Y!M are, so it’s not hard to imagine the premium service is even better.

3. Google Voice

Google is the giant when it comes to internet, and lately we have seen Google reach out to TV, mail services, smartphones, and just about every thing working on electricity (inside joke here). The Voice service from Google, available on smartphones is really good, better even than normal calls.

4. wengoPhone

This European service is available for Windows, Mac and Linux users, or via the Firefox add-on and it allows users to call with the unbelievable low cost of 0.006€/min.

5. pfingo

Uniting all the devices into one name: pfingo. This app works on any platform and it lets you call for free other pfingo users world wide, and also, if you like to call to other services, you do that at $0.04/min.

Top 4 VoIP Apps for iPhone/Android

The VoIP service, in my opinion, is best used on smartphones. To avoid carrier fees, it’s a good idea to look for apps that allow you to use Wi-Fi or the network itself to call, but with VoIP costs. This will significantly reduce your bill, and you can enjoy unlimited voice (and sometimes video) calls.

1. ChatTime

This free app allows iOS users to call internationally at VoIP prices, it’s really easy to use and its calls have the quality of carrier calls. You will never know the difference! So if you are looking for an app that allows you to call your mates in China, look no further!

2. Fring

This app for iOS devices and Android handsets lets you call via Wi-Fi or 3G to international numbers at really low costs. It’s nice to see mobile developers bringing apps for both OS, I still find it hard to understand why some choose only iOS or only Android.

3. iCall

A really nice app for iOS users that allows you to use 3G or Wi-Fi networks to make calls anywhere in the US, although, for international calls, you will need to pay a little, but still, way more cheaper than carrier fees.

4. Viber

Viber is an awesome app that allows Android and iPhone users to make calls over Wi-Fi or send text messages completely free of charge. The app is free on Android Market and iTunes, so go and download it and start talking!

So here they are: The best VoIP services, both hardware and software (including mobile apps). This technology has recently picked up, due to higher bandwidths and better internet connections, and in the near future I expect it to become a real threat to the old outdated PSTN networks.