ISB Launches NSE Trading Laboratory

The Indian School of Business (ISB), with campuses at Hyderabad and Mohali, has announced the start of its new state-of-the-art trading laboratory in association with the National Stock Exchange (NSE). Chitra Ramkrishna, Managing Director & CEO of NSE and Ajit Rangnekar, Dean, ISB inaugurated the NSE – ISB Trading Laboratory today at the ISB’s Hyderabad campus. To commemorate the opening, a high-powered panel comprising Chitra Ramkrishna, Sunder Rajan Raman, Whole time Director, SEBI and N R Prabhala, Research Director of CAFRAL, RBI’s research arm, and Professors Krishnamurthy Subramanian and Rajesh Chakrabarti of the ISB, discussed how to “Deepen India’s Capital Markets”.

The NSE-ISB Trading Laboratory aims to offer users a professional real time live trading experience. Currently, the Lab has 34 terminals and four large professional display monitors for live broadcast of news. Each terminal is a fourth generation machine with a dual screen monitor backed by high speed processors to enable users to engage in real time, high speed trading activities.  The Lab also offers access to premium financial databases such as Bloomberg, Thomson Reuters, Morningstar, S&P Capital IQ, CRSP and Wharton Research Data Services.  All these will go a long way in helping ISB students get hands on trading experience and equip them with skills and knowledge required to understand the nuances of the financial markets and handle the challenges of the fast changing economy.

Ajit Rangnekar, Dean, ISB said, “Academia and industry have operated in two independent and almost mutually exclusive spheres in India, especially in the sphere of finance and capital markets. This has deprived students of opportunities to learn in an environment that combines real world applications with conceptual rigor. Industry on the other hand, has not benefited from the cutting edge research that can potentially emanate from academia. The association between the NSE and ISB is an ambitious attempt to fill this gap. I am thankful to the NSE for their support in this endeavor.”

Flickr Launches 3.0 Version For iPhone And Andriod
Flickr, an image hosting and video hosting website, owned by Yahoo has released new versions for the iOS and Android. This release is in tune with the redesign of the Flickr website and the android app which offers one terabyte of storage space to its users. Marissa Mayer, CEO, Yahoo has marked a re-design-ception by bringing the Flickr 3.0, a new Flickr redesign, essentially a redesign of the original redesign.

Flickr claims that the new UI is designed for quick sharing and service. Other features include Auto Sync. feature which allows users to upload original quality images from the smart phone directly to the Flickr account. It will allow them batch-editing to organize Flickr images and videos into albums. Users will also have the privacy settings along with delete option with the privilege of showing search results based on groups, time, date and location.

Bernardo Hernandez, Vice President, Flickr said, 'Here at Flickr, we're focused on making the best possible products to capture, manage, share and discover photos - creating an amazing window into your world.  Building these products and cultivating our amazing photography community has been our mission since Flickr started 10 years ago.  We want Flickr to be your favorite experience no matter where you are. Today we're delighted to release completely new versions of Flickr for iPhone, iPod touch and Android'.

Introducing Gaana 4.0, Now Featuring Music Videos & Lyrics
Gaana.com, an online music broadcasting service, has launched its upgraded Gaana 4.0 mobile app, integrating music videos and lyrics into its popular music streaming service. With a host of new features, music videos and lyrics integrated seamlessly within the application, the all new Gaana.com app will enable the listeners richer music experience.

In addition to music videos, lyrics are now available from the full-screen player on select songs as well. When a song is playing, a user can open the full screen player to see a prominent "lyrics" button. One click more, and lyrics for the song being played are shown, allowing consumers to follow their favorite tunes word by word.

Pawan Agarwal, Business Head, Gaana.com said, “We are delighted to launch the latest upgrade of the Gaana app. We are committed to providing our users with an immersive music experience that they love. The new version 4.0 will not only provide a complete musical experience through songs, music videos and lyrics but also has features an easy to use hassle free interface. This upgrade would certainly redefine the way people experience music on mobile devices.”

NEC, NTT DOCOMO To Conduct Trials Of 5G Mobile Communication Technologies
NEC Corporation has reached an agreement with NTT DOCOMO, to jointly conduct trials aimed at the practical use of technologies for a 5th-generation mobile communication standard (5G).

5G is the subject of international research efforts seeking to achieve communications speeds of 10Gbps or greater, enabling higher-definition video transmission and a range of additional benefits. Aiming to launch service in 2020, 5G is also expected to address issues such as increased terminal penetration and the sharp rise in traffic by offering more than one thousand times the capacity of LTE.

In 2020 and beyond, when the high speed and high capacity of 5G is expected to be implemented, mobile communication-based ICT is forecast to be applied throughout a diverse range of services. In this climate, 5G technologies are expected to be used in a wide range of fields, from public safety (communications in times of disaster and emergency) and M2M (Machine-to-Machine) communications to classrooms and the medical practice.

As part of these trials to realize 5G capability, NEC and NTT DOCOMO aim to verify enhanced time-domain beamforming technologies with a very large number of antennas for
Small Cells.

Mphasis Appoints Interim CFO
Mphasis has appointed V. Suryanarayanan as its Interim CFO. V. Suryanarayanan is currently serving as Senior Vice-President & Head- Business Finance & Tax at Mphasis. Current CFO, Ganesh Murthy, will continue in his role till 3 June 2014.

V. Suryanarayanan (Surya) is a Chartered Accountant with close to 30 years’ of experience. Surya joined Mphasis in 2009 post Mphasis’ acquisition of AIG System Solutions Pvt. Ltd., a captive of AIG Inc. where he was the CFO. Prior to that Surya was the Chief Financial Officer at Deutsche Software Ltd. a captive of Deutsche Bank. He was also the CFO of Ramco Systems Ltd before his stint with Deutsche Software.

Ganesh Murthy has served as Mphasis’ CFO since July 2009. He is leaving Mphasis to pursue other career opportunities.

Symantec Reports 4th Quarter And Fiscal Year 2014 Results
Symantec Corp has reported the results of its fourth quarter and fiscal year 2014, ended 28 March 2014. GAAP revenue for the fourth quarter was $1.63 billion, down 7 per cent year-over-year (as reported and after adjusting for currency). For the fiscal year, GAAP revenue was $6.68 billion, down 3 per cent (as reported and after adjusting for currency).

Thomas Seifert, executive vice president and chief financial officer, added, “We see further opportunities to streamline our operations and drive ongoing operating margin expansion, with the near-term goal of achieving 30 percent non-GAAP operating margin by 4Q15. We will also continue to return significant capital to shareholders while maintaining a strong balance sheet.”