Category Archives: Science & Technology

Gitam Prof’s Chip for Longer Battery Life

A cell phone battery that enables a mobile phone to work for about 13 hours might sound impossible in near future. But an assistant professor I Sreenivasa Rao from electronic and communication engineering department of GITAM University has achieved this amazing feat and won several awards for the same.

As part of the applied research activity, Sreenivasa Rao developed a low power VLSI Chip which helps the mobile phone users for extended battery life at a lower cost. This is based on his research project ‘Ultra Low Power Memory Design Methodologies in Nanoscale Technologies.’

His research findings have been published in various international journals and he received the best research paper award in IEEE International Conference held in Chennai recently.

Currently, the cell phone users  demand more features and a long battery life at a lower cost. About 90 per cent users demand longer talk period and stand-by time as primary features in their cell phones, while top 3G requirement for operators is power efficiency.

In a release, Rao claimed that his design increases the battery’s life in cell phones. The power consumption in the VLSI circuits can be reduced to a large extent and the charging capacity  of the cell phone battery can stand up to 13 hours in the smartphones.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Andhra Pradesh /  by Express News Service – Visakhapatnam / January 02nd, 2014

Mytrah Energy adds 150 MW wind power capacity in 3 States

MytrahHF11jan2014

Hyderabad : 

Mytrah Energy Ltd has added wind power generation capacity of about 150 MW in three southern States of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

This has increased its installed wind power generation capacity from 309.9 MW to 459.9 MW.

The wind power generation company based in Hyderabad and listed on the Alternative Investment Market of (AIM) of London Stock Exchange is implementing wind farms with total capacity of 238.2 MW at three locations at Burugula (37.4 MW) in Andhra Pradesh, Savalsang (100.3 MW) in Karnataka and Vagrarai (100.5 MW) in Tamil Nadu.

The company has commissioned the additional capacity at these sites. All the three projects are being commissioned on a rolling basis with the stabilisation process being conducted throughout the first quarter of 2014. With the completion of these three projects, the installed capacity of Mytrah Energy will go up from 309.9 MW now to 548.1 MW.

According to the company listing in the AIM, the entire new capacity will be able to capture the benefit of 2014 wind season.

Burugula and Savlsang are Mytrah’s first two self-development projects constructed on the company’s land with Gamesa. This provides the company with diversification when combined with its turnkey agreement with Suzlon.

The other project in Tamil Nadu at Vagarai is another self-development project with Regen and will be Mytrah’s first project where the output will be sold under third-party sale agreements.

Vagarai is expected to be one of the Group’s highest performing sites with an expected plant load factor of 31 per cent.

source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com / Business Line / Home> Companies / by V. Rishi Kumar  rishikumar.vundi@thehindu.co.in / Hyderabad – December 25th, 2013

JVV to organise science talent test on December 29

MLC K.S.Lakshman Rao addressing newsmen on JVV science talent test, in Guntur. / Photo: T.Vijaya Kumar / The Hindu
MLC K.S.Lakshman Rao addressing newsmen on JVV science talent test, in Guntur. / Photo: T.Vijaya Kumar / The Hindu

Jana Vignana Vedika (JVV) Guntur district unit, will organise ‘Chekumuki Science Talent Test’ at district-level for students on December 29. The test will be conducted at K.S.R. Nursing College, located on Pedda Palakaluru Road, from 9 a.m, said MLC K.S. Lakshman Rao.

Briefing this to the newsmen here, he said 56 teams each from Telugu Medium and English Medium would participate in the contest. In all, 336 students of 8th, 9th and 10th classes attend the test from different mandals.

Acharya Nagarjuna University Vice-Chancellor K. Viyanna Rao would inaugurate the programme. MLC Boddu Nageswara Rao would participate. Winners in the test would represent the district in the State-level contest to be held at Visakhapatnam, said Mr. Lakshman Rao, who is also honorary president of JVV district unit.

JVV State convenor (health wing) S. Suresh, State committee member G. Venkat Rao, district general secretary N. Venkateswarlu, and UTF district president G. Prabhu Das participated.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Vijayawada / by Staff Reporter / Guntur – December 26th, 2013

Project Anantha launched

Revenue minister N. Raghuveera Reddy lights lamp to mark the inauguration of ‘Project Anantha’ at Rythu Bazaar in Anantapur on Thursday. MP Anantha Venkatarami Reddy is also seen. — DC
Revenue minister N. Raghuveera Reddy lights lamp to mark the inauguration of ‘Project Anantha’ at Rythu Bazaar in Anantapur on Thursday. MP Anantha Venkatarami Reddy is also seen. — DC

Anantapur: 

Revenue minister N. Raghuveera Reddy on Thursday launched ‘Project Anantha’, an innovative project with five year-plan, with an estimate of Rs 7676 crore at Rythu Bazaar here on Thursday.

The project was designed to take all available measures to overcome severe drought situation in the district as Anantapur is located in rain-shadow region, made permanently drought with second lowest rainfall district in the country.

Raghuveera Reddy had inaugurated the Project Anantha office at Rythu Bazaar premises on the occasion.

Speaking at the programme, the revenue minister said that this was the first ever project designed in the country allocating separate budget in the five year plan from 2013-14 to 2017-18 based on the recommendations of ICAR committee report.

“The ICAR committee had studied all the relevant concerns and issues of agriculture and allied sectors in detail made an assessment of natural resource base, crops, livelyhood opportunities available in the district in a scientific way,” he recalled.

Referring to introduction of all sectors in the Project, Raghuveera Reddy observed that techno-development action research project leveraging specific agriculture, sericulture and dairy technologies for result oriented development.

Revenue minister also said Project Anantha collaborated with ICAR and universities of agriculture, horticulture and animal husbandry departments for its implementation.

“The Project requires Rs 7676 crores of which Rs 3550.078 crores from various departmental resources, subsidy,  beneficiary contribution. And intends to mobilise an amount of Rs 836 crore through banks,” he said.

As part of the introducing the project, 14 villages of 14 Assembly segments have been selected for pilot project and later extended to all the villages, he said, adding that the Project Anantha programme should have no link with the elections and politics as all representatives and leaders sought district should overcome drought situation.

He expressed confidence the new project with all allied sectors would certainly uplift farmers of Anantapur.

MP Ananta Venkatarami Reddy, MLAs Madhusudhan Guptha, B.K. Parthasarathi,  Abdul Ghani and B. Gurunath Reddy, collector D.S. Lokesh Kumar, Project Anantha Chairman Chandramouli were among participated in the programme.

source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> News> Current Affairs / DC / January 03rd, 2014

VCTPL lands Vizag container terminal project

Visakhapatnam Port Trust (VPT) has approved issuing a letter of award to Visakha Container Terminal Pvt. Ltd. (VCTPL) for extension of existing container terminal at a cost of Rs.633 crore.

The proposal was okayed by the board of trustees, which met here on Friday. Kolkata Port Trust Chairman R. P. S. Kahlon, who is holding additional charge as Chairman of VPT, presided over the meeting.

VCTPL, a joint venture of DP World and United Liners Agencies of India (Private) Ltd., had developed the existing container terminal a decade ago under the PPP (Public-Private Partnership) model. It had handled 2.47 lakh twenty-foot equivalent units in the last fiscal. Once the new container terminal is extended, it will increase the capacity by 0.5 million TEU. It is envisaged to increase the length of the all-weather terminal to 850 metres to handle bigger size vessels.

The letter of award is likely to be issued on Monday, VPT sources told The Hindu.

VPT accepted the VCTPL’s revised offer of 11.44 per cent of gross revenue share from the new project for which the concession agreement for 30 years will be signed in the New Year. The project will be taken up under develop, build, fund, operate and transfer (DBFOT) model.

The tender committee set up by VPT under the chairmanship of Chief Engineer Ramachandra Rao opened the price bid on November 18. VCTPL had emerged as the only qualified bidder to submit price bid. VCTPL, which was also the single largest bidder earlier, was not considered by the port for offering just 10 per cent of gross revenue share.

The board subsequently asked all the seven qualified bidders, including VCTPL, Adani, Simplex, Welspun and Leighton, to submit fresh bids.

“We are delighted at the Friday’s decision to issue letter of award in our favour. It will help VPT in facing competition thrown up in handling container cargo by the Krishnapatnam and Dhamra Ports,” CEO of VCTPL Capt. Sriram Ravi Chander said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Business> Industry / by Santosh Patnaik / Visakhapatnam – December 27th, 2013

V’wada Turns Online Trading Hub

The online trading platform is very helpful to investors and traders and Vijayawada city is fast emerging as a hub of it, Nitin Kamath, founder and chief executive officer of Wealth Aura Trade Solutions Private Limited, has said. Inaugurating the ‘Zerodha’ online trading centre at Benz Circle here Thursday, he said ‘Zerodha’ was a revolutionary trading platform providing traders a free trade zone and this is the second office after Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh.

He opined that in South India, Andhra Pradesh is the biggest market for online trading and has more potential due to continuous trading activities.

Nitin said that Zerodha traders have to pay a simple fixed amount of `20 as transaction fee.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Andhra Pradesh / by Express News Service – Vijayawada / December 27th, 2013

LG unveils curved OLED TV in Hyderabad

Rajneesh Sharma , Regional Head , LG ( Andhra Pradesh), launching the first LG curved OLED television ( 55EA9800) with a 4.3mm thin curve in Hyderabad on Tuesday ./  Photo: P.V. Sivakumar / The Hindu
Rajneesh Sharma , Regional Head , LG ( Andhra Pradesh), launching the first LG curved OLED television ( 55EA9800) with a 4.3mm thin curve in Hyderabad on Tuesday ./ Photo: P.V. Sivakumar / The Hindu

Hyderabad :

LG Electronics today unveiled curved OLED TV priced at Rs 9,99,000 at a store in Hyderabad.

OLED refers to organic light emitting diode. The first LG 55-inch curved OLED TV features an ergonomic design with full cinema 3D support. The thin display TV removes the problem of screen-edge visual distortion and detail loss.

Rajneesh Sharma, Regional Manager, Andhra Pradesh, LG India, in a statement said: “India is a strategic market for LG and we are the first company to launch the curved series in this market. The unique curved design will provide consumers with an ultimate viewing experience.”

“Home entertainment is fuelled by constant change and growth with new products. LG India will strengthen the product portfolio further with new launches. Our target is to capture 30 per cent market share in flat panels by the end of next year,” Rajneesh Sharma said.

The curved TV features unique 4-colour pixel technology and a 4.3 mm thin display. The 4-colour pixel technology adds a white sub-pixel to the conventional red, green and blue pixels.

source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com / Business Line / Home> Companies /  by R. Rishi Kumar / Hyderabad – December 24th, 2013

Looking ahead: Infotech in Hyderabad to soar as ever

Infotech HITEC CityHF03jan2014

Hyderabad:

While Information Technology has chosen Hyderabad as its favoured destination in the state, attempts to attract IT giants to other destinations had seen minimal response so far.

However, a lot of action is expected in the near future with the bifurcation issue coming to a finalisation, the ‘intent’ to draw IT companies towards the Seemandhra region has grown very strong.
There is a huge need for infrastructure development in the new Seemandhra state as all the tier II destinations, which were earlier identified in the IT policy, are mostly Seemandhra cities.

“There are no five star hotels and no infrastructure for the cities in Seemandhra region to begin with after bifurcation. We have to improve the infrastructure especially transportation. International airports will have to be developed in cities like Vijayawada, Rajahmundry and Tirupati since IT will not come without infrastructure. Hyderabad was developed as  capital city of Andhra Pradesh and the best infrastructure was created here, but now, with the state being divided, Seemandhra will need to start afresh,” said finance minister Anam Ramanarayan Reddy.

Action may be seen in creating whole new eco-system. Infra-structure development may be seen in other prominent cities like Visakhapatnam, Kakinada, Vijayawada, Tirupati and Waranagal.

IT has not only created Hyderabad as it is but has attracted huge investments in various sectors.

However, it might be difficult to draw global players towards these newer destinations, say industry insiders. Also the fact remains that almost all big IT companies are global players and very few small companies may be owned by people from either state.

While the existing Information and Communication Technology  policy 2010-2015 has identified Tier II locations (Visakhapatnam, Kakinada, Vijayawada, Tirupati and Warangal) and Tier III locations (all towns and district headquarters) for years now, there is very little that has moved on the ground so far.

“Although it may be possible to create infrastructure and the eco-system, India currently does not need another tier II destination and hence it will be difficult to attract big players to these newer locations. For an MNC, established tier II destinations like Pune, Bhubaneshwar, Nagpur or Coimbatore makes sense rather than coming to Vijayawada or Warangal,” said vice president (Products and Centre Head for Software), Progress Software, Ramesh Loganathan.

In fact, all these identified tier II destinations already have state-of-the-art IT infrastructure and IT Parks but still more than 70 per cent of the IT park in Vijayawada, for instance, remains unoccupied. Also the fact that global MNCs like to come to established destinations as they want to select employees from an existing vibrant talent pool and preferably from other companies, puts these other destinations at a loss.

However, these destinations have begun seeing some growth in terms of IT exports with Visakhapatnam leading with Rs 1,000 crore, Kakinada with Rs 100 crore, Vijayawada at Rs 70 crore and Tirupati and Warangal at Rs 10 crore worth IT exports. The growth registered was 22 per cent in 2012-2013.

Industry insiders believe that currently Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada are better positioned for growth but it will come at its own pace.

While the IT department had been pushing these destinations for back-offices after no global players showed interest, industry insiders too believe that the growth potential of these destinations would be more from IT incubation.

“There will definitely not be any shifting of business or global companies setting up their businesses in these locations. In fact, it will be very difficult to get people to move to any of these cities. But what can begin now is innovations-led business may start off with the right eco-system. As innovation-led businesses can be started with an incubation centre, an angel network and a proper funding system, it takes 15 to 20 people to begin this kind of a setup. While such businesses can start immediately, for IT businesses and big companies to go to these destinations, it will be a slow process,” added Mr Loganathan.

Amidst all of this, Hyderabad will continue to grow and is expected to pick up pace with the Information Technology Investment Region project and clarity on the bifurcation issue.

source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> News> Current Affairs / DC / by Amrita Didyala / December 19th, 2013

Best Single Specialty Hospital Award Presented to AIG

Asian Institute of Gastroenterology’s manager (PR) U Satyanarayana, along with Ram Mohan, receiving the Best Single Speciality Hospital, Gastroeneterology, Award from Planning Commission deputy chairman MS Ahluwalia in Delhi on Monday.
Asian Institute of Gastroenterology’s manager (PR) U Satyanarayana, along with Ram Mohan, receiving the Best Single Speciality Hospital, Gastroeneterology, Award from Planning Commission deputy chairman MS Ahluwalia in Delhi on Monday.

The city-based Asian Institute of Gastroenterology, under the leadership of Dr D Nageshwar Reddy, has received the ‘Best Single Specialty Hospital _ Gastroenterology’ award at CNBC TV18’s India Healthcare Awards ceremony.

U Satyanarayana and Ram Mohan of the institute received the award from Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia at a function organised in New Delhi on Monday.

More than 3,000 hospitals and healthcare service providers have stood up to be counted for the awards. Consumer and doctor ratings on facility assessment data were shared with the jury to select the overall best hospital as well as awardees in other categories.

According to a press release from the AIG on Tuesday, the institute has been selected for the award for its service in the field of gastroenterology, providing state-of- the-art technology to patients, service rendered to the rural population and  the various steps taken to spread medical education in gastroenterology to various parts of India and abroad through workshops, seminars and telemedicine.

Dr Nageshwar Reddy said that such awards would encourage them to spread health care   and increase their responsibility towards society.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by Express News Service – Hyderabad / December 25th, 2013

US web host Fozzy expands with India Data Center

US web hosting company Fozzy has launched services from a data center in Madhapur, an IT indutry hub of Hyderabad, India.

The host has taken space with CtrlS, an Indian data center provider. The location adds to Fozzy’s existing data centers in Dallas, Amsterdam and Singapore.

Data center aisle stock Getty_35HF31dec2013

Fozzy has placed hundreds of servers in the facility in addition to establishing a dedicated support center for India.

The web host’s pitch revolves around hosting speed as well as VPS (virtual private server) speed. Its VPS services are available on Linux and Windows, but most clients opt for Linux, the company said.

Fozzy also provides a specially tailored Forex VPS solution, which is latency-optimized for Forex traders.

It offers a seven-day free trial to demonstrate the performance and free domain registration. Fozzy has set up a payment system by bank transfer to the State Bank of India and CICI Bank.

source: http://www.datacenterdynamics.com / Datacenter Dynamics / Home> Zones / by Datacenter Dynamics Focus / December 23rd, 2013