Saturday 30 May 2015

IP traffic in India to grow fourfold from 2014 to 2019, says Cisco

IP traffic in India to grow fourfold from 2014 to 2019, says Cisco
Internet Protocol (IP) traffic in India will quadruple at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 33 percent by 2019 due to increasing mobile access and demand for video services, tech firm Cisco said. It took 32 years – from 1984 to 2016 – to generate one zettabyte of IP Traffic annually.
According to this year’s Visual Networking Index, we will generate two zettabytes of IP traffic annually, just three years later in 2019,” said Sanjay Kaul, managing director, global service provider business, Cisco India and SAARC, in the 10th annual Cisco Visual Network Index Forecast for India.
“In India, the IP traffic will grow fourfold from 2014 to 2019, a compound annual growth of 33 percent and reach four exabytes per month in 2019, up from 967 petabytes per month in 2014,” he added.
Heavy consumption of mobile data, skyrocketing networked devices, faster broadband speeds and increased video consumption are the key drivers for the growth, the forecast said, adding networked devices in India will grow from 1.1 billion devices in 2014 to 1.6 billion in 2019, while average fixed broadband speed will increase from 4Mbps in 2014 to 12Mbps in 2019.
Mobile data traffic is another area which is expected to see phenomenal rise in India – a 13 fold growth rate at a CAGR of 67 percent, says Cisco.
Mobile traffic was nine percent of the total IP traffic in 2014 and will reach 28 percent of the total IP traffic in 2019, the forecast said.

Gmail users have reached to 900 million Active users

Google: Google has announced to open Inbox to everyone. Launched in October last year, the app is now available for download on iOS and Android without an invitation.

gmail
Google’s free webmail application is getting close to the 1 billion-user mark, making it the world’s most popular email service. The figures were revealed by the company’s senior vice president of products, Sundar Pichai, who was speaking at the 2015 Google I/O developer conference.
Google-owned, web-based email service provides details of storage, options and links to related services.
Gmail has more than doubled its user base since 2012, when the number stood at just 425 million. But as well as attracting more consumers, the way people access the service has also changed. Pichai noted during his presentation that 75% of users now check their mail via mobile.
In the past, Google had updated the Gmail for Android app. In an official Google+ post, the company wrote, “Over the next few days, you’ll see a few improvements to the Gmail app for Android based on your feedback with more coming soon.” Among the new changes, you will find that tapping on people’s avatars will now let you see recent conversations with them. You will also be able to view contact info and more.
Inbox by Gmail is now open to everyone. No invite required.
It also includes more reliable support for non-Gmail addresses (IMAP). It has also been made smoother to add additional accounts.

Google Play Store Update Speculations – Google Likely to Introduce some Developer-Friendly Features

Google-Play-Store-logo

In the current version of Play Store, developers do not get much priority.
Their job is limited to listing new apps and modifying existing apps in the store. Moreover, some developers have lately said that Play Store is a home to their apps, but not for them. The justification statement highlights that they do not get much scope to showcase their company’s information. With that said, Google has looked into the discomfort of its developers and has promised to offer a better platform to developers. Moreover, Google is looking forward to introducing the following features in its upcoming version.
Dynamic App Listing
Developers have finally got the most anticipated feature in the Play Store. With the availability of new app listings, developers will get a platform for testing modifications and variations scientifically. This means that developers can change the text and images of their apps in the Play Store. The presence of A/B testing will enable them to list two versions of an app. Moreover, they can check the individual effectiveness of the two versions by offering one version to 50% of the incoming users and the second version to the other half. Play Store will analyze the user engagement of every version; enabling developers to determine the better version and optimize accordingly.
Acquisition and Conversion Report
Play Store developers do not have much idea about their users. But Google is developing a console that will emphasize on analytics. It will offer a conversion report to the developers so that they can know about their users’ arrival sources. This will be an effective step towards monetization and improvement of conversion.
Improved Ad Platform
Choosing the correct kind of ad has been a difficult decision for many developers. Basically, they need to decide whether to offer ads of third parties or to promote in-app purchases of their own app. The problem will be solved with the introduction of new Play Store version, because the platform will predict which ad-type a developer should choose. This prediction will be made in a systematic way; by analyzing the purchasing history of every user. This means that the relevant ads will be displayed to every user. However, traditional ad banners will be shown to the users with no in-app purchases.
Google is creating a healthy work-environment for developers. There are rumors that it paid $7 billion to the developers through Play Store in 2014. Now the newly designed model of Play Store is likely to improve the per-user profit of developers. Hence, the developers will be getting a dream platform in near future!

Seven states propose own broadband network rollout

ravi shankar prasad  

Seven states have proposed to come up with their own model to roll out broadband network proposed under Rs 72,000-crore BharatNet prorgamme, telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Friday. “Seven states have offered to come up with state or SPV (special purpose vehicle) run model. Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh have already been talking about it,” said Prasad after a meeting with state IT ministers and principal secretaries. Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Himachal Pradesh and West Bengal have said they will develop their own model for broadband network rollout as some expressed displeasure over the work of central public sector companies involved in National Optical Fibre Network. Representatives from almost all states, except Delhi and some North Eastern states, were present in the meeting to discuss new model to roll out the broadband network.
Haryana said it is exploring possibility of state-led model for the project.
“Keep this fact in mind that you are creating an integrated BharatNet, so there has to be certain standard. I appeal to you, give your views soon. If a state government opts for a state-led model, the existing NOFN architecture will migrate to new model,” Prasad told the state representatives.
The Centre has given the option to roll out broadband network as per three models namely, the current model operated by Central PSUs, SPV or state run and private sector-led model.
At present, NOFN project, which aims to connect 2.5 lakh village panchayats by 2016, is being operated by SPV Bharat Broadband Network and project is being executed by CPSUs BSNL, RailTel and Powergrid.
Andhra Pradesh advisor for e-governance and IT J Satyanarayana said the state government expects to roll out broadband in 30 to 36 months and provide connection with download speed of 10 megabit per second for Rs 150 per month.
An eight member committee constituted to suggest measures for successful roll out of NoFN project has also suggested proposals has worked on design of BharatNet model in place of NoFN.
The redesigning and remodelling with additions, the Bharat Net project has gone up three fold to Rs 72,778 crore from about Rs 20,000 crore approved earlier. In a separate policy measure, the centre had earmarked Rs 498 crore as financial incentive to companies for setting up call centres under a new BPO scheme, which is expected to create around 1.5 lakh jobs directly.
The minister said the government will float expression of interest (EoI) under the BPO scheme after state governments submit their inputs. He said that while funding will be given by central government but state government will have to play an important role in providing assistance to these BPOs.

Saving grace of Google I/O 2015: Jacquard, Soli, Abacus and other exciting projects that did it for Google

It was just yesterday we felt Google hadn’t done much this I/O. And then they came up with touch-sensitive fabric. That’s exactly the kind of technological innovation we were expecting on Day 1 of Google I/O 2015. The inspiring kind. If there’s one thing we’ve learned this I/O, it’s to keep a closer eye at ATAP. The name ought to raise your curiosity, and stands for Advanced Technology and Projects. It’s like Google Labs, but for far more exciting interfaces and hardware technologies. Google hasn’t disappointed us this time!
Project Jacquard
This was a pleasant surprise. In simple terms, it a perfect combination of conductive fibres woven into your favourite fabric that enables sensors to be embedded into your favourite denim. May not impress you, but when Levi’s partners with Google’s Project Jacquard to design denim that has intelligence in it, you expect denim with fuzzy logic!
Levi's Paul Dillinger Project Jacquard Google IO 2015
Paul Dillinger of Levi Strauss on stage at Google I/O 2015 talks about Project Jacquard and the association between Google and Levi’s. Image: levistrauss.com
Besides the partnership with Levi’s the approach taken by Google ATAP to weave conductive fibres into fabric with miniature circuits seamlessly integrated into clothing is, we believe, the next step in technological innovation. Akin to the sci-fi predictions we’ve read in the years gone by. The official video by Google is a must watch:
Project Ara
Similar to Android itself, founded by Andy Rubin in 2003, Project Ara has enjoyed familiarity as the next transition in the way we perceive mobile devices. Instead of advanced systems that face obsolescence every 2 years, Project Ara defines a modular approach towards a smartphone. What Android and the Open Handset Alliance meant for software, Project Ara means to hardware.
If you want a better keyboard, you install a new keyboard layer from the Google Play Store. Imagine the same for your camera, or memory, or graphics capabilities. You could swap hardware modules like you did on desktop PCs and laptops.
Google finally demoed a working prototype on stage at I/O 2015 by putting together an Ara device and it worked! That raised hopes of what was getting known as a modern day fable. For more on Ara, you could read our coverage here.
Project Soli
Project Soli was a well guarded secret at Google ATAP. Although the concept isn’t new, it’s probably the best rendering of an ancient idea is contemporary technology. In the 1920s, Leon Theremin developed and patented a device that used hand gestures to play music. Too bad for the modern world, that it didn’t go mainstream.
leon-theremin
The Theremin was a gesture-based musical instrument. Image: theremin.info
Those were the days of valves before semiconductor transistors took over since being invented in the 1950s. Indeed the world has come a long way since then.
soli-evolution
A sensor, the size of a grain of sand, can detect hand gestures and control your gadget. Project Soli might just change the way you interact with technology.
Touch interfaces are now mainstream with digital technologies being a given. It probably took another Russian born whiz to bring a ground breaking innovation to change the way we perceive technology and interfaces! Ivan, we’re impressed!
Project Vault
Project Vault, as anyone would guess is got to do with security. It helps secure your devices with a microSD card. In October last year, Google had announced it was providing USB security key for super-secure two step verification. This is taking it to the next level. More so, because microSD cards are now in use in more devices than traditional PCs and laptops and is the obvious result of the declining PC industry and the onslaught of mobile devices. Back in the early days of enterprise security, hardware security keys would have to connected to the USB interface. A physical way of preventing software exploits. When you have to move away from your system, you simply unplug the key and authentication would be lost.
Welcome to the Vault, you now have a mix of cryptographic tools and custom real-time operating system on the memory stick to guard your secure data while you access it.
Project Abacus
If Project Vault seemed a natural evolution of a earlier security mechanism, Project Abacus is the machine-learning means and an intelligent and continuously evolving way of customising security keys and providing access by learning the users’ behaviour and interaction with a system.
This, we believe, is just the beginning and hopefully would evolve into a stable mechanism over a period of time, probably years. Nonetheless, the vast array of product concepts and prototypes unveiled at this year’s Google I/O by Google ATAP has given us enough to stay happy and look forward to, through the year ahead.