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This Indian Startup Claims to have Made a Zoom Alternative, in Just 20 Days

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Bharat.live zoom like app

More than a third of world population is under lockdown and India with its 1.3 billion people tops the list. The government is controlling the movement of its citizens to avoid the spread of the coronavirus.

Socializing, consulting, training, operations, and governance have become a virtual experience predominantly with no movement or interaction outside the home. Non-native and fishy apps are handy to use for official and personal communication. Blue Jeans, Google Duo, Google Hangouts, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, WhatsApp, FaceTime, and Skype are the only recourse in current unprecedented times.

Some of these apps suffer from the restriction on the number of participants to partake in a video or voice communication. Other applications have their share of privacy and security complications.

There exists a burgeoning demand for an indigenous, secure, and stable alternative to the apps currently in vogue.

Bharat.live, created by a Dehradun-based company that emerged into the scene with a bang just a few weeks ago. It has crossed five hundred thousand users with approximately one hundred thousand users per day.

Bharat.live is not the Indian government’s official video-conferencing application. The government has exhorted Indian tech companies to develop an indigenous and secure substitute for Zoom. It has announced prize money of Rs 1 crore to the winner, and Bharat.live is a contestant.

Bharat.live was founded in Dehradun as a unit of ileads Auxiliary Services Pvt Ltd in 2020.

How the Idea Came About

Following reasons inspired the company to develop a home-grown application:

Security Concerns in Zoom and other applications

  • Advisories by the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN), MHA, and Cyber Coordination Centre about Zoom during COVID-19 states that Chinese servers are being used to distribute encryption and decryption keys for video links on Zoom.
  • These advisories came long after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held a video-conference on Zoom with the top officials of the security forces, leaving it vulnerable to breach. In the backdrop of China’s pro-Pakistan stance and one war in 1962 with India, the possibility of spying cannot be ruled out.
  • This apart, third-party hackers and cybercriminals can access sensitive information such as meeting, conversation, and user details. Five lakh Zoom accounts have been rumored to be sold on the dark web anonymously. Companies are at risk for industrial and corporate espionage and information theft.
     

Make in India Initiative

  • The government has exhorted Indian tech companies to design an indigenous and secure substitute to Zoom to promote Indian Software products and put the country on the product development map.
     

Self-reliance of other countries

  • At a time when China banned it, its small neighboring country Taiwan, banned it for government usage as on April 7, 2020. Russia and China have their own video conferencing applications. 
     

Why India is far behind, why cannot it have its video communication platform in place when it has spearheaded in software services for years.

Influenced deeply by all these, company set the project in motion. Developing a video conferencing application was a challenge because it is not possible with sheer coding. It requires servers and a whole range of complicated processes. One of the team members named it Bharat.live, and it resonated with everyone in patriotic zeal.

The company received real-world feedback from its team, which has been working from home. Company has periodic meetings and day to day operations that warrant video communication, and Bharat.live was the Indian-made app for it.

The team has been toiling to keep pace with the surge in demand because success brings challenges with it. The organization has shown resilience to scale the solution.

Privacy and security are integral to the value system in Bharat.live with an impeccable track record. The company is contemplating ways to scale and strengthen the application.

Simplicity is the key—video conferencing experience is child’s play with a single click from start to end. The initial stage is the high time to improve things before it goes viral.

During design, usability testers ensured that the system could be used effectively in any environment, and anybody with necessary technical skills can understand and use this platform. Ease of use has been the guiding philosophy of enterprise. This platform free application does not require participants to download it or enter a code to join video meetings. It is a browser-based application.

How does one use Bharat.live to chat?

You can register with the necessary details and OTP authentication to receive Login ID, Password, and Login Link. Hit ‘create a new meeting,’ add a name to get Meeting URL, Meeting ID, and Meeting Code. To invite others, send a meeting URL to the participants. Participants will click the URL, type their name in the dialog box to join the meeting. Users can choose the screen to share it with others.

No webcam is required unless you want to transmit your video. You do not even need an account either to join a meeting, and you require one only when you have to host and initiate a meeting.

You can enter any name to join the meeting. You need not log in with personal Facebook or Google. The site does not ask for your email ID. No chat or records are stored on servers as of now. A security breach is the remotest possibility. Data such as IP address is collected for the time being to facilitate your call.

Bharat.live never share your personal information with anyone. No offline information or information via channels other than the website is collected for visitors. Company does not record meetings or videos either.

How secure is it

The safest and trusted cryptographic standards like AES 256 bit encryption and TLS (Transport Security Layer) SSL encryption are in place to increase network security. GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) compliance safeguards user rights.

AES 256 bit encryption makes it impenetrable to hackers, faster, and efficient for uninterrupted video communication.

The platform is HIPPA compliant for secure user authentication, proper information storage, and reports generation with access control, audit controls, integrity controls, and transmission security. Moreover, its URL is visible to the host only. The host can further share it with others.

Bharat.live is experimenting with it to make it even more secure.

The application caters to simple use cases as of now. Later, the company would equip itself with customized authentication systems and logins for business enterprises as and when the need arises.

Servers and main critical infrastructure are based in India. This is the major differentiator that sets Bharat.live apart from other players in the market. Bharat.live has been interacting with different users so that it can discover special needs and build safeguards here instead of sourcing them from outside India.

Bharat.live goes by the conventional wisdom of learning from other’s mistakes, and continuous improvement to exceed customer’s expectations is its motto.

How many people can use it

Bharat.live supports clear calls with about 50 participants’. Its target is to reach 100 participants. Depending on the use case, this number may vary. You can customize it for one to one chat in a private meeting room or virtual meetings among multiple participants.

The company is working on features and ideas that could revitalize the entire industry. A VPN Overview survey at the end of March 2020 reveals that 70% of the working respondents use video conference software for their work, so corporate stands out to form the significant user’s base. Teachers, Doctors, Personal Trainers, Astrologers are other users apart from people who use it for online socializing.

Bharat.live offers a free trial plan for 2 hours and 10 participants. Other plans are available with separate pricing for business and consumer categories. Bharat.live’s expert team will hand-hold you for technical issues and other concerns.

Bharat.live (https://bharat.live/)

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Trident IoT Launches Taurus Z-Wave Series Silicon

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Chip series and SDK support next-generation Z-Wave capabilities for the global market.

Trident IoT, an RF technology and engineering company focused on decreasing time-to-market for connected device manufacturers, today announced the release of the new Taurus Z-Wave Series of silicon solutions.

The Trident IoT Taurus Z-Wave Series will encompass system-on-chip (SoC) solutions and modules that support the latest advancements in Z-Wave technology, including Z-Wave Long Range (ZWLR) for the U.S. and the implementation of the ZWLR European specification. The Taurus Z-Wave Series will ship with an SDK based on Open Z-Wave Specification Release 2024A.

“The Taurus Series gives global manufacturers access to cutting-edge Z-Wave capabilities,” said Trident IoT co-founder Bill Scheffler. “This silicon series and SDK will be the first to implement the ZWLR European specification, accelerating IoT product development worldwide.”

Taurus Series Silicon Specifications
The Taurus Series is based on an ultra-low power, high performance Z-Wave SoC. The Taurus SoC solution is designed to enable Z-Wave solutions with class-leading battery life, range, and memory.

Taurus Series chips feature an ARM® Cortex®-M33 microprocessor, 1MB of flash program memory, and 288KB of SRAM data memory for exceptional processing and response time. The powerful sub-GHz radios transmit at +20dBm and +14 dBm, enabling communication over distances up to 1+ miles.

Taurus chips support Z-Wave Plus, Z-Wave Plus v2 and ZWLR, enabling the development of highly secure, reliable, scalable, and backwards-compatible solutions for smart home, hospitality, multi-dwelling units and more. Using the ZWLR 12-bit addressing space, the Taurus Series supports networks of up to 4000 nodes; Taurus chips also leverage ZWLR dynamic power control, enabling end point battery life of up to ten years from a single coin-cell battery.

“ZWLR is a revolutionary technology, with the power to expand the reach, scale and utility of IoT applications while preserving full backward compatibility with currently deployed Z-Wave devices,” said Avi Rosenthal, Z-Wave Alliance Chairman of the Board. “This new Z-Wave silicon offering, paired with the Trident IoT SDK and design services, will enable more Z-Wave Alliance members to take advantage of ZWLR capabilities, bringing exciting new products to market faster around the globe.”

End-to-End Product Development Support
In line with the company’s mission to decrease time-to-market for IoT devices, Trident IoT will offer end-to-end engineering consultation for new products integrating Taurus Series silicon. In addition to the Taurus Series SDK, Trident IoT customers will also have access to an exclusive library of both Z-Wave and ZWLR device and sensor reference designs, created to accelerate the development of innovative new edge-of-property applications.

Trident IoT also offers in-depth consulting from some of the industry’s foremost experts on wireless connectivity, including Z-Wave technology. “Trident IoT was launched in response to a gap in the availability of IoT product design services,” says Mariusz Malkowski, Trident IoT CTO and founder. “The demand for consultation has been extraordinary: in just six months we’ve had to double our engineering resources.”

To support the development of market-ready products, the Trident IoT lab is fully equipped and available for Z-Wave, Z-Wave Plus v2, and ZWLR end product compliance and testing.

By providing silicon, design services, and in-house compliance testing, Trident IoT can help device manufacturers decrease time-to-market for new Z-Wave products by more than 60%. According to Kevin Kraus, VP of Technology Alliances and IoT Business Development, Yale – Fortune Brands Innovation, “In-depth consulting services from the Trident IoT team will be an invaluable accelerator for Fortune Brands, helping us to bring new Z-Wave-certified products to market in the near future. With the launch of this new single-die silicon solution, we look forward to collaborating on new devices with next-generation capabilities, including long-range and potentially even multi-protocol devices.”

Taurus Series Previews for Product Developers
Taurus Series silicon will begin shipping at scale in Q4 2024. In the meantime, Trident IoT will issue Taurus Series samples to select partners for initial testing and product development.

About Trident IoT:
Trident IoT is a technology and engineering company focused on simplifying RF development, increasing product success rates, and decreasing time-to-market for connected device manufacturers. Founded by a team of IoT veterans with over a century of industry knowledge, Trident IoT is aimed at making connected devices work as intended. With an initial focus on companies manufacturing Z-Wave devices, Trident IoT seeks to expand and build new relationships through a human connection at every level, including certification and market knowledge. 

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Generative AI Surge Triggers Nationwide Rush for New Data Center Infrastructure

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Demand for new AI Data Centers which are powering the rise of such popular AI platforms as OpenAI’s ChatGPT is being grossly underestimated according to analysts at this year’s Bloomberg Intelligence summit. The ongoing generative AI boom is kicking off a rush for new data centers, and the providers of the infrastructure behind them. With this boom comes many challenges including power supplies and the price of necessary hardware. For 9 of the top 10 US electric utilities, data centers have been the main source of customer growth, according to analysis made by Reuters. The booming Global Data Center Market is expected to hit US$792.3 billion by 2032, according to Astute Analytica, while analysts at Christian & Timbers have identified what they believe will be a 27% increase in AI data center talent demand in 2024 over 2023. Behind the scenes are several developers advancing the data center surge, who over the last week updated the market with recent developments, including: Avant Technologies Inc. (OTC: AVAI), Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) (NEO: GOOG), Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ: META) (NEO: META), Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ: PEGA), and Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD).

The article continued: Some experts are raising concerns that the AI revolution itself could crash the existing supply of data centers, and create a serious capacity shortage worldwide. All the while, Fortune is declaring private equity firms as the early winners in the race to feed AI’s infrastructure demands.

Avant Technologies to Implement AI-Empowered, Zero Trust Architecture in Its Data Centers

Avant Technologies, Inc. (OTCQB: AVAI) (“Avant” or the “Company”), an artificial intelligence technology (AI) company specializing in the development of advanced AI and data center infrastructure solutions, announced today its plans to implement a Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) framework powered by AI within its data center operations. Avant asserts that this strategic move is aimed at providing the highest level of security for its customers’ critical data.

“By integrating AI with Zero Trust Architecture, we are creating a robust and future-proof security framework for our data centers,” stated William Hisey, Chief Executive Officer at Avant. “This combined approach ensures the highest level of security for our customers’ data while optimizing data center operations for efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Avant is committed to providing innovative technology to help businesses optimize data center operations, improve resource utilization, and enhance security.”

ZTA is a security model that eliminates the concept of inherent trust within a network. It assumes that all users, devices, and workloads – regardless of location – must be continuously verified before granting access to resources. Implementing AI-controlled ZTA allows Avant to achieve continuous authentication and authorization, enhanced threat detection and response, dynamic access controls, and adaptive security policies.

Avant’s ZTA implementation aligns seamlessly with its existing AI-powered data center management focus. The company’s AI technology already provides predictive analytics and optimization, automated incident response, and enhanced cooling efficiency.

In other industry developments and happenings in the market this week include:

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) (NEO: GOOG), best known as the parent company of Google and YouTube, recently broke ground on Google’s fourth data center in the Netherlands, as confirmed by Senior Operations Manager in a LinkedIn post. Valued at ~US$643 million, Google says the new data center will create 125 new jobs and has pledged to prioritize sustainability. The announcement is in line with the company’s commitment to invest billions of dollars in 2024 both inside the USA and abroad, where they’ve also announced plans to build a $1 billion data center campus in Kansas City, Missouri, and another $576-million data center project in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

“Organizations and governments in the Netherlands are increasingly moving to the cloud,” said Google in a statement. “Cloud computing usage has almost doubled in the Netherlands in the last five years. The rise in demand is why Google is investing in digital infrastructure, which helps expand everybody’s access to information.”

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ: META) (NEO: META), best known as the parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, announced plans to “accelerate infrastructure investments” for AI, including plans to spend billions of dollars more on servers and data centers. However, the initial response to the Facebook parent company’s plans was not positive. According to CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Meta plans to increase spending ahead of generating much revenue from their new products, reassuring his investors-call audience that Meta has a strong track record of monetizing new AI services once they reach scale.

“We anticipate our full-year 2024 capital expenditures will be in the range of $35-40 billion, increased from our prior range of $30-37 billion as we continue to accelerate our infrastructure investments to support our artificial intelligence (AI) roadmap,” said Susan Li, CFO for Meta Platforms in the quarterly financial report. “While we are not providing guidance for years beyond 2024, we expect capital expenditures will continue to increase next year as we invest aggressively to support our ambitious AI research and product development efforts.”

Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ: PEGA), the leading enterprise AI decisioning and workflow automation platform provider, recently announced its Q1 2024 financial results, highlighting’s the company’s outstanding cash flow and margin expansion in the quarter.

“The strong cash generation in Q1 demonstrates the power of a SaaS business,” said Ken Stillwell, COO and CFO of Pegasystems. “Given our financial strength and differentiated GenAI capabilities, we are in a great position to accelerate profitable growth.”

The financial results came just over a week from the company introduced its Pega Gena™ Coach, a generative AI-powered mentor for Pega solutions that proactively advises users to help them achieve optimal outcomes. Coach analyzes existing opportunity, lead, contact, and interaction data within Pega Sales Automation™ and offers suggestions to help overcome barriers in moving deals forward.

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD), a global semiconductor company, has credited its decision seven years ago to discontinue making monolithic datacenter chips in favor of a chiplet architecture with helping cut global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by tens of thousands of metric tons per year.

“Chiplets not only avoid waste and conserve resources in manufacturing, but also in the data centers powering the digital services and experiences we use daily,” said Justin Murrill, Director of Corporate Responsibility for AMD. “Each chiplet houses multiple processor cores, and different chiplets can be added and even stacked in a package to create higher-performance and more energy efficient processors.”

AMD’s EPYC processors are at the forefront in powering the most energy-efficient x86 servers available today. Employing these leading servers significantly reduces the number of physical servers required to fulfill computing needs. This reduction has a broad environmental benefit, including decreased use of raw materials, less manufacturing and shipping, reduced energy consumption, and minimized data center space requirements. Such advantages are vital for businesses aiming to upgrade their data center infrastructure and enhance computational capacity while actively striving to meet sustainability objectives.

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Venture Capital Fund Manager Token Bay Capital Granted In-Principle Approval To Invest In Tokens With First of Its Kind License in Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM)

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  • License will permit investment in both the equity and tokens of crypto start-ups
  • Opening of Token Bay’s new offices in ADGM aligns with planned second fund

Token Bay Capital Limited (“Token Bay”) is expanding its venture capital footprint in the capital of the UAE and has been granted an in-principle approval (IPA) from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) to carry out regulated activities in the ADGM. Subject to final regulatory approval for the grant of the Financial Services Permission (FSP), Token Bay brings niche capabilities to manage both token and equity investments in early-stage crypto start-ups under the FSRA’s Venture Capital Fund Manager (VCFM) framework.

Founded in 2021, Token Bay is a leading Crypto Venture Capital Fund that has adopted a regulatory-first approach from day one. Token Bay invests in start-ups building next-generation blockchain infrastructure and decentralized applications for Web3. Building on the success of its first fund, Token Bay is now launching its second fund and will continue to back outstanding entrepreneurs building infrastructure solutions for the new token economy. In addition to Abu Dhabi, Token Bay also has offices in Hong Kong, and is strategically positioned across digital assets hubs in both the Middle East and Asia.

Founder and Managing Partner of Token Bay, Lucy Gazmararian: “This marks the first phase of global expansion for Token Bay, and we’re excited to have been granted the IPA in ADGM for venture capital investment in tokens as well as in equity. Blockchain technology has the potential to drive innovation through tokenization, and as blockchain networks continue to evolve, it is important that as venture capitalists we are fully equipped to support talented founders building in Web3 by directly participating in these networks and taking an ownership stake through tokens. We extend our sincerest thanks to the regulator for their forward-thinking approach and open dialogue so that we were able to reach this important milestone and establish Token Bay in one of the world’s leading international financial centres and digital assets hub.”

ADGM’s progressive regulatory framework, English common law legal framework, status as a leading centre for financial innovation and vibrant blockchain and digital assets ecosystem have attracted Token Bay to set up offices in the capital of the UAE.

Arvind Ramamurthy, Chief of Market Development at ADGM said, “We extend a warm welcome to Token Bay Capital as they join ADGM’s international financial centre and commence their establishment in Abu Dhabi, marking the beginning of their global expansion journey. ADGM is dedicated to cultivating innovation and excellence in the financial sector, particularly within the virtual asset space. With progressive regulatory frameworks that facilitate companies like Token Bay Capital, ADGM’s vibrant ecosystem stands as the optimal platform for initiating their global growth trajectory.”

Token Bay’s Venture Funds offer institutions, multi-national companies, private banks, family offices and high-net-worth individuals the opportunity to invest in an emerging asset class right at the start of a multi-decade cycle.

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