Month: October 2021

APEX Solutions of Dell

Shabbir Chunawalla

In the world today, huge amount of data is generated. The time it takes to double the data in the world is shrinking. It is an intelligent world, connected to 5G and low latency networks. It is for the organisation to create a competitive advantage in such an environment and succeed. It calls for new capabilities.

Software has played a key role in speeding up the innovation, and its spread. There is distributed computing today, and it is going to be more distributed. It is for the company to simplify this.

We are in the dawn of the edge computing age. The technology is intelligent. It may make many complex silos. There is more data. There are more locations. There are more use cases. These all have to be curbed. There should be integration and advanced solutions for the customers.

Dell’s APEX solutions are being adopted, as the customers do not want to become system integrators. They want a single provider who can provide all these solutions. They can then focus more on their data and applications. They can as well create a competitive advantage for themselves.

Multi-lateral Tax Reform

Shabbir Chunawalla

Business is going digital. It may so happen that the business is established in one geography whereas the products are being sold across different geographies. Even contracts are concluded digitally by online contracting. There is digital delivery and new payment norms.

Tax authorities grappled with the problem of shifting base for levying taxes. In October 2021, there is an agreement among 136 countries to address the tax challenges brought about by digital transformation of business.

There is global consensus on the design and implementation of new rules (this is under Pillar 1).

In the meantime, countries like India had already introduced Equalisation Levy (EL) to cover online advertising at the rate of 6 per cent . India widened the scope of EL to cover a broad range of online sales, services and facilitation by non-residents which were subjected to a 2 per cent levy. The expanded EL is complex and poses several challenges to tax payers.

EL has been a temporary levy, pending finalisation of the global consensus. It has been agreed that all existing digital taxes will be removed by December 2023 or the rollout of the multi-lateral agreement whichever is earlier.

Indian collection up to 2022 could be Rs.1600 crore, not significant when compared to direct and indirect tax collections. Besides, EL makes India involved into tax disputes and legal challenges. It is in the interest of India to withdraw EL earlier, which will give a strong message to the global community about India’s commitment to multilateral tax reform. It will facilitate the ease of doing business.

Games and AI

Shabbir Chunawalla

In digital experience these days, AI plays a key role. In the field of gaming, AI plays a significant role. The more immersive a game is, the more is the use of AI. Even simpler games do have high adaptability. There are single player games where AI is everything. It is more responsive when you act stealthy. An enemy being taken is hidden from other bots so as to prevent detection. There are non-player characters called NPCs. These behave based on AI. The biggest publishers in the industry make AAA games with complexity.

Massively multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPG) let you play against other players. There are infinite possibilities. The bots are AI-driven. These must be beaten. The bots can also strategise and do the retreat. In the popular shooting games, the bots are intentionally weak. In the first-person shooter (FPS) games, AI is not sophisticated. Bots shoot randomly when your presence is detected. In sophisticated FPS games, they are better marksmen. These do mapping fast if you have played previously.

Bots are in-game characters controlled by the computer. Previously they used to work in a sequence. Later, the complexity increased.

The use of AI and its potential in gaming is limited by the creativity of the developer. It is available in survival games, say stranded human being on a desolate island. AI works depending on the capability of the developer, AI can respond to a situation or it is adaptable.

Product Design and AI

Shabbir Chunawalla

In product development, a critical component is engineering data science that makes available robust simulation, testing and field data sets. Simultaneously, there are rapid strides in the fields of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML).

In product design and engineering, the application of AI and ML lagged behind. The three-dimensional products require complex 3D CAD models, FEA meshes consisting of millions of elements, simulation of multiple physics and optimisation runs exploring multiple variants of a design. It generates a lot of data.

CAE or computer-aided engineering is now augmented by AI. It enables the producers to discover insights and explore new solutions to design problems. It also achieves greater product innovation.

Thus AI works in design generation, design exploration and design optimisation. There are automative repetitive tasks. ML here generates direct models for geometry creation and editing, mid-surface extraction, surface and mid-meshing, mesh quality correction. Simultaneously there is efficient assembly management and process guidance.

Thus simulation technology is combined with design exploration and ML. It enables engineers to consider more design dimensions throughout the product development process. ML enables faster design convergence. It rejects low-potential designs early in the development process.

Data analytics help manufacturers perform preventive and corrective actions on their equipment.

Metaverse

Shabbir Chunawalla

Snow Crash was a science fiction classic authored by Neal Stephenson. It shows the earth as a completely digitised planet. Here the nation state is superseded by corporations. Everybody is a resident of metaverse, which is an amalgm of physical space, augmented reality and virtual reality.

Zuckerberg has repeatedly used the word metaverse in his recent public utterances. In the middle of 2021, he talks of metaverse as the next big chapter for Facebook.

Facebook is attempting a gaming development and VR platform, Horizon and a dollar backed digital currency.

Facebook has invested heavily in virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). It has bought companies like Oculus in 2021 to create a product team to work on the metaverse. It will start publishing the financial results of its VR-AR labs as a separate unit. It is investing billions of dollars here to build the metaverse. It is doing so because its main advertising business faces significant uncertainty.

It is not expected that the investment will pay off in near future. However, in the long run, it is believed that the metaverse will be the successor to the mobile internet.

QR (Quick Respose) Code

Shabbir Chunawalla

QR codes have been around for the last 25 years. Masahiro Hana, a Japanese engineer, developed QR code in 1994. He was inspired by a board game Go where black and white stones are placed alternately in a grid pattern. The grid can represent a lot of information.

The forerunner of QR code was a barcode which conveyed a variety of information on being scanned. A QR code holds information in both horizontal and vertical dimensions. Thus it can hold more information than a barcode. A QR code can store up to 7089 digits or 4296 charaoters. These have links to webpages, PDFs, text and images. QR codes are scanned by smart phones.

QR codes are used in travel and tourism, healthcare, restaurants, FMCG sector, entertainment, textiles, education and publishing, banking, e-commerce, and charity. You must have seen the ubiquitous QR codes for making UPI payments on the premises of retail shopkeepers.

QR codes must be made more secure so that these do not introduce any malware on our phones.

Instagram

Shabbir Chunawalla

Facebook purchased Instagram in 2012. It is a photo-sharing application. Facebook wanted to establish it as a platform for teenagers and youngsters. It reached 1billion users in 2018, but rival apps such as TikTok and Snapchat nibble the base of Instagram. Initially Instagram outperformed both TikTok and Snapchat, but a recent survey found that Snapchat is the most favoured app for teenagers, followed by TikTok and Instagram. The patronage is measured in terms of teentime spent. It has dipped for Instagram. The loss of teen foothold in the US is the loss of pipeline. Instagram has increased its marketing budget to target the teenagers. It aims to target early high school audience between 13-15 years of age.

Slippage in Instagram audience has consequences for Facebook. Facebook has aging user base. Instagram by capturing young users can replenish this Facebook user base.

Metaverse

Shabbir Chunawalla

Metaverse is a universe where the physical and digital worlds converge. In virtual reality, there are simulations. Metaverse exceeds these simulations tenfold. It is the next version of internet. It is constantly online and active, even when there are no logins. This is the virtual world that feels exactly like the real world. It is a parallel universe that has its own economy. Metaverse does not exist right now. It is expected to be an expansive network where people are created and explored. And these people are not in the same physical space as you are.

Though it has yet to become a reality, many are obsessed with the idea.

Hitachi-Global Logic Collaboration

Shabbir Chunawalla

Hitachi acquired Global Logic. Hitachi is competent in operative technologies in domains like financial services, manufacturing, healthcare and life sciences, energy and utilities and transportation. It uses its Lumada’s platform. This platform provides deep digital and operating insights across Industry 4.0 and smart life. Global Logic has robust digital engineering capabilities. It can accelerate digital transformation.

The digital transformation consists of recasting business across infrastructure, both IT and OT, data and digital talent. Hitachi has expertise of Lumada and Golabal Logic has engineering talent and services. It will advance the IT/OT solutions. Both together will create greater value for clients.

They have adopted DARQ technologies — Distributed Ledger, Artificial Intelligence, Extended Reality and Quantum Computing.

The collaboration also plans to focus on the engineering research and development (ER&D). DARQ will be a game changer.

Dubai and Blockchain

Shabbir Chunawalla

As we have already observed in several writeups, blockchain technology makes conducting transactions easier and safer. Dubai intends to be the first government in the world to move all its applicable transactions to blockchain technology. It will benefit all sectors.

Dubai has already established its position as a leader and the largest hub for information and communication technology (ICT) in the MENA or middle east and north-Africa region.

The Dubai Blockchain Strategy is a joint initiative by Digital Dubai and Dubai Future Foundation. This strategy has led to the initiation of a number of use cases, the Dubai Blockchain Policy and a joint blockchain platform.

Digital Dubai has executed 24 blockchain use cases covering eight sectors — commerce, real estate, transportation, security, health, finance, education and tourism. There is partnership of private players and government here.

In collaboration with IBM, they have launched shared Dubai Blockchain platform. It helps government bodies to develop use cases without a need to invest individually. The learnings will be collected and shared with the world.

Dubai is home to over 100 blockchain businesses today. Dubai is expected to save a few billion dirhams in document processing alone.