Espresso: Intel partners with Airtel for 5G technologies

Airtel, Intel ink 5G alliance

Bharti Airtel and Intel will collaborate to accelerate 5G network development by  leveraging virtualized radio access network (vRAN) and open radio access network (O-RAN) technologies.

This partnership is part of Airtel’s 5G roadmap for India, and 5G trials are underway in major cities, the company said in a statement.

“Intel’s cutting-edge technologies and experience will contribute immensely to Airtel’s mission of serving India with world-class 5G services,” said Randeep Sekhon, CTO of Bharti Airtel.

Earlier this year, Intel also entered into a partnership with Reliance Jio to develop 5G networking technologies.

Salesforce completes Slack buyout

Salesforce, the global leader in customer relationship management software, announced it has completed its acquisition of Slack Technologies, on Wednesday.

Post acquisition, Slack will continue to operate under its brand name, and Co-Founder Stewart Butterfield will continue as CEO of the business communication platform.

In a press statement, Salesforce reported that IBM’s 380,000 employees are working together in Slack, with numerous workflows across Salesforce Sales Cloud and Service Cloud powering customer success across locations and time zones.

Finacle signs up Santander UK

Digital banking solution Finacle will launch a cash management platform for financial services company Santander UK, according to a statement from Infosys, which has developed Finacle.

The platform called Santander Global Connect will incorporate Finacle’s digital banking solutions to help the company to manage “businesses of all sizes to seamlessly manage their international transaction and cash management banking needs,” said John Carroll, Head of International and Transactional Banking, Santander UK.

Wipro, Celonis to help COVID-hit enterprises 

IT firm Wipro and software company Celonis announced a partnership to help enterprises streamline operations across areas, like finance, human resources, and supply chain management.

Celonis, an execution-management software company, and Wipro have formed the Global Celonis Center to drive operations transformation for clients.

The centre will focus on enterprises recovering from the impact of COVID-19, and enable them to rebuild organisational resiliency through operational transformation. “It will help enterprises usher a new operating model without disrupting their long-term IT investments,” Wipro said in a statement.

Polycab India in recovery mode

Electricals brand Polycab India reported Rs 1,880.5 crore in first quarter revenue for fiscal year 2022, up by 93 percent over the same period last year. However, its net profit of Rs 75.3 crore in the June-ended quarter dropped 36 percent, compared to a year ago.

“Despite challenges posed by lockdowns in many states, we were able to record much better business compared to last year,” said Inder T Jaisinghani, Chairman and Managing Director of Polycab India.

High input costs erode CEAT margins

Tyremaker CEAT clocked Rs 1,906 crore in the quarter ended June 2021, which was 16.7 percent lower than its revenue in the previous quarter. Its net profit dropped to Rs 23 crore in the first quarter, a sequential drop of 85 percent.

CEAT said higher cost of inputs has eroded its margins, and driven costs up. Its operating margin of 9.1 percent was 265 basis points lower than the mark in the previous quarter.

“While raw material prices have currently remained range-bound, we would still need to take some more price increases to offset the impact,” said Kumar Subbiah, Chief Financial Officer of CEAT.

Gland Pharma’s first quarter

Gland Pharma recorded revenue of Rs 1,154 crore in the first quarter of fiscal year 2022, up 30 percent over the previous quarter, and 31 percent over the same quarter last year.

Its net profit of Rs 350.7 crore was also 35 percent over the previous quarter.

India accounted for 20 percent of Gland Pharma’s first quarter revenue, as global markets grew more than 50 percent sequentially, and over a year ago. The company’s capital expenditure for the quarter was Rs 185.7 crore, according to a press release.