Microsoft India to increase price of commercial software

Microsoft India to hike price of commercial software by 6%

Microsoft India has announced a 6% increase in price for its commercial software and online services effective from February 1, 2024 as the company aims to realign close to prevailing US dollar levels in the Asian region.

According to Microsoft, the revised prices for direct sales to India-based customers for a select seat of online services such as Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365 will be reflected as of February 1, 2024.

The company said for business customers, these changes will not affect existing orders under volume licensing agreements for products that are subject to price protection. However, prices for new product additions under such volume licensing agreements and purchases under new contracts will be as defined by the pricelist at the time of order.

For indirect sales where Microsoft products are sold through resellers, final prices and currency of sale will continue to be determined by resellers.

Mphasis to adopt AWS Skill Builder for upskilling

Technology services company Mphasis has announced its adoption of Amazon Web Services (AWS) Skill Builder, an online digital learning center, to invest in talent development of employees through upskilling and reskilling on specialized technologies.

According to a statement, AWS Skill Builder will help Mphasis provide its workforce with the cloud skills necessary to successfully drive digital transformation for its clients globally.

Expanding on Mphasis's cloud expertise, the diverse learning experiences in AWS Skill Builder have allowed the company to translate intricate training concepts into practical solutions for its technical and non-technical employees. Moreover, it has proven useful in identifying the requisite cloud skills training, learning cloud-related proficiencies, and facilitating the seamless management of learners' educational paths.

Mphasis has over 600 AWS-certified engineers and aims to certify an additional 1,500 within the next year. These professionals will use the combination of guided learning and labs making it easier to apply new skills in real-life projects benefiting clients every day.

Kaspersky signs MoU with IIT Delhi

Cybersecurity company Kaspersky and the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to work together to support and encourage the growth of cybersecurity-related research and educational initiatives at the Institute.

Under the agreement, Kaspersky and IIT Delhi will work together to promote cybersecurity education and research to build a more robust cybersecurity workforce in India. The agreement demonstrates both parties' efforts to foster closer cooperation to enhance the security of the computing environment in the nation and beyond.

The MoU includes exchanging knowledge and expertise, developing educational materials, organising and promoting events to raise cybersecurity awareness, and sponsoring merit (academic) awards or prizes to encourage IIT Delhi students to pursue careers in ICT and Cybersecurity.

Automation Anywhere signs pact with AWS for GenAI

Robotic process automation company Automation Anywhere has announced that it has entered into a multi-year Strategic Collaboration Agreement (SCA) with Amazon Web Services (AWS).

The SCA enhances Automation Anywhere’s expertise in generative AI and intelligent automation to boost enterprise productivity and power business growth, in addition to offering its customers greater choice, flexibility and reliability for their generative AI deployments.

The company also announced general availability of its integrations with Amazon Bedrock, a fully managed service that makes foundation models (FMs) from leading AI companies accessible via an API to build and scale generative AI applications, and Amazon SageMaker, which helps companies build, train, and deploy machine learning (ML) models for any use case with fully managed infrastructure, tools, and workflows.