It's a wrap: News this week (Nov 30 -- Dec 6)

There have been multiple developments this week on the tech front. From major IT services deals to AWS re:Invent highlights, this is the list of the most important developments for a quick catch-up:

Google-AP Govt MoU

Google signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Government of Andhra Pradesh on Thursday to accelerate the adoption of AI across the state. Under this MoU, Google will work with the state government to integrate AI and machine learning solutions in critical areas such as healthcare, and environmental sustainability.

The focus will also be on skill development and providing necessary training an resources to citizens to bridge the digital divide. Additionally, Google will collaborate to support the state's startup ecosystem, to fuel innovation and entrepreneurship in the field of AI.  

RBI’s AI-related announcements

During the Monetary Policy meeting today, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said that it will setting up a committee to recommend a Framework for Responsible and Ethical Enablement of AI (FREE-AI) in the finance sector. 

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said that while the sector is witnessing rapid transformation through technologies such as AI, tokenization, Cloud Computing, etc., there is a need to address the associated risks such as algorithmic bias, explainability, and data privacy. This framework will help address these challenges.

Additionally, RBI also introduced an AI-machine learning model called MuleHunter.AI. It is developed by the Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH) in Bengaluru. It will help banks in dealing with the issue of bank accounts and reduce digital fraud. 

Infosys partners with Kardex

Infosys on Wednesday announced a collaboration with Switzerland-based intralogistics solutions firm Kardex to transform its business operations using SAP S/4HANA. The Bengaluru-headquartered company will leverage its cloud solution Cobalt to integrate Kardex's enterprise resource planning (ERP) system in over 30 countries.

Leveraging cloud solution Infosys Cobalt, Kardex's Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system in over 30 countries, operational efficiency, and scalability will be unified. Infosys will help Kardex harmonise and standardise its business processes to drive productivity, flexibility, and improved decision-making," the company said in a release.

EPAM to have 10k employees in India by 2025

EPAM Systems which considers India as one of its key growth and talent markets, is on a hiring spree in the country. 
The company has hired over 2,000 employees in India this year alone, bringing its local workforce to more than 9,000, with plans to reach 10,000 by March 2025. EPAM's India operations had 7,050 employees at the end of December last year, accounting for about 13% of the company's 53,000 global workforce across Central and Eastern Europe, Central and Western Asia, India, and Latin America. The company also announced a new office in Baner, Pune, marking the company's third expansion in India this year, following Bengaluru and Chennai.

NxtGen signs $27 million deal

Bengaluru-based NxtGen, a provider of cloud services, announced on Wednesday a contract valued at $27 million (Rs 225 crores) with Akash Systems, a U.S.-based provider of data centre cooling solutions. This partnership will help NxtGen enhance its sustainability efforts while delivering superior computational capabilities to its clientele.

In an interaction with TechCircle, A S Rajgopal CEO & MD, of NxtGen, said, “These servers will support NxtGen's goal of delivering energy-efficient and cost-effective AI compute services to enterprises of all sizes in India.” NxtGen supports more than 900 enterprises across India alone, including small, midsized, and large organizations in both the private and public sectors.

TCS partners with Bank of Bhutan

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Tuesday said it has partnered with the Bank of Bhutan to modernise its digital core for enhanced customer service.The tech major will implement its TCS BaNCS’ Global Banking Platform to help the bank optimise operations and integrate with the various public services within the digital ecosystem of the country, according to a regulatory filing.

AWS announces Nova foundational models

At the annual event re:Invent this year, cloud company AWS, made a series of new announcements. It includes new chips, foundational models, and industry partnerships. 

AWS’ new generation of foundational models introduced at the re:Invent is named Nova. Available through Amazon Bedrock, Nova can perform tasks such as document and video analysis, generating video content, and building AI agents at lower cost and latency. Amazon Nova accepts multimodal input — text and image to generate image or video output at industry-competing prices. AWS claims that Nova’s customization capabilities give it an edge over other similar models in the industry. 

The company introduced its next generation of AI chips for customers to build bigger models faster and deliver superior real-time performance. Available in the latter part of 2025, Trainium3 will be the first AWS chip made with 3nm process node.

LTIMindtree to invest in Voice.AI

IT firm LTIMindtree announced a partnership and strategic investment in AI startup Voice.AI on Wednesday for improving customer engagement. The company, through its wholly-owned subsidiary LTIMindtree USA, will invest $6 million in convertible instruments to be issued by the startup. Voice.AI, incorporated in April 2024, offers proprietary technology for human-like voice capability in more than 20 languages with conversational, contextual, and emotional intelligence. LTIMindtree will leverage Voice.AI’s capabilities to enable its clients to optimize costs, reduce risk, enhance user experience, address revenue leakages, and enhance upsell opportunities.

LTTS signs $50 million deal

L&T Technology Services (LTTS), an IT services provider, has announced a $50 million multi-year contract with a global network solutions provider to deliver product integration services in North America. The agreement involves supporting the client in deploying advanced networking solutions for customers in the region.