pitstop4performers - october 25, 2012 - preview
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Preview of the inaugural issue with: The Magzter story – Interview with Vijayakumar Radhakrishnan, Girish Ramdas, Founders, Magzter Inc.; Public WiFi, Muthu Logan, President & CEO, Brovis Wireless Networks; Five points, someone - Chinese bamboo; Writing about emotions; Tamil and technology; Infinite connections – inputs from Uma Balakrishnan, CEO, Axcend Automation & Software Solutions; Lata Gwalani author of 'Incognito'; Thiruppur Krishnan, Editor, Amudasurabhi; Rahul Nehra, CMO and Global Head Sales, Exset, UK.TRANSCRIPT
October 25, 2012 1 Pitstop4Performers
October 25, 2012 2 Pitstop4Performers
Dear readers:
As an extension of the ‘Pitstop4Performers’ channel in YouTube
(http://bit.ly/TopTalk), we are happy to announce the launch of
‘Pitstop4Performers’ as a fortnightly online magazine to present
snapshots of what fires up and engages entrepreneurs, business
leaders, domain experts, authors, and any performer exploring
new ground, pursuing stretch goals, learning lessons, and
tasting success.
Feel free to send in your suggestions and feedback to
[email protected]. (For subscriptions and information,
contact: Shrinikethan, 34 Second Main Road, CIT Colony,
Mylapore, Chennai 600 004. Also available on Magzter.)
Wishing performers and wannabes success in their endeavours,
and productive video viewing!
D. Murali
Editor
Contents of the inaugural issue dated October 25, 2012
The Magzter story
Public WiFi
Five points, someone o Chinese bamboo o Writing about emotions o Tamil and technology o Infinite connections
Disclaimer: "Management and editors do not necessarily agree with the views of
the authors in their articles, the guests in their videos, the readers in their letters,
and the query editors in their replies. The editors, authors and / or publishers
shall not be responsible for any kind of result generated out of any action taken on
the basis of suggestions, etc., made in any of the write ups, interviews contained in
any part of the magazine or for any error, omission, commission to any person,
whether subscriber or otherwise. The copyright of all the materials printed herein
including articles, queries and replies etc., rests with the publishers".
October 25, 2012 3 Pitstop4Performers
The Magzter story
How Magzter was born
o We were dealing with technology
aspects of Galatta Cinema
o Realised the difficulty of a single
magazine to port itself to
different devices
o Our passion is to create a product that is made in India and goes global
o So we created a global platform with the knowledge of physical magazine
o The company was started in New York, with a back office in Chennai
A global product
o What started off for our own
magazine began catering to
other publishers
o An agile team of 45 people
working round the clock
o Our product has reached from end to end of the globe
o Publishers and users from Australia to North America
o We have a fantastic product!
Digital-only publishers News, now a commodity Work with archives
October 25, 2012 4 Pitstop4Performers
The Magzter story contd…
The Harry Potter parallel
o Digital replica of magazine and
also the enhanced version
o Example of India Today on
Magzter, with links to videos, as
in the Harry Potter world
o Our focus is on magazines, rather than newspapers
o We will be launching news feeds, free with ad support
o Help consumers discover related products facilitating cross-promotion
Viral growth
o We started with about 35
magazines in June 2011
o The physical storefront generally
has 50-60 magazines
o In about 12 months, we have
700 magazines from different countries
o Crossed 3.5 million users of our apps
o Exponential growth, virally
Revenue model Article-wise approach Magazines out of magazines
October 25, 2012 5 Pitstop4Performers
The Magzter story contd…
Deep and local
o Digital magazine providers
generally focus on top 5-10
magazines in each country
o Our objective is to go deep, with
a focus on local languages
o More than 14 languages supported in Magzter, including Chinese
o Example of Ananda Vikatan, Nakeeran, with global buyers
o On iPad, magazines look great irrespective of paper print quality
As simple as Facebook
o Self-service tool for publishers is
a factor behind our success
o Zero-cost model for publishers,
based on revenue-sharing
o Ease of coming on board, and
uploading, for publishers
o 98% of the world is still in print, with base file in PDF form
o 30-45 minutes to go digital, with no upfront costs, like getting FB page
Monetising opportunities Analytics in the system Complete playlist
October 25, 2012 6 Pitstop4Performers
Public WiFi - can it be a reality?
Muthu Logan
Not too long ago, Google set up public WiFi at its own
expense for the City of Mountain View, CA as a way of
showing its commitment to its HQ city. Google offered
free WiFi service called GoogleWiFi. The service
essentially comprises setting up WiFi access points at
various locations and leveraging the power
infrastructure of the city and bandwidth for Internet
access using high-speed fibre optic backhaul from a
service provider. This can be termed as a privately-
sponsored model
of public WiFi
offering. In a similar vein, the island
nation of Singapore set up public
WiFi access for all its citizens. This
model involved the government
coughing up the expense to provide
ubiquitous access to the Internet via
its public WiFi infrastructure. So,
there are two models already in use to
embrace public WiFi.
In emerging nations like India, some
experimental work was carried out to
implement public WiFi with no
success because of a lack of proper operational model. However, it is
possible to implement public WiFi with positive results if the following can
be adopted:
1) A city like Chennai that is working towards substantial infrastructural
improvements like advanced traffic management system using wireless
video surveillance involving WiFi hotspot connectivity and a world-class
Metro Rail project with yet-to-be-announced user facilities, can leverage the
infrastructure to carve out public WiFi networks in an incremental fashion.
Since power and fibre optic connectivity are readily available, it makes sense
economically to ride the WiFi network on top of this infrastructure at the
same time increasing the utilisation of the complete infrastructure that is
being already built out. The surveillance portion will be securely maintained
Since power and fibre
optic connectivity are
readily available, it makes
sense economically to ride
the WiFi network on top
of this, increasing the
utilisation of the
infrastructure.
October 25, 2012 7 Pitstop4Performers
in the private cloud portion of the network, while public access will go
through a separate public cloud.
2) The operational model can be a public-private partnership to make the
whole public WiFi a reality. In this case, an enterprise like BroVis Wireless
Networks (having WiFi equipment, infrastructure management and cloud
networking capabilities) can provide the operational needs and generate
revenues using location-based ad revenues, as an example, to meet the
costs involved. With increased proliferation of smartphones, tablets and
laptops with built-in WiFi, it is possible to make public WiFi a reality.
The above-described model can be extended to other metros and many tier-
two cities/small towns in an incremental fashion. Public WiFi with the right
technology approach and creative operating paradigm can be a definite
reality.
(The author is the founder and CEO of
BroVis Wireless Networks, an equipment
provider of commercial, SMART WiFi access
equipment for enterprises, service providers
and large government infrastructure
projects. BroVis pioneered the concept of
Broadband Access equipment using de-
licensed bands for the emerging regions ten
years back and has over 20,000
deployments in 25 countries. The company
is based in the Silicon Valley, with
operational HQ in Chennai, India, and
offices in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, India,
and San Jose, US.)
Selections from Muthu Logan playlist:
IP work in Brovis products
Is India contributing to wireless standards
Outlook for wireless telecom, datacom industry
Wireless connectivity in apartments
Innovation driven by customers
With increased
proliferation of
smartphones, tablets
and laptops with
built-in WiFi, it is
possible to make
public WiFi a reality.
October 25, 2012 8 Pitstop4Performers
Chinese bamboo
o Good time for us to introspect
o Chance to relive where we
started from
o A whole lot of people helped us
grow
o Next decade is likely to be of momentous and fast growth
o We look at ourselves as the Chinese bamboo
Uma Balakrishnan, CEO, Axcend Automation & Software Solutions
Writing about emotions
o Was a mainstream journalist,
and the wish to write was at the
back of the mind
o My husband eased out my work
calendar as a behavioural
trainer, and I got 8 months to write
o Never set out to write a psychological thriller, though it turned out so
o Always wanted to write about emotions, and EQ is a pet area of my work
o Writing in the first person meant that I conceive the whole plot at the
outset
Lata Gwalani, Author of 'Incognito'
Five points, someone
October 25, 2012 9 Pitstop4Performers
Tamil and technology
o Technology penetration is low at
the village level because of cost
o Tamil readership is more in the
physical form, for low and
middle class
o Not much reaction to what I wrote on websites except emails
o Reminiscing Ambalam, and Chennaionline work
o Print media will continue to have its impact among the Tamil readers
Thiruppur Krishnan, Editor, Amudasurabhi
Infinite connections
o Biggest challenge in emerging
economies is to connect people,
with markets and governments
o Television screen, one thing that
is common among people
o ‘Infinite connections’ using TV, for DTT, digital terrestrial transformation
o Started off as a technology book, but is no longer so
o Real convergence is when society is converged with technology, not when
technologies converge into each another
Rahul Nehra, CMO and Global Head Sales, Exset, UK
Five points, someone
October 25, 2012 10 Pitstop4Performers
Published by: Shrinikethan, Chennai http://bit.ly/ShriMap
Edited by: D. Murali http://bit.ly/dMurali http://bit.ly/TopTalk
October 25, 2012