Category technology

India, October 10, 2025: Thousands of companies are racing to build AI agents, but many struggle to make them truly useful in daily workflows. The key lies in context, and the richest context comes from conversations. Yet, conversational data—an organization’s most valuable knowledge—has long remained trapped in unstructured chats and messages. Slack, the work operating system for the agentic enterprise, is unlocking that potential.

Today, Slack announces the next evolution of its platform, empowering partners and developers to securely connect AI with the rich corpus of customer-owned conversational data. With new tools like the Real-Time Search (RTS) API, Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, and enhanced developer resources including prebuilt Block Kit Tables, Slack enables developers to build secure, flexible, and context-aware AI agents. These agents move beyond generic responses to deliver personalized, high-accuracy assistance—unlocking new levels of productivity and collaboration.

Leading innovators including Anthropic, Google, Perplexity, Writer, Dropbox, Notion, Cognition Labs, Vercel, and Cursor are already building on Slack to deliver intelligent, agent-based experiences that live natively within the platform—bringing AI directly into the flow of work.

Slack: The Natural Home for Modern AI Apps and Agents

Enterprises today face fragmentation—with over 200,000 SaaS tools and an average of 1,000 apps per organization, employees lose productivity through endless switching and duplication. By embedding AI-powered applications directly in Slack, developers help companies unify workflows and turn Slack into the 2% of IT budget that maximizes returns on the other 98%.

Key benefits include:

• Unlocking Unstructured Data: Securely tap into Slack’s collective knowledge to enrich AI, saving teams an average of 97 minutes per week.

• Accelerating Decisions: By combining app data (like Salesforce or Workday) with Slack conversations, companies achieve 37% faster decisions and 36% quicker customer responses.

• Boosting Productivity: Seamless integration eliminates context switching, enabling AI to amplify team efficiency and output.

• Driving Adoption: With 1.7 million apps used weekly in Slack, developers overcome the adoption barrier—95% of users say Slack-integrated tools make their apps more valuable.

• Ensuring Security: Slack’s enterprise-grade compliance and granular permissions keep data safe while powering intelligent collaboration.

Salesforce Executive Perspective

“India is home to one of the world’s most vibrant developer ecosystems. With these new Slack capabilities, partners can securely build deeply context-aware AI agents that make work more intelligent, collaborative, and productive. We’re excited to see how our ecosystem leverages these innovations to accelerate business outcomes.”Rahul Sharma, Vice President – Sales, Salesforce India

A Deeper Look: Powering Trusted, Context-Aware AI

Slack’s platform redefines how users and AI interact, positioning agents as trusted companions.

• RTS API: Offers real-time, permission-based access to conversational data—unlocking collective intelligence securely, without data replication.

• MCP Server: Simplifies and standardizes how AI models and agents connect to Slack data, enabling contextual, permission-aware interactions.

Together, these technologies enable developers to build smarter, more reliable AI agents that can securely search, analyze, and act on Slack data—reducing hallucinations and improving trust.

New Developer Innovations

• Slack Work Objects: Create dynamic, rich app previews within conversations, allowing users to take actions (e.g., mark tasks complete) without leaving Slack.

• Agentic Developer Tools: Updated CLI for Bolt apps, AI best practices, and prebuilt UI components simplify the build process.

• Slack Marketplace: Central hub for secure, discoverable apps and agents—uniting human-AI collaboration within a trusted ecosystem.

With these advancements, Slack cements its position as the foundation for the agentic enterprise where human collaboration meets intelligent automation to transform how the world works.

NEW DELHI, India, October 9, 2025: SolarWinds, a leading provider of simple, powerful, secure observability and IT management software, today unveiled the SolarWinds® AI Agent along with a range of expanded AI features aimed at speeding up the transition to autonomous operational resilience.

Modern IT environments are increasingly distributed and fragile, with nearly half of IT leaders reporting unexpected outages despite rating their resilience highly in this year’s SolarWinds IT Trends Report. SolarWinds AI Agent is built to bridge this “resilience gap” by giving IT teams an intelligent, context-aware system that predicts issues, automates responses, and reduces the cognitive burden on practitioners.

Built on AI by Design principles and expanding the company’s well-known Secure by Design framework into the AI era, the new offerings deliver conversational, agentic AI to daily operations enhancing detection, diagnostics, and remediation.

The SolarWinds AI Agent: A Digital Team Member for IT Ops

The AI Agent will function as a reliable teammate in observability, incident response, and service management, enabling IT professionals to:

• Resolve incidents faster. Automatically summarize outages, gather diagnostics, identify probable root causes, and suggest remediation steps.
• Use natural language. Ask questions about system health, compare metrics, get recommendations, and launch multi-step workflows—all with plain-language commands.
• Simplify observability management. Configure and manage SolarWinds Observability directly through the agentic interface.

“The SolarWinds AI Agent is more than a feature—it’s a foundation for a new way of working,” said Krishna Sai, Chief Technology Officer, SolarWinds. “By embedding intelligent, context-aware AI into IT workflows, we’re helping teams move beyond reactive firefighting to proactive innovation.”

Expanded AI Capabilities Available Now

Alongside the AI Agent, SolarWinds introduced new AI-powered features that deliver immediate impact:

• Root Cause Assist (Generally Available): Cuts troubleshooting time by generating clear root-cause analyses based on alerts and anomalies.
• Dynamic Threshold Enhancements (Available Now): Extends automated thresholding to additional metrics, decreasing noise and false positives.
• AI Query Assist (Tech Preview): Enhances database performance by analyzing query patterns and proposing faster, more efficient rewrites.

Coming in 2026

Looking ahead, more features are scheduled for 2026, such as incident correlation, automated runbook execution, and knowledge base creation to further improve autonomous resilience.

• SolarWinds AI Incident Correlation for Service Desk will automatically identify groups of related incidents and recommend opening a problem management workflow to address the root cause. 
• SolarWinds AI Knowledge Base Generation for Service Desk will utilize GenAI to produce new knowledge base articles based on the most common solved incidents, expanding the customer’s centralized knowledge repository and offering more self-service options for employees.
• Automated Runbook Execution will allow teams to automatically execute predefined standard operating procedure steps as part of first-touch response, diagnostics gathering, or suggested fixes before a human intervenes. 

“For the past year, we’ve focused on operational resilience—the ability to protect, maintain, and quickly recover systems even during disruptions,” said Sudhakar Ramakrishna, President and CEO, SolarWinds. “With the AI Agent and expanded capabilities, we’re taking the next step: helping customers achieve autonomous operational resilience, where IT runs smarter, faster, and more securely with minimal manual intervention.”

“Every IT leader is under pressure to do more with less, but outages and complexity continue to slow teams down,” Ramakrishna continued. “With the SolarWinds AI Agent, we are reducing the mean time to detect and resolve issues by putting automation, observability, visualization, and remediation into a single, intelligent cycle.  The result is stronger resilience, greater productivity, and more time for teams to focus on innovation.”

Availability

The SolarWinds AI Agent enters Tech Preview today in SolarWinds Observability SaaS, and broader availability across the SolarWinds portfolio is planned for 2026.

For more information, visit www.solarwinds.com

SolarWinds Day

SolarWinds Day provides a front-row seat to the future of IT operations, powered by AI, automation, and full-stack observability. Join SolarWinds for the keynote announcements of these latest innovations, and stay for the THWACKcamp sessions, where customers and experts get technical about optimizing systems, resolving tickets, managing databases, and responding to critical issues in your hybrid environments. Learn more and register at events.solarwinds.com/the-future-of-it-arrives..

• Americas: Wednesday, October 8 – 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. CT
• EMEA: Thursday, October 9 – 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. GMT

APJ: Thursday, October 9 – 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. SGT

Contrails AI Raises Dolar 1M Pre-Seed to Advance Its Multimodal AI Engine for Tackling Growing GenAI Threats

Bangalore, October 9, 2025: Contrails AI, a Trust & Safety-tech AI startup, raised $1M in a pre-seed round, led by Huddle Ventures and IAN Group. Founded by Digvijay Singh (AI Researcher and Product Leader) and Amitabh Kumar (Global Trust & Safety Practitioner), Contrails AI is on a mission to safeguard internet companies in the age of GenAI.

The internet, once a space for connecting humans and sharing knowledge and experiences worldwide, is now flooded by bots and “AI slop,” leading to an explosion of machine-made, uncontrolled, and unrestrained content online.

This shift pushes us closer to a “dead internet,” where 99.99% of content is counterproductive or malicious AI-Generated Content (AIGC). Consequently, it will erode digital trust and accelerate threats like brand and identity theft, social engineering at scale, critical misinformation, online illegal abuse, and outright financial fraud.

Contrails AI is reimagining how platforms manage risk and govern GenAI content. Its proprietary Forensics & Manipulation Detection AI delivers real-time analysis with layered explainability, enabling platform review teams to detect, assess, and act on threats proactively. As AIGC proliferates beyond human-scale moderation, Contrails AI helps create walled gardens of trusted, safe environments, preserving user trust and platform integrity.

AI-powered cyberattacks are surging in both volume and form factor. Easy access to GenAI and media manipulation tools has led to over half of organisations seeing weekly phishing attacks, resulting in losses of dolar 17,700 every minute. Additionally, two out of three Fortune 500 company executives have encountered a deepfake or voice spoof attack.

Existing solutions are often limited to a single modality or locally limited coverage. Contrails AI tackles this threat with a multimodal approach across video, image, audio, and text, merging fraud detection with forensic DNA analysis and global data expertise.

This pre-seed funding accelerates the company’s zero-to-one journey by fueling the US and EU pilots running across industries such as marketplaces, media houses, financial firms, and leading digital platforms.

Commenting on Contrails AI’s mission to redefine digital content safety, Amitabh Kumar, Co-Founder, shared, “Trust & Safety is no longer a back-office concern; it has become a boardroom priority. At Contrails AI, we translate complex safety challenges into strategic advantages, spanning across policy, content moderation, and AI guardrailing. This allows us to build moderation and governance frameworks powered by AI, helping digital platforms scale while balancing automation and human oversight.”

“Digital content, online communities, and the internet are going to explode because of the acceleration brought on by GenAI technologies. We are on a mission to safeguard online spaces and ensure that these communities thrive in a safer, intended way. For the past decade, we’ve been closely monitoring the evolving tactics, tools, and emerging attack surface area of bad actors. Contrails AI is our answer, an enterprise-grade solution engineered to proactively safeguard the digital communities of today and tomorrow at scale,” added Digvijay Singh, Co-Founder, Contrails AI.

From 500,000 in 2023 to 8 million in 2025, deepfake files have grown 16-fold, prompting stronger investor and regulatory demands for user protection online.

“By rebuilding Trust & Safety on the internet, Contrails AI is solving one of the biggest challenges endured by today’s digital era. It is well-poised to build a product in an industry where the inflection point is arriving soon. The teams’ credibility within this space is crafted well to deliver a truly global solution. With a multimodal approach and founder-led vision, they are in a league of their own, and we wish the team the best in their ambitious endeavour,” said Sanil Sachar, Partner, Huddle Ventures.

Ajai Chowdhry, Board Member, IAN Group, and Co-Founder, HCL, pointed out, “The team at Contrails AI is tackling digital content risk with unmatched precision and enterprise-ready solutions, setting a benchmark for the industry.”

Contrails AI combines deep-tech innovation with multimodal AI expertise to engineer a compliance-ready safety infrastructure that safeguards digital ecosystems globally. By partnering with the world’s leading innovators in services and technology, the company is driving adoption of Trust & Safety solutions while building an interconnected, secure digital ecosystem.

Hyderabad, 9th October 2025: IIT Hyderabad (IIITH), India’s premier research-led institute in information technology has collaborated with TalentSprint, Part of Accenture, a leading global education company powered by AI, to offer advanced programs for professionals seeking to lead in the era of Generative AI (GenAI).

This enduring partnership of over 7 years brings together IIITH’s pioneering expertise in AI research and TalentSprint’s proven excellence in online program delivery to empower professionals with next-generation AI capabilities. Building on the success of legacy AIML programme, which has trained and transformed thousands of professionals in advanced AI and machine learning, the launch of this Certificate Programme in Generative AI and Prompt Engineering marks a decisive step forward in creating a future-ready AI workforce.

Generative AI is transforming the world today. From writing code and developing products to automating customer experiences, GenAI has become central to how industries innovate and scale. According to recent reports, over 78% of global organizations are actively exploring or investing in GenAI capabilities. However, there exists a significant gap between the demand and supply of skilled professionals equipped to work with advanced AI systems, particularly in areas such as LLM tooling, responsible AI design, and real-time engineering.

Recognizing this urgent need, IIIT Hyderabad, in collaboration with TalentSprint, has introduced a high-impact, research-backed programme designed to bridge this talent gap. The programme is further anchored by the No. 1 ML Lab at Kohli Center on Intelligent Systems (KCIS), IIIT Hyderabad – a center of excellence driving advanced AI research and innovation across India. The programme combines academic depth with industry-aligned learning, equipping participants with hands-on experience in building and deploying GenAI applications.

Prof Sandeep K Shukla, Director, IIITH emphasizes, “Generative AI represents one of the most transformative shifts in computing. Our curriculum goes beyond theory to offer participants deep insights into the GenAI stack; from prompt engineering to LangChain and vector databases. It empowers professionals to design, build, and deploy intelligent systems that drive real-world impact.”

Ideal for experienced professionals, this three-month immersive learning programme is delivered in a blended format, combining live interactive classes by IIITH faculty with mentor-guided labs and a capstone project. Participants will gain hands-on experience building applications using OpenAI and Hugging Face APIs, mastering LangChain and vector databases such as FAISS and Chroma, designing enterprise-level prompt engineering strategies, developing RAG pipelines and deploying intelligent systems in practice, and learning to create ethical and explainable AI systems.

The programme’s structure ensures flexibility for working professionals while maintaining academic rigor. Participants will also gain access to IIITH’s prestigious alumni network, opening doors to a lifelong learning ecosystem and leadership opportunities in AI-driven domains.

This thoughtfully curated programme will help participants not only understand GenAI fundamentals but also build solutions with purpose—transforming them into practitioners capable of leading enterprise-scale AI adoption.

Fortinet Report: Rise in Data Loss Despite Smarter Data Security Practices and More Cybersecurity Spending

Bangalore, India, October 8, 2025: The 2025 Data Security Report from Fortinet and Cybersecurity Insiders shows despite adopting smarter strategies and allocating stronger budgets, data loss continues to rise. While most organizations rely on some form of data loss prevention (DLP), many  lack visibility into how employees actually interact with data, especially in SaaS and generative AI tools, and miss the context that separates accidents from actual risk.  

The findings suggest that many existing Data Loss Prevention (DLP) tools may now be limiting organizations’ ability to adapt to today’s data security challenges. Insider-driven risk has become one of the most urgent and complex challenges in enterprise security. As data flows increasingly through users, cloud applications, AI tools, and hybrid work environments, traditional perimeter-based, content-only DLP tools can no longer keep up. Key findings from the report include:

• Sensitive data exposure is persistent: 77% of organizations experienced insider-related data loss in the past 18 months, and 58% reported six or more incidents – many stemming from routine user activity rather than malicious intent.
• Most incidents are unintentional, not malicious: 49% of organizations experienced a data loss incident caused by negligent employees versus only 16% involved confirmed malicious intent. Another 12% could not determine the cause, and 20% did not experience a data loss incident.
• The business impact is material: 45% reported financial or revenue loss, and 41% estimated damages between $1 million and $10 million for their most significant incident over the past 18 months. Only 8% said the impact was negligible.
• Visibility into data use remains a major blind spot: 72% of organizations say they can’t see how users interact with sensitive data across endpoints, cloud services, or SaaS platforms.
• Security leaders are prioritizing behavioral context and real-time visibility: The top capabilities sought in next-gen solutions are real-time behavioral analytics (66%), day one data visibility (61%), and control over shadow AI and SaaS tools (52%).

Best Practices for Modern Data Loss Prevention

To meet today’s data protection challenges, organizations must move beyond static, policy-heavy DLP and adopt a modern approach, one built on real-time visibility, behavioral context, and unified control across endpoints, cloud, SaaS, and AI tools. The following best practices reflect that shift and provide a practical blueprint for implementing next-generation DLP:

• Start with Day-One Visibility: 75% of organizations wait weeks or months to gain insight from DLP tools. That delay creates a critical blind spot during rollout. Modern solutions must provide immediate telemetry across cloud apps, endpoints, and AI tools – without requiring complex policy setup first.
• Monitor Behaviour, Not Just Violations: 66% of leaders prioritize behavioral analytics, yet few can identify which users are putting data at risk. DLP must move beyond rule-breaking to detect deviations from normal usage patterns, including frequency, timing, and method of access.
• Correlate Identity, Access, and Activity: Static rules can’t assess intent. By linking user identity, data access patterns, and contextual risk signals, organizations can distinguish between routine activity and high-risk behavior, enabling a more precise response and fewer false positives.
• Protect The Entire Data Journey Across Channels: Email is no longer the primary data exit path. Only 12% feel prepared for AI exposure and many lack coverage for personal cloud, SaaS apps, or unmanaged endpoints. Modern DLP must follow the data wherever it flows—not stop at the perimeter.
• Use AI to Cut Through the Noise: AI shouldn’t just generate more alerts but enhance prioritization, triage, and root-cause investigation. The most effective platforms use AI to sequence user behavior, detect anomalies, and spotlight what actually matters.

“Data security is no longer just about deploying tools to identify and prevent the outflow of sensitive information. It now requires a deep understanding of how sensitive data is created, stored, accessed, used, and how users may, intentionally or unintentionally, put it at risk. This is why next-generation data protection strategies are moving beyond static controls towards a platform that unifies DLP with insider risk management, delivering real-time, behavior-aware visibility across endpoints, SaaS, cloud, and AI. Fortinet integrates identity, access, and activity data through FortiDLP and the Fortinet Security Fabric to give teams the clarity they need to stop small mistakes from becoming costly breaches.” Vivek Srivastava, Country Manager, India & SAARC, at Fortinet

IIT Roorkee, Uttarakhand, October 8, 2025 – The Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IIT Roorkee), one of India’s premier institutions for higher learning and research, and Maithri Aquatech Pvt. Ltd., a leading innovator in Atmospheric Water Generation (AWG) technology, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on advancing sustainable water solutions. The agreement was signed in the presence of Prof. K.K. Pant, Director, IIT Roorkee, underscoring the institute’s commitment to research with societal and national relevance.

The partnership will focus on joint research, technology development, and pilot demonstrations, aiming to provide safe and reliable drinking water. Maithri Aquatech will also explore CSR and donor-supported initiatives for IIT Roorkee to expand the social impact of AWG deployment, particularly in water-stressed regions of India.

The collaboration plans to encompass research and innovation, including optimization of AWG systems for varied climatic conditions, integration of AI/ML and predictive modeling for operational efficiency, and advanced water quality analytics. It also emphasizes the possibility of knowledge transfer through internships, workshops, joint publications, and co-supervision. Pilot projects and demonstrations leveraging live installations, hybrid solutions combining AWG with nature-based approaches, and development of scalable, replicable models are planned. In addition, capacity building through technical training, seminars, and sustainability-focused modules will equip students and researchers with future-ready skills, while social and policy impact initiatives will ensure alignment with national water resilience strategies and evidence-based policy frameworks.

This collaboration not only advances research and technology in sustainable water solutions but also aligns with ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) compliance principles, ensuring responsible and impact-driven deployment of AWG systems in communities across India.

Prof. M.L. Kansal (WRDM Faculty, IIT Roorkee) – coordinator of this collaboration, providing technical guidance, and academic oversight in research, and field deployment. The partnership brings together a distinguished team of leaders and experts, including Prof. K.K. Pant (Director, IIT Roorkee), Prof. Thanga Raj Chelliah (HoD, WRDM, IIT Roorkee), Prof. M L Kansal, Professor, WRD&M, Prof. K S Kasiviswanathan, WRD&M from IIT Roorkee, alongside industry leaders from Maithri Aquatech, including Capt. K.K. Sharma (EVP), Sh. Pawan Borle (Co-founder). Together, they merge academic excellence, domain expertise, and proven technological innovation to drive scalable, sustainable, and socially impactful water solutions.

Prof. K.K. Pant, Director, IIT Roorkee, said, “This collaboration exemplifies IIT Roorkee’s commitment to transforming cutting-edge research into practical solutions for society. By combining our academic expertise with Maithri Aquatech’s technology, we aim to enhance water resilience and create scalable models that can benefit communities across India.”

Capt. K.K. Sharma, EVP, Maithri Aquatech, added, “Partnering with IIT Roorkee allows us to integrate our AWG technology with research-led insights, ensuring more efficient, sustainable, and socially impactful water solutions. Together, we can address the urgent water challenges facing India today and contribute to global sustainability goals.”

This initiative supports India’s National Water Mission, Jal Shakti Abhiyan, and other government programs promoting sustainable water management and climate resilience. It also contributes directly to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation; SDG 13: Climate Action). By integrating cutting-edge technology, academic research, and social deployment, IIT Roorkee and Maithri Aquatech aim to enhance water access in underserved communities, develop replicable models for policy adoption, and strengthen India’s climate adaptation and technology-led sustainability agenda.

“I am pleased to support this partnership between IIT Roorkee and Maithri Aquatech, which bridges cutting-edge technology with academic research to provide sustainable water solutions for communities across India,” said Prof. M.L. Kansal, emphasising the importance of coordinated efforts in advancing drinking water and sanitation initiatives.

This MoU positions IIT Roorkee and Maithri Aquatech at the forefront of research-led, impact-driven water innovation, bridging science, technology, and social responsibility. It demonstrates how academic institutions and industry partners can jointly address national priorities and global sustainability challenges, providing scalable solutions for current and future water needs in India and beyond.

Palakkad, October 7, 2025: KFON has launched high-speed internet services in Anganwadis across the tribal villages of Attappadi, marking a major step towards digital inclusion in the region. The initiative covers around 50 Anganwadis in areas including Kuppan Colony, Pudoor, and Cheerakkadavu.

As part of the project’s first phase, 31 Anganwadis have already been provided with KFON internet. The official launch of the project took place at Chootra Anganwadi in Pudoor Grama Panchayat, where representatives from Attappadi Cable Vision, KFON’s local partners, handed over a KFON Wi-Fi modem to the Anganwadi teacher. This initiative aims to bridge the digital divide and empower children and teachers in these remote areas with reliable internet access.

Through this initiative, KFON aims to provide high-speed internet to educational institutions in rural areas, enabling children to discover and engage with the digital world. The project also seeks to enhance opportunities for teachers to participate in online training programs and various government initiatives. The successful implementation of this project has been made possible through the collaborative efforts of the district administration, local panchayats, and representatives from Cable Vision.

Providing internet access in Anganwadis which offer a range of services such as nutrition, health check-ups, immunizations, and pre-school education to children under six, pregnant women, nursing mothers, and adolescent girls,will be a crucial step in ensuring the holistic development of these communities. 

KFON, is making remarkable strides with over 125,548 connections already active. By 2026, it aims to serve 250,000 customers, reinforcing its mission to bring reliable digital connectivity to every corner of the state.

India, 7th October, 2025: BytePe, India’s first tech subscription platform, has been successfully launched, promising to transform how Indians access and experience the latest smartphones. Founded by Jayant Jha, a distinguished serial entrepreneur, former Flipkart leader, and known for co-founding Yaantra, a recommerce powerhouse acquired by Flipkart. BytePe is set to break the cycle of traditional ownership and usher in a smarter, more flexible era for technology lovers across the country.

For years, Indian consumers have been told that ownership means saving up, paying big and locking into long EMIs, only to end up stuck with outdated devices. BytePe changes this with a subscription model that offers lower-than-EMI monthly fees and yearly upgrades, with high flexibility – pay for what you use or no hidden costs. Subscribers can even access the newly launched iPhone 17 series including iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max through simple monthly plans, making Apple’s latest devices more affordable and flexible than ever.

Reflecting on the inspiration, Mr. Jayant Jha, Founder & CEO, BytePe shares, After years in India’s consumer electronics industry, I’ve seen how long EMIs, outdated devices, and limited choices frustrate consumers. With BytePe, we are changing that. We’re starting with smartphones but will soon expand into more categories such as electronics, accessories, and beyond. Our vision is to democratise luxury by enabling millions of Indians to access the latest technology through a smarter, more flexible ownership model. This launch is not just about affordability, it’s about giving consumers a choice that’s lighter on their wallets, better for the environment, and truly on their terms. BytePe isn’t just a service; it’s a new way of thinking about ownership.”

BytePe’s model is refreshingly straightforward. Customers select their preferred smartphone. For example, the newly launched iPhone 17 (256 GB), priced at ₹82,900, can be subscribed to on BytePe for a simple monthly fee that works out significantly better than a traditional EMI.  It is available for credit card users, similar to EMI. BytePe has also introduced BytePe EMI for non-credit card users, offering the same convenience and flexibility. After 12 months, users can choose to upgrade to a new device, return the phone, or continue for another year to own it outright. Every subscription includes one-time 100% damage protection, ensuring peace of mind. BytePe is introducing an upfront purchase option with one year insurance and an assured buyback value up to 50% at the end of 12 and 24 months, catering to customers who don’t prefer monthly EMIs. 

BytePe’s mission is to unlock access to luxury technology, eliminate financial stress, and put control back in the hands of the consumer. With BytePe, you can upgrade your phone every year at no extra cost, save up to 50% on monthly costs compared to traditional EMIs, and pay only for what you use. There are no upfront costs, no hidden fees, and no lock-ins, just freedom, flexibility, and the smartest way to own.

BytePe isn’t just offering a service, but leading a movement to redefine what it means to “own” in a world that’s always moving forward. With BytePe, you’re always in control and always up to date.

New Delhi, 7th October 2025: The curtain-raiser for the Rajasthan DigiFest in association with TiE Global Summit 2026, which will be hosted by the Government of Rajasthan in Jaipur from 4–6 January 2026 at the Jaipur Exhibition & Convention Centre (JECC), was held in New Delhi today.

The event was held in the presence of Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore, Minister for Industries, IT, Youth Affairs & Sports, Government of Rajasthan, Shri Amardeep Singh Bhatia, Secretary, DPIIT, Government of India, Dr Saurabh Srivastava, Padma Shri, Chairman Emeritus, TiE Delhi and Dr. Ravi Kumar Surpur, Secretary and Commissioner IT&C, Government of Rajasthan, along with several start-up founders, industry leaders and TiE dignitaries. 

Under the visionary leadership of Hon’ble Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Shri Bhajanlal Sharma, the summit is built around the pillars of Technology, Growth and Sustainability.
It is being held in a non-metro city for the first time, underscoring Rajasthan’s emergence as a hub for technology, innovation, and startups. With the theme “Sustainable Entrepreneurship in the AI Age – Innovation, Impact & Inclusion”, the Summit will highlight transformative sectors including AI/ML, FinTech, AgriTech, AR/VR, MediaTech, PropTech, Sustainability, and Higher Education Partnerships.

Remarking on the momentous occasion, Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore, Minister for Industries, IT, Youth Affairs & Sports, Government of Rajasthan said, “Rajasthan is a land that has had a long history of courage, creativity and resilience. We now aim to move from soil and sand to silicon and software. With several new policies, our government is aligned with the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision of Viksit Bharat. So, I welcome all of you not only to the Rajasthan DigiFest that we are hosting in 2026, but also to do business in Rajasthan.”

Dr. Ravi Kumar Surpur, Secretary and Commissioner IT&C, Government of Rajasthan said, “The Rajasthan DigiFest X TiE Global Summit marks a significant milestone in our journey towards building a digitally empowered, inclusive, and future-ready Rajasthan. It is a vision that ensures we are not only ready for tomorrow, but we are building today with responsibility and abundant opportunity for all. Rajasthan, with its rich cultural heritage and growing digital infrastructure, is fully aligned with the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision of Viksit Bharat. Our focus is on digital transformation, innovation, and sustainable development to propel Rajasthan into the forefront of India’s development”.

Mr. Mahavir Pratap Sharma, Convener and Chair, TiE Global Summit 2026 stated, “Rajasthan has created a conducive ecosystem for where innovation is nurtured, and talent is celebrated. With participation from across the globe, we aim to create a platform that celebrates entrepreneurship while driving meaningful partnerships and impact.”

The event will bring together 10,000+ entrepreneurs, 500+ investors, 100+ global speakers, and 200+ startups from over 30 countries. The Summit will feature a Global Investor Meet, Startup Showcase and Pitch Sessions, the TiE Women Global semi-finals and finals, the TiE University finals, Gaming hackathon, Film Festival and the TGS 100 competition for India’s most investable startups. Alongside government–industry dialogues, delegates will have opportunities for networking, investor–startup speed meets, hands-on workshops, and curated tours that spotlight Jaipur’s innovation ecosystem and cultural heritage.

iStart Rajasthan – A Model for India’s Startup Growth

The driving force behind Rajasthan’s entrepreneurial transformation is iStart Rajasthan, the flagship startup initiative of the Department of Information Technology & Communication (DoIT&C).

Since its inception, iStart has redefined how states nurture innovation—creating a robust ecosystem that provides seed funding, incubation, mentorship, policy support, and market access to startups across sectors.

With over 6,500+ registered startups, Bhamashah Techno Hub—India’s largest incubator—and an expanding network of innovation hubs, Rajasthan today stands among India’s top states for startup growth and digital governance.

Through forward-looking policies, digital empowerment programs, and youth-centric initiatives, the DoIT&C has positioned the State as a national role model in enabling entrepreneurship, frontier technology adoption, and public–private collaboration.

Hosting TGS 2026 in Jaipur is a testament to Rajasthan’s progressive vision under the iStart Rajasthan banner—a bold step towards connecting the State’s innovators with global investors, mentors, and technology leaders.

Barcelona, 6th October 2025: Softonic, the world’s leading software download platform, has unveiled a major upgrade to its user safety infrastructure with the launch of real-time Security Reports a new system designed to make software downloads more transparent, reliable, and secure.

Previously, program pages offered a simple Clean/Warned/Blocked status. Now, users will see detailed security breakdowns on each software listing, including:

• File status (clean or flagged)

• Date of latest scan

• Antivirus engines used

• External verification from VirusTotal

• Softonic’s long-term security commitment

Currently covering 35% of the platform’s catalogue, the feature will expand to all listings in the coming months. Already used by over 3 million monthly users, the Security Reports system is helping reduce user anxiety around unknown downloads.

“Security isn’t new here its visibility is,” said Jouni Kuisma, Head of Product at Softonic. “We’re making complex detections understandable with plain language and real-time updates empowering users to make confident decisions.”

As part of its roadmap, Softonic will also roll out mobile-focused transparency, including permissions visibility for access to camera, contacts, and location—an essential move given that mobile accounts for over 60% of Softonic’s traffic.