Category technology

Bengaluru, 19 September 2025: The Sona Group of Institutions, the 100-year-old premier family business group, today felicitated its students from Sona College of Technology, Salem, for completing Xccelerator 2.0 programme. The programme was conducted in collaboration with Unreal Engine, the most powerful 3-D creation tool, and 3DX by Dassault Systèmes. 

Sona Group of Institutions is known for its strong focus on innovation and applied research. Sona has consistently nurtured industry-ready professionals across engineering, technology, and management. Through initiatives such as the Xccelerator, the group continues to create pathways that align education with industry needs, ensuring its students are equipped with skills relevant to rapidly evolving global demands.

Mr.Rabindra Sah,Chief Technology Officer, Indian Register of Shipping. Mumbai Industry Expert & Mentor, said, “The way technology and industries are evolving is truly remarkable. By identifying real problems and finding the right technological solutions, we are not only elevating the sector but also creating unheard-of outcomes in placements. This progress reflects the commendable work being done and the culture of innovation driving us forward.”

Adding to this, Mr. Thyagu Valliappa, Vice Chairman, Sona Group of Institutions, said, “The success of Xccelerator 1.0 and the remarkable creativity we saw in Xccelerator 2.0 reaffirm Sona’s philosophy of hands-on learning. These projects were not just academic exercises—they showcased how students, when given the right ecosystem, could create solutions that have relevance for industry and society alike.”

Nearly all of the students from the first cohort of Xccelerator 1.0 secured placements in leading companies at higher packages. Building on this foundation, Xccelerator 2.0 introduced a new set of projects that reflected both creativity and technical depth, including an automatic sambar dispenser, Virtual Roller Wheel Boat, an automatic vegetable cutting machine, an ergonomic replantation device, and an AI-powered model for detecting coffee plant diseases.

Through initiatives like the Xccelerator, the Sona Group positions itself at the forefront of industry-academia collaboration, offering a platform where students, researchers, and companies can co-create solutions. The program also underscored the group’s commitment to strengthening India’s innovation ecosystem by producing engineers who are globally competent yet locally relevant.

The Xccelerator initiative, launched in September 2023, was part of Sona’s ongoing effort to bridge the gap between classroom learning and real-world application. By focusing on project-based learning in advanced digital technologies, the program equipped students to tackle complex challenges with practical, innovative solutions.

Mumbai, September 19th, 2025 – Knight Frank, in its latest report- Asia-Pacific Data Centres 2025, highlights Mumbai’s rise as India’s data centre capital. According to the report, the city leads India’s data-centre landscape accounting for 40% of total national capacity and 44% of live IT capacity. 

In H1 2025, Mumbai’s capacity rose 14.3% to surpass the 4GW milestone, with 591MW operational, 185MW under construction, and 3.2GW in the pipeline. This growth builds on India’s data centre market surpassing 10GW in H2 2024, supported by 1.4GW live and 400MW under construction.

Rapid cloud adoption, increasing data localisation requirements, as well as the growth of local fintech and BFSI firms has been fuelling data-centre demand. Over the past six months, Mumbai recorded 97.6MW of take-up. This has translated to a tight vacancy rate of just 5.4% vs. India’s overall colocation vacancy rate at 12.3%. Demand-side commitments seem resilient with absorption broadly keeping pace with the multi-fold growth in supply over the past years. Also, two-thirds of Mumbai’s capacity under construction at present is already pre-leased. 

Yet, with just three live sites currently capable of supporting hyperscale deployments (>2.5MW) and only one site with available capacity of more than 10MW, there seems to be a short-term supply tightness for big-ticket requirements. Distribution of available live capacity is skewed toward smaller deployments: 10 sites offer <1MW, 5 sites fall in the 1–2MW range, while only 3 sites provide >3MW.

Such fragmented deployments are opening doors for well-capitalized global players and joint ventures to deliver high-capacity facilities in the region that is currently dominated by local players. The 500MW NAV2 campus announced by NTT and another 500MW AI facility by Blackstone-Panchshil Realty are case in point.

Also, operators with large-scale requirements are exploring alternative markets. Hyderabad is positioning itself as a hyperscale-first market, with over 500MW of new data centre capacity currently in the pipeline through two projects. STT GDC India has signed an MoU with the Telangana government to develop a 100MW campus, while NTT has committed INR 10,500 crore (approximately USD 1.25 bn) to establish a 400MW AI-focused data centre campus.

Hyderabad is the second largest data centre market in India with 2.1GW of total capacity, followed by Chennai (1.6GW), New Delhi (712MW) and Bengaluru (307MW).

Shishir Baijal, Chairman and Managing Director, Knight Frank India, said: “Mumbai has firmly established itself as the epicentre of India’s digital infrastructure growth. With over 3GW of capacity in the pipeline and strong policy support for green data centre parks, the city is attracting sustained global investment. As cloud adoption and AI workloads accelerate, Mumbai’s unique strengths, its robust subsea cable connectivity, scalable power infrastructure, proximity to enterprise hubs, and progressive state policies are consolidating its position as India’s data centre capital. While other metros like Chennai, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru are gaining traction, none match Mumbai’s scale, speed, and ability to serve as South Asia’s gateway for cloud, AI, and enterprise workloads.”

In the first half of 2025, the APAC region secured nearly 13GW of new project announcements, a 160% increase and more than double the 5GW announced in the same period last year. The funding needed for these projects already exceeds US dolar 180 billion.

Major technology firms are driving much of this investment. Amazon is projected to exceed US$100 billion in capital expenditure for 2025, up from about US dolar 82 billion last year, while Microsoft invested US dolar 55 billion in 2024 and has committed more than US$33 billion this year. Collectively, Microsoft, AWS, Google, and Meta have committed over US dolar 160 billion in 2025 alone, reflecting the intensity and scale of current infrastructure development. 

Fred Fitzalan, head of data centres Asia-Pacific, Knight Frank says, “The sheer volume of new projects in the region highlights just how important the region has become in the global digital infrastructure landscape. However, coordinating this rapid growth is a complex challenge, as operators must keep pace with advances in technology and rising energy needs, all while ensuring new facilities are delivered in step with evolving demands.”

Alongside the hyperscalers, GPU-as-a-Service providers are expanding rapidly, seeking multi-megawatt capacity across the region and bringing greater diversity into leasing conversations. Creditworthiness and shortened deployment timelines remain perennial challenges, but innovative guarantee structures are enabling some operators to compete effectively for new contracts.

Fred adds, “What has become clear is the strict requirement for operators to design facilities with capacity that can be flexibly deployed for either Cloud or AI workloads, offering tenants maximum optionality. While this adds cost, it is now a decisive factor in site selection. Locations that combine proximity to parent sites with sufficient power allocations to support long-term runway are winning out, although this remains a significant challenge given national grid constraints and permitting delays in Tier 1 APAC markets.”

Johor established itself as Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing data centre hub, with aggregate supply nearly doubling over the last 12 months to 5.8GW in Q2 2025, including 2.0GW of new project announcements, backed by strong government support and the rollout of national Data Centre Planning Guidelines.

Take-up: Johor recorded 260.0MW of take-up in the first half of 2025, with social media accounting for 61% and the remainder driven by AI demand. The market is now highly constrained, with a vacancy rate of just 1.1%, as planning becomes more challenging and power shortages coming through.

Tokyo continues to hold its position as a key regional hub with aggregate capacity exceeding 4.2GW, a 2.7% increase on volumes recorded at the end of Q2 2024. Investment activity remains strong, highlighted by Ares completing a US$2.4 billion Japan-focused fund through Ada Infrastructure, while Mitsui & Co. Asset Management’s US$122 million acquisition signals sustained domestic investment appetite.

Take up: Over the past six months, Tokyo recorded 41.1MW of capacity transacted. This is a slowdown from the first half of 2024, when 286.6MW was transacted, due to reduced supply in the market. Tokyo continues to be a tightly constrained market, with colocation vacancy rates at just 7.0%. 

Melbourne is stepping out of Sydney’s shadow, with total supply nearly tripling to 4.7GW as of Q2 2025, as land and power constraints push development south. The city now hosts dedicated cloud regions from all four major US providers: AWS, Microsoft, Google, and Oracle, with 95% of colocation take-up driven by AI workloads. Live IT capacity is now 337.1MW, marking a 25.4% year-on-year increase. This growth trajectory is expected to continue, supported by a pipeline of 934.8MW in committed and under construction projects. 

Take-up: In the first half of 2025, Melbourne saw 127.6MW of transacted capacity, with artificial intelligence remaining a primary driver of demand and representing 95% of all colocation take-up.

Seoul’s investor appetite remains strong. LG U+ is set to grow its 87.2MW footprint with a US$441.7 million investment in a new AI-focused data centre. Meanwhile, Macquarie Asset Management has acquired the 40MW Hanam Data Centre for around US$538.4 million. No new capacity has been added to the market since Q3 2024, keeping total supply steady at 1.8GW.

Take-up: In the first half of 2025, Seoul recorded 86.2MW of leasing activity, with 85% of that occurring in the second quarter. Demand was split between enterprise users and public cloud providers, alongside an emergence of Chinese tenants entering the market in a bid to diversify their AI strategies across APAC.

Investment evolution

The funding landscape is evolving, with infrastructure and private equity capital increasingly partnering with operators on developer-led powered shells to achieve faster time-to-power deployment. 

Looking ahead, grid capacity and power availability remain major constraints, with geopolitical considerations shaping project delivery timelines. Despite these challenges, momentum remains strong. Cloud providers in the US and China now often compete for the same capacity, driving up rental values, particularly in North Asia. Additionally, the AI ecosystem continues to expand beyond traditional hyperscale deployments. The task ahead is to synchronise these vast expansions with technology evolution and energy demand, building digital infrastructure that is both flexible and future ready.

India — September 18, 2025 — Azul, the only company 100% focused on Java, today announced a breakthrough in cloud deployment at scale with Azul Platform Prime, its high-performance Java platform. A leading global enterprise has deployed hundreds of applications and micro-services across more than 10,000 Java Virtual Machines (JVMs) using Platform Prime’s Optimizer Hub, a unique capability that allows JVMs to collaborate and share performance optimizations. By enabling this fleet-wide intelligence, the customer’s applications – spanning e-commerce to payments to inventory management – start and warm up dramatically faster, scaling has become smoother and compute requirements have significantly reduced, delivering cloud cost savings of more than 20%. 

Another well-known company in the entertainment industry recently deployed Optimizer Hub to reduce CPU core and pod counts for their Java-based critical services by 25%-30%. Optimizer Hub is included with Platform Prime as an optional, customer-managed service that requires no changes to existing Java applications or JVM-based workloads.

Turning the Limits of Traditional JVMs into Superior User Experiences and Measurable Cost Savings

Today’s cloud-native Java applications and JVM-based workloads, often comprising fleets of thousands of compute instances and containers, face inherent challenges in achieving a stringent set of requirements, including:

• Delivering smooth customer experiences where even the slightest unexpected latency or performance deficiency will fall short of service level expectations.
• Leveraging cloud elasticity to autoscale, bringing new capacity online at full performance to efficiently match peaks in demand and optimize carrying capacity.
• Efficiently restarting large fleets of container-based microservices as applications evolve with new features and capabilities. 

Traditional JVMs optimize in isolation and often deliver lower overall code performance and exhibit spiky, unpredictable behavior. To avoid poor customer experience and meet service level expectations, enterprises are forced to over-provision their cloud resources, resulting in spiraling cloud costs. In the 2025 State of Java Survey & Report, 71% of survey respondents say that more than 20% of their cloud compute capacity is unused. By enabling JVMs across an enterprise fleet to collaborate by sending and receiving optimizations and learnings using Optimizer Hub’s centralized services, Platform Prime achieves levels of cloud scale, elasticity, resiliency and cost efficiencies that are unparalleled.

Azul Platform Prime with Optimizer Hub

Azul Platform Prime is a high-performance Java platform that includes Azul Zing, an enhanced build of OpenJDK, that is the world’s fastest, most scalable and most resilient Java runtime. Optimizer Hub is an additional component of Azul Platform Prime, designed to further improve cloud-centric Java application startup, warm-up and runtime performance by offloading optimization tasks from the individual Zing JVMs. Optimizer Hub is ideal for modern applications running in containerized, elastic cloud environments with contemporary DevOps practices. It comprises two services that run in a customer’s environment:

• Cloud Native Compiler provides centralized JIT compilation and caching to deliver cost savings and efficiency. Cloud Native Compiler shifts the heavy work of JIT compilation from individual JVMs to a centralized, scalable service, slashing CPU workloads on each JVM and caching compilation for reuse. The resulting code runs faster, handles more traffic with less CPU, and realizes full speed more quickly and smoothly. By eliminating the overhead that comes when each JVM consumes its own CPU resources to compile the Java workload in isolation, each JVM can be deployed in smaller instances and containers, reducing cloud costs. 

• ReadyNow is a feature in Platform Prime that addresses Java’s warm-up problem by logging and reusing JIT compiler profiling and optimization data between JVM runs. ReadyNow Orchestrator delivers intelligent curation of the ReadyNow optimization profiles to ensure each application and microservice is using the best profile and simplifies operational use of ReadyNow. Whether during retail rushes, gaming traffic spikes, or financial market opens, ReadyNow Orchestrator ensures consistent responsiveness, fewer errors and higher SLA attainment from the first request onward. It also enables faster CI/CD redeployments for smoother fleet rollouts, higher resilience under heavy workloads and faster recovery from infrastructure failures, streamlining DevOps at scale.

“Java powers the backbone of the digital economy, but performance challenges with traditional JDKs have led enterprises to overprovision cloud resources and adopt complex operational practices,” said Scott Sellers, co-founder and CEO at Azul. “With the centralized services of Optimizer Hub, Azul Platform Prime has eliminated long-standing tradeoffs of performance and cost by enabling JVMs to learn from each other and collaborate across entire fleets in production, delivering faster, smoother application experiences while driving down cloud costs by 20%+. Optimizer Hub is a must-have for every business running JVM-based, mission-critical workloads in the cloud.”

Palakkad, September 18, 2025: KFON is set to bring high-speed internet services to the Nelliyampathy region in Palakkad. Work on establishing the Nelliyampathy– Kollengode backbone link is progressing rapidly to support this expansion.

KFON is focusing on providing broadband connections to areas with limited internet connectivity. The team is working urgently to complete all essential infrastructure and ensure services are made available to customers as quickly as possible.

In the first phase, KFON internet services will be rolled out at 17 End-of-Service (EOS) centers, including government offices. Subsequently, households, commercial customers, and other institutions will also be able to enjoy KFON’s high-speed internet services.

“This is a significant step by KFON toward realizing Kerala’s digital aspirations. Internet services open up vast opportunities for every individual. KFON’s goal is to ensure high-quality internet at affordable rates for all people across Kerala, without economic, social, or geographic disparities. We are now very close to achieving that goal,” said Dr. Santosh Babu IAS, Managing Director of KFON.

GURUGRAM, India , September 18, 2025:  Samsung, India’s largest consumer electronics brand, has launched its Bespoke AI Washer Dryer, an innovation that integrates intelligent performance with timeless design. The Bespoke AI Washer Dryer aims to deliver an all-weather laundry care that transforms everyday laundry by washing and drying clothes seamlessly, and fits effortlessly into the modern urban spaces.

It is designed to do the job of two appliances in one sleek unit. It washes and dries clothes without the need for load transfer, saving both space and effort. For urban households where every square foot counts, this all-in-one design eliminates the need for separate machines, streamlining laundry into a single, hassle-free cycle that ends with clothes ready to wear.

Beyond its striking looks, the new combo offers generous capacity and AI-powered intelligence, ensuring larger loads are managed with ease while simplifying decision-making for users. The range reflects a growing demand for appliances that balance convenience, efficiency, and style, delivering not just cleaner and fresh clothes, but a smarter way of living. 

Here are top 5 Reasons to upgrade to Samsung’s Bespoke AI Washer Dryer, today:

AI-Driven Features for Seamless Chores

Built with Samsung’s intelligent features, the washer dryer takes the guesswork out of everyday laundry. AI Wash uses sensors to detect fabric weight, softness, and the level of soiling and washes them thoroughly and gently.  The Flex Auto Dispense  releases the right amount of detergent, avoiding wastage and ensuring perfect results. 

AI EcoBubble™ helps with better detergent penetration delivering better wash results. The  AI Energy Mode helps save up to 70% energy via the SmartThings app. Together, these features save time, reduce effort, and create more free moments for families.

Designed to Blend with Modern Living

With its flat-glass finish, minimalist contours, and premium Black Bespoke aesthetic, the washer dryer is built as much for interiors as it is for performance. Unlike traditional bulky machines, it blends effortlessly into compact homes. For new-age families that view appliances as part of their décor, this is laundry reimagined with design at the forefront.

Offering a Capacity That Complements Families

Despite its compact design, the appliance offers 12KG wash and 7KG dry capacity, making it easier to handle bulkier items like blankets, sarees, and curtains in one go. This means fewer wash loads and less time spent managing laundry.

Elevate balcony aesthetics and say goodbye to air drying

Engineered for compact new-age homes, where space is precious and design matters, the new washer dryer is a two-in-one solution that saves space and frees your balcony from clotheslines, and blends seamlessly with contemporary interiors. It reduces reliance on traditional air-drying while restoring your balcony’s aesthetics.

 Delivering Hygiene and refresh for clothes

Ideal for delicate fabrics, outfits that have been worn only once or clothes that need a refresh, the Air Wash function refreshes clothes and removes up to 99.9% of bacteria and deodorizes them using only heated air; no water, no harsh chemicals; making it a perfect choice for  quick gentle care that keeps your clothes fresh and ready to wear . 

Combined with features like Super Speed with QuickDrive™ and Q-Bubble™ technology, which cut down cycle time and enhance wash performance, the Bespoke AI Washer Dryer ensures laundry is not just clean but truly cared for.

By – Venkataraman D, Vice President – Sales & Strategy Crayon Software Experts India

In the digital economy, the real differentiator is not how much cloud an organization consumes, it is how quickly that cloud spend translates into innovation. Businesses that once measured success by the size of their data centers now measure it by how seamlessly they can launch new products, harness AI, and pivot to customer needs in real time. Managed cloud services are emerging as the quiet engine behind this shift, transforming cloud from a cost centre into a strategic springboard for growth, resilience, and competitive advantage.

The Problem Organizations Face Today

Cloud adoption is growing fast and so is its complexity. As organizations scale workloads across multiple providers, cost drift, governance gaps, and security blind spots multiply. The Flexera 2025 State of the Cloud report shows cloud spend is rising and cost efficiency has become the dominant success metric indicating that firms are increasingly prioritizing FinOps and cost governance to avoid runaway bills. That rising complexity is the fundamental constraint holding innovation back.

Why Managed Cloud Services Matter

Managed cloud services act as a force multiplier. Instead of internal teams being consumed by patching, provisioning, and firefighting, MCS providers deliver repeatable operational excellence from continuous optimization and security to platform engineering and FinOps. This creates three practical advantages:

Predictable Cost and Better ROI

Managed providers standardize platform deployments, apply proven cost controls and FinOps practices, and reduce waste. Flexera’s research highlights that organizations are actively focusing on cost efficiency and FinOps to measure cloud progress, a clear signal that third-party expertise in cost management is now a business imperative.

Faster Access to Innovation

MCS providers provide prebuilt platform services, CI/CD pipelines, and guardrails that let product teams iterate quickly. With managed platforms handling reliability, scaling, and compliance, internal engineering can focus on differentiating features (including AI/ML workloads) rather than infrastructure plumbing. IDC’s market outlook underscores growing enterprise demand for managed cloud services as organizations transition from lift-and-shift to outcome-driven cloud consumption.

Improved Resilience and Security Posture

Managed providers embed operational best practices such as automated backups, disaster recovery runbooks, vulnerability management and continuous monitoring so that businesses get enterprise-grade resilience without hiring large specialist teams. MSP industry surveys show that many organizations already rely on MSPs for core IT functions and cybersecurity, reflecting trust in third-party operations to maintain uptime and security.

Adoption, Scale and Economic Signals

Several industry signals show MCS is becoming central to IT strategy. Global IT spending is forecast to rise, creating headroom for cloud and managed services investments; Gartner estimated worldwide IT spending growth trends that point to increased allocations for cloud transformation. These macro trends fuel demand for external expertise to convert spending into business outcomes.

IDC’s managed cloud services forecasts show the market expanding as enterprises prefer managed consumption models for complex, multi-cloud estates rather than trying to do everything in-house. KPMG’s industry guidance and recent industry studies indicate a majority of organizations, in many cases around or above 60%, are using managed services for application management or relying on MSPs for substantial parts of their SaaS and cloud operations, demonstrating that managed models are already mainstream for mission-critical workloads.

How Managed Cloud Services Future-Proof the Organization

• Future-proofing is more than just predicting the next platform, it is about building adaptability. MCS providers deliver that adaptability through:
• Operational maturity and automation: Standardized IaC, SRE runbooks, and automated observability take the risk out of scale and speed.
• FinOps and cost governance: Continuous optimization reduces wasted spend and reclaims budget for innovation. Flexera’s 2025 insights make clear that cost efficiency is the primary yardstick for cloud progress.
• Secure-by-default architectures: Embedding zero-trust, automated patching, and threat detection into managed platforms reduces exposure and speeds compliance. MSP surveys continue to list cybersecurity as a top driver for outsourcing.

Platform-centric delivery: By giving development teams self-service access to well-governed platforms, organizations combine developer velocity with enterprise controls facilitating a prerequisite for rapid AI/ML experimentation and product differentiation.

In conclusion, managed cloud services are no longer a tactical outsourcing decision; they are a cornerstone of modern business strategy. By entrusting operational complexity, cost governance, and security to specialized partners, organizations gain the freedom to accelerate innovation and focus on customer outcomes. In a marketplace defined by rapid technological shifts and rising expectations, this model delivers the adaptability and resilience needed to thrive. The companies that act now will not simply “keep up” with change but will set the pace for their industries.

Mumbai, September 18, 2025 — Enlite, the design-led, product-first company transforming how  buildings are run, announced that it has been granted its first patent: “A Building Management System for  Wireless Control of Equipment and a Method Thereof.” 

The patent marks a major milestone in Enlite’s mission to make the built environment intelligent by  default. The innovation eliminates the rigid, decades-old approach of wired systems and introduces a  wireless, self-commissioning, cloud-connected building management system (BMS) – a breakthrough  that enables real-time control, autonomous decision-making, and seamless operation, both online and  offline. 

At its core, the patented system features: 

• A self-commissioning controller unit for plug-and-play equipment control. 
• A communication module for secure cloud connectivity and real-time processing. 
• A mirrored control algorithm stored onboard for uninterrupted operations in offline mode. ● A feedback module ensuring safe, efficient, and optimized equipment performance. 
• A device discovery module that enables automatic detection of new devices for faster  deployment. 

Garima Bharadwaj, Co-Founder & CTO of Enlite, said: “For a long time, building automation was  treated as a black box—expensive, rigid, and something you had to simply trust without questioning. With  this patent, we’ve not only reimagined how infrastructure can be wireless and adaptive, but we’ve also  brought credibility to a space where trust in technology was missing. It’s a win not just for Enlite but for  the industry, proving that smarter systems can also be reliable and future-ready.”

Gaurav Bali, Co-Founder & CEO of Enlite, added: “Innovation in our space has often been about  promises rather than proof. Securing this patent is validation that our approach is different—it’s not just  an idea, it’s a tested and protected technology that’s already delivering measurable impact. From  eliminating thousands of kilometres of wiring to reducing carbon emissions at scale, this milestone  reinforces that wireless, intelligent systems are not just possible, they’re here, and they’re changing how  buildings are run.” 

The newly granted patent not only strengthens Enlite’s IP portfolio but also enforces its leadership in  wireless, API-first automation systems that define how the real estate industry approaches  sustainability, scalability, and occupant experience.

Porto, September 17, 2025 – Comau presented its vision on the strategic use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the manufacturing sector at ETFA 2025, the 30th edition of the IEEE International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation, held from September 9 to 12 in Porto, Portugal. This internationally renowned event brought together experts, companies, and industrial operators to share innovative solutions and challenging projects in the field of factory automation, with a strong focus on enabling technologies.

As part of a packed program of events, Giovanni Di Stefano, Head of Advanced Robotics at Comau, spoke at the event on September 12, giving a presentation on “Industrial Heritage For Training Advanced Robotics Neural Networks,” in which he outlined Comau’s commitment to developing intelligent applications based on machine learning to optimize the efficiency of robotic plants and automation systems.

As Di Stefano explained, in an industrial landscape characterized by the large-scale use of Artificial Neural Networks aimed at multiplying human skills and optimizing processes, Comau’s strength lies in its ability to leverage unique skills and knowledge to develop customized AI models tailored to the specific technical needs of its customers, both old and new, across all sectors, not just the automotive industry. This is possible thanks to Comau’s more than 50 years of experience in industrial automation, an experience that has already been largely digitized thanks to many years of experience in PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) systems, and the resulting availability of a large archive of industrial data that has enabled it to train neural networks on real use cases to manage complex industrial applications.

Comau is currently experimenting with the use of AI to enhance innovative technologies and applications in various sectors. In particular, the company has developed proprietary intelligent tools to calculate the actual stiffness of robot joints in order to ensure better movement quality. AI algorithms have also been used to automatically design robotic welding gripper arms more quickly and accurately, reducing design costs and time. Another successful example is the MI.RA (Machine Inspection Recognition Archetypes) family of intelligent vision systems, specifically MI. RA/OnePicker, an AI-based solution that allows robots to autonomously pick up generic and heterogeneous objects in the environment, increasing productivity and efficiency. Added to this is MI.RA/Thermography, an innovative in-line quality verification and control system that uses AI to verify the quality of welding processes in the assembly of new-generation batteries.

“It was an honor to participate as a speaker at ETFA 2025, an event of great importance in the global debate on technological innovation and the use of intelligent solutions for industry,” explained Giovanni Di Stefano, Head of Engineering Advanced Robotics at Comau. “Thanks to customized AI tools, automation companies such as Comau can gain significant competitive advantages in the market, improving productivity and processes without having to resort to developing new and expensive algorithms. We believe that the use of AI is not a risk for the future of the industrial system but a decisive business opportunity. It allows us to leverage a wealth of data, acquired over many years of activity, to train proprietary AI models through specific and consolidated skills, which are essential for making our technologies increasingly advanced and improving customer productivity in a variety of applications”.

Delhi,17 september 2025: Motorists using automated driving systems overestimate their situation awareness and readiness to respond but are slower to recognise hazards compared with active “hands on” driving, a new study from Macquarie University shows. The findings, published in the journal Applied Ergonomics, raise significant concerns about driver performance and road safety as increasingly advanced automation systems are integrated into new vehicles, the authors warn.

Researchers from Macquarie’s Performance and Expertise Research Centre studied participants who used a sophisticated simulator to “drive” about six kilometres in automated and non-automated driving modes, asking them to rate their situation awareness and measuring their responses to hazards. Surprisingly, drivers under automated driving conditions self-reported higher levels of situation awareness than those actively driving in non-automated mode. However, they also demonstrated significantly poorer hazard recognition compared to those participants in non-automated driving conditions, taking a longer driving distance to react to both anticipated hazards (such as another vehicle with its turning indicators on) and surprise hazards (such as a pedestrian emerging suddenly from behind a sign). Globally, there are approximately 54 million automated cars, which is expected to grow to 80 million units worldwide, and in India, there are 1.2 million units, and the number is expected to grow to 4.5 million by the year 2030.

Shedding a little light on the psyche of the drives, Mr. George Nasser, the researcher, said, “This paradox is an example of what we call the ‘out-of-the-loop’ phenomenon. When they’re relieved of responsibility for control, and as their trust in the vehicle increases, drivers tend to pay less attention to monitoring what the automated systems are doing. Under these conditions, the driver’s situation awareness declines and so does their ability to get back ‘in the loop’ and take control should they need to in the event of a hazard or malfunction.”

The disconnect researchers found between drivers’ perceptions and their actual driving performance suggests they develop inaccurate understandings or “mental models” of the automated driving system and what it does. As an example of a worst-case scenario, Mr. Nasser cites a fatal 2016 crash in the US involving a Tesla electric vehicle in which the driver had his hands on the steering wheel for only 25 seconds while the vehicle’s ‘autopilot’ system was active for 37 minutes. An incomplete understanding of the system’s limitations led to the driver not intervening when the automated system failed to detect and respond to a truck crossing the vehicle’s path.

Speaking on the subject, Mr. Nasser said, “The driver’s mental model – in other words, how fully and accurately the driver understands the automation system and the information it feeds back to them – determines their ability to take control. What complicates this area is that our mental models of driving are constantly changing as we encounter more automated systems built into new cars.”

Mr. Nasser further added, “What the review highlights is a need to keep drivers ‘on the loop’ — monitoring without direct control but remaining vigilant and ready to intervene, if necessary. Evidence suggests interfaces and visual displays that provide the driver with continuous, easy-to-interpret feedback about system status and limitations are the best way to support accurate mental models and optimise take-over performance.”

“Automation in vehicles is here to stay, and the challenge now is ensuring it works with drivers, not against them. If we design systems that keep drivers engaged, we can enjoy the safety benefits of automation without compromising lives on the road,” concludes Mr. Nasser.

Mumbai – India – September 17th 2025 – AnyMind Group [TSE:5027], a BPaaS company for marketing, e-commerce and digital transformation, has announced the launch of AnyLive for Creators, enabling influencers and content creators (collectively creators) to generate their own AI avatars.

The Asia-Pacific live commerce market is projected to exceed US$77 billion by 2030. At the same time, the region’s creator economy is on track to surpass US$75 billion by 2032. As these two spaces converge, new challenges emerge such as longer streaming demands, limited creator bandwidth, and a lack of data-driven feedback loops.

AnyLive for Creators addresses these challenges by giving creators the ability to develop AI avatars that can host livestreams on their behalf. This allows creators to passively earn income through affiliate campaigns delivered via livestreams, freeing up more time for content creation and creative exploration.

The AI avatars can stream 24/7 on platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook, delivering content in eight languages: English, Mandarin, Bahasa Indonesia, Bahasa Melayu, Thai, Vietnamese, Tagalog, and Japanese.

The recently launched analytics module on AnyLive also enables creators to benchmark their performance against their AI avatars and use AI-generated scripts to improve livestream outcomes, whether delivered by themselves or their digital twins. This move marks a strategic expansion of AnyLive beyond existing connected e-commerce platforms, democratizing and enabling creator-driven commerce for both AI avatars and human hosts.

On the launch of AnyLive for Creators, Aditya Aima, Managing Director, Growth Markets; Co-MD, India and MENA, said: “In every era, creators have pushed the boundaries of what’s possible. Today, the fusion of AI and live commerce marks this next leap. AnyLive for Creators is our answer to the growing need for both scale and authenticity: giving Indian creators and brands a frictionless way to engage audiences, convert that engagement instantly, and unlock truly borderless opportunities. With this launch, we’re laying new track for the future of creator commerce.”

AnyLive is an AI-powered live commerce platform that empowers businesses to run 24/7 live commerce activities across a range of e-commerce and social commerce platforms through AI avatars that deliver content in multiple languages. In addition, AnyLive includes a bank of AI avatars, deep analytics for human-led and AI avatar-fronted livestreams, and AI-powered generation and optimization of host scripts.

As of June 2025, AnyMind Group supports over 2,300 creators across APAC with monetization, channel optimization, content production, and brand collaboration opportunities.