Smartron ropes in former Motorola exec Amit Boni as VP Sales

Technology firm Smartron today said it has appointed former Motorola India executive Amit Boni as Vice President, Sales and Marketing.
In this role, he will be responsible for overall brand building and heading the sales and marketing functions for Smartron, the company said in a statement.
"Along with experience, he brings with him new age thinking and a challenger mindset, we are positive that he will help us build India's first true global product tech and IoT brand," Smartron founder and Chairman Mahesh Lingareddy said.
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Ericsson appoints Nunzio Mirtillo to head India, SE Asia * Telecom gear maker Ericsson today said it has appointed Nunzio Mirtillo as Head of Market Area South East Asia, Oceania and India.

In this role, Nunzio has responsibility for Ericsson's business across markets such as India, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Philippines and Bangladesh, Ericssson said in a statement.

With over 29 years in experience, Nunzio has most recently served as Head of Region Mediterranean, responsible for Ericsson's business and operations across 25 countries.
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Lenovo partners Maharashtra govt for digital programme * PC maker Lenovo has partnered Maharashtra government to provide technology for the latter's Village Social Transformation Mission.
Under the partnership, Lenovo will provide 110 tablets to bring technology based efficiencies in areas like health, education, water conservation and irrigation programmes, Lenovo India MD and CEO Rahul Agarwal said.

He added that Lenovo tablets will be used by rural development fellows who are being specifically hired to take the mission forward.
The initiative, announced in August last year, aims to transform 1,000 villages in the state affected by drought or social challenges into model villages by 2018.
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Ola integrates UPI
* Cab aggregator Ola today said it has integrated with Unified Payment Interface (UPI) to further simplify digital payment options for its customers.
This integration will allow Ola customers to use their unique UPI IDs to pay for rides on the Ola platform.
UPI (Unified Payment Interface) allows consumers to transfer money from one bank to another using a virtual address. There is no need of account number, IFSC code or MMID to carry out the transfer, which is expected to drive mass adoption of the technology.

"Payments through UPI will be much faster and convenient; and we will continue to innovate and adopt similar integration with other platforms to create a robust payment mechanism," Ola SVP (Ola Money) Pallav Singh said.
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Google expands certified Developer Agency network in India * Google today said it has added new partners to its Developers Agency Program taking the total number to six.
These certified agencies have received dedicated training and access to Google's latest products and APIs to develop high end quality apps.
"With this launch, Google now has six certified partner agencies in India that includes Mutual Mobile, Cognitive Clouds, TechJini, [x]cube LABS, Divum and GoodWorkLabs," Google said in a statement.