October 25, 2012

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 dmurali@outlook.com. (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

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

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

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

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 privatelysponsored model of public WiFi offering. In a similar vein, the island nation of Singapore set up public Since power and fibre WiFi access for all its citizens. This optic connectivity are model involved the government readily available, it makes coughing up the expense to provide ubiquitous access to the Internet via sense economically to ride its public WiFi infrastructure. So, the WiFi network on top there are two models already in use to of this, increasing the embrace public WiFi. In emerging nations like India, some infrastructure. 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
October 25, 2012 6 Pitstop4Performers

utilisation of the

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 tiertwo 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 delicensed 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.)

With increased proliferation of smartphones, tablets and laptops with built-in WiFi, it is possible to make public WiFi a reality.

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
October 25, 2012 7 Pitstop4Performers

Five points, someone

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'
October 25, 2012 8 Pitstop4Performers

Five points, someone

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
October 25, 2012 9 Pitstop4Performers

Published by: Shrinikethan, Chennai http://bit.ly/ShriMap Edited by: D. Murali http://bit.ly/dMurali http://bit.ly/TopTalk October 25, 2012 October 25, 2012 10 Pitstop4Performers