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Annasha

Annasha Dey is an NIT student, who apart from studying engineering is also a content writer. She has a great interest in photography, writing, reading novels, and travelling as well. She is a foodie who loves socializing and hanging out with her friends. She is also a trained Kathak dancer and a big fashion enthusiast. Dey also loves watching TV series, which includes F.R.I.E.N.D.S. and Big Bang Theory. To be a better writer she prefers to read more

Peter L. Jensen

HOW PETER L. JENSEN TRANSFORMED THE WORLD OF AUDIO

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The young generation loves loud music. Especially Friday nights are all going to a club and dancing our hearts out. We have never realized that the speaker has become an integral part of our life. We never forget to carry earphones or headphones while traveling. And, we also cannot imagine a party without loud music. So, let’s take a moment and praise the inventor of the loudspeaker. Because without Peter L. Jensen our life would have been dull.

Peter L. Jensen

Peter L. Jensen was a famous Danish American engineer who invented loudspeakers in 1915. Previously, a scientist called Oliver Lodge invented a moving-coil loudspeaker in 1898. But, it was an experimental one. Peter was the first person to invent a practical moving-coil loudspeaker.

Early Life and Education

Born in 1886, Peter belonged to an island called Falster in Denmark. He went to a Danish high school and graduated in 1902. Peter attended Amherst College, Massachusetts and pursued liberal arts. He graduated in the year 1906.

Career

Peter’s career life began with a job in the laboratory of Valdemar Poulsen. This turned out to be a great opportunity for Peter as Valdemar was the inventor of magnetic recording. Peter got promoted as the assistant of Valdemar in 1905. In 1909, Peter fled to the U.S and assisted Valdemar to introduce the Poulsen Radio Arc System.

Peter was great at his job. After working for Valdemar, he started working as an engineer for the Federal Telegraph Company, California. The company also bought the Poulsen patent in November 1910.

First Business

After gaining experience in the professional world, Peter co-founded his first business. In 1911, Peter established Commercial Wireless and Development Co. with Edwin S. Pridham in Napa, California. Richard O’Conner provided financial support and Carl Albertus assisted in the department of engineering.

Magnavox

In 1917, Jensen and Edwin changed the name of the company to Magnavox. Jensen became the chief engineer of the company. Magnavox stands for “great voice”. The establishment of the company left the entire United Nations speechless.

It was for the first time in world history a person’s voice became audible across a huge area. Today, Magnavox is one of the famous companies in the U.S for its rich history. The main products of the company are Smart Televisions, Air Conditioners, Heaters, etc.

The Invention

With Edwin’s help, Peter invented the first-ever moving-coil loudspeakers in 1915. Peter used the electro-dynamic principle for designing the loudspeakers. The speakers were later termed as dynamic speakers. In 1916, Peter built the first complete electric reproducing phonograph and patented it.

In1915 Christmas Eve, Peter used the loudspeakers for the first time. A gathering of 75,000 people in San Francisco witnessed his magnificent invention. The entire crowd was able to hear every announcement and speech distinctively.

Under the name of Magnavox, it was used as a public address system. The product became famous overnight as no other companies in the world built something like this.

Other Inventions

In 1919, Peter designed a dynamic loudspeaker for the reception of radio broadcasting. Magnavox became the brand name leading the production. In 1917, Peter invented the world’s first anti-noise self-neutralizing microphone. Edwin played a big role.

The aviation industry used it for wireless communication between the aircraft and the receiver at ground level. During the first and the second world wars, the air force of the United Nations used it extensively.

Jensen Radio Manufacturing Company

Jensen stepped down from his position in Magnavox in 1925. After a couple of years, he founded Jensen Radio Manufacturing Company. Based in Chicago, the company gained huge popularity during the 1940s. When Fender Musical Instrument Corporation used Jensen speakers for their guitar amplifier, it earned a huge profit.

Fender, Ampeg and, Gibson became the topmost customers of Jensen Loudspeakers. The company also started producing Hi-Fi loudspeakers for home. In the late 1960s, Jensen Loudspeakers ceased production. Later, in 2008, SICA Altoparlanti started producing loudspeakers under the brand name of Jensen.

In the late 1990s, Jensen and SICA signed the legal agreement for designing and selling loudspeakers under their brand name.

Achievements

In 1955, Jensen became the honorary member of the Audio Engineering Society. He was also an Extraordinary member of the Danish Engineering Society. Peter was also knighted by the King of Denmark in the Order of the Dannebrog.

Peter passed away in 1961 at the age of 75.

General-Electric

Edison’s Biggest Invention And Story Of General Electric

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The life story of Thomas Alva Edison is truly inspiring. Thomas was the little deaf boy who struggled all his way to the top. He was the first inventor of the electric light bulb. Today, he is well-known not only as an inventor but as a great businessman. Thomas also contributed to the communication industry.

Since Thomas had a great business interest; he built many companies and research laboratories. And, one of his biggest companies that are leading the world even today is General Electric. On 15th April 1892, five founders namely Thomas Edison, Elihu Thomson, Edwin Houston, Charles Coffin, and J. P. Morgan. Irving Langmuir and Ivar Giaever worked for the company in the 1900s.

Thomas Alva Edison
Image Source: Google Images

Early History of General Electric

Thomas founded many electricity-related companies which include Edison Lamp Company, Edison Machine Works, Edison Electric Light Company, etc. J. P. Morgan and Vanderbilt family financially supported Edison Electric Light Company.

In 1889, Edison Electric Company merged with Drexel, Morgan & Co. (co-founded by J. P. Morgan) to form Edison General Electric Company. In the same year, the company merged with Thomson-Houston Electric Company and acquired Sprague Electric Railway and Motor Company. Then the company’s headquarters was Schenectady plant.

Beginning of a New Century

In 1911, General Electric expanded its lightning business. It acquired the National Electric Lamp Association and the headquarters of the lightning division were based on East Cleveland, Ohio.

In 1919, Owen established Radio Corporation of America through General Electric. The company also acquired Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America in the same year. Founding RCA helped General Electric to create a firm base on the grounds of communication and broadcasting.

In 1926, the establishment of the National Broadcasting Company took place due to a partnership with RCA. Later, General Electric was accused of antitrust violations and the company decided to spin out of the joint venture. In the next year, General Electric entered into television broadcast. Ernst Alexanderson made most of the contributions.

Expansion

The company also excelled in computing. In 1960, General Electric ranked eighth in the list of major computer companies. After a couple of years, the company started building its operating system (GCOS). Today, many companies use this OS.

Under the leadership of Sanford Alexander Moss, General Electric stepped into the aviation industry. In late 1900, the company started building turbosuperchargers. During World War I, the company introduced these and the sale rose rapidly. Production of round 3, 00,000 turbo superchargers took place for fighter and bomber engines.

The efficiency and powerful technology of General Electric caught the sight of the U.S. Army. Thus, the company received the order of building the nation’s first jet engine for U. S. Army Air Corps. After World War II, General Electric ranked ninth in U. S. for producing wartime machines.

General Electric’s success outsourced all its competitors including Rolls-Royce. Eventually, in the 1980s the company involved itself in the production of nuclear weapons. A part of the nation didn’t take it n a good way and started boycotting their products.

The new century indicated a part of new business for the company. It invested in wind power. In 2002, the company acquired Enron Wind and by the end of 2003 the company’s annual sales summed up to $1.2 billion. In 2009, General Electric acquired ScanWind.

Acquisitions since the 1980s

The dispute with RCA came to an end when it finally reacquired it for $6.28 billion in 1985. In 1986, the company acquired Kidder, Peabody & Co.

Francisco Partners and Norwest Venture Partners acquired a part of General Electric in 2002. After a couple of years, General Electric acquired the majority of Universal Pictures from Vivendi. The same year witnessed General Electric spinning off its life insurance division and established it as an independent company.

In 1997, General Electric established Genpact and sold 60% of its stake to General Atlantic and Oak Hill Capital Partners. The company acquired Smiths Aerospace for $4.8 billion in May 2007 which was followed by acquiring Vecto Gray for $1.9 million. In 2008, the Oil & Gas part of General Electric acquired Hydril Pressure & Control for $1.1 billion.

In March 2011, the company acquired Lineage Power Holdings and in April 2011 it acquired John Wood Plc’s Well Support Division for $2.8 billion. In June 2012, the company announced about investing $3 billion for expanding business in Karnataka, India.

After 2011, the market has fallen a bit for General Electric. The acquisition of a few subsidiaries of the company took place by huge multinational conglomerates.

IGATE Logo

IGATE: One of The Fastest Growing It Companies Worldwide

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Employment has developed immensely due to IT companies. Most of the engineers show interest in Computer Science and IT companies like IGATE because of the vast job opportunities. Since technology is not slowing down anymore, IT has great potential.

The IT industry is not reaching a saturation point shortly. Many people predict there might be a sudden pause in the growth but the continuous need for better services is not going to stop any sooner. Many IT companies are emerging out around the world. They are coming up with better solutions every day. Data transfer, cloud computing, consultancy services, etc are major demands in today’s world.

IGATE

IGATE is one of the oldest IT service companies. Co-founded by Ashok Trivedi and Sunil Wadhwani, the company was established in 1996 in New Jersey, U.S. Capgemini, a French-IT company acquired IGATE in 2015.

Ashok Trivedi

Born into a family in Lucknow, Ashok Trivedi completed his Bachelor’s and Masters from the University of Delhi. He went to the United States to complete his MBA from Ohio University. He also attended a program at Harvard Business School.

Ashok stepped into the professional world with Unisys Corp in 1976. In 1988, Ashok co-founded Mastech (parent company of IGATE) with Sunil Wadhwani. He received the Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst and Young. Ashok is also the recipient of the Banyan Tree Award and Lifetime Achievement Award.

Ashok Trivedi is always known as an angel investor. He is a part of the Indian Angel Network and Managing Partner at SWAT Capital.

Ashok has founded Trivedi Family Foundation in 2015 and co-founded Ashoka University.

Sunil Wadhwani

Sunil Wadhwani has been born and brought up in Mumbai. He is an engineer who received his B. Tech degree from IIT Madras. Graduated in 1974 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering he went to Carnegie Mellon University to study industrial administration.

Sunil founded UroTec Systems in 1981 and became the President and CEO of the company. His next business was Mastech with Ashok Trivedi.

Sunil is also a well-known philanthropist. In 2014, he has founded the WISH Foundation to provide healthcare facilities in low-income areas of India. Sunil Wadhwani along with his brother Romesh Wadhwani founded Wadhwani Institute for Artificial Intelligence in 2018. The foundation has collaborated with some of the famous universities in the world.

IGATE Founders
Image Source – Google

History of IGATE

Ashok and Sunil established Mastech Systems Corporations in 1988. Initially, IGATE was a subsidiary of the Mastech (now Mastech Digital). Ten years after its establishment, the company exclusively provided IT services to companies across the map.

The company started growing very fast in early 2000. It expanded to thirty-four different countries which included North America, Europe, and Asia. India became IGATE’s largest market and the revenue summed up to $1.2 billion.

A Big Acquisition

How often it happens that a company acquires a business three times larger its size. In 2011, IGATE acquired Patni Computer Systems for $1.2 billion. The company bought a 63% stake in Patni. It was quite impressible for a company way smaller than Patni.

Under the supervision of these great co-founders, IGATE grew big from nothing and created big news.

Capgemini

Capgemini is a French-IT conglomerate that provides consultancy, outgoing and professional services. Founded in 1967, the company today has over 2, 00,000 employees. It provides services in more than 40 countries. 50% of employees of the company are Indian.

Capgemini acquired IGATE on 1st July 2015. Paul Hermelin, CEO of Capgemini said that he acquired the company to set new operations in the market of North America. IGATE had 31,000 employees during the acquisition.

Other than IGATE, Capgemini’s other subsidiaries are Sogeti, LiquidHub, and Altran.

IGATE Today

In 2014, IGATE has won the VCCircle Award for best PE/VC backed IT Company of the Year 2013. It acquired the 51st position in Fortune’s Top 100 Fastest-Growing Companies.

IGATE is a global service provider. The main services of the company are investment strategies, business process outsourcing, and services related to it. IGATE is currently working in telecommunication to improve voice infrastructure and voice quality.

IGATE focuses on the quality of service. They follow the principle of providing better services to the customers over new products as one bad experience can cause a huge loss of business.

AT&T

Randall L. Stephenson – A Dazzling Star In The World Of Telecommunication

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High-speed Internet is a very important part of our world. For the past two decades, everything is getting better and faster. Development throughout the world has been growing exponentially. CEO’s like Randall L. Stephenson helps the companies to grow and take the company to the next level.

But, it’s human nature to look beyond. The sheer curiosity and passion are what drives mankind to learn and discover more. With the establishment of fast-growing technology and efficient network, speed has become a very important factor. It has been just a couple of years that we settled with the 4G speed that 5G is paving its way.

Telecommunication Companies

The multinational telecommunication conglomerates are working for faster networks. Mass media, telecommunication, and technology together can create the strongest devices for transport and communication.

AT&T is one of the greatest companies of all time for telecommunication. And, Randall L. Stephenson being the current Chairman and CEO of the company is one of the powerful men in the industry. He acquired this position in May 2007.

Who is Randall L. Stephenson?

Randall started his career in 1982. Over the years, he has become a true leader serving the world with faster Internet and much more. AT&T has grown significantly under his leadership and made the greatest acquisitions.

AT&T CEO
Image Source – Google

He believes in competing. According to Randall, competitions help fetch the best quality products faster.

Early Career

Randall completed his Master’s from the University of Oklahoma. His career started with the company, Southwestern Bell Telephone. He served the company for a good long time.

When he started working for the company in 1982 he got a job in the IT sector. Over the years he did well in the finance sector and got a chance to work abroad. Randall fled to Mexico for his job and there he received training from Carlos Slim, one of the richest and most successful Mexican businessmen.

In 2001, Randall became the chief financial officer of SBC (Southwestern Bell Corporation). By the next couple of years, he helped the company coming out of debt worth $30 billion. In 2004, Randall got promoted as the Chief Operating Officer of the company. Before this post, Randall played his role as the chairman of the Board of Directors for Cingular Wireless.

The Great Success

Though Randall was doing great at the very beginning of his career, the real deal came in 2005. This year, SBC acquired AT&T and Randall continued in the company as COO. SBC changed its name to AT&T after the acquisition and in 2007 Randall became the CEO of the company.

The story doesn’t end here. Randall also became the Chairman of the Business Roundtable in 2014. He continued this position for a couple of years.

AT&T

Bell Telephone Company and AT&T are correlated and their history dates back to 1877. The founder of the Bell Telephone Company is Alexander Graham Bell. Southwestern Bell Telephone Company was a subsidiary of Bell Telephone Company.

All the subsidiaries and the former parent company merged in 2005. And the newly formed company changed its name to AT&T. The company also acquired Cingular Wireless and renamed it as AT&T Mobility.

AT&T’s Growth after 2007

Randall’s leadership changed the face of the company forever.

In 2013, the company decided to expand to Latin America through a partnership with America Mobil. The next year AT&T acquired Iusacell (Mexican carrier) and NII Holdings (Mexican Wireless Business). The two companies were merged and named as AT&T Mexico.

In July 2015, the company acquired DirecTV for $48.5 billion and in October 2016 Time Warner for $108.7 billion. These are the two biggest acquisitions in the history of the company.

The biggest news for AT&T came in 2017. It became the largest telecommunication company around the world and also the largest provider of the mobile telephone.

Criticism

Randall faced a lot of difficulties and hard situations after the acquisition of Time Warner. In September 2019, Elliott Management published a letter questioning the position of Randall in AT&T. Elliott made some suggestions regarding the company and Randall stepping down from his position was one of them. This situation has not been a friendly one for the company’s reputation.

Fighting Social Drawbacks

Randall is a great social influencer who promotes anti-racism. He gave a speech about how it is affecting our society and pulling us back from the true sense of development. Randall is a person who deeply believes in equality and preaches the same.

Zilingo

Zilingo – Indian Entrepreneurs Create New Style Statement

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We all love talking about fashion. Many of us have the urge to recreate their wardrobe every season. From a 5-years old little girl to a 60-years old man, we all want to look classic. A perfect fashion icon speaks through the language of style.

Brands can never define fashion. The idea behind fashion is creative and one can get inspiration from anywhere. It is a form of art that seeks ideas from a high-class designer dress to some really cool street style. Ankiti Bose and Dhruv Kapoor proved that in front of the entire world.

Who are they?

Ankiti Bose and Dhruv Kapoor are the founders of Zilingo, an online commerce platform for fashion. Though they are from different career background they hit it off pretty well.

Zilingo-Founders
Image Source – Google Images

Ankiti Bose

Before founding Zilingo, Ankiti Bose worked as an investment analyst Sequoia Capital. She worked at the Bangalore office. Bose studied Economics and Mathematics from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai.

She is a fashion enthusiast. Her trip to Bangkok and witnessing their magnificent street fashion is what inspired her to create something of her own. She has also worked for McKinsey & Company.

Dhruv Kapoor

It is true that Engineers can be anywhere. One might get a B. Tech degree but for most of them, interest lies somewhere else. Dhruv Kapoor is an engineer who graduated from IIT, Guwahati. He studied Electrical and Electronic Engineering.

After graduating in 2012, Dhruv Kapoor joined Yahoo as a Software Engineer. After working there for a year, he joined Kiwi. Eventually, he met Bose, decided to quit the job and start a business.

The Back Story

None of them had the perfect plan to start a business. It happened all of a sudden. They trusted their guts and took the risk.

The story begins when Bose went on a Bangkok trip with her friends. It was back in 2014. She went shopping in a market called Chatuchak. According to her, it was the largest weekend market worldwide.

She witnessed more than 10,000 independent retailers with really inspiring designs. Unfortunately, none of them knew how to take their business online. This is when Bose thought of creating a platform where these powerful talents can be showcased and earned as well.

With the idea in her mind, she knew it would be better if she had a tech guy in her team. Because irrespective of the idea technology has a bigger role to play. After a few days, she met Kapoor at a party in her own flat. She shared her idea and Kapoor found it really interesting. They decided to take the next step.

The Beginning

They started with quitting their jobs. There wasn’t any second thought about their plan. Initially, they spend $30,000 each from their savings. Sequoia India backed Zilingo since Bose was a former employee. The company provided Zilingo the seed funding.

In 2015, Bose and Kapoor established Zilingo in Singapore.

What is Zilingo?

The company is a dream place for any potential designer who lacks a source. Zilingo is a fashion company that connects wholesalers, retailers and help them reach out to customers. It provides technical and financial support.

Within four years, the company has expanded to Hong Kong, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Australia, India, and the U.S. Every company or the independent retailer who wishes to do sell their products go through strict scrutiny. Zilingo charges a commission of 10%-30% for all of them.

The Success

From the very beginning, Zilingo raised a good amount of funding. It raised around $8 million in Series A funding followed by $18 million in Series B funding. Zilingo’s Series C funding round took place in 2018 and it raised $54 million. The amount almost quadrupled in the Series D funding round.

Zilingo has become one of the highest capitalized start-ups in South East Asia. The company’s valuation became $970 million in February 2019.

Zilingo, today, has more than 600 employees working over eight nations. The company’s valuation is on the course to become $1 billion. Bose is the first Indian woman who co-founded a start-up of such valuation. She has become a role model for all young women entrepreneurs out there.

The company has created a sign of dignity for both its business strategy and technology. What can be a better combination than an economist and a software engineer? Zilingo’s team is full of creative, inspiring and passionate people.

Nikesh Arora – A Man from being jobless to lead Palo Alto Networks

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There are very fewer people in the world who steps down from a higher position. Most of the successful people run behind more power and fame. In this world, it’s rare to find someone who quits and not chooses to compete.

Nikesh Arora is one such legendary figure who stepped down twice from an honorable position. He chose to leave Google and joined SoftBank. He resigned from SoftBank as well. Last year, Arora became the Chairman and CEO of Palo Alto Networks.

Childhood

Born on 9th February 1968, Arora became a worldwide significant figure. He was born into a family in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. Arora is the son of an Indian Air Force officer and he also has a sister.

Education

Arora did his schooling from The Air Force School, Delhi. After completing his high school Arora pursued engineering. He picked up the common choice of all the Indian youngsters. But, it worked out differently for him.

Arora went to IIT Varanasi (IIT BHU) which is one of the best Indian institutes for engineering. He graduated with a degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering in 1989. After graduating he started working at Wipro.

Higher Studies

Arora quit his job shortly as he wanted to pursue higher education. In 1990, he left for Boston. He joined Northeastern University and acquired an MBA degree in 1992.

After completing his MBA in Marketing, Arora joined Fidelity Investments as an analyst. But, he wanted to continue his studies. So, he joined Boston College in the same year and attended classes at night. He went to a job and side by side studied for Master’s. He topped the class.

In 1994, he acquired a Master’s degree in Finance and became CFA. He struggled a lot during these two years. Arora’s job was going well. He received promotions several times. His last post in Fidelity was Vice President, Finance.

Early Career

After completing his Masters, he decided to leave Fidelity Investments. Arora joined Putnam Investments but left shortly. After this, he joined Deutsche Telekom.

In 2000, Arora founded a company, T-Motion PLC. He built the company mainly to provide services to the newly launched 3G products of Deutsche Telecom. After two years, these two companies merged. Arora stayed as a Board Member.

For the next couple of years, Arora didn’t take any big steps. In 2004, he came to know that Google was hiring. The company went public and it was hiring for its European office.

The Big Decision

When Nikesh joined Google it was a young company. So, this decision was life-changing. Arora chose to join Google over founding a new company.

He started managing the operations in Europe and continued for three years. Under his leadership, the success of Google in the European market grew rapidly. In 2007, he started managing the Middle East and European markets as well.

Promotions

Nikesh Arora got a big promotion in 2009. He became the President of Global Sales Operations and Business Development. In 2011, he got promoted to Senior Vice President and Chief Business Officer of Google. And this year he became the highest-paid executive of the company.

SoftBank

After working in Google for almost a decade, Arora resigned in 2014. He immediately joined SoftBank, a Japanese multinational company.

Nikesh Arora stepped up as the President and Chief Operating Officer of the company. Under Arora’s supervision, SoftBank grew bigger. Arora suggested the company to invest in start-ups. SoftBank invested in Ola, Grofers and etc.

Arora became the third highest-paid executive around the world after he received $73 million from SoftBank in 2016. This became very big news for the business world.

Palo Alto Networks

After achieving one of the most dignified positions in SoftBank, Nikesh Arora chose to resign. He joined Palo Alto Networks in June 2018 and currently serves as the CEO and Chairman of the company.

Palo Alto is a Santa Clara based company founded in 2005. The main products of the company are cybersecurity and cloud computing.

After Arora joined the company, it made the biggest acquisitions in its history. In 2018, Palo Alto ranked 8th in Forbes Digital 100. The company acquired Demisto for $560 million, Twistlock for $410 million and recently Aporeto for $150 million in 2019.

Nikesh Arora is a great leader. Under his leadership, Palo Alto is doing excellent. He has proved himself as a truly skilled individual.

Personal Life

Nikesh Arora’s first marriage didn’t work out. He later married Ayesha Thapar in 2014 who is a businesswoman. Arora has a daughter.