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Bitpagos

Bitpagos INC – Setting The Era Of Revolutionizing Financial Solution of Bitcoin In Latin America

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The year of 2009, it was the first time when Blockchain technology emerged with a cryptocurrency called Bitcoin. The world witnessed the strength of it. In fact, many saw the destiny of financial sectors in cryptocurrency. However, when Bitcoin boomed in Argentina it got more exposure. Because it was the years when the country was midmost of one more financial crisis.

At that time, many Bitcoin-based start-ups were rises all over the world, especially in Latin America. Perhaps, only a couple of start-ups could stand in the business. BitPagos Inc. is one of such a milestone of blockchain-based company, which is founded in 2013. But in a very short duration, it changed the scenario of the financial situation in Latin America. Today, BitPagos is helping numerous users and traders in Argentina. Also, it brags over 3 lakhs users in Latin America.

What is BitPagos Inc?

BitPagos is the Bitcoin and electronics payments-based start-up in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was co-founded by Sebastian Serrano in 2013. Presently, it is one of the oldest blockchain-based company in the world. BitPagos was at the battlefield final at TechCrunch Disrupt New York in 2016. That time, the company marked the new beginning of the Cryptocurrency age.

The company starts the new chapter of Blockchain technology in 2017, with a new name Ripio Credit Network. As a matter of fact, Ripio is the Spanish word for gravel. Which literally means, the raw material to build roads. Apparently, the company is building the roads for the digital economy in Latin America.

How BitPagos stand different from other Bitcoin Start-ups?

We know that credit card is the best option for online purchasing. But bank accounts are must to have credit cards. However, it is very difficult in the Latin American region, where very few persons have credit cards. Also, one-half of the adults in Argentina, and other parts of Latin America don’t have bank accounts yet.

For the first time in a world, BitPagos enables the non-banking credits using blockchain technology. It’s a big step to promote financial inclusion in the sphere, which was tolerating the series of financial crises over the decades.

Sebastian Serrano- Mastermind of BitPagos

Sebastian Serrano
Image Source – Google Images

Sebastian Serrano is a software developer. He is also famous as a serial entrepreneur in Argentina. Currently, he is the CEO and co-founder of BitPagos, which is today known as the Ripio Credit Network.

Early Life

He grew up in Choele Choel, Rio negro, Argentina. Since the teenage, Sebastian was fascinated by programming and start-ups. In fact, he started programming at the age of 7. Sebastian was an intelligent kid. During the high school day, he helped to build the first Internet Service Provider of his hometown in Patagonia.

Earlier Achievements

Before redefining the cryptocurrency age, he was a software developing entrepreneur. He founded a software development consulting firm, familiar as devsAr.com. Also, he worked for the Ministry of Finance, Argentina. Later, he founded the company BitPagos, which is one of the successful bitcoin start-ups.

Inspiration for founding BitPagos

Sebastian witnessed the three economic collapses in Argentina. During that period, he saw the struggle of his parents to feed the family. He lived among those people, who are still apart from conventional banking. Also, he was intimate with the difficulties people have to face for trade and to keep their savings.

Thus, his objective has always been to promote financial inclusion all over Latin America. Exclusively, covering the region historically left away by the traditional banking system.

Triumph of BitPagos (Ripio)

BitPagos launched the Bitcoin processor in 2013. It was the time when blockchain technology just came out of the eggshell. Afterward, the company launched the crypto wallet, which first time enabled online credit services. Ripio wallet is the main product of the company which offers many services. Like utility payments, mobile phone top-ups, cryptocurrency brokerages, and other traditional wallet services. In addition, provides credit services using digital currency.

Later Successes

Currently, the company is working to run real-world fiat on-ramps in Argentina. Also, to encourage convenience stores to sell small amounts of bitcoin. As for now, around 8000 stores are active across the country. Today, Ripio has more than 250,000 users. Furthermore, it aims to expand the services into Mexico, Brazil, and other regions of the world.

Ripio, formerly BitPagos is the best example of an innovative start-up, which has marked the beginning of a new digital economy.

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.

Dolby Laboratories

Ray Dolby: A Story Of Dolby Laboratories Founder Who Changed The Audio Industry

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Today, we experience high definition audio. Also, several ways of sound mixings are available to satisfy our ears. Expectations continue to rise, but we should be grateful to the legend, who made this happen. Ray Dolby, a man of innovation and a pioneer, who is a founder of Dolby Laboratories. His remarkable work in noise reduction is responsible for the birth of the entire audio industry, delivering an unexpected modification in sound.

Presently, Dolby Laboratories enable the best audio quality. And more immersive ways to enjoy high definition sound. Admirably, it is the resultant of the efforts and dedication of an inspiring and passionate engineer. Ray Dolby a person who changes the future of the audio industry.

The Early Life Of Ray Dolby

Ray Dolby was born on 18 January 1933, in Portland, Oregon to Earl Milton Dolby and Esther Eufemia. Due to his family relocation, he spent very less time of childhood in there. As a matter of fact, being raised in the world war II time made him tough and stubborn. Eventually, he prepared him for his incoming journey.

Ray Dolby
Image Source: Google Images

Education

Ray Dolby went to Sequoia High School in Redwood City, California. While studying, he worked at Ampex in Redwood city in 1949. In the same year, he worked first ever on audiotape recording systems. After that, he attended San Jose State College and Stanford University. In fact, during this period he served in Army services for two years. Finally, he completed his graduation in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University.

Furthermore, he applied for a Ph.D. in Physics at the University of Cambridge. That time, Ray was the research fellow at Pembroke College.

Earlier Achievements

During education, Ray worked on early prototypes of Videotape recorder for Charlie Ginsburg and Alexander Poniatoff. In addition, he played an important role in unveiling the prototype, Quadruplex Videotape recorder of Ampex. That same recorder was in Ampex’s production during 1956. No surprise, he was the non-degree holder consultant for Ampex at that time. Surely, it was the beginning of the next move.

Career

Ray Dolby was one of those engineers, who serve the nation with their talent. Previously, he served to the UN (United Nations) in India as a technical advisor. But his inner innovator called him to perform a historical change in the audio industry. After that, in 1965 he returned to England. Until he played an important role in the United Nation as a technical advisor.

Establishment of Dolby Laboratories

Always, Ray was more concerned about harmonics which were responsible to degrade the recorded sound quality in Analog tape. With this vision, he founded the Dolby Laboratories in London on 18 May 1965. At that time, he had a staff of only four people.

It was the lucky year, he invented the Dolby Noise reduction system in 1965. In fact, the system successfully reduced the audible hiss noise level of tape. He named patent for this notable work in 1969.

Performance of Dolby Laboratories

Dolby 301 unit was the first product that was traded out for only professional recording studios. Furthermore, the company focused to improve film sound. And “A Clockwise orange” was the first-ever film using Dolby sound in 1971. Dolby stereo, a noise reduction system with many audio channels were released in 1975. Dolby lab. released many versions of Dolby stereo with enhanced noise reduction.

Personal Life

He was happily married to Dagmar. They have two sons Tom and David. In life, with his wife, he supported many charities, clauses, and social organizations. This couple funded the Medicine Building at the University of California. Also, they helped to build San Francisco’s Stem Cell Center, Brain Health Center at California and Pacific Medical Center.

Later success

Dolby Laboratories continuously delivering the best to the audio sector. However, Ray’s innovative and realistic approach towards technology formed the strong foundation of the company. In 2015, he received a star on Hollywood walk of fame.

JBL logo

James Bullough Lansing – Story of Innovative Radio Engineer to JBL’s founder

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Today, JBL is a very famous brand for speakers and headphones. It has a huge electronic audio market. Whether it is simple consumer speakers, headphones or studio speakers; JBL is one of the demanding brands. It is founded by an audio engineer and a loudspeaker designer, James Bullough Lansing. He is one of the innovative engineers of America, who did remarkable work in the technical field.

In the middle of the 20th century, the whole world was mad over innovations. Also, many scientists were busy discovering new technologies. In such a challenging period, this audio engineer formed the base of the leading electronics company of the present era. 

Today, the world knows him as a pioneer and innovator. He inspires many entrepreneurs to be passionate about work, regardless of difficult situations.

Early life

James Bullough Lansing was born on 14 January 1902, in Greenridge, Illinois. He was the ninth of fourteenth kids of the Martini family. His father, Henry Martini was a coal mining engineer. Due to his father’s changing worksites, the family has to change their location simultaneously. Therefore, James spent childhood days in many different places.

JBL Founder
Image Source – Google

At his young age, James lives with the Bullough family for a short duration. Thereafter, he changed the name from James martini to James Bullough Lansing in 1927.

Education

James Lansing brought up in Springfield, Illinois at his teenage. Where he completed his primary schooling at Lawrence school. He was a talented student at Springfield High School.

Also, he attained some training courses at a small business college in Springfield. He was famous amongst his friends, for playing pranks with his innovative ideas. Once, he built a Layden jar to trick his friends. 

He was an innovative child. James’ schoolmates get flatten over his powerful enough radio transmitter’s design.

Career

In early days of career, he worked as an automotive mechanic. While working, he attended an automotive school at one of the dealers’ Detroit courtesy. Afterward, he worked as an engineer at the radio station, Salt Lake City. 

James Lansing’s career took a new turn when he joined Baldwin Radio company. He got the opportunity to meet Ken Decker, who turned out as a business partner in upcoming years. 

Personal Life

At the age of 21, he left home after his mother’s death. Later, he settled in Salt Lake City for his job. It was the period, where he met a beautiful lady Glenna Peterson, who became his wife in the future.

New Business 

On 9 March 1927, James Lancing and decker founded Lansing Manufacturing company. It was the loudspeaker manufacturing unit. 

After the death of Decker, the company’s growth was declined enormously. At that time, Altec Service Corporation bought the company in 1941. Afterward, Lansing manufacturing company renamed Altec Lansing. In the end, James left the company after his 5-year contract as VP of the engineering section had terminated.

Establishment of JBL

In the year 1946, he established Lancing Sound, Incorporated. Due to some trademark issues with Altec lancing, the company renamed “James B. Lancing sound, Inc.” Furthermore, the company name shortened as JBL for product branding. In the future, JBL became the official name.

D101, a 15inch loudspeaker was the first product of the company. After that, the company launched D130, 15inch transducer in the market. In fact, the model’s several versions remain in the production for over 55 years.

Later Life

No doubt, James was a hardworking innovative engineer. But, the lack of business skills results in faltering business conditions. As a result, JBL started losing the market and the investors’ interest. For a few years, Marquardt corporation offered modest investment to the JBL. But after the acquisition of Marquardt by General Tire company, they broke ties with JBL.

The degrading financial conditions became out of the reach for the compassionate innovator. Also, several personal problems worsen the situation. Unfortunately, James Bullough died on 24 September 1949.

Bottom Line

James, with his innovative mind, constructed a strong base for JBL. In the present electronics market, JBL is trustworthy for its advanced Loudspeakers, headphones, and amplifiers.

JBL’s car audio system used in Ford’s top vehicle. Currently, it is one of the most loved headphone brands in all ranges of customers.

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.