In Brief: Covid-19 may hit global semiconductor revenue; Helo gets new India head

Global semiconductor revenue is set to decline 0.9% in 2020, according to UK-based research firm Gartner. The number is lower than the 12.5% growth the company predicted in the previous quarter. The overall global semiconductor revenue has fallen from the previous quarter’s forecast by $55 billion to $415.4 billion, the study said. The effect of Covid-19 and the relief measures implemented to tackle the pandemic will be more severe on demand than initially predicted, Richard Gordon, vice president of research for the Stamford, Connecticut headquartered company, said. Additionally, semiconductor memory revenue will account for 30% of the total worldwide semiconductor market this year, the study said. While non-memory is expected to decline 6.1%, memory-related revenue is set to grow 13.9%, it added.

Read: Covid-19 India live updates

Social networking platform Helo appoints Rohan Mishra as India head 

Social media platform Helo has appointed Rohan Mishra as the head of its India operations. Mishra will be based out of Gurugram, and support the company’s business strategy, develop its products and accelerate its growth in India, the San Francisco headquartered company said in a statement. With over 15 years of experience, he has held senior positions across sectors, including public affairs, business development, corporate strategy, corporate social responsibility and communications. He also led the public policy mandate at Mastercard and JUUL India. Helo was founded by Orkut Büyükkökten and John Murphy in 2018. Users can create and share content in 14 regional languages, including Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, and Malayalam, on the platform.

VMware has over 15,000 customers on its Virtual Cloud Network

Software company VMware has announced it has more than 15,000 Virtual Cloud Network customers now. The Palo Alto, California-based firm has seen a 50% average growth every financial year since May 2018, the company said in a statement. Its clients include 89 Fortune 100 companies and eight of the top 10 global telecom companies, it said. The Virtual Cloud Network solution provides a secure, software-defined networking layer from the data centre to the cloud edge. Additionally, the company also launched networking and security innovations, including VMware NSX-T 3.0 and VMware vRealize Network Insight 5.2, to boost its client companies’ public cloud experience on premises, the statement added. While VMware NSX-T 3.0 is accessible now, VMware vRealize Network Insight 5.2 is expected to be available by May, it added.

Read: Software firm VMware makes digital workspace solutions platform generally available

HDFC Bank launches initiative for secure banking

Mumbai headquartered private lender HDFC Bank has rolled out an initiative, called Secure Banking, to educate its customers on online, electronic and digital banking frauds. No bank would ask its customers their one time password (OTP), net banking or mobile banking password, customer identity and United Payments interface (UPI) pin, it said. One must also not click on email attachments that ask customers to download them for details and not respond to emails seeking personal information, it added.