RailTel to create 'Edge Data Centres' at 102 locations across India

1. RailTel, a Central Government PSU, said on Wednesday it will create 'edge data centres' at Railway premises across 102 locations, especially Tier-2 and Tier-3 towns in the country.

2. The 'edge data centres' will be set up by RailTel jointly with partners.

3. The prospective Business Associates/partners should be a company registered in India. This activity will entail an investment opportunity of around Rs 500 crore, RailTel said in a statement

4. The process to establish the edge data centres has been set in motion with the floating of Expression of Interest (EOI) inviting the industry to partner in this exercise, it said.

5. Edge data centres are small data centres located at the edge of the network, where they are closer to end-users and devices. Having such kind of facility at the edge would enable faster performance and lower latency as organisations will not have to move the data to far-flung data centres to process it.

ROI for Industry 4.0 use cases

1. No factory can risk being left behind in the transition to smart manufacturing. If a factory fails to innovate its product and production process, it risks incurring a Cost of Inaction (COI), which is the cost of the lost opportunity. Deploying dedicated cellular-enabled industry 4.0 solutions can generate an operational cost savings ROI of 10x to 20x over 5 years. Learn from Industry 4.0 uses cases on how to move ahead wisely.

2. A recent study from ABI Research outlines the “intelligence” in a smart factory and how it is underpinned by cellular connectivity, which plays a business-critical role. Applications of cellular technology are exemplified with concrete Industry 4.0 use cases, providing business justification and initial steps for how manufacturers can move their digital transformation forward.

3. Calculating Return on Investment (ROI) and Cost of Inaction (COI) by weighing operational costs and savings demonstrates the business impact of Industry 4.0 applications and solutions running on dedicated cellular networks.

4. According to the report, “Over 4.7 billion wireless modules will be deployed across smart manufacturing factory floors to enable over USD 1 trillion in production value by 2030.” Manufacturing executives need to understand why and how to develop the right connectivity strategies to unlock this value.

Inflation Reduction Act changes the game for energy transformation

1. Following many months of negotiation between branches of the United States government, on 16 August 2022, President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) into law. Although, as the name suggests, it includes measures that aim to reduce inflation, it also contains a significant package of tax incentives and benefits designed to support the US in tackling climate change. These cover how it produces energy and other measures, such as encouraging decarbonization through carbon capture and promoting the use of electric vehicles. In September, President Biden described the IRA as “the most aggressive action ever… to confront the climate crisis and increase our energy security.” 

2. The Act’s energy industry measures are numerous and, in several cases, innovative, with new mechanisms that allow tax credits to be sold to unrelated third parties or settled through direct payments from the government. Some tax incentives are linked to the location of projects and suppliers, workers’ pay and the development of apprenticeship programs. This article will focus on a small number of tax changes that create opportunities and challenges for energy companies with US operations.

Malaysia Industrial production index growth at 6.9% in 2022

1. Industrial Production Index (IPI) is a measure of the rate of change in the production of industrial commodities in real terms over time for Manufacturing, Mining and Electricity Sectors. 

2. It is measured based on volume changes in production.  IPI are the overall index from the Index of Mining, Manufacturing and Electricity. IPI give the overview of the current trend of industrial activities and used for economic analysis.

3. Industrial production and capacity levels are expressed as an index level relative to a base year. Within the overall IPI, there are a number of sub-indices providing a detailed look at the output of highly specific industries. 

4. Industry-level data are useful for managers and investors within specific lines of business, while the composite index is an important macroeconomic indicator for economists and investors—fluctuations within the industrial sector account for most of the variation in overall economic growth.