Global IT giant IBM is learned to be leading the list of prospective buyers of beleaguered Satyam Computer Services. If the plan fructifies, IBM would become the largest IT services player in India with a combined employee strength of over 125,000 people.
According to sources close to the development, IBM officials has begun discussions with Satyam board and expressed its desire to acquire a majority stake in the company. Moreover, a team of investment bankers and lawyers from the U.S. and Europe has been brought in to assess the size of the deal and the risks associated with it. It is also believed that IBM has conducted an initial due diligence on some of Satyam's major customers.
Making easy entry for foreign players, Minister of Corporate Affairs P C Gupta had said a week ago that open bids would not be restricted to Indian players. IBM was named one of the hostile bidders for Satyam at the company's meeting in the last December. Apart from IBM, other prominent companies in the race are Larsen & Toubro (L&T), which owns 12 per cent in Satyam, and B K Modi-owned Spice group.
The government-nominated board is expected to invite bids for a 31 per cent stake in the company, but is likely to assure the successful bidder 51 per cent even if it fails to get the additional mandatory 20 per cent from the open offer.
Analysts foresee that if IBM can buy Satyam, that can give IBM the leverage to compete with Indian IT service providers as Satyam has a low-cost structure.
Agencies
Showing posts with label Manu Sharma. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Manu Sharma. Show all posts
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Progress Software target insurance, airlines sectors in India
Progress Software Corporation is targeting the insurance, logistics, BFSI and airlines sectors that are mushrooming with many foreign players coming into India.
The provider of application infrastructure software for the development, deployment, integration and management of business applications is looking to partner with domestic consultants with large working knowledge in these sectors.
Talking to CXOtoday, Jezmynn Koh, marketing manager, Asia, of Progress Software, said, "We see a very large potential for us in these sectors and, along with the business knowledge of our partners, we expect to grow big in India. This year we see big-time growth for the BFSI, telecom and insurance sectors."
In fact, the company has already selected a partner - Hasel Fre Solutions - who have business knowledge in the insurance sector. "Likewise, we are now looking for partners in the logistics, BFSI and airlines sectors," she said.
Progress Software's OpenEdge platform enables companies like QAE and Epicor to build an ERP solution on top of it. So, several companies in the BFSI, telecom and also public-sector undertaking sectors have customized the platform as per their requirements.
OpenEdge has been the "cash cows" for Progress Software for many years and contributes almost 70% to the company's revenues.
In the telecom space, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd has been managing data backend integration using Progress COBRA software so that switch-makers can integrate a totally different billing system. "With the fast growth in the telecom sector, most telecom companies face system integration challenges," said Koh.
Similarly, Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) has built a customized ERP solution on top of OpenEdge software for buying, selling and distribution for the last many years..
Besides, Progress also sells through their strategic partners - Wipro, TCS, Infosys and Satyam. Regarding continuing partnership with Satyam, Koh said her company will continue to partner as long as there is a business need for different projects.
CXOtoday.com
The provider of application infrastructure software for the development, deployment, integration and management of business applications is looking to partner with domestic consultants with large working knowledge in these sectors.
Talking to CXOtoday, Jezmynn Koh, marketing manager, Asia, of Progress Software, said, "We see a very large potential for us in these sectors and, along with the business knowledge of our partners, we expect to grow big in India. This year we see big-time growth for the BFSI, telecom and insurance sectors."
In fact, the company has already selected a partner - Hasel Fre Solutions - who have business knowledge in the insurance sector. "Likewise, we are now looking for partners in the logistics, BFSI and airlines sectors," she said.
Progress Software's OpenEdge platform enables companies like QAE and Epicor to build an ERP solution on top of it. So, several companies in the BFSI, telecom and also public-sector undertaking sectors have customized the platform as per their requirements.
OpenEdge has been the "cash cows" for Progress Software for many years and contributes almost 70% to the company's revenues.
In the telecom space, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd has been managing data backend integration using Progress COBRA software so that switch-makers can integrate a totally different billing system. "With the fast growth in the telecom sector, most telecom companies face system integration challenges," said Koh.
Similarly, Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) has built a customized ERP solution on top of OpenEdge software for buying, selling and distribution for the last many years..
Besides, Progress also sells through their strategic partners - Wipro, TCS, Infosys and Satyam. Regarding continuing partnership with Satyam, Koh said her company will continue to partner as long as there is a business need for different projects.
CXOtoday.com
Now Send SMS In Any Local Languages
By Manu Sharma
Since local language is always preferred to communicate with close ones, Tachyon Technologies, the Bangalore-based company initially rolled out Quillpad for the online players. It has recently introduced the solution for mobile players for their SMS service.
Talking to CXOtoday, Ram Prakash H., founder and CEO of Tachyon Technologies said, "We innovated a core less compression technology for the mobile version that has been compressed from eight mbps to less than 400 kbps. It has enabled easier usage for the end-user."
LG has rolled out four models that has inbuilt Quillpad in them and these included: KM 380T, KG 195, KP 199 and KP 220 models. Following the success with LG, Tachyon is talking to other manufacturers like Nokia, Samsung among others. "We want to initially target the mobile manufacturers who will bundle the features in the handsets and later approach the mobile service providers like Airtel, Reliance and Vodafone who can provide more value added services to the end users," said Prakash.
As per the agreement signed with LG (global), the license covers all languages. However, the company has initially rolled out models that can support only Hindi. "Quillpad in mobile makes it easy to type in local languages. It is as easy as we type test messages in English in dictionary mode," said Prakash.
On compatibility with other formats, he said Quillpad is Unicode-compliant and would support any application that supports Unicode. Quillpad was developed as an AI technology, which learns the rules and language patterns and can transliterate any language without help of any linguistic expert," said Prakash.
There is a two-fold advantage - since there is no dependence on a linguistic expert, it can be used for any language and one does not have to depend on the dictionary. Prakash said that this learning was just one-time, after which the trained set of patterns could be deployed by all users of Quillpad technology. The newly developed technology then enables predictive transliteration.
"When you are typing a word, the technology will put together the rules and come up with the right word. It is very similar to the way the T9 dictionary on mobile phones supports typing English words," he said. Another feature that is unique is that the technology is not dependent on one Indian language or its structure. It supports any language that can be written phonetically.
"This gives Quillpad an edge over other technologies. As the artificial intelligence technology can learn the pattern of new languages in just three to four hours, one can add new languages overnight," he said.
CXOtoday.com
Since local language is always preferred to communicate with close ones, Tachyon Technologies, the Bangalore-based company initially rolled out Quillpad for the online players. It has recently introduced the solution for mobile players for their SMS service.
Talking to CXOtoday, Ram Prakash H., founder and CEO of Tachyon Technologies said, "We innovated a core less compression technology for the mobile version that has been compressed from eight mbps to less than 400 kbps. It has enabled easier usage for the end-user."
LG has rolled out four models that has inbuilt Quillpad in them and these included: KM 380T, KG 195, KP 199 and KP 220 models. Following the success with LG, Tachyon is talking to other manufacturers like Nokia, Samsung among others. "We want to initially target the mobile manufacturers who will bundle the features in the handsets and later approach the mobile service providers like Airtel, Reliance and Vodafone who can provide more value added services to the end users," said Prakash.
As per the agreement signed with LG (global), the license covers all languages. However, the company has initially rolled out models that can support only Hindi. "Quillpad in mobile makes it easy to type in local languages. It is as easy as we type test messages in English in dictionary mode," said Prakash.
On compatibility with other formats, he said Quillpad is Unicode-compliant and would support any application that supports Unicode. Quillpad was developed as an AI technology, which learns the rules and language patterns and can transliterate any language without help of any linguistic expert," said Prakash.
There is a two-fold advantage - since there is no dependence on a linguistic expert, it can be used for any language and one does not have to depend on the dictionary. Prakash said that this learning was just one-time, after which the trained set of patterns could be deployed by all users of Quillpad technology. The newly developed technology then enables predictive transliteration.
"When you are typing a word, the technology will put together the rules and come up with the right word. It is very similar to the way the T9 dictionary on mobile phones supports typing English words," he said. Another feature that is unique is that the technology is not dependent on one Indian language or its structure. It supports any language that can be written phonetically.
"This gives Quillpad an edge over other technologies. As the artificial intelligence technology can learn the pattern of new languages in just three to four hours, one can add new languages overnight," he said.
CXOtoday.com
Software to reduce non-compliance risks
Hewlett Packard (HP) plans to unveil a new document and records management software - TRIM - aimed at reducing an organization's risk of non-compliance with legislative and regulatory requirements over the next few months in India.
Talking to CXOtoday Kris Brown, TRIM marketing manager, HP APAC, said, "We are likely to roll out the software in the coming months and will start with the manpower for sales force and also the training. The software was originally developed in Australia and later acquired by HP."
Globally, there are more than 20,000 regulations that businesses need to comply with, including the significant legislations such as Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA and BASEL-II. In India, specific regulations mandate on how companies manage and store their information, including the IT Act, Indian Evidence Act and SEBI Clause 49, but most of them are not enforced yet by the Indian government, said Brown.
Meeting these guidelines also increases the return on investments for any organization, Brown said.
HP TRIM software is a best-practice document and records management system (DRMS) that reduces your risk of non-compliance with legislative and regulatory requirements while increasing security, data integrity, productivity and accountability.
In India, HP is targeting Central and state government departments, public-sector undertakings (PSUs), organizations and banking and financial institutions.
HP's Bangalore lab, which has been doing software development for the information management and achieving, will also handle the customization of the TRIM software as well.
CXOtoday.com
Talking to CXOtoday Kris Brown, TRIM marketing manager, HP APAC, said, "We are likely to roll out the software in the coming months and will start with the manpower for sales force and also the training. The software was originally developed in Australia and later acquired by HP."
Globally, there are more than 20,000 regulations that businesses need to comply with, including the significant legislations such as Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA and BASEL-II. In India, specific regulations mandate on how companies manage and store their information, including the IT Act, Indian Evidence Act and SEBI Clause 49, but most of them are not enforced yet by the Indian government, said Brown.
Meeting these guidelines also increases the return on investments for any organization, Brown said.
HP TRIM software is a best-practice document and records management system (DRMS) that reduces your risk of non-compliance with legislative and regulatory requirements while increasing security, data integrity, productivity and accountability.
In India, HP is targeting Central and state government departments, public-sector undertakings (PSUs), organizations and banking and financial institutions.
HP's Bangalore lab, which has been doing software development for the information management and achieving, will also handle the customization of the TRIM software as well.
CXOtoday.com
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Is Wipro riding on the recovery wave?
The last two quarters were a bitter time for the computer industry in India. However, with a slight recovery seen in sales during January, Wipro Infotech wants to ride on the recovery wave in the notebook segment by launching its new series.
As per IDC reports, notebooks market will see a growth of 12% in India and with this expectation, Wipro has rolled out e.go, its new range of notebooks in India.
Talking to CXOtoday, Anand Sankaran, Chief Exclusive of Wipro Infotech said, “The industry has gone through a rough period during the last two quarters but we are seeing a sign of recovery since January 2009 and expect this trend to continue. We have launched our new range we reach out to the bold new Indian.”
This is Wipro’s second range of notebooks launched and will cater primarily to the Indian market. What more the e.go comes in three models and most unique one is the 7F3800 with a 10 inch ultra portable netbook priced at Rs 19,990 excusive of taxes. It comes in four vibrant colours including chrome red, ocean blue, racer yellow, autumn red and coral blue. “We are setting a new revolution by coming out with a netbook priced sub of Rs 20,000 that more ever comes with such high features,” said Ashok Tripathy, General Manager & Head, Computing Division, Wipro Infotech.
The notebooks have been designed integrating aerodynamics contours with advanced thermo dynamics to ensure perfect harmony of design and function.
The company plans to reach out to the enterprise as well as the consumer segment. “We have seen a negative growth in the enterprise segment but the consumers’ continue to show a positive trend in sales,’ said Sankaran.
Besides the range also comes with all ‘Green’ features that are eco-friendly and have all RoHS complaint features installed that can be recycled without causing any damage to the environment.
In fact, Wipro recorded a 60-70% jump in notebook sales during the last year but due to the present global scenario doesn’t permit similar growth this year, said Sankaran.
Wipro will target the consumers segment by selling its new desktops at Reliance Digital, Next and Pantaloon’s E Zone outlets across the country. “We expect to add more retailers in the coming months,’ said Tripathy.
Wipro has a manufacturing capacity of 1.5 million units from its two units at Pondicherry and at Uttaranchal. However, they did not disclose if the plant is utilizing its full capacity at it two units or not.
As per IDC reports, notebooks market will see a growth of 12% in India and with this expectation, Wipro has rolled out e.go, its new range of notebooks in India.
Talking to CXOtoday, Anand Sankaran, Chief Exclusive of Wipro Infotech said, “The industry has gone through a rough period during the last two quarters but we are seeing a sign of recovery since January 2009 and expect this trend to continue. We have launched our new range we reach out to the bold new Indian.”
This is Wipro’s second range of notebooks launched and will cater primarily to the Indian market. What more the e.go comes in three models and most unique one is the 7F3800 with a 10 inch ultra portable netbook priced at Rs 19,990 excusive of taxes. It comes in four vibrant colours including chrome red, ocean blue, racer yellow, autumn red and coral blue. “We are setting a new revolution by coming out with a netbook priced sub of Rs 20,000 that more ever comes with such high features,” said Ashok Tripathy, General Manager & Head, Computing Division, Wipro Infotech.
The notebooks have been designed integrating aerodynamics contours with advanced thermo dynamics to ensure perfect harmony of design and function.
The company plans to reach out to the enterprise as well as the consumer segment. “We have seen a negative growth in the enterprise segment but the consumers’ continue to show a positive trend in sales,’ said Sankaran.
Besides the range also comes with all ‘Green’ features that are eco-friendly and have all RoHS complaint features installed that can be recycled without causing any damage to the environment.
In fact, Wipro recorded a 60-70% jump in notebook sales during the last year but due to the present global scenario doesn’t permit similar growth this year, said Sankaran.
Wipro will target the consumers segment by selling its new desktops at Reliance Digital, Next and Pantaloon’s E Zone outlets across the country. “We expect to add more retailers in the coming months,’ said Tripathy.
Wipro has a manufacturing capacity of 1.5 million units from its two units at Pondicherry and at Uttaranchal. However, they did not disclose if the plant is utilizing its full capacity at it two units or not.
IT Cos Eye Slice of Aerospace Outsourcing!
With the global recession impacting IT companies, Indian software firms are eying the huge aerospace and defense (A&D) market as airplane makers and Defense companies look to control costs by outsourcing design and management systems.
Research firm Frost & Sullivan estimates the Indian Defense market to touch $36 billion by 2013 and companies in India are expected to get offset orders worth nearly $4 billion through 2011.
Sensing this potential, companies such as IBM, Wipro and HCL are working on IT implementation contracts. The offset programme is expected to open up new opportunities for these IT vendors for A&D contract worth over Rs 300 crore.
Talking to CXOtoday, Anup Vittal, Industry Leader-Aerospace & Defense of IBM India, said, "With A&D OEMs and tiered suppliers increasingly outsourcing IT and engineering services, there is a very large window of opportunity created for software (IT) companies. A&D companies are increasingly being asked to demonstrate product development agility, human capital management, improve upon service offerings in the aftermarket space and enable enterprise cost effectiveness."
"All of these capabilities can be developed by partnering with established software organizations that are capable of driving innovation and improvements. This, in turn, makes it a very lucrative market for software companies to exhibit their expertise," said Vittal.
IBM is bullish about the A&D market in India and sees a huge potential to earn up to $5 billion from these sectors in India over a 10-year period. Additionally, as a qualified A&D offsets partner in India, IBM is well-poised for significant growth in this region, as companies in India are expected to get offset orders worth nearly $4 billion through 2011.
Similarly, Wipro offers application development and maintenance and enterprise business integration. It also has the expertise to offer IT services for the maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) of civilian aircraft, and is already offering these services to some of its clients.
HCL's main area of expertise in A&D sector are avionics, aero structures and mechanical engineering services for aero engines and addresses the aerospace industry's key points.
Karun Khanna, director of Alpha Design Technologies, said, "Looking at the huge demand for software in the A&D sector, most of the IT software players are all now eying a large share in this sector. Since they all have high domain knowledge, it will give this sector the much-needed boost."
India's opening up of the Defense sector to foreign direct investment, the ongoing modernization plan of its Armed Forces and enormous new opportunities in the civil aviation sector have opened innumerable new avenues.
CXOtoday.com
Research firm Frost & Sullivan estimates the Indian Defense market to touch $36 billion by 2013 and companies in India are expected to get offset orders worth nearly $4 billion through 2011.
Sensing this potential, companies such as IBM, Wipro and HCL are working on IT implementation contracts. The offset programme is expected to open up new opportunities for these IT vendors for A&D contract worth over Rs 300 crore.
Talking to CXOtoday, Anup Vittal, Industry Leader-Aerospace & Defense of IBM India, said, "With A&D OEMs and tiered suppliers increasingly outsourcing IT and engineering services, there is a very large window of opportunity created for software (IT) companies. A&D companies are increasingly being asked to demonstrate product development agility, human capital management, improve upon service offerings in the aftermarket space and enable enterprise cost effectiveness."
"All of these capabilities can be developed by partnering with established software organizations that are capable of driving innovation and improvements. This, in turn, makes it a very lucrative market for software companies to exhibit their expertise," said Vittal.
IBM is bullish about the A&D market in India and sees a huge potential to earn up to $5 billion from these sectors in India over a 10-year period. Additionally, as a qualified A&D offsets partner in India, IBM is well-poised for significant growth in this region, as companies in India are expected to get offset orders worth nearly $4 billion through 2011.
Similarly, Wipro offers application development and maintenance and enterprise business integration. It also has the expertise to offer IT services for the maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) of civilian aircraft, and is already offering these services to some of its clients.
HCL's main area of expertise in A&D sector are avionics, aero structures and mechanical engineering services for aero engines and addresses the aerospace industry's key points.
Karun Khanna, director of Alpha Design Technologies, said, "Looking at the huge demand for software in the A&D sector, most of the IT software players are all now eying a large share in this sector. Since they all have high domain knowledge, it will give this sector the much-needed boost."
India's opening up of the Defense sector to foreign direct investment, the ongoing modernization plan of its Armed Forces and enormous new opportunities in the civil aviation sector have opened innumerable new avenues.
CXOtoday.com
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Mobile players focus on MVAS to increase ARPU
With Mobile Value Added Services (MVAS) touching Rs 7,510 crore in 2008 and expected to touch Rs 9,760 crore in 2009 and Rs 16,520 by 2010, mobile players are aggressively rolling out new services to increase the average revenue per user (ARPU).
Talking to CXOtoday at the Forum Nokia Developer Conference 2009, Deepak Halan, Group Business Director of IMRB International eTech said, “In the wake of changing industry markets, telecom operators are looking at MVAS as the next wave of growth, and a large chunk of revenues is expected to flow from VAS in the near future. Our report indicated that this market is growing at 70% annually.”
While the growing subscriber base has positively impacted industry revenues, operator margins have shrunk, pulling down ARPU. “As ARPU declines and voice gets commoditized, the challenge is to retain customers, develop alternative revenue streams, and create a basis for differentiation in high-churn markets that is why telecom operators are looking at MVAS as the next wave of growth,” said Halan.
Presently the mobile market has about 12-15 major players besides a number of new licences issued to Etisalat, Unitech and Reliance (GSM) that is likely to take MVAS to all time high.
Among MVAS, the most popular service was downloaded mobile music, although voice portals were swiftly taking over, said Halan. SMS-based infotainment services are largely divided among the big players. A TRAI reports indicates that out of the 375 million users, one out of every five users have a GPRS-enabled mobile across India but not many services are available making then passive users, which is a deterrent factor.
However, the new 3G initiative give a fresh pipe for data and video tracks that could be downloaded without interruptions and also mobile TV with a lot more services like video on demand will is possible, said Halan.
Srikanth Raju, Director, Head of Product Marketing Forum Nokia said, “MVAS has seen a huge market in India and now with 3G being rolled out, will further help video downloaded and a lot more development on MVAS.”
Talking to CXOtoday at the Forum Nokia Developer Conference 2009, Deepak Halan, Group Business Director of IMRB International eTech said, “In the wake of changing industry markets, telecom operators are looking at MVAS as the next wave of growth, and a large chunk of revenues is expected to flow from VAS in the near future. Our report indicated that this market is growing at 70% annually.”
While the growing subscriber base has positively impacted industry revenues, operator margins have shrunk, pulling down ARPU. “As ARPU declines and voice gets commoditized, the challenge is to retain customers, develop alternative revenue streams, and create a basis for differentiation in high-churn markets that is why telecom operators are looking at MVAS as the next wave of growth,” said Halan.
Presently the mobile market has about 12-15 major players besides a number of new licences issued to Etisalat, Unitech and Reliance (GSM) that is likely to take MVAS to all time high.
Among MVAS, the most popular service was downloaded mobile music, although voice portals were swiftly taking over, said Halan. SMS-based infotainment services are largely divided among the big players. A TRAI reports indicates that out of the 375 million users, one out of every five users have a GPRS-enabled mobile across India but not many services are available making then passive users, which is a deterrent factor.
However, the new 3G initiative give a fresh pipe for data and video tracks that could be downloaded without interruptions and also mobile TV with a lot more services like video on demand will is possible, said Halan.
Srikanth Raju, Director, Head of Product Marketing Forum Nokia said, “MVAS has seen a huge market in India and now with 3G being rolled out, will further help video downloaded and a lot more development on MVAS.”
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Are mobile phones really hot?
Christmas being just round the corner, as always mobile phones are a popular gift choice. Reevoo.com gives you the low-down on mobiles; examining what's hot, what's not, what people are actually buying and which phones are the best value for money.
What's hot? The iPhone 3G of course! But it's not highly ratedDespite being one of the most talked about phones of the year, the iPhone 3G has failed to beat its 2007 predecessor.
The original iPhone is rated 8.3/10, just pipping this year's 3G offering to the post, (the iPhone 3G scores 8.2/10). According to owners, the major issues with the 3G model are its battery life and application crashes, meaning that other phones have been able to storm ahead of the iPhone. So, what really is the hottest mobile phone this season?
Revoo recommendations: Top five Christmas mobile phones
Top five most popular in last 30 days:
1. Nokia N96
2. Samsung F480 Tocco
3. Blackberry Storm
4. Sony Ericsson C902
5. Samsung Omnia
Top five highest rated phones of 2008:
1. BlackBerry Bold 9000
2. Sony Ericsson W980i
3. Apple iPhone 3G 8/16GB
4. Samsung F480 Tocco
5. Sony Ericsson K660i
Reevoo reviewers pick the BlackBerry Bold 9000 as the best phone released in 2008.
Reviews on Reevoo for the BlackBerry Bold 9000 include:
Positive+
+ Great keyboard for e-mailing and texting. Cracking screen which is nice and bright and videos look lovely on it. The sound from the internal speaker is really good. Just a great phone overall.
+ The Bold is undoubtedly the most impressive Blackberry yet. One of its greatest advantages is that in spite of many new features, it feels very familiar. Web browsing is almost broadband speed.
Negative
– Out of the box battery life is bad but gets better with regular charges
- The hyped-up phones usually get all the attention but it's interesting to see how the most popular phones differ from the most highly rated:
The Nokia N96, whilst being the most popular phone on the market, gets marked down by reviewers for poor battery life and software problems. At around £500 for Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) customers, it's no surprise that it also gets rated below average for value for money.
However, it does impress with its design and features. One reviewer writes "great picture and video quality, very easy to find your way around, fantastic features...looks good".
So who wins the race?
When it comes to value for money, the stylish Samsung F480 Tocco is a great buy. It scores highly for design and features and gets much higher scores for battery life than the Nokia N96, both iPhones and the BlackBerry Bold 9000. It's around £150 PAYG or free on some contracts.
Here are some of the reviews from owners of the Samsung F480 Tocco:
Positive:
+ Easy to use, good haptic technology feedback from the touch screen, excellent camera, fair battery life, smart, compact, stylish.
+ It's easy to use and has a very good memory and has good features that I would have expected.
Negative
- No Wi-Fi capability.
- Should come with a ball point touch screen pen, can be hard to press the right keys sometimes.
Indian techie accused in $1-bn Intel data theft
An Indian software engineer working with AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) has been charged with stealing sensitive documents from his former employer Intel, said court reports on Tuesday.
Intel has filed a criminal complaint against Biswamohan Pani, former design engineer for chipmaker Intel, in the US district court in Boston. The case is that Pani made off with information valued by Intel at more than $1 billion. He is due to appear in Boston federal court today.
Intel filed the complaint formally, after the FBI sleuths searched his house in Worcester in July, which recovered some top-secret files with details of future Intel chip designs, said a report.
Pani had resigned from Intel in May but he said the company that he could continue to work at Intel till June 11. But he started working with AMD on June 2 while he still continued with Intel.
During this period he allegedly remote-accessed the secret files with an intention to pass it on to AMD. But FBI has ruled out AMD's involvement in Pani's conduct.
On the other hand, Pani pleaded innocence in the incident and said that the design files were meant to help his wife who still works with Intel and were not intended for sale. Networking major Cisco in its recent report on data leakage had pointed to the 'insider threat' to corporate information.
How do you evaluate this kind of 'insider threat' as far as maintaining the security of data is concerned? Do you think the corporates are making serious efforts to ensure the security of their data in a highly networked environment?
Intel has filed a criminal complaint against Biswamohan Pani, former design engineer for chipmaker Intel, in the US district court in Boston. The case is that Pani made off with information valued by Intel at more than $1 billion. He is due to appear in Boston federal court today.
Intel filed the complaint formally, after the FBI sleuths searched his house in Worcester in July, which recovered some top-secret files with details of future Intel chip designs, said a report.
Pani had resigned from Intel in May but he said the company that he could continue to work at Intel till June 11. But he started working with AMD on June 2 while he still continued with Intel.
During this period he allegedly remote-accessed the secret files with an intention to pass it on to AMD. But FBI has ruled out AMD's involvement in Pani's conduct.
On the other hand, Pani pleaded innocence in the incident and said that the design files were meant to help his wife who still works with Intel and were not intended for sale. Networking major Cisco in its recent report on data leakage had pointed to the 'insider threat' to corporate information.
How do you evaluate this kind of 'insider threat' as far as maintaining the security of data is concerned? Do you think the corporates are making serious efforts to ensure the security of their data in a highly networked environment?
Women power in IT on the rise
The number of women in the IT sector is on the rise. There are 2 million employees in this sector, out of which 28% are women (2007-08) up from 24% in 2005-06. Also the intake of women at the entry level this year was 46% up from 38% last year. Considering the next 10 years, India has a unique role to play for which contribution of women cannot be ignored, said NASSCOM president Som Mittal.
Moreover, NASSCOM conducted a survey of 50 companies and found that 11% of leaders in the industry were women. These roles were in senior management mostly for decision-making. Also two year’s back, three or four companies formally followed gender diversity programmes, but now there are about 80 companies that have some initiative to handle issues for women and take care of gender diversity and inclusiveness.
Moreover, NASSCOM conducted a survey of 50 companies and found that 11% of leaders in the industry were women. These roles were in senior management mostly for decision-making. Also two year’s back, three or four companies formally followed gender diversity programmes, but now there are about 80 companies that have some initiative to handle issues for women and take care of gender diversity and inclusiveness.
Techies turn to social media to reach consumers
Recognizing the limits of traditional advertising, established technology companies are diving headlong into the sometimes chaotic landscape of social media to promote their products.
Companies ranging from PC maker Dell Inc to storage equipment maker NetApp are increasingly turning to outside blogs, viral videos and websites such as FaceBook, Twitter, FriendFeed and Digg — and their tens of millions of users — to reach consumers.
These social networking sites harness the age-old power of the word-of-mouth recommendation and can be potent marketing tools. If nothing else, they demand a higher level of consumer engagement than conventional ads.
“This is 180 degrees from that sort of advertising,” said Debra Aho Williamson, a senior analyst at eMarketer. “Having a conversation with them (consumers) is a very new skill.”For tech companies with big marketing budgets, the shift to social media is an implicit acknowledgment that television and print are not necessarily the most effective ways to reach buyers, particularly younger ones.
In addition, with a recession looming, corporate budgets are being slashed. UBS has forecast global ad spending will fall 3.9 per cent in 2009. In such an environment, social media could prove to be a cost-effective way to sell to consumers.
But the strategy is not without some risk. While every company wants to generate buzz, online backlash can be brutal.
Consumer healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson learned that the hard way with a recent Web video ad for its Motrin painkiller. While apparently trying to be irreverent about the pain of wearing a baby in a sling, the ad offended many mothers who savaged it on Twitter, the wildly popular “micro-blogging’’ site where users communicate with short “tweets’’ of 140 characters or less. J&J was forced to apologize on Monday.
Brian Keeler, a vice president at media consultancy VShift, said the key to social media is credibility and enlisting consumers in the act of marketing itself. But if you upset your audience, it can mean trouble. “With the online media, things can go viral and spin out of control really fast,’’ he said.
Dell has a dedicated team of around 40 people that interacts with consumers through its blogs, community forums and third-party sites. The company began its social media push last year as it moved to repair its public image.
“There’s been a realization over the last several years that your customers are going to talk about you online and you have a choice to join that conversation,’’ spokeswoman Caroline Dietz said.
Companies ranging from PC maker Dell Inc to storage equipment maker NetApp are increasingly turning to outside blogs, viral videos and websites such as FaceBook, Twitter, FriendFeed and Digg — and their tens of millions of users — to reach consumers.
These social networking sites harness the age-old power of the word-of-mouth recommendation and can be potent marketing tools. If nothing else, they demand a higher level of consumer engagement than conventional ads.
“This is 180 degrees from that sort of advertising,” said Debra Aho Williamson, a senior analyst at eMarketer. “Having a conversation with them (consumers) is a very new skill.”For tech companies with big marketing budgets, the shift to social media is an implicit acknowledgment that television and print are not necessarily the most effective ways to reach buyers, particularly younger ones.
In addition, with a recession looming, corporate budgets are being slashed. UBS has forecast global ad spending will fall 3.9 per cent in 2009. In such an environment, social media could prove to be a cost-effective way to sell to consumers.
But the strategy is not without some risk. While every company wants to generate buzz, online backlash can be brutal.
Consumer healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson learned that the hard way with a recent Web video ad for its Motrin painkiller. While apparently trying to be irreverent about the pain of wearing a baby in a sling, the ad offended many mothers who savaged it on Twitter, the wildly popular “micro-blogging’’ site where users communicate with short “tweets’’ of 140 characters or less. J&J was forced to apologize on Monday.
Brian Keeler, a vice president at media consultancy VShift, said the key to social media is credibility and enlisting consumers in the act of marketing itself. But if you upset your audience, it can mean trouble. “With the online media, things can go viral and spin out of control really fast,’’ he said.
Dell has a dedicated team of around 40 people that interacts with consumers through its blogs, community forums and third-party sites. The company began its social media push last year as it moved to repair its public image.
“There’s been a realization over the last several years that your customers are going to talk about you online and you have a choice to join that conversation,’’ spokeswoman Caroline Dietz said.
Own a personal supercomputer!
US technology firm NVIDIA rolled out high-performance “personal supercomputers” that let desktop workstations handle mind-boggling tasks once far beyond their capabilities.
Computers built with innovative NVIDIA graphics processing units (GPUs) are capable of handling calculations typically relegated to expensive supercomputing “clusters”, a technology breakthrough the company says could soon bring lightning speeds to the next generation of computers aimed at the consumer market.
NVIDIA’s Tesla Personal Supercomputers deliver approximately 250 times the processing power of current computer workstations for similar prices, according to the California-based company. “This changes everything. This supercomputing power is being brought to the workstation,” Tesla computing products general manager Andy Keane said.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology and other universities and research facilities are already using GPU-based personal supercomputers. “GPU-based systems enable us to run life science codes in minutes rather than the hours it took earlier,” said Jack Collins of the Advanced Biomedical Computing Centre in the US state of Maryland. “This exceptional speedup has the ability to accelerate the discovery of potentially life-saving anti-cancer drugs.”
NVIDIA, founded in 1993, became renowned for GPUs that drive sophisticated computer game and video hardware. While CPUs typically handle tasks in a linear style, zipping from start to finish in series, GPUs work on tasks simultaneously in order to do things such as get colour pixels together on screens to present moving images. Sets of NVIDIA chips built for speed, power, and superior graphics production are built into upgraded Macintosh notebook computers recently rolled out by Apple.
GPUs that could do parallel computing mathematics at lightning speed were engineered by NVIDIA to make Tesla chips that put desktop workstations on par with supercomputers at one 100th of the price. “You can’t ignore the GPU; you can’t say it is just a game chip,” Keane said.
Computers built with innovative NVIDIA graphics processing units (GPUs) are capable of handling calculations typically relegated to expensive supercomputing “clusters”, a technology breakthrough the company says could soon bring lightning speeds to the next generation of computers aimed at the consumer market.
NVIDIA’s Tesla Personal Supercomputers deliver approximately 250 times the processing power of current computer workstations for similar prices, according to the California-based company. “This changes everything. This supercomputing power is being brought to the workstation,” Tesla computing products general manager Andy Keane said.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology and other universities and research facilities are already using GPU-based personal supercomputers. “GPU-based systems enable us to run life science codes in minutes rather than the hours it took earlier,” said Jack Collins of the Advanced Biomedical Computing Centre in the US state of Maryland. “This exceptional speedup has the ability to accelerate the discovery of potentially life-saving anti-cancer drugs.”
NVIDIA, founded in 1993, became renowned for GPUs that drive sophisticated computer game and video hardware. While CPUs typically handle tasks in a linear style, zipping from start to finish in series, GPUs work on tasks simultaneously in order to do things such as get colour pixels together on screens to present moving images. Sets of NVIDIA chips built for speed, power, and superior graphics production are built into upgraded Macintosh notebook computers recently rolled out by Apple.
GPUs that could do parallel computing mathematics at lightning speed were engineered by NVIDIA to make Tesla chips that put desktop workstations on par with supercomputers at one 100th of the price. “You can’t ignore the GPU; you can’t say it is just a game chip,” Keane said.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Gender inclusivity awards announced: NASSCOM
NASSCOM, the premier trade body and the chamber of commerce of IT software and services, today announced the winners of 'gender inclusivity' awards instituted by the organization.
The awards, which recognize outstanding practices to promote gender empowerment and women leadership development, were declared at the 3rd Annual IT Women Leadership Summit opened here on Wednesday.
It would be presented at the gala award nite being organized as part of the summit tonight. The 'gender inclusivity' awards recognize the efforts made by the company through policies, procedures and systems to foster inclusivity and innovative programs that are targeted at strengthening gender inclusivity at the work place.
Infosys Technologies walked away with the award for excellence in gender inclusivity from the IT Services and Product Companies sector, while IBM India Pvt ltd bagged the award for the most innovative projects in gender inclusivity.
Among the BPO sector IBM Daksh Business Process Services emerged winner whereas Ajuba solutions and ADP private limited walked away with the laurels in the best emerging company sector.
The award criteria includes five parameter namely business rationale, senior leadership support, communication, accountability and measurable results. "These awards recognize companies who are doing outstanding work enabling inclusivity and we hope that other companies will emulate the best practices," said Som Mittal, president, NASSCOM, while addressing the media.
The awards, which recognize outstanding practices to promote gender empowerment and women leadership development, were declared at the 3rd Annual IT Women Leadership Summit opened here on Wednesday.
It would be presented at the gala award nite being organized as part of the summit tonight. The 'gender inclusivity' awards recognize the efforts made by the company through policies, procedures and systems to foster inclusivity and innovative programs that are targeted at strengthening gender inclusivity at the work place.
Infosys Technologies walked away with the award for excellence in gender inclusivity from the IT Services and Product Companies sector, while IBM India Pvt ltd bagged the award for the most innovative projects in gender inclusivity.
Among the BPO sector IBM Daksh Business Process Services emerged winner whereas Ajuba solutions and ADP private limited walked away with the laurels in the best emerging company sector.
The award criteria includes five parameter namely business rationale, senior leadership support, communication, accountability and measurable results. "These awards recognize companies who are doing outstanding work enabling inclusivity and we hope that other companies will emulate the best practices," said Som Mittal, president, NASSCOM, while addressing the media.
Google relaunches SMS service in India
Search giant Google Inc. has launched an SMS-based text message service that will offer search services across the country recently.
This service would be available across all operators on both GSM and CDMA mobile phones at cheaper rates, even to those who have mobile phones but do not have Internet connections.
Google has come up with a newer version of Google SMS Search at the price of regular SMS. The product has been reincarnated, with a new number and several features. Users can SMS query to 9-77-33-00000 and get automated answers on cricket scores, Indian Railways, stock quotes, local business search, movie showtimes, currency conversion, flight status, weather, horoscope, taxi service and ATM.
Vinay Goel, products head, Google India, said, "The latest offering is part of our mobile strategy in the sub-continent, where text messaging has become a part of daily life."
This service would be available across all operators on both GSM and CDMA mobile phones at cheaper rates, even to those who have mobile phones but do not have Internet connections.
Google has come up with a newer version of Google SMS Search at the price of regular SMS. The product has been reincarnated, with a new number and several features. Users can SMS query to 9-77-33-00000 and get automated answers on cricket scores, Indian Railways, stock quotes, local business search, movie showtimes, currency conversion, flight status, weather, horoscope, taxi service and ATM.
Vinay Goel, products head, Google India, said, "The latest offering is part of our mobile strategy in the sub-continent, where text messaging has become a part of daily life."
Zenith forays into BPO space; Goes ahead with expansion
Despite the global recession and the massive layoffs, Zenith software, a leading software company and part of the $120 million Zenith Group, having recently forayed into the KPO space is going ahead with its expansion plans. The Bangalore-based company is expanding its office into a new campus that can house that can accommodate 500-600 per shift.
In an interview with Manu Sharma of CIOL Bureau, Sampath Kumar, CEO of Zenith Software talks about the new business foray and its recruitment drive in India. Excerpts.
CIOL: What has been the impact of recession on Zenith Software?
Sampath Kumar: The US recession has not affected us so far. The only problem is that the US companies want to push the dates. No one wants to decide immediately but business has not affected us in any way. But they are keen on outsourcing the work to India. It is a ‘wait n watch’ situation to gauge its impact in 2009.
CIOL: What has been your recent expansion plans?
SK: Since we are foraying into the information technology enabled services (ITES) in a big way, we are expanding our office by moving into a new campus of 25,000 sqft of built-in space located in Koramangala. The building will comprise of four floors and can accommodate 400-500 employees per shift and we can be further expanded to accommodate 1,500-2000 if necessary.
CIOL: What is Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO), why has Zenith forayed into this space?
SK: Zenith has signed up with NovusSTS (pioneers in the newly defined recruitment process optimization business) for providing RPO services. RPO is a form of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) where an employer outsources or transfers all or part of its recruitment activities to an external service provider.
CIOL: What are the work involved in RPO and its benefits?
SK: RPO involves the outsourcing of all or just part of recruitment functions and process. RPO providers manage the entire recruiting/hiring process from job profiling through the on boarding of the new hire, including staff, technology, method and reporting. A properly managed RPO will improve a company's time to hire, increase the quality of the candidate pool, provide verifiable metrics, reduce cost and improve governmental compliance. The RPO service provider is the source for in-scope recruitment activity.
CIOL: What is the future of RPO industry in India?
SK: Since only about 20-25 companies are into this pace in India, we see a bright future. Our policy is not to target the big players but instead found a partner for the delivery.
CIOL: What is Zenith role in the LPO industry?
SK: Zenith has been in this sector for the last three months and has entered into a joint venture with a law firm based in US. We have started with the training process and have about 10 employees, who are corporate lawyers and LPO professionals involved in document reviews, immigration services and contract drafting.
CIOL: Explain the travel software developed by Zenith?
SK: The company has developed a travel software similar to IBS. It is a total integrated software for the tour operators operating across the country. This is the first product by Zenith and was earlier exhibited in Mumbai in a travel expo called – Travel Eye. The product is likely to hit the market by 2009. In respect to the pricing of the software, we have planned to price it between Rs 5-10 lakh, depending on the module, we will customize it as per your requirements. The product was developed over the last two years and about 10 software engineers were involved in the product.
CIOL: What are the other software developed by Zenith?
SK: Following our success with the travel software, we are also developed a software for a retail company in Australia. Similarly also developed a automobile product for the Norwegian market expected to be rolled out in 2009.
For the insurance sector, we have signed up with a UK-based company for the development and support of large US insurance firms. This is for the life insurance products and we will handle the customisation, maintenance and the enhancement of the product. Similarly, we have also signed up with a Swiss company for non-life insurance. We have completed the prototype of the product using Java and the product will be out by end of 2009.
CIOL: What has been the attrition in your organization?
SK: The attrition in our company is only 8-10 percent much lesser than the industry standards of 25-30 percent in BPO industry. Presently we have a 50:50 mix of developers and ITES (BPO) employees. I feel ITES will outdo IT and already we have employed 35 members in the last one-month and will hire another 25-30 in the next few months.
CIOL: When has Zenith forayed into the Scandinavian market?
SK: Zenith has forayed into the Scandinavian market through a partnership with Norway-based Software Offshoring Consulting (SOC). SOC is part of the Norwegian Data-Invest Group that has been providing progressive and market oriented solutions and services. This partnership will expand Zenith Software Ltd’s (ZSL) footprint in the European market.
ZSL and SOC have been working together on joint product development for the automotive industry. This product will also be maintained by ZSL for all the clients across the globe. This relationship has now matured into partnership wherein ZSL-SOC would jointly market and provide offshore development services. This is an exciting phase in ZSL’s growth plans. With SOC’s strengths we will be able grow in the Nordic.
CIOL: How do you see the future of Zenith Software shaping up?
SK: With our foray into BPO/KPO space and from the present turnover of $6 million, we had anticipated a jump of $10-12 million by 2009. But do the present industry scenario we may now expect only a 50 percent growth from the initial target of 75 percent. The only problem we are facing is that things are not happening and projects are getting delayed. The trend is not only in the US market but also in UK and European markets as well. ”US is creating a ripple affect on other countries.”
By 2012, Zenith expects the company to have 2000 plus employees with major revenues from UK, European countries and a 10 percent decline from the US markets. The company will strongly look at analytics, insurance, claim processing, medical billing and market research in the future. We are in talks with insurance and healthcare industries.
CIOL: Any IPO plans in the pipeline?
SK: We have seen a good growth so far which has been totally debts free. We see inorganic growth growing faster than organic growth. We plan to roll out an Initial Public Offering (IPO) when the company reaches a turnover of about $50 million and with over 3000 employees.
CIOL: What are your plans for expansion into Tier II cities?
SK: The company is also targeting at Tier II cities like Mysore, Mangalore. But we find a number of problems like poor resource stain, poor infrastructure is another major problem. In fact, we initially looked at a SEZ in Salem, but later withdrew the idea.
In an interview with Manu Sharma of CIOL Bureau, Sampath Kumar, CEO of Zenith Software talks about the new business foray and its recruitment drive in India. Excerpts.
CIOL: What has been the impact of recession on Zenith Software?
Sampath Kumar: The US recession has not affected us so far. The only problem is that the US companies want to push the dates. No one wants to decide immediately but business has not affected us in any way. But they are keen on outsourcing the work to India. It is a ‘wait n watch’ situation to gauge its impact in 2009.
CIOL: What has been your recent expansion plans?
SK: Since we are foraying into the information technology enabled services (ITES) in a big way, we are expanding our office by moving into a new campus of 25,000 sqft of built-in space located in Koramangala. The building will comprise of four floors and can accommodate 400-500 employees per shift and we can be further expanded to accommodate 1,500-2000 if necessary.
CIOL: What is Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO), why has Zenith forayed into this space?
SK: Zenith has signed up with NovusSTS (pioneers in the newly defined recruitment process optimization business) for providing RPO services. RPO is a form of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) where an employer outsources or transfers all or part of its recruitment activities to an external service provider.
CIOL: What are the work involved in RPO and its benefits?
SK: RPO involves the outsourcing of all or just part of recruitment functions and process. RPO providers manage the entire recruiting/hiring process from job profiling through the on boarding of the new hire, including staff, technology, method and reporting. A properly managed RPO will improve a company's time to hire, increase the quality of the candidate pool, provide verifiable metrics, reduce cost and improve governmental compliance. The RPO service provider is the source for in-scope recruitment activity.
CIOL: What is the future of RPO industry in India?
SK: Since only about 20-25 companies are into this pace in India, we see a bright future. Our policy is not to target the big players but instead found a partner for the delivery.
CIOL: What is Zenith role in the LPO industry?
SK: Zenith has been in this sector for the last three months and has entered into a joint venture with a law firm based in US. We have started with the training process and have about 10 employees, who are corporate lawyers and LPO professionals involved in document reviews, immigration services and contract drafting.
CIOL: Explain the travel software developed by Zenith?
SK: The company has developed a travel software similar to IBS. It is a total integrated software for the tour operators operating across the country. This is the first product by Zenith and was earlier exhibited in Mumbai in a travel expo called – Travel Eye. The product is likely to hit the market by 2009. In respect to the pricing of the software, we have planned to price it between Rs 5-10 lakh, depending on the module, we will customize it as per your requirements. The product was developed over the last two years and about 10 software engineers were involved in the product.
CIOL: What are the other software developed by Zenith?
SK: Following our success with the travel software, we are also developed a software for a retail company in Australia. Similarly also developed a automobile product for the Norwegian market expected to be rolled out in 2009.
For the insurance sector, we have signed up with a UK-based company for the development and support of large US insurance firms. This is for the life insurance products and we will handle the customisation, maintenance and the enhancement of the product. Similarly, we have also signed up with a Swiss company for non-life insurance. We have completed the prototype of the product using Java and the product will be out by end of 2009.
CIOL: What has been the attrition in your organization?
SK: The attrition in our company is only 8-10 percent much lesser than the industry standards of 25-30 percent in BPO industry. Presently we have a 50:50 mix of developers and ITES (BPO) employees. I feel ITES will outdo IT and already we have employed 35 members in the last one-month and will hire another 25-30 in the next few months.
CIOL: When has Zenith forayed into the Scandinavian market?
SK: Zenith has forayed into the Scandinavian market through a partnership with Norway-based Software Offshoring Consulting (SOC). SOC is part of the Norwegian Data-Invest Group that has been providing progressive and market oriented solutions and services. This partnership will expand Zenith Software Ltd’s (ZSL) footprint in the European market.
ZSL and SOC have been working together on joint product development for the automotive industry. This product will also be maintained by ZSL for all the clients across the globe. This relationship has now matured into partnership wherein ZSL-SOC would jointly market and provide offshore development services. This is an exciting phase in ZSL’s growth plans. With SOC’s strengths we will be able grow in the Nordic.
CIOL: How do you see the future of Zenith Software shaping up?
SK: With our foray into BPO/KPO space and from the present turnover of $6 million, we had anticipated a jump of $10-12 million by 2009. But do the present industry scenario we may now expect only a 50 percent growth from the initial target of 75 percent. The only problem we are facing is that things are not happening and projects are getting delayed. The trend is not only in the US market but also in UK and European markets as well. ”US is creating a ripple affect on other countries.”
By 2012, Zenith expects the company to have 2000 plus employees with major revenues from UK, European countries and a 10 percent decline from the US markets. The company will strongly look at analytics, insurance, claim processing, medical billing and market research in the future. We are in talks with insurance and healthcare industries.
CIOL: Any IPO plans in the pipeline?
SK: We have seen a good growth so far which has been totally debts free. We see inorganic growth growing faster than organic growth. We plan to roll out an Initial Public Offering (IPO) when the company reaches a turnover of about $50 million and with over 3000 employees.
CIOL: What are your plans for expansion into Tier II cities?
SK: The company is also targeting at Tier II cities like Mysore, Mangalore. But we find a number of problems like poor resource stain, poor infrastructure is another major problem. In fact, we initially looked at a SEZ in Salem, but later withdrew the idea.
LIFE photo archive now available on Google
Time Inc announced that Google was putting online the entire collection of photos from the legendary but now defunct LIFE magazine including some of the most iconic images of the 20th century.
Time said access to LIFE's photo archive, a total of more than 10 million images, would be available on a new hosted service from the Internet search giant at ages.google.com/hosted/life.
The images from LIFE, a Time subsidiary, can also be found by conducting a search on Google.com or through Google Image Search.
The collection includes pictures from renowned photojournalists such as Alfred Eisenstaedt, Margaret Bourke-White, Gordon Parks and W. Eugene Smith.
The LIFE photo archive also includes the Zapruder film of the assassination of President John F Kennedy, The Mansell Collection from London and Hugo Jaeger's pictures of Nazi-era Germany from 1937-1944.
Time said 97 per cent of the photographs have never been seen by the public. "Millions of images have been scanned and made available on Google Image Search today with all 10 million images to be available in the coming months," Time said in a statement.
"LIFE will now reach a broader audience and engage them online with the incredible depth and breadth of the LIFE Photo Archive from serious world events, to Hollywood celebrities to whimsical photographs." LIFE president Andy Blau said.
R.J. Pittman, director of product management at Google, said "bringing millions of never-before-seen offline images online aligns with Google's mission to organize all the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful."
Time said the photos are available for free for personal and research purposes. The copyright and ownership of all images remains with Time.
In September, Time and the Getty Images photo service announced the launch early next year of a new website, LIFE.com, featuring photos from the LIFE archives and Getty Images.
Time said access to LIFE's photo archive, a total of more than 10 million images, would be available on a new hosted service from the Internet search giant at ages.google.com/hosted/life.
The images from LIFE, a Time subsidiary, can also be found by conducting a search on Google.com or through Google Image Search.
The collection includes pictures from renowned photojournalists such as Alfred Eisenstaedt, Margaret Bourke-White, Gordon Parks and W. Eugene Smith.
The LIFE photo archive also includes the Zapruder film of the assassination of President John F Kennedy, The Mansell Collection from London and Hugo Jaeger's pictures of Nazi-era Germany from 1937-1944.
Time said 97 per cent of the photographs have never been seen by the public. "Millions of images have been scanned and made available on Google Image Search today with all 10 million images to be available in the coming months," Time said in a statement.
"LIFE will now reach a broader audience and engage them online with the incredible depth and breadth of the LIFE Photo Archive from serious world events, to Hollywood celebrities to whimsical photographs." LIFE president Andy Blau said.
R.J. Pittman, director of product management at Google, said "bringing millions of never-before-seen offline images online aligns with Google's mission to organize all the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful."
Time said the photos are available for free for personal and research purposes. The copyright and ownership of all images remains with Time.
In September, Time and the Getty Images photo service announced the launch early next year of a new website, LIFE.com, featuring photos from the LIFE archives and Getty Images.
Deep space Internet tested sucessfully: NASA
The US space agency NASA said that it successfuly conducted a first test of a deep space communications network modeled on the Internet.
"This is the first step in creating a totally new space communications capability, an interplanetary Internet," Adrian Hooke, NASA's manager of space-networking architecture, technology and standards, said in a statement.
The US space agency said Jet Propulsion Laboratory engineers used software called Disruption-Tolerant Networking, or DTN, to transmit dozens of space images to and from a NASA spacecraft some 20 million miles (32.4 million kilometers) from Earth.
NASA said the software protocol, which must be able to withstand delays, disruptions and disconnections in space, was designed in partnership with Vint Cerf, a vice president at Internet search giant Google.
DTN sends information using a method that differs from the normal Internet's Transmission-Control Protocol/Internet Protocol, or TCP/IP, communication suite, which Cerf co-designed, NASA said.
Unlike TCP/IP, DTN does not assume a continuous end-to-end connection, NASA said, noting that glitches can happen when a spacecraft moves behind a planet, or when solar storms and long communication delays occur.
It said the delay, for example, in sending or receiving data from Mars takes between three-and-a-half minutes and 20 minutes at the speed of light.
NASA said that if a destination path cannot be found, data packets are not discarded but kept by each network node until it can communicate safely with another node.
Eventually, it said, the information is delivered to the end user.
"In space today, an operations team must manually schedule each link and generate all the commands to specify which data to send, when to send it, and where to send it," said Leigh Torgerson, manager of the DTN Experiment Operations Center at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
"With standardized DTN, this can all be done automatically."
NASA said engineers had begun a month-long series of DTN demonstrations in October using NASA's Epoxi spacecraft, which is on a mission to encounter Comet Hartley 2 in two years, as a Mars data-relay orbiter.
It said there are 10 nodes in the early interplanetary network -- the Epoxi spacecraft itself and nine on the ground at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory simulating Mars landers, orbiters and ground mission-operations centers.
NASA said a test of DTN software loaded on board the International Space Station would begin next summer.
It said an "Interplanetary Internet" could enable many new types of space missions including complex flights involving multiple spacecraft and ensure reliable communications for astronauts on the the moon.
"This is the first step in creating a totally new space communications capability, an interplanetary Internet," Adrian Hooke, NASA's manager of space-networking architecture, technology and standards, said in a statement.
The US space agency said Jet Propulsion Laboratory engineers used software called Disruption-Tolerant Networking, or DTN, to transmit dozens of space images to and from a NASA spacecraft some 20 million miles (32.4 million kilometers) from Earth.
NASA said the software protocol, which must be able to withstand delays, disruptions and disconnections in space, was designed in partnership with Vint Cerf, a vice president at Internet search giant Google.
DTN sends information using a method that differs from the normal Internet's Transmission-Control Protocol/Internet Protocol, or TCP/IP, communication suite, which Cerf co-designed, NASA said.
Unlike TCP/IP, DTN does not assume a continuous end-to-end connection, NASA said, noting that glitches can happen when a spacecraft moves behind a planet, or when solar storms and long communication delays occur.
It said the delay, for example, in sending or receiving data from Mars takes between three-and-a-half minutes and 20 minutes at the speed of light.
NASA said that if a destination path cannot be found, data packets are not discarded but kept by each network node until it can communicate safely with another node.
Eventually, it said, the information is delivered to the end user.
"In space today, an operations team must manually schedule each link and generate all the commands to specify which data to send, when to send it, and where to send it," said Leigh Torgerson, manager of the DTN Experiment Operations Center at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
"With standardized DTN, this can all be done automatically."
NASA said engineers had begun a month-long series of DTN demonstrations in October using NASA's Epoxi spacecraft, which is on a mission to encounter Comet Hartley 2 in two years, as a Mars data-relay orbiter.
It said there are 10 nodes in the early interplanetary network -- the Epoxi spacecraft itself and nine on the ground at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory simulating Mars landers, orbiters and ground mission-operations centers.
NASA said a test of DTN software loaded on board the International Space Station would begin next summer.
It said an "Interplanetary Internet" could enable many new types of space missions including complex flights involving multiple spacecraft and ensure reliable communications for astronauts on the the moon.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Now Japan also slides into recession
Japan’s economy slid into a recession for the first time since 2001, the government said, as companies sharply cut back on spending in the third quarter amid the unfolding global financial crisis. Government officials and economists warned that the world’s second-largest economy could contract further in coming months.
Japan’s economy shrank at an annual pace of 0.4% in the July-September period after a declining an annualised 3.7% in the second quarter. That means Japan, along with the 15-nation euro-zone, is now technically in a recession, defined as two straight quarters of contraction.
“What we’re starting to see is the extent of deterioration in external demand start to weigh more heavily on the Japanese economy,” said Glen Maguire, chief Asia economist at Societe Generale. “And I think looking forward, there’s every indication that dynamic is going to continue.”
The result was worse than expected. Economists surveyed by a news agency had predicted gross domestic product would gain an annualised 0.1%. Japan’s economy minister Kaoru Yosano said following the data’s release that “the economy is in a recessionary phase.”
But the worst may be yet to come, especially with dramatic declines in demand from consumers overseas for Japan’s autos and electronics gadgets. Hurt also by a strengthening yen, a growing number of exporters big and small are slashing their profit, sales and spending projections for the full fiscal year through March.
Japan’s economy shrank at an annual pace of 0.4% in the July-September period after a declining an annualised 3.7% in the second quarter. That means Japan, along with the 15-nation euro-zone, is now technically in a recession, defined as two straight quarters of contraction.
“What we’re starting to see is the extent of deterioration in external demand start to weigh more heavily on the Japanese economy,” said Glen Maguire, chief Asia economist at Societe Generale. “And I think looking forward, there’s every indication that dynamic is going to continue.”
The result was worse than expected. Economists surveyed by a news agency had predicted gross domestic product would gain an annualised 0.1%. Japan’s economy minister Kaoru Yosano said following the data’s release that “the economy is in a recessionary phase.”
But the worst may be yet to come, especially with dramatic declines in demand from consumers overseas for Japan’s autos and electronics gadgets. Hurt also by a strengthening yen, a growing number of exporters big and small are slashing their profit, sales and spending projections for the full fiscal year through March.
Citigroup to fire 52,000 jobs globally
Citigroup Inc revealed plans to cut 52,000 jobs by early next year in a dramatic move to restore the No. 2 U.S. bank to health as it combats mounting debt losses and sagging economies worldwide.
The cuts announced by Chief Executive Vikram Pandit on Monday affect 15 percent of Citigroup's workforce, and are in addition to 23,000 jobs eliminated between January and September.
Citigroup plans to slash expenses by as much as 20 percent, and spend a total of $50 billion to $52 billion in 2009. That compares with $61.9 billion over the last four quarters.
The cuts will be global, affecting many regions and business lines, including the retail and investment banks, a person close to the matter said. About one-half will come from layoffs and attrition, and the rest from the sale of units, such as the German retail banking business.
Pandit became Citigroup's chief executive last December, and has faced much criticism from investors and others for failing to implement a workable turnaround plan. The New York-based bank has lost $20.3 billion in the last year, and some analysts do not expect it to make money before 2010.
"As the economy continues to weaken they will have greater credit losses," said Michael Holland, founder of money manager Holland & Co in New York. "Cuts will lessen the losses, but they in no way guarantee profitability."
Pandit told employees in a memo that Citigroup has spent the last year "getting fit," and projects a "difficult" 2009 for clients and customers.
Citigroup's latest cuts are the most by any U.S. company since the global credit crisis began last year. They are also the second most ever, trailing the 60,000 that International Business Machines Corp IBM announced in 1993, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc.
The latest cuts would leave Citigroup with about 300,000 employees, down 20 percent from the end of 2007 and about the same number it had at the end of 2005. People at the bank said the cuts should be made by the first couple of months of 2009.
The cuts announced by Chief Executive Vikram Pandit on Monday affect 15 percent of Citigroup's workforce, and are in addition to 23,000 jobs eliminated between January and September.
Citigroup plans to slash expenses by as much as 20 percent, and spend a total of $50 billion to $52 billion in 2009. That compares with $61.9 billion over the last four quarters.
The cuts will be global, affecting many regions and business lines, including the retail and investment banks, a person close to the matter said. About one-half will come from layoffs and attrition, and the rest from the sale of units, such as the German retail banking business.
Pandit became Citigroup's chief executive last December, and has faced much criticism from investors and others for failing to implement a workable turnaround plan. The New York-based bank has lost $20.3 billion in the last year, and some analysts do not expect it to make money before 2010.
"As the economy continues to weaken they will have greater credit losses," said Michael Holland, founder of money manager Holland & Co in New York. "Cuts will lessen the losses, but they in no way guarantee profitability."
Pandit told employees in a memo that Citigroup has spent the last year "getting fit," and projects a "difficult" 2009 for clients and customers.
Citigroup's latest cuts are the most by any U.S. company since the global credit crisis began last year. They are also the second most ever, trailing the 60,000 that International Business Machines Corp IBM announced in 1993, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc.
The latest cuts would leave Citigroup with about 300,000 employees, down 20 percent from the end of 2007 and about the same number it had at the end of 2005. People at the bank said the cuts should be made by the first couple of months of 2009.
No more firing, or hiring, at Kingfisher Airlines
Kingfisher Airlines said while it would not lay off employees, it would also not hire new people as long as the current downturn continued.
'There is no question of layoffs. The prime minister has given us the assurance that the government would do whatever it takes to address the problems of the aviation sector,' Kingfisher chairman Vijay Mallya said in an address at the World Economic Forum's India Economic Summit.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his interaction with industry leaders Nov 3 asked them to refrain from large-scale layoffs, and advised them to bear in mind their social obligations.
Soon after, he also intervened to ensure state-run oil firms gave more time to domestic carriers to settle their fuel dues.
But Mallya said the aviation industry was being 'overtaxed'.
'The basic airfares are lower than fuel surcharge for many Indian destinations. Taxes should immediately be rationalised to make flying affordable,' he said.
Mallya, who is also member of parliament, earlier indicated that if the slump in the market continues, the industry would witness more layoffs.
Jet Airways last month sacked 1,900 employees only to reinstate them a day later, reportedly on government pressure. Carriers including Kingfisher Airlines have over the past month retrenched some staff.
Kingfisher has now sought permission from the government to sell a part of its equity to international carriers, saying a change of policy on foreign investment would help the industry that was facing turbulent weather.
'There is no question of layoffs. The prime minister has given us the assurance that the government would do whatever it takes to address the problems of the aviation sector,' Kingfisher chairman Vijay Mallya said in an address at the World Economic Forum's India Economic Summit.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his interaction with industry leaders Nov 3 asked them to refrain from large-scale layoffs, and advised them to bear in mind their social obligations.
Soon after, he also intervened to ensure state-run oil firms gave more time to domestic carriers to settle their fuel dues.
But Mallya said the aviation industry was being 'overtaxed'.
'The basic airfares are lower than fuel surcharge for many Indian destinations. Taxes should immediately be rationalised to make flying affordable,' he said.
Mallya, who is also member of parliament, earlier indicated that if the slump in the market continues, the industry would witness more layoffs.
Jet Airways last month sacked 1,900 employees only to reinstate them a day later, reportedly on government pressure. Carriers including Kingfisher Airlines have over the past month retrenched some staff.
Kingfisher has now sought permission from the government to sell a part of its equity to international carriers, saying a change of policy on foreign investment would help the industry that was facing turbulent weather.
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