Microsoft Introduces the Power Platform Return to the Workplace solution in India

Microsoft has announced the general availability of its Power Platform Return to the Workplace solution across India.  Introduced at its flagship partner summit Microsoft Inspire 2020, this pre-built solution will help organizations plan, coordinate and manage the return to physical workplaces with confidence. Designed for fast deployment and customization, the Power Platform Return to the Workplace solution is a comprehensive, end-to-end set of modules built on a secure and compliant platform. Together, the modules provide an end-to-end experience for executive leaders, facility managers, employees, managers, as well as health and safety leaders. The solution will be free to download and use for businesses of all sizes as an integral part of all existing and new paid Power Apps licenses.

Underlining its commitment to enable small and medium businesses (SMBs) in the country to bounce back, Microsoft is also offering the Power Platform Return to the Workplace solution with its Back2Business Solution Boxes for business continuity.  Including offers on Microsoft Teams and Windows Virtual Desktop, these boxed packages are focused on providing immediate, secure and easy-to-deploy remote working solutions.

Reopening, or returning to the workplace, will be a phased process and it will be vital for organizations to be equipped to give their leaders and employees timely and accurate information. According to Rajiv Sodhi, COO – Microsoft India, “As the economic recovery begins, organizations are returning to their workplaces with stringent new guidelines for health and safety; stewardship of employees and customers; and rebuilding the business. The ability to be agile, react swiftly to changing conditions, and adapt will be core to the success of companies. Fast feedback loops and acting on data available within the organization will matter most for accurate and informed decision making. We believe the new Return to Workplace solution will help our customers reopen responsibly, monitor intelligently, and protect continuously with solutions for the rapidly evolving needs of the workplace.”

The Power Platform Return to the Workplace solution comprises

Location Readiness: allows facility managers and task force leaders to determine the readiness of their facilities and efficiently manage their safe reopening.  Facility managers and task force leaders can use the Location Readiness dashboard to quickly make informed decisions by using critical factors like COVID-19 infection rates and the availability of supplies.

Employee Health and Safety Management:  empowers employees with self-service tools that help them work safely, confidently and productively. They can check into work remotely, self-screen before entering the building, reserve a meeting room virtually and more – including from a mobile app.

Workplace Care Management: gives health and safety leaders the tools to actively manage COVID-19 cases, identify hotspots for safety improvement, and import data from third party systems to determine possible exposure. Executive dashboards enable monitoring of all Workplace Care Management data for a consolidated view.

Location Management:  gives facility managers the tools they need to keep their locations open safely. Location Management helps maintain a safe environment with tools for monitoring occupancy, health supplies, safety procedures and other facility-related best practices.

 

The Power Platform Return to the Workplace solution provides an opportunity for Microsoft partners to help and support customers with customizations and deployment. It offers a foundation that partners can integrate and extend to meet unique customer requirements, with the solution available at no additional cost. Designed to accelerate workplace readiness for stores, factories, offices or even schools, this pre-built solution can help organizations save time and money by reducing risk and streamlining their workplace reopening process.

About Microsoft Power Platform and Power Apps

Microsoft Power Platform is a low code platform that allows organizations to analyze data, build solutions, automate processes, and create virtual agents, to meet business challenges effectively.

Power Apps is Microsoft’s low code application development platform that spans Azure, M365 and D365 as well as stand-alone applications, empowering everyone, whether a citizen developer, an IT admin or a Pro Dev to collaborate and solve business problems and innovate faster. 

Low-code platforms enable a visual approach to building apps and workflows. They reduce the time and effort to build apps, automate workflows and derive value from data. They also bridge the gap between IT, professional developers and the business, driving a collaborative approach to problem solving, lowering the technical barrier to solving business challenges with technology.

SunnyBee Unveils India’s First Self-Checkout Grocery Store in Chennai

SunnyBee Market, a chain of food stores in Chennai has introduced India’s first-of-its-kind self-checkout store in Besant Nagar, Chennai, considering the need for a safe shopping experience by limiting contact and to improve overall speed of checkouts.

WayCool Labs – the technology arm of WayCool Foods & Products, a leading agritech firm based in Chennai has developed this custom solution for SunnyBee.

An integrated hardware and software solution, the self-checkout counter occupies a minimal 4 sq.ft. floor space with a built-in high-speed scanner, touchscreen panel, and a billing printer. The counter eliminates the need to interact with the store staff altogether. Shoppers scan their purchases on their own and place the scanned products in the conveniently hanging bags or use their own bags. With a single click on the touch screen to pay, a QR code will pop up on the screen. Customers scan this QR code on their mobile using any one of the numerous UPI payment methods such as GPay, PhonePe, Paytm, etc.

This solution frees up the store billing staff to manage the store operations and improve customer service. The only place where there is an interaction with store staff is when staff will assist the customer for F&V produce to weigh, pack, and print/paste a barcode. The F&V bags with barcode can be scanned at the Selfie counter as well.

Sriram Sridharan, Business Head, SunnyBee Market said, “There has been a steady flow of shoppers as they look to stock up during these uncertain times. Though several retailers are open through the lock down with strict enforcement of safety measures, there is a sense of uncertainty among shoppers due to multiple interactions within the store. Hence, the self-checkout solution was designed, developed, and implemented in 15 days despite the lockdown. The initial response from customers is very positive and this is evident from their excitement to use the self-checkout counter every time they walk into the store.”

SunnyBee Market, founded in July 2015, is a one-stop premium food store that offers a wide assortment of more than 5,000 SKUs across multiple categories like regular & exotic F&V, Dairy, Staples, Indian and International foods. Operating 6 stores in Chennai, SunnyBee Market also conducts SunnyBee Santhai, a farmer and consumer connect platform where farmers sell their produce directly to consumers.

Intel to partner with telecom major ITI

Intel, the world's largest chip maker, is planning to participate in bids invited by Indian state-owned telecom equipment maker ITI Ltd to set up joint ventures, the Business Standard reported on Friday.

ITI intends to be a minority partner in the proposed joint ventures with a 26 per cent stake according to the bid proposals, the newspaper said.

It said Intel was interested in making the hardware and consumer premise equipment around WiMAX technology, which provides for wireless transmission of data up to 75 megabytes per second.

Though interested parties have been asked to participate before Jan 29, 2010, the telecoms ministry is holding a pre-bid conference before selecting them, the paper said.

Other global players that have showed interest include Huawei, Alcatel-Lucent, Samsung and Hitachi, the paper said.

A spokeswoman for Intel in India could not immediately respond to the report.

Agencies

Is Peanuts what you will be paid for IT job?

One may boast of being employed in IT in the current scene, however they have to work twice as much for getting an interview and the annual salary is peanuts compared to earlier days. A worsening economic crisis, increased availability of skilled workers and lower demand for software services have brought down the entry-level salaries for IT professionals in the country by up to 20 percent, according to experts tracking the sector.

Every year, around 3,00,000 computer science and engineering graduates seek employment with hundreds of tech firms, including big names such as Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys and Wipro. This year, more than half of them were left unemployed because tech firms were already finding it tough to manage resources sitting on the bench, according to Economic Times.

"The entry-level salaries are down by at least 10-16 percent. Last year, a number of companies gave away offer letters but did not recruit. On top of that, there is a new pool of qualified professionals being churned out this year - all this has created an oversupply in the entry-level IT job market where salaries typically sway between Rs. 3 lakh per annum and Rs. 5 lakh on the higher side," said GC Jayaprakash, Principal Consultant of Stanton Chase International.

Until two years ago, almost all computer and engineering graduates were absorbed by India's outsourcing industry, comprising top tech firms such as TCS, Infosys, Wipro and many others. However, as customers delayed and shelved outsourcing projects, these tech firms also postponed campus hirings. Many students had to approach potential employers directly, since companies did not visit their campuses for placements. "We formed groups and toured companies, and agreed to settle at lower salaries because it's better to be employed at lower salary than having no job at all," said Srilekha Varma, who recently accepted a job offer from a Chennai-based IT firm specializing in banking software.

In a normal year, computer science graduates were offered entry-level salaries of Rs. 3.5-5 lakh. However, companies are now hiring freshers at Rs 1.7-3.5 lakh. However, human resources heads at tech firms, including Wipro, India's third-largest software exporter, say professionals have become more realistic about what they want from their employers. "I don't think salaries have come down, but the environment has indeed helped us in containing salary hikes," Pratik Kumar, Head of Human Resources at Wipro said.

But few companies have not forgotten the offers made. TCS said it would do new campus hiring in January 2010 and will honor all 24,000 offers made for financial year (FY09). "Around 1,800 graduates have joined us in second quarter (Q2) and another 8,000 will join in Q3, rest of the graduates will join based on the demand," a TCS spokeswoman said. Infosys said for FY10, it has made 20,000 campus offers and expects an 80 percent conversion rate i.e. 16,000 of these offers to join the company. "We are honoring all our hiring commitments," an Infosys spokeswoman said.

Agencies

$17 bn software exports for India's IT state

Defying the global meltdown, Karnataka earned $17 billion (Rs.74,929 crore) from software exports last fiscal (2008-09) as against Rs.60,800 crore the previous year, registering a 23 per cent growth in rupee terms and 21.5 per cent in dollar terms.

"The export performance of the IT industry in the state, especially Bangalore, demonstrates the knowledge sector remains unaffected by the global meltdown and decline in IT spending overseas," state Information Minister Katta Subbramanya Naidu told reporters here.

As India's tech hub, Bangalore accounted for Rs.72,506 crore or 97 per cent of the state's total exports, while the remaining Rs.2,423 crore are from tier-two cities such as Mysore, Mangalore and Hubli-Dharwad, registering 45 percent year-on-year (YoY) growth.

India's combined software exports -- spanning services, products and business process outsourcing (BPO) -- grew 21 per cent to $50 billion (Rs.2.22 trillion) as against $41 billion (Rs.1.84 trillion) in 2007-08.

Karnataka accounted for 34 per cent of the country's total software exports last fiscal.

"The growth is substantial especially in the current economic scenario. The state retains its top position in the sector, including exports," Naidu said.

Naidu said the state had set a target of $20 billion (Rs.1,000 billion) this fiscal.

Incidentally, the industry's representative body, National Association of Software Services and Companies (Nasscom), has forecast India's software exports this fiscal to be around $48-50 billion.

According to R. Rajalakshmi, director of the Bangalore chapter of the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), Karnataka's software export revenues are from the 1,200 firms registered with the STPI and software-related special economic zones.

Eighty-four software units will be set up in the state this fiscal, including 35 with foreign equity, two Indian majors and 47 small and medium enterprises, with a combined investment of Rs.465 crore.

In spite of voluntary attrition and lay-offs in the BPO sector, employment in the software industry in the state increased by 34,000 to 554,000 in 2008-09.

Agencies

Is Apple OS enterprise ready? Check out with Gartner

Apple Inc's soon to be on board operating system, Snow Leopard does not signal enterprise readiness, even though is noted for its native support of Microsoft Exchange 2007, stated analyst firm Gartner.

Snow Leopard, which runs exclusively on Intel-based Macs, includes full 64-bit support, Grand Central Dispatch (which allows programmers to more easily use multicore processors), OpenCL (to more fully utilise the power of graphics processors), and Exchange support for Apple mail, contacts and calendar.

From a business perspective, the most important feature is the ability for the Mac e-mail client to access Microsoft Exchange (2007 version only) in a native fashion.

The Mac client binds to Exchange Web Services (EWS) via its web services application programming interface (API), not the traditional messaging application programming interface (MAPI), which is difficult to write to and maintain.

Gartner analysts Mike Silver and Matt Cain said that they expect this ability combined with an improved version of Entourage, the e-mail client in Microsoft's Office: Mac would result in growing end-user demand for IT groups to grant support for the Mac.

According to Gartner, while native support for Exchange would allow users to run their Macs at work more easily, this does not mean that Macs can more easily replace Windows PCs in most organizations.

"Apple is not addressing business needs for service or support, and most organizations will continue to require Windows to run a majority of their applications. Furthermore, to the extent Mac users may still require Office, either natively onMac OS or running in a Windows virtual machine, native Exchange support, which does not support Outlook personal store files (PSTs), will address only part of the user need," added the analysts.

The analyst firm recommends businesses to understand the various ways Macs can support Exchange.

Mike Silver and Matt Cain noted, "Even if you don't officially support Macs, you will likely need to provide some assistance to users who are running them. Don't assume that because Apple is making Macs easier to integrate into the enterprise, the company is entering the corporate market. Also, understand that this development will not allow Macs to easily replace Windows PCs in most cases,"

For IT groups, Gartner recommends preparing to handle requests for Mac integration into corporate networks. Before granting widespread support for Macs, consider the full range of user needs and Apple's ability to offer corporate-grade support.

It advises to continue investing in web-oriented architecture and service-oriented architecture, which would help in becoming more OS-neutral and allow more choice in hardware and software.

"If you run web applications, move these forward to support the emerging set of Web standards, such as HTML5 and CSS2.1, and interoperability protocols such as OpenID and oAuth," said the analysts

Agencies

Check out the latest update of SaaS studies

Software-as-a-service (SaaS) is playing an important role in changing the fundamentals of business for user companies and for SaaS providers themselves. These changes are part of a multi-year 'loop' cycle that reciprocates between users and providers, with each side influencing the other in unforeseen ways.

Mismanaging this 'endless loop of innovation' will prevent user firms from being able to derive real competitive advantage from SaaS, prevent SaaS providers from competing on an increasingly global stage and trap ISVs (Independent software vendors) from growing along with the global user IT market.

Understanding how each side influences the others and how to manage it effectively through changing market scenarios, is the key theme of 'An Endless Cycle of Innovation: Saugatuck SaaS Scenarios Through 2014', the latest global research program developed and published by Saugatuck Technology.

On the launch of new study, Bruce Guptill, Managing Director of Research, Saugatuck Technology said, "The research shows us a combination of changing SaaS acquisition and adoption, both as a result of the global recession and as a result of the changing nature of SaaS itself. How users do business with SaaS is changing how providers develop and deliver SaaS and is changing how ISVs and other players will need to compete over the next several years. Failure to recognize and adapt to these changes will make it extremely difficult, and much more costly than it should be, for anyone to benefit from SaaS."

As the demand of SaaS is growing globally, the analysts expect that by year 2012, SaaS solutions is likely to become the de facto choice for the majority of user organizations that are replacing legacy applications or business systems as they reach the end of their useful lives or when driven by other important business considerations.

According to Guptill, by year 2014, SaaS and Cloud Computing will become an integral to infrastructure, business systems, operations and development within all aspects of user firms with variations in status and roles based on region and business culture. Prior to this time period, SaaS is likely to act as an important 'agent of change'.

Agencies

ManTech bags cyber security order for US Dept of Agriculture

ManTech International Corporation, is one of six companies awarded a blanket purchase agreement (BPA) from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to provide cyber security support. The BPA has a one-year base period, four one-year options and an initial ceiling value of $30 million for all six firms.

ManTech was also recently awarded its first two task orders under this BPA, a press release adds. The first, to provide a vulnerability assessment of several USDA applications, is valued at $41,000. The second is a four-year contract to provide computer forensic support to the Agriculture Security Operations Center valued at $1.3 million.

It will continue to compete to assist the USDA in implementing new cyber security measures to ensure the proactive protection and security of its networks, applications and hardware. These measures will include identifying security vulnerabilities, responding to attacks against agency resources and implementing corrective action accordingly.

"ManTech has been providing cyber security solutions to the Intelligence Community, DOD and other federal agencies for more than 17 years," said Larry Prior, President and COO, ManTech International Corporation.

Agencies

Will India IT sector miss export target of $60 bn by FY10?

India's software sector is likely to miss the much-touted target of touching 60 billion dollar exports by FY10, due to
unprecedented slowdown in key markets like the US and Europe, IT industry body Nasscom said.

"... the aspiration of $60 billion by December 2010 is likely to be delayed by at least three to four quarters due to unprecedented slowdown in 2009 in key markets, particularly the US and Europe," a Nasscom-McKinsey report said.

The technology and business services industry grew substantially to $52 billion in 2008 including $12 billion in the domestic segment.

Now with the financial meltdown taking its toll, the software and services revenue outlook has been revised downwards.

Nasscom had earlier scaled down the growth rate for software exports to 16-17 per cent in FY09 as against 21-24 per cent announced earlier.

However, the report -- Perspective 2020 -- said the future of the IT industry remains secure in the medium to long term, even in the face of current macro-economic trends.

Agencies

Has HP retained No 1 position in the Indian PC market?

Hewlett-Packard (HP) improved its market share in the first quarter to continue its lead in the India PC personal computer (PC) space, according to technology research firm IDC.

HP captured 18.2% of the India PC market in terms of unit shipments in the January-March period, an IDC India report said. The PC maker had a 15.6% share in the previous (October-December) quarter. HP has been numero uno in the India PC market consistently every quarter over the past four years. With a market share of 9.8% in overall PC shipments, HCL Infosystems regained the second spot, after losing out to Dell in the October-December quarter. Dell slipped back to the third spot with a share of 9.7% in the first quarter this year, IDC said in a release.

The India PC market witnessed a 7% quarter-on-quarter growth in shipments in Q1 of 2009. A total of 16.79 lakh units of desktops and laptops were shipped during the January-March quarter of 2009.

Desktop PC shipments of 12.13 lakh registered a sequential growth of 9%, while laptop shipments of 4.66 lakh units grew 3% QoQ.

The research firm said the market share, over the next two quarters, would depend on how well PC vendors capitalise on opportunities in the consumer, education and government segments in India.

In Q1 2009, fourth-placed Acer’s market share dipped marginally to 7.3%. Fifth-ranked Lenovo showed a more pronounced drop — its share came down to 4.7% in Q1 2009 from 6.6% in the previous quarter.

“Moving forward, hardware in general, and PC shipments in particular, will continue to remain under pressure. Winners would gain market share and improve profitability through the right price/volume mix and optimal exploitation of supply chain efficiencies,” IDC India country manager Kapil Dev Singh said.

Economictimes

IBM funds $1 billion for APAC IT Projects

IBM announced up to $3 billion funds to finance IT initiatives in key economic stimulus projects in Europe and Asia-Pacific through IBM Global Financing, the company's lending and leasing business segment.

Specifically, it will make available up to $2 billion in financing in Europe and up to $1 billion in the Asia-Pacific region. IBM Global Financing also will extend its North American coverage to include financing for smart technology projects in Canada, according to a statement.

The stimulus financing will mainly target enterprises and municipalities looking to implement technology projects consisting of a majority portion of IBM hardware, software, and technology services components. Financing also can be applied to non-IBM technology as part of a larger IBM solution.

The financing will help organizations move ahead with IT projects in 2009, while awaiting government funding, to build the technological and environmental infrastructure of the 21st century.

The financing could be in the form of:

* Low rates and flexible financing options

* Deferred payment plans

* Enterprise financing facilities that offer structured lines of credit

* Specialized project financing packages that allow clients to align payment streams to anticipated benefits throughout the project

The recession is going to drive many organizations, public and private, to make transformational changes in their IT environment. However, without access to the correct financing offerings, a significant set of opportunities will be lost and society-wide projects, like smart grid, will be substantially delayed," said David Mitchell, SVP of UK-based IT research firm, Ovum.

It must be recalled here that IBM China Research launched a new industry solution lab in China focusing on the development of healthcare IT solutions and released four software packages that could help hospitals establish electronic patient records at reduced costs, last month. The Chinese government has announced a plan to invest CNY 850 billion over the next three years to provide every village with a medical clinic and at least one hospital for every county by 2011. The plan includes funding for electronic patient records systems that can be shared by different hospitals around the country.

CXOtoday

Will FII investment touch $2 billion-mark in 2009?

Investment by Foreign Institutional Investors in Indian equities has touched the two billion dollar-mark (nearly Rs 10,000 crore) so far this year, which includes a record single day net purchase of Rs 4,085 crore.

According to the latest available data on SEBI website, FIIs made net purchases worth $2 two billion or about Rs 9,973 crore so far in 2009, with the stock market seeing major investments in the past two weeks.

"FIIs have been in the buying mode for the last couple of months and after their initial sell-off in early 2009, have turned net buyers of Indian equities year-to-date. Positive trend is likely to continue well into FY'10," Angel Broking Head of Research Hitesh Agrawal said.

Yesterday, FIIs put in as much as Rs 4,085 crore ($838 million) in a single day with an over Rs 2,000 crore investment in shares of realty firms DLF alone.

Since the beginning of the new fiscal year, FIIs have started putting money in domestic stocks, including blue-chips like Housing Development Finance Corporation, private sector lender HDFC Bank and realty major DLF.

In May alone, FIIs made gross purchases of equities worth Rs 27,872 crore and sold shares of Rs 18,255 crore, resulting in a net investment of Rs 9,616 crore ($1.93 billion), as per the data available with SEBI.

Three foreign fund houses, Deutsche Securities Mauritius, Euro Pacific Growth Fund and Copthall Mauritius had purchased a total 9.15 crore shares representing 5.39 per cent in DLF for Rs 2,106.1 crore in open market transactions yesterday.

"We believe the positive trend will continue well into FY 2010. Notably, after having reduced their stake in many blue-chip companies in FY 2009 on account of the global liquidity shortage and economic slowdown concerns, FIIs are now coming back into market," Agrawal added.

The previous week also recorded the biggest weekly infusion by FIIs in the current calendar year. With a bulk investment of Rs 1,491 crore in a single day, FIIs remained net buyers in equities in the remaining days.

FIIs have turned net buyers from last week of April, after pulling out a hefty Rs 52,987 crore from Indian stock markets in 2008, which saw Sensex plunging 51 per cent.

Earlier, two Foreign fund houses Capital Group and Sansar Capital Mauritius bought HDFC shares worth Rs 316 crore, while Deutsche Securities bought Rs 422 crore shares of HDFC Bank.

Agrawal said if no further bad news comes, the world wide the markets would revive by 2010 if FII buying spree continues.

"Pre-empting this, FIIs will look at increasing their stakes in firms that are best placed to ride the recovery and large-cap stocks are preferred ones to begin with," he added.

Agencies

Does SAP sees signs of recovery from recession?

SAP Co-Chief Executive Leo Apotheker said the next few months may bring "glimmers of hope" for the global economy.

Apotheker also said he believes the business software maker should stay independent, following fresh speculation in European markets that Microsoft Corp could bid for the German company. The talk was sparked by Microsoft's plans to sell a multibillion-dollar debt issue.

"We're probably starting to see a stabilization of the situation," Apotheker said at a news conference in New York. "We'll probably start to see some glimmers of hope in the second half of the year for the global economy." Global markets will likely see a fuller recovery in 2010, he added.

The S&P 500 and Dow industrials pared losses after his comments. Apotheker, who will become the sole CEO of SAP when Henning Kagermann's retires later in May, declined to comment on the Microsoft speculation, but said he believed it is in SAP's interest to remain independent.

"Our customers believe an independent SAP is the best value they can get," he said. Rumors periodically surface that either IBM or Microsoft might acquire SAP, which sells business management applications to large businesses that neither of those technology giants have in their portfolios.

Apotheker criticized rival Oracle Corp's decision to purchase hardware maker Sun Microsystems Inc, saying that businesses do not want to buy from vertically integrated technology companies that sell software alongside the computers that run it.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you," he said in response to a question on how Oracle's $7.4 billion purchase of Sun might reshape the industry. "It won't affect the industry much."

But Apotheker said SAP will do a few acquisitions "as we go along." SAP announced on Monday that it bought privately held Clear Standards, a small maker of software that helps businesses manage greenhouse gas emissions. Apotheker did not discuss financial terms of the acquisition.

Sterling, Virginia-based Clear Standards sells software that helps companies measure and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to global climate change and are increasingly coming under regulatory scrutiny.

Apotheker also said that previously announced job cuts are progressing as planned at SAP. The company is not planning any more job cuts, he added.

Agencies

Do Indian IT firms vie for $11.4-billion domestic market?

With the IT clients in the U.S., Europe and Japan tightening their purse strings, Indian IT companies are scrambling to raise their share of the Indian software and IT services market, which industry body Nasscom values at around Rs 57,200 crore ($11.4 billion), reported Mint.

Mumbai-based TCS and Bangalore-based Infosys, India's largest and second largest IT service exporters, respectively, have set themselves the target of earning $1 billion, or around Rs.5,000 crore, in revenue from the domestic market in the next three to four years. Wipro wants to raise its India focus, as does mid-sized firm MindTree. In March, Employees' State Insurance Corporation, a government of India agency that provides health insurance to 10 million workers, had awarded a Rs.1,182 crore information-technology (IT) project to Wipro, which outbid other biggies like Infosys and Wipro to clinch this deal.

Adding allure to the domestic market is the plans by the sectors like government, energy and utilities, telecom, banking and finance to step up their IT spending. Customers in the US and Europe have traditionally made up as much as 80% of revenue earned by Indian exporters of software and related services.

A late 2008 report by research firm Gartner says that the Indian IT software and services segment, excluding business process outsourcing, is expected to grow at an annual pace of almost 20 percent to touch $13.2 billion by 2012.

TCS earns around $500 million (Rs2,500 crore), or nearly 8 percent of its total revenue, from Indian clients. "We have a base of key clients and solutions portfolio. We have made investments and have people, business and clients. We will accelerate all of this," a TCS spokesperson said.

However, the worry at TCS is that "India, like other emerging markets, is volatile and most business is project-based and not annuity based and hence there is a certain element of uncertainty," the spokesperson added.

Meanwhile, Infosys earns less than 2 percent of its revenue (or less than Rs400 crore) from the domestic market. "The market is very large, and has matured over a period of time," said Binod HR, head of the India business unit of Infosys. He said a "big challenge" is that Indian customers are very price-sensitive.

Wipro is one of the largest system integrators in India and, according to Springboard Research, has the second largest share of the domestic market after IBM.

P.K. Gopalkrishnan, Senior Vice-President and India business head IT services of Bangalore-based MindTree said the company earns up to 5 percent of its revenue from India and aims to double it by 2014.

Increasing the domestic market share would, however, not be easy. It entails competing with global technology firms such as IBM which, according to a late 2008 report by research firm IDC, commands a 10 percent share of the Indian market. IBM is the market leader and earns revenue of around Rs 5,700 crore from the Indian market.

Agencies

Microsoft's Windows 7 free for 13 months

Microsoft Corp released a near-final version of the Windows 7 operating system to a large group of technology-savvy testers that adds a few new features, including a way to run Windows XP applications.

The Windows 7 `release candidate' will be available for anyone to download and try out on May 5. The release candidate is typically the version used by Microsoft's corporate customers to test how the new system will work for them. Software developers, hardware makers and other partners also base their next-generation products on this version because they trust that it's stable and close to finished.

Windows 7 RC, slated for download by MSDN and TechNet subscribers by the general public on May 5, doesn't expire until June 1, 2010, Microsoft confirmed.

The spokeswoman, however, refused to comment why the company is giving users such a long free pass for the software.

The 13-month life span of Windows 7 RC is longer than the time limit Microsoft put on Vista’s release candidates.

The software giant published the Vista release candidate about five months before the final version went on sale. If Windows 7 were to follow the same trajectory, it could be available by the start of October. Officially, Microsoft expects to start selling Windows 7 by the end of January 2010, but has said this week that it is possible it could launch in time for the holiday shopping season.

The software maker is counting on Windows 7 to win over businesses that put off upgrading to Vista, which got off to a rough start because it didn't work well with many existing programs and devices.

And Microsoft drew criticism from consumers when many computers advertised beforehand as ``Vista capable'' were actually too weak to run Vista's highly touted new interface and other features. People who wanted to upgrade Windows XP computers found their graphics cards and other components weren't up to the task.

The new system is already set up for a smoother debut because it shares much of Vista's underlying technology, which means hardware and software makers have had more than two years to catch up to a more demanding set of requirements. And Microsoft has pushed the notion that the high-end version of Windows 7 will run on many more computers than Vista, including tiny, low-powered laptops called netbooks. Today, Microsoft sells Windows XP, a much less profitable version of its operating system, to PC makers like Dell Inc. and Hewlett-Packard to install on Netbooks.

Microsoft revealed that the basic requirements for running a high-end version of Windows 7 aren't much different from those needed to run the bulkier versions of Vista. However, critics said the Vista requirements for memory and other components should have been set higher, and Microsoft says Windows 7 is better at managing memory and not bogging down less-powerful machines.

Microsoft unveiled a few new features in the release candidate that didn't exist in the January beta, including something called Windows XP Mode. The feature, available for the release candidate as a separate download, will let people run many XP-era programs from a Windows 7 computer.

The release candidate also adds a way for people to access music and other media files stored on their home PC over the Internet from other Windows 7 machines.

Agencies

SAP Unviels Co-Innovation Lab in Bangalore

SAP AG formally launched its Co-Innovation Lab in Bangalore, the third such lab in the world by the company. The lab that started its operation in October last year, joins the league of similar labs in Palo Alto and Tokyo. "The main goal of this lab is to create a platform for collaboration between SAP and its customers and partners on solutions to different challenges in the industry", said Satyajit Singh Mecker, Senior Vice President, Global Ecosystem and Partner Group.

The SAP Co-Innovation Lab hosts a simulated heterogeneous datacenter, integrating hardware and software from SAP and other participating sponsors. "This lab is not like a R&D lab, but it is a real lab, where partners and customers can solve their problems by collaboration", said Satyajit.

Wipro Technologies, a SAP partner, was one of the first to benefit from this SAP initiative. An Insurance Claims Analytics solution was developed by Wipro by working on a platform that was developed in the SAP Co-Innovation Lab. Some of the other partners associated with the lab include Cisco, HP and Intel.

SAP India that now has over 3,800 customers with 2,900 SMEs in the list, wants to tap the potential in the Indian market by this collaborative effort. "India, especially Bangalore has been a region that has seen explosive growth and the global meltdown has not diminished its stature in the global market", said Dr. Axel Henning Saleck, Vice President and Head of the Global SAP Co-Innovation Labs.

"In 2006, SAP had announced a total investment of one billion dollar in India over 5 years and establishment of this lab is part of the investment", said Satyajit. According to Satyajit, the company sees tremendous potential in the Indian market in segments like information technology, engineering, construction, chemicals and automotive. "The current challenge that we see in India is to maintain a balance between customers and partners and keep the focus right", added Satyajit.

Agencies

New email server for Microsoft

Microsoft Corp said it will launch a test version of its Exchange Server, marking the latest development in the technology used by 65 percent of businesses worldwide to run their email systems.

The public beta test version of Exchange Server 2010, as the product is called, is the first of a wave of upgrades to Microsoft programs as the software giant gears up for the next release of its highly successful and profitable Office suite of applications.

Microsoft, which is gradually moving toward Internet distribution for some of its products to counter threats from Google Inc and other new competitors, said the latest Exchange Server can work entirely as an online service, which may attract customers looking to save money on hardware and support for their email and messaging systems.

For users, the new Exchange Server offers a few innovations, including the ability to "mute" streams of email, or opt out of conversations of limited interest to the recipient.

The new system also offers a range of tips to avoid embarrassment or wasting time, by warning users before they send mail to large distribution groups, to out-of-office recipients or to people outside the organization, which Microsoft hopes will protect against information leaks and reduce unnecessary e-mail messages.

It also has a function to transcribe voice messages sent to the computer. The full public roll-out of Exchange Server 2010 is scheduled for the second half of 2009 while Microsoft's Office 2010 is expected to be available in the first half of 2010.

Agencies

Is Open Source Really Open?

Open source software in the traditional sense means software whose source code is freely available and modifiable. (Yes, we know there are versions of software that are only pseudo open source where the source is available, but not for free. Or the source code is available, but not modifiable, etc). In our opinion, most businesses should not, and will not, care if a software is open source. Even if they have control over the source code, they might not have the technical capability to solve a particular problem or implement a particular feature.

So, there will be certain software that will work 'out of the box' with the features you would want, while others like ERP, CRM or BI systems need to be highly customised as per the nature of business. However, you can hire talent to modify an open source software as per your requirements. For example, if you are using a popular PHP application, the source code is available and can be freely modified by in-house talent at a reasonable cost. This would entirely depend on the type of application and the expertise available including its price.

Understand your business requirements

The very first step that any business needs to figure out is what they plan to achieve by implementing a particular open-source solution. Ask yourself, "How will I make my work cheaper/faster/easier using this tool? What business objective will this tool facilitate?" For, every IT solution entails direct and indirect costs. For example, before you deploy any ERP, CRM or BI solution or migrate your existing solution, you should have clear and quantifiable objectives that should be met. Will this CRM software help me better understand and, in turn, serve my customers? Will this ERP solution help me reduce inventories? Will it facilitate better warehouse management? Will the BI solution help me gain more insights about my products and services that I don't already know? Is it worth the time, effort and price?

How do I facilitate the implementation?

If you have identified a unified communication solution or a ERP, CRM or a BI solution, you should know what features you would require the most. Do you require features like collaboration? How much control is required? What is the level of security that you would expect? You should evaluate all offerings (open source or not/paid or free) based on the above set of requirements. Next you must hunt for all possible offerings so that you can compare multiple solutions and their pros and cons.

Open source DOES NOT always mean free

It is a common misconception that open source software is free. While many software follow that norm, it is not a rule. You might have to spend on certain open source software. Also, there are training and support costs associated with open source software as well.

While it might not be very difficult to learn a shiny new open source browser, you cannot say the same about a content management or a ERP/CRM system. For example, for a particular open source software that is not popular, the availability of support will be lower and support costs will be higher as a general rule. Also, open-source projects such as Firefox, Thunderbird, Apache, etc are well-established. Using a well-established software ensures long-term support for the software in terms of features, bugs and security patches. There are a lot of open source software that started with a bang and lost steam over a period of time. Also, commercial and non-open source software may be good in terms of providing better support as those companies are legally required to do so. Also, you can install a low cost/free open source solution and buy support from many commercial vendors.

Conclusion

Having considered the above-mentioned points, perform an in-depth research before deciding on which solution to adopt.

CXOtoday

Global IT spending to drop by 3.8% in 2009, says Gatner

The ongoing global slowdown will force companies worldwide to reduce their IT expenditure to USD 3.2 trillion this year against $ 3.4 trn in 2008, according to an IT research company.

"The unprecendented decline of the global economy is impacting the IT industry with worldwide IT spending forecast to total $ 3.4 trn in 2009, a 3.8 per cent decline from 2008 revenue of nearly $ 3.4 trn," IT research and advisory company Gartner said in a report.

Gartner said that all four of the key market sectors of the IT industry-- hardware, software, IT services and telecommunications have been revised downward, with only software spending growth remaining positive.

"Spending in computing hardware
will see a decline of 14.9 per cent with total spending to be around USD 324.3 billion as against $ 3.4 trn in 2008," Gartner said.

The spending in IT services and telecommunications sectors will also fall by 1.7 per cent at USD 796.1 billion and 2.9 per cent at USD 1,891.2 billion, respectively, the report said.


Agencies

New servers for small companies from Microsoft

Microsoft Corp on Wednesday launched a new range of server systems for small companies, (SMBs) scaling down its existing offerings to attack one of the fastest-growing segments of the business computing market.

The world's largest software company is launching into the market for small companies as competitors introduce cheap, open-source alternatives to its relatively costly Windows-based servers, and the use of pirated Windows products proliferates.

Microsoft's new product line, called Windows Server 2008 Foundation, can accommodate up to 15 users and will cost less than $1,000 for the hardware and software combined, the company said.

A server is essentially a powerful computer that provides services to other computers. A doctor's office, for example, might use a server to allow staff to share files, access the same systems or maintain a website.

Analysts reckon the low-end server market for products costing less than $1,000 has grown four times faster than any other price range for comparable single processor servers.

Microsoft's new offering is a stripped down version of its Windows Server
family of products, which tend to be beyond the price range of small businesses.

The computer makers will set the prices for their products, which may vary by country.

Agencies