Satyam Computer is likely to sack most of its non-billable staff of up to 8,000 working in marketing, HR and administration wings,after Tech Mahindra takes charge of the company from June 1.
A Satyam official said there is no doubt that there will be large-scale sacking mostly of the support and non-billable staff (other than hardcore software engineers) once Tech Mahindra (the new owner of the company) directors come on board from June 1.
The surplus staff is about 10,000-12,000 and the 'least painful' ways of sacking is asking the bench, non-billable and support staff to go.
The company spokesperson, when contacted, said that at the moment these are mere speculations.
Sources also said the outsourcer may opt for "virtual pool" sacking method whereby the company would ask some of the staff to take 75 per cent of its salary and take one-year off and look for a job elsewhere with the fragile assurance that they would be recalled, if required.
Tech Mahindra CEO Vineet Nayyar, who will also come on board of Satyam from June after it acquired fraud hit company last month, had said last week that Satyam has about 10,000 surplus staff and "we are looking at the least painful ways to tackle the problem."
Satyam has already called back most of its onsite staff to avoid further costs and most of them may be asked to quit, said the official.
About 3,000 people are on the bench and there is a surplus manpower even in the R&D and engineering units, sources said.
Dwindling revenues are the primary reasons for Tech Mahindra to opt for such a cost-cutting measure, Tech Mahindra official said.
Kiran Karnik, chairman of Government-appointed board of Satyam, said revenues are falling and cost-cutting measures have to be taken up. But he had ruled out lay-offs.
Agencies
Monday, May 25, 2009
Friday, May 22, 2009
Is HP set to layoff 6,400 employees in 2010?
US computer giant Hewlett-Packard reported a 17-per cent fall in quarterly net profit and said it plans to cut two per cent of its workforce, or nearly 6,400 workers, over the next year.
HP said net profit fell to $1.7 billion, or 86 cents per share, in the second quarter of its fiscal year from $2.1 billion, or 87 cents per share, a year ago, in line with the expectations of Wall Street analysts.
The Palo Alto, California-based company, the world's largest manufacturer of personal computers, said revenue was down three per cent in the quarter which ended on April 30 to $27.4 billion.
Chief financial officer Cathy Lesjak announced the planned layoffs in a conference call with analysts after the release of the results.
“We will be taking some targeted action to structurally change and improve the effectiveness of our product businesses,” she said.
“These actions will result in the elimination of approximately two per cent of the HP workforce as we further streamline and simplify our organization and supply chain. These actions will be implemented over the next 12 months.”
The only bright spot for HP in the quarter was in its services business, which notched up an operating profit of $1.17 billion in the quarter due to its purchase last year of EDS. “Our services business continued to deliver strong profitability with an increased deal pipeline and the EDS integration tracking ahead of schedule,” said HP chairman and chief executive Mark Hurd.
HP said revenue from its enterprise storage and servers division fell 28 per cent to $3.5 billion while software revenue declined 15 per cent to $880 million. Computer shipments were flat in a “challenging environment” and the division saw revenue fall 19 per cent to $8.2 billion. Revenue from laptop computers was down 13 per cent while desktop computer revenue fell 24 per cent.
Operating profit for the division fell to $374 million from $544 million a year ago. The imaging and printing group saw revenue decline by 23 per cent to $5.9 billion and operating profit fall to $1.1 billion from $1.2 billion a year earlier.
HP said revenue grew nine per cent in the Americas to $12.1 billion and declined by 11 per cent in Europe, the Middle East and Africa to $10.6 billion. Revenue fell 10 per cent in Asia Pacific to $4.7 billion.
HP said it expects third quarter revenue to be flat and full fiscal year revenue to decline by four per cent to five per cent with full-year earnings per share of between $3.76 to $3.88.
Agencies
HP said net profit fell to $1.7 billion, or 86 cents per share, in the second quarter of its fiscal year from $2.1 billion, or 87 cents per share, a year ago, in line with the expectations of Wall Street analysts.
The Palo Alto, California-based company, the world's largest manufacturer of personal computers, said revenue was down three per cent in the quarter which ended on April 30 to $27.4 billion.
Chief financial officer Cathy Lesjak announced the planned layoffs in a conference call with analysts after the release of the results.
“We will be taking some targeted action to structurally change and improve the effectiveness of our product businesses,” she said.
“These actions will result in the elimination of approximately two per cent of the HP workforce as we further streamline and simplify our organization and supply chain. These actions will be implemented over the next 12 months.”
The only bright spot for HP in the quarter was in its services business, which notched up an operating profit of $1.17 billion in the quarter due to its purchase last year of EDS. “Our services business continued to deliver strong profitability with an increased deal pipeline and the EDS integration tracking ahead of schedule,” said HP chairman and chief executive Mark Hurd.
HP said revenue from its enterprise storage and servers division fell 28 per cent to $3.5 billion while software revenue declined 15 per cent to $880 million. Computer shipments were flat in a “challenging environment” and the division saw revenue fall 19 per cent to $8.2 billion. Revenue from laptop computers was down 13 per cent while desktop computer revenue fell 24 per cent.
Operating profit for the division fell to $374 million from $544 million a year ago. The imaging and printing group saw revenue decline by 23 per cent to $5.9 billion and operating profit fall to $1.1 billion from $1.2 billion a year earlier.
HP said revenue grew nine per cent in the Americas to $12.1 billion and declined by 11 per cent in Europe, the Middle East and Africa to $10.6 billion. Revenue fell 10 per cent in Asia Pacific to $4.7 billion.
HP said it expects third quarter revenue to be flat and full fiscal year revenue to decline by four per cent to five per cent with full-year earnings per share of between $3.76 to $3.88.
Agencies
AT&T outlets to sell netbooks across USA
AT&T Inc plans to expand sales of netbook computers to all its stores in an effort to expand wireless services beyond cell
phones.
Ralph de la Vega, the head of AT&T's consumer business, said on Tuesday that the US phone company would directly sell netbooks from Dell Inc, Acer Inc and Lenovo Group Ltd starting this summer.
Until now, only AT&T stores in Atlanta and Philadelphia, and consumer electronics retailers RadioShack Corp and Costco, have been selling the netbooks, which come with AT&T mobile data connections.
"We're taking broadband and really making it mobile," de la Vega said at the Reuters Global Technology Summit in New York.
While sales of netbooks are expected to be boosted by promotions from carriers, some analysts have said that consumer enthusiasm could be muted by the requirement to sign up for two-year wireless service contracts and the $60-a-month data connection fees that come with the devices.
AT&T said in April it was testing a $40-per-month fee for 200 megabytes of data downloads to netbooks, or about 1/25th of the downloads allowed under the $60 service.
AT&T's bigger mobile rival Verizon Wireless, a venture of Verizon Communications Inc and Vodafone Group Plc, started selling netbook computers from Hewlett-Packard Co earlier this week.
Agencies
phones.
Ralph de la Vega, the head of AT&T's consumer business, said on Tuesday that the US phone company would directly sell netbooks from Dell Inc, Acer Inc and Lenovo Group Ltd starting this summer.
Until now, only AT&T stores in Atlanta and Philadelphia, and consumer electronics retailers RadioShack Corp and Costco, have been selling the netbooks, which come with AT&T mobile data connections.
"We're taking broadband and really making it mobile," de la Vega said at the Reuters Global Technology Summit in New York.
While sales of netbooks are expected to be boosted by promotions from carriers, some analysts have said that consumer enthusiasm could be muted by the requirement to sign up for two-year wireless service contracts and the $60-a-month data connection fees that come with the devices.
AT&T said in April it was testing a $40-per-month fee for 200 megabytes of data downloads to netbooks, or about 1/25th of the downloads allowed under the $60 service.
AT&T's bigger mobile rival Verizon Wireless, a venture of Verizon Communications Inc and Vodafone Group Plc, started selling netbook computers from Hewlett-Packard Co earlier this week.
Agencies
Technology can pull US out of crisis, says Bill Gates
Technology can pull the United States out of recession and help the world's ailing financial markets work better, Microsoft Corp
Bill Gates Chairman Bill Gates told a high-level business summit at the company he co-founded.
"The drug companies will get back in high productivity mode. The software, IT revolution -- we're just at the start of that," said Gates at Microsoft's annual CEO Summit at the company's campus near Seattle.
"What we can do for education, communication, and what that looks like for the efficiencies of world markets, we are just at the beginning of that."
Gates, who focuses on health and education issues at his Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation since giving up his day-to-day role at the world's largest software company last year, made the remarks at the private event.
"The opportunities for innovation are stronger today than ever," Gates told the audience, which included billionaire investor Warren Buffett -- the world's second richest man behind Gates himself -- alongside News Corp Chairman Rupert Murdoch and Amazon.com Inc Chief Executive Jeff Bezos.
Despite the fact that Microsoft is laying off 5,000 employees, Chief Executive Steve Ballmer also struck an optimistic note, saying the business world is only "coming into halftime" of the Internet revolution.
He downplayed fears that the recession would choke off investment in technology start-ups from venture capital (VC) firms. "The VCs are pulling back," said Ballmer. "The seventh, eighth, and ninth copy of the idea won't get funded today, but most good propositions are still going to get funded. There's plenty of venture capital out there, relative to ideas."
He said research and development spending was also strong. "I don't know anybody in our industry actually who's cutting their R&D budget," said Ballmer. "I know people who are doing a lot of different things, but most people are not slashing their R&D budget."
Microsoft's research chief Craig Mundie said in February the company was not cutting back on its $9 billion R&D budget this fiscal year.
Agencies
Bill Gates Chairman Bill Gates told a high-level business summit at the company he co-founded.
"The drug companies will get back in high productivity mode. The software, IT revolution -- we're just at the start of that," said Gates at Microsoft's annual CEO Summit at the company's campus near Seattle.
"What we can do for education, communication, and what that looks like for the efficiencies of world markets, we are just at the beginning of that."
Gates, who focuses on health and education issues at his Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation since giving up his day-to-day role at the world's largest software company last year, made the remarks at the private event.
"The opportunities for innovation are stronger today than ever," Gates told the audience, which included billionaire investor Warren Buffett -- the world's second richest man behind Gates himself -- alongside News Corp Chairman Rupert Murdoch and Amazon.com Inc Chief Executive Jeff Bezos.
Despite the fact that Microsoft is laying off 5,000 employees, Chief Executive Steve Ballmer also struck an optimistic note, saying the business world is only "coming into halftime" of the Internet revolution.
He downplayed fears that the recession would choke off investment in technology start-ups from venture capital (VC) firms. "The VCs are pulling back," said Ballmer. "The seventh, eighth, and ninth copy of the idea won't get funded today, but most good propositions are still going to get funded. There's plenty of venture capital out there, relative to ideas."
He said research and development spending was also strong. "I don't know anybody in our industry actually who's cutting their R&D budget," said Ballmer. "I know people who are doing a lot of different things, but most people are not slashing their R&D budget."
Microsoft's research chief Craig Mundie said in February the company was not cutting back on its $9 billion R&D budget this fiscal year.
Agencies
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Potential market in India -- Gaming and E-Commerce
"We have seen big uptake in digital entertainment and people spend more time now playing online Games. Gaming market is growing at 20 percent," said Patrick McGovern, Founder and Chairman of IDG at annual Global review meeting of IDG ventures family of funds from across five countries - China, India, Vietnam, South Korea and U.S. IDG has already invested in 3D solid compression, a mobile gaming company and Kreeda Games India, an online gaming company.
Apart from gaming, e-marketing, healthcare, telecom, are few of the possible ventures that IDG is planning to invest in. "With the launch of 3G technology in India telecom industry will have many opportunities," said McGovern.
But can E-commerce be really a potential market in India? "We do realize that the market is not the same here as compared to U.S. but people can still shop with the debit card or shopping cards. The reluctance to use cards for online transactions is disappearing slowly. People used to think that online travelling won't work but look how successful it is in India right now," says Manik Arora, Founder and Managing Director, IDG ventures India.
IDG has already invested in nine companies in India and all these companies come from different sectors like mobile applications, security services, media electronics, online games and advertising. Aujas Networks, ConnectM Technology Solutions, Perfint Healthcare, Ozone Media and Myntra.com, are few of the nine companies which have all been successful so far and few have even managed to open offices outside India. IDG has been investing in such small companies because they believe that small companies will create much better products and opportunities. "People should have more choices in technology related products so we invested in small companies. We thought they can come up with breakthrough products and make an impact in global technology market," said McGovern
India is not only an attracting outsourcing destination but also has a large domestic market and a faster GDP growth rate than majority of the world. This is the reason why IDG feels that the technology sector in India has a great potential. "Now with the markets improving and stable political environment we feel it's a very good time to invest in India. We have already committed Rs 300 crore to our existing investments across software, telecom, mobile, security and digital consumer markets. We intend to commit our Balance Rs 300 crore over the next 24 months" says Sudhir Sethi, Founder, Chairman and Managing Director, IDG Ventures India.
SiliconIndia
Apart from gaming, e-marketing, healthcare, telecom, are few of the possible ventures that IDG is planning to invest in. "With the launch of 3G technology in India telecom industry will have many opportunities," said McGovern.
But can E-commerce be really a potential market in India? "We do realize that the market is not the same here as compared to U.S. but people can still shop with the debit card or shopping cards. The reluctance to use cards for online transactions is disappearing slowly. People used to think that online travelling won't work but look how successful it is in India right now," says Manik Arora, Founder and Managing Director, IDG ventures India.
IDG has already invested in nine companies in India and all these companies come from different sectors like mobile applications, security services, media electronics, online games and advertising. Aujas Networks, ConnectM Technology Solutions, Perfint Healthcare, Ozone Media and Myntra.com, are few of the nine companies which have all been successful so far and few have even managed to open offices outside India. IDG has been investing in such small companies because they believe that small companies will create much better products and opportunities. "People should have more choices in technology related products so we invested in small companies. We thought they can come up with breakthrough products and make an impact in global technology market," said McGovern
India is not only an attracting outsourcing destination but also has a large domestic market and a faster GDP growth rate than majority of the world. This is the reason why IDG feels that the technology sector in India has a great potential. "Now with the markets improving and stable political environment we feel it's a very good time to invest in India. We have already committed Rs 300 crore to our existing investments across software, telecom, mobile, security and digital consumer markets. We intend to commit our Balance Rs 300 crore over the next 24 months" says Sudhir Sethi, Founder, Chairman and Managing Director, IDG Ventures India.
SiliconIndia
Can messaging technology attracts rural mobile users?
India has emerged as the most favorable market for telecom players with the rate of mobile users growing at over 10 million per month. By end of 2008, there were 340 million active mobile users in the country. After focusing the needs of the enterprises, urban users and the youth, the spotlight is now on the rural users with most players looking at avenues to expand in the rural markets. Even though mobile phones have reached the rural areas, simple applications such as messaging is still a foreign mode of communication; the most common reason being unfamiliarity to English.
Realizing the needs of rural people, Noida based Luna Ergonomics, a texting technology company has come up with a software, which will help people send text messages in 11 major Indian languages by using only 'ek angootha' (one thumb). One just needs to upload the company's Panini software in his/her mobile phone and start using the texting facilities. But this technology can only be used only in mobiles that have java applications pre-installed.
The company has made available four versions of the software - Panini Basic, Panini Clever, Panini Premium, and Panini Touch. Specifications have been done according to the usage of every version. Panini Premium would offer a superior version of CleverTexting and different modes of Ergonomic typing on the phone than Panini Basic and Panini Clever. Major Abhijeet Bhattacharjee, Founder, Luna Ergonomics says, "Panini software also offers SMS compression, first of its kind in the world, increasing the payload of an SMS in an Indian language by over 300 percent. Once a message is compressed, it is sent in encrypted form."
"Other than mobile phones, this software can also be used in other devices like remote and set-top-box," he explains.
"To make this facility available to large number of people, we are in talks with phone handset companies to pre-embed the application on the phone. We are also trying to negotiate with well known retails," says, Bhattacharjee. This technology could be very useful for mobile marketing services, he adds. In the beta version of the launch, the company has witnessed over 50,000 downloads from all across India and world.
With an aim of providing better technology to connect all through regional languages in the country, Bhattacharjee, a retired army officer founded Luna Ergonomics in 2008. Prior to founding the company, he had worked in organization like Gurus Media, Monster.com in different posts. Under the umbrella of Luna Ergonomics, five employees currently work on the development of this technology.
The company plans to unveil its latest product in the siliconindia Start-up City event to be held on June 06 in Bangalore.
SiliconIndia
Realizing the needs of rural people, Noida based Luna Ergonomics, a texting technology company has come up with a software, which will help people send text messages in 11 major Indian languages by using only 'ek angootha' (one thumb). One just needs to upload the company's Panini software in his/her mobile phone and start using the texting facilities. But this technology can only be used only in mobiles that have java applications pre-installed.
The company has made available four versions of the software - Panini Basic, Panini Clever, Panini Premium, and Panini Touch. Specifications have been done according to the usage of every version. Panini Premium would offer a superior version of CleverTexting and different modes of Ergonomic typing on the phone than Panini Basic and Panini Clever. Major Abhijeet Bhattacharjee, Founder, Luna Ergonomics says, "Panini software also offers SMS compression, first of its kind in the world, increasing the payload of an SMS in an Indian language by over 300 percent. Once a message is compressed, it is sent in encrypted form."
"Other than mobile phones, this software can also be used in other devices like remote and set-top-box," he explains.
"To make this facility available to large number of people, we are in talks with phone handset companies to pre-embed the application on the phone. We are also trying to negotiate with well known retails," says, Bhattacharjee. This technology could be very useful for mobile marketing services, he adds. In the beta version of the launch, the company has witnessed over 50,000 downloads from all across India and world.
With an aim of providing better technology to connect all through regional languages in the country, Bhattacharjee, a retired army officer founded Luna Ergonomics in 2008. Prior to founding the company, he had worked in organization like Gurus Media, Monster.com in different posts. Under the umbrella of Luna Ergonomics, five employees currently work on the development of this technology.
The company plans to unveil its latest product in the siliconindia Start-up City event to be held on June 06 in Bangalore.
SiliconIndia
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
DU set to conduct its first online exam
It is not just the Common Admission Test (CAT) that will go online this year. Delhi University (DU) will become one of the first central universities in the country to conduct an online examination next month for its undergraduate science students.
A.K. Bakshi, director of the Institute of Lifelong Learning (ILL) under DU which formulated the online examination paper, said that for the first time students of the B.Sc course will be taking their environmental science paper online.
"It's just a starter. Students of the B.Sc course will take one of their qualifying papers, of environmental science, online. If a success, it should set a trend for more university exams to go the same way," said Bakshi.
A total of 2,500 students from 27 colleges will take the exam, scheduled in the first week of June. The examination will however be held in just three centres and that too in three shifts.
"For logistical and other reasons, the exam will be held in three centres - in Miranda House, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya and Venkateswara colleges. Since it's for the first time that both students and teachers will be facing this kind of an exam, CDs and pamphlets have been distributed where the entire process is being explained.
"How does one attempt a question, how do you skip a question, re-attempt a question, submit the paper but want to make some changes again - everything is being explained. There will also be a timer which will keep telling the student how much time and how many questions are left. There is also a sample online examination paper uploaded on our website," Bakshi said.
The one-hour exam will have 50 multiple choice type questions of one mark each.
"Like in competitive exams, students sitting adjacent to each other will get a different question paper. In all the three shifts the questions will be jumbled; so will the options, so that there is no chance of cheating. Teachers are quite happy with the initiative and have said that the online exam will save them a lot of time in checking the answers," Bakshi said.
The online exam is a part of DU's larger plan to go the e-learning way. ILL has been working on making the entire teaching process, and now even the assessment process, more tech-savvy for a number of subjects. This, Bakshi said, is an attempt to keep up with the changing times and be in sync with youth.
With videos, animation, simulation, online quizzes and virtual laboratory, the aim now is to make learning more fun in DU. It is expected that by the next academic session, the e-learning material for some courses like chemistry, physics, maths, life sciences and commerce will be uploaded in the ILL portal.
"There is something called blended learning. There are times when a teacher can't explain everything on the blackboard. With this initiative of using animation and visuals, the understanding of a subject will become clearer," Bakshi told the media.
Agencies
A.K. Bakshi, director of the Institute of Lifelong Learning (ILL) under DU which formulated the online examination paper, said that for the first time students of the B.Sc course will be taking their environmental science paper online.
"It's just a starter. Students of the B.Sc course will take one of their qualifying papers, of environmental science, online. If a success, it should set a trend for more university exams to go the same way," said Bakshi.
A total of 2,500 students from 27 colleges will take the exam, scheduled in the first week of June. The examination will however be held in just three centres and that too in three shifts.
"For logistical and other reasons, the exam will be held in three centres - in Miranda House, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya and Venkateswara colleges. Since it's for the first time that both students and teachers will be facing this kind of an exam, CDs and pamphlets have been distributed where the entire process is being explained.
"How does one attempt a question, how do you skip a question, re-attempt a question, submit the paper but want to make some changes again - everything is being explained. There will also be a timer which will keep telling the student how much time and how many questions are left. There is also a sample online examination paper uploaded on our website," Bakshi said.
The one-hour exam will have 50 multiple choice type questions of one mark each.
"Like in competitive exams, students sitting adjacent to each other will get a different question paper. In all the three shifts the questions will be jumbled; so will the options, so that there is no chance of cheating. Teachers are quite happy with the initiative and have said that the online exam will save them a lot of time in checking the answers," Bakshi said.
The online exam is a part of DU's larger plan to go the e-learning way. ILL has been working on making the entire teaching process, and now even the assessment process, more tech-savvy for a number of subjects. This, Bakshi said, is an attempt to keep up with the changing times and be in sync with youth.
With videos, animation, simulation, online quizzes and virtual laboratory, the aim now is to make learning more fun in DU. It is expected that by the next academic session, the e-learning material for some courses like chemistry, physics, maths, life sciences and commerce will be uploaded in the ILL portal.
"There is something called blended learning. There are times when a teacher can't explain everything on the blackboard. With this initiative of using animation and visuals, the understanding of a subject will become clearer," Bakshi told the media.
Agencies
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