Software Fraud: Satyam banned by World Bank

Software Giant Satyam Computer Services has reportedly been banned from doing any off-shore work with the World Bank. According to a Fox News report, forensic experts and bank investigators discovered that the sensitive data from their computers were logged to unknown destination over internet. As per reports, key logger software was found on workstations inside the bank’s Washington headquarters, allegedly by one or more contractors from Satyam Computer Services.
Update: Satyam speaks up - Satyam denies report on offshore ban with World Bank. Satyam further added that reports are riddled with error and are out of context. More Details awaited!
Investigators say that the software, which operates through a method known as keystroke logging, enabled every character typed on a keyboard to be transmitted to a still-unknown location via the Internet. Upon its discovery, bank officials shut off the data link between Washington and Chennai, where Satyam has long operated the bank’s sole offshore computer center responsible for all of the bank’s financial and human resources information.
“I want them off the premises now,” World Bank President Robert Zoellick reportedly told his deputies.
Satyam is publicly listed on the New York Stock Exchange and boasts having two billion dollars in sales and more than 150 Fortune 500 companies as clients.
In 2003, Satyam won a lucrative five-year “sole source” contract to design, write and maintain all of the World Bank’s information systems. The contract, which began at $10 million, had grown to over $100 million by 2007. This year, the contract was not renewed. Satyam has declined to comment.
It is still not known how much information was stolen. But sources inside the bank confirm that servers in the institution’s highly restricted treasury unit were deeply penetrated with spy software last April. Invaders also had full access to the rest of the bank’s network for nearly a month in June and July.
One World Bank director told FOX News that as many as 40 servers have been penetrated, including one that held contract-procurement data. It took ten days for bank officials to detect that they’d been invaded. Once they did, they shut down all external servers, except for e-mail, which it turns out the invaders were already using as their entrance point.

Panasonic to buy Sanyo in $9 billion deal

TOKYO (AP) — Panasonic has begun a 800 billion yen ($9 billion) takeover of Japanese rival Sanyo, hoping that transforming into one of the world's biggest electronics companies will help it weather the toughest business conditions in a century.
Top shareholders, including Goldman Sachs, had been haggling over the price with Panasonic Corp. since it expressed interest in Sanyo last month, but Friday revealed they'd settled on a tender offer price of 131 yen ($1.47) a share.
The deal would also allow Panasonic, which makes Viera TVs and Diga Blu-ray disc players, to take advantage of struggling Sanyo's green businesses in solar panels and rechargeable batteries.
Panasonic President Fumio Ohtsubo said that taking over Sanyo will provide an opportunity for his company to become more competitive to ride out the worsening global downturn.
"The alliance with Sanyo will provide an engine for growth for us," he said at a news conference in Osaka, central Japan, shown via satellite in Tokyo.
Sanyo President Seiichiro Sano told reporters that the deal "is opening a way to fight these tough times that come only once in a 100 years."
Daiwa spokesman Kenichi Kanda said the company viewed the bid favorably, welcoming the Panasonic-Sanyo alliance "as boosting the companies' value and being positive for the Japanese economy."
Sumitomo Mitsui also said it was moving toward accepting it, evaluating the planned alliance as a good one.
Sanyo shares dipped 3.6 percent to 136 yen ($1.50) while Panasonic shares gained 2.9 percent 1,051 yen ($11.8). The companies announced the tender plans shortly after trading ended in Tokyo.
Associated Press writers Shino Yuasa and Mari Yamaguchi contributed to this report.

Microsoft Improves IE8 for Disabled Users & GOOGLE CHROME exists BETA officially

Microsoft will add features to the next version of Internet Explorer to make it more accessible to disabled users of the Web, the company said Thursday.A post on the IEBlog by Accessibility Program Manager JP Gonzalez-Castellan highlights several user-interface features that should improve the accessibility of IE8, among them Caret Browsing, Adaptive Zoom and High DPI (Dots Per Inch).The features will improve the browser's usability for everyone, not just disabled people, he wrote. He drew a parallel with the ramps added to public places for people in wheelchairs who can't get up stairs, something required by the Americans with Disabilities Act."Airports soon noticed that mothers with baby strollers and passengers with rolling suitcases were using the ramps too, since it was easier than picking up a stroller or a suitcase over the ledge," he wrote. "In much the same way, when you make software more accessible, everybody wins."Caret Browsing will benefit both low-mobility Web users and those who are visually impaired, according to Gonzalez-Castellan. These people may prefer to use a keyboard or a device that interacts with a keyboard rather than a mouse to navigate Web pages.Caret Browsing allows users to navigate a Web page using a moveable cursor on the screen and the keyboard. They'll be able to select and copy text, tables or images using only the keyboard.Adaptive Zoom is also aimed at low-mobility and visually impaired users. It scales elements of a Web page before the page is laid out in the screen, which is different from the zoom function in IE7. IE7 magnifies Web pages, scaling elements post-layout and then redrawing them on the screen. But that means users often have to scroll horizontally as well as vertically to view the full enlarged page.By scaling elements pre-layout, IE8 will redraw the page and adjust the content to avoid displaying horizontal scroll bars, Gonzalez-Castellan wrote. This makes it easier to browse zoomed pages because a user only has to scroll up and down, and not left and right. An example of what this looks like is available on another IEBlog post.High DPI is also a revision of an existing IE7 feature. DPI, or dots per inch, is a measure of how dense are the individual droplets of ink -- or pixels on a computer display -- that make up an image.In IE7, the ability to zoom content on a Web page did not match the DPI Scaling settings in Windows, which allow for images to be viewed at a larger setting than do the browser zoom settings. IE8 will automatically match the DPI Scaling settings, resulting in improved image scaling on Web pages.Microsoft expects to ship the final version of IE8 early next year. It recently sent an update of the current test build to select beta testers and expects to release one more public test version of IE8 before its final release.
Google has officially announced that its Chrome browser is no longer a beta version and made a full version of the product available for download.An update completed Thursday -- the program's 15th since its inception in early September -- is now available without a beta label attached. The news follows speculation started by an interview with a company executive just one day ago."We have removed the beta label as our goals for stability and performance have been met, but our work is far from done," an announcement by Product Management VP Sundar Pichai and Engineering Director Linus Upson states.The update will be automatically installed within the next few days for current Chrome users.
Ref : PC world, Dec-2008.

Mumbai terrorist attacks don't deter technology companies

Terrorist attacks late Wednesday in Mumbai are unlikely to make multinational technology companies change their strategies for India.

The attack in Mumbai is the latest in a string of terrorist attacks across the country, including a number of attacks earlier in Mumbai.

The attacks late Wednesday by terrorists using guns and grenades in Mumbai did however appear different than previous ones, because it targeted top five-star hotels in Mumbai's business district. About 100 are feared dead in the shootouts, which still continue as police battle the armed terrorists. Some foreign residents at the hotel are being held hostage by the terrorists. 

"It is sad that this has happened, but we are confident that India will bounce back to normalcy," said Vidya Natampally, director of strategy at Microsoft Research India. 

The terrorist attacks will not change Microsoft Research's plans in India. " We are committed to staying on in India," Natampally added.

Dell has issued a travel advisory to its staff, advising caution and due diligence when traveling to India, said a spokeswoman for the company. "That is the only measure we have taken," she added.

A large number of technology companies including Oracle, Microsoft, and Dell run large software development and call center operations in India. But ever since the threat of terrorism increased since last year, these companies have tightened on security at their facilities.

"For a long time now, we have tightened on security at all our facilities," the Dell spokeswoman said.

Indian outsourcing companies and Indian operations of multinational technology companies were not affected by the attacks, though the disruption of train service in Mumbai on Thursday could affect the movement of staff.

The Bombay Stock Exchange in south Mumbai has shut down on Thursday. The state government has ordered schools and colleges closed Thursday.

Ref : PC World , november - 2008.

Evolution of LOGOs!

APPLECANON

GOOGLE

IBM

LG

MICROSOFT

MOTOROLA

FIREFOX

NOKIA

NORTEL

XEROX

PALM

Re-inventing Indian IT

In mid-September this year, several employees at India’s largest software exporter, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), were laid off and many more were given months to shape up or be shown the door. With the financial services sector in a tailspin and the slowdown in the US market spreading to Europe, India’s booming IT industry found itself directly in the firing line.

For the last five years, the IT industry has blossomed as companies looked to leverage India’s low-cost, high-quality base for IT services. Over the last five years, the Indian market has grown from $21.6 billion (Rs 1.04 lakh crore) to $64 billion (Rs 3.07 lakh crore), employing 800,000 people. In this time, Indian IT companies have leaned heavily on financial services and the US market (the biggest industry and geography for IT services) and now they’re feeling the heat as a slowdown in financial services begins to spread to other sectors such as real estate and manufacturing. What’s worse, a 60 per cent reliance on the US market has singed the industry, causing Indian vendors to review their plans.

“We continue to see a lot of uncertainty. Its heightened levels have made customers cautious,” admits Wipro’s Joint CEO Suresh Vaswani. However, his peers in the industry are much more frank about the current state of the market. “The slowdown in US is for real and it is wait’n’watch for at least the next two quarters,” says S. Premkumar, Corporate Officer & Global Head, Financial Services, HCL Technologies. A key concern, according to analysts, is the limited spending by other industries, which will prevent the Indian IT industry from recouping the losses suffered in financial services. “Financial services companies spend about 10 per cent of their earnings on IT, compared to 3-5 per cent by other industries. Indian IT can expect to face rough weather in the foreseeable future,” says John McCarthy, Vice President at Forrester Research.

There have been other fundamental shifts in the global IT industry that have further complicated the market uncertainties. When the dotcom slowdown happened in the early part of this decade, large MNCs were small players in the Indian market and two large players, IBM and Accenture, had just 3,000 people here. Since then, these two companies have ramped up to over 150,000 people each in the country and are rapidly building on this base. The existing business model of Indian vendors has also heightened the impact, say industry watchers. “A large part of the work is project-based and not long-term annuity contracts. The former gives higher margins and makes sense to chase, but the reason it gives higher margins is because the revenue streams are unpredictable and can be cut off at any point,” says Siddarth Pai, Managing Director and Partner for TPI India, an offshore advisory firm.

Click here to Enlarge

Annuity contracts require onshore delivery capability from the vendor and the willingness to take on the client’s people. “Indian vendors have been slow to do both and, hence, have a revenue mix that is skewed towards project work. This project work is—by definition—more risky,” says Pai. While MNCs have rapidly expanded their India numbers over the last couple of years, Indian vendors have only begun to become global operators. “Satyam has development centres around the globe—more than 30 in all. In fact, our three most recent acquisitions were in Europe and the US. Satyam is already a global company—we just happen to be headquartered in India,” says Hari T., Head, Global Marketing & Communications, Satyam Computer Services.

Already, there are visible signs of a slowdown in the Indian companies. For one, there has been a significant reduction in volume growth for key players (Infosys, for example, recorded one of its lowest volume growths of 0.5 per cent on stable pricing resulting in dollar growth on about 0.7 per cent quarter on quarter, according to an IndiaInfoline report) and other metrics such as hiring and campus offers, too, are in decline or have been frozen. “We will certainly review our current business model where we have a 30 per cent bench in a muted market. We will increase utilisation, but we’ll hire conservatively too,” Kris Gopalakrishnan, Infosys CEO, told BT recently. The company declined to comment on this story, citing the silent period for its second quarter results. Given the weak conditions, techies will have to get used to smaller hikes, with Wipro, for example, expected to dole out increments of 8-13 per cent region, compared to 15 per cent and more previously.

Suresh Vaswani/

Besides Indian IT companies, the overall technology industry has seen a spate of lay-offs, with companies across the board cutting down flab to stay afloat. In the semiconductor market, most design centres of companies such as Intel, NXP and Texas Instruments have frozen their hiring, while online giants Yahoo and AOL are downsizing. Nvidia, the graphic processor maker, recently added to this increasingly lengthy list when it announced plans to cut 60-70 people across its Bangalore, Pune and Hyderabad centres. “Everyone is going to look and re-look at their centres in India. There will be an even greater emphasis on cost and efficiency,” says Forrester’s McCarthy.

Experts say Indian IT needs to broad-base its revenue and geographical bases, expand its global delivery capability and move aggressively towards a non-linear business model, where the direct link between revenue and headcount growth is broken. HCL’s Enterprise Transformation Services promises cost savings by reducing business cycle and process times for clients. The service will be priced on a revenue share or outcome-based model. The service has been piloted with four clients, resulting in a cumulative savings of $580 million (Rs 2,784 crore) for users. In terms of global delivery, several companies have taken their first steps. TCS has entered Uruguay and Satyam is in Cairo, Egypt.

Hari T.

It isn’t just delivery these companies are after; several of them are also looking to tap these markets. “Today, we serve clients in more than a dozen industry sectors. From a geographical standpoint, we generate 40 per cent of our revenues from Europe and APAC, making us less dependent on the US than at any time in our history,” points out Satyam's Hari. As part of its Blue Ocean strategy, HCL is looking at markets such as Europe, Latin America, Brazil, Japan, Korea and China. "In terms of verticals, we are seeing growth in the Telecom, Aerospace, Media & Entertainment and Life Sciences and Healthcare verticals," says HCL's Premkumar.

Click here to Enlarge

Despite these ambitious plans to become global players, several industry executives and analysts argue that Indian IT companies have a lot to learn. "Management maturity is yet limited among Indian companies, especially in the midtier, to manage a global operation," says Forrester's McCarthy. Meanwhile, Anurag Purohit, an analyst with Religare Securities, says companies will only reap the benefits of this diversification over the longterm. "Europe has been more conservative about offshoring due to language and regulatory issues." Unlike the US and UK, continental Europe is not just one market, but several small segments with strongly entrenched local players, says Andy Green, CEO, Logica, a London-based technology services company.

Just as they prepare to put in place these measures to survive the slowdown, some market watchers say that companies such as Infosys, which have a very small domestic business, may actually take it slow over the next few months. While the rupee was pegged at 39/dollar and threatened to fall to 35, the reverse has happened. The rupee has, instead, depreciated against the US dollar, reaching about Rs 48 against the greenback. "This move could give hard-pressed IT companies a 7-8 point cushion and help them focus on the export market," says one analyst.

Rahul Sachitanand

October 16, 2008

Braving the odds in IT

Despite the present economic slowdown, the IT industry is open to those who constantly sharpen their skills and update themselves with emerging technologies, say experts.

Testing times: Innovative IT solutions at low cost is the need of the hour.

With global stock markets groaning under the financial crisis, these are uncertain times. Newspapers blaze with headlines of retrenchment and recession. The campus recruitment figures in the IT industry paint a gloomy picture. What does this scenario mean to a student aspiring for a career in the IT industry? Education Plus spoke to those involved with the industry to find out.

“In the long-term perspective, the outlook for the IT industry is very much positive. We as an industry are very much matured,” assures Viswanathan Venkatasubramanian, Senior Manager, Talent Acquisition from Wipro Technologies. “It is a temporary phenomenon,” he says.

But the slowdown will change things in the industry. Customers of the IT industry will expect more, which means, employees will need to perform better. “Those who can make a difference, those who come out with more innovative solutions developed at low cost will provide the customer more value. So, we need to be more productive and provide more value,” he says.

Srinivas Kandula, Global Head-HR, iGATE, concurs. “Given the current slowdown scenario, organisations will take bold steps to weed out inefficient people. However, there is no need to worry or panic. There is an assured long-term career in the IT industry as long as they [students] are sharpening their skills and are in touch with emerging technologies,” he says.

What this implies is that the industry will focus sharply on quality, instead of quantity. So, good software engineers are assured of a seat in the industry. But what makes a good software engineer?

“The real problem in the industry is the general apathy or inability of the people to upgrade their skills,” says Mr. Kandula. “A large percentage of the people in the IT industry do not take proactive interest in their own learning and growth. Given that the software tools get revised and change every year, it is important for them to focus on improving their skills, on an ongoing basis,” he says.

This translates to a lifelong commitment to learning.

Mr. Kandula says, “Employees should plan their work and career not just for the present but also for the future and that they should have a long-term career perspective. It is important for them to understand the kind of skills they need to acquire and the ways in which they can acquire those relevant skills in their area of expertise.”

Go that extra mile

One mantra that always works during tough times is hard work. Karthikeyan Vijayakumar, a young entrepreneur who started his own firm, Excedos Market Services, says that companies will definitely work with someone who is willing to go that extra mile. He adds, “Not getting a job in a big company is definitely not the end of the road. You can join a smaller firm. But, make sure that the company has enough revenue to sustain the downturn.”

He says, “In a small firm, you get a lot of freedom. If you put in a lot of time and effort, then at the end of two years, you would have built the skills to negotiate a higher salary. And, working in a smaller firm means you get to interact with people at the top closely, who have more experience. So, you learn more. But, you need to be passionate about what you do.”

So, a deep-seated interest in what you do will hold you in good stead, which makes it important to ensure that your choice of career coincides with the area of your interest.

“There is always a mass phenomenon,” says Mr. Viswanathan. “Everyone takes up engineering, so others take up engineering. You should understand whether you have the attitude and the aptitude. So, what it means is you should have interest, instead of just following everyone else. This is because, only those who have the attitude and the aptitude will survive.”

Ref : THE HINDU,Monday, Oct 20, 2008

Don’t lose grip

With India slipping further in the global IT industry competitiveness index this year despite its offshore IT prowess, Forrester has said that stepping up human capital investment, technology usage in rural areas, and addressing the existing talent crunch will be critical in raising the global competitiveness of India’s tech economy.

India dropped from 46th to 48th position in “The Economist’s global IT industry competitiveness index 2008”, which measures the environment for IT producers to thrive. “India’s worrying demotion is due to its dismal IT infrastructure, acute talent shortage, and unproductive R&D environment,” Forrester Research said in its recent report titled ‘How can India boost its tech economy’s global competitiveness.’

The just-released IT industry competitiveness index compares 66 countries on how well they support the competitiveness of IT firms. India, at 48th position, ranks way below East Asian countries such as Japan and South Korea, but marginally better than China, which has ended 50th in the pecking order.

‘Strengthen the demand side’

Forrester says Government and captains of IT industry will immediately need to focus on strengthening the demand side.

“The reason why countries such as the US, South Korea, and Japan top the index is not because their tech firms crank-out dozens of patents per day but because they boast a very tech-savvy customer base….What makes a region’s IT industry competitive is smart customers, not smart engineers,” it says.

India — which is still attempting to drive corporate and societal innovation by wielding policy instruments such as R&D investments and science parks — should instead strengthen institutional capacity to drive customer-focused and market-driven innovation. “Government must spur adoption across India. It must recognise that in today’s knowledge economy, IT infrastructure such as Internet access is more critical than physical infrastructure such as roads and ports. With good connectivity in place, the Indian government can then partner with tech providers such as Cisco Systems, Microsoft, and TCS to bring IT applications such as tele-education and telemedicine to Indian villages, where 70 per cent of the population lives,” Forrester says.

Ruing that Indian public agencies have been slow in digitising public-service delivery to citizens, Forrester says it is imperative for Government to work with state-level politicians to appoint CIOs at the federal and regional level who can collaboratively drive an IT-enabled innovation agenda. Besides this, there is a need to revamp science and engineering education curriculum — with the help of the National Knowledge Commission — to produce multidisciplinary engineers capable of brokering connections between Indian technology inventions and global business opportunities.

Forrester says Indian tech CEOs too need to overcome their export orientation and focus on India as the next big IT market, particularly now that the domestic spending is slated to rise by 18 per cent this year, the second-fastest-growing tech market after China.

“Tech suppliers such as Infosys, Satyam, TCS, and Wipro must beef up their corporate social responsibility (CSR) investments — by contributing more to teacher training programmes and new learning models.

Such a programme will allow their most experienced employees to teach part time or even full time in their local communities,” it adds.

Ref : THE HINDU, Monday, Oct 20, 2008

TCS acquires Citigroup Global Services for $505 million

India’s largest IT services provider Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) beat business process outsourcing (BPO) majors like Genpact and IBM to acquire the back-office operations of Citigroup for $505 million (over Rs 2,400 crore).

Along with the sale, Citi also signed an agreement with TCS to provide process outsourcing services worth $2.5 billion (around Rs 12,000 crore) over the next nine-and-and-a-half years. Citi will be the first global bank to have outsourced its entire banking processes, including core banking operations, to a third party.

While TCS defended the valuations, particularly during the financial turmoil, analysts termed the acquisition expensive. “The valuation is certainly high. The $2.5-billion deal would translate into over Rs 1,250 crore of annualised revenues. With CGSL listing its operating profit at 23 per cent, the payback time may be around 11 years for the money invested,” said an analyst at a leading brokerage.

Even the company’s argument that the acquisition of CGSL gives an opportunity to cross-sell did not convince analysts. “That will take time and further investment from the company. So, the immediate impact is negligible,” said another analyst.

In terms of the acquisition valuations, TCS said that the Citi BPO has had a consistent revenue growth rate of 27 per cent and earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) margins are of the order of 20 per cent. The BPO has 12,472 employees, who will now join TCS along with the existing management team. The BPO will operate as an independent entity.

“We are confident that after the integration the EBITA margins of the BPO will be in the range of TCS’,” said the IT company’s COO and Executive director N Chandrasekaran.

Sanjay Nayar, CEO (South Asia) for Ctitbank, said: “We have been at this for quite some time. We have been able to consolidate all our businesses. We want to focus on our core operations. We will use the freed up capital for productive businesses.” This deal also means that TCS would be the single largest vendor for Citigroup.

“This acquisition is very strategic for TCS. This will also propel the TCS BPO business to a completely different level. With this Citigroup becomes our top client. This is the first time that core banking operations, which till date are in the realms of banking firms, will be outsourced. That allows us to take these services to other clients. More so, to the small- and medium-sized banks,” said TCS CEO and Managing Director S Ramadorai.

Chandrasekaran said that the tools created by CGSL would also be handy. “This, along with TCS financial products, will allow us to take our BPO platform strategy further. The revenues from the deal will accrue from the fourth quarter of 2008-09, or may be slightly delayed,” he added.

Axon prefers HCL Tech’s offer to Infosys

New Delhi, Oct. 2 In a move that places HCL Technologies ahead in the race for the acquisition of the Axon Group, the Board of the UK company on Thursday dropped its recommendation of Infosys’ 600 pence a share offer, and said it would unanimously recommend HCL’s 650 pence a share bid to its shareholders.

This assumes significance as the recommendation by the Axon board establishes HCL’s offer as a ‘friendly bid’ and not a ‘hostile’ takeover, sources said. Moreover, while the shareholders in any case would have opted for a higher bid, the recommendation also means that HCL now has the option to convert its offer into a scheme of arrangement.

Wait period lapses

The decision to switch allegiance and recommend the HCL bid comes just days after the 60-hour period stipulated in the pact between Axon and Infosys lapsed without the latter improvising its offer. This left Axon free to amend its endorsement of the Infosys offer to shareholders, in favour of HCL’s .

“Axon and HCL Technologies have enjoyed a long-standing relationship. The Board is pleased that HCL has recognised the quality of the Axon business and has announced its intention to make an offer. The value of the HCL offer is at a premium of 8.3 per cent, to the value of the Infosys offer,” an Axon statement said today.

Counter bid?

Mr V. Balakrishnan, Chief Financial Officer of Infosys told Business Line, “We have nothing to say at this point. We are still evaluating our options.”

No clincher

The change of recommendation by the Axon Board does not imply that HCL Technologies has clinched the deal; any counter-bid at this stage can stretch the timelines. “In case the status quo remains in the absence of a counter-bid, the clock will not tick on the offer until HCL Technologies publishes a formal offer document and sends it to the shareholders. Thereafter, the company has 46 days to get shareholders’ nod and close the offer,” sources pointed out. Thethree founders of Axon hold 18 per cent stake, while another six per cent is with directors and staff

Ref : THE HINDU, Friday, Oct 03, 2008

IBM's Linux Wristwatch

One of the products showcased by IBM at the recently concluded Bang!inux conference was their Linux-based wrist watch. The software development for this watch is being done here in India. We were able to grab some of the developers working on this watch project and pump them for more information

IBM or `Big Blue', as it is passionately called, is not only a multi-billion dollar giant with a fascinating product line, but also the single largest company with the most number of patents in the world. And if such a company, which has all along banked upon it's proprietary products for it's revenue, were to suddenly turn to Open source it makes you wonder and a little skeptically too. And this is just what's happening.
IBM's investment (to the tune of a billion dollars) has got the whole Open Source world rife with speculations about the Big Blue's interest in the Linux arena. Looks like IBM, this time around, don?t want to miss the turn-on-the-road (it has passed a few in the past). Now it wants to show the world that it is serious about the most happening Operating System--`Linux'.
IBM or `Big Blue', as it is passionately called, is not only a multi-billion dollar giant with a fascinating product line, but also the single largest company with the most number of patents in the world. And if such a company, which has all along banked upon it's proprietary products for it's revenue, were to suddenly turn to Open source it makes you wonder and a little skeptically too. And this is just what's happening.
IBM's investment (to the tune of a billion dollars) has got the whole Open Source world rife with speculations about the Big Blue's interest in the Linux arena. Looks like IBM, this time around, don?t want to miss the turn-on-the-road (it has passed a few in the past). Now it wants to show the world that it is serious about the most happening Operating System--`Linux'. ‘

IBM or `Big Blue', as it is passionately called, is not only a multi-billion dollar giant with a fascinating product line, but also the single largest company with the most number of patents in the world. And if such a company, which has all along banked upon it's proprietary products for it's revenue, were to suddenly turn to Open source it makes you wonder and a little skeptically too. And this is just what's happening.
IBM's investment (to the tune of a billion dollars) has got the whole Open Source world rife with speculations about the Big Blue's interest in the Linux arena. Looks like IBM, this time around, don?t want to miss the turn-on-the-road (it has passed a few in the past). Now it wants to show the world that it is serious about the most happening Operating System--`Linux'.
The technical specifications for the wristwatch running Linux are as follows:
* Kernel: 2.2.1 * X11R6 for the GUI env. * Size: Watch:56mm wide x 48mm long x 12.25mm thick (2.20 inches x 1.89 inches x 0.48 inches) MotherBoard: 27.5 mm wide x 35.3 mm long (1.08 inches x 39 inches) * Weight: 44 Gms ( Approx. 1.5 ounces) * Touch sensitive display * 8MB Flash * 8MB DRAM * IrDA * Radio Frequency Wireless connectivity * Rechargeable Lithium Polymer battery
The Linux watch was conceptualized at IBM's T. J. Watson research center where various groups are continuously exploring the various challenges that arise in the area of user interface design, power management, input devices, wireless communication, sensors and models for co-existences for pervasive devices and wearables. The story goes, that among them, a team of researchers with skills in hardware design, Operating Systems, displays, electronic and mechanical packaging, industrial design and user interface design, that was spread across multiple research IBM sites, worked together to develop the wrist watch that would eventually run Linux and X11. The team, led by Chandra Narayanaswami, worked relentlessly for about 18 months to accomplish this feat.
The wristwatch runs the Linux 2.2.1 kernel with the ARM patch from Ben Williamson. According to IBM, there are certain issues regarding the non-availability of this patch in the latest stable kernel release. The ARM processor that powers the watch runs at 19MHz, is RISC based and which according to estimates is almost equivalent to a 100 Mhz Pentium. The motherboard for the watch was fabricated at IBM's Japan research center. The kernel, which required some massive hacking including the shell that the watch runs, was `tweaked' at Big Blue's research center at Bangalore.

"The Grid" will revolutionize download speed in personal computers

LONDON: With the development of a network of supercomputers, known as the Grid, the speed at which information is downloaded to personal computers would be revolutionized, heralding the dawn of a new internet age. According to a report in the Times, the power of the Grid is such that downloading films should take only seconds, not hours, and processing music albums just a single second. Video-phone calls should also cost no more than a local call. More importantly, it should help to narrow the search for cures for diseases. The Grid, a network of 100,000 computers, is to be connected to the world's largest machine, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). It is designed for projects, such as large research and engineering jobs, which need to crunch huge quantities of data, but scientists believe it will eventually be used on home computers. The Grid allows scientists at CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, to get access to the unemployed processing power of thousands of computers in 33 countries to deal with the data created by the LHC. Scientists at CERN, where the world wide web was invented, created the Grid because they realized that a single computer would not be able to cope with the amount of data the LHC is expected to produce each year - 15 petabytes, or 15 million gigabytes, which would fill 20 million CDs. According to Dr Bob Jones, a CERN scientist, "The (world wide) web allows you to access information on other computers. What the Grid allows you to do is not only access the information, but make use of their computing resources and power." Jones said that users would be able to tap into massive amounts of processing power, but the source of the power would change, depending on availability. Processing tasks will be distributed between 11 gateway computer centres in ten countries, including Britain, which will share them out between more than 140 sites. One of the first jobs the Grid will tackle is handling the raw data for CERN's experiments into finding proof of the Higgs boson, the so-called God particle. Its uses, however, extend well beyond particle physics and it has already been used on a smaller scale in research into diseases such as malaria and bird flu. "The Grid cannot find a cure for cancer, but what it can do is make it quicker," said Dr Jones, explaining that what might have taken a decade could now be done in weeks. "With the Grid, scientists could run hundreds of thousands of simulations to create a shortlist of the drugs that are most likely to offer the potential for a cure," he added.

Interview with Warren Buffet

For those who don't know Warren Buffet,a brief introduction:

Warren Edward Buffett (born August 30, 1930, in Omaha, Nebraska) is an American investor, businessman and philanthropist.He is regarded as one of the world's greatest investors and is the largest shareholder and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway.With an estimated net worth of around US$62 billion,he was ranked by Forbes as the richest person in the world as of February 11, 2008.

Often called the "Oracle of Omaha,"Buffett is noted for his adherence to the value investing philosophy and for his personal frugality despite his immense wealth.His 2006 annual salary was about $100,000, which is small compared to senior executive remuneration in other comparable companies.When he spent $9.7 million of Berkshire's funds on a business jet in 1989, he jokingly named it "The Indefensible" because of his past criticisms of such purchases by other CEOs.He lives in the same house in the central Dundee neighborhood of Omaha that he bought in 1958 for $31,500, today valued at around $700,000.

Buffett is also a noted philanthropist.In 2006, he announced a plan to give away his fortune to charity, with 83% of it going to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.He has donated around $35 billion to charity.In 2007, he was listed among Time's 100 Most Influential People in The World.He also serves as a member of the board of trustees at Grinnell College.


I Like him very much,Not because of his wealth,but his simplicity & attitude.
In this post im going to post the highlights of his one hour interview with CNBC.
After reading this one,i hope everyone will understand why he is the World's Richest Man..

Here are some very interesting aspects of his life:

1. He bought his first share at age 11 and he now regrets that he started too late!

2. He bought a small farm at age 14 with savings from delivering newspapers.

3. He still lives in the same small 3-bedroom house in mid-town Omaha , that he bought after he got married 50 years ago. He says that he has everything he needs in that house. His house does not have a wall or a fence.

4. He drives his own car everywhere and does not have a driver or security people around him.

5. He never travels by private jet, although he owns the world's largest private jet company.

6. His company, Berkshire Hathaway, owns 63 companies. He writes only one letter each year to the CEOs of these companies, giving them goals for the year. He never holds meetings or calls them on a regular basis. He has given his CEO's only two rules:
Rule number 1: do not lose any of your share holder's money.
Rule number 2: Do not forget rule number 1.

7. He does not socialize with the high society crowd. His past time after he gets home is to make himself some pop corn and watch Television.

8. Bill Gates, the world's richest man met him for the first time only 5 years ago. Bill Gates did not think he had anything in common with Warren Buffet. So he had scheduled his meeting only for half hour. But when Gates met him, the meeting lasted for ten hours and Bill Gates became a devotee of Warren Buffet.

9. Warren Buffet does not carry a cell phone, nor has a computer on his desk.


His advice to youngsters: "Stay away from credit cards and invest in yourself and Remember:

A. Money doesn't create man but it is the man who created money.

B. Live your life as simple as you are.

C. Don't do what others say, just listen to them, but do what makes you feel good.

D. Don't go on brand name; just wear those things in which you feel comfortable.

E. Don't waste your money on unnecessary things; just spend on things that you really need.

F. After all it's your life, then why give others the chance to rule your life."

Intel unveils six-core microprocessor

Bangalore, Sept. 16 Chipmaker Intel Corp launched its first 6-core x86 microprocessor, which is also the first microprocessor to be designed entirely in India.

The company said the new Intel Xeon 7400 series processor has up to six processing cores per chip, 16 MB of shared cache memory and 1.9 billion transistors.

Platforms based on these processors can scale up to 16 processor “sockets” to deliver servers with up to 96 processing cores inside, offering scalability, ample computing threads and extensive memory resources, Intel said.

“This new processor series helps IT manage increasingly complex enterprise server environments, providing a great opportunity to boost the scalable performance of multi-threaded applications within a stable platform infrastructure,” said Mr R. Ravichandran, Director, Sales, Intel South Asia.

The product has been designed by Intel’s India team including front-end design, pre-silicon logic validation and the back-end design, the company said.

Mr Praveen Vishakantaiah, President, Intel India, said, “The quality of available talent, technology ecosystem and business potential are factors which make India a strategic business site for Intel.” We have achieved a considerable degree of expertise in product design, he added.

Around 200-300 people from the India team have worked on this project, said Mr Vishakantaiah. From start to launch, the project has been completed in two years, he added.

Based on Intel’s 45nm high-k process technology, the new servers deliver almost 50 per cent better performance in some cases, and up to 10 per cent reduction in platform power, the company said. Intel said the new processor is compatible with Intel’s existing Xeon 7300 series platforms and the Intel 7300 chipset with memory capacity up to 256 GB, allowing IT departments to quickly deploy the new processor into an existing platform infrastructure.

Intel India has also contributed to the development of other Intel products like the Napa, Santa Rosa and Montevina mobile platforms and the Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5300 and Intel Core Extreme quad-core processor families.

The Bangalore-based Intel India Development Centre employees about 2,500 people (as of 2007) and Intel’s investments in India to date have been over $1.7 billion, the company said.

Ref : Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications, Wednesday, Sep 17, 2008

Gates regains richest title from Buffett

Software czar Bill Gates has regained his position as America's richest person with a networth of $57 billion after losing this place for a few months to his friend and legendary investor Warren Buffett.

In its latest list of the 400 Richest Americans, US business magazine Forbes has ranked Bill Gates on the top, followed by Buffett at the second position with a networth of $ 50 billion.

The last list of the world's richest billionaires, published in March this year, Forbes had ranked Buffett on the top with a networth of 62 billion dollars, followed by Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim Helu at the second and Gates at the third positions with fortunes of $ 60 billion and $58 billion respectively.

While Slim has not been included in the latest list for being a Mexican citizen, both Gates and Buffett have seen their networth taking a dip from the worldwide list. However, the fall is much larger for Buffett at $12 billion compared to $1 billion for Gates. Reuters

Gates and Buffett are followed by Oracle's Larry Ellison ($ 27 billion), Jim Walton ($ 23.4 billion).

Ref: FinancialExpress, Sep 19, 2008.

Google among top ten brands in the world

SYDNEY: Internet search engine "Google" has jumped ten spots to reach at number 10 in the list of the "Best Global Brands 2008". Google, which has built on its dominance in internet searches to expand into software, video, mapping and web browsing, was "the undisputed king of the internet world", and its brand value had shot up by 43 per cent, from 21.9 billion dollars to 31.5 billion dollars, said a report in news.com.au. According to the report, the annual study on the hottest brands in the world showed that tech companies put on the strongest showing, financial companies were the weakest, in. Besides Google, Apple was the second brand which was the biggest mover in Interbrand's "definitive" 2008 Best Global Brands. Apple jumped 9 spots to 24. To qualify for inclusion in the Best Global Brands 2008 list, each brand must derive at least a third of its earnings outside its home country, be recognisable outside of its base of customers, and have publicly available marketing and financial data. Coca-Cola took the top spot for the eighth year in a row thanks to its famous ad campaigns and knack for reinvention. IBM pushed ahead of Microsoft for the first change to the top four since at least 2001. GE held onto fourth position.

The top ten brands, according to the "Best Global Brands 2008" list are:

1. Coca-Cola

2. IBM

3. Microsoft

4. GE

5. Nokia

6. Toyota

7. Intel

8. McDonald's

9. Disney

10. Google

Ref:-Indiatimes,19 sep 08.

Advantages of Wi-Fi

• Unlike packet radio systems, Wi-Fi uses unlicensed radio spectrum and does not require regulatory approval for individual deployers.

• Allows LANs to be deployed without cabling, potentially reducing the costs of network deployment and expansion. Spaces where cables cannot be run, such as outdoor areas and historical buildings, can host wireless LANs.

• Wi-Fi products are widely available in the market. Different brands of access points and client network interfaces are interoperable at a basic level of service.

• Competition amongst vendors has lowered prices considerably since their inception.

• Wi-Fi networks support roaming, in which a mobile client station such as a laptop computer can move from one access point to another as the user moves around a building or area.

• Many access points and network interfaces support various degrees of encryption to protect traffic from interception.

• Wi-Fi is a global set of standards. Unlike cellular carriers, the same Wi-Fi client works in different countries around the world.

To know more about Wi-Fi, visit http://www.wilcorpinc.com/wifi_history.htm
WiFi brief history : http://www.marcus-spectrum.com/documents/economist.pdf

Bluetooth Technology Turns "10"

Bluetooth technology turned 10-years-old in 2008. It is still a youngster in terms of age, but is used the world over.

Bluetooth is one of the fastest growing brands ever – with nearly 2 billion devices using the short range wireless standard.

Bluetooth technology is in mobile phones, printers, cars, TVs and many of those popular wireless gaming controllers.

To mark the 10th birthday of Bluetooth technology, members of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) can submit short stories. We want to hear about your best Bluetooth moments.

In the fourth installment of the Best Bluetooth Moments stories, Sensory Inc. CEO Todd Mozer discusses the intersection of Bluetooth and speech technologies and how his company is taking hands-free to a new level with voice controlled Bluetooth headsets - perfect timing for all the new Bluetooth users complying with recent hands-free legislation.

TOP TEN BLUETOOTH MUSIC MAKERS

1. Samsung YP-P2 Widescreen Music Player
2. Motorola MOTOROKR S9
3. Samsung BlackJack
4. Motorola Bluetooth DJ Headphones S805
5. Samsung YP-T9B Music Player
6. Nokia BH-501 Bluetooth Stereo Headset
7. Jabra BT620s
8. Logitech FreePulse Wireless Headphones
9. SonyEricsson MBS-100 Portable Speaker
10.TIE: Ford SYNC, Powered by Microsoft and Nokia MD-5W Bluetooth Speakers

Ref: http://www.bluetooth.com/Bluetooth/SIG/highlights

How To Achive The Dream?

The following article came from an e-mail I received a couple of years ago. I’m not sure who to give credit to, but I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Seven Steps to Achieving Your DreamBy Chris Widener
Vision is the spectacular that inspires us to carry out the mundane.
Can achievement be broken down into steps? Well, it isn’t always that clean and easy, but I do know that those who achieve great things usually go through much of the same process, with many of the items listed below as part of that process. So if you have been struggling with achievement, look through the following and internalize the thoughts presented. Then begin to apply them. You will be on the road to achieving your dream!
1. Dream it - Everything begins in the heart and mind. Every great achievement began in the mind of one person. They dared to dream, to believe that it was possible. Take some time to allow yourself to ask “What if?” Think big. Don’t let negative thinking discourage you. You want to be a “dreamer.” Dream of the possibilities for yourself, your family, and for others. If you had a dream that you let grow cold, re-ignite the dream! Fan the flames. Life is too short to let it go. (Also, check out my article “Dare to Dream Again,” which has been read by close to a million people in the last four months alone. You can see it at the website.)
2. Believe it - Yes, your dream needs to be big. It needs to be something that is seemingly beyond your capabilities. But it also must be believable. You must be able to say that if certain things take place, if others help, if you work hard enough, though it is a big dream, it can still be done. Good example: A person with no college education can dream that he will build a 50 million-dollar a year company. That is big, but believable. Bad example: That a 90 year-old woman with arthritis will someday run a marathon in under three hours. It is big alright, but also impossible. She should instead focus on building a 50 million-dollar a year business! And she better get a move on!
3. See it - The great achievers have a habit. They “see” things. They picture themselves walking around their CEO office in their new 25 million-dollar corporate headquarters, even while they are sitting on a folding chair in their garage “headquarters.” Great free-throw shooters in the NBA picture the ball going through the basket. PGA golfers picture the ball going straight down the fairway. World-class speakers picture themselves speaking with energy and emotion. All of this grooms the mind to control the body to carry out the dream.
4. Tell it - One reason many dreams never go anywhere is because the dreamer keeps it all to himself. It is a quiet dream that only lives inside his mind. The one who wants to achieve their dream must tell that dream to many people. One reason: As we continually say it, we begin to believe it more and more. If we are talking about it then it must be possible. Another reason: It holds us accountable. When we have told others, it spurs us on to actually do it so we don’t look foolish.
5. Plan it - Every dream must take the form of a plan. The old saying that you “get what you plan for” is so true. Your dream won’t just happen. You need to sit down, on a regular basis, and plan out your strategy for achieving the dream. Think through all of the details. Break the whole plan down into small, workable parts. Then set a time frame for accomplishing each task on your “dream plan.”
6. Work it - Boy, wouldn’t life be grand if we could quit before this one! Unfortunately, the successful are usually the hardest workers. While the rest of the world is sitting on their couch watching re-runs of Gilligan’s Island, achievers are working on their goal - achieving their dream. I have an equation that I work with: Your short-term tasks, multiplied by time, equal your long-term accomplishments. If you work on it each day, eventually you will achieve your dream. War and Peace was written, in longhand, page by page.
7. Enjoy it - When you have reached your goal and you are living your dream, be sure to enjoy it. In fact, enjoy the trip too. Give yourself some rewards along the way. Give yourself a huge reward when you get there. Help others enjoy it. Be gracious and generous. Use your dream to better others. Then go back to number 1. And dream a little bigger this time!
Chris Widener, New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Amazon.com Best-Selling author is a seasoned businessman, author and speaker. He has for nearly twenty years been involved in leadership in the business community, the non-profit world, and as a speaker and author. He has learned what he shares through his own experience and his interaction with and observation of the most successful people in the world.
For more information, visit his website http://www.chriswidener.com/.

Microsoft cutting Xbox 360 price to $200:

SEATTLE: Microsoft Corp said on Wednesday it plans to cut the US prices of its Xbox 360 video game machine, lowering the price of its entry-level console to $50 below Nintendo Co Ltd's top-selling Wii. The move makes the Xbox 360 the first game machine of this generation of consoles to sell for less than $200, a key mass-market price that Microsoft said historically has accounted for more than 75 percent of all machine sales. The lower prices ahead of the crucial holiday shopping season, a period of time when the video game industry racks up most of its sales, puts pressure on rivals Nintendo and Sony to cut the prices of their machines.

The company said it will cut prices for its entry-level Xbox 360 Arcade, which comes without a hard drive, to $199 from its current price of $279 and it also will lower the prices of its mid-range and high-end Xbox 360 consoles by $50 each. The new prices will go into effect on Sept 5. Nintendo's Wii sells for $249 while Sony Corp's least expensive PlayStation 3, which comes with an 80-gigabyte hard drive and a Blu-ray high-definition video disc player, retails for $399. "Microsoft wants to drum up demand for the holiday. Microsoft's long-term vision for the Xbox is not to turn a profit today," said Toan Tran, analyst with Morningstar. "It's a way to get a foothold into people's living rooms." Microsoft said it will cut the price of its Xbox 360 Pro, its best-selling version which comes with a 60-gigabyte hard drive, to $299 from $349 and reduce the price of its top-end Xbox 360 Elite with a 120-gigabyte hard drive to $399 from $449. The US price cut comes on the heels of a similar price cut for the Xbox 360 in Japan where Xbox sales have been slow. Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft has sold over 20 million Xbox 360 consoles worldwide since its introduction in late 2005 compared to 14.4 million units for the PlayStation 3 and nearly 30 million Wii units since debuting in Nov 2006. In recent months, the PlayStation 3 has outsold the Xbox 360 in the United States. "Microsoft recognized it needed to do something and I think they also can afford it," said Michael Pachter, analyst at Wedbush Morgan. "They've got to make it up by penetrating more households and selling more software." After losing roughly $5 billion since it entered the video game console business in 2001, Microsoft turned a $426 million profit in fiscal 2008 at its entertainment and devices division, comprised mainly of the Xbox business. The price cuts were reported earlier by BusinessWeek on its Web site.

Ref:India times,04 sep 08.

IBM implementing innovative solution for HPCL:

BANGALORE: IBM on Thursday announced that it is implementing an innovative Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)-based solution for Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL). HPCL will leverage IBM's technology expertise to deploy an end-to-end tracking solution based on RFID technology at HPCL's Nashik plant, an IBM statement said. This USD 2.2 million deal is one of the single-largest implementations in India for RFID-based tracking solution and involves infrastructure services, business consulting services and middleware solution from IBM, it said. Under this agreement, IBM will design, deploy and integrate the RFID solution for tracking LPG cylinders from plant to the end-consumer. The solution will streamline the process of identification of LPG cylinders during bottling, distribution and supply chain, and is expected to cover 500,000 cylinders in the initial phase.

ref: Indiatimes,04 sep 08.