DAVOS DIARY, DAY 3: BEN VERWAAYEN, CEO ALCATEL LUCENT

Mint It seems like there is a need to repeat over and over again how bad the crisis is here in Davos. Last night’s dinner was such an experience—top-notch experts all insisting on how bad it is in their sector. The speeches of the prime ministers of China and Russia were also full of warnings, although it was striking to see the confidence China shows—to continue to grow around 8%. But there are also other lessons to learn: Young people are clearly impatient with the mistakes of the present generation. They want a different agenda,...

GOOGLE OUT TO EXPOSE INTERNET TRAFFIC CHOKERS

San FranciscoMint Google on Wednesday began offering tools to expose Internet service providers (ISPs) that choke traffic or shift users into slow lanes while allowing others to zip along at high speeds. The online search and advertising king is an unabashed champion of “net neutrality” in which all Internet traffic is treated equally instead of letting service providers give preferential treatment to privileged clients. “At Google, we care deeply about sustaining the Internet as an open platform for consumer choice and innovation,”...

NASSCOM TEAM TO VISIT US, LOBBY OBAMA GOVT

Lison Joseph, HyderabadMint Representatives of India’s software lobby group Nasscom will visit the US next month in the first of three planned visits to meet members of the Obama administration, at a time when business from the US is slowing on account of a recession in that country and any anti-outsourcing wave could seriously hurt software and back-office services companies here. Although the anti-outsourcing sentiment isn’t as pronounced as it was in the early 2000s, it did surface during the run-up to the presidential elections, with...

DATA CENTRE GROWTH MAY SLOW

BengaluruThe Asian Age Research firm Gartner, in October 2008, had stated that data centre capacity in India would grow from 1.3 million sq ft. in 2007 to 5.1 million sq ft. by 2012, a 31 percent CAGR. Although many IT vendors remain optimistic about the long-term, they do see a short-term spending blip on capacity expansion. "New data centre build outs will be delayed, not stalled," HP India’s director of Industry Standard Servers Rajesh Dhar says. Traditionally, the IT hardware sector in India has grown about three times the country’s...

9 WAYS TO TRIM TRAINING COSTS

Mohana RadhakrishnanThe Economic Times When sweeping budget cuts are made by companies, training is one of the first to feel the heat. Training organisations must have the ability to eliminate waste and embrace operational efficiency. Almost all training professionals have to justify the value of training to their management. Over the last few months, Expertus, which helps business growth through maximising training investment, has delved into the subject of costs in training organisations. Here are nine ways to trim the training operational...

KERALA TO ADOPT 3-BRAND STRATEGY FOR NEW IT PARKS

Sankar Radhakrishnan, ThiruvananthapuramThe Hindu Business Line The Kerala State Information Technology Mission is adopting a three-brand strategy for setting up new district-level IT parks in the State. Depending on which part of the State they are located in, the new Government-owned district-level IT parks in Kerala will carry the ‘Technopark’, ‘Infopark’ or ‘Cyberpark’ tags. The IT parks in the southern districts of the State will have the ‘Technopark’ tag, those in the central districts the ‘Infopark’ tag and those in the Malabar...

IBM, IDEA SIGN RS 86 CRORE CONTRACT

Mumbai Business Standard The Economic Times (Bangalore edition) The Hindu Business Line International IT giant IBM has signed an agreement with the country's leading cellular telephone service provider Idea Cellular for providing end to end solutions to Idea. Idea recently acquired Spice Communication for integration, transition and migration, Spice applications to Idea platform. The contract is worth Rs 86 crore and for eight years. As part of the contract, IBM will manage Idea's IT operations and services in Punjab and Karnataka...

SOFTLINK LAUNCHES TWO NEW PRODUCTS

MumbaiBusiness StandardLeading software company Softlink announced the launch of its two new products Logi-Sys and X-ponent aimed at simplifying operations of logistic industry. According to a company release, the announcement to this effect was made at the International Cargo, Logistic and Maritime Conference and Exhibition. Logi-Sys is a web-based, enterprise-class Logistics Suite for managing the operations of international freight forwarders, third party logistics players (3PLs), Air Cargo Agents, Shipping Agencies and Non-vessel operating...

DECISION DEFERRED ON YAHOO BREAKUP

San FranciscoFinancial Chronicle Will Carol Bartz sell Yahoo’s search business to Microsoft? Analysts asked the question time and again after Bartz delivered Yahoo’s financial results to Wall Street for the first time since becoming chief executive this month. Time and again, Bartz said she had not yet made up her mind. If anything, Bartz suggested that breaking off the search business would not be easy and that any decision would not come soon. ‘‘It is my job to make sure that as a company we look at anything that makes sense long...

IIT ACCREDITATION: NBA TO BACK TECH SCHOOLS’ METHOD

New DelhiThe Economic Times The Indian institutes of Technology (IITs) have won the round on the issue of accreditation of courses. The IIT Council remained firm on not going to the National Board of Accreditation (NBA) for their courses. Instead, the council said the directors would devise their own process similar to that of the NBA for accreditating their courses. The NBA, in turn, would accept this formulation. This move would help pave the way for India to become a full-fledged member of the Washington Accord, a grouping of 12...

GOVT APPROVES FDI PROPOSALS WORTH RS 1,277 CRORE

New DelhiMint The government has cleared 31 foreign direct investment (FDI) proposals worth Rs 1,277.23 crore of firms such as Morgan Stanley Financial Services, Keystone Realtors and Ramky Enviro Engineers. “The proposals relate to ministries or departments of commerce, economic affairs, telecommunication, urban development, civil aviation, industrial policy and promotion, post and information and broadcasting,” an official statement said. The largest investment proposals have come from Ramky Enviro Engineers and Keystone Realtors,...

IT TOWN PROJECT HITS LAND HURDLE

Ajanta Chakraborty, KolkataThe Times of India Land problem of a different kind has now hit a 1,730-acre IT township project. The government had directly bought some of the required land for the township which is supposed to cover six moujas of South 24-Parganas and four of North 24-Parganas way back in 1954. But some of the landlosing farmers alleged that they have not yet been paid for it and are, therefore, determined to stall the project. On Tuesday, around 200 farmers, armed with daggers and shovels, gheraoed land and irrigation...

STEPPING FORWARD WITH SEZS

The Economic Times Sterling opportunity to industrial prosperity India is emerging out of its image of being a back-office partner to mega industrial groups and is becoming the centre of attraction for latest industrial activities. The previously one-size fits all industrial development units are giving way to special economic zones focussing on dedicated segment industrial development. Special Economic Zones are located near the cities and regions which best suit the business activity in terms of environment, resources availability,...

M&AS WILL CONTINUE TO GREASE CORE BUSINESS STRATEGY IN 2009

The Financial Express Indian companies have realised the necessity, benefits and the importance of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) as a strategic tool in their businesses. While the numbers and values of deals last year were lower than 2007, which was a bumper year in M&As globally and in India, the fact that it has not dipped significantly in spite of the global economic downturn is an indication that M&A is now a core strategy for Corporate India. Though the M&A activity has broadly moved independent of the BSE Sensex,...

ITC INFOTECH SET TO FOCUS ON GREEN IT

Vinay Umarji, Mumbai/Ahmedabad Business Standard With two third of carbon footprint globally coming from computing power, ITC Infotech, a wholly owned subsidiary of ITC Limited is focusing on green IT in its future plans. Given the amount of outsourced IT solutions and services to the company through its wholly-owned subsidiaries in the UK and US, ITC Infotech will be investing into green IT and enterprise performance management. "While it is quite premature to put a number but we intend to invest a lot on green IT for next few years....

YAHOO POSTS HIGHER FOURTH QUARTER PROFIT

New YorkThe Economic Times Yahoo Inc posted a higher fourth-quarter profit on Tuesday, beating Wall Street forecasts after several months of cost-cutting initiatives in the face of a weak advertising market. The Silicon Valley-based Web pioneer said adjusted net profit for the fourth quarter rose to $238 million, or 17 cents per share, from $205.7 million, or 15 cents per share, a year earlier. Analysts on average had expected a profit of 13 cents per share, according to Reuters Estimates. But including write-downs and one-time...

EX-IBM EXEC TO GO TO APPLE AS LAWSUIT SETTLED

Los AngelesThe Economic Times A lawsuit that had barred former IBM Corp executive Mark Papermaster from leading Apple Inc's iPod and iPhone engineering teams has been resolved, the companies said on Tuesday. Papermaster will resume his work as senior vice president of devices hardware engineering starting April 24, after settling a lawsuit with IBM that had forced him to take a court-ordered hiatus, Apple said. An Apple spokesman would not divulge details of the settlement. Papermaster could not be reached immediately for comment....

AMDOCS SETS UP SOFTWARE, HARDWARE LAB AT MIT

Pune The Indian Express Students of Maharashtra Institute of Technology (MIT)’s College of Engineering and Pune Institute of Computer Technology (PICT) can now work towards making their innovative ideas a reality –thanks to the hardware and software laboratory set up by Amdocs India at the college campuses. Called as ‘Amdocs Innovation Labs’, the first one at PICT was set up in September 2008, while the one at MIT was launched on Tuesday. Amdocs being a provider of customer relationship management and billing software for communications...

ROW OVER IT SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONE ENDS

Santosh Patnaik, VisakhapatnamThe Hindu The row over notification of an IT SEZ at Rushikonda to develop it into another Cyberabad has come to an end with the AP Industrial Infrastructure Corporation and promoters of software units sorting out their differences over conversion of sale deed into lease and extension of benefits to all under SEZ rules. The decision is likely to give a boost to the IT and ITES business from the zone as the investors, who had threatened to approach the court to press for de-notification of SEZ, have now expedited...

LIFESIZE EXPANDS OPERATIONS

Chennai, Bangalore Business Standard LifeSize Communications, a provider of high definition video communications solutions, has expanded its operations in India by opening an expanded engineering design centre in Bangalore. The centre will be responsible for software development for the company’s HD video conferencing and telepresence products, the Austin-based company said here on Tuesday. The company however did not divulge the investment figures. “The new centre reflects the tremendous contribution the LifeSize team in India has made...

SANRAA STRIKES DEAL WITH ENDEMOL OF U.K.

ChennaiThe Hindu Sanraa Media, (earlier known as Sanra Software) a media technology company has signed a landmark co-production deal with Endemol U.K. for the production of the animated series – “The 99”. Endemol is owned by a consortium consisting of Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, Mediaset Group and Cyrte Group. The value of the deal is two million pounds (Rs. 13.20 crore). The animated series is based on the illustrated comics “The 99”, which are owned and published by the Teshkeel Media Group, Kuwait. As per the agreement, the...

TOP US IT COMPANIES ASK FOR INCREASED SPEND IN RESEARCH

New York, January 27, 2009 The Economic Times Top US executives of computer and software companies have asked that the new Obama administration to increase spending for research in science and technology and education if it wants keep up with countries like India and China. Unless the government boosts spending on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), companies like Apple, Cisco, Hewlett-Packard (HP), IMB, Microsoft and Oracle could be eclipsed by foreign rivals, just as Ford, General Motors and Chrysler have been,...

TECHNOLOGY GETS A PIECE OF THE OBAMA STIMULUS

New York, January 27, 2009 The Asian Age The time-tested way for governments to create jobs in a hurry is to pour money into old-fashioned public works projects like roads and bridges. President Obama's economic recovery plan will do that, but it also has some ambitious 21st century twists. The $825 billion stimulus plan presented this month by House Democrats called for $37 billion in spending in three high-tech areas: $20 billion to computerize medical records, $11 billion to create smarter electrical grids and $6 billion to expand...

IT MIN TO BOOST INDIAN IMAGE

Pawan Bali, New Delhi, January 27, 2009The Asian Age Deccan Chronicle The information and technology ministry is planning to call a meeting of top IT companies next month to formalise a plan on how to enhance Indian IT image globally in view of recent scandals which has hit the sector. Satyam fraud has raised questions on corporate governance among Indian IT companies. The World Bank ban on Wipro and Megasoft has put Indian IT companies in bad light. "The government needs to do something so that these controversies do not mar the...

TECH MAHINDRA GETS NEW ORDERS

Mumbai, January 27, 2009 Hindustan Times Tech Mahindra (TM), the IT arm of the Mahindra Group, has bagged four major orders over the last three months, the company has said. TM's largest client, British Telecom (BT), has made it the prime vendor for a five-year transformation programme. The deal, worth $350 million, would "include a transformation of the IT architecture and systems, governance and business processes," said Sanjay Kalra, president, TM. The company has got three more deals, one each in the US, Europe and Asia. They include...

EVERY INDIAN TO BE TAGGED

Ashish Sinha, New Delhi, January 27, 2009Mail Today Every Indian will soon be numbered. The government has prepared the ground for what could be the world’s biggest project to provide unique identification (UID) numbers to citizens. A new body will give all Indians UID-based smart cards with their personal details embedded in them. Even infants will have tag numbers, and will get smart cards in due course. The permanent identifiers will be place of birth, date of birth and name of parents. A gazette notification will soon be issued...

CHENNAI REALTORS IN RACE FOR RATTHA GROUP'S 9-GROUND PROPERTY

Hemamalini Venkatraman, Chennai, January 24, 2009The Economic Times The buzz in Chennai realty market is about the trend favouring joint development of projects by those having small and big land parcels. They prefer strategic partnerships to tide over cash crunch. One such deal that seems to be taking final shape is a 9-ground property of Rattha, a diversified group with interests in exports, infrastructure, SEZ and hospitality. A bevy of realtors are in the fray to jointly develop the Rattha north-east facing property, at Velachery,...

RIVERBED TECH BUYS US CO MAZU NETWORKS

L.N. Revathy, Coimbatore, January 27, 2009The Hindu Business Line Riverbed Technology, which is into providing WAN (Wide Area Network) optimisation solution for organisations worldwide, has acquired Mazu Networks, a privately owned company in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to expand and optimise its product offerings. Sharing this development with Business Line, Sidney Rabsatt, Product Manager, Riverbed, said the acquisition cost of Mazu Networks was around $25 million in cash. Riverbed is hoping to close this deal before the end of this...

LIFESIZE EXPANDS OPERATIONS

New Delhi, Bangalore, January 27, 2009 Business Standard LifeSize Communications, a provider of high definition video communications solutions, has expanded its operations in India by opening an expanded engineering design centre in Bangalore. The centre will be responsible for software development for the company’s HD video conferencing and telepresence products, the Austin-based company said here on Tuesday. The company however did not divulge the investment figures. “The new centre reflects the tremendous contribution the LifeSize...

QUEST SOFTWARE PLANS BUYOUT FOR $200 MILLION

Ravi Menon, New Delhi, Bangalore, January 27, 2009Business Standard Enterprise systems management supplier and product development company Quest Software Inc is looking at taking its Indian operations into the next level of growth via the inorganic mode. The company is looking at acquiring a product company in the target range of $50 million - $200 million, Quest Software managing director-India sub-continent, Krishnan Thyagarajan, said. “We are looking at acquiring a company with some good IPs and specialising in either traditional...

GOOGLE Q4 TOPS ANALYST VIEWS DESPITE EARNINGS DROP

New YorkThe Economic Times Google Inc posted strong fourth-quarter earnings on Thursday, beating Wall Street forecasts, as its Web search advertising business remained strong despite a bleak economy. Net income for the fourth quarter fell to $382 million or $1.21 a diluted share, from $1.21 billion, or $3.79 a share, a year earlier due to impairment charges on its investments in Clearwire Corp and Time Warner Inc unit AOL. Excluding one-time charges, profit rose to $5.10 a share, compared with Wall Street's target of $4.95 according...

MICROSOFT, GOOGLE FACE SAME HEADWINDS

Mint The world’s largest software company, Microsoft Corp., and Internet giant Google Inc. have more in common than the dominance of their respective markets. Both are also essentially one-trick ponies that have used their prodigious cash flows to pursue a host of side projects in attempts to diversify. And neither has had much success. A trying economic climate is changing that. Google recently axed its print advertisement ambitions and Microsoft sold its long-held stake in cable operator Comcast Corp. Their other non-core projects...

SERVICE PROVIDERS WOOING SMES

Anirvan GhoshThe Economic Times When Obeetee, a carpet making company in Mirzapur had to figure out how to participate in a trade fair in Atlanta with its senior executives not able to make it, the decision was quite simple. Using high-end videoconferencing equipment this carpet maker with offices in the US could transmit its chairman's message to the conference, which is one of the biggest in the sector. Companies like these find themselves increasingly being targeted by bigger players, and also by other small and medium businesses...

CLEAN TECH LEADS $50,000 RACE FOR IIT-BOMBAY’S EUREKA! 08

Hemamalini Venkatraman, ChennaiThe Economic Times (Delhi edition) It will be eight diverse ideas that will trigger the mother of all battles at Eureka! 08. Conceptualised by IIT-Bombay, the b-plan contest is held as part of the upcoming e-summit. The jury of the tenth edition of the annual contest has short-listed eight teams that are vying for a total prize-money of $50,000. At the entrepreneurship summit, to be held in Mumbai on February 7, 2009, Eureka!08 is pitched as Asia’s largest b-plan competition. The summit, which is perceived...

IMPERATIVES FOR TRAINING INDUSTRY

The Asian Age That there is a global opportunity for training companies is now well-recognised, but there are key concerns about our ability to tap this opportunity — that of the quality of education and weak admission and examination systems. In one breath, we are proud of our IITs and IIMs because the rigour of their admission processes. And in the other, we expect our training companies to dominate the world without having the necessary investment support to have the best systems and processes and attract the right talent to provide...