CRM
and the Indian CIO
CRM is something that most CIOs are quite familiar with and
many would have gone in for these solutions. This technology
is available as a module for an existing ERP system or as
a separate product or even as a service
Cover Story
Value
Thy CRM
In these times of grave economic uncertainties, organizations
need to double their customer focus and leverage CRM systems
by engaging more customers to increase profitability By Rajendra
Chaudhary
Profit
from on-demand CRM
Although recent CRM adoption trends suggest a higher uptake
of on-demand CRM, companies must exercise caution with respect
to customization and integration when rolling out a solution
By Rajendra Chaudhary
CRM
would bounce back
While the overall enterprise application software market a
beating, CRM absorbed some shocks despite weak spending. Factors
such as verticalization of CRM as well as faster resolution
of customer and sales cycle time would drive the CRM market
in 2010 By Rajendra Chaudhary
“CRM
witnessed growth despite the slowdown”
Balaka Baruah Aggarwal, Senior Research Manager-Emerging software,
Springboard Research said that the economic slowdown actually
contributed to the growth of CRM as companies become familiar
with its business benefits By Rajendra Chaudhary
Citizen's
CRM
For years CRM has been used as a tool for improving customer
engagements in the private sector but governments have reversed
this trend. Many state governments are doing PoCs to improve
government-to-citizen services & RTI using CRM By Rajendra
Chaudhary
Head to Head
An
executive conversation
The Rs 250 crore Super Religare Laboratories Ltd., refer SRL
(Formerly SRL Ranbaxy Ltd), is set to expand into upcountry
markets, while staying focused on extending healthcare to
the rural market
Vertical
Focus
IT
is key in controlling manufacturing costs
The manufacturing industry is expected to bounce back in 2010
riding on the key IT initiatives and new technology spending
it undertook in 2009. By N Geetha
Case Study
Virtualization
brings cost benefits to TBZ
By consolidating and virtutalizing 30 servers to four blade
servers, TBZ is expected to save Rs 40 lakhs annually in its
operational costs over three years. Additionally faster provisioning,
no new hardware purchases and energy saving are additional
riders By N Geetha
Backoffice
safeguards
Security measures to protect customer data boost client confidence
By Aditya Kelekar
A
smart DR plan
Syntel's DR plans make the best use of its existing infrastructure
By Aditya Kelekar
Special Feature
Wanted
entrepreneurial CIOs
According to a Gartner report, organizations that plan to
emerge stronger after the ongoing recession will need to have
entrepreneurial CIOs for it is the spirit that will help pave
the way for organizational growth going forward. By Rajendra
Chaudhary
Courting
a view
The video conferencing market in India is growing By Manish
Dixit
A
game-changer
Cloud computing transforms the way business consumes IT, argues
Nandu Pradhan
Update
“Indian
customers need a clear picture of remote infrastructure”
Annand Sarnaaik, Chairman and Managing Director, Glodyne Technoserve
talked to Rajendra Chaudhary on the latest trends and business
opportunities that exists in remote infrastructure management
and technology outsourcing
Cloud
computing is unproven technology in Indian healthcare
Contrary to popular belief that weak economic conditions would
drive cloud adoption, Brian Cohen, Chief Technology Officer,
iSOFT said that Indian healthcare is yet to bite into cloud
computing as it lags behind in basic IT adoption and investments.
He talked about this trend with Rajendra Chaudhary
Indian
logistics SPs are realizing the value of IT enabled operations
The Indian logistics industry is not the most technology savvy
industry out there and it continues to be bedeviled by the
proliferation of non-standard practices and processes. Vineet
Malhotra, Global Head, Marketing, Kale Consultants talked
to Rajendra Chaudhary on how IT has emerged as a key enabler
in that business
Analyst View
Virtualization
will grow bigger: F&S
Although in its nascent stage, the future of virtualization
market in India looks promising, noted Frost & Sullivan
SMBs
in India spent over $45m on hosted applications in 2009: AMI
Small and medium businesses (SMBs, or companies with up to
999 employees) in India are set to spend more than $45 million
on hosted applications in 2009, according to a new study by
Access Markets International (AMI) Partners
Strongest
growth in PC sales in Q4: Gartner
Worldwide PC shipments surpassed 90 million units in the fourth
quarter of 2009, a 22.1 percent increase from the fourth quarter
of 2008, according to preliminary results by Gartner
Dell's
SaaS-based cloud-based services to simplify IT management
and reduce costs
Dell India's new Services offerings as (SaaS) Software-as-a-Service
applications brings cloud based IT services to the existing
consulting, support and managed service capabilities under
Dell Services [formed by the acquisition of Perot Systems]
to help companies to reduce overall IT costs and automate
IT infrastructure management
Intel
unveils 32 nm Core i7, i5 and i3 processors
Intel Corporation’s all new 2010 Intel Core family of
processors delivers unprecedented integration and smart performance,
including Intel Turbo Boost Technology for laptops, desktops
and embedded devices
Seagate's
BlackArmor USB 3.0 portal hard drive is 3X times faster than
USB 2.0
Seagate's BlackArmor PS110 USB 3.0 portable external hard
drive packs a 500GB 7200RPM 2.5-inch portable hard drive,
which the company cliams to be three times faster than its
USB 2.0 predecessor, making it one of the fastest portable
hard drives available
TAKE
Solutions's multi-tenancy OneSCM solution
TAKE Solutions Ltd., a Supply Chain Management (SCM) and Life
Sciences products company has unveiled a new SaaS based offering,
OneSCM that supports multi-tenenacy and is aimed at delivering
online supplier management to medium and large enterprises
Core
data center spending will be hot in 2010
After a lull, enterprise application software spending is
expected to make a strong come back in 2010 especially ERP
and BI. Server-storage virtualization with DR and cloud services
will be other technologies in the wish list of CIOs during
2010. Rajendra Chaudhary tracked the spending spree
EAS
spending will grow in 2010
After a 18 month long hiatus in EAS spending, enterprises
will be focusing on BI & EAS upgrades in 2010 as large
enterprises have stabilized their ERP investments and have
huge databases that they want to analyze for strategic business
decisions. By Rajendra Chaudhary
Cloud(y)
adoption
As ClOs continue to remain fascinated with cloud computing,
vendors believed that their efforts will start to bear fruit
in 2010. By Rajendra Chaudhary
Head to Head
An
executive conversation
Aditya Birla Minacs provides customized business process outsourcing
solutions focused around CRM/contact centers, marketing, finance
& accounting and IT
Vertical
Focus
IT
to cement infrastructure growth
The CIOs of the infrastructure vertical are compelled to look
at IT as a business driver. By N Geetha
Case Study
The
holy grail of audit
Emphasis on audits and regular checks helped tighten infosec
at Yes Bank By Aditya Kelekar
Bank
uninterrupted
PNB's business continuity plan springs from a deep desire
to provide uninterrupted service to customers By Aditya Kelekar
Fortifying
IT security
At Wipro, role-based access bolsters the company's IT security
By Aditya Kelekar
Special Feature
Energy
crisis in DC to continue in 2010
A recent Gartner survey found that the current DC challenges
faced by organizations will worsen in 2010 and unless something
is done immediately, those running the facilities will have
their hands full with serious monetary and operational challenges.
By Rajendra Chaudhary
"CIOs
today are now open to converse around data"
Suganthi Shivkumar, MD, South Asia, Informatica said data
has become a life-line for organizations and that the data
quality can often determine the fate of an enterprise in these
uncertain times. Rajendra Chaudhary talked to her about the
importance of data quality
The
SOA story
The adoption Of SOA among Indian enterprises and its impact
By Asheesh Raina
Update
Large
customers want to go beyond basic customer service
Like most other enterprise applications segments, CRM too
has seen some tough times on the adoption front recently.
Rajendra Chaudhary caught up Gerald Prabhu, Executive Director,
Strategic Alliance & Marketing of CDC CRM Solutions and
asked him about the current market scenario, adoption trends
in CRM
Successful
data warehousing projects needs careful planning
Ashok Ekbote, Country Manager, Teradata India said that data
wareshousing (DW) projects don't necessarily have to be exhaustive
and expensive undertakings. A little bit of careful planning
can ensure success. Rajendra Chaudhary, discussed some finer
points of DW implementations
Managing
inboxes give IT managers headaches
Microsoft admited that some aspects of software licensing
policies have not found favor with customers. Amit Mehta,
Director, Unified Communications, Microsoft India talked about
the learning from previous products that went in the making
of Exchange Server 2010. By Aditya Kelekar
Bridging
the technology gap
Jonathan Rende, Vice President and General Manager, Business
Technology Optimization, Applications, Software and Solutions,
HP, spoke to N Geetha on how BTO can help business to bridge
the gaps that exists between IT strategy, applications and
operations
Security
Bytes
First
iPhone worm found
The first iPhone worm, dubbed as Ikee, is now very much here,
according to F-Secure, an antivirus vendor
SMEs
lose $ 40 million to cyberfrauds, phishing attacks on rise
According to Websense's latest security round-up, the security
breaches that made it to the top of the news included FBI's
revelation of losses suffered by SMEs to cyberfrauds amounting
to $ 40 million, a volley of phishing attacks on UK nationals
and the online disclosure of thousands of Hotmail passwords
Indian
IT Act gets a facelift
The long-awaited amendment to the Information Technology Act
(Amendment) Act 2008, which aims at tightening procedures
and safeguards for monitoring and interception of data to
prevent cyber crimes, has come into force
USA's
House Science subcommittee extends NIST's cybersecurity powers
The House Science and Technology Subcommittee on Technology
and Innovation approved a bill giving the National Institute
of Standards and Technology additional responsibilities for
developing cybersecurity standards, including ensuring privacy
protection for electronic health records
IT
industry outlook by Gartner
The IT industry is exiting its worst year ever, as worldwide
IT spending is on pace to decline 5.2 percent, according to
Gartner
3Com
will boost HP portfolio, says Saugatech Research
HP will purchase 3Com, a leading provider of networking switching,
routing and security solutions, at a price of $7.90 per share
in cash or an enterprise value of approximately $2.7 billion
Financial
institutions can save over 50 per cent on networking operational
costs
Financial institutions can achieve over 50 percent of TCO
by moving away from do-it-yourself (DIY) network infrastructures
and using shared managed extranet services, according to a
newly-published whitepaper from an independent research firm
that has been sponsored by BT
VMware
to help Indian business drive efficiency and innovation by
energizing IT
VMware, the global leader in virtualization solutions from
the desktop through the datacenter and to the cloud, has announced
new initiatives around its core products—VMware View,
the VMware vCenter Product Family, and VMware vSphere-to drive
'business infrastructure virtualization' adoption in India
HDS’
new application and data recovery solutions
Hitachi Data Systems Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary
of Hitachi, Ltd has announced the addition of the Hitachi
Dynamic Replicator to its replication and data protection
software portfolio
Cancer
Patients Aid Association adopts IVR and mobile based payments
Many non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are looking for
alternative techniques for garnering donations besides the
traditional ways of raising money for charity, from the corporate
sector and HNIs, which of late have been facing turbulence
CIOs
do a tight-rope walk
Overseeing IT security across global organizations is an enormous
task. Creating a balance between centralized security management
across a large distributed network and localized control over
security is a high-wire act that only a few can pull off successfully.
By Rajendra Chaudhary
The
relevance of security policies
Before weaving a security net to protect the IT organization,
a thorough investigation of policies that define the security
framework is a must. By Rajendra Chaudhary
Security
in the cloud
While most companies are skeptical of the cloud computing
model due to security issues, JSL has puts its IT security
on the cloud triggering a new trend. By Rajendra Chaudhary
Head to Head
An
executive conversation
Tech Mahindra is a $ 986 million IT service company with a
strong domain expertise in telecom vertical. Having global
footprints across the US, UK, Europe, Middle East and Asia
Pacific, the IT major has turned its focus on the domestic
market having top telecom providers as its customers
Vendor View
Security
compliance is not a choice but a mandate
While CIOs and CISOs get all the glory for handling IT security
matters for their organizations, security vendors too form
an important part of the equation said Amuleek Bijral, Country
Manager-India & SAARC, RSA [EMC Division] and Vishal
Dhupar, Mananging Director, Symantec India
Vertical
Focus
Enterprises
want to see the big picture
An insight into how CIOs in the pharmaceutical vertical are
addressing new business dynamics using IT for growth. By N
Geetha
Going
lean
To see its way through the recessionary economy, Yatra had
to get the biggest bang for its buck By Aditya Kelekar
Help
yourself
Uttarakhand State Power Corporation’s IT department is
trying to empower users to make the most of the department’s
software By Aditya Kelekar
Living
on the Edge
ICSA believes network-attached peripherals can no longer be
ignored by security solution providers and practitioners.
In this whitepaper, ICSA builds a case for its views
Special Feature
GRC:
next stop for CIOs
CIOs are not only applying GRC to manage transactional processes
but on their enterprise-wise risk management to bring efficiency
and reduce costs. By N Geetha
Rationale
behind the Dassault-IBM deal
Dassault Systems recently announced the purchase of IBM sales
and client support operations dedicated to its PLM software
portfolio. Rajendra Chaudhary analyzes the deal
SMBs
would adopt cloud services faster than enterprise
Anand Ramakrishna, General Manager & Head-Cloud Computing
Services, Wipro Infotech talked to Rajendra Chaudary about
the business, current trends and the need to ask the right
questions before using cloud services
Security
software efficacy
David Ferguson, President, APAC, AVG Technologies on the guarantees
offered by infosec software companies, the testing methods
employed by them and the spread of mobile malware, among other
topics
Reliance
announces cloud computing services
Reliance Data Center (a part of Reliance Communications) has
announced the launch of "Reliance Cloud Computing Services"
hosted infrastructure service for its customers
Synaptris’
BI solutions
Chennai-headquartered Synaptris India that providers tools
for reporting, dashboards and analysis has broadened its focus
to include the domestic market. The COO of Synaptris Nagaraj
Bhargava has an ambitious growth plan for the company
Cloud's
computing: a can of worries
Ken Schneider, CTO, Security and Compliance, Symantec talked
to Aditya Kelekar about the evolving infosec threat landscape
Security
Bytes
Major
hacking ring rounded up
International efforts have nabbed the masterminds of cybercrime
who stole over $9.4 million from credit card processor
PhishTank
records one million scams in two years
More than 1 million unique, suspected phishing scams have
been reported on PhishTank's web site in the course of the
last two years of its existence
Technology
news
"Adoption
of cloud storage will be driven by service providers"
Miklos Sandorfi, Chief Strategy Office, File and Content Services,
Hitachi Data Systems Corporation talked to Akhtar Pasha on
why the adoption of cloud storage will be driven by service
providers
L&T
Infotech teams with SEEBURGER to expedite US implementations
L&T Infotech, a global IT services provider, has teamed
with SEEBURGER Inc. for a strategic partnership, in order
to increase the US implementation resources for the latter's
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Business-to-Business
integration (B2B) software
Tata
Communications enters SaaS market
Tata Communications, has announced that Tata's Communications
On-Demand CRM service will be available to organizations of
all sizes in India
Advantage
open source
Vendors are exploring innovative ways to use the open source.
Users are exploring ways to use it in datacenter
The
people issue
Finding the right talent for internal and external skills
to support the adoption of open source is not an easy job.
But this trend is changing fast
At
loggerheads
A pitched battle between open source advocates and closed
source proprietary vendors is brewing
Total
control
Educational institutions want to trim their expenses to a
minimum, but they also want applications that are tailored
to their needs. Open source provides the answer
Head to Head
An
executive conversation
Headquartered in Mumbai, Institute of Technology & Management
(ITM) Business school is on an expansion mode of venturing
into healthcare and engineering fields while stretching its
network of MBA and hospitality schools
Vertical
Focus
Power
crisis
A look how CIOs in the power vertical are addressing their
business challenges using IT. By N Geetha
Case Study
On
the move
Shree Cement's RFID enabled Transport Freight Bidding System
helped it to eliminate discrepancies in its logistics process
By Rajendra Chaudhary
Improving
service levels
After running its IT operations in-house, AFL decided to outsource
to Accenture in late 2008 to trim costs and improve service
levels By Rajendra Chaudhary
Techvisor
BCM
is more than just DR
As Indian organizations attempt to understand Business Continuity,
management, they realize that there's more to enterprise resilience
than just strong IT By Rajendra Chaudhary
Scaling
mount governance
Getting IT governance integrated with business goals is easier
said than done. But the returns are assured. By Dipti Patel
The
next level
Legacy core banking systems must be shown the door if banks
are to remain responsive to customer needs By Gerrit Franzen
- Director FSI, APAC, Hitachi Data Systems
Special Feature
Business
users to port more apps on open source
An IDC survey predicts that the adoption of open source software
by organization will be driven by the mandate to trim operational
expenses going forward By Rajendra Chaudhary
IP
issues are a cause for worry
Intellectual Property (IP) protection awareness and action
has been on the rise among Indian enterprises. Multinational
IP consultancy firms are pitching Indian companies to try
and net new business. Richard Dunham, business development
manager with TAEUS International, which engages in intellectual
property consultancy, was at Interop, Mumbai to meet technology
decision makers. Richard Dunham, in an interaction with Aditya
Kelekar.
Managing
the SMB mindset is the key
In 2005, when the biggest co-operative bank in the country
decided to spin-off its internal IT arm into a full fledged
IT solutions company, not many thought of the move as a much
yielding one. Four years on and Saraswat Infotech today is
ready with two distinct software for the Indian BPO and SMB
market. Manoj Kunkalienkar, CEO of the company discusses the
two offerings and talks about managing SMB clients in a chat
with Rajendra Chaudhary.
Malware
attacks to grow in the future
In the monthly malware statistics for August 2009 compiled
by Kaspersky Lab, India earned the dubious distinction of
being third on the list of countries where cyber criminals
unleash their attacks. Rajendra Chaudhary chats with Alexander
Gostev-Director of Global Research & Analysis Team, Kaspersky
Lab, on this new development.
Industry
News
Verizon
Business and McAfee in strategic alliance
Verizon Business, a global provider of IT, communications,
security and network solutions, and McAfee Inc., a security
technology company, have announced a global strategic alliance
to provide integrated security solutions to businesses and
government agencies worldwide
Finnair
provides online security for its customers
Finnair is teaming up with Internet security specialists F-Secure
- another Finnish company dedicated to reliable service and
providing the best possible customer experience
MindTree
awarded leadership prize
MindTree, a global IT Solutions company, has been awarded
the Asian Most Admired Knowledge Enterprise (MAKE) Award by
Teleos, in association with The KNOW Network
Big
news is good news for cybercriminals
Big news has always been great news for cybercriminals. The
death of Michael Jackson and the election of Obama may have
shocked the world in different ways, but for a malware writer
wanting to lure the unsuspecting, they are both golden opportunities
to dangle the bait
Security
Bytes
Microsoft
sues unknown cybercriminals
On the face of it, this seems to be just another case of malvertisements
on the Internet. However, this time around the folks at Redmond
seem to have been greatly annoyed to let the matter pass
Eco Beat
IT
sector leads in carbon disclosure
The response to the Carbon Disclosure Project 2009 (CDP2009)
from Asia ex-Japan has been very encouraging this year. The
number of reporting companies has more than doubled to a total
of 127, up from 61 last year
Analysts
Views
Conferencing
tools in much demand among Indian SMBs
Small and medium businesses (SMBs, or companies with up to
999 employees) in the Indian subcontinent are set to spend
US$48.8 million on Unified Communication (UC) in 2009, up
over 2008, according to a new study by Access Markets International
(AMI) Partners, Inc. Medium businesses (MBs, or companies
with 100-999 employees) will account for over 40% of the country's
total SMB expenditure, while small businesses are increasing
their adoption of basic UC solutions
Companies
adapting to the tough climate, finds McKinsey study
As usual, it's survival of the fittest. Some companies have
moved beyond merely coping with the crisis and are once again
actively planning for the long term, according to a survey
by McKinsey Global Economic Conditions Survey in the field
from September 7th to the 11th
Best
of cloud and on-premise is the new mantra, says Saugatuck
Salesforce.com announced the availability of new, jointly-marketed
Cloud-based CRM solutions from Salesforce.com and Dell Inc.
Dell will offer Salesforce.com's SaaS-based CRM and sales
automation applications to its SMB clients, and will provide
implementation and integration with existing systems and databases
Windows
Mobile based smartphone slows down; new interest in Android
phones slows
According to latest Ovum report, there has been decrease in
the total number of handsets launched during the rolling 12-month
tracking period. Accounting for the seasonality of the handset
market, Ovum counted just 13 new models launched during 2Q09,
compared with 26 for the same period in 2008
SaaS
eating into on-premise application; driven by large enterprise
spending
Springboard's report on 'Software-as-a-Service in APEJ 2009/2010',
revealed that more than 50% of SaaS adopters had evaluated
an on-premise application before ultimately choosing a SaaS
solution, indicating that SaaS applications have begun to
eat into the on-premise applications market across APEJ
What
makes an enterprise intelligent?
Technology Senate 7.0 held in Phuket, Thailand was organized
by the Indian Express Group. Over 150 CIOs attended the event.
Before the Polycom Intelligent Enterprise Awards were presented,
a panel discussion was conducted about the concept, process
and methods behind the awards
Polycom
Intelligent Enterprise Awards
The end of the first day of Technology Senate 2009 saw the
announcement of the Polycom Intelligent Enterprise Awards
after an address by the CIO of Polycom, Inc
RSA
Security Strategist Awards
In the last few decades India Inc, has witnessed increased
IT deployment with an objective to respond to changing business
dynamics while having a competitive edge
Sunil
Dhaka, CISO, ICICI Bank
Sunil Dhaka, the winner of the RSA Security Strategist Award
2009 in the BFSI category believes that a holistic approach
towards ensuring information security within the bank is a
critical game, a strategic initiative in itself
Felix
Mohan, Senior Vice President & CISO, Bharti Airtel Ltd
Given the challenge of having 24x7 network connectivity for
the millions of its subscribers, the demand for a strong and
robust security systems was the top priority for Bharti Airtel
Vijay
S Mahajan, Sr GM-IT Infrastructure & IS, M&M Ltd
The recipient of the RSA Security Strategist Awards 2009 in
the General Industry category, Vijay S Mahajan, Senior General
Manager-IT Infrastructure & information security, Mahindra
& Mahindra Ltd., has made a difference with the implementation
of the project 'Suraksha'
Emerson
Uptime Champion Awards
The Emerson Uptime Champion Awards 2009 have been instituted
by the Indian Express Group for organizations and CIOs who
are determinedly working to improve the overall reliability
of their IT infrastructure thereby reducing costs and improving
productivity
Vertical
Focus
Focus
on: Cement
Rajendra Chaudhary examines the IT preparedness of some of
India’s leading cement companies and how CIOs in the
vertical are using IT to address critical business challenges
Geojit
BNP Paribas Financial Services Limited
Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services Limited (formerly known
as Geojit Financial Services Limited) provides a range of
trading and investment products and solutions
Log
sense
At WNS, an incident management application is helping the
infosec team in keeping vigil By Aditya Kelekar
Mission
uptime
High uptime is critical to HDFC Bank's successful operations
By Aditya Kelekar
Crossfire
‘‘As
important as data quality is, it is not a headline problem’’
George Langley, Co-founder and Director, Mastersoft that specializes
in resolving data quality issues for enterprises talked to
Rajendra Chaudhary about data quality challenges faced by
companies and tried to scope out the responsibilities of CIOs
in such endeavors.
By Invitation
Impact
of IT governance on projects
IT governance can have a great impact on the success rate
of projects. Is business listening? By Sunil Mehta
The
future of data protection
The need for data protection technology is well recognized,
but implementation is slow By Anand Naik
Special Feature
Money
matters
The widening threat landscape and a need to make up for lost
time in 2009 will prompt organizations to spend more on IT
security in 2010 says Gartner Research By Rajendra Chaudhary
Motorola’s
enterprise mobility bid
K Subramanian, managing director, Enterprise Mobility Business,
Motorola India speaks about the benefits of using an EMS solutions.
Open
standards in UC
The newly appointed Managing Director for Avaya India, Jangoo
Dalal, replies to issues related to the Nortel acquisition,
the potential of UC and vendor lock-in complaints.
DR
seen only as an insurance policy
With the swine flu scare still raging, concerns related to
Business Continuity Planning and Disaster Recovery have again
come in focus. Lakshman Narayanaswamy, VP Products, Sanovi
Technology India shares his impressions from meeting customers.
Business
applications to move in cloud
Mike Morrissey, Global Operations Manager, Institution of
Engineering and Technology (IET) talks to Rajendra Chaudhary
about trends, issues in cloud computing and its impact in
India
e-waste
management: Policy wanted
Vinnie Mehta, Executive Director, Manufacturers Association
for Information Technology (MAIT) talks candidly about the
apathy of the Indian organizations towards the issue of e-waste
management and control in an interview with Rajendra Chaudhary
European
Recycling Platform raps WEEE implementers
In a scathing report on WEEE's Directives, the European Recycling
Platform has said that the directives have failed to get a
grip on all WEEE
streams and to assure prevention of bad treatment
Security
Bytes
DDos
Attack bring social network sites to their knees, reports
Websense
A massive DDoS attack on several major Web 2.0 sites such
as Twitter, Google Blogger, LiveJournal, and Facebook was
among the biggest security attacks in the month that passed,
according to Websense's monthly news roundup
APWG
announces eCrime Congress
The Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) has announced it has
opened registration for its eCrime Congress | Tacoma 2009,
a three-day program beginning October 19, 2009
Moily
for more cyber crime legislation
Union Law Minister Dr. M Veerappa Moily has said that he would
like to see more Acts to deal with the increasing volume and
variety of cyber crimes
Microsoft
sues companies accused of aiding malware spread
In what appears to be a frontal attack against those in the
malware chain, Microsoft has filed civil suits against businesses
believed to be responsible for placing advertising that hides
malware
BT
selected for by Siemens for international data network
BT has signed a three-year agreement to provide and operate
the international data network for Siemens Enterprise Communications
(SEN). The contract covers more than 230 locations of SEN
in 45 countries
Free
Antivirus for NGOs
NASSCOM Foundation, the CSR arm of NASSCOM, India's premier
IT industry body, and Quick Heal Technologies, one of India's
leading antivirus solutions providers have partnered to provide
antivirus solutions for free to NGOs under NASSCOM Foundation's
BiGTech.in programme
TCS
to implement SWAN in AP
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), an IT services, consulting,
business solutions and outsourcing firm, has won the country's
largest State Wide Area Network (SWAN) project from the government
of Andhra Pradesh on a five year Build, Own, Operate, and
Transfer (BOOT) model
F-Secure
offers backup services
F-Secure Corporation, a provider of security as a service
through ISPs and mobile operators, has announced that it has
extended its Online Backup services to the customers of Tata
Communications
Analyst's
View
Security
Software Market on Pace to Grow 8 Per Cent in 2009, says Gartner
The worldwide security software market will total $14.5 billion
in 2009, an 8 per cent increase from 2008, according to Gartner
In 2008, it grew at 19 per cent, and Gartner anticipates the
market to grow 13 per cent in 2010 as revenue will total $16.3
billion
Sales
of item-level RFID systems to go up, says ABI Research
RFID's ability to help apparel companies do more with less
in the wake of economic downturn is driving an unprecedented
surge in adoption throughout the sector, ABI Research has
reported
The
pit falls of Virtualization
Virtualization may have great potential to improve efficiencies,
simplify management, and enhance agility, and be one of the
hottest technologies to hit the data center in years; however,
it's far from smooth sailing all the way
Asia
Pacific Server Shipments register a dip
In the second quarter of 2009, Asia Pacific continued its
downward trend in server shipments with 17.2 percent year
on year decline, with shipments totaling 323,388 units
Two
sides of the cloud
When it comes to reducing CapEx and speeding project implementation,
IT executives are significantly more positive about the potential
of Cloud infrastructure solutions than are business executives,
are the findings of a study conducted by Saugatuck research
HCL,
BSNL Partner for National Broadband Penetration Program
HCL Infosystems Ltd. and BSNL announced that they will be
working together on the National Broadband Penetration Program
(NBPP), a nationwide initiative to accelerate IT proliferation
in rural India
Service
providers build new cloud services on VMware platform
VMware, the global leader in virtualization solutions from
the desktop through the datacenter and to the cloud, announced
advancements in the VMware vCloud initiative-designed to help
customers safely tap compute capacity for internal and external
clouds-how they want, when they want and as much as they want
BT
selected by SEN for international data network
BT has signed a three-year agreement to provide and operate
the international data network for Siemens Enterprise Communications
(SEN). The contract covers more than 230 locations of SEN
in 45 countries
Almost
Mobile!
Though the concept of mobility is beginning to take root in
the enterprise consciousness, Indian organizations have a
lot of ground to cover before they can be deemed truly mobile
By Rajendra Chaudhary
Mobile
SFA the vendor’s perspective
Remember all those customer relationship management (CRM)
projects that companies invested in not too long ago? How
CIOs bragged about conquering the world through better customer
focus? It was all about attaining competitive advantage by
getting closer to the customer, understanding, selling and
servicing him better that prompted these organizations to
sink money in massive CRM projects; projects that never really
delivered, at least not to the extent that the concerned enterprises
anticipated
SMS
to the rescue!
Marico turns to SMS for streamlining the copra supply chain
and bringing greater transparency To its reverse auction process
By Rajendra Chaudhary
Vertical
Focus
Focus
On: Healthcare
N Geetha examines the business challenges faced by CIOs in
the healthcare vertical and looks at how technology is being
used as an enabler.
By Invitation
Transformational
CRM
CRM in the pharmaceutical industry has evolved considerably
in the course of the last few decades By Rangin Lahiri
The
right tool for the job
Enterprises could reap big gains by using IT application portfolio
analysis to Accelerate CIO Decisions By George Berelson, Director
Businesses Consulting, Virtusa Corporation
Techvisor
Danger
in the air
Out of sight is not out of mind, when it comes to WLAN security
By Aditya Kelekar
Head to Head
Hinduja
Global Solutions Limited (HGSL)
The $165 million Hinduja Global Solutions Ltd.(HGSL), an outsourcing
arm of the multi-billion dollar Hinduja Group, excels in providing
outsourcing solutions that include Back Office Processing,
Contact Center and Customized IT Services to its global clients
including several Fortune 500 companies
''Azure
forms a very important part of our S+S strategy''
Microsoft has been trying hard to get some momentum going
for its Software-plus-Services (S+S) idea. Moorthy Uppaluri,
General Manager - DPE, Microsoft India talks about S+S and
his company's move to the cloud, in a chat with Rajendra Chaudhary.
Green
IT: not just lip service
R. Ravichandran, Director Sales, Intel South Asia talks about
Green IT and Intel's bid for protecting the environment, in
a chat with Rajendra Chaudhary.
Outsourcing
BC/DR-let experts handle it!
Atul Hemani, MD, Omnitech InfoSolutions, explains why outsourcing
BC/DR makes sense, in a conversation with Rajendra Chaudhary.
Innovations
in HP products
Stephen Bovis, VP & GM, Industry Standard Servers, TSG,
HP Asia Pacific and Japan, is responsible for driving HP's
momentum in the blade server and virtualization market, while
growing HP Proliant portfolio across the region. In a discussion
with N Geetha, Bovis touches upon the innovations that have
gone into HP products.
Security
Bytes
Facebook
platform used for phishing, finds study
The hugely popular social networking sites like Facebook and
Twitter have become attractive targets for phishing and scamming
attacks as online criminals follow the latest Internet trends
that are attracting the most users
Data
breach silences Thunderbird
The mizilla store, an online store run by Mozilla, the maker
of Firefox and Thunderbird, suffered a security breach last
month
Torrent
malware, storming defences and lies
A recent roundup on information security trends by Websense
has found that even the sites of firms synonymous with downloads
are susceptible to security breaches
Indian
teams at Cisco Developer Contest 2009
Cisco has announced the 10 shortlisted teams from Phase 1
of Cisco's global Developer Contest - 'Think Inside the Box'
- which includes two Indian teams
VMware
acquires SpringSource
VMware has announcing its planned acquisition of open source-based
Java development firm SpringSource. SpringSource, formerly
Interface21, is best known as the commercial development firm
leading the Spring portfolio of open source projects
Eco-Beat
Look
again: the e-waste mound is smaller
A study on computer reuse in a developing country has come
up with some good news for green IT advocates: it has found
that the extent of e-waste reuse may not have been correctly
calculated and that it's likely to be more than what was earlier
believed
Dell
firms up its e-waste policy
Dell has banned the export of non-working electronics to developing
countries as part of its global policy on responsible electronics
disposal
SMBs
showing increasing interest in managed services and SaaS
A recent eleven-country study by AMI-Partners highlighted
significant changes in SMBs' IT needs and interests. The study's
focus was to analyze how the economy is impacting SMBs' perceptions,
usage and purchasing behaviors related to IT
Organizations
must unlock potential of existing assets, Butler Group report
In a low capital expenditure climate organizations need to
know how to unlock the financial and intellectual value hidden
in existing assets, advise the authors of A new report by
IT research and advisory organization, Butler Group
Campus
Tech-Reality Bites
Although campuses are known for adopting the latest, greatest
IT products and services abroad the same is not true of the
Indian education sector By N Geetha
Homegrown
apps rule
The Indian Educational fraternity prefers homegrown IT over
branded offerings By N Geetha
Wide
open campuses
Vendors selling proprietary software applications face a tough
task when it comes to getting their products deployed on campuses
as IT heads in this sector are whole-heartedly behind Open
Source software By N Geetha
IT@Education:
Gartner’s Perspective
Gartner observes that there has been a good amount of disparity
in terms of campus adoption of technology. The adoption graphs
are not linear as these go with the funding, culture and need
that determines the deployment structure. In a conversation
with N Geetha, Asheesh Raina, Principal Research Analyst,
Gartner India, shared his thoughts about the challenges faced
by IT heads, the priority technology areas, perceptions about
technology and its use
Networking:
The Backbone
The greatest challenge that IT heads of campuses face is how
to scale up their network infrastructure in providing uninterrupted
transfer of data or uptime By N Geetha
Green
IT in education
While going Green has been the agenda of every CIO or IT head
of every industry vertical, campuses seem to be lackadaisical
as far as moving towards the adoption of this trend By N Geetha
Vertical
Focus
Focus
On: Logistics Sector
The Indian environment presents Logistics Service Providers
(LSPs) with some unique challenges, observes Rajendra Chaudhary
The
next leap for wireless
The next generation of high performance wireless is around
the corner in the form of 802.11n. How different will it be?
By Sridevi Koneru
Techvisor
Quality
Checked
Product certifications by competent authorities mean a lot
more to vendors than building credibility By Aditya Kelekar
Head to Head
Datacraft
India
IT services and solutions major Datacraft India has been a
pioneer in deploying IT solutions to drive its own business
and to drive optimum business efficiency for its customers.
Sunil Manglore, CEO of Datacraft India and Shailendra Badoni,
COO and IT head have taken up the mission of driving optimum
utilization of IT as a tool to address business growth
Case Study
Up
and running
To support production systems at MIRC Electronics, a fast
and reliable network was critical By Aditya Kelekar
Crossfire
"SaaS
is not hype"...
...It has become mainstream despite the fear, uncertainty
and doubt from on-premise vendors
‘‘Virtualization
technologies are evolving and need time to mature’’
While there is definitely a place for application virtualization
in the enterprise consciousness, the discipline hasn't found
a firm footing jut yet. In a chat with R. Viswakumar, AVP,
Global Technology Office, Cognizant, Rajendra Chaudhary tries
to find out the reasons.
SaaS
still needs some work
S. Sunderaraj, Senior Vice President - Enterprise Solutions,
Ramco Systems talks about the increasing acceptance of SaaS,
in particularly on-demand ERP in a chat with Rajendra Chaudhary.
Social
Security numbers need reinforcement, finds study
Citizens of USA who thought that committing a social security
number to memory and keeping the social security card on one's
person safeguarded oneself from a possible theft of the card
details might be in for a surprise
Susceptible
bank puts the brakes on hacking demo
Barnaby Jack, a Juniper Networks security researcher was all
set to demonstrate a way to hack the software of an ATM at
the Black Hat Briefings in Las Vegas, when he received a request
to go slow on his wizardry
Cybercrime
continues unabated, Cisco's mid-year report
Internet criminals are increasingly operating like successful
businesses, borrowing some of the best strategies from legitimate
companies and forming partnerships with one another to help
make their illegal activities more lucrative, reports Cisco
in its Cisco 2009 Midyear Security Report
Telecom Space
Broadband
subscriber base crosses 6.2 million, says TRAI
TRAI's latest report on telecom landscape in India, titled
"The Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicators Report",
has shown healthy increases in subscription percentages in
all categories except rural wireline subscriber base, which
has seen a slight decrease and is in keeping with the proliferation
of wireless services
Nokia
Siemens Networks in Vodafone deal
Vodafone Essar has completed a rapid service expansion into
seven new regions across India. People living in or traveling
to Assam, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya
Pradesh, North East and Orissa will now be able to use services
provided by India's second largest GSM operator
BT
and IT Holdings Group sign a MOU
British Telecommunications and IT Holdings Group are collaborating
in providing next-generation IT services. The strategic partnership
aims to support and offer IT services for Japanese enterprises
which have business operations throughout the world, allowing
customers to enjoy the most suitable outsourcing environment
on a global basis
Analysts'
Views
Race
to dominate the future of TV is underway: Gartner
Although the web of players competing to lead the way for
TV 2.0 is starting to have some definition, content providers,
device makers, cloud providers and communications firms will
need to come together to secure the future of next-generation
TV, according to Gartner
NetApp
India invests in green innovation center
NetApp has invested in infrastructure and equipment to build
a n new multi-million (U.S.) dollar innovation center, called
the NetApp Innovation Centre (NIC), which has several energy
efficient features
The
price of loose control
After spending millions on rolling out their branches, enterprises
want to get the biggest bang for their buck. Sensible infrastructure
management may hold the key. By Aditya Kelekar
Vertical
Focus
Focus
On: Automotive
Like any other industry, the Indian automotive industry has
also become a victim of the economic slowdown which has impacted
its growth targets. N Geetha does a reality check on the business
challenges that CIOs in this vertical face
By Invitation
Get
that lean look
Application of lean principles to IT can cut waste and trim
cost, working wonders in a recessionary economy. By Peter
Waterhouse
Techvisor
The
CISO’s place
The CISO community remains divided over who should the CISO
report to and which arrangement works the best, observes Rajendra
Chaudhary.
Head to Head
Digital
Media Convergence Limited (DMCL)
The $2.5 m Digital Media Convergence Ltd., an arm of the Essel
Group, has been in the market for just over a year. Ishwar
Jha, CEO, DMCL is a technocrat and DMCL's Head-Technology
& Development, Deepak Chauhan understands the nuances
of Web-based technology.
Case Study
Workforce
Management: Bharat Forge Style
At BFL, automation of the manual system of tracking time and
attendance improves Shop Floor productivity By Rajendra Chaudhary
(Q&A)
Investments
in LTE aren’t a cause for worry
Perry LaForge, Executive Director, CDMA Development Group
(CDG) talks about the cellular technology and the reasons
for its success in a chat with Rajendra Chaudhary
Imposing
security does not work
In a chat with Rajendra Chaudhary, Cyberoam's CEO, Hemal Patel,
talks about the lack of organizational effort towards sensitizing
the users about the importance of security.
The
times they are a changin'
Ashok Krishnamoorthy, CEO, OPD Business Unit, MindTree shares
his thoughts on the OPD business with Rajendra Chaudhary and
talks about recent trends that have come to define the market
globally.
Mere
IAM is not enough
Kaushik Thakkar, Co-founder & VP-Sales, PortWise talks
about the Identity & Access Management (IAM) challenges
in a conversation with Rajendra Chaudhary.
Mumbai
gets its specialized crime cell
The Mumbai Police's specialized cyber crime police station
is now operational. Launched on May 30, this is the first-of-its-kind
facility in the Maharashtra state
Liberal
access to Web 2.0 sites, gaping security holes—Websense
Survey
86 percent of IT managers reported feeling pressured to allow
more access to more types of Web 2.0 sites and technologies,
finds a new global survey by Websense, based on responses
from 1,300 information technology managers across ten countries
Wireless
News
Survey
tracks Wi-Fi-enabled phone users
A survey conducted by ABI Research found that 77 percent of
users of Wi-Fi-enabled mobile phones are completely or very
satisfied with their device
WiMAX
interoperability trials get underway
The WiMAX Forum has announced that 14 ecosystem leaders would
be participating in the first ever commercial WiMAX interoperability
and roaming trials
Juniper
and Nokia-Siemens strike deal on Carrier Ethernet front
Juniper Networks, a networking vendor, and Nokia Siemens Networks,
a global enabler of telecommunications services, have announced
that the two companies plan to form a joint venture to address
the Carrier Ethernet Transport market
Al
Hilal Bank deploys Polaris solution
Polaris Software Lab Limited, a financial technology company,
has announced that Al Hilal, a leading bank in UAE, has gone
live on Polaris' Intellect Collect system
Bharti
Airtel signs managed services deal with Comviva
Bharti Airtel, an integrated telecom services provider, has
announced a managed services deal with Comviva, a provider
of integrated VAS solutions for mobile operators in emerging
markets
Analysts’
View
Gartner's
advisory for cost-cutting in the data center
Gartner has outlined seven practical ways to save costs in
the data center. While responding to contracting budgets,
IT managers are expected to deliver an ever-increasing level
of service to users, and many are charged with showing tangible
financial savings as part of cost-cutting measures,"
said Rakesh Kumar, research vice president at Gartner
Focus
on managed device platforms continues, says Ovum
The latest version of the iPhone marks Apple's continued focus
on the smartphone market, says Adam Leach, Devices principal
analyst with Ovum, a global advisory and consulting firm
Indian
SMEs still slow on online advertising, finds AMI study
For Indian SMEs, online advertising is yet to come of age.
According to an AMI-Partners study, less than 6% of PC-owning
India SMBs (companies with up to 999 employees) advertise
online-indicating a significantly high growth potential
Crossfire
"Government
will adopt APM for different reasons"
When we saw Amit Chatterjee, Managing Director of CA India,
talk about Application Performance Management (APM) with a
group of senior government officials at the recently held
Technology Sabha in Hyderabad, we wondered if he was preaching
to the wrong choir. Rajendra Chaudhary caught up with the
newly appointed MD and tried to figure out his agenda.
Technology
Sabha
Technology Sabha has truly become a pan India event. For the
sixth iteration of this bi-annual event we came to Hyderabad,
the famed city of the Nizams, and what a gathering of bureaucrats
and senior government officials it turned out be
Institutionalizing
IT Governance
When attempting IT Governance the CIO needs to win the confidence
of not only the top brass but also those on the lower rungs
of the organizational hierarchy. By Rajendra Chaudhary
Vertical
Focus
Focus
On: SWAN progress in individual states
A lot depends on the state-sponsored SWAN. Or does it? Departments
in states that have implemented SWAN are making good use of
the network infrastructure, but some others in states without
a SWAN are doing well too.
By Invitation
Testing
for real gains
A proper assessment of e-Governance projects should include
an evaluation of the utility value of projects. By Mayank
Saxena
Future
of outsourcing
The slowdown is likely to have a positive effect on the LPO
industry in India, the author argues. By Lokendra Tomar
Techvisor
Respecting
the IT guy
When it comes to getting recognition for their efforts, lower
ranked IT workers say they deserve a little bit more. By Rajendra
Chaudhary
Head to Head
Reliance
Money
The Rs 352 crore online broking and distribution major, Reliance
Money, believes in being the first mover in deploying technology
tools across its operations
Case Study
Everyone
loves a fair price
MSAMB's computerization drive has helped accomplish many things,
including dissemination of ESSENTIAL information. By Aditya
Kelekar
(Q&A)
There's
more to a CISO's job than just security
Girish Trivedi, Deputy Director, South Asia Middle East, ICT
Practice, Frost & Sullivan, talks about the evolution
of the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) in a conversation
with Rajendra Chaudhary.
IT
in logistics: Not there yet
Sumeet Nadkar, CFO & Head-Logistics SBU, Kale Consultants
talks about the tech adoption trends in the Indian logistics
space and discusses in detail the IT savviness of Indian LSPs
with Rajendra Chaudhary.
BI's
growing in importance
Chase Hacker, Director, Business Intelligence, Sybase Asia
Pacific spoke to Nivedan Prakash about the latest trends in
BI and the challenges for Indian enterprises
Wipro's
technology transformation promise
In a chat with Rajendra Chaudhary, Anuj Bhalla, GM & Business
Unit Head-Enterprise Services, Wipro Infotech talks candidly
about Technology Transformation Services, his company's latest
service offering and its viability in the current economic
climate.
Storage
is a strategic discussion for SMBs today
In a chat with Amit Malhotra, Manager Volume Storage, StorageWorks
Division- Asia Pacific & Japan, HP, Rajendra Chaudhary
finds out more about the latest storage trends in the SMB
space.
Vendor Watch
Appetite
for more?
The slowdown may have reduced IT spending in most industries,
but major IT vendors continue to augment their suite of products
by acquisitions. Those acquired include the Pure Digital,
maker of the smart and sleek Flip camcorder and Sun, the name
associated with the omnipresent Java.
Security
Bytes
In
the cloud? Tread with caution!
IT managers who thought a transition to cloud computing would
solve all their teething infrastructure troubles may need
to do a reality check
Many
firms lack fixed IT security budget, F&S report
According to a recent Frost & Sullivan survey based on
responses from CIOs across industries, a significant number
of CIOs in India didn't have any fixed budget for IT security,
the procurement of IT security products in these companies
was purely demand-based and adherence to standards is abysmally
low
Know
thy direction
Discussion in Tech Sabhas have been the fodder for many a
bright idea. Recent participants share their views on what
can keep the event ticking. By Aditya Kelekar
Crossfire
Keep
checking what the business want
How does the successful CIO adapt to the changing economic
conditions? Gartner VP & Distinguished Analyst John Mahoney
spoke to Express Intelligent Enterprise Sr. Correspondent
Aditya Kelekar about CIO’s role in times of turbulence.
Downtime
Vijay Mehra, Global Chief Information Officer, Essar Group
Hard
questions for the fairer sex
Are women CIOs a better match than their male counterparts?
Can women in IT handle stress better?…. We talked to
four women CIOs to get their perspectives on a wide range
of issues that affect them. By Aditya Kelekar and N Geetha
The
IT Woman
It is no secret that women are severely underrepresented in
IT and that there aren't many women CIOs. But with all the
talk about how a greater gender diversity and better gender
dynamics can help the cause of the IT organization, the current
scenario could be in for a change in the days ahead. By Rajendra
Chaudhary
Vertical
Focus
Focus
On: Advertising
An optimistic trend prevails in the advertising sector as
CIOs are bullish about their technology deployments which
are not constrained by the economic downturn. While CIOs face
new business challenges, the investments in IT seem to be
unaffected with the top management relying on IT to drive
growth.
The
two-factor shield
Internet fraud perpetrators have had a field day till now.
With RBI cracking the whip on banks 2-factor authentication,
the scene is set to change. By Aditya Kelekar
Head to Head
Madras
Cements Ltd
Chennai headquartered Madras Cements, a leading player in
that domain, has been a pioneer in many ways, with IT being
no exception
Case Study
HDFC
attempts storage nirvana
HDFC cuts down on its visits to the storage shop and extends
the life of its existing storage through virtualization. By
Rajendra Chaudhary
(Q&A)
HP:
Betting big on information management
In a chat with Jonathan Martin, Worldwide Vice President &
General Manager, Information Management Software & Solutions,
HP, Rajendra Chaudhary finds out more about HP's information
management agenda.
Hosting
an ERP is harder than CRM
Sushant Dwivedy, Director, Microsoft Business Solutions, Microsoft
India, articulates the viability of an on-demand model for
his company's ERP line up, with Rajendra Chaudhary.
Analysts'
Views
Sunny
days ahead for Cloud Computing
Although most analyst firms have predicted that IT spending
will remain flat or decline in most parts of the world in
the coming financial year, interest in cloud computing offerings
continues to rise
Two
more years of recession—KPMG
Mick McLoughlin, Global Head of Restructuring at KPMG, feels
that we will take atleast two more years to come out of the
current economic recession
Outsourcing
“Megadeals” increased in 2008, says Gartner
The number of reported outsourcing "megadeals" awarded
to a single service provider in 2008 was 12, an increase from
10 in 2007, according to Gartner, Inc. Megadeals are characterized
as being worth more than $1 billion
Security
Updates
Is
blocking porn at workplace good for IT security?
Here's another reason IT folks have to limit the Net excursions
of the over-adventurous ones at office. In an analysis of
the links to and from sites associated with topics that enterprises
most often prefer to block, Websense found a rich ecosystem
of bad topics linking to other bad topics
Conficker
dominates malware scene
The devasting trail left behind by Conficker network worm
has earned it the number 1 position of notoreity in F-Secure's
Quarter 1 2009 security roundup
Most
employees leave along with company data, finds survey
In a survey conducted jointly by Ponemon Institute, a US-based
privacy and information management research firm and Symantec,
59 percent of ex-employees admitted to stealing confidential
company information, such as customer contact lists
Eco-Beat
Environment
authority critical of EU's anti-dumping efforts
In a new report on transboundary shipments of waste, the European
Environment Agency has pulled up the EU for its failure to
intelligently track the export of some waste streams, in particular
e-waste
HP
Announces Recycling Program
HP has extended its recycling program in India beyond corporate
customers to include consumers and small and medium-sized
businesses (SMBs)
New
e-waste recycler in Bangalore
Another recycler has started operations in India's silicon
city. According to the e-waste news-tracker site, http://india.ewasteguide.info,
the company's plant located in Bidadi, next to Wonderla is
the first fullly integrated electronic waste recycling plant
and has a capacity of 1.0 ton per hour
The
Mobile Enterprise
The trend of mobile working is starting to catch on in India
and organizations are moving to support this trend. By Rajendra
Chaudhary
All
for one, one for all
UC vendors it seems are finally starting to come around and
They are Now talking about creating open, Interoperable platforms
so enterprises can reap true benefits of Unified communications
By Rajendra Chaudhary
Vertical
Focus
Focus
On: Online Trading
The release of new products, IT processes and technologies
are on the agenda for 2009, said CIOs in the Online trading
segment. Given the economic meltdown and low trading volumes,
these CIOs are faced with the challenge of using IT effectively
to drive business and profitability finds N Geetha.
By Invitation
Every
cloud has a caution lining
Cloud computing seems to be all the rage, but CIOs are demanding
more management capabilities so as to ease service adoption
barriers. By Stephen Elliot, CA Cloud discussions are hot,
but often the definition of what a "cloud provider"
is creates confusion.
Profit
from criticism
Customers who complain can be a useful resource to the enterprise.
If the enterprise feedback system is able to tap into the
complaints, that is. By Vinod Ganesh Ram, CDC CRM Solutions
Techvisor
Finding
their Webbed feet
Web 2.0 projects are increasingly becoming the lynchpin of
an effective marketing strategy. But getting the project to
work isn’t a simple task. By Aditya Kelekar
Head to Head
Wipro
Infotech
Bangalore headquartered IT major, Wipro Infotech, has been
a pioneer in deploying varied technologies within its organization
to drive growth.
Case Study
Navigating
through turbulence
Most OTAs are in dire straits, but that hasn’t stopped
Cleartrip from innovating By Aditya Kelekar
Cross Fire
Few,
but fast...
At last month's Gartner India CIO Summit, Gartner Analyst
Mark P McDonald delivered a keynote address on Leading the
Challenge, Leading the Change. Express Intelligent Enterprise
Sr Correspondent Aditya Kelekar caught up with him shortly
after that to discuss CIO's role in tiding over difficult
times.
It’s
all about choosing the right security policies
Rajeev Goel, Vice President of iPolicy Networks, Tech Mahindra's
Security Division talks to Rajendra Chaudhary about security
and how organizations can build a consistent security mechanism
across large distributed networks.
Growth
despite the gloom
Sridhar Reddy, CMD, Ctrl S Datacenters talks to Rajendra Chaudhary
about the data center business and the impact of the economic
slump upon it.
From the
regulator
New
QoS parameters issued by TRAI
TRAI has ammended the parameters for measuring the Quality
of Service of Basic Telephone Service (wireline) and Cellular
Mobile Telephone Service
TRAI
goes soft on service providers
Earlier last month TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India)
issued guidelines to all service providers (ISPs, UASLs, CMSPs,
BSOs) providing Internet/ broadband to ensure better service
levels to their subscribers
RBI
mandates two-factor authentication
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has come out with a notice informing
banks that with effect from August 01, 2009, it will be mandatory
on them to have a mechanism that will ensure two –factor
authentication in force
Security
CERT-In’s
vulnerability round up
CERT-In (Indian Computer Emergency Response Team) has posted
information about several vulnerabilities uncovered last month
Beware
of SWF malware, Websense cautions
Websense Security Labs has announced that it has seen a new
SWF (Shockwave Flash, owned by Adobe) threat thriving in the
wild
Online
skepticism still high, says F-Secure
F-Secure’s annual Online Wellbeing survey has found that
the ajority of respondents are still apprehensive about using
their credit cards over the Internet
Semiconductor
Capital Equipment spending to decline, says Gartner
Worldwide capital equipment spending for the semiconductor
industry is forecast to total $16.9 billion in 2009, a 45.2
percent decline from 2008 spending of $30.8 billion, according
to analysts at Gartner
Slowdown’s
pretty side
In a recent blog titled “Can IT Emerge From This Period
In Better Shape Than Ever?” on Forrester’s official
website, analyst Sharyn Leaver comments that the recession’s
had some beneficial effects on the CIO-senior management relations
A
colocation call
In these times when companies are conscious about energy-efficiency,
colocation seems like an attractive option. However, it comes
with its own set of questions. By Aditya Kelekar
Vertical
Focus
Focus
On: POWER
2009 finds CIOs in the power sector having worked out processes
and strategies and a clear road map for deploying technology.
They are anticipating new business challenges in the current
year, given the economic slowdown, where IT's role is enhanced.
By Invitation
Tighter
regulations- to have or not to have
Is there a case for more regulation in the Indian IT and ITES
Industry with respect to customer assurance?. By S Vijay,
Director, IT Advisory practice, KPMG India
Managing
software updates
Dealing with software updates is not as simple as it seems
on the surface and there are several challenges that CIOs
encounter en route to managing it. By Rajendra Chaudhary
Head to Head
Atria
Convergence Technologies (ACT)
Bangalore headquartered Atria Convergence Technologies (ACT),
a subsidiary of the Bangalore based Atria Group has ambitious
plans to be the leader in providing digital TV and IPTV services.
ACT's Director, C S Sunder Raju and President-Technology Devadas
Menon Pullat believe in the complete automation of their infrastructure
and office to drive growth by providing effective value added
services
Case Study
UTM
saves the day
Marketing communications company Mudra wanted to curb unproductive
Internet surfing without hurting the creative abilities of
its workforce. It found a solution in a UTM box. by Rajendra
Chaudhary
(Q&A)
RoA
is the new RoI
Hubert Yoshida, Vice President and CTO, Hitachi Data Systems
talks to N Geetha about CIO challenges for 2009.
TIBCO
talks the hardware talk
Ram Menon, Executive Vice President, Worldwide Marketing,
TIBCO talks to Rajendra Chaudhary about P-7500 messaging appliance,
the company's first hardware offering and the reasons behind
the strategic move
Outsourcing
business remains firm despite economic gloom
Lemuel Lasher, Global Business Solutions and Services Group
President, CSC talks to Rajendra Chaudhary about the impact
of financial crisis on the global outsourcing industry and
outlines CSC's strategy for the future
New
project to foster Indo-UK technology research
A five-year collaboration between the UK and Indian Governments,
universities and ICT specialists in both countries will work
to develop Next Generation Telecommunications Networks and
ICT services and applications in the two countries, along
with work on wireless sensor networks which could aid healthcare
and early warning weather systems in rural areas
From the
regulator
TRAI's
recommendations on VAS
TRAI has released its recommendations on the growth of Value
Added Services and regulatory issues
The
regulator cracks down on banks with ill-serviced ATMs
In a recent notification (dt: Feb 11, 2009), the RBI has pulled
up banks for faulty ATMs. The regulator said it has taken
cognizance of complaints from bank customers regarding debit
of accounts even when the ATMs have not disbursed cash for
various reasons
Analysts'
Views
KPMG
identifies emerging hotspots for the Indian IT industry
As the existing favorite locations for shared services and
outsourcing start to become saturated, newer cities are emerging,
offering new and improved incentive packages and talent, that
are better geared for the IT / ITeS industry, says KPMG in
its report- ‘Exploring Global Frontiers—the new
Emerging Destinations’
Can't
get a hold over CAPTCHA?
A Websense security alert release says that spammers have
once again chosen to target Microsoft's Live Hotmail services,
by busting Microsoft's latest, redesigned CAPTCHA system
F-Secure
survey: False sense of security
F-Secure's annual Online Wellbeing survey, conducted in December
2008, shows that over 90% of people have security software
installed on their computers
Analysts'
Views
Indian
CIOs' IT spending budgets on the rise
IT spending budgets in India, in contrast to many other regions
of the world, will still grow at 5.52 percent in 2009, according
to results from the 2009 CIO Agenda survey conducted by Gartner
Technology
Sabha
The fifth iteration of Technology Sabha, the premier event
on e-Governance, was held recently at the Goa Marriott Resort
in the beach town of Panaji
Manage
Thy e-Content
Like most other computing disciplines, ECM too has not escaped
the influence of Web 2.0. It has already had a considerable
influence on how people view, distribute and share electronic
documents and other content. By Rajendra Chaudhary
The
DMS wave
The vendor community has shifted gears and has moved to offering
integrated document management solutions and services that
cater to the increasingly complex requirements of the day.
By Rajendra Chaudhary
Vertical Focus
Focus
On: Infrastructure, Pharma, Banking, Insurance, Telecom, Manufacturing
As the New Year dawns, various industry verticals are relooking
at their business strategies and revising their growth targets.
Obviously, the economic recession and financial crisis has
prompted organizations to redo their math. These circumstances
are adding to the business challenges of the CIOs across industry
verticals as IT is expected to bring in operational efficiencies
driving business growth. N Geetha looks at the performance
of various sectors, and the new business challenges of CIOs,
while analyzing the spending patterns and the technological
aspirations of CIOs in 2009.
By Invitation
Think
before you travel
According to carbon trading firm, Climate Care, the average
return flight from London to Washington DC produces 1.64 tonnes
of CO2 per person. But you don't have to fly to meet any more.
By Arun Seth, Chairman, BT India
Techvisor
Hammering
home the law
The legislationto effectively address the e-waste problem
- it's been a-longtime-coming. Until then, a few conscientious
vendors and informal recyclers are trying to get their act
together. By Aditya Kelekar
Head to Head
ACG
Worldwide
The Rs 1,000 crores ACG Worldwide, a provider of complete
package solutions from empty capsules to granulation and coating,
to capsule filling, packaging films, blister packing and carton
packing has been the leader in its space
Case Study
Bytes
from a Time Wrap
HDO's biggest concern was to save the hundreds of thousands
of drawings from the projects it had done in the past before
it was too late. by Rajendra Chaudhary
Cross Fire
A
moving target
Thanks to the efforts of BSA, using pirated software is no
longer seen as fashionable. However, the software industry
is far from getting a fix on the problem, which is especially
severe in developing economies. Jeffrey Hardee, VP & Regional
Director, Asia Pacific, BSA, in an interview with Express
Intelligent Enterprise’s Senior Correspondent Aditya
Kelekar, talks about the challenges ahead.
(Q&A)
User
is the weakest link
In a chat with Rajendra Chaudhary, Hemal Patel, CEO, Cyberoam,
gives the lowdown on the risks associated with insider security
threats and outlines some guidelines on how to prevent such
instances.
Revisiting
Mainframes
Enterprise application bigwig CA recently announced its new
Big Iron-centric strategy, dubbed Mainframe 2.0. Chris O’Malley,
general manager of CA’s mainframe business unit discusses
the strategic roadmap for Mainframe 2.0 with Rajendra Chaudhary
Listening
to the customers is key for SAS
Ashit Panjwani, Director - Marketing, SAS Institute (India)
discusses the market trends in business analytics domain,
in a tête-à-tête with Rajendra Chaudhary
Sify's
datacenter push
According to P. K. Saji, Senior Vice President, Global Infrastructure
Operations, Technology, Sify, mobility will determine an enterprise’s
ability to compete. In a conversation with Rajendra Chaudhary,
Saji talks about Sify’s datacenter business.
News Analysis
Nortel's
financial tangle
Telecom equipment vendor Nortel has filed for bankruptcy hoping
to pave the way for faster restructuring. But the road to
recovery is likely to be a long and arduous one. by Rajendra
Chaudhary
Locked
and Loaded
Contrary to the Notion that they might still rely on old anti-virus
and porous firewalls for securing IT, Indian organizations
have moved beyond the basics. By Rajendra Chaudhary
Prevention
is better than cure
An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of detection
and correction when it comes to organizational security. By
Ayushman Baruah
A
beast to beat
New! gaping security holes associated with the Web sites of—hold
your breath—infosec vendors! By Aditya Kelekar
Vertical Focus
Focus
On: Telecom
N Geetha looks at how CIOs in the telecom industry are addressing
business challenges by using IT.
By Invitation
IT
security: plug those gaps
When the going gets tough, IT security must get tougher. By
the Technical Advisory Services (TAS) team, Mahindra Special
Services Group
Techvisor
Spamsters
in sight!
A streak of light is exposing the dark underground world of
spammers. By Aditya Kelekar
Head to Head
Biocon
Biocon, a global healthcare company has charted a clear policy
to adhere strictly to regulations be it with regard to product
development, R&D or in terms of deploying IT
Case Study
For
a Better Connection
Revamping its entire IT infrastructure, BSNL is moving towards
a single-view IP-based platform. by Ayushman Baruah
RCC:
Reinforced Customer Confidence
In the slurry of ingredients that go in the making of Maytas
Properties' concrete dreams, a crucial one is paying attention
to customer relationship. By Rajendra Chaudhary
(Q&A)
Drive
towards energy efficient datacenters
David Wesley Plumer, Jr (Dave), President, Asia Pacific &
Japan of APC-Schneider Electric, Critical Power & Cooling
Services talks about energy optimized data centers and discusses
the company’s strategic positioning in driving profitable
data centers with N Geetha at the ‘APC press days 2008’,
Singapore.
Securing
IT through forensics
Neil Campbell, General Manager, Security Global, Dimension
Data, shares his thoughts on the importance of forensic computing.
(Tech Trends)
Xsigo
touts I/O Virtualization
For an enterprise IT professional, there's nothing new about
virtualization. The technology has existed for years, be it
at the OS level, the network level, the storage or at the
server level
Scale-out
storage is the future
Data, perhaps, the most important enterprise asset, is also
extremely difficult and expensive to manage
The
greens have it
With the green movement gaining popularity worldwide, the
pressure is mounting on enterprises to make green initiatives
a priority. The path is far from straightforward. By Aditya
Kelekar
Vertical Focus
Focus
On: Plastics
N Geetha looks at how CIOs in the plastics industry are addressing
business challenges.
By Invitation
It's
a limited world
Organizations must realize their obligations to the environment,
or face the bullet from the green forces. by Ashit Panjwani
Techvisor
The
Usability Challenge
Though usability engineering isn't a direct responsibility
of the CIO, a good CIO can actually help institutionalize
the idea in an enterprise. by Rajendra Chaudhary
Head to Head
Nagarjuna
Fertilizers & Chemicals
Hyderabad-based Nagarjuna Fertilizer and Chemicals (NFCL)
is growing with a focus to reduce dependence on imports and
trying to drive volumes to satisfy domestic consumption requirements
Events
Feeling
the customer's pulse
Satisfying customers has never been more challenging than
in today's highly competitive marketplace. The modern customer
is extremely demanding and insists on being treated as an
individual with specific needs
Case Study
Strategic
Transformation
Godrej has strategically outsourced its entire IT infrastructure
and application development to Hewlett-Packard (HP), Ayushman
Baruah gives an insight.
Wipro:
Last Stop Greenville!
Wipro's approach to ‘green’ is a holistic one, encompassing
IT infrastructure as well as other crucial non-IT assets such
as office buildings and employees. by Rajendra Chaudhary
(Q&A)
Netmagic
adds another data center
The increasing demand for third-party data center services
has prompted Netmagic to introduce a new data center. Sharad
Sanghi, CEO and Founder of Netmagic Solutions shares his views
with Priyanka Akhouri on the recent developments in his company.
Intel's
processor plans
Sanat Rao, Marketing Director, (Emerging Markets) Embedded
and Communications Group, Intel South Asia, discusses the
potential of the Atom processor in the embedded market space
with Ayushman Baruah.
Cisco's
data center 3.0 vision
Sumit Mukhija, National Sales Manager (Data Center) of Cisco
India & SAARC in an interview with Priyanka Akhouri discusses
on how the data center 3.0 initiatives taken by Cisco will
enable the customers to better utilize their data center resources
and enhance data security.
IBM
launches 'IBM Smart Business' for Indian SMBs
IBM has announced the availability of "IBM Smart Business",
a way for small and medium businesses (SMBs) to acquire, use
and manage technology that is radically simple
Mahindra
Group and SAP enter into a strategic alliance
India's Mahindra Group has signed an enterprise agreement
with SAP for consolidation of its systems and strategic transformation
across the company's diversified operational landscape
Hexaware
appoints N Nataraj as CIO
Hexaware Technologies has announced the appointment of N.
Nataraj as Chief Information Officer (CIO). As a member of
the executive management team, Nataraj will be responsible
for managing and strengthening company's global integrated
information technology (IT) systems and processes
Cisco
data leakage study assesses the 'Insider Threat'
Cisco issued the third and final set of findings from its
global security study on data leakage, shedding light on the
employee "insider threat" to corporate information
Hitachi
announces ‘CIO of the Year’ awards
Harish Shetty, Senior Vice President - IT, HDFC Bank received
the CIO of the Year, announced during the IT Inspiration Awards
ceremony, hosted by Hitachi Data Systems
Unisys
to offer hosted revenue accounting service
Unisys Corporation announced that it will be offering the
AMBER Cargo Revenue Accounting solution from Kale Consultants
as part of its air cargo portfolio
Green Bytes
Gartner
and WWF evaluate enterprises for environmental leadership
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Gartner presented the
results of an assessment of 24 global information and communication
technology (ICT) providers on their commitment to tackling
climate change within their own company and their capabilities
in innovating and developing solutions that will help them
and their clients thrive in a low carbon economy
Survey
finds green sensibilities make for good cost-cutting
In a recent poll conducted by Hitachi Data Systems Corporation,
a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE: HIT) and
the only provider of Services Oriented Storage Solutions,
an astounding 83% of the respondents stated that going green
results in cost-savings, while 17% believed that that green
measures are not necessarily cost efficient
News Analysis
Are
the doors closing on open source?
After putting vast sums of money in open source projects for
several consecutive quarters, VCs are displaying restraint.
Is this the end of the dream run for open source? by Rajendra
Chaudhary
Products
Adaptec's
scalable Host Bus Adapters
Adaptec has unveiled the Adaptec series 1 Unified Serial Host
Bus Adapter (HBA) family featuring two low-profile cards that
deliver data storage connectivity solution, supporting up
to 128 SATA or SAS storage devices
Transcend's
128GB SSD in India
Transcend has announced the release of its 128GB high speed
2.5-inch Solid State Disk (SSD) in India
Quick
Heal introduces new antivirus products
Quick Heal Technologies has launched its new 2009 series of
products, the new Quick Heal Antivirus Plus 2009 and Quick
Heal Total Security 2009
Downtime
N P Singh, Sr. Vice President and CIO—Textile and Apparel,
Madura Garments , Aditya Birla Group
Getting
BI Right
India Inc. is going beyond simple analytical tools and historical
reporting to adopt sophisticated BI tools that deliver that
extra 'something' that companies were looking for. By Rajendra
Chaudhary
The
BI Democracy
Business Intelligence is showing signs of moving beyond top-management
dashboards and making inroads into the lower levels of the
organizational hierarchy. By Rajendra Chaudhary
Vertical Focus
Focus
On: Textiles
N Geetha looks at how CIOs in the textiles industry are using
IT to address the business challenges faced by their companies.
By Invitation
On
the BI track
Starting right is winning half the battle on the BI implementation
front. But much more needs to be done. by Sanjay Shah, CEO,
Prosys Infotech Private Limited
Techvisor
Upwardly
Immobile
Visually impaired employees are surmounting their difficulties
with great determination, but the corporate world is constructing
artificial ones for them. By Aditya Kelekar
Head to Head
Bangalore
Metropolitan Transport Corporation
Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) has taken
the lead in implementing various technologies to drive business
growth and increase the comfort of its commuters
Case Study
Small
Car, BIg dreams
Nano is not yet rolled out, but Tata Motors' analytics platform
to service its dealer network is ready By Aditya Kelekar
Confessions
of a fund manager
Fund managers at Reliance Capital Asset Management were used
to twisting and turning their queries. The IT systems had
to handle that. By Aditya Kelekar
(Q&A)
WiMax,
and all that noise
Tulip Telecom is known for its strength in providing wireless
access to rural hinterlands. However, its latest capacity
expansion plans are all about laying fiber. Excerpts from
a dialogue with Col H S Bedi, CMD, Tulip Telecom.
Online
frauds
Anand Naik, Directorm, System Engineering Symantec - India
and SAARC Region, on what's new in online frauds.
A
shift to 'Green IT' strategy
Priyanka Akhouri speaks to Praveen Sahai, Head, Marketing
and Corporate Affairs of EMC on the growing need for adopting
a Green IT approach.
Technology
driving growth for logistics
Amar More, Global Head, Logistics Practice, Kale Consultants
talks to Varun Aggarwal about Kale Consultant's Technology
Survey for the Indian logistics industry in association with
Feedback Business Consulting company.
The
changing role of CIO
Ketan Shah, IT Head of Angel Broking in an interview with
Priyanka Akhouri discusses the importance of IT for the Indian
Industry and how the role of CIO's help in aligning business
with technology
Remote
infrastructure management market
Nasscom-McKinsey reports that RIM market stands at $96-104
billion, out of which $13-15 billion is likely to be contributed
by India by 2013. K S Ganesan, CTO, Microland talks about
the remote infrastructure management in the country.
(Problem Solved)
Tata
Chemicals connects IVR system to its ERP
Tata Chemicals Limited, one of country's leading manufacturers
of inorganic chemicals, fertilizers, and food additives recently
rolled out a small IT initiative which it believes could have
big implications in terms of servicing its customers in the
days ahead
(News Analysis)
Government
guidelines fail to answer the riddle of e-waste
Earlier this year, when the ministry of environment and forests
announced guidelines for the environmentally sound management
of waste, it was hailed as an important milestone in India's
e-waste management history
(Brief)
Gartner's
take on software industry transformation
Software solutions are changing to be user-centric, web-centric,
service-oriented and utilized through new delivery models
and emerging software solutions will transform the software
industry and the way software is used over time, says technology
research firm Gartner
Prof.
Bharat Bhasker bags best IT professor award
Prof. Bharat Bhasker, Professor of Information Technology
and Systems, IIM Lucknow, has been conferred the "Best
Professor of Information Technology" at the recently
concluded AsianBrand Summit and Dewang Mehta Business School
Awards
Microsoft
Security Strategist Awards 2008
The Microsoft SSA awards aim to recognize organizations for
their outstanding leadership in information security (IS).
The award is given to CIOs and CISOs who use IS as a means
to fuel business growth. by Nivedan Prakash
Travel
& Hospitality: VFS Global
The business of servicing visas is one that demands the highest
levels of confidentiality and security. VFS has its work cut
out as it strives to ensure the required levels of security
and privacy of customer data in order to win the confidence
of its clients. by Aditya Kelekar
Banking,
Financial Services & Insurance: HDFC Bank
Vishal Salvi, CISO - Information Security Group, HDFC Bank
won in the BFSI category. Salvi attributed this feat to the
bank's sound strategy and its three-year roadmap. by Nivedan
Prakash
Technology
& Communications: IBM Daksh
Nandita Jain Mahajan, VP - Information Systems and Security,
IBM Daksh won in the Technology & Communications category.
She attributed this feat to the company's strategy and execution
roadmap. by Nivedan Prakash
General
Industry: Ashok Leyland
NSN Pillai, Head - Risk Management and Information Security,
Ashok Leyland won in the General Industry category. Pillai
attributes his success to the involvement and visible support
of the company's top management. by Nivedan Prakash
Health
Sciences: SRL Ranbaxy
Radhakrishna Pillai, CIO, SRL Ranbaxy was the winner in the
Health Sciences category. He attributed the win to the company's
security strategy that has been aligned with its business
requirements. by Nivedan Prakash
Vertical Focus
Focus
On: Government
N Geetha takes a look at the business challenges faced by
the government sector and how IT is being used to address
some of them
Head to Head
Allergan
India
Allergan India Pvt. Ltd., a joint venture between Allergan
Inc., and Nicholas Piramal India Ltd., a specialty pharmaceutical
company catering to the ophthalmic industry supplying eye
care pharmaceutical, surgical and optical products has made
strides towards becoming an IT-savvy company by deploying
business specific solutions to drive growth
Case Study
An
infosec prescription
Max Healthcare attempts to raise the bar for its service levels
and information security practices. By Malabika Sarkar
Cut
to fit
To control its sprawling network infrastructure, the Raymond
team had to choose and select a security solution that best
suited its requirements.
By Priyanka Akhouri
Licensed
to protect
Zensar Technologies must protect its critical data as if its
life depends on it. It's up to Vishwas Pitre, the company's
head of infrastructure to pull off the act. By Aditya Kelekar
(Q&A)
Making
the Most Of Digital IP
Arpinder Singh, Executive Director, KPMG India talks about
effective monetization of digital IP and the urgency for fixing
the leaks in the revenue streams in the fast emerging digital
content space.
Creating
Security Culture is a Must for BFSI
Vishal Dhupar, Managing Director, Symantec India in an interview
with Priyanka Akhouri talks about the security issues faced
by the BFSI sector.
(Problem Solved)
Overcoming
IT Infrastructural Challenge
Hiranandani Group of Companies, one of the largest developers
in the real estate and construction space in the country,
required consistency in their operating environment and trouble-free
functioning of various business divisions
Speech
recognition to help Yes Bank curb identity theft
Yes Bank is currently deploying a speech recognition system
known as Voice Biometric Solution in its contact centre. Ravishankar,
EVP & Country Head, Direct Banking and Cash Management
at YES Bank discusses the business challenges and the rationale
behind the implementation
News Brief
OSPAI
launched
Outsourcing companies like call centers, tele-banking service
providers and other IT-enabled service firms, which use telecom
infrastructure as their business model, have formed an association
to promote the industry
Infinite
Computer to deploy best-of-breed ERP at Arvind Mills
Textile major Arvind has signed on Infinite Computer Solutions
for implementing a best-of-breed ERP project and providing
maintenance and support services for five years after the
ERP goes live
Intel's
made in India product
The Intel India team has designed Intel's first 6-core x86
microprocessor, the Intel Xeon 7400 series processor (formerly
codenamed Dunnington), from Bangalore
IT
security spending on the rise, says Gartner
A recent Gartner survey of IT security professionals in India,
China and Australia has revealed that organizations in the
Asia Pacific region spend a larger proportion of their IT
budget on security than their North American and European
counterparts and most expect their IT security budgets to
remain the same or increase marginally in 2008
Business
users fuel SaaS growth in Asia Pacific
Business users in Asian enterprises have emerged as key influencers
in SaaS purchase decisions, according to the latest research
by Springboard Research, an IT Market Research industry
IBM's
new products for interoperability issues
IBM has announced new software that use IBM's Jazz collaborative
technology to help geographically distributed software delivery
teams work together in an open, real-time and transparent
manner to more effectively deliver and source software solutions
Indian
IT Market to reach US $110 billion in 2012, says Gartner
IT end user spending in India is expected to grow at a compound
annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.8 percent from 2007 through
2012 to generate US $110 billion in 2012, according to a recent
study by Gartner. In 2008, IT end user spending is on pace
to reach US $64.7 billion, a 17.2 percent increase from 2007
NASSCOM
supports UK Government's new work permits policy
NASSCOM, has expressed its support to the new UK point based
system (PBS), which, going forward, will govern intra-company
transfers and work permits. NASSCOM also advised its member
companies to register for the new PBS system introduced by
the UK Government, on priority
C-DAC
launches BOSS Linux version 3.0
The Center for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) has
launched its Bharat Operating Systems Solutions (BOSS) Linux
software version 3.0 developed by the National Resource Center
for Free/Open Source Software (NRCFOSS)
Technology
Senate
The sixth iteration of Technology Senate was held at the Dhow
Palace hotel in Dubai. India's IT leaders gathered here to
spruce up on the latest in IT, network and exchange information
on how to best go about leveraging IT
Cloud
Computing and SaaS
These related concepts have a lot of buzz around them. Of
the two, SaaS seems more likely to hit the big time in India
Cover Story
SaaS
Territory
The SaaS model is gaining currency with enterprises, slowly
but surely. By Aditya Kelekar
Technology Feature
Virtualization:
Next drive for CIOs
Virtualization technology is fast moving into the datacentre
and beyond. While the concept has been around for some time,
only now is everything coming together for CIOs to realize
the true benefits of virtual Infrastructure.
(Q&A)
The
skinny on virtualization
Isn't virtualization something of a contradiction? It's supposed
to simplify your IT infrastructure by reducing the number
of hardware pieces to manage, but itself adds a layer of complexity
to infrastructure management.
Red
signal to speeding mobile payment gateways
It's like one of those stories where the referee who was supposed
to flag off the players was caught napping even as the more
aggressive of the competitors got off the start line
Android:
Google's next race
It's finally out. Like a Web page on a bad-connectivity day
that seems to be taking an eternity to refresh, the company
that's so far seen to be lording over the Internet took ages
to release an SDK (software development kit) update to Android,
the mobile operating system it announced last November
Manufacturing
Excellence
An industry-specific look at business challenges and IT response.
By N Geetha
Head to Head
Philips
Electronics India Ltd.
Philips India, a lighting, consumer lifestyle and healthcare
major, has been a pioneer in the area of technology adoption
as far as its internal IT needs are concerned, with a view
to leveraging IT for maximum impact. Philips' CEO, Murali
Sivaraman and its CIO, Sanjeev Kumar believe in creating a
robust technology platform within the company which acts as
a business enabler and catalyst, ensuring the highest possible
productivity.
Downtime
Arvind Tawde, Senior VP and Chief Information Officer, Mahindra
& Mahindra Ltd.
WiMAX's
eXtreme adventure
Mobile WiMAX operators must tackle spectrum concerns and technology
turbulence if they are to thrive. By Aditya Kelekar
Testing
times
Carriers may be looking at Fixed WiMAX rollouts to test their
preparedness for nationwide rollouts, but for some users it
has tested their patience. By Aditya Kelekar
Case Study
Footsteps
of giants
This kids' apparel-maker was in expansion mode, when it realized
that its current IT systems would not be able to support its
ambitious plans. What followed was a complete overhaul and
an implementation of new ERP systems with able assistance
from Tectura India. Nandini Chhatre reports
(Problem Solved)
Anxious
about security
It's difficult to ignore Glenmark Pharmaceuticals when one
talks about the Indian pharmaceutical industry and its growth.
Up
with Surveillance
Paul Martin, Senior Director, Worldwide Channel Marketing,
Enterprise, Western Digital (WD) elucidates on how and why
WD has decided to target the Surveillance and AV segment in
India.
(Q&A)
The
steady road to DLP
Andy Norton is the Director of Product Management and Product
Marketing, Asia Pacific, IronPort Systems believes that DLP
is a component of Indian CIOs' defense-in-depth architecture.
He elaborates on ways to leverage on the strengths of this
concept.
Focus
on: Pharma
An Industry-specific look at business challenges and IT response
By N Geetha
Idea Exchange
Channelizing
thoughts
Canon India, established in 1997, started off as a company
focusing on the copier business, with only the corporate segment
as its customers, and adopted the culture of B2B direct selling.
It has its presence in 10 product categories, seven customer
segments and nine channels of distribution reaching to over
300 cities in India. Alok Bharadwaj, Senior Vice-president,
Canon India shares his values and vision with Prashant L Rao,
Editor, Express Computer and the Express group's editorial
team
Head to Head
ABB
India
ABB India, a leading power and automation technologies company,
has charted a clear IT strategy and is making every possible
effort to use technology to the fullest extent to achieve
its goals. ABB's managing director Biplab Majumder and its
CIO Vivek Deshpande intend to employ the right technology
for best business results across the company's manufacturing
units including those of power products, power systems, automation
products, process automation and robotics.
Downtime
Sunil Mehta, Senior Vice President & Area Systems Director
- Central Asia, JWT
