TODAY'S HEADLINES AUG 28, 2007

INDUSTRY
INDIAN EXECUTIVES GET BEHIND MNC WHEEL
Shreya Biswas, New Delhi
The Economic Times When it comes to headcount, Indian talent beats other geographies in numbers, quality and efficiency as well as technological prowess. Many MNCs have been hiring people aggressively in India and now have more than 50% of their workforce working out of this country.

The list includes Sapient, Xansa, Aricent, Cognizant. While the companies root for cost-efficiency, a fast-growing market, adaptable human resource and a great skill to upgrade, employees are gaining through vast exposure across businesses, increased attention from the management, driving changes in the organisation.

Companies, in order to grow faster, are reaching out to locations where they can get the best in terms of people quality and processes and cut down on cost. Something that happened in the manufacturing sector in the last 10-15 years.

"More and more companies would reach out to other countries to tap the parts of services value chain in a globalised economy," feels Bhaskar Das, vice-president, human resources, Cognizant. The company currently has 46,000 employees globally, of which 70-75%, or more than 35,000, are in India.





BUSINESS MODEL INNOVATION - NEW OPPORTUNITIES
Ganesh Natarajan
Hindustan Times (Delhi edition)What do ITMG, Sankalp and Suschama have in common? They are all new business venture ideas focused at bringing the best of consulting and supply chain optimization to small and medium enterprises that have been created by students while still in college.

The enterprising students of the National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE) in Mumbai, supported by a visionary Professor, Dr T Prasad at the institute, have come up with this unique concept of 'Student Companies (SCs)', which can spawn a new generation of young entrepreneurs in the country. Each of the SCs is being evaluated on predetermined parameters at specific time intervals spreading over two years of MBA course.

Students' achievement on these parameters is incorporated into their academic achievement.

In the IT space, the prospect of a new legion of young entrepreneurs joining the developer community could not be timelier with most of the larger firms turning their attention to the domestic market opportunity as well as lower cost methods of collaboration to reach and service hitherto untapped customers.




HCL IS REWRITING ITS COMPANY CODE
Rabin Ghosh, Mumbai
DNAHCL Infosystems may look completely different in 3-5 years if Ajai Chowdhry, chairman and CEO, has his way.

It is going to be a major overhaul for a hardware maker: services, and not products, would be the main focus area for the Rs 12,000 crore company.

In three years, the company expects to earn 50 percent of its revenues from computing, which is currently below 25 percent, with telecom and office automation contributing to the rest.

"We are looking at earning 50 percent from computing and 50 percent from distribution. Within these too, we are looking at a healthy balance among SI (system integration) and hardware (for computing), Nokia and others (for distribution)," Chowdhury told analysts on Monday.

Almost 90 percent of the Rs 9,000 crore the company earned last fiscal from distribution business came from selling Nokia GSM phones.

HCL is also the distributor of other digital lifestyle products from Kodak and Apple.




NASSCOM WANTS TAX HOLIDAY EXTENDED
Sandeep Joshi, New Delhi
The HinduWith countries like China and other developing nations making extra efforts to increase their market share in the global information technology arena, the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom), the body of Indian IT software and services industry, has asked the Union Government to start thinking seriously on extending the tax holiday to the high-potential sector beyond 2009.

The cause for concern among the industry leaders is the Government's failure in addressing the issues concerning the industry and the steady growth of the sector in countries like China and Brazil that can challenge India's leadership in the years to come.

"Experts from China have been coming to us and adopting progressive measures and policies, which our Government is abandoning, to boost their growth.




M & A

NIIT OPEN FOR STRATEGIC PARTNERS
Mumbai
The Economic TimesNIIT Technologies Ltd (NTL) on Monday said its parent company NIIT was open to bring in strategic partners into the company to help NTL with its next level of growth, but it has not reached any deal so far on this front.

"From the time of demerger in 2004, NIIT (through its wholly-owned subsidiary Scantech Evaluation Services Ltd) continues to hold 25 per cent stake in NTL, with a vision to attract strategic partners, if required, to help NTL with its next level of growth," NTL informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.

"There is no change in that position and no specific transaction to report," it added.





KLG SYSTEL BUYS STAKE IN ATLANTIS
New Delhi
The Hindu Business Line Mint Hindustan Times (Mumbai edition)KLG Systel Ltd, a software company, today announced the acquisition of 51 percent stake in Atlantis Lab Pvt Ltd, a dedicated engineering software company with over 130 employees.

"Atlantis Labs will now form a subsidiary of KLG Systel Ltd, catering to the strong domestic market, while also tapping engineering services outsourcing opportunities from developed countries such as North America and Europe," a statement said here. Atlantis Lab portfolio includes product design, design automation, design simulation, tool design, design data migration, and product management software in automobile, aerospace, industrial machinery and heavy engineering.

"The relationship will also provide KLG Systel an opportunity to widen its reach to the three design hubs of the country — Chennai, Pune and Bangalore. Atlantis Lab already has a strong base in these cities." KLG Systel plans to hire 1,000 designers and analysts for Atlantis by 2008. The new subsidiary would focus on automotive, aerospace, industrial machinery, heavy engineering, ship building, power and process verticals where there is a strong demand for product management software and services.




SOFTWARE

SUBEX SWINGS DEALS FROM GVT FOR NIGERIA, CONGO
Banglaore
The Economic Times (Bangalore edition) The Hindu Business LineSubex Azure has announced that it has won a contract to provide fraud management and revenue assurance solutions for Global Vision Telecom (GVT), to be deployed at its Prestel and U-COM Congo CDMA networks in Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) respectively. Prestel and U-COM Congo are owned by Global Vision Telecom. It specialises in telecommunications technology in developing countries. Subex will be deploying both its Nikira Fraud Management System and its Moneta Revenue Assurance System.



SATYAM LAUNCHES SOLUTIONS FOR BANKING, OIL & GAS INDUSTRY
Mumbai
The Economic Times The Hindu Business Line Business Standard The HinduSatyam Computer Services launched two niche composite solutions for the banking as well as the oil & gas industry. These solutions are certified by SAP and are powered by NetWeaver technology.

iDecisions is a banking solution software that enables efficient business management and iLubes is the solution for lube companies in the oil & gas segment.

The software package iDecisions is designed for banking industry that enables business management through the use of a central industry-standard data model.

iLubes, the solution for lube companies in the oil & gas segment– creates a mechanism to track performance of lubricants supplied to industrial customers in the utilities and steel industries, power plants and other process industry domains.

"These solutions are niche domain solutions, launched to address business processes in the Banking and Oil & Gas industries respectively which is directed towards delivering significant business value to our customers as well as the SAP product landscape," said Manish Mehta, Global Head, SAP & Testing Practices.




NASSCOM BODY LAUNCHES ONLINE DONOR SCHEME
New Delhi
The Hindu Business Line Metro Now The StatesmanNasscom Foundation, the Corporate Social Responsibility arm of Nasscom, today joined hands with TechSoup, a San Francisco-based non-profit technology capacity building organisation, to launch a technology assistance programme for non-profit and non-governmental organisations in India.

The programme 'BiG Tech' would act as a platform to facilitate the distribution of software and solutions (donated by corporate partners) to various NGOs.

Software giant Microsoft has signed up as a partner for the programme in India to distribute its software to NGOs. The company is already a global partner in the programme, and donates a range of products including Office and server software. In India, however, only those NGOs, which have a FCRA clearance, would be able to apply for Microsoft's donations, Nasscom Foundation said.

The programme is already rolled-out across eight countries and the international partners include Microsoft and Adobe. With the India launch, it would now seek to rope in more partners for the country. "One of the barriers to technology for NGOs, is affordability of technology products. BiG Tech, NF's new online donation programme, is perfectly suited to address this issue of access to affordable technology," the Nasscom President, Kiran Karnik, said, adding NGOs seeking donations would have to adhere to the eligibility criteria and be subject to a due diligence.





XORA SOFTWARE PLANS EXPANSION IN B`LORE
Chennai/ Bangalore
Business StandardXora Software, which provides enterprise mobility solutions, plans to expand its product development centre in Bangalore over the next couple of years.

Founded in 1999, the US-based privately-held company has raised more than $11 million in venture capital with the leading partner being Dawntreader Ventures.

The Bangalore centre has over 125 engineers. "This centre contributes close to 95 per cent of the product development work with the rest happening in the US. We are banking on the Bangalore development centre for growth," Xora Software CEO Sanjay Shirole said.

The firm's technical support team also works in Bangalore. "We intend to double this team from the existing 65 members. There is a lot of scope for growth in the technical support segment here," he added.

The company derives 95 per cent of its revenue from the US. It has developed a product called, Xora GPS TimeTrack, which helps companies track and record start times and the location of their mobile employees.

Employees carry their GPS-enabled mobile phone with them throughout their office hours and their location is automatically tracked and recorded.

Xora recently forayed into Australia. It is also looking at India for growth. "India is a fast emerging market for us. We will concentrate on the Indian market in the coming days," Shirole stated.





HARDWARE



DELL LAUNCHES NEW DESKTOP
Deccan HeraldDell on Monday announced the launch of OptiPlex 755 with the most flexible approach to systems management, delivering on customer demands for business efficiency. The OptiPlex 755 is Energy Star 4.0 compliance. With the flexible systems management offerings in the industry, the OptiPlex 755 will help simplify IT by reducing number of desk side service visits required for system service and maintenance, claimed the company. Dell is also integrating Intel vPro technology with advanced remote management features that will make business efficient.



INT/E-COMM



'NEW NET POLICY WILL HAMPER BROADBAND GROWTH'
New Delhi
The Hindu Business Line The Times of IndiaThe Internet Service Providers Association of India on Monday said that the new policy for the Internet sector will hurt small size operators and will result in slow penetration of broadband services.

"The policy to discontinue Category C licence (district level) is a retrograde step which hurts small entrepreneurs and consumers who have risked considerable resources to create businesses in the face of aggressive competition from bigger players. There is hardly a single successful country in America, Europe or Australia which discourages small players from entering the Internet market," said Rajesh Chharia, President, ISPAI. More than 50 percent of the operational ISPs hold a category C licence.

The association also opposed the imposition of licence fee on ISPs for Internet Telephony. "If the Government is concerned about the slow penetration of broadband in India, then why are they putting burden on the Internet operators. If level playing field with other telecom operators is the issue, then ISPs should be allowed to interconnect with fixed line and mobile operators. This would at least give us additional revenue and then we can pay the licence fee," said Chharia.



NEW ISP RULES WILL ALLOW WIRELESS VOICE, IPTV
New Delhi
MintThe department of telecommunications has overhauled rules for Internet service providers (ISP), forcing out small, city-based players, but increasing the scope of services to be provided under the ISP license.
Under the new rules, ISP can provide wireless Internet access, including wireless voice among customers of various ISPs, and interactive television and video distribution services using Internet technology or IPTV.

Small, citywide ISPs-mainly cable operators-can upgrade to state-wide licenses by paying a one-time fee of Rs10 lakh.

The changes were brought about as the government believes that having nearly 400 licensed ISPs, most of whom are not operational, was a security threat. India has about nine million Internet subscribers, including 2.5 million broadband consumers

The department of telecommunications has overhauled rules for Internet service providers (ISP), forcing out small, city-based players, but increasing the scope of services to be provided under the ISP license. Under the new rules, ISP can provide wireless Internet access, including wireless voice among customers of various ISPs, and interactive television and video distribution services using Internet technology or IPTV. Small, citywide ISPs-mainly cable operators-can upgrade to statewide licenses by paying a one-time fee of Rs10 lakh. The changes were brought about as the government believes that having nearly 400 licensed ISPs, most of whom are not operational, was a security threat. India has about nine million Internet subscribers, including 2.5 million broadband consumers.



MOTOROLA GETS READY TO LAUNCH MOBILE WIMAX
Sreejiraj Eluvangal
MintStephen Bell is one of the few people who can justifiably claim to have seen the connected future. As head of Wimax device business unit of the US communication equipment maker Motorola Inc., Bell and his team, together with similar teams at Korean consumer electronics maker Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd and chip maker Intel Corp., will determine the time, shape and success of the next evolution in wireless personal communication: mobile Wimax.

Wimax is short for worldwide inter-operability for microwave access, a standard that is capable of data speeds of 10 megabits per second up to 2km away from a radio transmitter.

With such wide ranges, telecom design engineers believe that Wimax presents itself as not just a powerful alternative to the so-called third generation (or 3G) wireless telecom networks for data, but also as a cheap and efficient alternative to voice communications compared with current cellular networks. Bell and his team of engineers and researchers at Motorola's hand-held and chipset research centre in Florida are designing hand-held devices to be used on the first major Wimax initiative in the world—the $3 billion (Rs 12,300 crore) Sprint-Nextel network, expected to be operational towards the year-end.





NETWORKING

CISCO TARGETS 40 PERCENT GROWTH IN WIRELESS, MOBILITY BIZ IN 6 YRS
P P Thimmaya, Bangalore
The Economic Times (Delhi edition)Cisco, the networking products and solutions giant is expecting to record 40 percent growth in its wireless and mobility business division in India over the next 5-6 years. Currently, Cisco has 30 percent market share in the wireless and mobility space in India which is estimated to be around $70 million (Rs 280 crore). Paramjit Puri, business development manager - Advanced Technologies, Cisco India, said that it is expecting to raise its marketshare to 35 percent.

The $35-billion networking giant is looking at providing end-to-end networking capability all provided on the internet protocol which includes both hardware and software solutions. In this, mobility and wireless space forms an important part as it is providing connectivity sans wires. Cisco has been already engaged in large wireless projects in India which are largely initiatives of the government in providing broadband connectivity. Puri said it is already part of the unwired Pune project and is expecting to participate in similar initiatives in Bangalore, Jaipur, Kolkata and Chennai.






E-GOVERNANCE

NOIDA E-REGISTERS ' PROPERTY RECORDS
Lalit Kumar, Noida
The Times of India Metro NowIn what is regarded as a first among development authorities in UP and the national capital region, Noida has computerised the records of all its residential, commercial and industrial properties.

This means the property number, block, sector and area of the plot, the name of the allottee, the address and dates of allotment, lease deed and taking possession besides details of mortgages and transfers of 68,546 properties in Noida, are now available on the website, www.noidaauthorityonline.com.

Revealing this, NOIDA CEO Balvinder Singh said: ''We have the complete details of 27,176 residential and group housing plots, 27,873 houses including flats and 13,497 commercial, industrial and institutional properties. The details of the dues for about 7,000 plots, which have not been paid, will be put on the website within three days. The position of properties with 'no dues' will be on the website within 15 days.'' He said all the allottees have been given a registration ID to view their property's details.

Significantly, the allottees can now make online payments of their dues, to any branch of any of the 15 banks specified by Noida. Singh said: ''In the interests of transparency and preventing corruption, the current status of all ongoing Noida projects will be available on the website.''





IT TRAINING

APTECH LAUNCHES SSI JQ COURSE FOR PROFESSIONALS
The Economic Times Aptech Computer Education, the flagship brand of the global learning solutions company Aptech, announced the launch of SSi Job Quotient. The 5-month course is specifically designed for engineers, MCAs and M.Sc. (IT/ Computer Science), who are looking for comprehensive vendor-certified courses and a quick entry into the software development companies.

The course curriculum focuses on building a strong foundation in programing, followed by exposure to both .Net & Java technologies with Oracle and Linux bundled in.

The highlight of this curriculum is the inclusion of projects that would give the students an opportunity to put theory into practice. The course will be available only at select Aptech centres and would have stringent entry criteria. The original courseware is provided by Oracle India, Sun Microsystems, Red Hat Linux and Microsoft NET





BPOS FOCUS ON VOICE TRAINING OF EMPLOYEES
Chennai
Deccan Chronicle The Asian AgeIT, ITeS and BPO companies are investing between Rs 8,000 and Rs 13,000 per employee for voice and accent training for a period of three weeks. The training is provided as soon as an employee joins, under the guidance of trainers who are specialised in the British or American accent.

During the training the organisation monitors the employee on various aspects like listening skills, grammatical competency, pronunciation, fluency, conversational skills, telephone etiquette, etc. At the end of the training, the trainees are evaluated for their classroom participation. Their mid-assessment that happens on the seventh or eighth day of training.

Pradeep Narayanan, chief delivery officer, 24/7 Customer, said, "voice and accent training is one of the aspects that enhance customer experience. Any consumer is more comfortable and responds positively when he hears a language and accent that they are used to. It is important for our customer support executives to acquire enhanced accents and be completely knowledgeable about the nuances of a different accent," he said. Vrinda Walavalkar vice-president, corporate communications, Firstsource BPO, said, "it is not about learning to imitate the English accent. Having clear diction and enunciation helps improve service delivery levels so that customer and agent understand each other easily."



AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE, IDEA FOUNDATION TIE-UP FOR VOCATIONAL COURSES
Mumbai/Ahmedabad
Business StandardAhmedabad-based Idea Foundation's Smaran Vocational Institute will conduct vocational courses at its campuses in Ahmedabad and Bhavnagar in association with TAFE New South Wales (NSW) Hunter Institute, which functions under the NSW's department of education and training. This is TAFE NSW Hunter's first collaboration with an Indian institute.
TAFE, which stands for Technical and Further Education, is Australia's largest training provider and it will offer students advanced diplomas in hospitality management, business administration and Information technology, among others.





IT ENABLED SERVICES



MULITEX EYES 10 PERCENT STAKE IN EFFORT BPO
Mumbai
The Economic Times Hong Kong-based $400-million Mulitex Holdings plans to acquire a 10 percent equity stake in Mumbai-based Effort BPO.

Effort BPO director Rajnish Sarna has confirmed the deal at an undisclosed price. The boards of both companies are in discussion and the transaction is scheduled to be completed by the first week of September. Effort BPO is engaged in the business of setting up and operating call centre services in India.



CALL CENTRE REGISTRATION
New Delhi
The Hindu Business LineIn a move that would make it easier for call centres to get Government approvals, the Department of Telecom has decided to decentralise the registrations of call centres. Call centres and telemarketers can register in any of the 10 Circles, including Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Haryana and Gujarat. Until now, call centres could get themselves only in Delhi. The move makes it easier for telemarketers to register under the do not call registry scheme. The registry is now activated and will be enforced from August 31. Unregistered telemarketers will be blacked out as far as connectivity is concerned. All fresh applications for registration under OSP category and telemarketing category shall be processed by the regional cells.



NORTHGATE SETS UP INDIA UNIT
Hyderabad
The Hindu Business LineNorthgate Technologies Ltd has informed the BSE that the company has carved out Social Media India Ltd, an India-based subsidiary company. Focus of Social Media will be to tap the online advertising and other Internet transaction services industry. Vishnu Vardhan Induri, Head of Bharatstudent.com, has been appointed as Managing Director of Social Media.





ERP

BAJAJ HINDUSTHAN ROPES IN AIRTEL, RAILTEL TO LINK UP UNITS
Mumbai
The Economic Times (Delhi edition)The Noida-based sugar manufacturer, Bajaj Hindusthan, has partnered with Bharti Airtel and Railtel to establish connectivity across all its sugar factories, distilleries and corporate offices. The company recently implemented SAP, an enterprise resource planning software, across all locations enabling it to get significant cost-savings because of efficient inventory management.

The ERP package was implemented across all locations simultaneously, rather than in a phased manner as most companies do. The company, together with its subsidiary Bajaj Hindusthan Sugar & Industries, has 14 sugar factories and five distilleries in India.

"The entire ERP installation was completed in six months. The benefits of implementing an IT initiative in one quantum leap forward are far more substantial," VK Bansal, company's chief information officer said. The implementation was started in August 2006 and completed on January 31, 2007. It was done in partnership with multinational systems integrator, IBM. Vendors like IBM are have become more aggressive than their Indian counterparts in the domestic market.

The ERP system allows for inventory to be optimally managed across all its warehouses thus reducing costs. For instance, if a certain type of inventory has fallen below the prescribed level at a warehouse or sugar mill, the inventory is moved there from a location where it is in excess. By allowing the inventory level to be monitored continuously, the ERP system makes this possible.