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Design suite targets high-frequency IC design

AWR Corp. unveils its AWR 2011 product portfolio offering new functionality and enhanced capabilities that decrease user wait times and increase designer productivity for high-frequency MMIC, MIC, RFIC, RF PCB and module design. The portfolio includes Microwave Office, Visual System Simulator, AXIEM and Analog Office. The Microwave Office and Analog Office 2011 design suites encompass all the tools essential for high-frequency IC (MMIC/RFIC), PCB and module design, stated the company. These include linear circuit simulators, non-linear circuit simulators, electromagnetic (EM) analysis tools, schematic and layout, statistical design capabilities, and parametric cell libraries with built-in design-rule check (DRC). Features specific to the 2011 release include floating window support for multiple monitor displays, group design/project import, simulation state management of datasets, iMatch impedance matching module, RF aware short checker, and yield analysis and optimisers. VSS 2011 software for the design of complex communications systems supports a diverse set of standards including LTE, WiMAX/802.16x, GSM/EDGE, WLAN/802.11x and more. New features added to VSS 2011 include radar library, circuit envelope simulation, RF Budget (RFB) spreadsheet wizard, and non-linear co-simulation and co-simulation with National Instrument's LabVIEW. As for AXIEM, AWR's 3D full-wave planar electromagnetic simulator, new features in the 2011 release include asynchronous EM simulation, simulation state management of datasets, rule-based shape modifiers, yield analysis, and user-defined parameterized models and X-models. AWR 2011 (AWRDE 10) is available and can be downloaded at AWR's online software download page.

Source: EE Times 

Boost automotive electronics documentation, troubleshooting

When viewed vis-à-vis the development of visionary new automotive electronic systems, such as intelligent highways and driverless cars, documenting designs and repairing faulty vehicles seem unglamorous. In fact, though, documentation of vehicle electrical systems is a slow, costly and error-prone task; and speeding fault rectification saves money, reduces commercial vehicle downtime, and enhances brand image in the eyes of the customer. So, actually these unglamorous activities have rather important commercial impact. This article examines a new technology to improve the process of both documentation and troubleshooting.

So what's the problem?

We all recognise that vehicle electrical systems have become very complex over the past decade or two, driven by the huge growth in vehicle electronics, including embedded software. The vehicle's electrical system distributes power and signals around the vehicle, acting much like the central nervous system of the human body. As the number of electronic systems has grown, so has the number of signals and hence the complexity of the nervous system. For regulatory reasons this nervous system must be accurately documented, usually via schematic diagrams, wiring lists, location views, and the like. Indeed, creation of complete documentation can be on the critical path for shipping a new vehicle. It might be possible to keep up with the growth in electrical system content by adding documentation staff. But actually the challenge is more difficult than it initially appears for two reasons. First, electrical systems suffer a very high rate of change as designs are improved, new features added, components upgraded, and so forth. Second, multiple options offered to the public generate a huge variety of possible electrical configurations, each of which must be documented.

Without substantial automation it becomes either very costly or downright impossible to create and maintain correct documentation. This in turn can lead to legal risks: For example, what happens if an accident occurs because a vehicle has been incorrectly serviced due to out-of-date documentation? But the task goes beyond solving the documentation creation challenge. Unfortunately, vehicle electrical systems can be unreliable: Fuses blow, terminals become corroded, grounding studs fail, etc. Although fault diagnostic systems continue to improve, in a noticeable proportion of cases, fault identification is down to a human technician—pouring over that documentation. With system complexity high and configuration complexity even higher, the unfortunate technician needs some help.

The business issue

Automotive service organisations (i.e. dealers) are normally franchised networks. Speedy fault identification is important to their profitability, so they will pressure vehicle OEMs to provide a very efficient environment for their technicians. Perhaps more important is the experience for the end customer. Few things are more frustrating than a long wait for a vehicle to be fixed, except perhaps a return visit to the garage because the original repair did not cure the problem. This in turn impacts brand image, a subject of vital importance in the competitive automotive market. And for commercial vehicles such as heavy trucks, delivery vans, and taxis, excessive downtime has a very direct revenue impact. Given the importance of accurate documentation and rapid fault diagnosis, it is surprising how little technology has been applied to the task.

Although processes vary somewhat, it is all too common for electrical system documentation to be manually re-created from design data, with all the cost, accuracy, and timeliness issues that entails. Automation is often restricted to drawing aids and content management systems. And as for trapping as-built rather than as-designed data—forget it!  Just as bad, the service technician's environment usually amounts to little more than electronic paper—and sometimes even real paper! Documentation is static, hard to navigate, and not configuration-specific. No wonder troubleshooting doesn't always go according to plan.  Better technology is needed, both for documentation creation and delivery and for the service technician end user. Fortunately this is now becoming available, not only via one-off custom developments but also via standardised, commercial software that can be configured and then built into a larger environment.

Documentation creation, distribution

The key here is to re-use engineering design data directly, ideally embellished or modified to reflect the vehicles that are actually built. Automating design data re-use solves the change management, accuracy, and timeliness challenges at a stroke—providing the design process is itself well controlled so accurate data drives the documentation process. Creating accurate electrical design information is relatively straightforward now that software tools are available that focus on data rather than drawings, because powerful validation and consistency checking are possible.  To re-use this design (or manufacturing) data automatically for documentation and troubleshooting requires quite a bit of technology, however. Most important is a rich model that captures all aspects of the design data. A sophisticated data model allows many useful manipulations to be automatically performed, for example automatic creation of supplementary artifacts such as equipment lists and wire lists. A second example of data model leverage is automatic re-partitioning, perhaps to remove the need for confusing off-page cross references.

Another example is behind-the-scenes linking of data from adjacent domains: Object matching technology can crawl over related information to create links with diagnostic procedures, 3D models, location diagrams, fuse box diagrams, and the like. Just these three examples represent huge documentation-creation time savings, as well as improving quality by minimising human intervention. A further aspect of data leverage solves the configuration complexity challenge. If the electrical data model captures option configurations, this can be linked with a vehicle configuration database (often based on vehicle identification number (VIN)) to allow push-button creation of configuration or even vehicle-specific documentation. Finally, technology to automate transformation of graphical content is needed to support tasks such as diagram synthesis, re-layout, symbol replacement, language switching, and change memory. Applied together these technologies can substantially automate rapid creation of accurate, valid, vehicle specific documentation compliant with both regulatory and practical demands.

Not the end of the story

The next task is to distribute documented information rapidly and safely to authorised recipients. Here we are in the world of security policies, access control, and system performance. Usually electrical documentation will be just a part of a much larger environment. This environment is mission critical, and will normally be provided and administered by a large Information Tech-nology  provider. So it's important that the documentation process is sufficiently flexible to automate creation of any desired electronic format, so it can be accommodated within the overall environment. Of particular importance is the Information Tech-nologyoverhead from the end user's standpoint. Because service organisations are by nature distributed, the Information Tech-nologyfootprint should be as low as possible, ideally zero. No special software should be installed on site, and for legal, commercial and practical reasons documentation providers cannot realistically expect end users to be individually licensed. This final point is important when considering the end user: The service technician. Because of the extreme complexity of modern electrical systems, the technician needs as much help as possible to understand the information. Presenting configuration or vehicle-specific data is massively helpful, greatly simplifying the task, but it is not enough: More software support is needed.

First, it should be very easy to navigate around the documentation. The technician should be able to move seamlessly across many related artifacts, jumping at the click of a button (for example) from a schematic to a wire list to a location view to a repair procedure, with convenience aids such as windowing, and pan & zoom. Second, meta data should be instantly available so that technicians can access items such as expected pin voltage, fuse resistance, wire colour, or component part number—but without excessive screen clutter. Third, electrical intelligence should be available so the technician can easily trace troublesome signals through the maze of connectors and devices. And for very complex situations, yet more advanced features may be needed, such as progressive revealing of connectivity (sometimes called "click & sprout").

Of course all that information must be displayed in the technician's local language via a hidden dictionary. To deliver this smart environment to the technician, the electrical data model must again be leveraged. This data model understands all aspects of the information and hence permits advanced capabilities. But it should also be clear that true functionality must be delivered to boost technician productivity: Relatively static environments such as a searchable PDF file are not sufficient. This in turn challenges software providers who must find a way to monetise their investment in creating this functionality without demanding individual licensing. One can imagine several business models emerging, such as negotiation of a "right to use".

Conclusions

We have seen that documentation of modern vehicle electrical systems is an onerous task—and fault diagnosis by human beings perhaps even more so. The commercial implications are significant in terms of cost, potential liability, brand image, and vehicle downtime. Fortunately, powerful commercial software is now available that automates electrical system documentation creation and provides a highly productive technician environment.

About the author

Nick Smith is business development director in the Integrated Electrical Systems Division of Mentor Graphics.

Source: EE Times 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43EwCu3In0o

Robot records electrical activity in human brain

Inner workings of brain have always been the subject of human curiosity. But, the researchers at MIT and Georgia Institute of Technology claim to have cracked the mystery and that too with the help of robots. They have developed an automated way to record electrical activity inside neurons in the living brain. The researchers said a robotic arm guided by a cell-detecting computer algorithm can "identify and record from neurons in the living mouse brain with better accuracy and speed than a human experimenter." "Using this technique, scientists could classify the thousands of different types of cells in the brain, map how they connect to each other, and figure out how diseased cells differ from normal cells," according to the researchers. Suhasa Kodandaramaiah, a visiting student at MIT and the lead author of the study, and his team built a robotic arm that lowers a glass pipette into the brain of an anaesthetized mouse with micrometre accuracy. As it moves, the pipette monitors a property called electrical impedance—a measure of how difficult it is for electricity to flow out of the pipette. If there are no cells around, electricity flows and impedance is low. When the tip hits a cell, electricity can't flow as well and impedance goes up.

The pipette takes two-micrometre steps, measuring impedance 10 times per second. Once it detects a cell, it can stop instantly, preventing it from poking through the membrane. "This is something a robot can do that a human can't." Once the pipette finds a cell, it applies suction to form a seal with the cell's membrane. Then, the electrode can break through the membrane to record the cell's internal electrical activity. The robotic system can detect cells with 90 per cent accuracy, and establish a connection with the detected cells about 40 per cent of the time. The researchers also showed that their method can be used to determine the shape of the cell by injecting a dye; they are now working on extracting a cell's contents to read its genetic profile. The researchers recently created a start-up company, called Neuromatic Devices, to commercialise the device. The researchers are now working on scaling up the number of electrodes so they can record from multiple neurons at a time, potentially allowing them to determine how different parts of the brain are connected. They are also working with collaborators to start classifying the thousands of types of neurons found in the brain. This "parts list" for the brain would identify neurons not only by their shape—which is the most common means of classification—but also by their electrical activity and genetic profile.

Source: EE Times 

iGATE removes Patni from brand name

Almost a year after it completed the acquisition of Patni Computer Systems, information technology services company iGATE Corporation on Monday said it had removed ‘Patni, from its brand name. The Nasdaq-listed company said its new go-to-market brand would be known as iGate. In January last year, iGATE bought about 63 per cent stake in Patni Computer, India’s sixth largest information technology firm, for about $921 million (Rs 4,188 crore). The company closed the acquisition on May 12, 2011, after which it said to go out to the market under the brand name of ‘iGATE Patni’. iGATE chief executive Phaneesh Murthy said, “I have always articulated that Patni, being a family name, was difficult to protect in several of our markets. This brand change is in line with our vision of ‘one company’ that will follow the successful delisting offer process of Patni with the Indian stock exchanges.” Last month, iGATE had announced to buy back its minority shareholders in order to complete the delisting process from the Indian bourses. The company had offered Rs 520 per share to acquire the remaining stake of close to 18 per cent. After the merger of Patni with iGATE, the company’s revenue run rate crossed $1 billion, with a headcount of 27,000 employees. Murthy said the company, equipped with an innovative mindset of a game-changer, would engage with global customers to deliver high-impact outcomes through proprietary iTOPS framework.

Source: Business Standard

TCS is fourth most-valued IT services brand globally

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has been named as the world’s fourth most valuable information technology (IT) services brand by leading global brand valuation company Brand Finance. The top three most-valued IT services brands are IBM, HP and Accenture. “The value of the TCS brand has increased rapidly over the past three years. Our 2012 ranking marks the first time an emerging market-headquartered firm has entered the top league in IT services. With a strong brand strategy and a refined sponsorship portfolio, TCS has been able to improve both brand awareness and its profile globally,” said David Haigh, chief executive officer and founder of Brand Finance. Brand Finance assesses the dollar value of the reputation, image and intellectual property of the world’s leading companies. TCS, India’s largest IT services provider, has been investing heavily to build up its brand presence worldwide through a range of activities, including a global public relations programme, major sports sponsorships and corporate social responsibility activities. The company’s portfolio of sports partnerships over the past five years has cut across Formula 1 racing, Pro cycling, cricket and running, while its community initiatives have ranged from health and wellness to youth education and environment conservation initiatives.

“We are extremely pleased with this ranking, as it confirms the rapid evolution and recognition of our brand at a global level. In line with the symbolic crossing of the $10-billion revenue mark this year and the global top four position TCS now holds in terms of market capitalisation, net income and employees, this achievement on the brand front is a watershed moment in our company’s evolution towards a top position in its industry globally,” said N Chandrasekaran, chief executive officer and managing director of TCS. Philip Kotler, S C Johnson and Son Distinguished Professor of International Marketing at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, said: “Unreported on most balance sheets, brand value and reputation yet remain the most important assets for a company in today’s hyper-competitive globalised marketplace. In this Marketing 3.0 world, successful modern brands need to reach out not only to the hearts and minds, but also the spirits of their target audience. TCS is clearly a company that is getting this right, reflected in significant gains to its brand equity, value and reputation.” Infosys, India’s second-largest IT services company, is on the fifth position, while Cognizant and Wipro are on the ninth and 10th position, respectively.

Source: Business Standard 

Airtel's 4G not smart enough for phones - Airtel CEO Sanjay Kapoor says it would take some more time for 4G technology to be used directly from smartphones in India which now requires the use of USB Dongles or CPE phones

With the launch of the 4G services in Karnataka today, Airtel has enabled India move from being a follower in technology to matching the world in this domain. Airtel CEO Sanjay KapoorThe new 4G LTE service can be used for PC, laptops and an array of netbooks which support both LTE TDD and LTE FDD technologies, but however, those wanting to use it on smartphones need to make some extra efforts. As there are no mobile handsets on the TDD technology, one has to use the compatible devices like USB Dongles or indoor CPE (ICPE) devices to avail 4G services on mobile devices. "It would take some more time for 4G technology or LTE technology to be used directly from smartphones in India," said Sanjay Kapoor, chief executive officer of Bharti Airtel, here on Monday. Bharti Airtel is rolling out LTE Time-division duplexing (TDD) which is a 2300 MHz frequency spectrum mode. Most of the 4G mobile devices available in market today are LTE Frequency-Division Duplexing or FDD (2100 MHz frequency spectrum) used in the US and other European countries.

Airtel logoKarnataka is the second state to get Airtel's 4G service after the debut in West Bengal in April. With the new 4G service one can get downlink speeds up to 40 Mbps and upload speeds up to 20 Mbps. 4G LTE devices available in open market or in the US are not compatible in India. Kapoor said that the total data usage is exploding and is doubling each year to grow to nearly 3.6 hexabytes by 2014. Airtel's 4G will allow superfast access to High Definition (HD) video streaming, multiple chatting, instant uploading of photos, he added. Tracing the technology evolution in the telecom sector, Kapoor said India was way behind the world in adopting the 2G technology. "Even when 3G was launched a year ago we (India) were 5-6 years behind the world in adopting the technology." Airtel also announced a new tariff plan - Break Free Ultimate - aimed at heavy data users. Under the plan, customers can use 30 GB  (128 kbps speed) for a monthly rental of Rs. 2,999 and 6GB for Rs 999. Airtel has also announced 'Smartbytes' pack that gives flexibility to customer to add to data transfer limit and continue browsing at subscribed speeds

Source: CIOL Bureau

Did Mamata Didi gag mobile newsletter? - A mobile-based text messaging service, Dodhichi Newsletter, is the one that came under the scanner of the Bengal government for allegedly disseminating information about a human rights body's meet

Not even a month after Jadavpur University professor Ambikesh Mahapatra was arrested for circulating a cartoon on West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, it has now emerged that an alternative media was gagged quite a while ago. A mobile-based text messaging service, the Dodhichi Newsletter, is the one that came under the scanner of the Bengal government, aftert it disseminated information about it cancelling permission to Association for Protection of Democratic Rights to hold a public meeting in Kolkata. A media report quoted its director, Dr Shyamal Ray, saying, "Dodhichi Newsletter is a Kolkata-based cellphone text messaging service, disseminating information, news, and views not appearing in the mainstream media." "Our service provides a platform to hundreds of freelance news-gatherers, social and cultural activists, and NGOs, and reaches out to a select list of thousands of message receivers, among them MPs, MLAs, ministers, political leaders as well as eminent personalities in various fields," Ray, apparently, stated in a letter addressed to the Home Secretary of the Union Government. In addition, said the report by The Hoot, Ray complained to the Centre, "On April 9, we discovered that most of our SIM cards (57 of them) had suddenly been deactivated, causing us to suspend our service and of a great deal of inconvenience to those availing of it. The service provider (DoCoMo) when contacted, could not give us a credible explanation." Dodhichi is still running the service, though in a small way, with SIMs from a different service provider. It has been operational since 2010.

Source: CIOL Bureau 

SMEs don't give much importance to security - The number of channels through which info can be stolen has increased considerably, making it difficult to protect it. So, SMEs should give importance to security and user training, says the author - A lot of organizations, especially SMEs don't take the user training seriously enough and end up paying dearly

The number of channels through which information can be stolen has increased considerably, making it ever more difficult to protect it. What's required is a combination of technology, security policy, and user training to make the first two effective. Unfortunately, a lot of organizations, especially SMEs don't take the last point seriously enough and end up paying dearly. Let me explain this with a few examples. People usually resort to bulk mailing when sending wishes during a festival. This is fine so long emails are sent via Bcc or mail merge. Unfortunately, users put all email Ids in the "To" field of their email client, and end up sharing email ids with all recipients, causing a major security risk. Now imagine if someone in your company sends out new year wishes to his/her address book like this? And in turn, some of the recipients forward the mail 'as is' to their own contacts? A small mistake like this starts a chain reaction, with in your company's key customer contacts getting shared with the entire world, and possibly your competitors too (because Murphy is always around!). A school in Delhi NCR region apparently sent out an email circular to all parents.

As a result, all parents got each others' contacts. One of them smartly formed an online group and invited all others to join so that they could discuss and debate over the school's policies and procedures. Now, they're in a position to negotiate every time the school raises its fees! Easy to guess email passwords are another old nightmare that most organizations go through even today. A company we know had accounts of many of its users hacked into because of this. Moreover, the hacker put a 'dot forward' in the users' email settings so that all emails were also forwarded to his own servers. The hacker also used the users' SMTP settings to send out spam. As a result, the company's mail server got black listed and they had a hard time getting it white listed again. Blocking social networking sites or online storage sites doesn't serve any purpose if you leave USB ports open and vice versa. If the objective is to prevent information from getting stolen, then both have to be done so that information doesn't move out of your network. It's like installing an anti-virus software, but not keeping it updated with the latest virus signatures. There are dozens of examples like this one, but without getting into all of them, the long and short of it is to ensure that security policies are enforced to prevent information theft.

Source: CIOL Bureau 

Twitter, an awe-inspiring story for SMEs - Twitter is growing fast at over 1.123 million accounts per day, which amounts to more than 13 new accounts per second. So, as an SME if you think you have an exciting product or service for the common man, just embrace Twitter

Small and medium businesses (SMBs/SMEs) are no longer social media-averse. Given the current growth rate, SMEs cannot discard social sites, especially if they want their products to go global and reach millions of people in no time. Among all the social sites currently available on Earth, Twitter enjoys a special spot. One of the best means to promote businesses, Twitter can spread the popularity of a product or service to every nook and corner of the world. Twitter, ranked one of the ten most visited website, is growing fast at over 1.123 million accounts per day, which amounts to more than 13 new accounts per second. So, as an SME if you think you have an exciting product or service for the common man, just embrace Twitter. Look at IBM. Thanks to Twitter, the IT major can predict wait times at airports by crowdsourcing information from tweets. It tweets for mentions of airports, then send an @reply to the tweeters and ask them to reply with wait times. Another interesting fact is that scientists can tell with great accuracy where you are from just by the words you use in your tweets.

Currently valued at $8 billion, Twitter's evolution is just mindblowing that a startup or an SME can do well to emulate. Like every startup, Twitter – when started in 2006 by Jack Dorsey – was just an idea with only three people working on it. The origin of the company goes back to a 'day-long brainstorming session' conducted by board members of the podcasting company, Odeo. Dorsey introduced this idea while sitting in a park and used the first Twitter prototype as an internal service for Odeo staff. This social networking site's popularity shot up with the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in 2007. Twitter usage increased from 20,000 tweets per day to 60,000 during the SXSW event and since then the company has not looked back. The number of tweets has ever been growing super fast. In 2008, there were only three million registered users and only 1.25 million tweets per day. Within the next one year, eight million users were registered with the site.

Source: CIOL Bureau

Open-source cloud frameworks: A work in progress - Nimble and fast, open-source frameworks can simplify application deployment in the cloud. But they're not for everyone.

When IT consultancy OpenCredo set out to launch three new applications within seven months for a major insurance underwriter, it had three goals in mind: Trim development time from the usual years-long pace, allow for frequent changes from the client, and build a system that can handle unpredictable traffic spikes. By using the Cloud Foundry open-source framework along with other open-source software, OpenCredo eliminated "heavy lifting" such as configuring virtual machines and adjusting the size of storage volumes, says CEO Russell Miles. The framework allowed developers to write code locally, share it with the client, and automate the integration, testing, and deployment of application components. Among other advantages, Cloud Foundry makes it easier to scale an application by adding more instances without downtime, Miles says. Because of the way it works with other open-source software, new features can be added in minutes rather than hours. Even with all those benefits, open-source cloud frameworks like Cloud Foundry are a work in progress. Many manage only physical servers or stand-alone applications, leading customers who need more sophisticated capabilities to create their own frameworks. However, they offer compelling value because they mask the complexity of cloud computing setups, and the open-source model is an attractive way to do that.

Understanding the Basics

The term "framework" is used to loosely describe collections of anything from development tools to middleware to database services that ease the creation, deployment and management of cloud applications. Those that work at the level of servers, storage and networks are infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) frameworks. Those that operate at the higher level of applications are platform-as-a-service (PaaS) frameworks. Among the most popular IaaS frameworks are OpenStack, Eucalyptus, and the Ubuntu Cloud infrastructure. Citrix recently announced it was making its formerly proprietary CloudStack IaaS platform part of the open-source Apache project. Gartner analyst Lydia Leong wrote in her blog that this is "big news" because CloudStack is much more stable and production-ready than the "unstable" and "buggy" OpenStack. Popular PaaS frameworks include Heroku, Cloud Foundry (backed by VMware), and Red Hat's OpenShift, which is built on a foundation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux with support for a variety of languages and middleware through the use of "cartridges." Customers often use multiple frameworks and associated tools. One example is the use of OpenStack to provision virtual machines, and Opscode Chef to create "recipes" describing how servers should be configured, says Opscode co-founder Jesse Robbins. The further up the "stack" a platform operates, the less work the customer must do, but they also have less control over the infrastructure components, says Matt Conway, CTO at online backup vendor Backupify.

Beyond easing cloud creation, most frameworks claim to make it easier to move cloud deployments among public and private clouds to get the lowest cost and best service. For example, Eucalyptus is meant to provide an Amazon EC2-compatible API that runs on top of Ubuntu Linux (the version of Linux underpinning the Ubuntu Cloud), "so apps authored for EC2 should be transplantable to one's own data center running Eucalyptus," says Conway. "Deltacloud was an initiative by Red Hat to create a 'cloud API' to abstract your application away from vendors like Amazon, and it would proxy your requests to the actual Amazon API." For online storage vendor CX, OpenStack provides the flexibility to use other cloud vendors besides Amazon "if [Amazon's] services become too expensive or otherwise unsuitable," says CX CTO Jan Vandenbos. Anthony Roby, a senior executive in Accenture's advanced systems and technology group, says the word "framework" is often misused, and offerings such as Eucalyptus or OpenStack are "not frameworks at all," but "products you can extend or use to build your own infrastructure cloud." However, most observers define frameworks as software building blocks used to create cloud-based services for users.

The Role of Open Source

Open-source projects range from "pure" open-source development initiatives directed by nonprofit foundations that aren't associated with any commercial vendors, to those getting financial, marketing and development help from leading companies. Canonical, which provides support for open-source efforts and plays a leading role in Ubuntu, has seen interest in open source "from the Fortune 50 to a ton of SMBs and startup companies," says Kyle McDonald, head of cloud at Canonical. Most of the company's OpenStack business has come from Fortune 1,000 companies seeking to reduce software costs, he says. Over the past five years, "there's been a sea change towards open source being viewed as [a] safer bet" than proprietary software, says Chris Haddad, vice president of technology evangelism at PaaS framework provider WSO2. With the rising quality of open-source software, and the backing of major vendors, "large commercial organizations do not see it as a threat," he says. In fact, because of economic uncertainties, "to bet your farm on one company is not seen as a good decision these days," he adds. Unlike developers working to meet the goals of a corporation subject to the ups and downs of the economy, open-source contributors "are writing software because that is what they love to do," says Conway.

While most early users of open-source products, such as Chef, were cloud providers that sold services to others customers, Robbins says he is "seeing a pretty quick shift to pretty rapid adoption in the enterprise" among banks, large media companies and other organizations that are building their own private clouds. Most users, however, are not yet moving critical applications to the cloud, because they don't have the tools necessary to provide proper Information Technology oversight and security, says Bryan Che, senior director of product management and marketing at Red Hat's cloud business unit. He says Red Hat's OpenShift will help meet these needs, in part by leveraging the security mechanisms already within Red Hat Enterprise Linux. State Street overcomes security concerns by never acquiring open-source software directly from the Web, but only through trusted partners from which "we can get a support structure as well as the software," says chief architect Kevin Sullivan. Moreover, he says, the company also carefully checks contracts to ensure compliance with the terms of the license, and it scans all open-source software for malicious code. WSO2 Stratos is already addressing such needs with products to support not only application development and deployment, but also integration, rules, business process management, governance, complex event processing and identity management, says Haddad.

Questionable Benefits?

Some observers question whether open-source frameworks really deliver the benefits they're said to offer -- such as portability among clouds providers. "Eucalyptus replicates some of the Amazon APIs, but if you're using something on Amazon [that] Eucalyptus doesn't support, you're out of luck," says Roby. "Similarly, if you're trying to run Java apps and using the Spring [application development] framework, you've got a fair amount of support." But as soon as a customer begins using features, such as data storage, that can't be accessed via Spring, those features may not run correctly with a different provider. Without the ability to move underlying services as well as the application code, he says, "you don't have any portability." With open source, users (or a group of users) theoretically could take the source code and tweak it to meet their own needs if a vendor can't or won't. However, few users would want to do that, says Roby. "If you're a big telco, maybe you are interested in being able to change the code... but most organizations wouldn't do that. The last thing they want is to have their own specific variant of the product" that they would have to support, while losing the ability to take advantage of upgrades from others in the community, he says. Creating a unique open-source "fork" is usually not something you want to do "unless you absolutely have to," agrees Conway, noting that the fork could stagnate without contributions from others.

Much buzz surrounds open source, but proprietary frameworks such as Microsoft Azure or Salesforce.com's Force.com can be better choices "if you have specific needs and that platform already has built-in [elements] to make the job easier," says Shriram Nataraj, senior director in the cloud technology practice at Persistent Systems, a global software development firm. "If you're already a Salesforce customer and want to migrate part of your workload onto a different platform, Force.com can be a very good option for you. If you're already an Office 365 customer and have workloads on [Microsoft's .Net framework]... it makes sense to go towards Microsoft Azure." Good fits for open-source frameworks tend to include experimental cloud applications built by developers who are comfortable with newer, open-source tools. Other likely candidates include applications deployed by organizations such as universities or research labs, which have the technical skills to learn and work with these new technologies, and/or the need for specialized capabilities such as massive databases or advanced analytics, says Roby. Typical apps deployed using open-source frameworks include Web and social applications, as well as mobile or customer-facing websites, says Jerry Chen, vice president of cloud and application services at VMware. Such frameworks are also useful when organizations need to deploy applications quickly and scale them up and down as needed.

Legacy applications requiring hardware or software that may not be supported on the Web tend to be less attractive candidates. "While it is very possible to migrate many data center applications from local servers onto [virtual] cloud-based ones, the ROI is not always clear," says Bill Weinberg, senior director of Olliance Group at software and services provider Black Duck Software. "The downside can lie in potential security issues, divergent response to loading, throughput bottlenecks and availability." OpenStack and Cloudscale are better choices for complex applications than Eucalyptus, says Nataraj, because they do a better job of hiding the complexity of networking. For an application that, for example, requires a user "to connect from a different IP range," a customer would "have to write custom code to make that happen with Eucalyptus," he says. With OpenStack, the "switches" required to make those new network connections are already present. The number and quality of developers involved in an open-source project can also be a good indication of the project's quality, many observers say. If developers from several companies are involved, vendor lock-in is less likely to be a problem, says Nataraj.

Roby, however, suggests focusing on a commercial vendor's level of commitment, rather than that of the community. "It's largely a myth that there's a lot of new code being developed by a large group of people," he says. "Any of these successful products are developed by a small group of people," with the community at large "providing feedback and maybe doing testing or providing documentation." Miles also warns of "token" open-source efforts by partnerships among major vendors. "If both those companies don't really rely on the product for revenue, at any point in time either or both will just walk away, and the product will die," he warns. The unconventional licensing terms that some open-source developers impose on their software, such as one requiring that "the Software shall be used for Good, not Evil," raise eyebrows in corporate legal departments. Posing a more serious problem are licenses that require a company to share any enhancements with other members of the community which creates the possibility that the company may have to reveal "best practices" to competitors. Most experts interviewed say mainstream licenses such as Apache's don't impose such troublesome requirements. In any case, says Conway, his staff's processes and skills are just as important as any code he shares with others. And, he points out, open source also lets him use improvements made by others. Open-source cloud frameworks have the potential to make it far easier for organizations to meet changing business needs by quickly deploying Web applications across public and private clouds. But to get those benefits, IT architects must sift through the various meanings that different vendors have for their "frameworks" and whether each framework can deliver the level of ease of use they need to meet their specific requirements.

Source: Computer World 

Opportunities For Partners In ERP

The ERP market in India is currently pegged at Rs 40,000 crore and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 25 percent in the next 3-4 years. According to Kalyan Banga, Manager, Product Development, Netscribes India, the Indian ERP market is currently estimated to be worth Rs 40,000 crore and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 25 percent in the next 3-4 years. And a study by AMI Partners reveals that of the 4.1 million Indian SMBs with PC penetration almost a million would consider investing in an ERP solution in the next four years.

Growth drivers

Banga says that factors such as reduced product and service cost, enhanced productivity, low time consumption, automation, diminished risk of stock-outs and lower lead-time are attracting SMBs to ERP adoption. Partners attribute the growth in the ERP market to the tech-awareness among SMBs who were earlier dependent on other technology. “They realized that a local ERP cannot cope with changes. Many customers are therefore migrating from local ERP to vendors who can offer them CRM and BI with ERP,” remarks Siddharth Kumar, CEO, Greytrix, a Mumbai-based Sage Premier Partner.

Gen-next push

There is a new breed of second-generation entrepreneurs who want to grow fast, expand geographically, and are looking at scalable options, notes Paresh Shah, Partner, PH Teknow, a Mumbai-based Microsoft partner. Vikram Suri, MD, Sage Software, India & Middle East, has a similar opinion. He feels that these new-age CXOs are driving ERP deployments. “They have a good sense of their business, so they will not adopt a technology just for the sake of it but only to enhance their business.” New-age businessmen realize that ERP not only enhances productivity but also results in cost savings. This realization at an early stage is leading start-ups to deploy ERP. For example, the Alila Diwa Goa, a 5-star hotel and part of the Alila Group of Hotels, had earmarked investment for ERP at the planning stage itself. The company implemented the Sage Accpac ERP at the hotel. Shah of PH Teknow says, “New-age entrepreneurs who have the tech know-how and a detailed process plan in place are our new prospects. These next-generation businessmen are willing to invest in ERP right from the start.” Global best practices also play a major role in influencing new entrepreneurs to opt for advanced technologies. Reasons Devesh Aggarwal, CEO, Compusoft, a Mumbai-based Microsoft partner, “With compliance being the new norm across industries, vendors are embedding industry best practices and standard processes in ERP solutions, and these are a huge draw.”

Verticals at the top

Finance, distribution, retail, media and services contribute 30-40 percent to the overall ERP segment. Sensing the opportunities, vendors are introducing vertical-specific templates to enable partners to close deals and deploy the solutions faster. According to a recent Zinnov study, retail is the single-largest vertical by addressable opportunity with two million firms ready for technology adoption and expansion, followed by professional services at 1.9 million and manufacturing at 1.2 million. “By 2015, retail will stand at 2.5 million, professional services at 2.3 million, manufacturing at 1.6 million, and hotels and restaurants at 1.1 million enterprises. The education segment is not far behind, and is expected to grow to 1.1 million units from the current 0.9 million units,” says Kishen Bhat, Engagement Manager, Zinnov. Oracle is working with partners to develop industry-specific solutions. SAP has developed templates for 26 industries and is now looking at the auto components, dairy, specialty chemicals, infrastructure, healthcare, sugar, poultry farms and textile sectors. Informs Vivek Singh Rawat, Head, Ecosystem & Channel, SAP India, “We work with partners such as New-Age Business Consultants, SeaSoft Solutions, Highbar Technologies and SpectraSoft Technologies which are strong in verticals, embed their solutions in our templates, and resell those to end-customers.”

Opportunities for partners

The Government: has emerged as a serious player. Tally Solutions is targeting ERP implementation at the panchayat level and has already bagged a few orders. The 28,000+ panchayats have been advised by the Central Vigilance Commission to implement ERP for transparency and better productivity. Education: is another big opportunity. With the mushrooming of new schools and colleges, their managements are turning to automation to ease processes, track finances and manage the faculty and students. “The fact that all the vendors have introduced discounted pricing for the sector makes ERP a viable proposition,” Aggarwal points out. Peer-to-peer collaboration: Partners are leveraging the growing trend of peer-to-peer collaboration and executing solutions instead of a pure-play ERP deployment. For a project totally valued at Rs 25 lakh, Aggarwal deployed server, storage, networking and security solutions at a start-up food chain and restaurant in Mumbai. “The hardware requirement was mapped to the components on the ERP application that the hotelier wanted to use. Since I do not deal in hardware, I partnered with an ISODA member for the project, which went live in October 2011.” He regularly collaborates with ISODA members from other regions for projects involving ERP deployment at branch offices.

Solution provisioning: Sudarsan Ranganathan, CEO, Veeras Infotek, who does not deal in ERP, has an interesting take. “We gauge the importance an organization gives to ERP, and determine whether it is process-based and has clarity for growth. I then chart out the hardware requirements for the CIO which are based on his growth plans.” Services: Partners say that ERP deployments bring in additional revenue from services. Aggarwal asserts that anInformation Technologyreseller can make up to 2-5 percent margins, whereas a solutions partner can make up to 25-30 percent on solution selling because the project lifecycle is longer. “Partners can also look at revenue from server management, storage, database management and MIS-related support (post-ERP deployment).”

On-premise ERP

The changing dynamics of the ERP market have brought about changes in the business models. While on-premise deployments still dominate the Indian ERP scene, hosted or cloud-based ERP deployments are slowly gaining ground. Until now, Microsoft offered only on-premise versions of its Dynamics ERP applications though Microsoft partners have had the right to host those applications for their customers under a service provider license agreement. The software giant acknowledges that conversations with customers indicate that interest in on-demand ERP applications has lagged, and that fewer businesses are ready to move mission-critical data and workflows to the cloud. Microsoft, SAP, Tally, Oracle, Epicor and Infor are very strong in the traditional ERP market, which is growing at the rate of 30-35 percent according to industry estimates. e-Recovery, a Mumbai-based ERP provider, charges a one-time fee for the licenses which can be used by multiple users across multiple locations. For example, its ERP for a manufacturing company with revenue from Rs 100 crore to Rs 500 crore costs Rs 10 lakh-12 lakh exclusive of training and customization.

Cloud-based ERP

TCS has launched iON, an on-demand service on a pay-per-use model that offers on the cloud applications such as HR, finance, inventory and domain-based ERP solutions, and basic applications like email, document management and Website services. The company has created an ecosystem of more than 100 cloud service partners across India. e-Recovery is currently working with 12 tier-2 partners for cloud ERP. “We allow a trained partner to architect the solution and also do the deployment. This allows him to earn deployment revenue apart from services revenue and commission,” explains Deepak Suryavanshi, SBU Head, e-Recovery. The company, which has 120 successful implementations across India and abroad, charges Rs 4,000 per user per month for the cloud. Microsoft is also developing cloud computing versions of its Microsoft Dynamics ERP applications, and the company is promising to bring its partner ecosystem along as those applications are rolled out over the next several years.

Source: CRN News Network

Will Adobe Creative Cloud boom loudly?

Adobe Systems has started selling Creative Suite 6, its mammoth but expensive collection of software for designers, artists, photographers, videographers, publishers, and others in the "content creation" business. CS6 product upgrades cost significantly less than the full versions, but starting Friday, there will be a very different purchasing option, Adobe's Creative Cloud subscription. This service costs $50 a month for customers who sign up for a full year or $75 a month for those who pay monthly. The Creative Cloud service includes all CS6 apps running locally on a customer's machine, not on some server on the far side of the Internet as some have supposed given the typical meaning of cloud computing. The service also will grant access to new features as soon as they're done rather than when CS7 ships. Adobe is confident customers will gradually shift to the Creative Cloud. But it's going to be a hard sell for many: a CNET survey in March showed a frosty reception, with 41% respondents viewing Creative Cloud negatively compared with 32% who viewed it positively. Also in the survey, 62% reacted negatively to its price. With CS6, Adobe tried to mix in performance improvements such as a cache-related speedup for video effects and interface improvements.

Source: The Economic Times

App designed to help parents find missing children

It's a parent's worst nightmare. Their child doesn't come home one evening and is missing for several days. When the mother of a 14-year-old boy from Atlanta, Georgia disappeared earlier this year, she turned to her smartphone for clues using an app called Family Tracker that helped track his location. It is one of several apps that allow parents to track the whereabouts of their children. "You can see where your loved ones are without having to call or bother them," said Roberto Franceschetti of LogSat, the creators of the Family Tracker, which has more than 100,000 users and is available worldwide. Parents can track the location of their child on a map, send messages, and even activate an alarm on the phone remotely. "We have an option for the sender to make a very nasty, noisy sound. It's a loud siren and we repeat that sound every two minutes until the person picks up," he said. Parents don't need to own a smartphone to track their children. The service is also accessible via the web, as long as the phone that is being tracked is running the app, which runs on an iPhone or Android devices. Family Tracker has an additional service that keeps a log of all data generated by the app for a two-week period, which the company calls GPS breadcrumbs.

The service was used to find the missing boy in Atlanta. "With a subscription, we keep all the locations where people have been on our servers. You can see where your kid has been for the past two weeks. You can find out where someone was at a certain time, or when that person was at a specific place," Franceschetti explained. But are these types of apps an invasion of privacy? "The advantages are huge compared to the disadvantages. Let's not forget that the person always has to give initial permission no one can be tracked unless they allow someone to do it," said Franceschetti. A similar app called Life360 is credited with helping families stay connected during last year's tsunami in Japan. The mother of the missing boy, who preferred to remain anonymous, said she will continue to use the app to track her son. "My advice to any parent is not to be shy about keeping tabs on your children," she said. "Technology cannot replace pro-active communication and healthy parent child relationships but I have found that it is one more tool in a good parents arsenal."

Source: The Economic Times 

Big data, big opportunities, big myths

The technology and investment communities generate fashions quite periodically in their own ways. Sometimes the investment community buys into technology fashions in a big way, and the result is a movement that creates buzzwords, ideas, problems, solutions, companies, relationships, and often, big growth. Sometimes these movements misjudge their own importance and collapse dramatically. Big data is the latest of these movements. Tech firms created a buzzword and then a global movement that comprise hardware, software and services companies. Investors started jumping in recently and now the universities have started creating special courses. Yet the big data market is small compared to several other sectors. Here we celebrate the opportunity of big data while throwing in some cautionary tales.

What is big data?

Big data as most people use it today has no real relationship to size. Some firms define three distinguishing features: volume, velocity and variety. Big data is often large, is generated at high speeds and is also of mind-boggling variety. There is no universal definition but two features are clear: big data cannot be structured and cannot be analysed by traditional technologies

What is not big data?

The word big data is a misnomer. It does not matter how many bits of information you have, if all you need is a bigger data warehouse. Any dataset that can be easily handled by today's hardware, databases and software cannot qualify as big data. Big data overwhelms your computer as it has an element of mystery

Why big data now?

We have always created big data but did not have a place to store it. Storage became cheap and compact in recent times, and people stopped throwing away information. Software companies meanwhile started figuring out how to store and analyse information that did not fit into neat categories. They still do not have all the answers but the attempt itself is causing a big change

What is the use of big data?

Big data analytics offers hints that it is possible to predict how a customer will behave if you have a history of past behaviours in a sea of relevant or irrelevant stuff. You need complicated mathematics to forecast human behaviour, but math sometimes comes up with amazing insights. Companies love to anticipate customer behaviour. If you don't, your competitor might

What big data analysis cannot do

We don't quite know what is possible now, as we often talk about what is possible in the future. The next-gen technologies could be truly revolutionary, as people figure out what precisely to store and use. Now, like in all revolutionary technologies, hype may exceed capability

Who is involved in big data

Everyone who has an interest in selling something and everyone who is has an interest in helping them do so. Online retailers, storage companies, networking companies, software product companies and services companies.

Source: The Economic Times

LazyTruth: The new weapon to fight spam!

Are you fed up with crap messages flooding your inbox? Here's some good news: Researchers claim to have developed a new software to address the problem an automatic fact-checker built into your email. A team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Laboratory has come up with the software called LazyTruth, the 'New Scientist' reported. "We get a lot of crap in our inboxes," Matt Stempeck, who led the team, was quoted as saying. Wild rumours such as the myth that Barack Obama is a Muslim do the rounds for years, even though they have been debunked. The researchers say that LazyTruth will combat this by delivering kernels of truth right to your inbox. When it recognises the unique phrases that turn up in viral emails it displays a rebuttal sourced from fact-checking websites such as Snopes.com and FactCheck.org, according to the researchers. The software's creators plan to experiment with different configurations to find the most effective. For example, including a link to another article might engage more people. Or it might be better to embed one succinct passage that debunks the entire email. The team will gauge effectiveness based on how many LazyTruth users send responses to fact-challenged emailers.

Source: Indian Express

Now, CCTVs so strong that they can zoom in to read text messages

Surveillance cameras are now so powerful that they are able to zoom in and read text messages, leading to fears of further privacy intrusion by a ‘Big Brother’ style state, it has been revealed. As well as being advanced enough to close in on an individual’s phone screen, security cameras will soon be able to pick up on raised voices and sniff out drugs too. The revelations were made at a privacy conference in Wellington, New Zealand, where it was also disclosed that the average person is digitally recorded about a dozen times a day. During last year’s Rugby World Cup in New Zealand CCTV cameras focused in on the crowd of thousands to read the text message someone was sending. As part of extensive police monitoring during the tournament, camera operators scanned the spectators looking for suspicious looking packages and aggressive behaviour. They then chose to zoom in on one man who was texting, although it turned out he was simply writing about the poor quality of the rugby match.

Experts warned the fact that the cameras were able to do this, raises concerns about breeches of individual’s privacy. Civil liberties lawyer Michael Bott described the pervasiveness of surveillance as "worrying" and warned of the extent people’s private lives were being intruded upon. "It’s quite worrying when we, by default, move to some sort of Orwellian 1984 where the state or Big Brother watches your every move," he said. "The road to hell is paved with good intentions and we don't realise what we are giving up when we give the state the power to monitor our private lives," he said. However, others argued the camera’s ability to zoom in on texts would be helpful in preventing crimes, including rioting. The conference also discussed how technological developments meant that soon cameras will be able to pick up on raised voices and sniffing devices will be able to detect drug residue.

Source: Indian Express

Successor to DDR3 memory will reach devices next year - Micron has started shipping samples of more power-efficient and faster DDR4 memory, which will make their way into computers and tablets next year

Micron on Monday said that DDR4 memory the successor to DDR3 DRAM will reach computers next year, and that the company has started shipping samples of the upcoming DDR memory type. The new DDR4 memory is more power-efficient and faster than the current DDR3 memory, which is found in most new computers that ship today. DDR4 memory will shuffle data at faster rates inside computers. New forms of DDR memory first make it into servers and desktops, and then into laptops. Micron said it hopes that DDR4 memory will also reach portable devices like tablets, which currently uses forms of low-power DDR3 and DDR2 memory. DDR4 memory units are expected to draw less power, starting at 1.2 volts compared to 1.5 volts for DDR3. The DRAM will also transfer data at a brisker pace, with bus speeds starting at 2133MHz. The new memory has also been redesigned to process read, write and refresh more efficiently. Faster throughput helps improve application performance and get information to storage faster. Memory standards-setting organization JEDEC (Joint Electron Devices Engineering Council) is expected to finalize the DDR4 specification by the middle of this year. Micron expects to start volume production of DDR4 memory by the end of this year, the company said in a statement. The first DDR4 DRAM part was co-developed by Micron with memory maker Nanya Technology, and more units will be released in the future that reach the maximum JEDEC proposed transfer speed of 3.2 gigatransfers per second. The company in the future will offer DDR4 memory parts with standard and error-correction features.

Source: Info World]

PHP working on new patch for critical vulnerability after initial one failed - Upcoming PHP updates will address two known remote code execution vulnerabilities

The PHP Group plans to release new versions of the PHP processor on Tuesday in order to patch two publicly known critical remote code execution vulnerabilities, one of which was improperly addressed in a May 3 update. One of the vulnerabilities is known as CVE-2012-1823 and is located in php-cgi, a component that allows PHP to run in a Common Gateway Interface (CGI) configuration. It was discovered and reported privately to the PHP Group in mid-January by a team of computer security enthusiasts called De Eindbazen. The bug allows for URL query strings that contain the "-" character to be interpreted by the php-cgi binary as command line switches, such as -s, -d, -c. The vulnerability can be exploited to disclose source code from PHP scripts or to remotely execute arbitrary code on vulnerable systems. On May 3, the PHP Group released PHP 5.3.12 and PHP 5.4.2 as emergency updates in order to address the remote code execution flaw after technical details about it were accidentally made public. However, shortly afterward, Stefan Esser, the creator of the Suhosin PHP security extension, and other security experts pointed out via Twitter that the CVE-2012-1823 fix included in PHP 5.3.12 and PHP 5.4.2 can easily be bypassed. The PHP Group acknowledged the ineffectiveness of its original patch on Sunday and announced plans to release new updates on Tuesday.

"These [upcoming] releases will fix the CGI flaw and another CGI-related issue in apache_request_header (5.4 only)," the PHP developers wrote. The announcement also included a workaround for CVE-2012-1823 based on Apache's mod_rewrite module that can be used to block queries containing "-". However, the workaround's generic rewrite conditions could end up blocking legitimate queries like "?top-40" as well, so every Web server administrator needs to alter the workaround to fit their particular needs. The second issue to be patched on Tuesday, which involves the apache_request_header, is a heap buffer overflow vulnerability that can also be exploited for remote code execution, Georg Wicherski, the malware analyst and exploit developer who discovered it, said Friday on Twitter. In follow-up tweets Wicherski explained how the vulnerability can be exploited and posted a link to a patch that has been sent to the PHP developers for review several weeks ago. Esser believes that not getting patches right the first time and being forced to release new ones for the same vulnerability can create confusion among users. The security researcher took issue with the fact that the PHP Group did not post an alert quicker on the php.net front page to alert users that the PHP 5.3.12 and PHP 5.4.2 updates were broken. A Web server admin who installs one of those updates and then sees a warning about the vulnerability on a news website the following day, might think that he already has the problem covered, he said Friday on Twitter.

Source: Info World 

Airtel 4G revolution reaches Bengaluru

Bharti Airtel has launched its 4G services in India’s - I T - hub - Bengaluru. Following the recent inaugural launch of Airtel 4G services in Kolkata, customers in Bengaluru have now become the second in India to have access to cutting-edge 4G LTE technology that delivers the most advanced wireless broadband experience available across the globe. As a first for the telecom industry worldwide, Airtel has also introduced ‘Smartbytes’ for 4G – thus allowing customers to buy these add on packs and continue enjoying the 4G experience even after exhausting their monthly data limits. Airtel’s 4G network in Bengaluru was launched by D. V. Sadananda Gowda, Hon’ble Chief Minister of the state of Karnataka. Commenting on the occasion, Sanjay Kapoor, CEO – India & South Asia, Bharti Airtel said, “As seen the world over, the total data usage is exploding and is doubling each year to grow to nearly 3.6 hexabytes by 2014. With the launch of 4G, India will move from being a follower in technology to matching the world in this domain. Leading from the front, Airtel is now the only operator that gives citizens of the Information Technology capital of Bengaluru, access to entire spectrum of broadband services including 2G, 3G and now 4G - thereby giving the customers never seen before data experience”. Besides offering rich content, Airtel 4G will allow superfast access to High Definition (HD) video streaming, multiple chatting, instant uploading of photos and much more. 

  

As part of an exciting introductory offer by Airtel, customers subscribing to 4G services will now be given a cashback for the CPE / dongle - thus bringing device cost to customers zero and paving way for mass adoption of 4G services. Airtel 4G is now also available in an all new 30GB pack priced at Rs. 2999. Customers on Airtel 4G can already choose from a catalogue of over 35 high quality Bollywood movie titles and leverage the power of 4G to enjoy an unmatched video streaming experience. While 10 movie titles will be available free of cost for customers during the first month, movie buffs can pay a monthly subscription of INR 149 and watch unlimited movies. Airtel will be further adding to this list of movies in the catalogue in weeks to come. In 2010, Airtel had successfully bid for BWA license spectrum in Kolkata, Karnataka, Punjab and Maharashtra (excluding Mumbai) circles. The company has launched its 4G LTE services in Kolkata and Bengaluru and is currently working towards rolling out state-of-the-art networks in remaining licence circles.

Source: IT VAR News Network

World's top 10 Online Pirate Nations

The U.S. government released America’s official piracy radar of 2012, a highest priority watch list of countries with highest piracy. Many countries including India made it to the top 10 of the priority watch list, which said, “Online piracy is rapidly supplanting physical piracy in many markets around the world.” The list hopes to shame governments into cracking down on piracy and counterfeiting and updating their copyright laws. Here are the high priority Pirate countries.

Russia

Russia is a hotbed of piracy where no copyright laws are followed. As an entertainment industry expert states it, “They’ll pirate everything in Russia.” It was Russia's 16th straight year on the list. But recently, due to the hard pressure from the entertainment industry, Russia had started to crack down on infringement.

Pakistan

Illegal audio and video copying is flourishing in Pakistan despite global efforts against it. Widespread counterfeiting and piracy, particularly book and optical disc remains the reason to put country in the watch list. According to the IFPI, Pakistani replication facilities are producing in excess of 230 million copies a year.

Israel

Israel remains on the priority watch list. In additional to online piracy, the Cable piracy rate is high in Israel. Very high penetration rates of broadband Internet favor the digital pirates that make the latest movies, music and TV series nearly immediately available. At one time, the piracy levels of Israel had reached 50 percent. Insufficient local legislation and enforcement were poor in fighting increasing Internet piracy in Israel.

Indonesia

Indonesia is one country which consistently tops the world rankings for piracy on the Website. The report says, “While Indonesia has smade positive efforts in 2011 to strengthen (intellectual property rights) protections, the United States was still “concerned that Indonesia’s enforcement efforts have not been effective in addressing challenges such as growing piracy over the Internet and the widespread availability of counterfeit pharmaceutical products.

India

India remains on the Priority Watch List in 2012. The report says India’s legal framework and enforcement system remain weak. The challenge of piracy over the Internet continues to grow and the Copyright (Amendment) Bill, which India had passed in 2010 appears to have stalled.

China

Even though China remains under Governmen t’s Big Wall of protection, the piracy rate in the country is high. 99% of all music downloads in China are illegal. The country has been on the priority watch list for eight years and subject to a special monitoring program. A wide range of rights holders reports serious obstacles to effective protection and enforcement of all forms of Intellectual Property rights in China, including patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, and protection of pharmaceutical test data.