Mobile Application

Information Technology Big Player Facebook, Apple, Twitter, Yelp and 14 other companies have been hit with a lawsuit accusing them of distributing privacy-invading mobile applications. The lawsuit was filed by a group of 13 individuals in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas earlier this week. The suit charges 18 companies with surreptitiously gathering data from the address books of tens of millions of smartphone users. "The defendants -- several of the world's largest and most influential technology and social networking companies -- have unfortunately made, distributed and sold mobile software applications that, once installed on a wireless mobile device, surreptitiously harvest, upload and illegally steal the owner's address book data without the owner's knowledge or consent," the lawsuit alleged. The lawsuit seeks a permanent injunction against such data collection and the destruction of all personal data collected by mobile application vendors so far. Most of the plaintiffs are from Austin and describe themselves in the complaint as users of Apple's iPhone users Android-powered handsets. One of the companies, social networking service Path, was pressured last month into issuing a public apology after a Singapore-based programmer wrote a blog post describing how the company's journal application for iOS- and Android-based phones was secretly collecting address book data.

The apology by Path co-founder and CEO Dave Morin acknowledged that the company had made a mistake in gathering the data but noted that the information was collected purely to improve the quality of friend suggestions made by the application. This week's lawsuit appears to have been inspired, at least in part, by an article in the New York Times in February which highlighted the practice by Path and several other developers and distributors of smartphone applications to collected data from address books without the user's permission. The article, headlined Mobile Apps Take Data Without Permission , was cited several times in the 152-page complaint. The lawsuit comes at a time when privacy concerns over mobile applications appears to be steadily rising. On Wednesday for instance, two senior lawmakers asked Apple for more details about the company's privacy policies for mobile applications running iOS software. Rep. Henry Waxman, ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and Rep. G.K. Butterfield last month had asked Apple to respond to a series of questions about the company's polices for vetting the privacy practices of iOS mobile application developers.

The questions were prompted by the controversy surrounding the Path disclosure. Apple submitted its initial responses earlier this month. However, the two lawmakers this week contended that the letter did not answer all their questions and asked that Apple representatives brief members of the committee on the remaining issues. Earlier this month, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) called on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Apple and Google following reports that some iOS and Android applications uploaded photos from mobile phones without the user's knowledge or permission. Apple, Facebook, Yelp and Foursquare did not immediately respond to a request for comment on this week's lawsuit. A Twitter spokesman said the company did not comment on pending litigation.

Cadence Design Systems - Information technology industry has pinned its hopes on the Union Budget of India

Get more Foreign direct investment

 
Every time Union Budget brings along hopes for revival, better growth opportunities as well as more conducive environment for information technology solution providers. At the same time, there are also concerns on possible tax benefits and insufficient indian government support in some initiatives. As the time has come about this year for the Budget, CIOL feels the pulse of top information technology officers to know about the one hope that they wish be fulfilled. "I believe the government of india should take a long view of the future and the theme for this year's budget should be infrastructure and connectivity," says Mr.SalilGodika, chief strategy and marketing officer, Industry Group Head at Happiest Minds Technologies, "There should be more focus towards tier-2 and tier-3 cities. It will be a great boost if the government could provide special economic zone like benefits to the existent STPI in these cities." Of late, tax authorities in India have been taking an aggressive position on certain tax benefits being given to the information technology industry, is the take of Mr.V.Balakrishnan, chief financial officer of Infosys Limited. "The information technology industry is not expecting benefits in the form of tax holidays and has come to terms with the existing tax regime. However, it needs greater certainty and clarity in the application of existing tax laws."

There is a need, feels Mr.V.Balakrishnan, for a dedicated Information technologyminister to accelerate Information technology sector adoption, bring in efficiency in Information technologyspending by the government and drive standardization across different arms of the government. Mr.AnilChanana, chief financial officer, HCL Technologies said that reigning in the fiscal deficit, while focusing on inclusive growth should be the government's prime focus. "With the enhanced spending on infrastructure, this budget would help stimulate domestic demand for Information technologyproducts and services." If inclusive growth is one, empowering rural India is another aspect that Mr.NareshWadhwa, president and country manager of Cisco India stresses on. "The government needs to do so by provisioning for broadband penetration and financial inclusion. According to the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, for every 10 per cent increase in Internet and broadband connections, India could contribute up to amount of $17 billion to the Gross domestic product." The structural reforms long overdue on DTC, GST and Company Law reforms, says Mr.M.P.Vijaykumar, chief financial officer, Sify Technologies, "should be allowed to happen.

This apart, tax administration has to be more efficient and tax payer-friendly, if industry has to see double digit growth and also get more Foreign direct investment." According to Mr.SureshRao, group chief financial officer, Mindteck, service tax refunds have been inordinately delayed by the government for all software exporters, despite good intent. So, he wishes the government strengthen its delivery mechanisms for effectively getting the service tax refunds paid out. "The Budget should address the challenges of closing of the fiscal deficit without impacting the Gross domestic product growth rate; promotion of inclusive growth initiatives. To this effect, technology can play a big role in helping India overcome infrastructure challenges as well as resource deficiencies that we face," concludes Mr.Jaswinder.S.Ahuja, corporate vice-president and managing director, Cadence Design Systems. Wait till Friday to know whether or not all their wishes come true.

Association of Unified Service Providers of India

The government of india and telecom service providers were heading towards a virtual deadlock on the issue of telecom companies providing facilities to meet the May 31 - 2012 deadline of tracking caller locations on real-time basis. While the service providers, represented by Cellular Operators Association of India and Association of Unified Service Providers of Indian opposed the move, The government showed reluctance to postpone the deadline beyond May 31 and directed the companies to strictly adhere to the time for having location based servers in place. The move comes in the wake of concern expressed by the Home Ministry of india to the Telecom Department of india over the non availability of locations of mobiles phones as well as call details indicating the place from where it was made. A top level meeting was held today in this regard. Director General of Cellular Operators Association of India Mr.RajanMathew said the view point of all telecom service providers was jointly put up with Association of Unified Service Providers of Indian before the government in which "we have indicated that the requirements of the government were not possible". While the government has toughened its stand of not budging beyond the deadline, the operator associations said it would press for extension as various operators were still conducting field trials. The government of india and telecom service providers meeting, which was chaired by Member Technology Mr.JKRoy in the DoT and officials from Telecom and Home Ministries of india, conveyed to operators that they should "strictly adhere" to the May 31 - 2012 deadline for implementation of location-based services and seek from them the latest status report on including them in call detail records submitted to law enforcement agencies, official spokesperson said.

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India

Telecom companies want to increase the processing fee charged on mobile phone top-up vouchers to Rs 3, from Rs 2 now, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India today said in a consultation paper. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has also invited comments on combo vouchers that will provide customers with options of availing benefits of various other offers available under single recharge. "Cellular Operators Association of India and Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India have requested for upward revision of the processing charge in top-up vouchers to Rs 3 from the existing ceiling of Rs 2," the telecom regulator said in the paper, 'Certain issues relating to the Telecom Consumers Protection Regulations, 2012'. Cellular Operators Association of India and Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India, lobby groups of GSM and CDMA players respectively, have both argued that there have been inflationary pressures over the last three years, since the ceiling of Rs 2 was prescribed by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. Cellular Operators Association of India has also cited the rising cost of providing service by way of hike in salaries and wages, increased transportation and diesel cost and so in support of raising the charge. If approved, the increase will effect pre-paid mobile phone users as they need to purchase vouchers which enables them to pay for making phone calls.

However, they would need to pay extra on the actual charges of these services that is termed as processing charge. The fee was fixed under Telecommunication Tariff Order, 1999 which said, "a nominal charge, not exceeding two rupees towards administrative costs or expenses for each recharge under any tariff plan, shall be levied on any recharge exclusively meant for provision of talk time value". The paper has also put up for discussion the proposal made by Cellular Operators Association of India to introduce 'combo vouchers' which it claims will provide more choice to subscribers and allow flexibility to operators to bundle features of Special Tariff Vouchers. As per Cellular Operators Association of India, companies will offer facility of adding talk time value, validity extension and discounts on existing tariff plans in different combination to pre-paid users, instead of buying separate vouchers for each of these. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India notified Telecom Consumers Protection Regulations, 2012 in first week of January. The Regulator has fixed March 25 as last date for sending views on the paper.

Indian information technology industry requires

Indian information technology industry requires a morale boosting in sector, over all growth oriented and an uplifting india budget, said nasscom president mr.sommittal. "indian information technology industry is reeling under a lot of negativity and depression. a big amount of endorphins should be pumped into it now to make it steady market," mr.sommittal said. nasscom trade association has made specific suggestions related to tax issues, transfer pricing, and support for the sme sector. the special economic zone act 2005 was enacted to stimulate exports and generate large scale employment in the information technology sector in india. various policy changes and the imposition of the minimum alternate tax on special economic zone units from assessment year 2012 has diluted the incentive and created a deterrent for future growth of sezs, said mr.sommittal. nasscom has recommended that the mat on special economic zone income be withdrawn as it is counter to the long-term policy announced by the government through the special economic zone act 2005. nasscom trade association said the information technology sector has been subjected to unreasonably high assessments based on transfer prices and consequently several enterprises have got into undue litigation issues. "we have recommended an approach to transference the backlog and provide certainty in the future for transfer cost issues. a safe harbour provision has also been suggested for past and current claims," mr.sommittal said. mr.sommittal said small and medium information technology company face an uncertain and volatile environment. nasscom trade association, they would find it impossible to rent spaces in special economic zone act 2005. and with the benefits under section 1Oa/1Ob also ending, they would not have a level playing field with their bigger counterparts. "a special scheme for supporting smes has to be created ," mr.sommittal added.

develop local technology

Motivated by the desire to develop local technology that would enhance the country's global competitiveness, Mr.ChalermpolPunnotok, CEO of CT Asia and CT Asia Robotic, aims to take strides that would support the domestic and international markets. "When I graduated, I planned to be a businessman who would contribute to industry. I wanted to focus on three industries - software, automation and biotechnology - so as build the country's competitiveness," he said. After getting a master's degree in the US, he started to work with GE. He took charge of their call-centre project for about a year before returning to Thailand to set up his own company called CT Asia. Mr.ChalermpolPunnotok set out with the aim of developing and providing call centres to support domestic and international companies such as KFC, SCG, Toyota and MK seven years ago. "I have a clear blueprint for my life. We are utilising our two main strong points - innovation and speed in developing new products, services and robots - to support the market demand," said Mr.ChalermpolPunnotok. For call-centre software, the firm has been successful in developing and providing solutions to Japanese companies. It set up a company in Japan named JP-CT Asia three years ago. He said the firm provides call-centre software and solutions to customers in Vietnam, China, Europe, Japan and US, in five languages - Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, English and Thai.

"We have call-centre software that is easy to use and can be customised to support the needs of individual customers. We will also provide call-centre applications on cloud computing to support small and medium enterprises (SME) in the near future. Our call centre will become a one-stop service information centre," said Mr.ChalermpolPunnotok. Chalermpol added that his company's success is not confined to call-centre software and solutions. Three years ago, his company was successful in developing a robot named Dinsow, made in Thailand to promote local development. The first version of Dinsow served as a robotic waiter. The firm received orders from MK restaurants to develop 10 robots. The robots will be developed to take orders and deliver food to customers' tables at MK restaurants. "I set up a robot team to develop the first humanoid robot five years ago. I deployed the student team that won the Robotic and Innovation contest in Thailand. To support them and encourage them to innovate for our country and for the international market, I started to tap the winning students to participate in the development of the robot code named Dinsow. We were successful in developing the first humanoid robot in Thailand three years ago," said the CEO. He said that after the robot team's success in developing the first humanoid robot, the firm developed Dinsow2 to assist older people take care of their health as well as serve as a nursing assistant.

The robotic team was successful in developing Dinsow2 as the next generation of robots for use in nursing homes and hospitals. The Dinsow2, developed from the original version launched a couple of years ago, can respond to various commands, including voice, QR codes and sign language and can also communicate via a mobile handset. The new design also allows the robot to move its arms freely and naturally, quite similar to humans. The Dinsow2 can transmit medical sensor data such as heart rate and blood pressure to a hospital for diagnosis. With the new business plan for Dinsow2, the firm is not only providing robotics as a unit to hospital and end customers but it also has plans to provide its Dinsow robot as a services model. "I want Thailand to become the manufacturing base for robots for commercial use to support the Japanese and global markets. Thai developers have the potential, creativity and imagination to develop robots that can support the needs of the world market. The firm plans to invest about Bt50 million for development of service robots," said Mr.ChalermpolPunnotok.

The firm will start to pilot and distribute Dinsow2 robotic to Kluay Nam Thai Hospital in the second half of this year and will supply the Japanese market next year. The firm is also targeting delivery of about 100 robots to the Japanese market by the end of next year as the number of the elderly people there is rising while there is a shortage of nursing assistants. Japan has at least 30 million old people, three times more than in Thailand.The Japan Robotics Association and ABI Research reported that the number of service robots are worth some Bt133 billion for security help to rescue people with disabilities besides entertainment and advertising. In the next 16 years, the value will increase to Bt2.2 trillion. "So far, I have been successful in the IT industry and am entering the automatic industry through robotics. I still have dreams of studying biotechnology and entering the biotechnology industry," said Mr.ChalermpolPunnotok.

Microsoft internet explorer web browser

internet explorer browser 10 is already available for operating system windows 7 in a limited version, but two new versions will ship when operating system windows 8 launches later this year. one will be optimised for touchscreens and tablets, while the other will be a more conventional desktop version. only the latter will run ‘plug-ins’ which add extra web technology functionality. writing on the building microsoft operating system windows 8 blog, mr.stevensinofsky said that “internet explorer browser 10 designed for a metro style experience is a new and improved way of web browsing, where you can truly focus on the information you want to browse rather than the task of web browsing – a fully immersive experience.” mr.stevensinofsky added that “at the same time it provides all of the safety and controls you are used to – tabs, keyboard shortcuts, inprivate browsing, and more.” mr.robmauceri, the group program manager for internet explorer, “we built that experience by extending ie’s underlying architecture to provide a fast, fully hardware accelerated browsing engine with strong security and support for html5 and other worldwide web standards.”

the so-called metro version of internet explorer browser 10 will allow websites to be pinned to the homescreen, which looks like a windows phone homescreen, just as they can currently be pinned to the taskbar. microsoft operating system windows 8, mr.robmauceri said, will offer full-screen browsing that is augmented by the ‘charms’ for data sharing and printing that swipe in from the side of the screen when required for user interface. “we designed the interface and controls to be there when you need them and out of view when you don’t,” mr.robmauceri said. adopting a similar approach to google’s popular chrome web browser, internet explorer browser 10 will use tiles for favourite websites and most used web sites. mr.robmauceri also said that “internet explorer browser 10 takes a clean, “low nag” approach to notifications. all alerts and user prompts come through a notification bar at the bottom of the screen. ie uses microsoft os windows 8 metro style “fly-outs” when more interaction is needed.”

Africa Cellular seeks funding

Africa Cellular services seeks funding : Embattled Africa Cellular Towers is still in discussions in a bid to secure funding, a process it embarked on last November. The company yesterday reiterated a cautionary announcement that it first posted on Date 17 November and said its funding requirements had not yet been finalised. The cautionary has been repeated three times since month November. In its month November trading update, Africa Cellular Towerswarned that it was in strategic discussions “regarding its going concern prospects, as well as funding requirements”. Its results for the six months to August, published in month os December, indicate it has not been able to turn around its loss-making position. In the first half of the year, the group turned over Amount R109.2 million, compared with Amount R102.8 million in the first half of 2010. It reported a net loss of Amount R54.7 million, which was an improvement on the previous Amount R85.5 million loss.

Africa Cellular Towerswas established in 1999 and provides power lines, cellular towers and other products. In the year to February 2011, it recorded a Amount R102.7 million loss from revenue of Amount R202 million. In December, the firm said its outlook was “strained by the inability to secure sustainable long-term contracts within the power lines industry, the depressed trading environment, as well as the working capital constraints being experienced by the group”. It had been successful in securing cellular construction deals in SA and is seeing a “general improvement” in the unit. However, Africa Cellular Towerssaid it may face some “tough decisions” unless there is a short- to medium-term improvement in the power lines division, restructuring of current funding and/or an equity deal to recapitalise the business. Africa Cellular Towerssaid it needed to restructure its costs, refinance certain operations and/or secure additional funds in order to honour its commitments and have sufficient capital to operate.

Network Partner more information available on company website

'Disruptive' network offering on the cards : in the mobile market, AppChat, aims to cut the cost of voice calls by as much as 80%, disrupting the market, when it launches in October. AppChat, which claims to be SA's first end-to-end IP-based mobile network, is being launched by ECN founder and former CEO mrJohn Holdsworth. It is rolling out a national next-generation network with points of presence in all the major centres countrywide. Recent research from Ovum showed the local cost of fixed and wireless broadband is as much as 20 times higher than offerings from providers in 18 other emerging markets.

Mammoth reductions
Holdsworth explains the company will use voice over 3G technology and expects to reduce the cost of on-net calls by as much as 80%. He expects a viral uptake based on the popularity of messaging, which is rapidly replacing SMS. AppChat bought out a company called Altivex, which gives it access to ECS and ECNS licences. He says the licences will be used to build a core network, while the last mile will be leased. Holdsworth has injected the initial, undisclosed, capital amount, but will bring in a third-party equity or network partner when “appropriate”. In July last year, Holdsworth stepped down as CEO of ECN Telecommunications, just a few months after the company was bought out by Reunert for R171.9 million. He started ECN in the first quarter of 2005 to take advantage of a shift to voice over IP (VOIP).

More competition
The local mobile market is dominated by two players, which has led to a lack of competition, says Holdsworth. “This lack of competition has many negative consequences for consumers, the primary one being that SA has very high mobile tariffs compared to virtually every other comparable country in the world.” Holdsworth says the emergence of mobile VOIP, the Independent Communications Authority of SA's (ICASA's) plan to implement wholesale open access and an interconnect rate of 40c per minute by March 2013, will see the “biggest change in the mobile market for 15 years”. AppChat is taking advantage of these shifts, says Holdsworth. “Our objective at launch is to provide our prepaid and postpaid customers with the highest quality lowest-cost mobile voice minute in the country – by some distance more information available on company website.”

Tough challenge
Steven Ambrose, MD of Strategy Worx, says “there is probably more chance of me falling pregnant than the networks allowing him to get away with it”. Holdsworth expects the mobile networks to move against the offering, but says this would be anti-competitive, which is against the law. “We look forward to the competition. Ultimately, prices will come down, service will get better and consumers will benefit. Real competition always has that effect.” Ambrose says there are massive challenges in competing with the current operators and Holdsworth's offering may add a layer of complexity for end-users, which could work against it. However, he adds that he does not know the specific details. Further details will become clearer closer to the launch date, says Holdsworth. AppChat is “possibly one of the most disruptive new entrants to emerge in the mobile market for some time”, he claims. Holdsworth will need billions to roll out a national network, based on the investments MTN and Vodacom have made, says Ambrose. “I hope he pulls it off; competition is always good.”

Billionaires Index worldwide website (social media portal). Launched in year of 2004

Here's another Billionaires list. Bloomberg has started the Bloomberg Billionaires Index worldwide, the first daily global ranking of the richest (Billionaires) people in the world. The index is a dynamic measure of the world's wealthy based on changes in markets and the economy. And little surprising that the 'global rich list' is dominated by technology billionaires, men who have earned their billions from the technology-led businesses. In this Ranking Index over to the world's top 10 technology billionaires.

1. William Henry Gates III - Estimated net worth: 63.5 billion Dollar

William Henry Gates, popularly known as Bill Gates, is the co-founder of Microsoft corporation, the world's biggest software development us based company by sales. America's richest man-and its greatest living philanthropist-owns about 6 per cent of the technology giant, a stake that now represents about a quarter of his overall wealth. The rest of his fortune lies in Cascade Investment, Gates's private investment vehicle.

2. Lawrence Joseph Ellison - Estimated net worth: 38.1 billion Dollar

The bulk of Lawrence Joseph Ellison's (Larry Ellison) fortune comes from his 22.5 percent stake in Oracle, the world's III largest software company by sales. He owns a 49 per cent stake in software maker NetSuite, as well an interest in LeapFrog Enterprises.

He also probably has at least $4 billion in cash and other assets, including numerous real estate holdings.

3. Mark Elliot Zuckerberg - Estimated net worth: 21 billion Dollar

Zuckerberg is a co-founder and the chief executive of Facebook, the world's largest social media website (social media portal). Launched in year of 2004, the website has 845 million monthly active users-about 12 per cent of the world's population.

The company is poised for a public offering in the spring, an event that will likely add billions to Zuckerberg's net worth.

4. Larry Page - Estimated net worth: 19.2 billion Dollar

Larry Page co-founded Google inc (with Sergey Brin) and serves as its chief executive, a title he took in 2011. Together, Brin and Page own about 16 per cent of the search giant (recent market cap: $200 billion).

Page also oversees an investment portfolio, having sold more than $3 billion worth of Google stock since it went public in year of 2004.

5. Sergey Brin - Estimated net worth: 19.1 billion Dollar

With Google inc co-founder Larry Page, Sergey Brin owns about 16 per cent of the search giant (recent market cap: $200 billion). Brin, who stepped down as president of technology in 2011 to direct special projects, also oversees an investment portfolio, having sold more than $3 billion worth of Google stock since going public in 2004.

6. Azim Premji - Estimated net worth: 18.3 billion Dollar

Azim Premji owns 79 per cent of Wipro, India's third-largest software exporter company. Based in Bangalore, Karnataka, india, his technology company employs more than 100,000 people and has annual revenue of more than $7.2 billion. Premji also owns a private equity fund, PremjiInvest, which manages his $1 billion personal portfolio.

7. Jeff Bezos - Estimated net worth: 17.6 billion Dollar

Since launching his online bookseller in 1994, Amazon's founder and chief executive has turned the company into the biggest retailer on the web, with sales of more than $64 billion. In 2007, Bezos introduced the Kindle electron book reader, which is now Amazon's top-selling item. The company is also a leading provider of cloud computer services.

8. Steve Ballmer - Estimated net worth: 15.9 billion Dollar

Steve Ballmer became chief executive of Microsoft when Bill Gates stepped down from day-to-day management in January 2000. Since then, the exuberant Microsoft chief has struggled to keep the world's biggest software maker relevant in the age of Apple.

Microsoft stock, which hit its peak only days before Gates stepped down, has languished ever since.

9. Michael Dell - Estimated net worth: 15.1 billion Dollar

Michael Dell is the founder and chief executive of Dell, the world's third-biggest computer hardware manufacturer. He owns about 15 percent of the Round Rock (Tex.) company.

Through his New York investment firm, MSD Capital, Dell also controls a $10 billion portfolio that maintains investments in a number of different industries.

10. Paul Allen - Estimated net worth: 15 billion Dollar

Paul Allen co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates, creating the most successful company of the personal computer era. Allen left the company in 1983, proceeding to diversify, with mixed success, into entertainment, cable companies, real estate, private equity, and energy plays. He is now pursuing space travel and brain research.

Note: The ranking based on figures of March 14

Chennai based software company - most visited website

Using Social Networking site in Office working time - Projects getting delayed ? Employee productivity down? Blame it on social-networking sites such as Facebook.com and LinkedIn.com and many other site also included. Salary.com surveyed around 3,200 people visiting its site from February to March to find out which sites they visit the most. Of the people who took the survey, 39 per cent said they spend a mere hour a week or less on non-work related items. That's followed by 29 per cent who spend up to two hours a week wasting time on the computer at work, and 21 per cent who waste up to five hours a week. Only 3 per cent of respondents spend 10 hours or more on personal tasks while at work in a given week. It came as no surprise that Facebook.com was the most visited website. The social media behemoth with nearly 850 million users worldwide is visited by 41 per cent of respondents. That's followed closely by LinkedIn.com at 37 per cent, Yahoo.com ! at 31 per cent, Google+ at 28 per cent and Amazon.com with 25 per cent. Twitter.com ranked near the bottom with a measly 8 per cent. And even though Pinterest, an online pinboard, has been garnering a lot of media attention lately, only 4 per cent of the respondents currently use the service, said the survey. The US-based Salary.com provides on-demand talent management, payroll and compensation solution to help companies and people manage pay and performance.

Social Networking site Restrictions in office : A number of Indian companies, too, restrict giving access to employees to sites like Facebook.com and LinkedIn.com. Leave alone access to such sites, there is no Internet connection in some of the software development centres in india. “Systems are wired for coding. It is very confidential work as banking systems, for global banks are involved. There is no Internet access in development centres for security reasons, bugs and other threats,” said an official of a Chennai-based software company who did not wish to be identified. So if employees are wasting time instead of working, it stands to reason they might be doing it because they are underpaid, right? Wrong. Of the top six reasons why employees waste time at work, being underpaid ranked dead last at 18 per cent. Most employees — 35 per cent — said they waste time at work because they are not challenged enough. That was followed closely by the 34 per cent who claimed they waste time because their hours are too long, 32 per cent whose company gives them no incentive to work harder, and 30 per cent who are unsatisfied, said the survey.

Custom Mobile AntiVirus applications could computing

As they muscle their way into business environment, smartphones and tablets have begun to adversely impact enterprises. The average annual cost of mobile incidents for Indian enterprises, including data loss, damage to the brand, productivity loss, and loss of customer trust, is pegged at Rs 42.32 lakh per organisation annually. The figure may look small, but a survey conducted by security solutions company Symantec Corp. hints at shape of things to come. Announcing India results of its 2012 State of Mobility Survey, Mr.ShantanuGhosh, Vice-President and Managing Director (India Product Operations) of Symantec AntiVirus, said that threat to mobile devices would only grow in days to come. “There is a sharp increase in usage of mobile applications across organisations. At least half of Indian enterprises are discussing deploying custom mobile AntiVirus applications and 1/3 currently implementing or have already implemented custom mobile AntiVirus applications,” Mr.ShantanuGhosh said.

Conducted by Applied Research survey from August-November 2011, covered 6,275 organisations in 43 countries worldwide, including 250 in India. “Now that time question is no longer about allowing mobile devices in the workplace, but rather how to manage and secure devices and critical information effectively and mitigate risks in a connected worldwild,” Mr.ShantanuGhosh said. “Mobile adoption is not without risks, and Information Technology organisations recognise this challenge. Concerns are wide-ranging, from lost and stolen devices, data leakage, unauthorised access to corporate resources and the spread of malware infections from mobile devices to the company network,” he said. Symantec AntiVirus asked enterprises to explore how they could computing take advantage of mobility and develop a phased approach to build an ecosystem.

Business process outsourcing Indian Information Technology Market

Information Technology & Business process outsourcing

Ups side and downs side, the Indian Information Technology Market has stood tall, and has been a consistent contributor towards development of the india, emerging as the most significant growth drivers of the economy with growth projections of 225 billion dollar by twenty-twenty. In addition to this, the industry has also positively impacted the lives of millions through contribution to the socio-economic parameters such as employment, standard of living and diversity. The Indian Information Technology - Business process outsourcing industry to continue playing a pivotal part in country transformation towards a knowledge economy fostering innovation and entrepreneurship, favourable regulatory environment is a must. Keeping this in mind, every year, National Association of Software and Services Companiesand its members share a list of recommendations with the honorable Finance Ministry to be considered for the finance Bill. These recommendations are aimed at ensuring a strong strengthened regulatory environment with more rationalised tax structures, incentives for large and small enterprises in india, and STPs and SEZs that catalyse the growth of the sector in market. The recommendations are aimed at addressing the critical issues faced by the industry which increases uncertainty and litigation, and impacts future investments. Starting with MAT, at twenty %, it has created hardship on the cash flow position of companies and also impacts the re-investment required for growth. It should not be more than one-third of the normal tax rate and MAT on SEZ income should be withdrawn.



With the sunset of STP benefits, there has been denial of tax deductions for onsite services on one pretext or the other, which the exporters of Information Technology services are entitled to. The indian Government needs to issue appropriate clarifications to state that onsite services are an integral part of Information Technology services india. From a transfer pricing perspective, the industry has been facing several unwarranted assessments on the additions. There is a considerable amount of subjective judgment in arriving at the arms length price of an international transaction between two associated enterprises. National Association of Software and Services Companiesbelieves that the rules should be framed to notify the metrics for making transfer pricing adjustments. Moreover, safe harbour provisions should not have any threshold limits and Advance Pricing Arrangement, the standard international practice, should be introduced to reduce litigation.



Further he added, we also feel that with regards to treatment of software (software development) being ‘goods' or ‘services', prevalent ambiguities must be minimised and more clarity must be established to avoid dual taxation (i.e. both Central and State authorities have been demanding taxes on supply of software) which leads to additional burden on the information technology industry. This should be looked into the by all the governments collectively to arrive at a mutually agreed structure. In the existing environment, where there is a perception of a policy paralysis, it is imperative that there is an enabling and supportive regulatory framework that spurs the growth of the Information Technology - Business process outsourcing sector. These requests, if met with by the Indian Government will ensure that there is more predictability of the tax liability, reduced litigation and disputes and encouragement of future investments. There is need for legislation to be implemented in letter and spirit, so as to deliver the maximum benefits to National Association of Software and Services Companiesmember companies in india.

Indian server market shipment enterprise solutions

For the second consec utive quarter, the Indian server market shipments have declined, according to IDC. For the fourth quarter of 2011, the x86 server shipments have dropped over 9 per cent as against the third quarter of 2011. Further, revenues have decline by 5.6 per cent when compared to Q4 of 2010 and revenues from non-x86 server shipments declined by 29 per cent over the same period. Hard disk shortages due to floods in Thailand and rupee appreciation resulted in pricing inelasticity, which in turn resulted in lower server shipments.

IBM tops the table : In the India server market, IBM leads the market with 32.8 per cent revenue followed by HP with 28.1 per cent marketshare for the fourth quarter. While IBM's revenues declined from a year-on-year perspective, the vendor's revenues grew sequentially and IBM also managed to increase its non-x86 revenue market share significantly. HP's revenues declined both in the x86 and non-x86 segments. The top 4 players, including IBM, HP, Dell and Oracle cumulatively held 90.6 per cent of the total market in fourth quarter of 2011. “Server shipments continued to plummet in the entry level x86 models in 4Q 2011, thanks to high dollar conversion rates and challenges of hard disk,” said Mr Madhan Dhandayutham, Research Manager, IDC. The silver lining, however, was an uptick in blade shipments, which IDC says is up this quarter as compared to the previous one. The x86 shipments was the worst affected in the entry models during fourth quarter. Dell's shipments rose sharply during the quarter as the vendor managed to tie along with HP to achieve the market leadership position. On Monday with Dell launched its 12th generation of servers, with an eye on the Indian enterprise solutions segment.