MobiQuest’s M’Loyal connects 5 mn consumers

MobiQuest, a leading enterprise mobility solutions company, proudly announced that its flagship mobile loyalty product – M’Loyal has engaged more than 5 million retail consumers across India with their favourite brands.

Leading brands like Gini n Jony, VLCC, Forever New, Mochi and many other leading brands have adopted digital and social media to engage consumers. M’Loyal is helping these brands in engaging with their end customers.

“Indian retail industry is fast adopting technology to scale up operations and understand the consumer. With mobile penetration increasing every day, mobile phone is an ideal tool for customer acquisition, retention and engagement. Acquiring customer information and tracking purchase behaviour is key to the growth of a retail brand,” Vineet Narang, CEO, MobiQuest said, “M’Loyal, allows brands to build a database of most relevant and visiting customers, tag each customer bill to identify, track and measure customer pulse. We are proud on the fact that today we have crossed 5 Million consumers on M’Loyal platform.”

Mobile coupons are an integral part of a mobile loyalty platform. According to Sabina Kamal, COO of MobiQuest, “Coupon redemption figures have seen a huge jump. Some of the brands in our network are seeing 21-24 % redemption rates. The retail brands have realised the potential of this tool so as the end consumers. So we foresee a exponential growth as well.”

Digital, mobile and social media converging together is a very strong strategy for consumer mapping and allows the much needed one-one interaction. According to company sources, their upcoming mobile loyalty application is expected to be the most downloaded mobile application in the coming months.

Avaya gets aggressive towards SMEs

In it’s bid to get more aggressive towards SME market, Avaya unveiled new product releases and innovations targeting this market. These announcements include the new version of Avaya’s communications solution for this market—Avaya IP Office 7.0—which helps drive improved savings, user experiences, and collaboration for a new generation of entrepreneurs, early-stage companies, and mid-size firms.

Nearly 60% of small and mid-size businesses state they use, are interested in, or are planning to use collaboration software. With this launch, Avaya previewed forthcoming innovations in collaboration for this market, including the Avaya Flare Experience for small and medium businesses. Avaya also demonstrated advanced multi-party videoconferencing via several devices, desktop sharing capabilities, and an upgrade from a Nortel device to Avaya IP Office using the Data Migration Tool.

According to Dell’Oro market share reports, Avaya is now the leader in the small and medium business market with 30 million telephony users on Avaya small and medium communications platforms.

However, Avaya also shared its vision for a hybrid cloud approach to small and mid-size business communications, which places Avaya IP Office on premise, while enabling select applications to be hosted ‘in the cloud’ on a partner network. This capability will allow more flexible use and faster deployments of Avaya’s latest collaboration applications.

The company also unveiled customer and partner support for Avaya IP Office 7.0. Customers around the globe include Carlo’s Bakery, home to owner and television personality Buddy Valastro, top music booking firm The Agency Group, and China’s Old Mutual-Guodian Life Insurance. Partner support included US and Canadian service provider partners Verizon and Bell Canada, and Indian distributor Beetel, a member of the Bharti Group.

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Array Networks Appoints Inspira as a VAD

Array Networks announced that it has appointed Inspira, a leading technology solutions provider, as a key value added distributor in India.

Inspira provides technology solutions to global clients in select verticals that demand high performance, high availability, scalability and security. Inspira implements standards-based software solutions that provide the extensibility and adaptability required when interfacing with multi-vendor, multi-architecture and multi-platform applications. Their low-risk Global Delivery Model reduces costs and meets schedules and quality parameters while their rigorous methodologies ensure high quality and delivery predictability for customers.

Array Networks is placing increased focus on select verticals in the coming year and there is significant upside tied to Array’s growth, footprint and revenues in India. Inspira views this as a valuable opportunity to broaden its portfolio and revenue potential. Today’s move enables Array and Inspira to compliment each other’s strengths – focus on key verticals and technology – to better satisfy customer demands.

“We are delighted to align ourselves with Array’s mission to provide best-of-breed application acceleration and secure access solutions,” said Rohan Dholakia, Chief Marketing Officer at Inspira. “Inspira has great products and business prospects and this venture with Array Networks will strengthen our ability to extend and adapt services by interfacing with multi vendor, architecture and platform applications.”

Array Networks has an impressive list of marquee customers that includes top corporations and resellers in India. Some of India’s largest companies and organizations rely on Array, including 4 of India’s top 5 companies, 3 of India’s top 10 banks, 3 of India’s top 5 government PSUs and 3 of India’s top 10 wireless telecom service providers. Building on Array’s impressive 150% revenue gain for 2010 in the India market, the association with Inspira is expected fuel the next phase of Array growth through greater reach in key markets and a wider overall footprint.

“The market for application acceleration and secure access is growing in leaps and bounds which in turn has increased the demand for Array’s product line,” said Shibu Paul, National Sales Manager – India at Array Networks. “The partnership between Array and Inspira will create a whole that is far greater than the sum of its parts in India’s secure application delivery market.”

NASSCOM & KPMG Announce the Winners of the Healthcare IT Awards 2011

National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) in collaboration with KPMG announced the winners of the first Healthcare IT Awards 2011 which were presented at Hyderabad. The awards are aimed at giving centre stage to various initiatives and projects that have successfully demonstrated the growing role of technology in transforming healthcare service delivery in India.

The awards were given out by the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh – Mr. Kiran Reddy and NASSCOM Chairman – Mr. Harsh Manglik across diverse categories that showcase use of technology in healthcare for cost reduction and transformation, technology solutions for healthcare inclusion and most innovative use of technology in a government hospital. The winners were selected after a rigorous screening by an esteemed panel of judges from amongst fifty plus entries received across India.

Commenting at the occasion, Ms. Sangeeta Gupta, Senior VP, NASSCOM, said, “The first edition of the Healthcare IT Awards 2011 has demonstrated the immense potential of IT in making enhanced and affordable healthcare solutions accessible to all. The role of technology today is no longer restricted to driving the economic growth of the country, but is evolving to ensure that every citizen becomes a beneficiary of this burgeoning growth. ICT-enabled solutions in healthcare have the ability to transform India and drive inclusive growth which is an imperative for the IT-BPO industry over the next decade. Our heartiest congratulations to all the winners of this year and we look forward to see many more such innovations in the healthcare industry getting unfurled at this platform every year.”

IT is increasingly penetrating the healthcare service delivery in India driven by the need to reduce costs, efficiency imperatives, interoperability of existing fragmented hospital systems and increased health awareness amongst citizens. The Healthcare IT segment, though small, registered a high growth rate of 6.6 per cent in 2010 and was one of the major growth drivers. The segment is expected to see an uptake in the coming years as governments across the world take to technology to improve the quality of service delivery for citizens.

Winners of the Healthcare IT Awards 2011:

Best Healthcare Information Systems (HIS) Solution- Siemens IT Solutions and Services Pvt. Ltd. The award recognizes the impact of their solution Soarian MedSuite implemented in SL Raheja Hospital for enhanced patient experience and faster delivery of medication
Best Electronic Medical Records (EMR) Solution- Sankara Nethralaya – Tata Consultancy Services. The Ophthalmic EMR solution centrally supports multiple eye care centers and has enabled paperless patient care within Sankara Nethralaya, ensuring easy retrieval and storage of medical records, while reducing costs substantially.

Best Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS) – TeleradTech India Pvt Ltd. Their product RADSpa, Radiology workflow Intelligence system is a web-based PACS platform that enables specialists to review teleradiology reports remotely thus enabling specialists to provide services to remote clients or in emergency situations.

Best IT Solution for Healthcare Inclusion (Telemedicine)- Aravind Eye Care System. Their Diabetic Retinopathy Evaluation Software enables cost effective diagnoses and treatment of people suffering from Diabetic retinopathy. Till date, 15,000 diabetic patients have benefited by the solution.

Best IT Solution for Healthcare Inclusion (Others) – Health Management and Research Institute. HMRI services and solutions have helped reduce the maternity mortality rate of tribal women in Araku, AP and till date impacted more than 34,000 people.

Best IT Implementation in a Government Hospital- Wipro Ltd. The HMIS solution implemented by Wipro connected six hospitals that operate under the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. The solution has helped in stream lining operations and improving patient care.

Hitachi brings new USB 3.0 family for Local Backup and Online Cloud Storage

Delivering solutions that better fit your increasing mobile and connected lifestyles, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST) is expanding its family of external storage and backup solutions with its new line of Hitachi Touro Pro desktop and mobile external hard drives. Delivering two levels of protection–local backup and cloud storage, the Touro Pro line is an all-in-one solution to help protect, transport and store your photos, music, videos and documents for easy access from anywhere.

Coupling online storage and local personal storage is vital in today’s mobile world. Your personal content and the public cloud are converging. Right in the middle of this is you. Your content. Your personal cloud – the stuff you want access to, from anywhere – online and from your tablet, Smartphone, laptop or external drive.

Back it up, then beam it up
In addition to providing simple local backup, the Touro Pro family’s online storage option ensures your data is always protected and accessible in the cloud. With Hitachi’s intelligent storage solutions, you can access and share files from any web browser, tablet or Smartphone – even from an iPhone and iPad using our apps. When using the cloud service, all content is stored in its natural format (no proprietary formatting), so files are easy to view, download and share from any web browser, anywhere. You can even share your online content with others by sending a web link.

Every customer receives 3GB of online storage for free and for more storage there is an option to upgrade to a quarter of a terabyte (250GB) for only US$49 per year, which includes multiple computer protection. Upgrade to a paid account and receive the Apple® iPhone® or iPad® mobile digital device apps for free.

The Hitachi Touro Pro local backup software was developed in-house by our team of engineers. With a few clicks, the drive’s default setting will backup your photos, favorite music, videos, and documents from your computer directly to the drive. Once installed, backups run quietly and automatically every 30 minutes. And, it’s flexible enough to schedule custom backups on a time or day that’s convenient for you.

“Unbound by convention, Hitachi GST was the first to blend personal storage with cloud backup. We’re liberating our customers from the limitations of today’s technology and giving them free reign about where they store and how they access their digital content,” said James Ho, vice president, Asia Pacific, Hitachi GST. “Our new intelligent storage products and services continue to redefine how we connect to our content -, while providing data protection, simplicity and ease of use for just about anyone.”

Pricing and Availability

Featured in a sleek piano black design, Hitachi Touro Pro drives are easy-to-use with desktop and mobile solutions that cover virtually every Mac™ or PC™ users’ storage and backup needs. For simple add-on storage expansion only, Hitachi is offering a family of Hitachi Touro mobile and desktop solutions. The Hitachi Touro Mobile Pro and Touro Mobile drives are now available. The Hitachi Touro Desk Pro and Touro Desk versions will ship in June.

BlackBerry brings Playbook for multitaksers

Despite the not-so-jazzy reviews it received before its launch, the BlackBerry tablet leaves Apple’s iPad miles behind in multitasking, say the experts.

Its powerful QNX operating system – called Neutrino – allows the PlayBook to perform multitasking at amazing speed, according to experts.Thus, PlayBook users need not stop one application to start up another. They can keep all applications running simultaneously. That’s why the PlayBook has no ‘Home’ button unlike the iPad because users don’t need to stop any running application to start a new one.

“The (PlayBook) operating system kicks ass,” Roel Vertegaal, a human-computer interaction professor at Canada’s Queen’s University, told the Globe and Mail.

“If you want to do more than one thing at once and you want to do it very fast – if you want to do work and play together – the PlayBook shines better than the iPad,” the paper quoted Mike Abramsky, managing director of software and wireless research at Toronto’s RBC Dominion Securities, as saying.

The BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) acquired Ottawa-based QNX software company for $200 million in April 2010

to have exclusive access to its operating system for the PlayBook tablet.

The QNX software powers not only the six-wheeled unmanned Crusher combat vehicle by the US Army, but also music, media and navigation systems in cars from BMW and Porsche.

But in the Apple-dominated tablet market, few analysts are giving thumbs up to the BlackBerry tablet – the first product by RIM to diversify away from its trademark BlackBerry smart phone. It is do or die for the Canadian iconic company, they say.

According to them, RIM has been forced to play catch-up with Apple whose first-generation iPad sold more than 17 million units last year, and the iPad 2 has taken sales many notches up since its launch March 11.

They point out how Apple had no presence in the BlackBerry-dominated smart phone market five years ago. Then Apple entered the smartphone market and within four years overtook RIM in smart phone sales in the North American market.

They say Apple revolutionized mobile computing last year by introducing the iPad which has catapulted it into the world’s number one technology company valued at more than $300 billion today.

“This (PlayBook) is a product that just keeps them (RIM) in the game,” according to Toronto-based Don Lato, who is a portfolio manager at Goodreid Investment Counsel Corp.

The PlayBook is more of a defensive strategy than a revolutionary product by the BlackBerry maker, he told the local Nation Post newspaper.

Govt of India Debars Nokia’s Push Email Service

Nokia

The big brother wants to know what’s in your emails and this has been a contentious issue in the recent past. Notably evident in the ongoing tussle between RIM and the Indian government, with the latter trying its best to gain monitoring privileges over Blackberry messaging service. With that issue still being unresolved, the govt has now trained its guns on Nokia’s new push email services. The government has banned Nokia’s push email services until the security agencies are given full access to monitor all emails traversing through the network.

Nokia had even set up a local Indian server to help the govt monitor and intercept emails, but still Ministry of Home Affairs has ordered mobile operators not to launch Nokia’s proposed pushmail/powermail service without establishing monitoring facilities. This development means the users of Nokia’s E Series devices employing push email services will be hit by the ban. Four months ago, when RIM was entangled in the security issue, Nokia had been quietly advertising Exchange ActiveSync for its smartphones.

With the dispute still brewing without any signs of resolution in the near future, Nokia needs to act fast and resume its push mail services, which it had already been advertising in the market.

Facebook Scammers targeting Over 10 Million People: Sophos

IT security and data protection firm, Sophos, is warning Facebook users to be wary of bogus event invites that are currently circulating on the social network. Spammers have invited millions of Facebook users to fake events in an attempt to generate income from online survey scams.

One event, called “Who blocked you from his friend list?” has already tricked more than 165,000 people into signing-up, with a staggering 10.3 million users still debating whether to respond or not.

The scammers embed instructions into the ‘More info’ section of the event’s summary, which leads unsuspecting Facebook users into visiting webpage’s for online surveys or competitions, designed to earn commission for those behind the scheme. In some instances, users are also asked for a mobile phone number – which is then signed up to an expensive premium rate service.

“These spammed-out event invitations and links to survey scams are one of the biggest nuisances on Facebook right now, impacting millions of users every day,” said Graham Cluley, Senior Technology Consultant at Sophos. “It would be great if Facebook was being more proactive in shutting down these obviously bogus events, as currently it’s far too easy for the scammers to fill their pockets through schemes like this.”

Facebook users are reminded never to accept unsolicited invitations from suspicious events, and always think twice about clicking on links received via Facebook.

Nokia-Microsoft talks are ‘on schedule’

Talks between Nokia, the world’s largest cellphone maker by volume, and Microsoft on a software deal are on schedule and a large number of Nokia Windows phones should be sold in 2012.

“Negotiations have progressed very well. They will be concluded well on schedule,” Kai Oistamo, head of corporate development at Nokia, said on Monday.

The companies signed a non-binding agreement on Feb. 11 for Nokia to start using Microsoft software as its main platform in smartphones.

Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop said in February it would take at least a couple of months to sign a deal.

The long negotiation process has led analysts to question whether the partnership can produce quick results. Some analysts have said talks should be concluded by end-April when Nokia plans to start talks over job cuts stemming from the agreement.

By Reuters

India on focal point for IBM’s US$38M investment on Cloud Computing

New facility will extend IBM’s global cloud delivery capabilities to meet growth market cloud needs of businesses in Asia Pacific

IBM has announced a US$38M investment in a new IBM Asia Pacific Cloud Computing Data Centre in Singapore, which will provide businesses in India with solutions and services to harness the potential of cloud computing. The new facility will extend IBM’s globally-integrated cloud delivery network with centres in Germany, Canada and the United States; and 13 global cloud labs, of which seven are based in Asia Pacific – China, India, Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Singapore.

Scheduled to launch in April, the Centre will make available IBM’s comprehensive cloud services and technology portfolio via the company’s cloud delivery infrastructure. These services are designed to enable clients to reap the benefits of business and IT transformation; increase flexibility and agility; accelerate time to market; reduce costs; and increase security and compliance of public cloud environments.

“The new Asia Pacific Cloud Computing Data Centre is a reflection of IBM’s focus to invest in technology innovation that delivers value to our clients. The Centre will provide Indian organisations with the best available set of Cloud options to achieve their IT infrastructure ambitions in order to become successful businesses,” said, Ashish Kumar, General Manager, IBM Global Technology Services, India/ South Asia.

“In India, we see a great opportunity for the software development industry and other IT driven businesses to leverage the IBM enterprise cloud offering in order to divert their test and development workload for more productive use. In addition to providing high security standards, the Centre’s pay-per-use offerings model will help Indian clients minimize capital expenditure and reduce business operational costs. IBM’s investment in the Asia Pacific Centre is part of our ongoing global commitment to the Cloud Computing business in support of IBM’s 2015 growth roadmap.”

According to Chris Morris Director of Cloud Services & Technologies, IDC Asia/Pacific, “The APEJ market for cloud computing services will grow by an average 40% per annum rate through 2014 to reach US$4.9 billion. A major driver of this growth has been the new regional data centres which are now emerging to provide the necessary infrastructure for growth of the key cloud service areas. While cloud services have been attractive in the past, concerns about the consistency of the service performance due to the potential impact of network latency and the location of the data have inhibited their uptake for anything that was a critical workload. This increased availability of enterprise-class cloud services will underpin the acceleration of cloud services in APEJ as cloud service shifts from the SMB sector to the large enterprise.”

The first offering to be available at the IBM Asia Pacific Cloud Computing Data Centre will be from IBM’s infrastructure as a service (IaaS) cloud portfolio. Some of the key highlights are:

o It is built on an agile cloud infrastructure

o Provides rapid access to security-rich, enterprise-class virtual server environments

o Suited for development and test activities and other dynamic workloads

Benefits of the offering includes:

o Helps enterprises reduce operational costs & eliminate capital outlays

o Improves cycle times for faster time-to-market and improves quality with virtually instant, secure access to a standardized infrastructure as a service environment.

In addition, a compelling catalogue of software from the IBM Software Group and 3rd party companies – will be available in a variety of payment models designed for Mid-Size and Large Enterprises and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs).

iPad Means Business With VMware Virtual Desktops

Available on Apple App Store, New VMware View Client for iPad Lets Enterprise and Government Users Access Their Virtual Desktops From Anywhere

VMware announced the the availability of VMware View™ Client for iPad on the Apple App Store for free. Enabling Apple iPad users to access their virtual Windows(1) desktops, applications and data from anywhere, the new VMware View Client, in combination with VMware View, delivers a modern desktop optimized for the iPad’s high-resolution Multi-Touch display.

“The growing popularity of the iPad in business presents a new opportunity for enterprise IT organizations to empower their mobile workforces by providing users with anytime access to business critical apps on the go,” said Christopher Young, vice president and general manager, End-User Computing, VMware. “With VMware View™ Client for iPad, employees and enterprises get a win-win combination — a complete, secure virtual desktop solution they trust, paired with the unique touch interface of the iPad employees have come to love in their consumer lives.”

Growing Use of iPad in the Enterprise:

Serving families in Southern California, Children’s Hospital Central California is one of the 10 largest hospitals of its type in the United States. Recently, the Hospital deployed VMware View to provide secure, “Follow-me Desktops,” that move from room-to-room with clinicians and staff as they treat their patients. The hospital plans to deploy VMware View Client for iPad.

“The iPad could fundamentally change the way our clinicians and staff approach their IT needs,” said Kirk Larson, chief information officer, Children’s Hospital Central California. “Now with VMware View™ Client for iPad, our caregivers can have the freedom to access a patient’s electronic medical records anywhere in the hospital via an iPad on a secure VMware View desktop. This could not only improve patient care but may enable us to dramatically reduce costs and simplify device management.”

End-User Freedom. IT Control:

VMware’s End-User Computing vision seeks to free end users and IT organizations from more than two decades of complex, device-centric computing and deliver a more user-centric, consumer cloud experience for the enterprise. The new VMware View Client for iPad provides a simple and secure way for end users to access virtual Windows desktops, applications and data from their iPad.

VMware View is a complete, virtual desktop solution that enables enterprises to improve security and lower operating costs, while simplifying desktop administration and management by establishing a modern, end-user computing architecture. The result is a more flexible, centrally hosted computing model that provides IT with greater control and end users with freedom to access to their desktop across the broadest set of devices.

VMware View Client for iPad features include:

• Modern Desktop Experience – The new VMware View Client is the first iPad app to deliver Windows-based virtual desktops while taking advantage of the superior user experience provided by PC-over-IP (PCoIP) display protocol, creating a highly responsive and flexible user experience.

• Intuitive, Multi-Touch Support – Custom gestures on the new VMware View Client enable quick and easy navigation around the virtual desktop by taking advantage of iPad’s Multi-Touch display. An innovative on-screen track pad lets users leverage a more traditional mouse interface with the iPad’s keyboard for efficient text input.

• Secure, Instant-on Windows Desktops – VMware View Security Server support for PCoIP allows for a simple, secure remote connection and authentication to a user’s Windows desktop over a WiFi or 3G network. Reconnecting to a View Desktop(2) is made even easier with the ability to select and connect to a list of recently connected desktops.

• Device and iOS Support – Support for the iPad Keyboard Dock and Bluetooth keyboards makes text input even easier while the iPad VGA connector allows you to connect to an external monitor. VMware View Client for iPad supports iOS 4.2 and iOS 4.3.

The President of India launches ‘Sanchar Shakti’

Sanchar Shakti is Vodafone & DoT-USOF’s Gender Budget Scheme for Mobile Connectivity & ICT Related Livelihood Skills for SHGs

The Hon’ble President of India, Smt. Pratibha Patil launched ‘Sanchar Shakti’ – the Gender Budget scheme for Mobile Connectivity & ICT related livelihood skills for Self Help Groups (SHGs) –an initiative by Vodafone Essar, one of India’s leading cellular services provider under the aegis of Universal Service Obligation Fund of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT-USOF). The event was held at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi.

Vodafone Essar, in its endeavour to support empowerment of SHGs has initiated this pilot project that will encompass over a 12 month period, around 2500 women who are organized in roughly 160 SHGs across 80 villages in the Warangal and Rangareddy districts of Andhra Pradesh. The execution is in partnership with an NGO- Ankuram Sangamam Poram (ASP) – a Dalitbahujan Federation that supports and guides nearly 80,000 women organized in SHGs across 12 districts of Andhra Pradesh.

The Sanchar Shakti initiative aims at increasing the income and livelihood means of women members and to increase awareness and education in areas such as health, sanitation, hygiene and social issues via mobile solutions. The project has been launched under the aegis of DoT as a part of the department scheme to empower rural women through mobile connectivity and ICT.

Speaking on the Initiative, Samaresh Parida, Director –Corporate Strategy, Vodafone Essar Limited said, “Vodafone is committed to achieving its Millennium Development Goals and women empowerment is a key focus in our vision for sustainability. We believe in delivering products and services that enable economic, social and environmental outcomes for our stakeholders across India. Our philosophy aligns itself with DoT’s vision of using ICT to empower women members of Self Help Groups (SHG), with an objective to better equip them in an increasingly connected and tech-savvy world.”

As part of the activity, Vodafone will equip and train women members of SHGs to act as Vodafone retailers within the community. With continued support, marketing material and training to upgrade skills and knowledge, this will become a powerful means for increasing each SHG’s corpus of funds through new customer acquisitions, product & service sales, etc. A customized icon based, GPRS Data Collection Application in Telugu will allow the SHG leaders to upload income & loan activity related data to the NGO and allow the latter to analyze information, correct problems and replicate best practices.

Further, every SHG member will have access to an interactive, voice application in Telugu which will deliver content on health topics, social issues and livelihood enhancement tips. The voice portal will also feature inspirational case studies from across SHGs and will allow women members to record queries, responses as well simply to share their stories.

RAD to Feature its Affordable Fast Ethernet-over-E1 Converter at Convergence India

With the aim to help local carriers and service providers extend best in class Ethernet connectivity for their end-customers, RAD Data Communications will be exhibiting at Convergence India a simple, efficient and cost-effective solution for providing inter-office connectivity.

RAD’s RIC-LC is a Fast Ethernet-over-E1 converter that provides Ethernet connectivity over up to 16 bonded E1 links. As an Ethernet converter for multiple PDH circuits, the RIC-LC enables service providers to supply high capacity Ethernet Private Line (EPL) and Ethernet Private LAN (EPLAN) services to remote locations over existing TDM infrastructure.

“RIC-LC series of products are designed for the rapidly growing and highly competitive Indian telecom services. Thus it is very suitable and highly affordable solution for the Indian market,” notes Jayant Deo, President of RAD India. “The RIC-LC series of products is ideal for backhauling IP DSLAM (DSL services), IP NodeB (3G services), WiMAX base station traffic (WiMAX/LTE services), and Ethernet leased line services over PDH/TDM networks.”

Deployed in point-to-point or hub-and-spoke topologies, the RIC-LC operates opposite Ethernet-over-TDM demarcation devices and aggregators. These include RAD’s RICi-4/8/16E1 and Egate-100, as well as third-party gateways that support Ethernet over next generation PDH encapsulation and bonding techniques.

EtherAccess Strategy

RAD’s RIC line of Ethernet-over-PDH solutions is an element of its EtherAccess™ strategy for Carrier Ethernet access. The full gamut of EtherAccess solutions enables easy Ethernet service deployment while ensuring a consistent customer experience regardless of the available access technology.

Russian Nanotechnology forays into India

In a major push to the burgeoning Indo-Russian collaboration, Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies (RUSNANO) announced that it is looking at forging strategic collaborations with Indian business. RUSNANO CEO Mr Anatoly Chubais said India offers exciting possibilities and after the company’s strategic alliance partners in Silicon Valley and Israel, India was emerging as a potential partner for progress in this new-age technology. RUSNANO has received USD 10 billion as funds from Russian Government and looking at making optimal use of it.

Mr Chubais who met Secretary of Department of Science & Technology Mr T Ramasami expressed hope of forging “friendly and positive business cooperation.” RUSNANO invests in cutting edge nanotechnology projects that have high potential for commercial or social benefit and is looking at funding projects in India. The trip of RUSNANO delegation, a Russian state enterprise, follows an invitation from the Department of Science and Technology of the Government of India under an intergovernmental program for scientific and technical cooperation between Russia and India. RUSNANO invests in 6 clusters including solar energy, nano structured materials, medicine and biotech, mechanical engineering and metal working, optoelectronics, and infrastructure projects.

“India has achieved enormous success in information technology, pharmaceuticals, and nanotechnology during recent years,” Mr Chubais said. “Our countries —Russia and India— are moving in one direction to modernize their economies. Our markets present considerable interest to one another. We see several promising platforms in nanotechnology for collaboration between companies in our countries. I am confident that we can build new and important projects in nanotechnology, projects that will contribute to our global aims.”

The visit will further scientific, technological, and investment partnerships between the two countries. Applied research, technology transfer, and financial support are among the more promising areas for projects that Russia and India will undertake on parity bases.

During their 4-day visit, the RUSNANO team met many leaders in this sector including Professor CNR Rao, Chairman of the Science Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India, G Sundararajan, chairman of the Nano Applications and Technology Advisory Group, Government of India. They also visited Indian Institute of Technology, Centre for Research in Nanotechnology and Science, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research in Bangalore, and National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) among others. They also held discussions with numerous private companies.

HCL Infosystems bags Rs. 250cr order from BSNL

HCL Infosystems Ltd. announced the awarding of Rs.250cr project from Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL). HCL Infosystems will be responsible for deploying a state-of-the-art facility for printing and managing BSNL customer bills. The company will also be making the entire capital investment to upgrade the existing systems for higher efficiency.

Commenting on the occasion, Mr. J V Ramamurthy, President and COO, HCL Infosystems said, “The past few years have unveiled a new face of HCL Infosystems, where we have become one of the leading System Integrators in the country, deploying solutions and winning projects across sectors including eGovernance, power, telecom, learning, security etc. In the rapidly emerging space of telecom we have developed a host of system integration solutions and this project win from BSNL only speaks for our understanding and expertise. We are excited to have got this opportunity and look forward to further expand our areas of operation through more and more solutions added to our offerings”

HCL Infosystems will be managing the BSNL’s billing system process for two zones – North Zone and West Zone and would extend over a period of 7 years. The company will be setting up the facility equipped with sophisticated printing solutions for transactional output with the most advanced hardware and software solutions. The project will entail a complete transformation and automation of BSNL’s bill printing mechanism thereby adding greater efficiency in reaching out to its subscribers.

Building a Cloud that Fits: BMC Software

Building a Cloud that Fits: BMC Software Offers Policy Control and Customization to Cloud Customers

As cloud computing continues to top the list of priorities for IT organizations, BMC Software (NASDAQ: BMC) is at the forefront of helping customers embrace the next important phase in cloud computing, namely, controlled customization of cloud environments to meet each organization’s specific needs.

“Enterprises want the benefits of cloud computing using their existing IT infrastructure, and not have to rip-and-replace in order to evolve to the cloud,” said Donna Scott, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner, Inc. “As a result, enterprises should assess solutions on their ability to work with existing infrastructure as well as offer both standardized and customized cloud solutions.”

BMC is extending its leadership in cloud service management with the announcement that the upcoming version of its Cloud Lifecycle Management solution is being made available today to an exclusive group of enterprises and service providers.

“Fujitsu Finland is designing a cloud infrastructure that meets the stringent needs of our enterprise customers needing high SLAs, strict compliance and the assurance of an enterprise-class cloud,” said Anneli Martonen, director of Information Systems and Core Services at Fujitsu. “We’ve selected BMC Software as a partner to build this cloud due to the robustness and flexibility of their solutions.”

The new capabilities of BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management are designed to enable Cloud administrators to easily and flexibly customize their cloud to meet business users’ demands, while concurrently maintaining control and reducing complexity.

“Enterprise IT organizations and service providers want the benefits of enterprise-class cloud computing without the fear of hardware, or platform lock in,” said Kia Behnia, BMC’s chief technology officer. “BMC provides a secure, scalable and flexible Cloud Service Management platform with comprehensive virtualization platform and hardware support.”

BMC is achieving its cloud management vision alongside several world-class partners — including Cisco and NetApp — whose contributions deepen and extend the flexibility and strength of its cloud offerings.

· “As cloud services become critical to gaining business advantage, our customers are looking for ways to more efficiently deliver and manage those cloud services,” said Joe Wojtal, vice president, Service Provider Solutions for Cisco. “We are working closely with BMC to combine the new version of BMC’s Cloud Lifecycle Management solution with Cisco’s Unified Service Delivery solution to simplify the management of large-scale, multi-tenant cloud computing infrastructures with one-click provisioning of new cloud services.”

· The combined strengths of BMC’s Cloud Lifecycle Management and the NetApp® Unified Architecture provide flexible, efficient environments that help customers transition to shared IT infrastructures,” said Patrick Rogers, vice president of Alliances and Solutions for NetApp. “In order to efficiently manage their cloud infrastructure, our customers require a comprehensive management platform with the sophistication and functionality of the BMC and NetApp integrated solution.

The upcoming release of BMC’s Cloud Lifecycle Management solution introduces the industry’s first, purpose-built, platform-agnostic Service Governor, which is a powerful tool that applies IT policies to automatically guide the initial placement and ongoing management of cloud services, rather than requiring manual effort. This solution is designed to support heterogeneity and prevent lock-in in both public and private cloud environments.

The Service Governor is supported by a robust Service Blueprint abstraction architecture. Service Blueprints define the structure, configuration and interconnectivity between components of a single or multi-tier application. Each cloud service can be sized upon deployment to accommodate different resource needs and scalability requirements.

The enhanced solution is designed to support customization of clouds, rigorous control of cloud services and choice of platforms and hardware, all to best meet the organization’s business needs.

Western Union trusts Comviva as its mobile vendor

Comviva announced that it has been certified to participate in Western Union’s (NYSE: WU) Mobile Vendor Program. The Comviva mobiquity™ platform can now support Western Union® services, enabling its clients to offer the option to send and/or receive money through Western Union’s global money-transfer system.

Manoranjan Mohapatra, CEO, Comviva said, “We are committed to bringing innovative value-added services that enrich the lives of people across emerging markets globally. This Western Union Vendor certification exemplifies our commitment to continuous effort in the mobile financial services space and recognizes Comviva’s leadership in extending mobile financial services globally.”

Comviva’s multi-award-winning mobiquity™ platform has been deployed globally in markets in Latin America, Asia and Africa in different bank-led and operator-led business models. The mobiquity™ suite of mobile financial solutions embraces the mobile phone as a convenient transaction and payment medium, enabling storage and transfer of money to and from a stored-wallet account, resident on the phone or the server. mobiquity™ also acts as a catalyst in enabling financially underserved and unbanked segments to gain access to financial services, helping promote livelihoods among low-income segments.

Western Union certifies mobile platform vendors to reduce integration costs and accelerate go-to-market activities for banks and mobile operators by creating standard technical deployments. Once a bank or mobile operator contracts with Western Union to activate the Western Union® Mobile Money Transfer service, its consumers will be integrated with Western Union’s core transaction processing system. This system supports Western Union’s global network of more than 435,000 Agent locations in over 200 countries and territories

MindTree Wireless — Restructuring Costs

MindTree Ltd. announced on October 19, 2010, that it intended to convert the wireless products business of its wholly owned subsidiary MindTree Wireless Pvt. Ltd. (MindTree Wireless) into a design services business.

We had indicated previously that we have had good traction from our global customers for White-labeled smartphones. However, as conversations ensued, we found that contracting with large global service providers required more commitment and risks in areas such as inventory and marketing than we originally anticipated. This was a key change from the market conditions which existed earlier and the new model required significantly higher capitalization. Considering the interests of all of our current stakeholders, we decided to restructure the wireless business as a design services business. This restructuring has now been completed and the financial implications are as follows:

* The restructuring costs will be approximately USD 3.6 – 3.9 million and will be expensed in the Profit and Loss account for the quarter ending December 31, 2010. No further costs are expected to be incurred in future on the restructuring efforts.
* These costs are mainly in the nature of people separation, fees paid to legal advisors, asset write-offs and payments to vendors for cancellation of contracts.
* The restructuring costs were significantly less than the original estimate of USD 12-14 million announced in October 2010, since we were able to negotiate better terms with the vendors involved.
* MindTree Wireless will henceforth become a services business.
* The process for merging MindTree Wireless into MindTree is underway and is expected to be completed shortly. When completed, MindTree expects to realize additional operational synergies.
* MindTree is continuing its efforts to monetize the LTE IP & phone design. If these efforts prove successful, it will help offset the restructuring costs to the extent of value realized. However, the outcome & timing of such efforts are difficult to predict.

Nokia leads the market: IDC

According to market intelligence firm IDC’s India Quarterly Mobile Handsets Tracker, 3Q 2010, December 2010 release, the Finnish handset maker Nokia had the largest share of 31.5%* in terms of units shipped during 3Q 2010.

The Chinese brand G’Five emerged as No. 2 player in terms of unit shipments market share and Korean handset manufacturer Samsung stood at No. 3 in 3Q 2010.

The India mobile handsets market continued to grow in 3Q 2010 as well to record a quarter-on-quarter (3Q 2010 over 2Q 2010) growth of 3.6%* to touch 40.08 million units in the quarter, according to IDC India. The year 2010 is expected to end with total mobile handset sales of 155.9 million units.

The number of emerging vendors in India’s burgeoning mobile handsets market grew to 68 and they together garnered 41.2%* of total shipments (sales) for the first time during the July-Sep 2010 quarter. This represented a steady rise from only 5 new vendors representing a 0.9%* combined share of units shipped in the January-March 2008 quarter.

3Q 2010 saw a strong quarter-on-quarter (3Q 2010 over 2Q 2010) growth in smartphone sales by 34.2%* and a year-on-year (3Q 2010 over 3Q 2009) increase by 294.9%*. This clearly underscores the trend that India mobile handset consumers have started showing higher preference for adopting smartphones.

Smartphone prices continued to drop through the year and as competition increased, devices were made available by vendors at successively lower price points. So, while 80%* of total India smartphone sales were below the ASV (Average Sales Value) of Rs. 18,000 in 2Q 2010, this proportion increased to 90%* in 3Q 2010.

“The India mobile handsets market got even more crowded and fragmented in the lower- and mid-market segments with the further entry of new players offering innovative models at attractive price points to lure buyers”, stated Mr. Anirban Banerjee, Associate Vice President, Research, IDC India.

“The propensity to adopt feature phones and smartphones is greatest amongst the youth and business executive segments, whose purchase decisions are often driven by peer group influence and workplace usage patterns, as well as larger disposable incomes and willingness experiment with new technology platforms”, Mr. Banerjee further added.

Android gained acceptance as a mobile operating system (OS) and 9.4% of smartphones shipped in 3Q 2010 were based on the Android OS as compared to 2.9% in 3Q 2009. The number of models with Android OS also increased to 19 in 3Q 2010 as compared to only 2 models in 3Q 2009.

According to Mr. Naveen Mishra, Lead Analyst, Mobile Handsets Research, IDC India, “In the smartphone segment an increasing number of vendors are displaying confidence in the Android OS, having grown from just one vendor in 3Q 2009 to as many as seven in 3Q 2010.”

“This trend is expected to show healthy growth as the Android OS-based applications ecosystem widens in terms of its reach into the developer community and number of users, both of which will further prompt device vendors to introduce new models. Overall India smartphone sales are expected to touch 5.96 million units by end of calendar 2010”, Mr. Mishra further added.

Cloud Computing for Financial Services Industry

CSC announced its four-stage, pragmatic program for financial services firms to use cloud services to gain flexibility and agility in their computing environments. CSC is leading financial services firms to the cloud, without jeopardizing their high-performance, security and compliance requirements. This staged approach progresses from early use of low-risk, horizontal shared services to deployment of ancillary applications, then cloud-enablement of mission-critical applications, all in parallel with the introduction of unique cloud-only functions.

CSC begins by analyzing and matching enterprise computing workloads to cloud options to create a staged deployment roadmap that is both low risk and high impact. This staged approach to cloud computing enables banks, insurers, reinsurers and capital markets firms to speed entry to new markets, smooth mergers and acquisitions, and respond to changes in the competitive landscape. The decision to implement cloud is strategic to the top line and, as a service delivery alternative, frees capital and lowers the cost of operations to impact the bottom line.

“Although it is a new concept for many, financial services companies are beginning to learn the benefits of the cloud — primarily how they can use it to achieve their strategic goals with potentially lower risks and/or costs than the traditional model involves,” said Chad Hersh, Insurance principal for Novarica, an advisory and research firm. “Throughout the industry, the cloud is an increasingly viable solution to meeting enterprise computing needs and service level agreements, reducing total cost of ownership and providing solutions that more easily adapt to business change.”

With a business-first implementation approach to cloud migration, CSC’s Cloud Adoption Assessment methodology assesses, analyzes and prioritizes workloads to determine which cloud services represent the greatest business opportunities for the enterprise. The resulting “Right Cloud, Right Way” roadmap is tailored for each firm to include appropriate elements of CSC’s four stages.

Stage 1 of CSC’s approach is the deployment of low-risk, horizontal shared services to the cloud to improve the agility, competitiveness and cost effectiveness of these applications and their associated processes. CSC’s cloud services include office productivity applications like Cloud Mail & Collaboration for immediate reduction in operational expense, and CSC’s CloudLab, a rapidly provisioned application development and testing environment to accelerate new and enhanced systems projects.

For example, AMP — one of Australia’s leading wealth management companies — has licensed CSC’s private cloud-based Cloud Mail & Collaboration, and a leading European insurance carrier has contracted with CSC to deliver CloudProtection for Mail and Web.

In Stage 2 back-office support applications are transformed to the cloud, where a choice in deployment options delivers the ultimate flexibility. CSC is one of the few major cloud providers offering multi-platform application transformation, which relies on an open mix of platforms-as-a-service (PaaS) such as VMware’s Springsource. CSC is using these PaaS to quickly migrate cloud-enabled applications, including CSC’s financial services software. For example Legal Solutions Suite, legal matter management software, is now being delivered in a software-as-a-service business model, as is EarlyResolution, a consumer lending default management solution. RISKMASTER claims and risk management software is currently being refactored for multi-tenancy and self-provisioning as an optional deployment method.

Stage 3 is the modernization of core applications so that they can tap into cloud’s elastic capacity and on-demand simplicity. CSC offers application modernization services for homegrown and third-party systems. In addition, plans include cloud-enabling selected CSC mission-critical insurance, banking, cards, payments and lending software as part of ongoing modernization programs, so that those applications can be provisioned, procured and consumed on-demand from a private cloud located in CSC cloud data centers or on the client’s premises.

Stages 1-3 are evolutionary. In contrast, Stage 4, the creation of new services, processes and applications that were not possible before the availability of cloud, is revolutionary and runs in a parallel track. For example, CSC is exploring the power of a cloud platform for rapid deployment and innovation in insurance agency functions such as mobile apps for new business, claims and customer service. The cloud also offers potential economies for CSC’s emerging integrated offering for payment services and channels such as mobile, person-to-person and other forms of payment.

“The need for cost reduction, rapid changes, faster innovations and reduced time to market for new products has many companies considering a move to the cloud, but security is paramount – particularly in the highly regulated financial services industry,” said Ray August, president of CSC’s Financial Services Group. “As a trusted partner providing decades of vertically focused business transformation solutions and cyber security services, CSC has the experience to evaluate, identify and manage private, hybrid and public cloud scenarios that deliver to our clients the most secure services and highest value possible.”

Facebook’s New Automated Photo Tagging Feature Raises Privacy Concerns, Sophos Reports

IT security and control firm, Sophos, is reminding Facebook users to keep up-to-date with their privacy settings as Facebook announces its latest controversial feature. The social network is launching automated photo tagging initially in the US, but will roll out the feature across the rest of the world in coming months.

Facial recognition software will mean Facebook can match people’s faces in photos with other images where they appear. The tagging will not be completely automatic, as the tags will just be suggestions, but users will be identified by default unless they opt-out.

Once users have been identified to Facebook by one friend, they run the risk of being identified by Facebook to other friends. Even people who aren’t on Facebook, or who choose not to identify themselves openly in uploaded photos, may nevertheless end up easy to find in online photos.

“While this feature may be appealing for those Facebook users that are keen to share every detail of their social life with their online friends, it is alarming to those who wish to have a little more anonymity,” said Graham Cluley, Senior Technology Consultant at Sophos. “Rather than allowing users to opt-out of this feature, surely Facebook users should be given the option to opt-in? A recent Sophos poll showed that 90% of Facebook users think that all Facebook features should become totally opt-in. With this new feature, I’d say that this percentage is likely to rise.”

If users are not willing to be part of this feature, they need to make sure that they opt-out when the feature is live. Keeping on top of new features and ensuring that privacy settings are up-to-date on Facebook is essential for Facebook users to ensure that they’re not sharing too much personal information online.

Nokia and IBM collaborate to deliver business mobility solutions in India

Nokia India and IBM, announced their collaboration to deliver business mobility solutions to Indian enterprises. Building on their global alliance for business mobility, Nokia and IBM also shared an update on the deployment of IBM Lotus Notes Traveler for Nokia smartphones highlighting substantial traction among Indian enterprises.

The solution – which delivers direct, secure access to email and personal information via organizations’ IBM Domino servers – is now available for Nokia Symbian S60 smartphones. Support for Nokia’s new Symbian OS platform is prominently positioned in IBM’s mobile product roadmap.

The solution has undergone large-scale deployment at leading Indian enterprises including Asian Paints, Max New York Life, Britannia, Subros, Amtek Auto, Usha International Ltd. and Havells to name a few, which have benefitted through improved efficiency and at significantly lower cost compared to rival solutions.

“IT directors are being pressurized to deploy business mobility solutions such as email, IM and intranet access for more employees, but without incurring high costs on additional middleware, licenses and maintenance. IBM Lotus Notes Traveler gives business professionals easy, secure and real-time access to their email boxes, corporate contacts and corporate calendar on their Nokia smartphones. Direct access mail also drastically reduces the cost of managing and maintaining servers,” said V Ramnath, Director Operator Channels for Nokia India.

“We are extremely happy to collaborate with Nokia, as our association will be yet another milestone towards smarter business mobility. This announcement is part of our continuing effort to expand mobile support for the Lotus software portfolio. The ability to connect securely to business email is an example of Tomorrow at Work, an IBM initiative that examines a changing work environment and anticipates trends in technology, business, society and culture,” said Pradeep Nair -Director – Software Group, IBM India/South Asia.

On this development, S.P. Arya – Vice President Corporate(IT) – Amtek Auto Limited, stated, “We are extremely happy to use Lotus Traveler on Nokia phones as it is quite cost effective and easy to use. We expect Nokia to bring more and cheaper and elegant smart phones which have Lotus Traveler as standard email interface. I wish IBM LOTUS and Nokia alliance, all the very best!”

“At Usha International we have realized many benefits from Lotus Traveler; sales team can work more effectively, the average user will saves remarkable amount of time (approx 1-1.30 hr) in a day, which earlier he has to spent in taking information from office, co-workers, Increase in Customer satisfaction improves as increase in response to their queries. Expected to achieve 100% return on investment in 12 months through enhanced workforce productivity. User is up-to-date on business communication as and where they are, flexibility to meet the increasing demands of the workplace and can send, receive and manage emails on the move” – expressed Raghubir Singh – Dy. General Manager – ERP/IS – Usha International Limited.

The IBM Lotus Notes Traveler solution is supported by a wide range of Nokia smartphones available with different designs and prices, covering the entire business user market. In the first half of 2010, more than 12 million Nokia Eseries business smartphones were shipped, representing a growth of more than 50 percent compared to the first half of 2009.

Through joint activities targeted at enterprises, Nokia and IBM are bringing operational efficiencies and substantial savings in total cost of ownership (TCO) for IT decision makers, when compared to other solutions. The joint activities will kick off with a 10 city enterprise roadshow which will be targeted at key decision makers and CIOs within leading organizations.

Besides email solutions, IBM offers a host of enterprise applications to enable business productivity. Lotus Expeditor is an enterprise application which helps to implement the sales force application on Symbian devices. The Lotus Mobile Portal Accelerator helps to stream the information on to the device. The application helps the enterprise to communicate with the employees on the day’s tasks on a daily basis.

According to IBM’s Institute for Business Value, for the first time more people in the world will have a mobile device than a land-line telephone. IBM predicts one billion mobile Web users by 2011 and a significant shift in the way the majority of people will interact with the Web over the next decade. In fact, mobile devices now outnumber television sets, credit cards and personal computers.

Nokia offers its smartphone users a wide range of security functions — the E series smartphones come with built-in features as well as add-on applications to meet the security needs of business users and organizations. In addition to access to corporate email and infrastructure, Nokia smartphone users also enjoy access to maps, navigation, download apps and access other services through Ovi. The popularity of Business category apps in the Ovi Store has significantly increased with India being one of the top downloading countries.

According to industry reports, India will continue to remain the world’s second largest wireless market after China in terms of mobile connections with mobile connections expected to grow by 27.3% in 2010 to exceed 660 million. Mobile service revenue is also expected to reach $19.8 billion by the end of 2010 up 19.7% from 2009; by 2014 it is expected to exceed $23 billion.

Tulip and Hutchison join hands

Tulip Telecom and Hutchison Global Communications enter into Network-to-Network Interconnection and joint marketing arrangement

Tulip Telecom Ltd (Tulip), and Hutchison Global Communications Limited (HGC), signed a Network-to-Network Interconnection (NNI) agreement. Under this NNI agreement, the two companies will be able to access each other’s network infrastructure in diverse locations and to jointly provide IP-VPN and VPLS (Virtual Private LAN Service) services to their customers across the world. With this cooperation, Tulip will be able to provide its customers with connectivity across the globe while HGC will be able to further enhance its connectivity to India.

Expressing his views on the cooperation, Mr. Sanjay Jain, CEO, Tulip Telecom Ltd, said, “We are extremely delighted to announce this cooperation with Hutchison Global Communications to jointly provide world-class data connectivity and network management to enterprises worldwide”. He further added, “I am confident that this cooperation will further provide impetus to company’s global expansion plans and help in serving our customers across the globe.”

Earlier this year, Tulip launched its Global Connectivity services, for which the company initiated the process of setting up 4 International Point of Presence (PoPs) in Singapore, New York, Los Angeles and London. These PoPs enable Tulip to offer Enterprise Connectivity Services to its potential international customers primarily from the IT/ITes, BFSI and services segments. This collaboration with HGC will further strengthen Tulip’s growing focus towards International Connectivity solutions including Global MPLS service, International Private Leased Circuit (IPLC) and Global Ethernet Private Line (GEPL).

Andrew Kwok, Senior Vice President – International Business of HGC, said, “HGC is a global telecom operator, currently providing world-class connectivity to carriers, operators and corporate customers from around the world on its advanced voice, data and IP network. Leveraging its self-owned ubiquitous and highly resilient global network via submarine and terrestrial cables, HGC is well positioned to provide world-class total telecom solutions, accommodating the existing and future business needs of various customers. We believe this network-to-network interconnection not only further strengthens HGC’s international network reach, but also further enhances C’s excellent and seamless connectivity to India.”

Four Soft signs significant contract with Jacobson

Four Soft (4S), a leader in offering software solutions for the Logistics and Transportation industry, announced the signing of a significant contract with Jacobson Companies. Jacobson is one of the leading 3rd party Logistics service providers in the US.

Four Soft will implement its multimodal transport management system – 4S eTrans®, order management system – 4S Visilog, Global customs solution – 4S eCustoms and its business intelligence tool 4S Infotips across Jacobson locations globally. This “best in class” combination will be crucial in streamlining mission critical operations at Jacobson, enabling them to comprehensively improve the already high level of services they provide to their customers. The contract envisions an initial engagement, implementation and operational maintenance period of five years.

Jacobson was founded in 1968. Today, they operate more than 35 million square feet of warehouse space in 35 states across the United States and employ approximately 7,000 people. Their extensive network includes 193 facilities worldwide with rapid growth in Asia and emerging markets around the globe.

Jacobson provides end-to-end supply chain solutions that include: warehousing & distribution, freight management, contract packaging & manufacturing, air & ocean freight forwarding, customs brokerage, deconsolidation & transloading. With their broad reach and proven expertise Jacobson delivers smart logistics and transportation solutions to customers around the globe.

Rajshekhar Roy, CEO, Four Soft, said: “Jacobson sees leveraging IT based solutions as a key catalyst for their ambitious growth plans. Their rigorous search for a primary vendor for these solutions lead to them picking Four Soft from a wide range of solutions vendors. Jacobson will deploy a stack of solutions from Four Soft covering its freight forwarding, customs, order management and visibility operations using Four Softs’ comprehensive dashboard and reporting framework. This clearly demonstrates Jacobson’s confidence in Four Softs’ ability to deliver enterprise wide mission critical solutions across complex global supply chains. I am confident that the term of the engagement envisioned in the contract will be extended indefinitely, and the relationship will remain one of great mutual benefit.” He further added, “We have already signed six major deals in the US this financial year. This clearly shows that we are a rapidly growing presence there. The Jacobson engagement gives us the additional impetus to further extend our reach.”

4S eTrans is designed and developed on the J2EE platform. It® is a multi modal transport management system with built in accounting features and interfaces that permit it to seamlessly integrate with a wide variety of enterprise applications. It comprehensively meets present requirements, and also anticipates several of the future challenges facing the global freight forwarding community. It is designed and developed on technologies with a highly flexible architecture.

4S VisiLog is an order management system linking the enterprise, business partners, associates, service providers & customers seamlessly based on user defined rules. It provides the enterprise end-to-end visibility over its entire value chain though its “anytime anywhere” Track and Trace capabilities. It incorporates features that can help with, execute, control and provide alerts on, all specified events in a defined automated work flow process. It is a web based application with native browser interface and multi lingual support.

4S eCustoms is global customs compliance solution, with plug and play modules for different countries, designed to work in a multicultural, multilingual environment, with interface capabilities with all Four Soft enterprise products and other standard ERP applications.

iBuzz Mobiles Forays India

Vertex Management Solutions Pvt. Ltd. announced the launch of iBuzz Mobiles with the introduction of five mobile devices across six states in India. With a team comprising of professionals from the mobile industry and a combined experience of over 100 years, iBuzz mobiles will be available across key states like Delhi NCR, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.

Commenting on the launch, Mr. Sutikshan Naithani, Director & CEO Vertex Management Solutions said “ The idea for starting iBuzz came after an extensive research on the current mobile industry in India. There is a definite demand for professional mobile companies providing functionality in mobile devices at affordable prices. He Added we will be introducing 5 variants as part of our first phase and will be expanding our reach and portfolio in the coming year.”

The five models currently being launched are the i1800 (Big Buzz), i2200 (Picture Buzz), i3300 (Multi Buzz), i4400 (Music Buzz) and i4 (Slim Buzz). With the price range varying from Rs. 2200 to Rs. 4000. All phones support key features like Dual SIM capability, color screens, multi language support and music players. Other features include security measures like phone trackers, panic button, and support for popular social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and Nimbuzz.

While most features are standard across all models, every product subcategory comes with certain key features including Dual Memory card slots in the Multi Buzz range, 30-day standby and 15 hour talk time in the Big Buzz and Picture Buzz, 40mm speaker with woofer in the Music Buzz and Java Support and opera mini browser in the Slim Buzz.

All five models of iBuzz Mobile will be hitting the market soon and will be available across leading mobile shops and retail outlets.