India News Summary
21 June 2006
TVA Infotech News
Recruitment is no monkey business! Get it right
Would you like to have your best friend at work? Click the refer button and you stand a chance to win exciting gifts! Employee referral schemes are much more than mere hiring processes, finds out Sangeetha Chengappa.
Choosing the right person for the right job is no monkey business! That’s why we need your help in choosing the right candidates. Announcing ‘Parichay’ - Be our Talent Scout, proclaims a poster in the reception hallway of IT networking major, Juniper Networks India Pvt Ltd. The poster which prominently features the three - ‘see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’ monkeys reveals that what started off as a straightforward employee referral programme a few years ago is now being branded, re-christened and sold internally by IT companies. “We wanted to infuse freshness and life into our employee referral programme which contributes to over 50 per cent of our overall recruitment and therefore launched a drive to give the programme a catchy name and a slogan”, averred Neela Kishore, Senior HR Manager at Juniper Networks.
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/jun212006/avenues161072006620.asp
IT Industry News
We will overtake Bangalore: H'bad
I would start by accepting the fact that our achievements so far, in the IT sector is just the beginning. The inroads made by Andhra Pradesh in the IT sector are spectacular with the global giants making a beeline for its capital Hyderabad. Not only Hyderabad, the wave is spreading to the hinterlands as well. Companies like Satyam, Wipro, ilabs , Kenexa and Visual Soft are vying for space in Vishakhapatnam even as we keep a keen eye on other areas such as Vijaywada, Warangal and Tirupati in a focussed way.
The industry-friendly atmosphere of the state is coming handy for huge investments in IT sector and there is no doubt that Hyderabad has emerged as a final point for the IT evolution. The state government with its pro-active efforts has shown its will to transform the state into a prime investment destination and the fastest growing economy in the country.
http://www.financialexpress.com/latest_full_story.php?content_id=131185
Vertex to move Powergen jobs back to UK
UK-based BPO firm, Vertex, which has around 1800 employees in Gurgaon, is planning to shift more than 700 call center jobs from its Powergen project back to Britain. Last week, Britain's second biggest energy supplier, Powergen, announced it would close all its call centers in India citing that its customer satisfaction is more important than cost cutting.
http://www.ciol.com/content/news/2006/106062011.asp
IT companies bet big on small businesses
Small means big business for IT companies in India. If big clients bring in growth in value terms for IT companies, small and medium businesses (SMBs) drive the volume business. So while some technology majors are developing new products for the SMB segment, others are launching financing models to expand their present clientele.
http://www.business-standard.com/general/storypage_test.php?&autono=95629
Oracle Unveils Event-Driven Middleware Suite
Oracle has unveiled an integrated, standards-based product offering which it claims is the industry's first such offering, that will help organizations build, deploy and manage event-driven applications, based on an event-driven architecture (EDA). The suite consists of Oracle Fusion Middleware products that allow customers to sense, identify, analyze and respond to business events in real-time. EDA is a key component of SOA 2.0, the next-generation of service-oriented architecture that defines how events and services are linked together to deliver a flexible and responsive IT infrastructure.
http://www.cxotoday.com/cxo/jsp/article.jsp?article_id=74006&cat_id=912
GRO to hire 1,000 hands for Mumbai facility
Global Realty Outsourcing, a transaction based BPO operating out of Chennai, and Zenta, a voice-based BPO operating out of Mumbai, have forged a symbiotic relationship to expand their Indian footprint. Both are owned by Dallas-based H-Cube. GRO, employing over 1000 people in Chennai, provides research, analysis and information services to real estate and financial services industries in the US. Being a non-voice based BPO, it operates only during the day time. Zenta, employing over 3000 people in Mumbai, offers credit card servicing, accounts receivable management and insurance claims management services to financial services companies. Zenta, which came into H-Cube fold in May 2005, is a voice-based BPO, and operates mostly during night time. Now, GRO and Zenta have entered into an agreement by which GRO would use Zenta’s infrastructure in Mumbai, and vice versa. The tie-up would also help the two companies offer end-to-end solutions (voice and non-voice based solutions) to their clients.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1663501.cms
TCS evaluating Vertex bid, may raise debt overseas
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is evaluating a bid for UK-based BPO company Vertex and has got a foreign currency rating from Moody’s Investors Service in preparation for the takeover. Vertex has a revenue of £405 m and is majority owned by United Utilities (UU). TCS may raise a foreign currency debt issue for funding the buy. Last month, TCS had acquired an A3 issuer rating and an indicative foreign currency debt rating of Baa1 from Moody’s. This was probably the first time that a software services company applied and got a rating done and it was done keeping this acquisition in mind. None of the other Indian software services companies had applied for a rating before as they have enough cash on their balance sheet and don’t need to raise debt.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1661542.cms
CTS picks 572 students from Anna University
Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTS) has selected 572 students from Anna University as part of its campus recruitment. It is learnt that the starting salary is about Rs 2.11 lakh a year during the six-month training period. On confirmation, the salary would be Rs 2.51 lakh. The company, which has a large offshore presence in India, visited Anna University for campus recruitment on June 19-20. Some 1,670 students took a written aptitude test and 1,018 were short-listed for interview.
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/06/21/stories/2006062103800900.htm
Wipro trains guns on all PC segments
Wipro Infotech , the IT services , solutions and products division of Wipro is aiming to grow ahead of the market with a focus on all the segments. Wipro Infotech has its manufacturing plant at Pondicherry producing laptops, desktops and servers with a capacity of 1,500 machines per day. Talking to ET, Mr Ashutosh Vaidya, VP – personal computing division, Wipro Infotech, said, “Every segment is a robust market for us and we believe in delivering robust products with superior quality .”According to IDC, the total unit shipments in the Indian PC market for FY’ 06 exceeded 4.6 million, recording a growth of 30% over the previous fiscal.
http://infotech.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1663475.cms
IBM unveils business class mainframe
IBM has launched the System z9 Business class mainframe in India. Including new features such as speciality engines and ability to include service oriented architecture, the z9 is expected to receive attention in the Government and entertainment sectors including others. The speciality engine Integrated Information Processor installed in the z9 helps free up general computing capacity and lowers software costs for business intelligence, ERP and CRM applications on the mainframe. The thirst for these speciality processors is what is driving growth in mainframes, said Mr Jim Stallings, General Manger, Systemz, Systems and Technology Group, IBM. Its new mainframe is expected to take off in the mid-market segment in India.
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/06/21/stories/2006062104280400.htm
Geometric Inks Pact With IBM
Mumbai based Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions provider Geometric Software and IBM have announced the signing of an agreement under which the both the companies will jointly provide customers with services that will help them accelerate the deployment of PLM solutions. According to the companies, the new agreement provides a framework that will facilitate tighter collaboration between their respective sales, management and services capabilities. Besides, IBM and Geometric will also develop solutions, which will integrate IBM's middleware and hardware into joint PLM solutions for the customers. Making the announcement, Manu Parpia, MD, Geometric said, "This wide ranging agreement is a logical next step to deepening the relationship between IBM and Geometric. I believe that our two companies, working together, can build even better solutions to help customers use PLM to improve their productivity."
http://www.cxotoday.com/cxo/jsp/article.jsp?article_id=73999&cat_id=908
IBilt launches bridge design Software
iBilt Technologies, an end to end IT solutions provider announced the launch of RM2006, the latest version of its bridge design software for the Indian construction market in partnership with TDV - Austria. RM2006 is a comprehensive 4-D software that aids complete analysis and designing of bridges with any 3-D geometry and any type of stage construction sequence. Its additional features include grade separated intersections with complicated geometries, continuous structures with precast construction technologies, long span bridges requiring effects of precamber, fabrication shapes, non linear behavior in geometry & materials etc.
http://www.cxotoday.com/cxo/jsp/article.jsp?article_id=74012&cat_id=911
AgreeYa to invest $15 m in India
California-based company AgreeYa Solutions plans to invest $15 million in India in the next 2-3 years. Part of the investment would be made in setting up a delivery centre and marketing office in Bangalore and rest of the investment would go towards acquisition of a mid-size ERP (SAP) solution provider in the country. "With expertise around SAP in AgreeYa US and need of similar solutions in the Middle East markets, we need to build our capability in India. We are specifically looking at certain niche offerings around SAP applications and SMB marketplace needs," said Mr Ajay Kaul, Founder and Managing Partner, AgreeYa.
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/06/21/stories/2006062104260400.htm
WeP Peripherals fine-tunes export strategy
WeP Peripherals Ltd, formerly known as Wipro e-Peripherals, is fine-tuning its exports strategy to tap emerging markets in Latin America, Africa and West Asia apart from Europe. The company has made Dubai as a hub for its international operations and plans to step up exports of dot matrix printers and UPS to these markets. WeP entered the global market two years back and the impact has been good, said Mr Ram Agarwal, managing director and CEO. "We expect the exports sales to account for 50 per cent of our total revenues by 2008-09," Mr Agarwal said. The exports accounted for four per cent of company's revenues of Rs 350 crore in 2005-06. Currently, the company exports dot matrix printers mainly to Europe and the West Asia.
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/06/21/stories/2006062104250400.htm
SAP's war for SMB dominance
One has to take a left from the Western Express Highway to reach Hotel Grand Hyatt in Mumbai, where the recent SAP summit was held. Close to the venue, parked on the side were two publicity trucks displaying a large hoarding where they could be visible for all to see. The hoardings were not from Oracle or Microsoft, who compete with SAP tooth and nail but from two small players, namely, 3i Infotech and SAS. While SAP may have more or less captured the ERP market in the larger enterprise space, the small and medium business (SMB) space could be a totally different story. According to some estimates the number of SMBs in India vary in the five million and thereof range. A majority of these SMBs are less than 100 people workshops and hardly have any kind of IT infrastructure in place. Most of their investment is ad hoc, but the encouraging trend is that things seem to be changing. These companies are trying to update themselves either out of competition or compliance. And this is the pie every one is aiming for.
http://www.ciol.com/content/search/showarticle1.asp?artid=85501
21 June 2006
TVA Infotech News
Recruitment is no monkey business! Get it right
Would you like to have your best friend at work? Click the refer button and you stand a chance to win exciting gifts! Employee referral schemes are much more than mere hiring processes, finds out Sangeetha Chengappa.
Choosing the right person for the right job is no monkey business! That’s why we need your help in choosing the right candidates. Announcing ‘Parichay’ - Be our Talent Scout, proclaims a poster in the reception hallway of IT networking major, Juniper Networks India Pvt Ltd. The poster which prominently features the three - ‘see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’ monkeys reveals that what started off as a straightforward employee referral programme a few years ago is now being branded, re-christened and sold internally by IT companies. “We wanted to infuse freshness and life into our employee referral programme which contributes to over 50 per cent of our overall recruitment and therefore launched a drive to give the programme a catchy name and a slogan”, averred Neela Kishore, Senior HR Manager at Juniper Networks.
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/jun212006/avenues161072006620.asp
IT Industry News
We will overtake Bangalore: H'bad
I would start by accepting the fact that our achievements so far, in the IT sector is just the beginning. The inroads made by Andhra Pradesh in the IT sector are spectacular with the global giants making a beeline for its capital Hyderabad. Not only Hyderabad, the wave is spreading to the hinterlands as well. Companies like Satyam, Wipro, ilabs , Kenexa and Visual Soft are vying for space in Vishakhapatnam even as we keep a keen eye on other areas such as Vijaywada, Warangal and Tirupati in a focussed way.
The industry-friendly atmosphere of the state is coming handy for huge investments in IT sector and there is no doubt that Hyderabad has emerged as a final point for the IT evolution. The state government with its pro-active efforts has shown its will to transform the state into a prime investment destination and the fastest growing economy in the country.
http://www.financialexpress.com/latest_full_story.php?content_id=131185
Vertex to move Powergen jobs back to UK
UK-based BPO firm, Vertex, which has around 1800 employees in Gurgaon, is planning to shift more than 700 call center jobs from its Powergen project back to Britain. Last week, Britain's second biggest energy supplier, Powergen, announced it would close all its call centers in India citing that its customer satisfaction is more important than cost cutting.
http://www.ciol.com/content/news/2006/106062011.asp
IT companies bet big on small businesses
Small means big business for IT companies in India. If big clients bring in growth in value terms for IT companies, small and medium businesses (SMBs) drive the volume business. So while some technology majors are developing new products for the SMB segment, others are launching financing models to expand their present clientele.
http://www.business-standard.com/general/storypage_test.php?&autono=95629
Oracle Unveils Event-Driven Middleware Suite
Oracle has unveiled an integrated, standards-based product offering which it claims is the industry's first such offering, that will help organizations build, deploy and manage event-driven applications, based on an event-driven architecture (EDA). The suite consists of Oracle Fusion Middleware products that allow customers to sense, identify, analyze and respond to business events in real-time. EDA is a key component of SOA 2.0, the next-generation of service-oriented architecture that defines how events and services are linked together to deliver a flexible and responsive IT infrastructure.
http://www.cxotoday.com/cxo/jsp/article.jsp?article_id=74006&cat_id=912
GRO to hire 1,000 hands for Mumbai facility
Global Realty Outsourcing, a transaction based BPO operating out of Chennai, and Zenta, a voice-based BPO operating out of Mumbai, have forged a symbiotic relationship to expand their Indian footprint. Both are owned by Dallas-based H-Cube. GRO, employing over 1000 people in Chennai, provides research, analysis and information services to real estate and financial services industries in the US. Being a non-voice based BPO, it operates only during the day time. Zenta, employing over 3000 people in Mumbai, offers credit card servicing, accounts receivable management and insurance claims management services to financial services companies. Zenta, which came into H-Cube fold in May 2005, is a voice-based BPO, and operates mostly during night time. Now, GRO and Zenta have entered into an agreement by which GRO would use Zenta’s infrastructure in Mumbai, and vice versa. The tie-up would also help the two companies offer end-to-end solutions (voice and non-voice based solutions) to their clients.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1663501.cms
TCS evaluating Vertex bid, may raise debt overseas
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is evaluating a bid for UK-based BPO company Vertex and has got a foreign currency rating from Moody’s Investors Service in preparation for the takeover. Vertex has a revenue of £405 m and is majority owned by United Utilities (UU). TCS may raise a foreign currency debt issue for funding the buy. Last month, TCS had acquired an A3 issuer rating and an indicative foreign currency debt rating of Baa1 from Moody’s. This was probably the first time that a software services company applied and got a rating done and it was done keeping this acquisition in mind. None of the other Indian software services companies had applied for a rating before as they have enough cash on their balance sheet and don’t need to raise debt.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1661542.cms
CTS picks 572 students from Anna University
Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTS) has selected 572 students from Anna University as part of its campus recruitment. It is learnt that the starting salary is about Rs 2.11 lakh a year during the six-month training period. On confirmation, the salary would be Rs 2.51 lakh. The company, which has a large offshore presence in India, visited Anna University for campus recruitment on June 19-20. Some 1,670 students took a written aptitude test and 1,018 were short-listed for interview.
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/06/21/stories/2006062103800900.htm
Wipro trains guns on all PC segments
Wipro Infotech , the IT services , solutions and products division of Wipro is aiming to grow ahead of the market with a focus on all the segments. Wipro Infotech has its manufacturing plant at Pondicherry producing laptops, desktops and servers with a capacity of 1,500 machines per day. Talking to ET, Mr Ashutosh Vaidya, VP – personal computing division, Wipro Infotech, said, “Every segment is a robust market for us and we believe in delivering robust products with superior quality .”According to IDC, the total unit shipments in the Indian PC market for FY’ 06 exceeded 4.6 million, recording a growth of 30% over the previous fiscal.
http://infotech.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1663475.cms
IBM unveils business class mainframe
IBM has launched the System z9 Business class mainframe in India. Including new features such as speciality engines and ability to include service oriented architecture, the z9 is expected to receive attention in the Government and entertainment sectors including others. The speciality engine Integrated Information Processor installed in the z9 helps free up general computing capacity and lowers software costs for business intelligence, ERP and CRM applications on the mainframe. The thirst for these speciality processors is what is driving growth in mainframes, said Mr Jim Stallings, General Manger, Systemz, Systems and Technology Group, IBM. Its new mainframe is expected to take off in the mid-market segment in India.
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/06/21/stories/2006062104280400.htm
Geometric Inks Pact With IBM
Mumbai based Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions provider Geometric Software and IBM have announced the signing of an agreement under which the both the companies will jointly provide customers with services that will help them accelerate the deployment of PLM solutions. According to the companies, the new agreement provides a framework that will facilitate tighter collaboration between their respective sales, management and services capabilities. Besides, IBM and Geometric will also develop solutions, which will integrate IBM's middleware and hardware into joint PLM solutions for the customers. Making the announcement, Manu Parpia, MD, Geometric said, "This wide ranging agreement is a logical next step to deepening the relationship between IBM and Geometric. I believe that our two companies, working together, can build even better solutions to help customers use PLM to improve their productivity."
http://www.cxotoday.com/cxo/jsp/article.jsp?article_id=73999&cat_id=908
IBilt launches bridge design Software
iBilt Technologies, an end to end IT solutions provider announced the launch of RM2006, the latest version of its bridge design software for the Indian construction market in partnership with TDV - Austria. RM2006 is a comprehensive 4-D software that aids complete analysis and designing of bridges with any 3-D geometry and any type of stage construction sequence. Its additional features include grade separated intersections with complicated geometries, continuous structures with precast construction technologies, long span bridges requiring effects of precamber, fabrication shapes, non linear behavior in geometry & materials etc.
http://www.cxotoday.com/cxo/jsp/article.jsp?article_id=74012&cat_id=911
AgreeYa to invest $15 m in India
California-based company AgreeYa Solutions plans to invest $15 million in India in the next 2-3 years. Part of the investment would be made in setting up a delivery centre and marketing office in Bangalore and rest of the investment would go towards acquisition of a mid-size ERP (SAP) solution provider in the country. "With expertise around SAP in AgreeYa US and need of similar solutions in the Middle East markets, we need to build our capability in India. We are specifically looking at certain niche offerings around SAP applications and SMB marketplace needs," said Mr Ajay Kaul, Founder and Managing Partner, AgreeYa.
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/06/21/stories/2006062104260400.htm
WeP Peripherals fine-tunes export strategy
WeP Peripherals Ltd, formerly known as Wipro e-Peripherals, is fine-tuning its exports strategy to tap emerging markets in Latin America, Africa and West Asia apart from Europe. The company has made Dubai as a hub for its international operations and plans to step up exports of dot matrix printers and UPS to these markets. WeP entered the global market two years back and the impact has been good, said Mr Ram Agarwal, managing director and CEO. "We expect the exports sales to account for 50 per cent of our total revenues by 2008-09," Mr Agarwal said. The exports accounted for four per cent of company's revenues of Rs 350 crore in 2005-06. Currently, the company exports dot matrix printers mainly to Europe and the West Asia.
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/06/21/stories/2006062104250400.htm
SAP's war for SMB dominance
One has to take a left from the Western Express Highway to reach Hotel Grand Hyatt in Mumbai, where the recent SAP summit was held. Close to the venue, parked on the side were two publicity trucks displaying a large hoarding where they could be visible for all to see. The hoardings were not from Oracle or Microsoft, who compete with SAP tooth and nail but from two small players, namely, 3i Infotech and SAS. While SAP may have more or less captured the ERP market in the larger enterprise space, the small and medium business (SMB) space could be a totally different story. According to some estimates the number of SMBs in India vary in the five million and thereof range. A majority of these SMBs are less than 100 people workshops and hardly have any kind of IT infrastructure in place. Most of their investment is ad hoc, but the encouraging trend is that things seem to be changing. These companies are trying to update themselves either out of competition or compliance. And this is the pie every one is aiming for.
http://www.ciol.com/content/search/showarticle1.asp?artid=85501
