BSNL and others to build Rs 20k cr broadband network

The telecom ministry has accepted the finance ministry's stance that state-owned BSNL must not be entrusted with the 20,000-crore project to build a national broadband network to take high-speed internet to the hinterlands.

A special purpose vehicle (SPV) with equity participation from state-owned telcos BSNL and MTNL and other public sector units such asRailTel, Gail and PowerGrid, among others, will now undertake this project as demanded by the finance ministry. This initiative involves laying 11 lakh km of optic fibre network connecting over 2.5 lakh panchayats across the country.

The Department of Telecom (DoT) in its proposal to the Cabinet has said that private players would be 'inducted' into the SPV by equity expansion at a later date. "This stage could be considered at any point when it is felt that it would add value to the objectives of the programme," the Cabinet note seeking approval for this project added.

In July, communications and IT minister Kapil Sibal had said that the telecom commission, the apex decision making body of the department, had approved the project to build this network that would connect all the gram panchayats utilising the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF). Sibal said that the initial phase of this project would cost about Rs 20,000 crore and added that a similar amount of investment was likely from the private sector towards this.

Telecom companies contribute 5% of their annual revenues towards this fund, which is used to support rural telephony, and the unutilised amount in this kitty is estimated to be about Rs 20,000 crore and this is expected to increase to Rs 36,000 crore within the next 36 months. But the proposal was delayed after the finance ministry raised concerns on the agency that would implement it.

The DoT shared the view that an SPV should only be created for managing the fibre network after it is built by BSNL. The finance ministry, on the other hand, had demanded that the SPV be entrusted with both the rollout and managing the network. The DoT in its Cabinet note has also added that it had already formed a high-level committee (HLC) and an advisory body to oversee the project.

"The project implementation team consisting of members of BSNL, PowerGrid, RailTel, National Informatics Centre and C-DoT is presently looking after various preparatory activities such as geographic information systems mapping, finalisation of network design etc.

Indian IT biggies TCS, Infosys, Wipro can withstand demand uncertainty: S&P

Credit rating agency Standard and Poor's (S&P) today said top three Indian IT companies -- Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and Wipro -- are likely to maintain their investment grade ratings even if demand weakens.

"The largest Indian IT companies have strong margins, are cost-competitive, and have proven delivery models. These attributes will help them to weather uncertain and volatile demand," S&P's Credit Analyst Abhishek Dangra said about the three firms.

S&P has given TCS and Infosys BBB+ and Stable rating, while Wipro holds BBB and positive credit rating.

S&P report said that the three leading IT companies will be able to grow at a faster pace than the global industry, at least over the next few years.

It expects these companies to maintain industry-leading EBITDA (indication of cash flow) margins and grow in double digits in the next 12 months.

"Bigger challenges for the Indian IT companies will occur in the long-term. We expect the cost advantages of these companies to diminish as foreign competitors increase their already-large employee bases in India," a S&P statement said.

The agency said business and reputation risk is rising due to increasing protectionism and it expects the three Indian IT companies to adapt to the challenges, as they have in the past.

On dependency of IT companies on the slowing economies of the US and Europe, it said sovereign budget cuts across these markets could hurt business sentiment and lower private-sector IT spending.

The agency, however, added that deal cancellations would not have as much impact as in 2008-2009, and the time it takes to close deals has lengthened.

Dangra said high unemployment rates, slowing growth and political activism in many countries are generating opposition to outsourcing.

"Still, we expect focus on cutting costs in a slowing global economy to support demand for outsourcing to India. Such a practice results in significant cost savings," he added.

Zend Launches PHP Development Cloud

PHP developers, the world's fourth-largest developer group, now have an option enjoyed by other leading languages: they can collaborate on new software in the cloud, then deploy it to the cloud.

Microsoft illustrated the value of software development in the cloud when it made Visual Studio tools available for collaborative use on Windows Azure. Popular platforms as a service Heroku and Engine Yard did the same for Ruby developers. VMware's Cloud Foundry is a development environment for Java developers. And IBM has its developer's SmartCloud.

Zend Technologies has joined their ranks on behalf of PHP developers with PHPcloud.com. In addition to providing tools, Zend will give developers the option of deploying their finished applications to Amazon's EC2, IBM SmartCloud, Rackspace, or Red Hat's Cloud Foundation. The multi-cloud deployment option may be a draw for PHP developers, who have thus far had few collaborative environments to choose from.


Zend will offer Zend Development Cloud, a set of PHP tools, and Zend Application Fabric, an application server and other deployment middleware, as a development platform on Amazon's EC2. Instead of requiring a developer to fire up an Amazon virtual server to get started, a developer will sign in and be given a slice of an existing server so he can immediately start writing code in his own sandbox."We're going to make Zend Development Cloud a powerful troubleshooting environment," said Andi Gutmans, CEO of Zend Technologies, in an interview. Code tracing, a feature of application server Zend Server, can capture the execution of an application request and allow developers to replay the way its functions execute to troubleshoot any problems.

Gutmans, one of the original developers of PHP with CTO Zeev Suraski, believes software development in the cloud will be more productive than on premises. Developers may coordinate their efforts more easily there and a standard development environment can be equipped with better troubleshooting tools.

Investors claim Zenith Infotech FCCB default more than $85 million

The story of IT services provider Zenith Infotech's default on its dollar convertible bonds seems to be getting bigger and murkier. Investors claim IT provider's default could now be in excess $85 million instead of the $33 million as it originally submitted to the stock exchanges because of a cross default exchange clause, which is part of the bond agreement.

A division that was spun off to a group company and in which US-based Summit Partners announced an investment is also muddying the issue with hedge fund QVT and a few shareholders taking Zenith Infotech to court seeking disclosure of the full value and structure of the deal.

A representative of QVT Fund confirmed that payment on the remaining bonds raised by Zenith Infotech has also become immediately due taking its obligation, including the premium, to over $85 million. Zenith Infotech raised two lots of foreign currency convertible bonds - one for $33 million which was due on September 21, 2011, and a second tranche of $50 million, which was due for repayment in August 2012.

Under the cross default clause, which is a feature in many bond agreements, all dues to bondholders become immediately payable if the company defaults on $1 million or more of debt. "We have accelerated bonds for immediate payment," the QVT representative said. QVT, one of the bondholders which moved a winding petition against pharma firmWockhardt on a similar default, holds about a fourth of Zenith Infotech's FCCBs.

The QVT representative also said Zenith Infotech has not been in touch with it. "The company has had no discussion whatsoever with QVT regarding the re-structuring or extension of maturity of the bonds. We are not aware of any efforts by the management to contact QVT," the person said, adding, "We hold a majority in both the $33-million and $50-million FCCBs."

Last week, Zenith Infotech had said 'it was and in negotiations' with bond-holders to extend the time for repayment, in a filing to the stock exchanges last week. When contacted by ET, Zenith Infotech chairman and director, Raj Saraf, said in a text message, "Our company solicitors have advised us to currently refrain from making press statements, as the matter is sub judice."

Two days ago, Zenith Infotech CEO Akash Saraf was quoted in a well-known blog MSPmentor.net for managed services providers and re-sellers, as saying in an open letter, "We are actively discussing our debt obligations with our bond-holders. We are optimistic that the process will result in financial terms that are acceptable to everyone. Our ongoing operations are not affected by this."

Mspmentor.net also quoted Michael George, CEO of Zenith RMM, a company to which Zenith Infotech spun off its managed services division, as saying Zenith RMM is a separate independent company from Zenith Infotech.

Oracle competitor Tidemark launches, wins more cash

Cloud-based analytics companyTidemark took the wraps off its business after two years in stealth mode, and announced a new funding round.

The company is another in a list of start-ups aimed at helping businesses deal with sorting through growing amounts of data. It works using the cloud -- meaning data gets stored on a network of computers and is accessible from anywhere.

But in a sign of the tough fund-raising environment that has emerged over the last couple of months, the company raised less money this year than it did last year. Typically, companies raise a bigger sum with each funding round.

Tidemark, formerly known as Proferi, raised $6.3 million in its A, or first significant, funding round last year, and said total equity raised totaled "more than $11 million." A spokesman confirmed the new round was slightly smaller than the previous round, and said Tidemark didn't want to raise more cash than it needed at this stage.

Its software takes on established players like Oracle and SAP, and will allow customers to quickly see the possible outcomes for a variety of scenarios: "For what happens if a competitor enters your space, or if you change a product line," Chief Executive Officer Christian Gheorghe told Reuters as examples.

Fellow cloud-based business-software company Box said last week it won $81 million in a late-stage round of funding. Domo, a cloud-based business intelligence company founded by former Omniture CEO Josh James, won $33 million in July.

Tidemark's initial customers are sales & marketing company Acosta; US Sugar, and a large technology company it declined to name.

Its backers include venture-capital firms Greylock Partners and Andreessen Horowitz; and Dave Duffield, co-founder of Workday and founder of PeopleSoft, both business-enterprise companies.

RIL plans to roll out 4G services by 2012

Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries plans to offer high-speed data services on attractively priced tablets by early next year and scale it up to a countrywide network by the middle of 2012.

The company, which made a comeback to the telecom sector last year, plans to offer fourth-generation or 4G-enabled data cards that can be plugged into computers, apart from providing tablets at a game-changing price of Rs 3,000 or even lower to hook customers, two executives said. RIL has also initiated talks with media and entertainment firms, including Walt Disney's Indian venture UTV Software, to acquire content for its wireless broadband offerings.

A deal with Walt Disney, which is close to being finalised , will enable the company to offer games and applications for the younger customers. It plans to provide data connectivity with speeds of 50-100 mbps, which is much faster than 3G services currently on offer, at cheaper prices.

The strategy of enticing customers with low prices is similar to the strategy followed in 2003, when it took mobile telephony to the masses with its "Monsoon Hungama" handsets at Rs 501, helping it win 1 million customers in just 10 days. Reliance Infocom, the telecom arm of the undivided Reliance Group, began its services on December 28, 2002, the birthday of the group's founder Dhirubhai Ambani.

The company, now known as Reliance Communication is owned Anil Ambani, the younger brother of Mukesh. RIL has acquired Infotel, a company that won pan-India spectrum for broadband wireless access (BWA) last year and plans full-scale commercial operation by mid-2012.

By then, it expects to have its pan-India networks ready across 700 cities in the country, one of the executives said. Neither wanted to be identified. It will also gradually offer much higher speeds for data transfer on its network. The company has considered a soft launch as early as December, one source said.

Reliance hopes to boost investor confidence

Reliance is working overtime to make a success out of its latest venture, which it hopes will boost investor confidence that has been battered by harsh criticism from the CAG. The company's other initiatives such as retail continue to be small blips in its balance sheet while its gas production has declined because of reservoir complexity.

The company's spokesman declined comment on specifics of its broadband plans saying Reliance would not comment on speculation. But in an update on its telecoms business, Reliance said on Friday that it's telecoms unit was "in the process of setting up a world-class broadband wireless network using state-of-the-art technologies and finalising the arrangement with leading global technology players, service providers, infrastructure providers, application developers, device manufacturers and others to help usher the 4G revolution into India".

The company is learnt to be in the final phase of talks with three vendors - Alcatel Lucent, Ericsson and China's Huawei -- for its broadband gear after finishing trails with equipment provided by all vendors. It is not clear if RIL will go with a single vendor or split the contracts between the three, executives with gear makers aware of the ongoing talks said.

Several industry executives said that that RIL had examined prototypes of tablets from over 15 Taiwanese and Chinese original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) before shortlisting a slew of designs that will enable the company to offer devices across a wide spectrum of services at prices ranging from Rs 3,000 to Rs 15,000.

RIL may focus on three to four models, all of which are likely to be priced between Rs 3000 to Rs 8000, an industry executive said while adding that the entry-level tablets may have Google's android operating system. Industry executives also confirmed that RIL was not considering UK-based Datawind, which recently launched the world's cheapest tablet - Aakash - priced at $35 or Rs 1,750 for students with the Indian government sourcing these device at Rs 2,256.

RIL is also in talks with multiple players for pan-India tower deals - it may go in for deals on a regional basis by tying up with the tower firm that has maximum reach and density in that particular zone, this executive added. RIL has already started internal testing of the service at its own offices.

The company will also have the opportunity to provide voice services. Last week, telecoms minister Kapil Sibal confirmed that the new policy would allow winners of last year's broadband auctions to offer voice services, a development that will significantly benefit RIL as it can become a full-fledged service provider.

Reliance Industries in talks with global players to launch hi-speed broadband

Reliance Industries (RIL) is in the process of finalising agreements with global technology players and service providers to offer high speed broadband wireless services in the country, the company said today.

"...Is in the process of setting up a world class broadband wireless network using state-of-art technologies and finalising the arrangement with leading global technology players, service providers and infrastructure providers, application developers, device manufacturers and others to help usher the 4G revolution into India," RIL said in a statement while announcing the second quarter results.

Last year, Mukesh Ambani-led RIL had forayed into the telecom arena with a bang, announcing the acquisition of Infotel, which had emerged as the sole winner of pan-India broadband spectrum, for Rs 4,800 crore.

"Reliance also made a substantial commitment to being a leader in the evolution of India's digital economy by acquiring control of a nationwide broadband wireless access licence. We are fully geared to participate in India's growth and continued global recovery in the coming years," Ambani said.

In June this year, Ambani had said that the services would be in the domain of education, healthcare, entertainment, financial services and government-citizen interfaces.

Reliance Industries had a cash and cash equivalent of Rs 42,393 crore (USD 9.5 billion) for the year ended March 31, 2011.

Broadband and broadband-enabled digital services are the next big leap forward in the digital transformation of our knowledge economy, he had said.

Dedicated servers and its benefits

What are dedicated servers? A dedicated server is not someone who is attentive to you in a restaurant. When you hear the term "dedicated servers" online it usually refers to the type of web hosting provider for a website.

If you have started an internet website, you are probably aware that you need a host. There are several different types of web hosting available. You can get hosting through a free server. This is usually used by people who want to have a personal web page for friends and family. A free server will most likely put their own ads on your web page so that they can generate income. There are also shared servers. A shared server is the logical choice of most businesses starting out on the website. Because internet hosting can cost hundreds of dollars per month, most small businesses choose a shared server so they do not have to invest so much money at the onset of their business. A shared server can be a good option for a small internet business or a personal website. There is no reason for a personal website owner to have a dedicated server. A small business or personal website can keep costs down if they share the cost of hosting with other businesses. However, if your business suddenly begins to take off, or you find that you want a lot more space for forums and shopping carts that your current shared server cannot give you, it may be time to look into getting a dedicated server.

Most of the websites host on 2 important servers, Linux Dedicated Server which supports PHP, Mysql and Windows Dedicated Server which supports ASP.Net, ASP, PHP, MSSQL, Mysql technologies for your personal or business website programming needs.

Dedicated servers host only your website. This means that all of the space and bandwidth on the server is yours and yours alone. You do not have to share hosting with other businesses. You can generally make your website as large as you want and include databases such as shopping carts as well as forums, that normally take up quite a bit of space. This also means that you have total control over the safety of your server and your website. You can add additional features that can make your site even more secure, to the benefit of both your customers as well as yourself. Dedicated servers usually cost a lot more each month to maintain, but there are different sizes as well as services available for this type of web hosting. When perusing the different options when it comes to dedicated servers online, you can generally find everything from larger servers to budget dedicated servers.

Nothing can be worse for an internet business than the following:
Customers not being able to access the website because there is not enough bandwidth, leading the customer to believe the website no longer exists.
Customers not trusting the security of the website because last month their credit card information was lifted because the website was not secure.
A severe limit on the website with regard to space that eventually costs you customers.
All of the above scenarios can be avoided by using dedicated servers instead of shared servers. Dedicated servers add space, bandwidth and security for internet business websites.

Web Hosting Benefits of a Dedicated Server

Hosting your web sites on your own dedicated server may seem a little expensive in comparison to shared web hosting, but the end result is more advantageous. Shared web hosting, no matter how well managed, cannot be 100% reliable and stable. However if you have your own dedicated server you can manage to avoid most of the variables affecting the reliability and stability of a server, commonly experienced by shared hosting accounts; variables such as: overload, bad codes and scripts from other users (especially beginners); and, too many applications and components uploaded, and so on.

On a dedicated server you will install only software and applications you want to use, while on a shared hosting server you will find a host of other softwares and applications installed for other users.

By the very nature of the account, a dedicated server: reduces your dependency on the web host; and bypasses time delays and possible expenses incurred from these. With dedicated server hosting you can provide instant support to your own clients whenever required, which is not possible if you are on a shared server. A reliable, and fast support service is vital for your own business growth just like the stability and reliability you wish for your own website. In business, reliability is reflected through word-of-mouth as one of the most effective promotional activities.

For people with clients, such as Graphic Designers and Web Designers a dedicated server is invaluable. A dedicated server will bring extra income into the studio, not just as a hosting facility, but, as a designer knows only too well, for the extra ‘bread and butter’ income value. If you have 24hour access to your own dedicated server then you can adjust, correct or update a clients website in minutes, allowing you to keep the dollar back in your studio and not in someone else’s. Ready availability results in reduced labour costs for the client, but higher studio-income frequency for the designer. Hence you will see the return of all your regular offline clients, bringing their web work with them.

The need for a dedicated server to your average shared server user is realised when stats tell you: how quickly people left your site because it was taking too much time to download; or how many daily visitors you are down by, because your site was not up. The true negative is the worry of how many lost visitors could have been your future paying-customers. The loss could easily equal the value of the upgrade to a Dedicated Server!

For a business, a website that is quickly downloadable and up all the time gives the visitor encouragement that your service is just as reliable, hence you will be more likely to make a sale. It will also enhance the company’s image and encourage existing customers to refer your service to others. This will result in more sales for less promotion.

Govt of India targets 600 mn broadband connections by 2020; revises download speed

The Government of India, through the Draft National Telecom Policy 2011, has set a target of 600 million high-speed internet connections in India by 2020. The draft NTP-2011 aims to achieve 175 million broadband connections by 2017.

The draft also aims To revise the existing broadband download speed of 256 Kbps to 512 Kbps by 2011 and subsequently to 2 Mbps by 2015 and and higher speeds of atleast 100 Mbps thereafter.

The policy, unveiled by Minister of Communications and IT Kapil Sibal, went to the extent of likening the broadband connectivity to basic necessities like health and education and proposes to work towards a 'Right to Broadband' for every citizen.

SAP Ventures invests $10 million in Delhi-based One97 Communications

SAP Ventures, the investment arm of the world's largest maker of business management software SAP AG has invested $10 million in Delhi-based mobile internet services firm One97 Communications. SAP is a lone investor in this third round of funding.

One97 founded in 2000 by engineer-turned-entrepreneur Vijay Shekhar Sharma delivers mobile content, advertising and commerce services to customers such as Airtel, Vodafone, Afghan Wireless, Coca-Cola, Nestle, Samsung and General Motors.

With this investment, One97 plans to expand its reach in emerging markets such as Asia, Africa, hire talent and do research and development.

Mobility and emerging markets are both key focus areas for SAP Ventures which this year launched a new $360 million fund.

"One97 is right in the middle of exploding mobile usage among consumers in developing countries who are using their mobile phones to access the internet, play games, buy content and shop online," said Jai Das managing director at SAP Ventures, headquartered in Palo Alto, California.

"I am right now holidaying in Cochin, and it is amazing to see how people are connected and accessing internet differently in India," added Das.

The benefit of tapping booming mobile and internet is paying off handsomely. This year One97 crossed a turnover of Rs 200 crore.It had just Rs 11 crore in revenues three years ago.

Experts such as Ajit Balakrishnan, founder of online media major Rediff.com believes India will become the largest internet market in next 5-7 years with 400 million users, as new investments to build the infrastructure are going to happen in next two years.

"The opportunity is big. Like an early car, internet is a horseless carriage in India right now. It is sandbox play due to lack of infrastructure and red tape delay of projects" said Balakrishnan.

Investors are also betting big on hot sectors that includes internet and mobile market.

Private equity investments in first nine months of 2011 have surpassed the entire of 2010 as deal sizes grow significantly.

PE firms invested about $2,249 million across 98 deals during the quarter ended September this year, according to a study by Venture Intelligence, which tracks private equity,M&A activity.

IT & ITES companies attracted $437 million across 29 transactions, according to the report.

Last month, in one of the largest global deals in the mobile internet space, Japanese internet major, SoftBank Corp invested $200 million in Bangalore based mobile advertising company InMobi.

This was followed by the $40 million round raised by online group buying service Snapdeal.com from Bessemer Ventures with participation from existing investors IndoUS Ventures and Nexus Ventures.

Blackstone invested about $33 million in financial inclusion-focused tech firm FINO.

For Sharma who hails from Aligarh a small town in Uttar Pradesh it has been a meteoric rise. Sharma started his first business venture XS Corps, a web solutions firm while still studying at college. The start-up was later sold to US based technology firm Lotus Interworks in 1999.

One97 which started with providing caller identification facility moved up the value chain by diversifying into services such as music , customer analytics and sending mobile phone voice messages to farmers for better agricultural practices.

"Initially it was a struggle due to lack of funds. We had to keep on innovating to survive," said Vijay Shekhar Sharma, CMD of One97.

The firm has raised a total funding of Rs 83.6 crore from marquee investors-- Intel Capital, SAIF Partners and Silicon Valley Bank.

One97 now has a team of 1,000 people, who are spread across India, Middle East and Africa.

For SAP, this is the second India investment this year. It invested $10 million in local search engine Just Dial along with Sequoia Capital Global Equities in June.

SAP which counts social media major LinkedIn, open source solutions major Red Hat among its top portfolio companies had earlier invested in Indian technology firms such as Connectiva, iYogi and Newgen. " We are scouting for more start-ups," said Das.

McDonalds to provide Wi-Fi internet access across 110 outlets in Delhi and NCR

Fast-food chain McDonalds is planning to introduce free high-speed wireless internet access at its 110 outlets in Delhi and the NCR by the end of the next six months. The service for the first 10 minutes would be free and then the user would be charged Rs 30 an hour.

"We are currently looking at introducing Wi-Fi at 54 of our outlets based in Delhi and around the NCR. Then we plan to move to the entire northern market," said Vikram Bakshi, managing director, McDonalds India.

Aakash tablet production cost below $35, govt buying at $49

A dream project of the government, the 'world's cheapest tablet PC', Aakash, is being produced at less than $35 (approximately Rs 1,750) per unit, but the replacement warranty attached to it has led to an increase in its price by about $14 to $49.98 per piece.

"The government has asked for a special replacement warranty. Government has asked us not to to repair it (Aakash Tablet)... You will have to replace it... which is a big cost," Suneet Singh Tuli, the CEO of Datawind, the company manufacturing the tablet, told PTI.

Tuli further explained that the ratio of defects in any device sold in India is higher when compared to America because of the harsh climatic conditions here.

"Those kind of costs add to it. This (Aakash) is Rs 2,200... it can be Rs 1,700. Actual manufacturing cost still is less than Rs 1,750. But there are all these other conditions which take it above Rs 1,750," he said.

On July 22, 2010, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal had unveiled a prototype of the device and announced that it would be developed for use at around $35 per unit.

To ensure complete transparency and a level playing-field, the National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NME-ICT) decided to task IIT Rajasthan, Jodhpur, with the job of procuring and testing these devices, based on the design and specifications that the mission's team had finalised.

IIT Jodhpur had floated tenders and the lowest bidder quoted an ex-factory price of $37.98, which was close to the cost mentioned by the minister.

This cost comprised components and material, as well as manufacturing expenses. The final landed price of $49.98 (Rs 2,276) per unit included taxes, levies, and charges like freight and insurance, servicing and documentation, etc.

Tuli said people have been challenging the development of such a low cost device, but by selling this device to the government, Datawind is making enough profits, which even allows him to donate 10 per cent of the total profit to charity.

Tuli said that over-and-above the production cost, Datawind pays almost 20 per cent as taxes, which add to the cost of the device.

"If we bring it after making in China, then there would have been no issues, because it's exempted from duties. I would have not been required to pay 4 per cent VAT (value added tax). Getting it from China and selling in India would have not make it exciting. Therefore, we made it at Hyderabad," Tuli said.

He said that company will sell the commercial version of Aakash in the market for Rs 2,999, which -- unlike the government's Aakash tablet with a 1-year replacement warranty -- will carry only a 30-day replacement warranty.

Tuli has said that he will sell the government Aakash tablets for Rs 1,750 if the government orders 10 lakh units. At present, Datawind has an order for supplying 1 lakh units to the government.

The government is buying the tablets for Rs 2,276 per unit and giving them to education institutes at a 50 per cent subsidy.

Public services to go mobile, government targets IT industry to $300 bn by 2020

India plans to provide all public serviceson mobile devices, make one person IT literate in every household and increase the size of India's IT industry to $300 billion by 2020 from $89 billion this fiscal, as per the draft of government's first policy on information technology, released on Friday.

The government wants the IT industry to flourish in tier II and III towns. It plans to increase software exports from $59 billion at present to $200 billion by 2020.

The plan include diversifying exports to other countries apart from US and Europe to mitigate the impact of recession on India's IT companies. Communications and IT minister Kapil Sibal said the government may also offer tax incentives to local tech companies after the Direct Tax Code comes into place.

The country's small and mid sized IT companies have been impacted with the 10-year tax holiday from theSoftware Technology Parks of India scheme coming to end in 2010. "We'll certainly try and do something," Sibal said on a possibility of sops for the small IT firms.

He added that he was hopeful of 'formalizing' the policy by end 2011. The IT policy is the second of the three policies that the ministry intends to deliver by December. Earlier this week, Sibal unveiled the draftnational electronics policy which aims to bring $100 billion worth of investment into the sector and create 28 million jobs over the next nine years.

Sibal, who also handles the portfolio of telecoms, will introduce draft of the much-awaited national telecoms policy on Monday.

The National IT policy aims at increasing its of skilled IT professionals four times to 10 million by 2020 while envisaging the extensive use of mobile phones and the recently launched world's cheapest tablet Aakash, at $35, as a platform for delivering public services to all Indians.

"Aakash will be the delivery system for all public services. Going forward, we will improve the product," Sibal said. Besides making use of social media to reach out to the masses, the government also plans to integrate Aadhar to offer public services to the masses and simplify their delivery.

It plans to increase affordability of accessibility through IT. The government also plans to promote innovation and R&D in cutting edge technologies and development of applications and solutions in areas like localization, location based services, mobile value added services, cloud computing, social media and utility models.

Sibal added that the government was keen on introducing the electronic delivery of services bill in the winter session of Parliament. The bill mandates states to provide all services electronically within five years.

The minister also emphasised on changing copyright laws in a bill pending in Parliament, at the same time not compromising nation's IT security.

Draft IT policy aims to create 10m jobs

The government unveiled the draft policy on information technology, 2011 that is aimed at creating a pool of extra 10 million skilled manpower by 2020 and strengthening India's position as a global IT power.

The policy also targets exports worth $200 billion and a revenue of $300 billion by 2020 from the IT and ITes industry, communication and IT minister Kapil Sibal said, while unveiling the draft policy. The shipment is worth $59 billion, while the revenue is $88 billion at present. "Our objective from this policy is to increase revenues of IT and ITeS (IT-enabled services) industry from $88 billion at present to $300 billion by 2020 and expand exports from $59 billion at present to $200 billion by 2020 and to create a pool of 10 million additional skilled manpower," he said.

The Indian IT sector, which gets 80% of its revenues from exports, employs over 2.5 million skilled people, he added. The draft is available for comments from public and various stakeholders for a month on the websites of the Department of Information Technology and the Department of Telecommunications. The draft aims to provide fiscal benefits to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and start-up ventures in the key industrial verticals for adoption of IT. "We are waiting for the Direct Taxes Code (DTC) to put in place, then we will make a framework to provide incentives to smaller and medium IT firms," Sibal said.

The draft also focuses on gaining significant global market share in cloud-based technologies and services and mobile-based value added services. "A conducive policy environment and the concerted strategy is needed for the country to remain a global player on a long-term basis."

Further, it also calls for setting up centres of excellence in institutions of higher learning so as to produce at least 3,000 PhDs in ICT in specialised areas by 2020. The policy also formulates fiscal and other regulations to attract investments in the sector in tier II and III cities and to create employment opportunities across the country. "As most of the IT companies are located in big cities like Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad, and Mumbai, the policy will now look at expanding to tier II and tier III cities as well," Sibal added.

What is a Cloud Server?

Every new development in technology brings with it a bewildering array of new names and concepts Cloud technology is no different. Never mind the “forget what you know” marketing hype. In this article you will see just how attainable the technology is and how little there is to learn. At its heart Cloud Computing consists of a few tools elegant in their simplicity yet profound in their impact, not least of all to the bottom line!

Genesis:
Cloud starts with a revolutionary, but now rather old and familiar technology, that is virtualisation. Virtualisation allows you to install an operating system on a generic layer overlaying the hardware. This simple concept offers two game-changing features.

Portability: The system no longer needs awareness of BrandX hardware, it sees only the generic interfaces of the Virtual Environment. The operating system can now be moved from one physical machine to another as long as both share the virtual environment.
Resource Sharing: Multiple operating systems can share a single set of hardware with the virtual environment managing allocation of the underlying physical resources.

From the operating system perspective and low-level technical caveats excepted, nothing has changed. Your Windows or Linux machine is still a Windows or Linux machine. This is the beauty of Virtualisation, it breaks the tie between operating system and hardware without impacting either. Virtualisation means vanilla installations can be archived ready to be copied and configured when the need arises.

Those familiar with products such as VMWare will know that this technology has been around for years. To understand how Virtualisation became “Cloud” we need to look at Amazon’s ingenious use of the Xen virtualization suite.

Amazon were faced with a problem familiar to many retailers with seasonal peaks. Their infrastructure was as big as their Christmas peak. Virtualisation offered them a way to scale their operation up and down to fit their business volumes leaving clean redundant hardware during lulls. Using a combination of the Portability and Resource Sharing features of Virtualisation, and adding an interface for third party consumption Amazon’s Elastic Cloud was born allowing public use of Amazon’s redundant server and storage space.

An Operational Revolution:
As we’ve seen, Virtualisation changes nothing at the operating system level, a server is still a server, Linux is still Linux, Windows is still Windows. What has changed is the process of provisioning. Until the advent of Cloud, the process of commissioning servers involved either purchasing hardware or outsourcing this to a third party in the form of a server rental agreement. The lead time could be measured in days because it involved wires, screwdrivers and racks. By contrast, Cloud uses redundant hardware, that is hardware already installed and tested by the vendor. The specification for a server is no longer translated into a physical hardware shopping list but to a “virtual” allocation of resources from the existing Virtualised pool. At a stroke provisioning times have been cut from days, or even weeks to minutes.

Shorter provisioning times and easy resource reallocation allows the consumer far greater granular control of infrastructure spend and has revolutionised pricing structures with many vendors now offering rental agreements of 1 hour rather than the more traditional months and years required for them to preserve margin against hardware bought to serve a particular client.

Cloud servers are a genuine win-win, the vendor passes on reduced overhead through better resource allocation and more densely populated data centres while the consumer enjoys flexible hour-by-hour rental charges on a platform their IT staff will already with and the benefits of rescaling only a few minutes away. For the many businesses still sitting on a depreciating asset as large as their seasonal peak, cloud servers are ripe fruit waiting to be harvested.

E-commerce Companies in India on a Hiring spree

Bangalore: With the e-commerce sector in India booming, venture capitalists are hoarding to invest in the bubbling sector, which has been complimented by an increasing workforce. These companies are hiring professionals across diverse sections from customer care to technical honchos and salespersons to chartered accountants.

This can be seen in a similar light like the booming 2001, when funds were splurged onto startups and a lot of movement was seen in the IT sector. Indian e-commerce sector is witnessing a lot of funding activities, with companies like Flipkart, Myntra etc getting huge funds and are in an expansion mode.

Many of the companies in the e-commerce segment are looking for hiring professionals from other industries, with the likes of Flipkart and MakeMyTrip bringing executives from Coca Cola and PepsiCo respectively on board.
The e-commerce space has become challenging and is offering a lot of opportunities to those who want to grow their skills in diverse fields--this being an interesting domain for management students, who are rejecting big companies in order to join startups.

The established of the e-commerce companies are paying fat remunerations to the tune of One to Two crores at the CEO level and entitlement to stocks; at the managerial level a person can expect around 50 lakhs. This is almost double of what people generally earn in the other sectors. There is a large demand for online executives, however the growth does not allows for organic promotions, thus the companies prefer lateral hires.

Since e-commerce is a relatively new industry, the industry is on a lookout for people who are motivated and have a passion for experimenting. The young blood is what is keeping the industry gallop ahead. Many would find it a tough job, as the companies work 24x7, have long working hours, but at the same time it offers faster rankings to employees thereby being at par with other sectors. Like any industry, the need for workforce in the e-commerce domain will keep on increasing, with just the way people are engaged being changed.

Poor quality of students entering IITs: Narayana Murthy

Voicing his displeasure over the quality of engineers that pass out of the IITs,Infosys chairman emeritus N R Narayana Murthy has said there is a need to overhaul the selection criteria for students seeking admission to the prestigious technology institutions.

Addressing a gathering of hundreds of former IITians at a 'Pan IIT' summit here, Murthy said the quality of students entering Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) has deteriorated over the years due to the coaching classes that prepareengineering aspirants.

He said the majority of the students fare poorly at jobs and global institutions of higher education.

"Thanks to the coaching classes today, the quality of students entering IITs has gone lower and lower," Murthy said, receiving a thundering applause from his audience.

He said apart from the top 20% of students who crack the tough IIT entrance examination and can "stand among the best anywhere in the world," quality of the remaining 80 per cent of students leave much to be desired.

Coaching classes teach aspirants limited sets of problems, out of which a few are asked in the examinations.

"They somehow get through the joint entrance examination. But their performance in IITs, at jobs or when they come for higher education in institutes in the US is not as good as it used to be.

"This has to be corrected. A new method of selection of students to IITs has to be arrived at."

Drawing a road map to put IITs among the top engineering institutes in the world, Murthy said it has to be ensured that IITs "transcend from being just teaching institutions to reasonably good research institutes" at par with Harvard and MIT in the next 10-20 years.

"Few IITs have done well in producing PhDs but in reality when we compare ourselves to institutions in this country, we have a long way to go," he said.

More emphasis has to be given to research at the undergraduate level and examinations should test independent thinking of students rather than their ability to solve problems.

Murthy said in order to produce good research at IITs, the Indian government has to be persuaded to create institutions that fund research projects.

In addition, faculty members should also be evaluated annually on their research performance by an independent committee, Murthy said adding that India must shift from the tenure system for its faculty to a five year contractual appointment system.

The Infosys mentor also lamented the poor English speaking and social skills of a majority of IIT students, saying with Indian politicians "rooting against English", the task of getting good English speaking students at IITs gets more difficult.

"An IITian has to be a global citizen and must understand where the globe is going," he added.

Murthy also stressed the need to have the governing council of IITs made up of its alumni.

The only way IITs can become better is if 80-90 per cent of members on their governing council are alumni.

"Nobody is bothered about an institution more than its alumni. We must somehow persuade the government of India to let go of its control and make sure majority of the council members is the IIT alumni."

Murthy urged IITians spread across the globe to work with their alma mater to ensure that IITs are among the top 10 engineering schools of the world.

He said while only a couple of IITs feature in the top 50, there should be at least five IITs in the top 10 engineering schools in the world in the next 10-20 years, he added.

Google ranked world's most attractive employer for third year in a row

Internet search giant Google has been ranked as the best company to work for by management and engineering graduates in two separate surveys, which term the company the world's "most attractive employer" of 2011.

According to the survey conducted by global employer branding firm Universum, Google has been ranked at the top of its 2011 list of the top 50 global businesses and engineering companies to work for, the third year in a row.

The search giant has been dubbed the most attractive employer by more than 160,000 people from Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Russia, Spain, the UK and US looking for the right place to work.

"For the last three years, we have been seeing Google leading the pack and it will take a strong player with a clear talent strategy to steal this number one spot," Universum Head (Research and Consulting) Lovisa Ohnell said.

The search giant is followed by auditor KPMG, where most B-Schools students want to work, while engineering graduates picked tech giant IBM as their second choice.

For engineering students, software giant Microsoft is the third choice, followed by car-maker BMW (fourth), chip-maker Intel (fifth), electronics company Sony (sixth), tech firm Apple (seventh), GE (eighth), Siemens (ninth) and consumer goods group Procter & Gamble (10th).

The other technology firms that were favoured by engineers are HP, Cisco, Oracle, Nokia, Dell, and Lenovo.

"The software industry is highly dependent on its human capital, hence the efforts to attract and retain the brightest minds in the world," Universum Global Account Director Carlo Duraturo said.

"There's a new working culture paradigm today -- the relaxed and creative office, and part of it we owe to this industry.Generation Y feels very comfortable working in this new environment and it's clearly reflected in the attractiveness of the software industry," Duraturo added.

Meanwhile, in the list of top 50 employers for business students, KPMG is followed by rivals PwC, Ernst & Youngand Deloitte at third, fourth and fifth spot, respectively.

In addition, B-Schools students seeking the best employer ranked Microsoft sixth in the list, followed by Procter & Gamble (seventh), financial services entity JP Morgan (eighth), Apple (ninth) and financial services major Goldman Sachs (10th).

Among the other notable names in the list, soft drink major Coca-Cola figured at 12th position in the list, while Citi occupied 29th place and beverages firm PepsiCo bagged 30th place in the list for business students.

Buzz over Apple's iPhone 5 might eclipse all previous launches

On Tuesday, Apple is expected to lift the curtain on the long-rumored next-generation version of its smartphone, an annual update that is coming months later than in years past.

Many consumers have delayed cellphone purchases in anticipation of the new iPhone, market control that perhaps only Apple possesses.

For Walsh, it has meant sticking with a phone that is ''starting to crack a little bit.''

''I was geared up to get the new phone in the spring,'' said the Denver copyright lawyer. ''It was kind of hard to hang on for the extra months.''

From the iPhone to the iPad, Apple's product launches typically generate tremendous buzz. But interest in the upcoming iPhone might surpass them all, with the exception of the first in 2007.

RBC Capital Markets analyst Mike Abramsky said there is ''unprecedented'' demand for the so-called iPhone 5 (no official name has been revealed), surpassing the iPhone 4, which was released in June 2010 and featured sweeping improvements over its predecessor.

In a recent research note, Abramsky cited a survey of 2,200 consumers that showed 31 percent were likely to buy the new iPhone, compared with 25 percent prelaunch demand for the iPhone 4.

Two-thirds of existing iPhone owners are likely to buy the iPhone 5, Abramsky said.

That includes Anna Sawyer of Boulder, Colo., who has stuck it out with her iPhone 3GS even though two months ago ''it began shutting down, freezing and experiencing weird displacement of menu bars and stuff.''

''It costs $200 for a new phone, so I want the new new phone,'' said Sawyer, marketing manager for Boulder-based Trada.

Several factors are contributing to the hype surrounding the new iPhone:

It is expected to be the first iPhone to launch simultaneously on multiple carriers. AT&T was the exclusive provider for four years until Verizon Wireless received its version of the iPhone 4 in February. Along with the top two carriers, the iPhone 5 reportedly will also be available through Sprint.

- Over the past year, a number of Android smartphones have launched with popular features not yet available on iPhones, such as 4-inch or larger touchscreens and access to high-speed 4G wireless networks. The iPhone 4 has a 3.5-inch screen and works on AT&T's and Verizon's 3G networks.

- Previous iPhones have launched in either June or July, so the latest iteration has a few extra months of pent-up demand.

- This will be the first notable launch overseen by Tim Cook, a longtime Apple executive who replaced co-founder Steve Jobs as chief executive in August. In the midst of a medical leave, Jobs resigned and now serves as chairman.

- Businesses, not just consumers, have embraced the iPhone. Initially, skeptics wondered whether a phone without a physical keyboard could gain traction in a market dominated by Research In Motion's BlackBerry