'Dainik Jagran Cityplus' launches 6th edition in Bangalore

India's leading media house, Jagran, launched the 6th Edition of Dainik Jagran Cityplus, its weekly English tabloid size edition in Malleshwaram, Bangalore. Published every Friday, the tabloid will be targeted at the localized local and relevant community news and will have specified sections and columns for community news, events and happenings, fashion, food, and lifestyle, among others.


The new edition of the supplement will be available to 45000 residents & commercial establishments across one of Bangalore's prime & oldest locality like Margosa Road, Sampige Road, Link Road, Park End Road, Coconut Avenue, Lower Palace Orchard and 1st to 18thCrocs. The Dainik Jagran Cityplus aims to create a strong bond with the readers by bringing feature customised information and inputs from a localized point of view.

Salil Tandon - Business Head & Editor, Cityplus said; "Having successfully launched 5 editions in Bangalore & with the 6th Edition rolled out, we have been able to tap the city deep down through a community driven effort. Readers appreciate the paper for its crisp, informative & precise content. Response from this market has always been overwhelming & in due time this will lead us to launch more editions for the city of Bangalore."

Having launched its first edition in Bangalore in September 2007, Cityplus today boasts of 5 successful editions in Bangalore, namely; Indira Nagar, Koramangala, Jayanagar, Sarjanpur and HSR Layout. Cityplus has its presence in four prime cities like Delhi & NCR, Bangalore, Pune and Mumbai with 25 Editions. Cityplus has plans to expand its network in the other cities in the country, in near future.

Sify becomes the First ICT player to have Submarine Cable System

Sify Technologies Limited (Nasdaq NM: SIFY), a leader in Enterprise and Consumer Internet Services in India with global delivery capabilities today announced it’s readiness to activate their capacities in the Europe India Gateway (EIG) submarine cable system, thus becoming the first ICT player to do so.


Sify has made a strategic investment in EIG capacities to support their expanding global operations.

EIG is a US $700 million high-capacity fiber-optic cable and one of the most advanced submarine cable systems in the world. It will provide multinational customers additional diversity and capacity to meet their critical communications needs. When fully activated, the EIG will be the first, direct, high-bandwidth optical fiber system from the UK to India .



The immediate beneficiaries are Sify’s enterprise customers and partners in India , Europe & Americas, who can now leverage their enhanced capability to extend network and managed services across Middle East and Africa .



Sify’s exclusive partnership with GBI (Gulf Bridge International) to land their Cable System in India , scheduled to go live in second half of 2011 will consolidate its position as a major player providing comprehensive ICT services globally.



Chairman of Sify, Mr. Raju Vegesna commenting on the achievement said “We will have over 50 Gbps of bandwidth between India , Middle East and Europe and this will establish our presence and reputation on the Global Telecom map. Our International Services now have a world class cable system backing to serve the growing markets in the Middle East & Africa”



“We are working with our Middle East Telecom partners to create seamless network services to serve Indian, Asian & US Carriers and Business and help them connect to Middle Eastern countries like Saudi Arabia , Bahrain , Qatar , UAE, Oman , Yemen , Iraq , Sudan and East African countries like Djibouti , Somalia , Kenya , Tanzania , Mozambique , South Africa and Madagascar . We are also working on establishing similar capabilities on India ’s eastern sea board,” Mr. Vegesna added.



“Sify’s activation of it’s capacity in EIG demonstrates our commitment to empower our customers and partners to do business in the global growth markets” Mr. Vegesna concluded.

About Sify Technologies

Sify is among the largest Managed Enterprise and Consumer Internet Services companies in India , offering end-to-end solutions with a comprehensive range of products delivered over a common telecom data network infrastructure reaching more than 600 cities and towns in India .



A significant part of the company's revenue is derived from Corporate Services, which include corporate connectivity, network and communications solutions, security, network management services, enterprise applications and hosting. Sify is a recognized ISO 9001:2008 certified service provider for network operations, data center operations and customer support, and for provisioning of VPNs, Internet bandwidth, VoIP solutions and integrated security solutions, and ISO / IEC 20000 - 1:2005 certified for Internet Data Center operations. Sify has licenses to operate NLD (National Long Distance) and ILD (International Long Distance) services and offers VoIP back haul to long distance subscriber telephony services. The company is India 's first enterprise managed services provider to launch a Security Operations Center (SOC) to deliver managed security services. A host of blue chip customers use Sify's corporate service offerings.



Sify also caters to global markets in the specialized domains of eLearning Services and Remote Infrastructure Management Services. The eLearning Services designs, develops and delivers state-of-the-art digital learning solutions for non-profit, for-profit organizations and governmental organizations in the fields of Information technology, engineering, environment, healthcare, education and finance. The Remote Infrastructure Management Services provides dependable and economical solutions around managed services, hosting and monitoring.



Consumer services include broadband home access and the ePort cyber café chain across more than 200 cities and towns in India . Sify.com, the popular consumer portal, has channels on news, entertainment, finance, sports, games and shopping. Samachar.com is the popular portal aimed at non-resident Indians around the globe. The site’s content is available in 8 Indian languages, which include Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada and Tamil, Punjabi and Gujarati in addition to English.



For more information about Sify, visit http://www.sifycorp.com/

Aparna Sen makes a comeback with "The Japanese Wife - A Love poem"

Saregama films bring together the hit team of Mr & Mrs Iyer - Director Aparna Sen and Rahul Bose in film "The Japanese Wife" with star-cast Raima Sen, Chigusa Takaku and Moushumi Chatterjee. The film is set to release on April 09, 2010.




This time, too, Aparna Sen makes an unusual film with an unusual message: How far will you go for love?



Snehamoy, a schoolteacher in the Sunderbans, and Miyage, a young girl in Japan, meet through letters, fall in love over letters, and even get married through letters! They have been married for 15 years ... but have never met.



In this very tender, lyrically-told, stunningly-photographed film, Snehamoy and Miyage go the distance for their love, from the happy to the funny to the sad, sometimes even the bizarre ... Only a director with Aparna Sen's skill could have woven a love Poem like this on screen.



Mr. Apurv Nagpal, MD of Saregama, says, "We admire Aparna's work and ability to interpret love. This is not just a film but a lyrical love poem, very different to anything out there in today's age of instant gratification."



The film features a stellar cast: Miyage is played - for the first time in Indian films - by a Japanese actress, Chigusa Takaku. And the talent of Rahul Bose as Snehamoy, is stretched to its limit as he goes from a college student to an elderly man. And, of course, there is Raima Sen and Moushumi Chatterjee, who bursts back onto the screen after two decades.

Union Budget 2011-12 disappointing for the IT-BPO sector: NASSCOM

MAT imposed on SEZ; 10A/10B tax incentives withdrawn


Policies announced for service tax refunds; transfer pricing – need to ensure implementation

Focus on technology implementation to boost governance and access for citizens
 
 
NASSCOM today expressed its disappointment on the Union Budget Proposals 2011-12 that chartered a roadmap on sustaining a high growth trajectory for the country, but missed the relevant thrust for business to enable this growth.




The services sector was lauded for its double digit growth rates, but the fastest growing services industry, IT-BPO faced double negatives – imposition of MAT on SEZ and withdrawal of tax exemption under Section 10A/10B.



The SEZ Scheme was announced as an act of Parliament and only last year it was clarified that under Direct Tax Code (DTC), SEZ units set up till 2014 will continue to get profit linked tax exemptions. Imposition of MAT at 18.5% with an effective rate of nearly 20%, nullifies the impact of any such incentive. This will be a deterrent for small companies, tier 2/3 cities that were looking at expanding in the SEZ scheme.



NASSCOM had also requested the government that since the DTC will come into play from 2012, the tax exemptions under section 10A/10B should be extended by one year, so that companies can prepare for the new regime and relevant incentives as applicable for the services sector can be introduced under the DTC.



While the industry has performed well, the uncertain global environment still continues and protectionist sentiments in key markets are concern areas. Inflation is increasing the burden on employee costs and small companies need a supportive policy framework. It is disappointing that the government has not considered the needs of the small and medium enterprises. NASSCOM will urge the relevant ministries to reconsider this decision before the budget is passed by the Parliament.



On the positive side, there were certain policy announcements related to service tax refunds and transfer pricing aimed at simplification and reducing litigation. It is important that the implementation framework and clarity on applicability is announced on these schemes, so that a clearer policy framework can emerge. We hope the Finance Ministry would review every three months the implementation of the new provisions announced.



Technology implementation was a key theme that found relevance in the budget proposals – UID, GST Network, National Knowledge Network, Centralised Processing Units, rural broadband etc would provide additional opportunities for the industry to partner with the Government.



Skills development, infrastructure, innovation and social development were other welcome highlights in the budget that would enhance India’s long-term competitiveness.

Ramco Systems awarded for ‘Operational Excellence and Quality’

Ramco Systems (BSE - 532370, NSE – RAMCOSYS, MSE – RSST); a leading software company focused on consulting, product and managed services, has won the prestigious award for ‘Operational Excellence and Quality’ at the BPO Excellence Awards 2010-2011, held at the Taj Lands End, Mumbai. Ramco won the award for exhibiting successful implementation of its acclaimed IP3 Framework, in bringing operational excellence and quality to customers. Mr. K A Vishwanathan, Head BPO, Ramco Systems, received the award on behalf of the company.


Launched in April 2010, the IP3 Framework (Infrastructure, Product, Process and People) incorporates a four staged approach which brings an optimal synthesis of technology and process coupled with the right human resources and infrastructure. This framework helps organizations to switch amongst models, such as BPO to Licensing to Hosting, given the flexibility and customized approach that is adopted. The outcome of this IP3 framework benefits the customers in the following way:



1.Interoperability Model (BPO-License-Hosting)

2.Reduction in CAPEX

3.Expertise in SLA based delivery

4.Avoidance of multiple risk points

5.Possession of a good delivery platform

On receiving the award, Mr. K A Vishwanathan, Head BPO, Ramco Systems, said, “I am extremely reveled to represent Ramco Systems in this prestigious forum. Within a year of the launch of the IP3 framework, we have received industry recognition and award for delivering ‘Operational Excellence & Quality’. This further reinforces our belief and commitment to quality through our continuous investments in R&D, and innovation. Ramco’s BPO division has been offering the best of services to customers and helping them in their growth with a robust technology. This award is a testimony to our customers’ belief on Ramco and its offering.”

About BPO Excellence Awards 2010-2011

The prestigious BPO Excellence Awards are given out each year in India by the business group ‘Stars of the Industry,’ recognizing outstanding performance and contribution of BPO players to the industry. The Stars of the Industry Awards recognize performance excellence across diverse sectors of Manufacturing, IT-ITES, FMCG Food Service & Hospitality Sector and Education.


About Ramco Systems

Ramco Systems, a part of the USD 875 million Ramco Group, is a leading software company focused on consulting, product and managed services business. Headquartered in Chennai, Ramco Systems was started as an R&D division of Ramco Industries Limited in 1992, and later established as an independent company in 1999. The company focuses on providing innovative business solutions that can be delivered quickly and cost-effectively in complex environments. Globally, Ramco has over 100,000 users from 800+ customer organizations since inception. The company currently has 15 offices spread across India , USA , Canada , Europe, Middle East , South Africa and APAC and employs over 1,500 employees.

Ramco’s key differentiator is its innovative approach to develop products through its revolutionary enterprise application assembly and delivery platform - Ramco VirtualWorks™. Ramco Systems has seven major product suites – Ramco Enterprise Suite, Ramco Enterprise Asset Management Suite, Ramco Aviation, Ramco OnDemand ERP (ERP on Cloud), Ramco Enterprise Information Management Suite, Ramco Advanced Process Control, and Ramco Mine Management. Strong domain knowledge coupled with proven implementation expertise enables Ramco to provide specialized solutions in verticals such as Manufacturing, Real Estate & Construction, Energy & Utilities, Logistics, Service, BFSI, Aviation, Government and Defense.



Ramco Systems has been assessed for ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 27001:2005 information security standards. Ramco’s BPO unit is SAS 70 Type II certified.

Quote from Virtusa spokesperson on post Budget analysis

“The budget aims to control and reduce the fiscal deficit and inflation which is intended to strengthen macroeconomic fundamentals. The incentives provided to the infrastructure sector are welcomed as these incentives should increase capital investment in this sector.


The proposal to reduce the surcharge on corporate income tax should spur additional investment. Levying MAT on SEZ developers and units operating in SEZ will negatively impact their cash flows.”


- Mr. Samir Dhir, Senior Vice President/Global Delivery Head & Head of India Operations, Virtusa Corporation

Google announce Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office

Google announces worldwide availability of Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office and the launch of the 90-day Appsperience under the broader theme of collaboration.


Beginning today, anyone around the world can start using Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office. Cloud Connect provides users of Microsoft Office tools -- Word, Excel and Powerpoint -- in versions 2003, 2007 or 2010 with a bridge to using the Google cloud.


In addition, Google is also launching the 90-day Appsprience which allows businesses to test drive the collaboration aspects of Google Apps (Docs, Sites, etc.) with the assistance of one of our authorized reseller partners. As part of this Appsperience, businesses can also start measuring the impact of their productivity tools through the new Google Apps collaboration dashboard in the Google Apps control panel.


More details on this news can be found on the Google Enterprise Blog.



Link to the blog post: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/new-ways-to-experience-better.html

HP Digital Print Awards 2011

HP announced that the 2nd HP Digital Print Awards 2011 (Asia Pacific & Japan) – HP Scitex is open for submissions. The HP Digital Print Awards was founded last year to recognize the outstanding achievements and contributions of Print Service Providers (PSPs) in the signage industry across Asia Pacific and Japan. The annual Awards dinner, where winning entries will be showcased, is being held in conjunction with the 19th Shanghai Int’l Ad & Sign Technology & Equipment Exhibition in Shanghai, China on 6 July 2011.


“The HP Digital Print Awards – HP Scitex competition that was launched last year was a major success for us as we received more than 100 stunning entries from across the region,” said Martin Carballo, Director, HP Scitex – Graphic Solutions Business, Imaging and Printing Group, Hewlett-Packard Asia Pacific and Japan.”We hope that through the annual Awards we can help to inspire other PSPs in the signage industry to break new frontiers in digital printing excellence and respond to their client’s brief in new and exciting creative ways.”


The Awards will only be open to companies from across Asia Pacific and Japan for entries that are printed by HP Scitex Large-format printers. HP Digital Print Awards 2011 (Asia Pacific & Japan) – HP Scitex will have five key categories:


— Transit Graphic covers vehicle wraps and fleet graphics.

— Interior Decoration includes interior decoration signage and graphics, floor or wallpaper graphics and any decorative printing on rigid substances (ie: glass, ceramic or wood).



— Outdoor Advertising covers building wraps, billboard signage, floor



graphics, backlit signage and textile (flags & banners) graphics. Any graphics with flexible applications done outdoors will also be subjected to the same category.


— POP Advertising includes point-of-sale materials and any graphics with flexible applications that are done for purchase point.


— Green Digital Printing: this will cover print jobs done with a



combination of the following parameters:


— Inks using dye-based, latex inks, and UV inks.


— Printing Substrates using environmental-friendly printing

materials that are recyclable such as non-PVC-based

banner, cotton-based fabrics, recycle paper.



“Winning the Platinum Award at the HP Digital Print Awards 2010 (Asia Pacific & Japan) – HP Scitex has played an integral role in helping us to clinch the bid for the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games in China. The Award also serves to recognize the high-level quality digital print works and efficient professional services that Caler provides to its customers,” said Qin Xue Qing, VIP Clients Director, Caler Factory. “The Award has certainly given us more opportunities to establish long-term partnerships and achieve win-win relationships with our customers.”

Each category will have three winners – Gold, Silver and Bronze. A total of 17 Awards will be given out across the five categories. This includes a Platinum Award for one overall winner and a “Best Creative Design” award from across all the five categories.



A comprehensive judging process will operate for the Awards and once



submissions have been received, a panel of internationally renowned



judges from the graphics arts and signage industries will evaluate each



entry. Key judging criteria that the judges will look out for are Creativity,



Appearance, Marketing Appeal, Best Use of Inks & Colors and Client Satisfaction.

The submissions for the HP Scitex Asia Pacific and Japan Digital Print Awards are open now and will close on 20 May 2011. This year’s nominees will be notified by 20 June 2011 and the results will be officially announced during the Gala Dinner on 6 July 2011 at Shanghai Exhibition.

UST Global unveiled its new facility in Leela Infopark, Kochi, today

California based IT services company UST Global unveiled its new facility in Leela Infopark, Kochi on Monday, 28th of February, 2011. Sajan Pillai, CEO of UST Global inaugurated the complex in traditional style, by lighting the ceremonial lamp. Spread over an area of 34,000 sq ft, the office is styled to the themes of speed, passion and courage to celebrate the company’s partnership with UK based Formula One team Virgin Racing.


The new facility is a fine example for state-of-the-art interior design and is already the center of attention in the city. Speaking at the occasion, Sajan Pillai said, “We were among the first to look at Kerala as an Information Technology services destination, and we have a significant presence in the state today. Expanding our investment in Kerala makes good business sense, given the massive amount of untapped resources and talent available. Kochi will have a major role to play in the next generation of IT services.”

“Our offshore operations have always been centered around South Asia, which is a globally recognized hub of IT talent. Investment in infrastructure goes hand in hand with expansion in employee strength. I would see this as a forerunner to our campus that is coming up in Trivandrum.” Says Alexander Varghese, India Head of UST Global

"With our third, state-of-the-art facility becoming operational, UST Global is poised for a huge growth at Kochi. The availability of a large talent pool of experienced and fresh talent, both in IT and BPO, makes Kochi a strategic location for UST. With our focus on the Global 2000 customer base, we have been able to provide our people the opportunity to work with the best companies in the world which in turn has helped us to attract good talent. The current expansion will elevate the Kochi center from a 'spoke' to 'hub' in UST's 'hub-and-spoke' model, enabling us to grow further to other smaller locations around Kochi." Sunil Balakrishnan, Kochi Center Head for UST Global said.

In addition to the newly commissioned facility, UST Global already has offices in 18 locations, spread across 4 continents. Each is designed in a signature style, according to a specific theme inspired by various factors. For instance, the Manila (Philippines) center of UST Global is decked on the theme of ‘boxing’, to commemorate the legendary 1975 ‘Thrilla in Manila’ Heavyweight Championship match between Joe Frazier and Mohammed Ali held in the city. Similarly, each bay of the UST Global facility in Technopark, Trivandrum has a different look and feel. Amongst the themes used are Hollywood and NBA.

UST Global is also building a new flagship campus in the Special Economic Zone in Trivandrum, the first phase of which is expected to be completed by the end of 2011. Once operational, this 3.6 million sq ft campus shall be the major hub for offshore IT services offered by the organization.

About UST Global

UST Global® is a NEXT-Gen IT services and solutions provider focused on the Global 2000 market. Headquartered in Aliso Viejo, California and London, England, it provides IT and business process outsourcing services through its state-of-the-art centers across India, and in the Philippines. UST clients get the advantages of its highly efficient Global Engagement Model; a seamless blend of expertise from locally based senior resources with the productivity, cost, scale, and quality of its offshore teams. Since its inception in 1999, UST Global has grown to over 8,000 employees and has been recognized for an unmatched focus on its clients and for its "Commitment beyond Contract." It follows a philosophy of fewer CLIENTS, more ATTENTION" to be able to service each of its customers individually. For more information visit: http://www.ust-global.com/

Intelenet Global Services quote basis Union Budget

Quote from Mr. Susir Kumar - CEO – Intelenet Global Services Ltd


The Union Budget 2011 overall, is a balanced budget, which keeps in mind all sections of society. I am very pleased to see the fiscal deficit target of 4.6% which will eventually help curtail inflation for the nation. The resultant lower borrowings planned by the government will also put a limit to an increase in interest rates. I am disappointed that the tax holiday is not extended on STPI units.

Quote from Mr. Ramchandra Panickar CFO – Intelenet Global Services Ltd

The Union Budget 2011 has a welcome highlight - that of the reduction on surcharge and keeping service tax at 10%. I am disappointed that the tax holiday on STPI units was not extended. We are very optimistic about the increase in budget allocation to education. This will aide our industry in the long run with quality professionals who have a sound educational background.

Magma’s Titan and FineSim Validated for LFoundry Interoperable Process Design Kits (iPDKs), Accelerating Turnaround Time for Analog/Mixed-Signal SoCs

Magma® Design Automation (Nasdaq: LAVA), a provider of chip design software, and LFoundry, the customer-specific manufacturer of choice for analog, mixed-signal and specialized technologies, today announced the LFoundry’s interoperable process design kits (iPDKs) are validated for use with the Titan™ Mixed-Signal Design Platform, Titan Acclerators and FineSim™ circuit simulator for 0.15-micron technology platforms. The combination of Magma’s Titan and FineSim software and LFoundry’s process technology will accelerate development of analog/mixed-signal (AMS) products, especially for European system-on-chip (SoC) developers.


LFoundry’s leading 0.15-micron process offers excellent performance for RF applications, with results comparable to 0.13-micron technologies. This enables designers to manufacture cost-effective products that offer high performance. The Titan Mixed-Signal Design Platform is a unified mixed-signal design cockpit with a very high capacity and a very fast database access mechanism. Titan comprises user-friendly full-custom schematic and layout editors, an analog simulation environment integrated with the super-fast and accurate FineSim simulator, correct-by-design schematic-driven layout and integration with Magma’s tools for physical verification and digital implementation. The LFoundry iPDK’s detailed flow steps and advanced Titan and FineSim capabilities provide LFoundry and Magma customers with improved productivity and faster turnaround time for analog/mixed-signal design.







“LFoundry’s philosophy is to provide flexible EDA solutions that increase our customer base and customers’ productivity,” said Gerhard Spitzlsperger, chief technology officer of LFoundry. “By working with Magma to qualify Titan and FineSim in our recently released iPDK platform, we can enable our customers to increase performance and improve IP reuse and portability while reducing turnaround time.”

“In today’s market, it is tougher than ever to develop highly differentiated, yet profitable, mixed-signal SoCs,” said Anirudh Devgan, general manager of Magma's Custom Design Business Unit. “The combination of Titan and FineSim with LFoundry process technology provides a comprehensive mixed-signal design solution that accelerates the development process, enabling designers to explore the design space quickly and deliver high-quality designs faster.







LFoundry Process Technology



LFoundry iPDKs will provide designers quick and flexible access to an advanced 0.15-micron foundry platform. The 0.15-micron platform, with I/O voltages of 1.8V, 3.3V and 5.0V on PMOS and NMOS for high-speed and low-leakage applications, includes a modular LDMOS designed for RF and HV applications. Further enhancements include one-time programmable (OTP) memory, SRAM, EEPROM and area-optimized Flash, an 8-bit microcontroller, various ADCs (analog-to-digital converters) and several more modular IP options for advanced system-on-chip (SoC) designs.





Titan: Accelerating Analog Design



The Titan environment includes the comprehensive Titan Mixed-Signal Design Platform and a set of breakthrough point-tool technologies known as the Titan Accelerators. The Titan Mixed-Signal Platform is the industry’s first true mixed-signal design platform. It integrates implementation and verification while delivering first-time-correct, predictable mixed-signal designs. The Titan mixed-signal platform includes user-friendly full-custom schematic and layout editors, an analog simulation environment integrated with the FineSim simulator, correct-by-design schematic-driven layout.

Titan Accelerators are advanced technology solutions that dramatically improve analog/mixed-signal design productivity and reuse. Titan Analog Virtual Prototyper (AVP) is a layout-aware schematic design tool that performs simultaneous electrical and physical co-design for rapid schematic-to-layout convergence. Titan Analog Layout Accelerator (ALX) automates migration of analog cell layouts to new process technologies while preserving design intent. Titan Shape-Based Router (SBR) automates difficult routing tasks to deliver a 10X improvement in routing productivity.


About LFoundry



LFoundry is the customer-specific manufacturer of choice for analog, mixed-signal and specialized technologies, providing 0.15-micron and below foundry technology access to 200mm capacity of more than 30,000 wafer starts per month at its two European manufacturing sites. LFoundry customers benefit from the company’s unique “Sicherheit”… reliability, security and protection for customers, their designs and their IP. Visit LFoundry on the Web at www.lfoundry.com





About Magma



Magma's electronic design automation (EDA) software provides the "Fastest Path to Silicon"™ and enables the world's top chip companies to create high-performance integrated circuits (ICs) for cellular telephones, electronic games, WiFi, MP3 players, digital video, networking and other electronic applications. Magma products are used in IC implementation, analog/mixed-signal design, analysis, physical verification, circuit simulation and characterization. The company maintains headquarters in San Jose, Calif., and offices throughout North America, Europe, Japan, Asia and India. Magma's stock trades on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol LAVA. Follow Magma on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/MagmaEDA and on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/Magma. Visit Magma Design Automation on the Web at http://www.magma-da.com/

Expectations from the forthcoming budget from Virtusa

Expectations from the forthcoming budget from Virtusa


“We expect the forthcoming Government of India’s 2011 budget to focus on reigning in inflation, bring in measures to continue with reforms to set the stage for sustained growth and development.


From IT Industry perspective we are looking forward for extension of tax holiday for STPI/EOU, reducing the Minimum Alternate Tax rate from 19.93% and expediting the refund of service tax paid. This will help industry stay competitive in the current environment and would further promote investment in innovation and new technologies.

Also there is expectation on widening of personal tax slabs to take care of inflation and further provide higher disposable income in hands of individual”.

Samir Dhir
Senior Vice President /Global Delivery Head and Head of India Operations
Virtusa Corporation

HP Accelerates the Transformation of Healthcare

HP  announced a new solution portfolio designed to deliver flexibility and efficiency to health organizations.


The new HP Digital Health solutions are based on HP’s extensive portfolio of products, solutions and partnerships. It enables health organizations to accelerate change and innovation, advance operational efficiencies and orchestrate care across the ecosystem. In short, it helps healthcare organizations become Instant-On Enterprises.

“Sweeping regulation and the changing healthcare landscape are encouraging providers to reorganize into care teams that improve coordination and collaboration across the continuum of healthcare settings,” said Scott Lundstrom, group vice president, IDC Health Insights. “HP’s approach to ‘instant-on healthcare’ should help to address and simplify the transition healthcare organizations will need to achieve this level of efficiency.”

The HP Digital Health solution portfolio includes:

— HP Digital Hospital 2.0 – HP Digital Hospital holistically addresses the technology needs of the most complex and critical elements of care delivery for in-patient settings. Now updated to include an expanded solution framework and formal reference architectures, HP Digital Hospital uses technology convergence to create a highly integrated, pervasive, real-time information environment.

— HP Health Solution Center – Located in Plano, Texas, this new facility allows HP and its customers and partners to collaborate in a robust information and communication technology environment. The center enables rich demonstration and evaluation capabilities critical to advancing the development of open, industry-standard healthcare solutions and technologies.

— HP V-Health (Virtual Health Management) – This new solution set focuses on the outpatient and home environment, delivering tools that enable healthcare organizations to link patient “teams” to monitor health and deliver care to patients wherever it is needed.



HP Digital Hospital 2.0 + V-Health Solutions enable care coordination across the healthcare ecosystem, which includes hospitals, ambulatory clinics, rehabilitation centers, nursing homes and physician offices.

“Health organizations today run countless systems, tools and applications that are not connected or integrated,” said Sandeep Johri, vice president, Strategy and Solutions, HP Enterprise Business. “HP’s new end-to-end Digital Health solutions portfolio enables clients to efficiently coordinate care across the extended healthcare community.”



In a world of continuous connectivity, the Instant-On Enterprise embeds technology in everything it does to serve customers, employees, partners, and citizens with whatever they need, instantly. The HP Digital Health solution portfolio provides a clear vision and blueprint of how health organizations can improve operational efficiencies, speed innovations into practice, minimize risk as well as improve quality of care.

HP is participating in HIMSS 2011 in Orlando, Fla., Feb. 21-24, and will hold demonstrations in booth 731.

Fanta Launches initiative National Hunt ‘Funmaster Hunt’

Spreading a wave of fun and excitement this season, Fanta - the country's most preferred fruit-flavored sparkling beverage has launched the ‘Fanta - Funmasters Hunt’, an exciting consumer engagement initiative to be rolled out in over 60 cities across 13 states across the country. Through this one-of-a-kind initiative, concluding on 20th March, 2011, consumers will get an opportunity to win cash prize worth Rs.4999 everyday grand cash prize worth Rs. 5 lakh – simply for having fun and being less serious!!!


In order to participate in the initiative, consumers just need to send in their creative responses to the question: What will you do to make certain serious moments fun and exciting? by calling on the toll free number (1800-103-8888) and register their response through an Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS). The consumer with the most creative and fun response will be adjudged the country’s Ultimate Funmaster and will be awarded a cash prize worth Rs.5 lakh.

Speaking about the initiative, Srinivas Murthy, Director-Marketing, Coca-Cola India said, “Brand Fanta is known for providing fun-filled, exuberant experience to all its consumers. Through the ‘Fanta – Funmasters Hunt’ initiative, we aim to bring out the fun loving and playful attitude in today’s generation and encourage them to instill joy and fun into life’s serious moments. Encouraged by the favourable response to our past initiatives like 'Fanta- Sip A taste of Friday’ we decided to launch this initiative. Fanta has already created a unique place in the minds of the consumers and through the launch of this initiative we aim to further strengthen it’s connect with the consumers”.

About Coca-Cola India

Coca-Cola India refreshes millions of consumers throughout the country with an exciting range of beverages including Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Thums Up, Fanta, Limca, Sprite, Maaza, Maaza Milky Delite, Minute Maid Pulpy Orange, Minute Maid Nimbu Fresh, Minute Maid Mixed Fruit, Minute Maid Apple, Georgia, Georgia Gold, Kinley, Kinley Club Soda and Burn through a network of more than one million outlets. The company has invested more than US$ 1 billion in its Indian operations, emerging as one of the country's top international investors and employs approximately 6,000 people in India . For more information and details on the company’s Indian operations please visit: http://www.coca-colaindia.com/ and http://www.myenjoyzone.com/

MphasiS Q1, 2011 results

MphasiS, a leading IT and BPO Services Company, announced its financial results for the first quarter ended 31 January 2011 today. MphasiS’ consolidated revenues grew by 3.5% to 1,233.5 crores for the quarter ended 31 January 2011 from ` 1,191.6 crores for the corresponding quarter in the previous year. The net profit and EPS for the current quarter were ` 226.7 crores and ` 10.80 respectively.

The consolidated revenue for the current quarter was ` 1,233.5 crores, compared to ` 1,345.4 crores for the quarter ended 31 October 2010. The operating profit stood at ` 221.5 crores with a margin of 18.0% and the net profit stood at ` 226.7 crores with a margin of 18.4%.



“We have just completed 100 days of our transformation journey, we are very happy with our client additions for the quarter and the progress that we have made in our transformation” said Ganesh Ayyar, Chief Executive Officer of MphasiS. 18 new clients were added by MphasiS during the quarter ended 31 January 2011. The net headcount addition by the Group during the quarter was 1,097 and the total number of employees as on 31 January 2011 was 41,059.
Cash and bank balances including short-term investments in debt mutual fund
(FMP) stood at ` 1,785.5 crores as of 31 January 2011, representing an increas
the quarter.



Revenue breakdown by vertical:

Banking & Capital Markets:



• BCM business reported total revenue of ` 313.7 crores and contributed

revenue.

• During the quarter ended 31 January 2011, it added 1 new client.



Insurance:

• Insurance business reported total revenue of ` 115.6 crores. The vertica

total group revenue.

• During the quarter ended 31 January 2011, it added 2 new clients.





Information Technology, Communication & Entertainment:



• Information Technology, Communication & Entertainment vertical r

` 339.7 crores. It contributed to 28% of the total group revenue.

• During the quarter ended 31 January 2011, it added 4 new clients.





Emerging Industries:



• Emerging Industries vertical reported total revenue of ` 447.4 crores

total group revenue.

• During the quarter ended 31 January 2011, it added 11 new clients.





About MphasiS

MphasiS is a $1 billion global service provider, delivering technology based

the world. With currently over 41,000 employees, MphasiS services clien

Markets, Insurance, Manufacturing, Communications, Media & Entertain

Sciences, Transportation & Logistics, Retail & Consumer Packaged Good

Governments around the world. Our competency lies in our ability to offer i

in Applications, Infrastructure Services, and Business Process Outsourc

uniquely positioned to offer our clients the highest level of expertise and c

more about MphasiS, log on to http://www.mphasis.com/

IP Capacity Landscape in India'- Whitepaper by Zinnov Management Consulti

Zinnov Management Consulting, a leading globalization advisory firm, today released a first-of-its-kind whitepaper on the Intellectual Property on the Indian Landscape, titled, ‘IP Capacity Landscape in India’. The whitepaper released today highlights the challenges to IP creation and protection in India, and also recommends measures to further strengthen the ecosystem. The piece also presents an in-depth comparative analysis of India’s growing IP capacity with other growing economies such as China and Brazil.


Highlighting some of the key findings of the white paper read that India in the current context has emerged as one of the most sought after markets by global as well as domestic companies, and already contributes to the development of new products and innovations. The current R&D spend of approximately 1% of its GDP is slated to double in the next few years; and there is a need to further strengthen the IP ecosystem to boost increased R&D in the country.


Speaking about the whitepaper, Mr. Pari Natarajan, Chief Executive Officer, Zinnov Management Consulting Pvt. Ltd, said, “India’s steady growth of over 8 per cent since 2004 has made the country a highly sought-after hub for multinational corporations. Today India actively contributes to the development of new products and innovations, and consequently, it becomes imperative to evaluate the state of innovation and intellectual property (IP) protection in India”.


“We very strongly feel that in today’s scenario, it is essential to bring all ecosystem constituents onto a common platform and help them air their views to help collaborate towards achieving the common goal of a robust IP ecosystem in India. And this can be done by creation of an independent institutional entity as one of the key solutions catering to the IP related needs of the Indian industry”, he added.


Divulging further insights, the paper read that the number of patents filed in India, has increased at an average of 11% per year for the last three years to reach more than 36,000 patents annually. However, the total number of patents filed in China and India suggests that Chinese IP outweighs its Indian counterpart by a huge factor of eight.


Besides this, the release whitepaper also brought to light some challenges that the industry faces currently, like lack of education and awareness about IP, its ownership and its value, coupled with, difficult access to capital to invest in IP creation. Others like lack of comprehensive IP commercialization frameworks, inadequate enforcement of IPRs and lack of adequate supportive legal/ policy frameworks are also some strong ones that are restricting the growth of IP creation in India. And last but not the least, the lack of IP infrastructure in the form of IP agents, law schools, and special IP courts.

The whitepaper concludes by suggesting some focused measures to overcome such challenges and place India firmly on knowledge economy map. It suggests the need to bring all ecosystem constituents on a common platform by creating an independent institutional entity as one of the key solutions catering to the IP related needs of the Indian industry. The recommended entity would have the following defined goals:


· Bridge the gap between the Venture Capitalists & startups and help attract capital in the system



· Help technical professionals (IP creators) to better articulate their business model and result in commercialization of IP



· Help different ecosystem constituents arrive at an consensus towards IP policy reforms and put it forward to the government in a unified manner



· Provide IP sharing guidelines between universities and industry



· Provide a common research , development and innovation database



· Consult different stakeholders to replicate the success witnessed by other emerging/ emerged nations







About Zinnov Management Consulting Pvt. Ltd







Founded in 2002, Zinnov – meaning Zeal in Innovation – is a leading management consulting company providing services in the area of Offshore Advisory, Market Expansion and Human Capital Optimization to Fortune 1000 companies. Zinnov works collectively with clients to tackle prevailing organizational challenges by analyzing the changing dynamics, improving performance, and building institutional capability. The services delivered to its clients through advanced reasoning and analytical techniques, provides solutions that help in integrating organizational vision, business definition and processes.

National Instruments Delivers Industry-Leading RF Performance in PXI Form Factor

National Instruments today introduced the NI PXIe-5665, a 3.6 GHz RF vector signal analyzer (VSA) that delivers best-in-class RF performance in a cost-effective PXI form factor. The new VSA features industry-leading phase noise, average noise level, amplitude accuracy and dynamic range. The VSA’s PXI platform also facilitates peer-to-peer streaming; includes a flexible multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) architecture for phase-coherent measurements; and offers measurement speeds that are at least five times faster than traditional rack-and-stack instruments – all of which make it ideal for demanding automated RF test applications.


“Not only is the NI PXIe-5665 VSA the highest performing instrument in its class, but it is available at a fraction of the cost of traditional rack-and-stack instruments,” said Phil Hester, senior vice president of research and development at National Instruments. “Because our new PXI RF analyzer combines high-end performance with modular flexibility into one compact, affordable package, engineers now can use the same instrument from design to production.”

The VSA combines the new NI PXIe-5603 downconverter with the new NI PXIe-5653 local oscillator synthesizer and the NI PXIe-5622, a 150 MS/s intermediate frequency (IF) digitizer. This combination creates an ideal solution for spectrum and wideband vector signal measurements over a frequency range from 20 Hz to 3.6 GHz with analysis bandwidths up to 50 MHz. The new VSA features an exceptionally low phase noise of -129 dBc/Hz at a 10 kHz offset at 800 MHz, an average noise level of -165 dBm/Hz, a third-order intercept point of +24 dBm and absolute amplitude accuracy of ±0.10 dB. These specifications make the NI PXIe-5665 the highest performing instrument in its class.

For modulated signal analysis, the VSA’s unique onboard self-calibration tool makes it possible to achieve an IF amplitude response of ±0.15 dB and IF phase linearity of ±0.1 degree. This accuracy facilitates exceptional error vector magnitude performance of less than 0.21 percent for a 256-QAM signal. The VSA’s flexible, modular architecture expands to provide phase-coherent acquisition for MIMO test, as well as a 20 GHz/s scan rate and peer-to-peer streaming for efficient spectrum monitoring. Additionally, engineers can operate the NI PXIe-5665 using its RF list mode function to deterministically step through a user-defined set of RF configurations using internal timing or an external trigger to significantly reduce test time.

Because the NI PXIe-5665 joins a product line of more than 1,500 software-defined PXI modular instruments, engineers can mix and match the VSA with a variety of modules and control an entire automated test system with NI LabVIEW graphical system design software. This makes PXI systems ideal for a multitude of automated test applications. Engineers also can fully take advantage of the VSA’s software-defined performance with RF software toolkits for LabVIEW, NI LabWindows™/CVI and .NET to test the latest RF and wireless communication standards including GSM/EDGE, WCDMA, LTE, WLAN and WiMAX.

Free All India Scholarship Test for GATE 2012

Gateforum is organizing an All India Free Scholarship Test for aspirants of GATE (Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering) on February 27th, in over 45 cities across the country, including Bangalore. In Bangalore scholarship test will be conducted at National College, National College Road, 7th Block Jayanagar, Bangalore at 9.30 am on 27th February.


The test will be conducted in GATE pattern in the engineering disciplines of Computer Science, Information Technology, Electronics and Communication Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Instrumentation Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Bio-technology. The results of test in terms of All India Rank (A.I.R) and percentile score will be available on website http://www.gateforum.com/

Based on performance in this test, students will be given more than 1000 scholarships across the country for any of the Gateforum packages.

Renesas Electronics Inaugurates its India Facility

Renesas Electronics Singapore, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE: 6723), today held an opening ceremony of the branch office located in Bangalore with attendees from the Japanese embassy in India, customers and industrial partners. Renesas Electronics has been strengthening its business in the global market to pursue the growth outside Japan, aiming to increase its overseas sales ratio to 60 percent by FY 2012.


Through the acquisition of Nokia’s wireless modem business, Renesas Mobile Corporation, Renesas Electronics’ subsidiary offering semiconductor solutions for mobile devices, started its operation in December 2010, with R&D facilities in various regions including India. Engaging India’s emerging market is part of Renesas’ overseas business expansion strategy. By strengthening the sales, marketing and technical support in India, Renesas Electronics expects to grow its India business by 20 percent annually. Renesas Electronics is targeting the following segments in India market – Industrial, Consumer and Automotives. Over 100 new products will be developed specifically for this market.


“We are pleased to reach the day we open the first full-scale branch in India”, said Yasushi Akao, President of Renesas Electronics Corporation. “We believe in high-potential growth of the Indian market and are eager to expand our global sales to synchronize their growth. Providing the best semiconductor solutions based on our competitive microcontrollers through the new branch, Renesas aims to double its sales in the Indian market to 100 million dollars by FY2012.”


“The establishment of a branch office in India is a major milestone for Renesas Electronics Singapore. Through this office, we will bring to India the cutting-edge technology that Renesas offers globally. I am confident that our MCU-based solutions, new products dedicated for the Indian market, as well as the expanded sales force, will propel us to a leading position in the Indian Semiconductor arena in the near future.“, commented Hideyuki Jake Shimada, Managing Director of Renesas Electronics Singapore.

The new office in Bangalore is located at 777C 100 Feet Road and is staffed by 16 employees. Renesas Electronics plans to increase its manpower to 45 by FY201 5. Along with its authorized distributors, Renesas Electronics will have over 80 engineers providing field and technical support for customers in India, by the same fiscal year.


The office reports to Sunil Dhar, who holds the concurrent appointment of a General Manager in Renesas Electronics Singapore. In his current position Sunil, a semiconductor veteran with over 20 years of experience, carries out his function from his offices in India and Singapore and is tasked to lead the company’s growth strategy in India.

“India has emerged as a knowledge-based economy with a huge domestic appetite. It is inevitable that world’s no-1 microcontroller company sets up a strong base in India in order to satiate the needs of Worlds’ no-1 designers and embedded community and hence plugs itself into an ecosystem that is bound to be a major contributor to an evolving ubiquitously networked society.” says Mr. Dhar.

In addition to the new branch office, Renesas Electronics also has regional offices in Mumbai and New Delhi. Together, they will provide timely support to the growing pool of customers throughout India.

About Renesas Electronics Singapore Pte Ltd

A wholly owned subsidiary of Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE: 6723), the world's number one supplier of microcontrollers, Renesas Electronics Singapore Pte. Ltd. is a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions including microcontrollers, SoC solutions and a broad range of analogue and power devices for the South, South-East Asia and Oceania market. In addition to device sales, the company also provides design services including reference solutions, embedded systems and tools development. More information can be found at http://www.sg.renesas.com/

Indian SMEs get net savvy - over 57% SMEs with websites use it as a sales channel

Indian SMEs are reaping the benefits of using the Internet medium to grow their businesses. This was revealed by a study conducted by Google India to understand usage patterns and importance of online medium amongst the SMEs in India. As per the study, over 57% SMEs said that they now use their website as a sales channel and get direct business leads from their website.


While accessing email is the #1 purpose for using the Internet, a majority of SMEs 71% also use the Internet to search for vendors and suppliers and about 40% of them use the Internet to create online listings and advertise online. In terms of mediums used to advertise, traditional media like newspaper ads and outdoor ads still lead the advertising spends for SMEs, but Internet is emerging as one of the fastest growing medium for advertising with 58% of SMEs with websites using the Internet to generate business leads.

Amongst the SMEs who have a online presence, 56% of them feel that the Internet is a cost effective medium as compared to traditional advertising medium like print and television and 79% of SMEs believe that Internet advertising can provide greater reach. A closer analysis of the marketing spends of the SMEs reveals that SMEs with marketing spends between Rs. 25 - Rs. 70 lakhs per annum tend to spend higher on the online medium and rely less on traditional media like print and television. But majority of the spends (43%) comes from SMEs who spend between 12 to 25 lakhs on advertising on a annual basis, reflecting the low cost benefit of the Internet.

Commenting on the study findings, Sridhar Seshadri Head of Online Sales Google India said, “While the absolute number of SMEs with an online presence is very low compared to actual businesses in India, we’re pleasantly surprised to see increasing understanding amongst Indian SMEs to use the web for business growth. In the last two years we have seen a significant increase in the number of businesses that have started to advertise online. But with over 35 million SMEs in the country, we have a long way to go. Google India is working on a number of programs to educate more SMEs on how they can get online and use the Internet as a primary sales channel”.

“Small and Medium Enterprises are one of the key growth drivers for Google India. We undertook this study in order to understand the perception of these businesses towards online marketing as well as to identify online advertising solutions that work for them,” he added.

Among all the SMEs surveyed, SMEs from Insurance, Technology B2B, IT Hardware, and Travel & Tourism spend around 30-45% on online marketing. Annual average online spends are high among SMEs from Media & Entertainment, Gems & Jewellery and Apparel. Additionally, Banner/Display Advertising and Email Marketing are the most popular form of Internet advertising and 30% SMEs use search engine advertising to market their product and services.

The respondents were also quizzed on the role that the Internet will play in the future growth of SMEs in India. 62% of the SMBs believe that the percentage of Internet spends in the total advertising budget will increase significantly in the future. SMEs from Retail, Apparel and Travel & Tourism sectors will be the biggest contributors in future and Search engine advertising and online classifieds as a category will see an up-tick across industries.

For the purpose of this study, 785 SMEs (owners or marketing heads) were interviewed across India including Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Ludhiana, Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Surat, Cochin, Pune, Nashik and Nagpur.


About Google Inc

Google's innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford PhD. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets. Google's targeted advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit http://www.google.com/

Rani Mukherjee Launches Women’s Cricket World Special Edition - Authored by Anjum Chopra

Bollywood diva Rani Mukherjee launched the special edition of coffee table book on the history of women’s cricket – Women’s Cricket World in the city. Also inaugurated was the first ever premier website dedicated to International Women Cricket – http://www.womenscricketworld.com/


About Women’s Cricket World

Authored by legendary women cricketer – Ms. Anjum Chopra and women’s cricket film maker - Sunil Yash Kalra, the book relives behind-the-scenes tour of the origins of the game. The book has over 200 photographs from a collection of over 10,000 pictures of women’s cricket collected over the years by the authors.


The book has eight chapters and the introduction of the book is written by the ICC President – Mr. Sharad Pawar. According to Anjum Chopra, the veteran of six world cups for India & Sunil Yash Kalra, “Our book is entertaining, educative and lucidly written, the secret of this lavishly illustrated reference book lies in the fact that it took us almost six years to finish this and we are happy to contribute towards the growth of the game”.



Rising trend of coffee table books in India



Coffee table books as a concept are really catching up in India. They are basically hardcover but portable books which come in variety of options and are aimed at anyone who might pick the book up for a read. Nowadays there is a significant increase in people even getting their wedding albums, pictures printed in the same format.



The books-on-demand market is expected to grow exponentially, chiefly due to the increasing demand for small-volume, rare and self-published books. Keeping in line with trend, HP is embarking on a new level of high-end photo& coffee table book production with HP Indigo that enables high-definition digital printing and an evolution in the book print ecosystem where personalized short-run prints can be delivered on-demand, linked to a customized web-to-print workflow.



According to Mr. Puneet Chadha, Director – Graphics Solutions Business, HP Imaging & Printing Group “Digital printing not only helps in avoiding wastage of paper that results from printing large volumes of books that are not yet bought by readers, but also ensures that power and energy are not wasted by publishing machines in printing excess number of pages. He further added that, “This book marks an evolution in the book-print eco-system offering digital ‘On-Demand’ printing and our collaboration for this historic coffee table book on women’s cricket is a natural next step in HP’s strategy to move higher volumes of printing from analog to digital. We at HP are looking forward to more such associations where in people can use our technological expertise to reflect their vision in the form of coffee table books.”


‘Women’s Cricket World’ coffee table book endorses the concept of ‘Books on Demand’ at a rise Indian publishing space. The book has been entirely printed on HP’s Indigo digital press which offers great value, speed, quality and convenience with its ability to print in small runs.

Speaking on the occasion Rani Mukherjee said, “I am a sports enthuse & an ardent cricket fan. I am happy to learn that Women’s Cricket World has emerged from India, the heart of cricket in the world, it is the best sports literally gift to other cricket crazy nations. I hope this benchmark project motivates more girls to take up cricket and expand this wonderful sport.”


Talking about the launch, Sunil Kalra said, “Womens Cricket World is the result of six years of hard work. I am happy that Rani has kindly consented to release the same. She has always supported the cause of women in sports particularly cricket.”

Verisign Marks 15 Years of the Commercial Internet in India at a Thought Leadership Event

Verisign, the trusted provider of Internet infrastructure services for the networked world, marked the profound impact of the Internet at its Thought Leadership Event held in New Delhi on February 11th, 2011. Attended by Internet policymakers, industry leaders and other stakeholders, the event celebrated the transformational force of the Internet and looked forward to its next fifteen years.




The Internet economy in India has been in existence for more than 15 years. During this time, it has revolutionized businesses, the economy and society. Key India Internet facts include -



- With 81 million Internet users1 India today ranks fourth in terms of Internet users worldwide

- Rediff.com was the first .com domain name registered in India in 1996



- India has 180,000 cyber cafes and 75,0002 Community Service Centres (CSCs)3 that cater to the Internet access needs of consumers

- www.irctc.in, the website of the Indian Railways Catering and Ticketing Corporation, is the most searched website4

- 84 percent of total Internet users visit social networking sites in India5



- India’s mobile market is predicted to reach 868.47 million users by 20136



- The mobile Internet is primarily used to check emails and search for information7.



- India has registered a total of 1.037 million .com and .net domain names8



- India is predicted to have the third largest number of Internet users by 20139


“The Internet has not only transformed India, it has defined a generation of innovation and entrepreneurism, serving as the launch pad for a new generation of companies that have transformed communications, commerce and entertainment. Its promise as a medium for improving commerce and daily life will be further strengthened as it is used by more and more people. A multilingual Web, ease of use via the voice perhaps and the mobile Web could be solutions for the future. Public-private partnership will of course continue to play a key role in accelerating the growth of the Internet in India,” said Mr. Ravi Shanker, Joint Secretary & CEO NIXI, Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Department of Information Technology, Government of India.

The Internet boosts economic growth and its direct impact on economic growth has been calculated in a study done by the World Bank. The study10 reveals that for every 10 percentage-point increase in the penetration of broadband services, developing countries can see their economy grow by 1.3


“What makes the Internet so powerful and pervasive is the extent to which it supports and improves our lives. The 25th anniversary of .com is an opportunity to celebrate the Internet and all of the individuals and organizations that have contributed to its remarkable development. With continued diligence, global cooperation and commitment, there is no limit to what we will accomplish in the years to come”, said Patrick Kane, Senior Vice-President and General Manager, Naming Services, VeriSign Inc. “As one of the most dynamic and fastest-growing Internet markets, India will be at the forefront of the next 25 years of digital evolution. India not only accounts for a large and growing percentage of the global user base, it has also emerged as a hotbed of innovation and a nexus for high-tech and engineering expertise”, he added.







To commemorate the occasion, Mr. N Ravi Shanker and Patrick Kane unveiled Net Ch@kra, a book on the impact of the Internet in India. The book is an initiative of and is published by the Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF), a not for profit organization that works toward finding solutions to bridge the digital divide. Net Ch@kra is a compilation of articles from academicians, industry and government leaders such as Sam Pitroda, Adviser to the PM for Public Information Infrastructure & Innovation, Jyotiraditya M Scindia, Minister of State, Ministry of Commerce & Industry; N. Ravi Shanker, Joint Secretary, DIT; Ganesh Natarajan, CEO, Zensar and Prof S. Sadagopan, Founder-Director, IIIT-B.







Verisign as a part of its commitment to the Internet infrastructure has embarked on an initiative called Project Apollo, which will grow capacity 1,000 times today’s capacity of 4 trillion queries to manage 4 quadrillion queries per day by 2020. This initiative will dramatically strengthen and scale the .com infrastructure by the year 2020. Over the next three years alone, the Internet is expected to see the number of users increase by 500 million to 2.2 billion worldwide, and devices accessing the Internet increase from 1.6 billion devices to 2.7 billion devices. And with the emergence of innovations like smart grids, electronic health care and radio frequency ID (RFID) tags, the Internet and associated technology systems will undergo profound changes in the next decade.

EDGE 2011 Invites Nominations for Young EDGE Award

EDGE 2011, the annual conference for Higher Education by EDGE Forum, is inviting nominations for Young EDGE Award. Young EDGE Award was constituted with the notion of recognizing emerging young leaders from India in education who have made significant impact in the higher education sector. Past recipients are Dr. Vidya Yeravdekar (Principal Director, Symbiosis Society) and Mr. Achyuta Samanta ( Founder KIIT University and Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences) .



Award will be given during EDGE 2011 to be held at India Habitat Center between 9th -11th of March, 2011. EDGE (Emerging Directions in Global Education) conference is a one of its kind event which will bring together decision-makers to interact, collaborate and understand the prevailing trends in the higher education sector.



Young and dynamic person (Under 45 years) having demonstrated leadership in the education sector with significant contribution to the field of Higher Education can be nominated for Young EDGE Award. More information and nomination form are available at website – www.edgeforum.in.


Prof. V. S. Ramamurthy, Director, National Institute of Advanced Studies and Chairman, Vision Group of EDGE said, “Young EDGE Award recognizes dynamic emerging leaders making a distinct impact in the higher education field. We want them to feel proud of their work and would like them to set bigger goals for themselves and the sector.”

Vice-Chancellor of IGNOU and Academic Programme Committee Chairman of EDGE 2011, Prof. V. N. Rajasekharan Pillai said, “EDGE is the foremost platform for the stakeholders in Higher Education sector in India and the world to congregate. Interactions at the platform will help us to act together towards identified goals with a great intent.”


EDGE 2011 will witness participation of Vice-Chancellors, Presidents, Directors, Professors, Education Councils, Entrepreneurs and policy makers. NAFSA: Association of International Educators, an organization promoting international education and providing professional development opportunities to the field is participating in EDGE 2011. 4 Workshops and 12 Conference Sessions will focus on diverse themes. Representatives from more than 25 international universities and 70 Indian universities will participate in EDGE 2011. EDGE 2011 will also feature Exhibition, EDGE Awards, Vision Talk, Highlight Lectures and EduPartnering. EDGE research reports, a regular feature every year, will be released by prestigious research organizations.


'Shaping the Future of Indian Higher Education’ is the theme for EDGE 2011 conference. Theme has been chosen understanding the prevailing scenario of the higher education sector. The sector is at the cusp of a major change. It is one of the high profiled agenda of Indian government. The education fraternity is gearing up for some revolutionary changes. International institutions are increasingly looking at India for collaborations, research and for student recruitment. At this juncture it is important to adopt right systems, policies, ideals and methods for a robust education system.







The who’s who of the Higher Education sector in India is a part of EDGE Forum assuming various roles. The long list of them can be found at this online link. Partners and Associates of EDGE Forum are, National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), Manipal Education, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), Federation of Universities (FedUni), Symbiosis International University (SIU), BITS Pilani, Ernst & Young, Association of International Education Administrators (AIEA), The College Board, Institute of International Education, USA, United States - India Educational Foundation, Commonwealth Business School and MM ACTIV Sci-Tech Communications Co

Sify appoints David Nishball as Chief Strategic Officer

Sify Technologies Limited (NASDAQ Global Markets: SIFY), a leader in Enterprise and Consumer Internet Services in India with global delivery capabilities, today announced the appointment of Mr. David Nishball as their Chief Strategic Officer.



Mr. Nishball in his new role will work closely with the Chairman & MD to drive the strategy to maximize Sify’s global market opportunity and delivery footprint, expand the current portfolio of products and services and drive momentum to become a major global ICT player. Mr. Nishball will also assist in guiding and catalyzing Sify through its growth phase by tapping into new global venture opportunities.







Commenting on his new engagement, Mr. Nishball said, “With its systematized and scalable delivery capabilities, Sify is in an enviable position to address business opportunities across the globe. Sify has scope for immense growth in the Enterprise , Consumer and International markets. With its strategically planned investments in the last 4 years in Network, Data Centers , Application Services and now in setting up a Cable Landing Station, Sify has the core set of assets necessary to deliver networked ICT services on a global scale”.







Chairman & MD, Raju Vegesna commented, “I take great pleasure in welcoming David on board. As Chief Strategic Officer, I am sure Sify will benefit from David’s immense depth of experience in building and guiding businesses, domestically and internationally, and taking them to the next phase of growth.”





Mr. Nishball brings over twenty nine years of experience spanning various roles and functions in the ICT and telecommunications industry, including almost 20 years in the Asia Pacific Region, most recently in India . He has built and guided the Enterprise business for a number of global operators, joint venture companies and emerging market operators, including Orange Business Services, AT&T, Concert, and Bharti Airtel ( India ).


Mr. Nishball is the Founder and Managing Partner of Darlington Asia Group, which provides ICT-related business development and investment advisory services. From 2007 to 2010, he was the President of Airtel Enterprise Services, based in New Delhi . Prior to joining Airtel, Mr. Nishball was a Senior Vice President, Asia Pacific, for Orange Business Services (formerly Equant), based in Singapore . From 1982-2002, he held a number of strategic positions with AT&T and its related companies, where he played a key role in supporting and managing several global ventures.







Mr. Nishball holds an MBA from the University of California , Berkeley - Walter A. Haas School of Business.







About Sify Technologies



Sify is among the largest Managed Enterprise and Consumer Internet Services companies in India , offering end-to-end solutions with a comprehensive range of products delivered over a common telecom data network infrastructure reaching more than 600 cities and towns in India .



A significant part of the company's revenue is derived from Corporate Services, which include corporate connectivity, network and communications solutions, security, network management services, enterprise applications and hosting. Sify is recognized as an ISO 9001:2008 certified service provider for network operations, data center operations and customer support, and for provisioning of VPNs, Internet bandwidth, VoIP solutions and integrated security solutions, and ISO / IEC 20000 - 1:2005 certified for Internet Data Center operations. Sify has licenses to operate NLD (National Long Distance) and ILD (International Long Distance) services and offers VoIP back haul to long distance subscriber telephony services. The company is India 's first enterprise managed services provider to launch a Security Operations Center (SOC) to deliver managed security services. A host of blue chip customers use Sify's corporate service offerings.



Sify also caters to global markets in the specialized domains of eLearning Services and Remote Infrastructure Management Services. The eLearning Services business designs, develops, and delivers state-of-the-art digital learning solutions catering to for-profit, non-profit organizations, and governmental organizations in the fields of hi-tech, engineering, environment, healthcare, education, and finance. The Remote Infrastructure Management Services provides dependable and economical solutions around managed services, hosting, and monitoring.



Consumer services include broadband home access and the ePort cyber café chain cross more than 200 cities and towns in India . Sify.com, the popular consumer portal, has channels on news, entertainment, finance, sports, games and shopping. Samachar.com is the popular portal aimed at non-resident Indians around the globe. The site’s content is available in 8 Indian languages, which include Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada and Tamil, Punjabi and Gujarati in addition to English.

GE Healthcare Completes Acquisition of Orbotech Medical Solutions

GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE), announced that it has completed the acquisition of the assets of Orbotech Medical Solutions Ltd. (OMS), a subsidiary of Orbotech Ltd. (Orbotech), and a manufacturer of cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) detectors used in GE Healthcare’s innovative Alcyone nuclear medicine technology.


“We’re pleased to announce that through the acquisition of OMS, we have passed an important milestone in the growth of GE Healthcare’s Nuclear Medicine business,” said Nathan Hermony, general manager Nuclear Medicine for GE Healthcare. “Our ability to manufacture CZT, a key component of GE Healthcare’s Alcyone technology, will help clinicians around the world provide patients with faster and more comfortable examinations at lower dose, improve workflow while maintaining image quality. We’ve entered a new frontier of possibilities in nuclear medicine as we use CZT technology not only in cardiac exams, but apply it to other critical areas such the early detection of breast cancer.”


Representing a major development in nuclear medicine technology, GE Healthcare’s Alcyone technology combines CZT detectors, focused pin-hole collimation, 3D reconstruction, and stationary data acquisition to reduce acquisition time and dose, improve workflow while maintaining image quality. Alcyone technology enables views of cardiac anatomy and functionality with greater clarity and speed, resulting in scan times as short as three minutes or up to a four-fold reduction in dose.


GE Healthcare recently announced FDA clearance of the use of CZT technology in assessment and early detection of breast cancer in women who are at high risk for the disease. The Discovery* NM750b Molecular Breast Imaging (MBI) system utilizes a small Field of View CZT gamma camera dedicated to breast imaging. The innovation of the MBI technology is the use of CZT, to replace the standard Sodium Iodine detectors routinely used for gamma cameras, in a dedicated breast and small organ device. This technology is intended to improve early detection of breast cancer, especially in women who are less likely to benefit from conventional mammography, as in cases of dense breast where imaging results may be inconclusive.



About GE Healthcare



GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our broad expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, drug discovery, biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies, performance improvement and performance solutions services help our customers to deliver better care to more people around the world at a lower cost. In addition, we partner with healthcare leaders, striving to leverage the global policy change necessary to implement a successful shift to sustainable healthcare systems.



Our "healthymagination" vision for the future invites the world to join us on our journey as we continuously develop innovations focused on reducing costs, increasing access and improving quality and efficiency around the world. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a $16 billion unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employs more than 46,000 people committed to serving healthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries. For more information about GE Healthcare, visit our website at www.gehealthcare.com.

ARM Processor Technology and ARM Partners Continue to Lead in Wireless Connectivity

ARM and a number of its Partner Community, which includes all the leading silicon vendors in wireless connectivity, today, highlighted their ongoing activity in baseband modem designs and momentum in the LTE and LTE-Advanced markets. The group also welcomed the acceleration of LTE / 4G technologies that will provide consumers with improved mobile experience based on the ARM® architecture. Over the last 20 years ARM processors have proven to be almost ubiquitous in 2.5G and 3G handsets, with all current 3G baseband shipments incorporating the technology. ARM processors are now used in 95% of LTE baseband designs world-wide.

For over two decades ARM has worked with its Partners and the mobile ecosystem to predict market trends and drive the formation and evolution of our connected world. The market share of ARM and its Partners in legacy 2.5G and 3G designs, and now in 4G, is a reflection of the ARM ecosystem’s ability to drive market leading solutions by aligning technical expertise and market knowledge. ARM processor leadership in baseband connectivity, including LTE and LTE-Advanced, continues due to this ability to innovate and also deliver the vital backwards compatibility support for 2.5G and 3G in 4G platforms.

“ARM technology has helped drive the 3G era by focusing on low power, high performance solutions for mobile applications,” commented ARM CEO, Warren East, “We are proud to have been part of the mobile ecosystem by leading innovation in mobile technology, as well as helping to develop standards as the industry transitions from 2.5G and 3G to 4G connectivity. We welcome the fact that the industry is now quickly moving to LTE technology, which will significantly enhance user experience. With the combined expertise and knowledge of the ARM Partnership, we will enable a better connected experience using LTE based on ARM technology.”

ARM processors have been developed in-line with progress in semiconductor technology to deliver highly efficient, low power mobile solutions. This is both for applications computing and baseband processing where many of the market leading solutions have converged on the Cortex™ family of processors.

ARM is a leader in mobile baseband technology with a far reaching roadmap of suitable processors and associated technologies. Prior to Mobile World Congress, ARM announced a roadmap of additional Cortex processors that build on the success of the existing Cortex-R4 processor. The new ARM Cortex-R5 and Cortex-R7 processors provide increased functionality, performance and efficiency, and are optimised to deliver new mobile broadband LTE and LTE-Advanced devices.

The ARM Partner Community is made up of leading baseband silicon manufacturers who had the following to say about the LTE market and their relationship with ARM:

QUALCOMM:

“Qualcomm’s multi-mode solution is enabling 4G launches around the globe and we are excited to be working to advance the evolution to 4G,” said Cristiano Amon, senior vice president of product management at Qualcomm CDMA Technologies. “Our ARM based, mobile optimized Snapdragon processors are powering the latest smartphones and tablets entering the marketplace, and we look forward to continued evolution with our next-generation Snapdragon processors integrating LTE and 3G multi-mode.”

RENESAS MOBILE:

“Working closely with ARM has enabled Renesas Mobile to build a series of integrated triple-mode LTE platforms that provide unrivalled connected experiences with the industry's leading graphics and video capabilities combined with the world's most pervasive modem technology,” said Mr Shinichi Yoshioka, Senior Executive Vice President & COO of Renesas Mobile Corporation, “This stunning combination is here, now, and can be seen at MWC 2011.”

SAMSUNG:

“Samsung's leadership in LTE modem design is reflected in the world's first commercial implementation. The Samsung ‘Kalmia & Broom’, using the ARM Cortex processor, provides the necessary functionality to deliver on the expectations that users demand from next generation connectivity solutions,” commented Dr. Kyungho Kim, VP of DMC R&D center at Samsung, “Working with ARM on 2.5G, 3G and now 4G LTE technology has been rewarding as their expertise and innovative technology delivers on our requirements.”

XINCOMM:

“Xincomm recognizes the market potential of the next generation wireless communication technology, in particular the potential of TDD/FDD-LTE,” said Xiangguo Tang, CEO of Xincomm, “Working with ARM to address this market is important for Xincomm, as we continue to develop LTE baseband chipsets and develop into a global leader in communication semiconductors.”

MARVELL:

“Marvell is proud to partner with ARM to drive Mobile Computing by coupling high performance, low power computation with the high bandwidth, low latency delivered by LTE,” said Gordon Grigor, VP Mobile Marketing at Marvell. “Marvell has driven ARM to a ubiquitous level on Mobile devices, and also is focused on rapidly expanding its use in the enterprise. With our LTE and TD-LTE products, Marvell is proud to bring the benefits of ARM to the farthest reaches of both today’s and tomorrow’s mobile users.”

COGNOVO:

“LTE is being deployed rapidly to address the growing thirst from consumers for mobile broadband content. This acceleration in bandwidth roll-out is, in turn, driving increased performance in embedded processing for wireless enabled devices,” commented Charles Sturman, Founder and VP Sales & Marketing at Cognovo, “ARM is meeting the challenge with de-facto products for control and application processing, such as the Cortex-R series. Working closely with ARM, Cognovo is meeting the challenge with our Modem Compute Engine delivering faster roll-out at reduced cost for next generation wireless modems.”

ST-ERICSSON:

“After driving development of LTE for several years we are now ready to supply market-leading LTE solutions underlining both our leadership in LTE and the robustness of our technology ” said Björn Ekelund, head of eco-systems and research at ST-Ericsson, “Thanks to close collaboration over the years with technology partners, such as ARM, as well as our relationship with operators, device manufactures, and ODMs, we are well positioned to meet the growing demand for smartphones, tablets and notebooks that can tap the world’s fastest wireless networks."

MEDIATEK:

“Through continuous technology innovation in 3G and 4G wireless technologies such as TD-SCDMA and TD-LTE, MediaTek has shown a strong commitment to enabling the connected user experience across the globe” commented C.J. Hsieh, President of MediaTek, “As a leading supplier of wireless communications solutions, we see huge potential in our increasingly connected world as data rates and access continue to evolve. Working with partners, such as ARM, is important as we innovate to address the needs of consumers.”

BROADCOM:

“As a global leader in providing semiconductors for wired and wireless solutions, Broadcom delivers an unparalleled range of wireless connectivity solutions that are powering today’s connected lifestyle. From highly integrated 2G, 3G and now 4G baseband solutions to applications processing, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS and NFC, Broadcom has created innovative platforms to help our OEM customers reach their goal of providing a seamlessly connected user experience,” said Robert Rango, Executive Vice-President and GM, Mobile and Wireless Group, Broadcom Corporation. “We look forward to continuing to work with ARM technology to enable an always-on, always-connected mobile experience with market leading wireless solutions.”

ARM’s new LTE roadmap - the new ARM Cortex-R5 and Cortex-R7

The real-time demands of an LTE or LTE-Advanced wireless system can be met using ARM Cortex-R series processors. Features include support for high frequency interrupts and high speed data being transmitted, without loss of data, to and from the basestation and mobile device. At the same time, the ARM Cortex-R series processors provide LTE and LTE-Advanced solutions with excellent energy efficiency for low heat dissipation, and a long life with a small form factor battery in mobile devices.