IT City

India’s “breadbasket” aims to be new IT hotspot

<%image(20070430-chd.jpg|450|267|)%>

CHANDIGARH, India – Fed up with traffic snarls and scarred roads, a software engineer in India’s flagship IT hub of Bangalore took to the streets in protest last year — doodling on his laptop while trotting along on a bullock-cart.

While Bangalore continues to host the bulk of India’s IT business and is home to more than 1,500 top firms, poor roads and traffic woes are now pushing IT firms to look beyond Bangalore — to newer cities like Chandigarh, hundreds of miles north.

Chandigarh is joint capital of the Punjab and Haryana states — better known as India’s “breadbaskets”. The city is now taking tentative steps to become a new corporate destination.

“The IT industry is excited about Chandigarh’s potential as an emerging IT destination,” said Kiran Karnik, president of the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), India’s top trade body for the IT industry. “Already, many IT companies have begun operations there or have plans of doing so, making it one of the new ‘hot spots’ for the IT industry,” he told Reuters by email.

Infosys, India’s second-largest software company, was among the first to move here and began full operations from its complex spread over 30 acres in the Rajiv Gandhi Chandigarh Technology Park (RGCTP).

The office currently employs about 1,500 people and plans for more than 5,000 staff to work in the glass-walled building.

At least 13 other companies operate from the 123 acres of the park, including Wipro Ltd., Bharti Airtel, Tech Mahindra, and eSys.

“When fully functional in the next few years, the park is expected to have 25,000 IT professionals,” said Chandigarh’s IT director Manjit Brar. “It will be the IT hub of north India.”

Current investment in the park, located on the outskirts of the city, is 7 billion rupees ($165 million) and in two years it is expected to touch 30 billion rupees ($711 million), Brar said.

THE BANGALORE WAY?

The city hopes to benefit from a booming market that India dominates.
ndia’s software sector expects exports to rise 33 percent to $31.3 billion in the fiscal year which ended on March 31, according to NASSCOM. In comparison, the Philippines earned $3.6 billion from outsourcing revenues in 2006.

Over 2001/06, India’s share in global sourcing is estimated to have grown to 65 percent for IT services and 45 percent for back-office services like call centres.

While there is excitement about Chandigarh emerging as the new IT stop, there is concern it could go the Bangalore way if it is unable to sustain rapid growth which IT brings to a region.

“There is no doubt that a lot of people are trying hard to sell Chandigarh as the next Silicon Valley in India,” said Simran Aujla, an IT professional.

“But I am not too sure if a city planned for 500,000 people will be able to sustain the rapid growth. Unless infrastructure keeps pace with growth, Chandigarh may become another Bangalore.”

To begin with Chandigarh is a federally-administered territory with restricted geographical boundaries.

Millions of square feet of office space outside city limits are required for it to be a full-fledged IT destination — something dependent on permission from the federal government.

But despite obstacles, many lives have already been changed.

Before the IT park, local graduates had few options to get well-paid jobs near home. They would either go to IT centres like Gurgaon and Greater Noida on the outskirts of New Delhi, or travel hundreds of miles down south to Bangalore.

“I was very tense in my college days because being the only daughter, I knew my parents would never let me go to Bangalore,” said Amrita Singh, who works for a multinational company.

“I was afraid my degree in engineering would just go waste but today I have no dearth of job offers with so many big IT firms flocking to Chandigarh,” she added.

Real estate agents, too, are excited at rising property prices.

“The IT park has pushed up real estate prices like never before,” said Amarjit Singh. “A small piece of land quoted for around 2.5 million rupees ($59,270) a few years ago is today unavailable for 10 million Indian rupees ($237,100).”

($1=42.18 Indian Rupee)

Google Desktop 5 released

Google has released its latest version of Google Desktop, which incorporates a new look and new features.

The application involves a sidebar for the user’s desktop environment, including a variety of “gadgets”, or mini-applications, designed to display a range of functions, including the time, photos and stock prices. Vista, the latest version of Windows, offers similar functionality to the desktop sidebar, but Google Desktop 5 appears to have taken the concept further.

The new version now includes previews of desktop search results and warnings for Web sites that may contain malware. It is visually more enhanced than its predecessors and Windows Vista’s version, in that it samples the user’s desktop wallpaper to set the colour for its own theme. Some popular gadgets have also been redesigned.

The enterprise edition of Google Desktop, which allows enhanced functionality, such as centralised control of employees’ gadgets, encryption and intranet search results, also benefits from Google Desktop’s upgrade. So too do speakers of Hindi, now included in Google Desktop for the first time, alongside 28 other languages.

Samsung and Apple in talks about NAND flash purchase, say sources

Samsung Electronics and Apple have been in talks recently at Samsung’s headquarter in South Korea for the purchase of a volume of NAND flash, with the chips to be purchased covering those to be used in all iPods and iPhones from June to year-end 2007, according to sources.

Apple is asking for 400-500 million 4Gbit NAND flash equivalent chips from Samsung, the sources said. Since the volume requested by Apple is 10-15% more than what the two parties agreed earlier, Samsung is not 100% sure its capacity can meet the need, the sources indicated. Moreover, the maker is worried an oversupply for NAND flash chips may occur if the sales of Apple’s iPod and iPhone products are not as strong as expected, the sources added.

The sources also indicated Apple has requested that Hynix Semiconductor increases its supply of NAND flash for the third quarter while Hynix also has barely enough capacity to meet Apple’s needs.

Samsung, Hynix, Micron Technology and Toshiba are major players for NAND flash chips, with Samsung remaining the top player with a share of over half the industry.

HCL Launches EC2 Technology

<%image(20070430-hcl.jpg|260|150|)%>

A new technology that cuts down time and space to recover lost data has been unveiled by HCL Infosystems. The company claims that the embedded continuity and control technology takes 0.07 per cent of hard disk space to create snapshots.

EC2 takes a snap shot of the entire system within the same hard disk drive without creating a separate partition.

Available in ‘HCL Non Stop Series’, the EC2 enabled notebooks will be able to recover all data lost in case of system crash in less than a minute.

Some of the common problems that can be addressed through EC2 include accidental file/folder deletion or overwrite, system down at critical moments, system corruption by viruses, spyware or Trojans, accidental formatting of any of the hard disk partitions, corruption of registry files & folders, blue screen errors, system malfunction after patch updates, un-installation of software and applications, system malfunction after installation of new software/application and OS crash because of virus attack.

The technology supports Microsoft Win XP and Vista operating systems. EC2 manages all the information on the local hard disk. No third-party media is required to run HCL EC2.

HCL has announced ready availability of ‘Non-Stop Series’ of Laptops all across the country. The pricing starts from Rs.27,990/-. The EC2 technology is optional in all HCL desktops and laptops. However, the price of an EC2-enabled PC is marginally above than that of a non-EC2 PC.

Sony Adds New HD Camcorders

Sony Electronics has announced three new additions to its high-definition (HD) camcorder line, including the flash-based HDR-CX7, and the hard disk-based HDR-SR7, and HDR-SR5.

The company says all three models record full HD 1080 video (MPEG-4) with Dolby Digital 5.1-channel surround sound, and each has a Carl Zeiss 10X optical-zoom lens, as well as optical image stabilization.

Linda Vuolo, Director of Camcorder Marketing, Sony Electronics, said, “Camcorder users are quickly embracing non-linear camcorder formats, such as hard disk drive and flash media, because they make it easy for anyone to view and access footage quickly. Our models offer the added advantages of superior high-definition picture quality. With the widest range of consumer HD models, we can satisfy the needs of virtually everyone.”

Out of the three models, the HDR-CX7 uses flash memory, and is the world’s smallest and lightest HD camcorder. It can record nearly three hours of full HD 1080 video on 8GB Memory Stick Pro Duo media card. The CX7 has a 3.2-megapixel CMOS sensor, and a 2.7-inch wide hybrid touch panel Clear Photo LCD Plus display that articulates up to 270 degrees.

Whereas the two hard-disk models, the HDR-SR7 and HDR-SR5, offer 60GB and 40GB of storage respectively, and a 2.7-inch articulating touch panel display. The SR7 can record more than 22 hours of HD 1080 video, while the SR5 can hold more than 15 hours of footage.

In addition to long recording times, these two models offer compactness and Sony’s HDD Smart Protection system to safeguard against data loss, as well as for easy connection to PCs via USB.

Each of the three models comes with a Handycam Station for burning DVDs or connecting to a compatible HDTV set. HD content recorded on any of these camcorders can be played back on Blu-ray Disc devices, PlayStation 3 game consoles, and compatible PCs with standard DVD drives.

The HDR-SR5, HDR-CX7, and HDR-SR7 camcorders will ship in June for about $1,100 (Rs 45,000); $1,200 (Rs 49,170); and $1,400 (Rs 57,370) respectively, along with optional accessories.

ViewSonic launches 28 inch LCD- VX2835wm

In its continued commitment to give consumers the best value and performance, ViewSonic, No.1 USA Display Expert, launches the first 28” LCD -VX2835wm with the fastest 3ms response time in the US recently, to expand its growing wide screen, multimedia high-definition display portfolio. As a LCD market leader, ViewSonic always drives the market trend and keeps LCD market development moving forward. Owing to software and hardware applications being popularly utilized in current digital life, ViewSonic foresees big and wide screen LCD will be the most appropriate LCD to fit this trend. In order to provides consumers with the feature-packed displays they need to access, use and experience more from the latest digital content and PC technology offerings, ViewSonic VX2835wm will be definitely the most ideal LCD to perform digital content perfectly.

The VX2835wm is the Microsoft Windows Vista” premium logo certified to ensure that the monitors’ features are equally matched to the highest performance standards of Microsoft’s new operating system. This allows users to realize the visual advantages of faster graphics processing speeds and the richer lighting, shadows and other visual qualities that are critical to true, high definition entertainment experiences.

The VX2835wm has an HDMI with HDCP input to provide clear, crisp, high definition, full HD images for enjoying diverse digital entertainment including IPTV, movies and digital photos. Superior picture performance is also delivered through the wide format of the displays, which gives people the extra room they need to view two 8.5 by 11-inch documents side-by-side, along with a navigational tool bar for quick, productive toggling, searching or editing. The integration of full-sound stereo speakers and power supply into the displays’ curved, thin bezels also provides users with more room by freeing up valuable desktop space.

“The importance of multitasking in digital lifestyles has spread from the office environment into the home, with consumers craving access to information and entertainment simultaneously,” said Alan Chang, General Manager of ViewSonic Asia Pacific. “ViewSonic is leveraging innovation to enable consumers and professionals alike to view more diverse digital content at one time, without sacrificing high visual performance standards.”

These standards include the world’s fastest 3 milliseconds response time with ViewSonic ClearMotiv II technology, a 1920×1200 native resolution, 500 nits of brightness (typ) and a 1000:1 contrast ratio (typ). The VX2835wm also features a Opticolor technology which optimizes the color and skin tones within movies, games and photos. VX2835wm also features 3D deinterlacing technology which is able to provide superior picture quality through precision 3D interlacing, color processing and advanced scaling for smoother, sharper full-motion video with incredibly rich color. In addition, VX2835wm provides multifunctional inputs to support a variety of digital content, including VGA, DVI-D, composite, S-Video, component interface. Both displays can be wall mounted, and are environmentally friendly with standby power consumption below one watt. VX2835wm will be on the market in 2007 Q2.

IBM to Bring Together Mainframes and Game Chips

IBM Corp. has a plan to stop the computing delays familiar to users of virtual worlds and online games, simply by adding its Cell gaming chips to its mainframe servers, the company said.

IBM developed the Cell Broadband Engine chip in conjunction with Sony Corp. and Toshiba Corp. for use in industries ranging from aerospace and defense to gaming, including Sony’s PlayStation 3 video-game console. IBM intends to create a hybrid machine through the integration of the Cell processor with its System z9 Business Class (z9BC) mainframe server. The z9BC is the vendor’s entry-point product for businesses that need less capacity than the System z9 Enterprise Class mainframe.

While the original design of this so-called “Gameframe” computer is dedicated to smoothing out performance problems in delivering rich graphics for the 3D Internet, future versions could handle business applications like ERP (enterprise resource planning), CRM (customer relationship management), virtual stores and meeting rooms, collaboration environments, data repositories and mapping.

For the IBM hybrid computer’s first application, the company will use software from Hoplon Infotainment, a Brazilian online game company, to carry out physics simulation and message passing on a number of Cell chips.

A typical z9BC uses a range of one to seven processors, so the system will also draw on other types of chips for different workloads. The mainframe will run Hoplon’s bitVerse middleware and IBM’s DB2 database, as well as handling administrative tasks, billing and logistics, and connectivity to client devices like PCs, consoles, mobile phones, music players and TVs.

IBM chose its System z line for this project because the mainframe is designed to handle millions of simultaneous users spread out among several hundred servers, said Jim Stallings, general manager for System z, in a statement. Those users can interact with a minimal time lag compared to a distributed environment connecting many physical servers with networking cables.

Sun Microsystems Inc. also said it had solved a similar challenge, allowing cable and telecommunications operators to deliver personalized video streams to every customer.

The new Sun Streaming System can support up to 160,000 simultaneous, unique video streams at the rate of 2M bps (bits per second) each by dividing the load among 32 integrated 10 Gigabit Ethernet optical networking ports. Sun expects the product to fit fast-growing demand for video on demand and IPTV, according to a statement by Andy Bechtolsheim, Sun’s chief architect and senior vice president.

Vista Sales Strong, Higher Than Expected

It seems Microsoft is not only alive, but has been thriving these last few months. Following Apple’s solid earnings yesterday comes above-expectation reporting from Microsoft. Profits jumped 65% from the previous year, and sales of its Windows operating system were strong: ‘Microsoft said it deferred $1.2 billion in Windows Vista revenue to the third quarter, to account for upgrade coupons given to PC buyers during the holiday season before the consumer launch of the new operating system. Excluding this figure, client revenue totaled $4.1 billion, 30 percent higher than last year.’ Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell said Vista beat internal forecasts by $300 million to $400 million, and Office 2007 sales were $200 million better than expected.”

New Japanese Mobile Phones Detect Motion

“Some of the latest mobile phones in Japan come with motion sensors that let users detect motion or play action games like those on the Nintendo Wii console. The D904i from NTT DoCoMo, Japan’s top mobile carrier, contains a tiny motion sensor that detects shaking and tilting, company spokesman Nobuyuki Hatanaka said. ‘The software supports three main types of motion: shake, rock and roll. Shake can be used for actions such as rolling dice and shuffling MP3 decks. Rock interprets right, left, up and down gestures to generate traditional cursor-style user input commands. Roll offers joystick control by responding to tilting motions used in navigating games, maps or Web pages.’”

New Zune Player Will Face Tough Market

More types of Microsoft Corp. Zune music players are in the works, but some analysts are unsure whether new form factors or functions will significantly boost Zune’s popularity.

Microsoft sees three main categories in the sector, and all of them are important as the company develops new Zunes, said Chris Stephenson, general manager of global marketing for Zune. The three categories include higher-end video players, mid-range music-centric devices such as the iPod Nano and low-end USB devices such as the iPod Shuffle, he said.

“We think of [the Zune] as a broad entertainment offer that is driven by music at the moment,” he said. “We will start to play more aggressively in a broader number of categories.” The current Zune is just the “tip of the iceberg,” he said.

In the next month or so, Microsoft plans to reveal more about its vision for the future of Zune, he said.

One analyst isn’t so sure that a very low-end version of the Zune comparable to the Shuffle will help. “I don’t personally see that as something the Zune should do next,” said James McQuivey, an analyst at Forrester Research. “Zune should first worry about getting a base of users of both flash and hard drive versions before experimenting with little companions.” He said most users of Shuffles buy them essentially as companions to a larger iPod.

However, Microsoft could plan on selling such a lower-cost product as a way to quickly boost its user base “so no one counts them out,” he said.

The Zune is currently a distant second in portable music player market share, behind Apple.

Developing a player like the Nano, Apple’s best-selling music player that uses flash, would be a good idea for Microsoft, said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst with Jupiter Research. “If they’re going to compete with Apple, they’re going to need something that competes directly with the most successful in the line, and that means a flash-based player” like the Nano, he said.

Beyond the form factor, Microsoft is also likely to expand the Wi-Fi capabilities in the Zune, Stephenson said. Without revealing any specific plans for new Wi-Fi capabilities, Stephenson described scenarios that are being discussed in the marketplace, such as the potential for Zune users to download music over Wi-Fi in public hotspots or to synch with their PC-based music collections while at home. Currently, Zune users can only use the Wi-Fi connection to share music with other Zune customers.

But even expanded Wi-Fi capabilities may not be enough to draw new buyers. Connecting a Zune to a home or public network could be technically difficult for some users, McQuivey said. “If you have the kind of know-how to do that, you’re the person who bought an iPod four years ago,” he noted. “So how do you grow beyond the iPod footprint? I don’t know the answer to that.”

While Microsoft has the resources and the talent to develop cutting-edge products, it’s not clear that the company will manage to hit on a winning product or service. “They’re going to have to find ways of being where Apple isn’t and find ways of growing the overall market,” Gartenberg said.