http://www.thesynergyonline.com/infotech.htm

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 04 2010

 

Thesynergyonline Infotech Bureau

 

NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 03 :
WORLDWIDE PC shipments are projected to total 367.8 million units in 2010, a 19.2 percent increase from 308.3 million units shipped in 2009, according to the latest preliminary forecast by Gartner, Inc.

"The PC market revived in the first half of 2010, but the real test of its resilience is yet to come," said Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner. "We have reduced our forecast for second-half 2010 PC growth to 15.3 percent, approximately 2 percent below our previous forecast, in light of the uncertain economic outlook for the United States and Western Europe. There is no doubt that consumer, if not business PC demand has slowed relative to expectations in mature markets. Recent dramatic shifts in the PC supply chain were in no small part a reaction to fears of a sharp slowdown in mature-market demand. However, suppliers' risk-aversion is as much a factor in these shifts as any actual downshift in demand."

"Consumers buoyed the PC market in 2009 as businesses delayed their purchases. The slow pace of economic recovery and austerity measures in Europe have made PC suppliers very cautious in 2010. However, consumer demand is likely to remain strong even if the economic recovery stalls because consumers now view the PC as a relative 'necessity' rather than a 'luxury' and will continue to spend on PCs, even at the expense of other consumer electronic devices," Mr. Atwal said.

Gartner analysts said businesses will find it very difficult to delay PC replacements further. The age of the professional PC installed base is already at an all-time high.

"Businesses that delay replacing much longer risk alienating employees, burdening themselves with more service requests and support costs, and ultimately facing higher migration costs when they eventually migrate to Windows 7," Mr. Atwal said. "The bottom line is that businesses need to refresh their PCs sooner rather than later. Thus, the full bloom of the long-awaited professional PC refresh can't be more than a few quarters ahead."

Mini-notebooks' impact on the PC market has peaked and is now waning, according to Raphael Vasquez, research analyst at Gartner. Mini-notebooks' share of mobile PC shipments declined for the second consecutive quarter in the second quarter of 2010, falling under 18 percent. Mini-notebooks' share of the mobile PC market peaked in late 2009, when they accounted for nearly 20 percent of total mobile PC shipments. Their share is expected to continue falling until it reaches around 10 percent by late 2014.

"We still think the mini-notebook has a place in the mobile PC market, but not as a substitute for a standard mobile PC. Indeed, the recent decline in mini-notebooks' share of the mobile PC market reflects a general realization among buyers that mini-notebooks are less-than-perfect substitutes for standard low-end laptops," Mr. Vasquez said.

"Buyers who once would have bought a mini-notebook based solely on its low price now seem more inclined to buy a low-end standard notebook, especially since the prices of the two have converged. Mini-notebooks are slowly but surely carving out a market niche for themselves as companion devices. However, the emergence of media tablets is a growing threat to that niche," he added.

Gartner defines a tablet PC as having a touchscreen size of 5 inches or more, outfitted with a full-function operating system (OS), such as Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP or Mac OS X. A media tablet is defined as a device that has a screen size of 5 inches or larger and is outfitted with a restricted-function OS, such as iPhone, Android and Chrome. Gartner includes tablet PCs in its PC market statistics and forecasts, but excludes media tablets from both. Nonetheless, media tablets will affect the PC market, especially mini-notebooks, and the forecast reflects this impact, said George Shiffler, research director at Gartner.

"The iPad hasn't had much of an impact on mini-notebook units so far, if only because it is generally priced higher than most mini-notebooks," Mr. Shiffler said. "However, we anticipate lower-priced iPad imitations will begin to take larger bites out of mini-notebook units as they are released next year." (editor@thesynergyonline.com) 

Thesynergyonline Infotech Bureau

 

NEW DELHI, India , SEPTEMBER 01 :
MASTEK , a high-end IT solutions player with global operations providing new technology and IP-led enterprise solutions to insurance, government, and financial services organizations worldwide said that Ocean Life Insurance Co Ltd. (OLIC), Thailand has selected ElixirAsia, Mastek's enterprise-wide policy administration system. The implementation of the system will cover all lines of business at OLIC, including individual life and group life.

The implementation will enable OLIC to address some critical business issues, enhance operational efficiency, and noticeably improve the manner in which it manages customer relationships. Mastek will, thus, partner in OLIC's overall long-term growth strategy.

Mr Vidyesh Khanolkar, Head - Insurance Practice, Asia Pacific at Mastek, said, "ElixirAsia is a new generation advanced solution built on a modern architecture to meet current and future growth needs of Insurance carriers in Asia. It addresses all aspects of the business for life insurance carriers. We are certain this scalable solution will be the platform for growth for OLIC."

Mrs. Nusara Banyatpiyaphod - President, Ocean Life Insurance, said, "While maintaining our leadership in the grass-root segment we, as part of our growth strategy, plan to diversify our customer base and expand further into the middle-income and premium customer base with new products. Mastek's ElixirAsia offers us a proven and functionally rich platform that addresses our needs. This, coupled with their expertise in the Insurance technology domain, made us choose Mastek. We are certain that with this implementation, we will not only be able to serve our customers better but also be empowered to implement our growth strategy effectively."

Mr Vilas Kanyal, Head - Asia Pacific at Mastek commented, "OLIC's faith in Mastek and ElixirAsia Policy Administration System validates our strategic focus on and commitment to the global insurance market. This occasion also marks Mastek's entry into Thailand's life insurance market. We are glad to be Ocean Life's choice and look forward to building a successful partnership with them." (editor@thesynergyonline.com)

 

Thesynergyonline Infotech Bureau

 

NEW DELHI, , India, SEPTEMBER 01 :
WORLDWIDE semiconductor revenue in 2010 is forecast to reach $300 billion, a 31.5 percent increase from 2009 revenue of $228 billion, according to the latest outlook by Gartner, Inc. Analysts project worldwide semiconductor revenue to total $314 billion in 2011, a 4.6 percent increase from 2010.

The projected 2010 revenue for the semiconductor industry has increased from Gartner's forecast in the second quarter of 2010, when it expected worldwide semiconductor sales to grow 27.1 percent in 2010. However, analysts warned that while semiconductor revenue is still poised to hit record levels this year, second half growth is expected to be below seasonal norms as semiconductor sales align with electronic system sales.

"Semiconductor growth in the first half of 2010 was very strong, but it is becoming increasingly clear that the industry cannot maintain the momentum in the second half of 2010 and into 2011," said Bryan Lewis, research vice president at Gartner. "While the impact of the European credit crisis has subsided, the global economic recovery is slowing, and there is concern that electronic equipment vendors are adopting a cautious stance, ready to cut production at the first signs of slowing customer orders."

The PC supply chain is showing the most evidence of a correction, as can be seen by recent company announcements, including Intel's lowering its third quarter guidance. The forecast of second half 2010 PC production unit growth has been reduced in the 3Q10 update. Gartner analysts said consumer PC purchases in mature markets were slightly weaker than expected in the second quarter and the outlook for the third quarter is below seasonal growth. However, surging sales of media tablets are partially offsetting the weakness in consumer PCs, as they've begun to prove themselves a popular substitute for netbooks.

The outlook for the mobile phone market has been steadily improving throughout 2010. The forecast of total market growth has been increased slightly from the 2Q10 update. Gartner analysts stated that application-specific semiconductors for the phone market are experiencing intense competitive pressure, with revenue growing only about 13 percent in 2010. Smartphones continue to drive the mobile phone semiconductor market, representing 18 percent of units and 36 percent of overall 2010 mobile phone semiconductor revenue. These percentages increase to 41 percent of units and 64 percent of mobile phone semiconductor revenue by 2014 as entry-level smartphones trigger a second wave of growth in the market.

The dramatic rise in DRAM revenue growth is set to peak in 2010. "Due to early strength in the PC market and supply constraints, the DRAM industry has been very profitable, with revenue set to increase by 82.5 percent to nearly $42 billion in 2010," Mr. Lewis said. "However, during the second half of 2011, this is set to change, and we expect a DRAM downturn in 2012 as sales decline 29 percent."

In contrast, NAND revenue is set to sustain a growth trajectory through 2013, with the NAND flash market driven by strong sales of smartphones and media tablets.

Gartner will provide more detailed analysis on the outlook for the semiconductor industry during the Gartner Semiconductor Briefing taking place on November 4. The complimentary briefing will be held at the Doubletree Hotel San Jose. (editor@thesynergyonline.com)

Thesynerrgyonline Infotech Bureau

NEW DELHI, India, AUG 30 :
OF all service desk contact volume, as much as 40 percent could be solved through IT self-service, but only 5 percent of issues actually are solved by IT self-service, according to Gartner, Inc. By 2015, the majority of IT organizations will have less than 10 percent of the contact volume managed by IT self-service.

"IT self-service is a great concept, enabling and empowering end users to solve their own IT problems, thereby allowing support organizations to gain efficiencies through a reduced incident and request workload, " said David Coyle, research vice president at Gartner. "However, building a best-in-class IT self-service portal does not guarantee that end users will utilize it."

Following extensive client research, Gartner analysts have identified four common myths that organizations have regarding IT self-service. Gartner believes that these myths and the associated realities, in combination with low IT service desk maturity, are the factors that prevent IT organizations from successfully delivering IT self-service.

Myth: IT self-service reduces costs.
Reality: IT self-service will reduce Level 1 support.
IT self-service does have the opportunity to reduce the cost of IT service and support by moving end-user issues to a lower cost level. However, self-service works well only for specific record types (mainly how-to requests, FAQs and password resets), so organizations should understand that implementing self-service will reduce volume only for those call types. Some issues will still require a call to the IT service desk and/or the assistance of a support technician.

"Organizations that fail to understand the demand mix of service and support will not be able to predict or measure the influence of self-service," Mr. Coyle said. "In addition, IT self-service requires upfront and ongoing investment in staff resources and tools like knowledge management and password reset. The bottom line is that if the investment in IT self-service is higher than the return associated with reducing support costs and increasing end-user productivity, then self-service will actually increase costs."

Myth: IT self-service is a one-time investment.
Reality: IT self-service requires constant care and feeding.
IT self-service is not a "set it and forget it" option, and IT leaders need to constantly understand how IT self-service is being leveraged, and whether end users are getting value from the offering. End users can be aware of the existence of IT self-service support and still not understand how it functions, how it can and should be leveraged, or the benefits it can provide. This requires marketing efforts, specifically to users who may not be aware or users who do not find value in the offering or prefer calling the service desk.

Ongoing efforts also include the maintenance of the knowledge base where articles need continuous updating. Articles that do not fix the problem or that are difficult to understand do not lend themselves well to the credibility that IT self-service portals need to establish. Also, the wider the range of services supported, the more difficult it becomes to keep these knowledge articles up to date.

Myth: End users will flock to self-service.
Reality: End-user acceptance varies greatly.
Understanding the adoption of IT self-service by end users is critical in developing a successful IT self-service strategy, and most organizations will find that the first-year adoption rate can be very low. End-user utilization is the primary objective, so the time and cost investments that are tied to building a world-class self-service portal will not yield favorable returns if end users are not inclined to log their own tickets or attempt to solve their own problems.

Factors that can provide insight into this include an organization's demographics; groups like engineers or young people may be able and willing to leverage self-service, but end users who are stuck in their ways or who are not sophisticated computer users may not be as willing.

Myth: IT self-service is easy to implement
Reality: The right "companion" tools and processes are prerequisites for a successful implementation.
End users want an IT self-service portal where knowledge is readily available, where passwords are easy to reset, and that is very intuitive to use. It is not the responsibility of the end user to dig through knowledge if it is not stored correctly, or care about any processes or roadblock issues that prevent the support organization from keeping the site fresh and up to date.

The two most frequent call types are how-to requests (how to access or operate IT resources) and password reset (establishing or regaining the privilege to access IT resources). Because password problems make up 20 percent to 30 percent of all IT service desk volume, with most of those issues resolvable by password reset tools, automating this function can save organizations the costs of supporting this type of request.

"The benefits of a well-designed self-service portal go well beyond service desk contact reduction. If properly implemented, self-service can improve customer satisfaction, provide incident trend analysis, identify training opportunities, and consolidate the knowledge that currently exists in silos across the support organization," Mr. Coyle said. "These 'soft' benefits should always be outlined when making a business case for self-service." (editor@thesynergyonline.com)

Thesyneregyonline Infotech Bureau

NEW DELHI, AUG 30:
WORLDWIDE server shipments grew 27.1 percent year over year in the second quarter of 2010, while revenue climbed 14.3 percent, according to Gartner, Inc.

“As in the first quarter, the second quarter again demonstrated strong year-on-year growth,” said Jeffrey Hewitt, research vice president at Gartner. “There remained some regional variations, but all geographies demonstrated improving market conditions.”

"x86-based servers grew 28.9 percent in units in the second quarter and 37.0 percent in revenues. RISC/Itanium Unix servers remained constrained, with declines of 16.5 percent in shipments and decreases of 8.8 percent in vendor revenues, compared to the same quarter last year. The 'other' CPU category, which is primarily mainframes, fell 22.8 percent in revenues for the quarter," Mr. Hewitt said.

From the regional standpoint, Eastern Europe grew the most significantly in server shipments, with a 46.9 percent increase in the second quarter of 2010, as well as the highest vendor revenue growth, at 26.2 percent for the period. All other regions had varying shipment and revenue increases.

HP- led the worldwide server market based on revenue (see Table 1) — the company posted just over $3.5 billion in server vendor revenue, and accounted for 32 percent of worldwide server revenue for the second quarter of 2010. HP's share was up 3.1 percent year-on-year.

Of the top five global vendors, Dell, Fujitsu and HP all had revenue increases for the second quarter of 2010.
 
In server shipments, HP remained the worldwide leader in the second quarter of 2010 (see Table 2) with its market share totaling 30 percent, as shipments increased 23.3 percent over the same period last year. This growth was driven by increased produced from HP's ProLiant brand.

Of the top five vendors in server shipments worldwide, Dell, Fujitsu, HP and IBM posted increases in units for the second quarter.

As noted above, the primary driver of the market growth for the quarter remained the x86-based server hardware platform, as it was in the first quarter — there was a marked difference between x86-based servers and non-x86 server platforms for the quarter, with the latter platforms remaining constrained overall. Blade severs had the strongest growth of any form factor, with an increase of 17.8 percent in units and 32.8 percent in vendor revenue for the first quarter.(editor@thesynergyonline.com)

Thesynergyonline Infoterch Bureau

NEW DELHI, AUG 26 :
THE need to migrate from Microsoft Windows XP and Windows 2000 to Windows 7 in a tight time frame will create an extra budgetary and resource burden on companies from 2011 to 2012, according to Gartner, Inc. During that period, demand for highly qualified Windows 7 migration IT personnel will exceed supply, leading to higher service rates.

Gartner analysts said most organizations will need to find extra funds or redirect budgets away from other projects to complete the Windows migration on time.

"Corporate IT departments typically prefer to migrate PC operating systems (OSs) via hardware attrition, which means bringing in the new OS as they replace hardware through a normal refresh cycle," said Charles Smulders, managing vice president at Gartner. "Microsoft will support Windows XP for four more years. With most migrations not starting until the fourth quarter of 2010 at the earliest, and PC hardware replacement cycles typically running at four to five years, most organizations will not be able to migrate to Windows 7 through usual planned hardware refresh before support for Windows XP ends."

Faced with this need to accelerate migration in 2011 and 2012, organizations have three options:

Accelerate PC Replacement Plans
Buying new PCs with the OS upgrade ensures that machines have a full set of compatible drivers and a basic input/output system (BIOS). This course of action also reduces the number of times the machine is touched during its life and ensures that it will have a reasonably long operational life with the new OS over which to amortize the costs of the migration.

Assuming a 10,000 PC environment, where all PCs are replaced, Gartner estimates that the migration cost per PC will be between $1,205 and $1,999, depending on how well-managed the environment is. While the overall cost to migrate is lower than other scenarios, the down side is that the capital costs account for about 60 percent of the total replacement cost, so the capital budget will be larger than in the upgrade case.

Upgrade Installed PCs
Using existing PCs will reduce the capital costs of migration, but will not reduce the labor costs of migration. Assuming the same setup as above - a 10,000 PC environment, where all PCs are upgraded - the migration cost per PC will be between $1,274 and $2,069, depending on how well-managed the PC environment is. This assumes that 25 percent of the machines will need a hardware upgrade to run the OS.

While the capital costs are reduced in this case, upgrading an installed PC simply postpones the inevitable replacement for two to three years. Users will need to be migrated twice, rather than once, during a four-year period.

Evaluate Partial Migration
For task workers, such as data-entry roles (these account for about 15 percent of the population in a typical organization), migrating from a PC to a hosted virtual desktop (HVD) environment is an alternative to PC migration. It would potentially speed up deployment, because it is one image deployed centrally. However, an HVD does not solve the budget issues, because of the incremental cost of the data center and network infrastructure needed to run an HVD. Also, it does not solve the IT support staff issue, since they will be involved in the HVD rollout.

The Cost of Labor
"Whether replacing or upgrading PCs, it is clear that Windows 7 migration will have a noticeable impact on organizations' IT budgets," said Steve Kleynhans, research vice president at Gartner. "Based on an accelerated upgrade, we expect that the proportion of the budget spent on PCs will need to increase between 20 percent as a best-case scenario and 60 percent at worst in 2011 and 2012. Assuming that PCs account for 15 percent of a typical IT budget, this means that this percentage will increase to 18 percent (best case) and 24 percent (worst case) which could have a profound effect on IT spending and on funding for associated projects during both those years."

Gartner expects the cost of IT labor to increase during 2011 and 2012 as demand for Windows 7 migration services spikes. These cost hikes are likely to continue in 2013, as organizations recognize that they are behind in their migrations.

"We estimate that large and midsize organizations worldwide will migrate approximately 250 million PCs to Windows 7, during the migration timeline, so it makes sense for organizations that plan to leverage external services to line up service providers early," Mr. Smulders said. "Begin talks with suppliers now about putting in place contracts that can deliver flexible levels of resources at a fixed rate over the migration period." (editor@thesynergyonline.com)

Thesynergyonline Infotech Bureau

NEW DELHI, India, AUG 25 :
CSC today released a new Web-based software called Vendor Solutions Suite to help firms improve the quality, productivity and cost-effectiveness of their third-party vendor relationships.

This software aids management of the entire relationship with vendors from assignment of tasks to review and approval of expenses. It automates and simplifies the vendor assignment process, tracks performance, promotes best practices and can ultimately lead to lower expenses.

Vendor Solutions Suite complements CSC's Legal Solutions Suite, which is used by more than 50 companies to manage 7,000 law firm relationships. Together, the products complete the comprehensive management of all vendor relationships.

"Companies spend millions of dollars each year with outside vendors that provide a myriad of services to help them run their businesses," said Mike Fitzgerald, senior insurance analyst for Celent, a research and advisory firm. "Many firms manage these billings manually or with multiple automation solutions. Adopting a focused point solution that helps to control and better manage processes can bring real value at less cost."

"Vendor Solutions Suite is ideally suited for any type of firm that manages a high volume of vendor billings manually," said Jim Cook, president of CSC's Business Solutions and Services Sector. "By delivering powerful metrics on vendor performance and costs, Vendor Solutions Suite helps clients reduce expenses, improve communication and consistency, and increase payment processing efficiency." (editor@thesynergyonline.com)

Thesynergyonline Infotech Bureau

NEW DELHI, AUG 16 :
SEAGATE Technology plc , the hard disk drives and storage solutions major and Samsung Electronics , a major player in advanced memory technology, have entered into a joint development and licensing agreement.

Under the agreement, the two companies will jointly develop and cross-license related controller technologies for solid state drive ("SSD") storage devices to attain the high levels of performance, reliability and endurance demanded by enterprise storage applications.

"We feel privileged to be jointly developing a high-performance SSD controller with Seagate for the enterprise storage market," said Dr. Changhyun Kim, senior vice president and Samsung Fellow, Memory product planning and application engineering, semiconductor business, Samsung Electronics. "Our green memory solution is designed to enable more energy-efficient server applications, which is expected to increase the use of NAND-based SSD storage in enterprise applications."

The joint development effort builds on the existing SSD capabilities of each company while combining Seagate's leadership in enterprise storage technology with Samsung's flash memory technology specific to 30 nanometer-class MLC NAND. The jointly developed controller will be utilized in Seagate's enterprise-class SSDs.

"Solid state technology has an important role to play in the comprehensive solutions the storage industry will deliver today and in the future, particularly in the enterprise market," said Steve Luczo, Seagate chairman, president and CEO.

"Today's agreement with Samsung will help us bring a compelling set of SSD innovations to the enterprise storage market, with benefits that range from enhanced performance, endurance and reliability to cost and capacity improvements. Overall, this agreement with Samsung strengthens our SSD solutions strategy, and positions Seagate well as global demand for storage continues on its strong growth path, " he added. (editor@thesynergyonline.com)

Thesynergyonline Infotech Bureau

NEW DELHI, AUG 11 :
NFOTECH Enterprises , a global technology solutions provider with headquarters in Hyderabad, India, said that its wholly owned subsidiary Infotech Enterprises America Inc. (IEAI), has acquired Wellsco Inc., located in Paragould, Arkansas, USA.

Infotech is an acknowledged global leader in the Geospatial and Engineering Services market space and over the last 18 years has built strong network engineering, product engineering and content engineering businesses in over 14 countries worldwide. Leveraging these skills, Infotech has established a very strong presence in various verticals, including Power Utilities and Telecoms.

Towards achieving its vision of 'Delivering innovative solutions together for a better future' and becoming a US$1 Billion enterprise, Infotech has focused on the following strategic initiatives:

" Strengthening its domain expertise in new market segments within existing industry verticals.
" Establishing a global network of engineering centers that offer its customers the right mix of proximity, skills and price.
" Forging strategic, long-term relationships with specific named accounts.

As a part of executing these strategic initiatives and after carefully evaluating various options, Infotech has acquired Wellsco in an all-cash deal. Wellsco is a focused engineering services provider to the US telecommunications industry. Headquartered in Paragould, AR, Wellsco has over 180 employees located across 5 offices. It has some of the largest Telecom companies in the US as its long term customers.

On acquisition, Mr BVR Mohan Reddy, Chairman & Managing Director of Infotech Enterprises, said, "The Telecommunications Industry has always been an important market for Infotech and telecom network design and engineering has emerged as an excellent growth area for us. With this acquisition, Infotech gains access to the deep domain skills and experience of the local Wellsco team, which combined with strong, long-term customer relationships and US delivery capability, will serve to accelerate our growth. We have been very impressed with the management and technical teams at Wellsco, as well as with their vision towards attaining a leadership position. Combined with our mature processes and ability to scale customer relationships, we are confident that we will leverage this acquisition to create strong momentum and further enhance our leadership position in the Network Engineering Services market space."

Mr Jim Wells, President of Wellsco, Inc. said, "We believe we have found an excellent partner in Infotech Enterprises and are very excited about joining a global leader focused on network engineering services. Infotech's complementary skills, financial strength and global resource pool complement Wellsco's strong national presence and our long term relationships with various leading US telcos. We are confident that our combined and complementary strengths will further enhance our leadership position in this market. The entire Wellsco team is looking forward to this opportunity and it should be great news for our customers."

In a statement Mr. John Renard - President, UTG, Infotech Enterprises , said, "All market indicators suggest that we are at the early stages of the next major transformation of fixed and wireless networks as consumers continue to demand ever higher bandwidth and network capacity. US$20 billion needs to be spent in the US alone on next generation fiber networks.

"With its national coverage, focus on engineering services and some marquee customers, we believe bringing Wellsco into the Infotech fold will give us an unrivaled leadership position in terms of addressing these opportunities. We are delighted to welcome Jim Wells and his entire Wellsco team to Infotech and very much look forward to working with them," he added. (editor@thesynergyonline.com)

 

Thesynergyonline Infotech Bureau

NEW DELHI, AUG 10 :
OLYCOM, Inc. has signed a multi-year, strategic global agreement with Microsoft Corp. to deliver integrated end-to-end unified communications (UC) and to improve customers' business productivity. Under the agreement, Polycom plans to develop and market standards-based UC solutions encompassing software, hardware, networking and services - that span the enterprise, small-to-medium business, and government markets; and will enable customers to improve business productivity and reduce travel, telecom and IT operating costs.

Polycom and Microsoft share a vision for business productivity solutions built on standards-based platforms that work with the tools and applications people know and use today. The companies' strategic agreement is a major step towards streamlining communications across messaging, video and voice with connected applications and devices.

"Microsoft and Polycom solutions play a critical role within our current and future unified communications strategy," said Martin Smale, IT director at NDS, a News Corp. company. "We're already benefitting from improved collaboration, increased productivity, and significant ROI based on our existing UC network, and we're looking forward to leveraging the expanded offerings from two of our most valued vendors in the UC space."

"Our research shows that nearly 70 per cent of the companies considering a unified communications solution are thinking of deploying Microsoft Office Communications Server," said Brent Kelly, senior analyst and partner at Wainhouse Research.

"These enterprises need seamless integration and interoperability between Office Communicator on the desktop and personal, group, and telepresence video solutions like those offered by Polycom for executive offices, meeting suites, and conference rooms. By working together, Microsoft and Polycom are making it easier for organisations to have a true end-to-end unified communications environment, which includes high definition video," he added.

Offering a broad portfolio of integrated solutions spanning voice, video and application integration for Microsoft UC, this agreement makes Polycom a member of Microsoft's key strategic global alliance for the company's UC business.

As part of this long-term strategic agreement, each company is investing in product development, sales, and marketing. Through resources, investments, and strong field engagement, Polycom and Microsoft will deliver rich, compelling UC solutions, offering customers the flexibility to deploy the features that help them lower their costs, improve productivity and meet their unique business needs.

"Microsoft and Polycom hasw chartered a roadmap that will deliver interoperable UC solutions with choice and innovation in video conferencing and customer devices that will help transform enterprise communications," said Gurdeep Singh Pall, corporate vice president of Unified Communication at Microsoft.

"By integrating video, voice, instant messaging and conferencing solutions, Microsoft and Polycom give customers the ability to be present, anytime, anywhere," he added.

Global Polycom / Microsoft UC Go-to-Market Initiatives
Sales resources and training
Integrated marketing campaigns
Collaboration to develop and support channel partners
Polycom participation in multiple Microsoft Technology Centers around the globe, with active demos already available
Global governance and cadence around voice and video UC solutions
Common messaging and industry presence to drive adoption of UC (editor@thesynergyonline.com)

Thesynergyonline Infotech Bureau

NEW DELHI, India, AUGUST 09 :
SC has been named a leading technology provider in multiple categories of Celent's 2010 Insurance Software Deal Trends study, published in two editions. Celent, a financial services technology research and advisory firm, identified CSC as a leader in (P&C) core claims in the P&C edition and as one of the leading vendors in the Infrastructure & Financial, Distribution and Policy Administration subcategories in Property/Casualty editions. This recognition reflects CSC's deal volume in each of these subcategories.

Celent's 2010 Insurance Software Deal Trends study ranks insurance software companies based on number of contracts signed in 2008 and 2009 and collected data on more than 2,000 deals with insurers.

In the same reports, CSC was named as a "Traction Index" leader, ranking in the top five, out of 40 industry vendors. The Traction Index is more a measure of activity than it is of revenue or expertise.

"The data reported in the sixth edition of our Deal Trends report suggests that deal flow has increased, despite conditions in the general economy, as insurers seek solutions to help them grow, improve services and lower costs," said Karen Monks, Insurance analyst, Celent.

"We also found that, in recent times of financial constraint, insurers chose to stay with the vendors they know and trust, " he added.

"Delivery excellence in support of client projects is a top priority at CSC," said Ray , president of CSC's Financial Services Group. "For more than 30 years, CSC's mission-critical software, comprehensive services and global IT infrastructure have helped insurers reduce costs, improve productivity and achieve their business objectives."

The Deal Trends reports provide readers with a snapshot of leading software vendors in the insurance vertical and insights into functions that carriers are targeting for investment. They were written as independent reports for Celent's insurance research subscribers and were not sponsored or directed by CSC or any other company. (editor@thesynergyonline.com)

IMPROVING SEARCH RESULTS RELEVANCE BY COMBING CONTEXT- AWARE SERVICES

Thesynergyonline Infotech Bureau

NEW DELHI, AUGUST 05:
OMPANIES can further improve the relevancy of search results —both internally and externally — by combining the value of cloud-based services with the value of context-aware services, according to Gartner Inc. Gartner predicts that at year-end 2015, more than 20 percent of revenue-facing external search installations will incorporate context gathered from cloud sources, an increase over 2010, when the figure is expected to be less than 2 percent.

"The way that context can feed improved search capabilities and relevance makes cloud computing particularly valuable to companies that provide informational services to workers or customers via search," said Whit Andrews, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. "Directors of e-businesses, integration engineers, Web architects, marketers and others will need to examine how cloud and search exploit contextual information. CIOs and CTOs will derive value from understanding new capabilities that are emerging.

Many enterprises will see the value of shifting their enterprise and Web search efforts to incorporate cloud-based services in the near-term, and developing market dynamics will drive a general inclination to consider search in the cloud through 2015.

"In the past, search was overwhelmingly managed on-premises, because the indices that search engines use to select results for users generally contain significant amounts of sensitive information, and executives balked at allowing such data to exit the premises and enter the cloud," said Mr. Andrews. "However, inclinations to allow sensitive data — such as e-mail and discoverable information in e-discovery processes — to enter the cloud are changing companies' attitudes toward such approaches."

In addition to conventional benefits such as pricing improvements and capacity offloading for search projects, cloud computing also offers improved results accuracy through the provision of valuable contextual cues.

"Optimizing search through the effective application of context is a particularly helpful and effective way to deliver valuable improvements in results sets under any circumstances," Mr. Andrews said.

"Knowing what role a searcher has in a company, his or her location, and what interactions he has previously had with the search engine are all elements that may be used to provide better search results. Combining the value of cloud-based services with the value of context brings with it the potential to improve the relevancy of search results even more greatly. Improving results reduces the time spent searching and increases the value of searches, which results in quantifiable improvements in how some workers — such as customer service representatives or procurement officers — conduct their duties, " he added.

Social networking sites are another potential source of improvement for search. Facebook, for example, now offers a means to allow users to carry their Facebook identities with them as they travel the Web — fulfilling the desire for portable identities that Web businesses have long sought to develop and provide. This offers the potential for Web search to improve relevancy based on a user's explicit statements of interest and their network of fellow users.

"What the cloud offers, in addition to the promise of reduced pricing, is a standardized means of delivering information to augment queries that can improve search results significantly," Mr. Andrews said. "Most importantly, it offers a source of rich profile data that aids in setting the context for individual searches. Such context may be sensitive, such as a patient's status in a hospital when information is queried from a separate data source, or unremarkable, such as whether a user is closer to coffee shop X or coffee shop Y on a busy street."  (editor@thesynergyonline.com)

 

Thesynergyonline Health Bureau

 

NEW DELHI.AUG 03 :
SC today signed an agreement with Religare Health Insurance Company (Religare) to provide its GROUP/Asia system for Religare’s health insurance operation. CSC will provide Religare a platform to quickly ramp up operations, acquire new business and process high-volumes of health insurance transactions.

CSC’s GROUP/Asia , an established and comprehensive health insurance and managed care system that mirrors the needs of the global healthcare insurance industry is an integrated, flexible solution that allows fast reaction to market demands. The system manages both annual indemnity and health saving products with an emphasis on managed healthcare and group pension.

CSC’s , India's major delivery center will support the implementation of GROUP/Asia at Religare, providing the highest process standards, a skilled workforce, and a focus on mission critical delivery. CSC has helped hundreds of companies map out business and IT objectives, manage costs and risks, and deliver new initiatives as promised.

“We chose CSC as our partner after a thorough and rigorous evaluation,” said Anuj Gulati, CEO, Religare Health Insurance. “GROUP/Asia is a proven, robust product, and CSC’s focus on delivery excellence with highly experienced consultants and a demonstrated approach to long-term partnership were some of the reasons why we chose them. We look forward to working with CSC.”

“CSC is committed to making our clients successful,” said Douglas W. Benfield, vice president of CSC’s Financial Services Group in Asia. “We have a track record for designing and implementing mission-critical systems that have delivered lasting impact to our clients’ businesses. Our innovative solutions and domain expertise have set us apart, allowing us to provide tremendous value to our clients and ensuring their success in the marketplace. We are delighted with this new partnership and committed to Religare's success.”

“CSC’s insurance-focused resources and leading-edge business solutions have helped our clients reach their goals and witness business results,” said Brian J. Manning, president and managing director of CSC in India. “GROUP/Asia is a sophisticated, robust and proven system and we look forward to expanding our relationship with Religare by focusing on providing value.”  (editor@thesynergyonline.com)

Thesynergyonline Infotech Bureau

NEW DELHI, AUG 02 :
CL Infosystems , India’s hardware, services and ICT systems integration and distribution company, today won order from the Government of Madhya Pradesh for the implementing of India’s largest food-coupon based Targeted Public Distribution Systems (TPDS) in the state.

HCL Infosystems- led consortium bagged this order which would involve setting up an efficient model of food and civil supplies distribution in the state based on the UIDAI guidelines, for over 10million expected transactions per month at Rs. 10.98 (per transaction per family) spread over 78 months.

While the BPL & AAY families (10 million approx.) would get access to the scheme for free, the APL families (8milliion approx.) will be paying a one-time subsidised registration fee of Rs. 250 only. The deployment would not only make use of technology to increase efficiency and transparency in the current system with food coupons distributed to the BPL, AAY and APL families but also generate 50million (approx.) UID numbers after all the verification and de-duplication process.

These food coupons will capture all biometric, tax, demographic and personal information details, enabling authorities to ensure proper distribution of food rationing and other benefits. HCL Infosystems led consortium with its expertise was found best suited to deploy this unique solution, after extensive scrutiny, solution demonstration and evaluation by various committees and other state agencies.

Mr JV Ramamurthy, president & COO, HCL Infosystems said, “ Technology today has an intrinsic role to play in people’s life and it is encouraging to see the authorities enabling this change. We really appreciate the vision of the Government of Madhya Pradesh to become the first state in India to allow technology intervention in revolutionizing the PDS which is fraught with issues around efficiency and transparency. This project is a step in the right direction to make the Public Distribution System more robust and effective, empowering the underprivileged with systems that are truly people centric.”

The project to cover the entire state (50 districts and over 20,000+ Fair Price Shops) will be implemented in four phases over the period of 16-18months. HCL Infosystems- led consortium would include Accor Services and Virgo  Softech that has already started work in this time bound state development critical project which would also generate employment for over 3000 people. (editor@thesynergyonline.com)

SLEW OF CONSUMERS RELY ON SOCIAL NRTWORKS TO GUIDE PURCHASE DECISIONS

Thesynergyonlione Infotech Bureau

NEW DELHI, India, JULY 26 :
OCIAL networks have become a critical, but underutilized, aspect of the marketing process, according to Gartner, Inc. Gartner analysts have examined the way social networks shape consumer buying behavior.

The majority of consumers rely to some extent on social networks to guide them in their purchase decisions. These social networks often include individuals who fulfill different roles or functions in recommending products to people they are connected with.

Gartner conducted a survey in the fourth quarter of 2009 of nearly 4,000 consumers in 10 key markets and used the resulting data to identify groups who can play a vital role as influencers in brand awareness, market research and viral marketing campaigns.

"Our survey results showed that one-fifth of the consumer population is composed of 'Salesmen,' 'Connectors' and 'Mavens.' These are three roles that are key influencers in the purchasing activities of 74 percent of the population," said Nick Ingelbrecht, research director at Gartner. "Salesmen and Connectors are the most effective social network influencers and the most important groups for targeted marketing based on social network analysis."

Gartner's social network framework defines the following roles:
Connector — Connectors perform a bridging function between disparate groups of people. They have contacts in different social groups and enjoy introducing people to each other. Connectors come in two types: (1) Heavy Connectors, who have varied but tight circles of friends and family with whom they maintain very regular contact; and (2) Light Connectors, who span a much wider range of different groups, but inevitably with ties that are much weaker and less frequent.
Salesman — Salesmen have extensive social connections, but their defining characteristic is their propensity to persuade people to do things, buy certain products and act in certain ways. This role is not so much a commercial activity but a personality trait that impels Salesmen to get people around them to act on information in highly directed ways.
Seeker — Seekers connect with other people in order to find out the information, skills and obligations they need to conduct their daily lives. When Seekers go shopping, they tend to seek advice from experts who tell them which are the best gadgets to buy, where to get them and at what prices.
Maven — Mavens are knowledge exchangers or information brokers. They are experts in particular areas, and other people go to Mavens for advice. Unlike Salesmen, Mavens aren't out to persuade people but use and acquire information for their own interests. Firms that reach out to Mavens could come unstuck because Mavens are just as happy spreading negative commentary about a product or company as a positive message.
Self-Sufficient — These people prefer to find out for themselves what they need to know in order to satisfy their needs. Self-Sufficients do not pay much attention to other people's recommendations of new products; they prefer to do their own research and make up their minds in their own time. This group of people can be a tough market to target because they are relatively impermeable to viral influences and bandwagon effects.
Unclassified — Two-thirds of the population did not definitively fall into any of these social network categories. This was to be expected and reflects Gartner's approach to processing the survey data, which did not classify respondents who did not clearly fall into one of the categories. In addition, people more often than not exhibit characteristics of different categories and may fulfill different roles in different social contexts.

Gartner believes that it is essential for device vendors, application developers/publishers and communications service providers to understand how the different roles react to marketing information. For example, Self-Sufficients are not particularly swayed by the usual sources of marketing information, nor do Mavens typically act on the information that is their stock in trade. However, Salesmen, Seekers and Connectors tend to act on marketing messages and are receptive to them.

For marketers, the key "take away" is that Salesmen, Seekers and Connectors are the most effective social network segments to target. Conversely, Mavens — the "information magpies" — are much less useful because they will amass market information but not necessarily do anything useful with it, unless others tap them for their product knowledge. In the case of Mavens and Self-Sufficients, service providers should focus on improving their "shopping experience," whereas in the case of Connectors, Seekers and Salesmen, the focus should be on both the shopping experience and making information easily available.

"Companies attempting to use social networks should develop relationships with key customers over a period of time and progressively refine the social network profiles of those individuals. In this way, the most suitable individuals can be targeted with the right information, products and promotions in the most cost-effective way," said Mr. Ingelbrecht. "Retailers who run small shops have instinctively done this with their best customers for years with the intention that these 'VIP' customers will not only buy the new products but recommend them to their friends." (editor@thesynergyonline.com)