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)
NEW
DELHI, JULY 22 : TRANSCEND today launched the StoreJet 25D2-W, a portable
hard drive designed to complement Mac® computers. Featuring a sleek glossy
white finish and certified compatibility with Mac laptop and desktop computers,
this brand new Apple® friendly drive is a must have for fashion-minded users—especially
Mac enthusiasts
According
to Gordon Wu, Regional Head – SAARC, Transcend, “The compact StoreJet
25D2-W portable hard drive is stylish, rugged and ultra-portable. Its shiny gloss-white
lacquer finish resembles the classic Apple style, making it look good with any
Mac computer, including MacBooks, iMacs, MacBook Mini, etc. With full certification
for use with all Mac systems, the StoreJet 25D2-W bears the “Compatible with
Mac OS X” logo that gives Mac users extra peace of mind. Thanks to its trendy
design and multi-platform compatibility, both Windows and Mac users now have a
fantastic choice for storing and carrying their data with style.
Priced
at Rs 6,300 the StoreJet 25D2-W offers immense storage capacity for synchronization
and backup using software such as Mac OSX Time Machine or Transcend’s StoreJet
Elite software for Windows®. Under its seemingly delicate case is an internal
hard drive suspension system that helps prevent damage caused by accidental slips
or falls during travel.
(editor@thesynergyonline.com)
NEW
DELHI, JULY 23 : WORLDWIDE software as a service (SaaS) revenue within
the enterprise application software market is forecast to surpass $8.5 billion
in 2010, up 14.1 percent from 2009 revenue of $7.5 billion, according to Gartner,
Inc. The rapid adoption of SaaS has contributed to growth in varying degrees across
the enterprise software markets. There will be a shift in total SaaS revenue from
just over 10 percent of the combined markets in 2009, to more than 16 percent
of these combined markets in 2014.
Gartner
defines SaaS as software that is owned, delivered and managed remotely by one
or more providers. The provider delivers an application based on a single set
of common code and data definitions, which is consumed in a one-to-many model
by all contracted customers anytime on a pay-for-use basis or as a subscription
based on use metrics.
"After
a decade of use, adoption of SaaS continues to grow and evolve within the enterprise
application markets. As tighter capital budgets demand leaner alternatives, familiarity
with the model increases, and interest in platform as a service and cloud computing
grows," said Sharon Mertz, research director at Gartner. "Adoption varies
between and within markets, and although use is expanding to a wider range of
applications and solutions, the most widespread use is still characterized by
horizontal applications with common processes, among distributed virtual workforce
teams and within Web 2.0 initiatives."
During
2009 and 2010, the significant industry buzz surrounding SaaS and other off-premises
models has shifted to cloud computing — a broad concept, of which SaaS is
only one variation, representing the application layer of the overall cloud architectural
stack. Gartner estimates that 75 percent of the current SaaS delivery revenue
could be considered as a cloud service, and that could exceed 90 percent by 2014
as the SaaS model matures and converges with cloud services models.
"The
popularity of SaaS has increased significantly within the past five years and
initial concerns about security, response time, and service availability have
diminished for many organizations as SaaS business and computing models have matured
and adoption has become more widespread," Ms. Mertz said.
"Usage
and vendors' on-demand 'ecosystems' continue to evolve to provide additional business
and technology services, more-vertical-specific functionality, and stronger communities
of partners and buyers," Ms. Mertz said. "Although some attrition occurred
in 2009 due to business workforce reduction, nearly all SaaS vendors grew revenue,
even during the economic downturn, as buyers continued to confirm their acceptance
of on-demand. We certainly expect adoption of SaaS to far outpace market growth
through 2014."
NEW
DELHI, JULY 21 : THE state-of-the-art international development center of
the , IT consulting services, education, and infrastructure management s services
provider , FCS Software, in India at Noida Special Economic Zone was inaugurated
today by the Union Minister for Tribal Affairs, Govt. Of India, Mr Kantilal Bhuria
. Spread over spread over 25,000 sq feet the centre aims at meeting the burgeoning
global demand.
Explaining
the rationale of the arm in NSEZ Dalip Kumar, Managing Director of FCS Software
dwelt on importance of the centre. He said "by migrating our client's expensive
licensed software applications to high quality, highly secure Open Source solutions
and technology we reduce their IT spend drastically. We also end up moving our
clients from low availability applications environment to cloud computing linked
hosted high availability SaaS application environment."
"What
it also does is that it brings down our client's IT infrastructure budgets because
our services are migrating them to fully hosted solutions from our global data
center partner network," he added.
The
world is in a transition phase as the computing power of hand held devices sharply
increase more and more corporate users will move from a desktop associated environment
to anywhere anytime work culture. We firmly believe that the next wave of productivity
enhancement will come from mobile application. The center will house the company's
first Center of Excellence in Mobile Technologies ," he added.
The
facility will initially have 200 people and will grow to 400 people when fully
functional. This facility has secure connectivity to company's global network
and data center partner network with a host of advanced service offerings. Currently,
FCS already has delivery centers in Noida , Gurgaon, Chandigarh and Dehra Dun
that are built on company owned properties, he further said.
The
company's clientele, inter alia, includes fortune 500 companies in office automation,
retail, software, food and beverages, and investment banks. (editor@thesynergyonline.com)
NEW
DELHI , JULY 21 : SEAGATE Technology plc reported financial results for the
quarter ended July 2, 2010 of 46.8 million disk drive unit shipments, revenue
of $2.66 billion, gross margin of 27.4 percent, net income of $379 million and
diluted earnings per share of $0.76.
The
financial results for the quarter include $6 million of purchased intangibles
amortization expense, $16 million of restructuring charges, $3 million expense
(other income/expense) for the May 2010 termination of Seagate's revolving credit
facility offset by a $6 million recovery of previously impaired long-lived assets
and a $50 million income tax benefit due principally to valuation allowance adjustments
related to deferred tax assets. The aggregate impact of these items was a $31
million increase to net income or approximately $0.06 per diluted share.
For
the fiscal year ended July 2, 2010 the company reported 193.2 million disk drive
unit shipments, revenue of $11.4 billion, gross margin of 28.1 percent, net income
of $1.61 billion and diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $3.14.
The financial results for the fiscal year ended July 2, 2010 include $35 million
of purchased intangibles amortization expense, $66 million of restructuring costs,
$3 million expense (other income/expense) related to the May 2010 termination
of the revolving credit line, a net write down of long-lived assets of $57 million
offset by a $50 million income tax benefit due principally to valuation allowance
adjustments related to deferred tax assets. The aggregate impact of these items
was a $111 million reduction of net income or approximately $0.22 per diluted
share.
"I'm
very encouraged by our financial and operational performance throughout fiscal
2010," said Steve Luczo, Seagate chairman, president and CEO. "In fiscal
year 2010 we delivered record shipments, profitability and operating margin. The
company responded well to the increase in global hard drive demand, which grew
22 percent year-over-year, introduced key new products, continued to strengthen
the capital structure, and remained focused on improving key business fundamentals
to position Seagate for future growth.
"Specific
to our fiscal fourth quarter, two of our key assumptions entering the quarter
did not materialize as expected and impacted our financial results - macro-economic
stability and pricing reflective of balanced supply and demand. Industry demand
in the fiscal fourth quarter was at the low end of our expectations due primarily
to issues emanating from the debt crisis in Europe and slowing consumer spending
especially in the U.S. and Europe.
The
lower unit shipments and unfavorable pricing at some key capacity points impacted
Seagate's ability to deliver revenue and earnings for the quarter within our target
range. Despite these factors, Seagate reported the highest operating results for
a June quarter in the company's history." (editor@thesynergyonline.com)
NEW
DELHI, JULY 10 : GOOGLE India in its efforts to support activities that drive
community initiatives constituted the Google.org Gram Panchayat Puraskar (GGPP).
This award was developed to recognize the very important role that local government
plays in providing services to citizens in rural India.
Google
invited applications from Gram Panchayats and over 100 of them submitted their
innovative ideas that has had some impact on the provision of the following public
services: Education, Health and nutrition, Water supply, Rural infrastructure,
Rural electrification, and Resource mobilization.
These
were then judged on various criteria such as scalability and inclusiveness of
their development scheme, by a panel of judges. Based on their exemplary
work 10 winners were selected from Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. These Panchayats
have been awarded INR 500,000 each to re-invest in their communities for further
development.
One
such exemplary Panchayat, Kirgur Panchayat in Virajpet Taluk in Kodagu district,
was recognized for its innovative effort in the field of providing valuable education
to the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes and the other Panchayat, Shiraguppi
in Belgaum district, for its work in providing clean and safe drinking water to
its residents. Other innovative initiatives in the areas of sustainable agriculture,
health care and sanitation, the provision of street lights, and the introduction
of computer literacy among many other social causes also won the award
Google
India employees from across locations including Hyderabad, Bangalore, Mumbai and
Gurgaon came together and contributed to make this initiative a success.
Karnataka
Winners Kirgur Gram Panchayat in Virajpet Taluk in Kodagu district. Recognized
for Innovation in the area of Education Nagarakere Gram Panchayat in Mandya
district. Recognized for innovation in the area of Education Shiraguppi Gram
Panchayat in Belgaum district. Recognized for innovation in the area of Water
Supply Sanoor Grama Panchayat in Udupi district. Recognized for innovation
in the area of Water Supply Nallur Gram Panchayat in Tumkur district. Recognized
for innovation in the area of Education
Andhra
Pradesh Winners Gangadevipalle Gram Panchayat in Gesukonda district. Recognized
for innovation in the area of Water Supply Pandurangapuram Gram Panchayat in
Nandyal district. Recognized for innovation in the area of Water Supply Medepally
Gram Panchayat in Mudigonda district. Recognized for innovation in the overall
development of the Gram Panchayat Jegurupadu Gram Panchayat in Kadiyam district.
Recognized for innovation in the area of Health & Sanitation Konapur Gram
Panchayat in Nallabelly district. Recognized for innovation in the overall development
of the Gram Panchayat . (editor@thesynergyonline.com)
NEW
DELHI , JULY 16 : TRANSCEND today came out with artistic addition to its JetFlash
family, the 16 GB JetFlash V90C classic keychain USB flash drive that’s high
on fashion. Featuring abundant storage space and a sleek modern geometric pattern,
the impossibly small JetFlash V90C is a stylish must-have for fashion-conscious
mobile storage users.
According
to Gordon Wu, Regional Head – SARRC, Transcend, “Drawing inspiration
from the intuitive and playful aspects of postmodern culture, the front of the
16GB JetFlash V90C is laser-etched with distinctive geometric shapes that create
a striking colorful 3D illusion when light catches it at different angles. The
drive features a cap-less design with a hidden USB connector, and also comes with
a fashionable metal keychain, making it a perfect addition to any set of keys,
wallet or purse.
Tiny
yet spacious, the 4.8 mm-thick 16GB JetFlash V90C USB flash drive’s storage
capacity is large enough to hold up to 6552 pictures (based on 5 megapixel JPEG
compression format) or 240 minutes of 1080p video, enabling business travelers
and ordinary users to effortlessly carry enormous amounts of data while on the
move. Although delicate in appearance, this miniature flash drive’s shiny
metal casing offers solid protection for any valuable digital data stored on it.
For added value, owners of any JetFlash drive can download and install
Transcend’s useful JetFlash Elite data management tools to enhance mobile
productivity. The JetFlash Elite software can turn the JetFlash drive into a key
to automatically log on to website accounts, or even temporarily lock a computer
to prevent unauthorized access. As with its predecessors, the 16GB JetFlash V90C
USB flash drive is backed by Transcend’s industry-leading lifetime warranty.
Priced
at Rs 3000 (16 GB capacity) the JetFlash V90C offers up to 15MB/s transfer speeds
and is now available in four capacities: 2GB, 4GB, 8GB and 16GB with lifetime
warranty. (editor@thesynergyonline.com)
Thesynergyonline
Infotech Bureau
NEW
DELHI, JULY 25 : CSC has been positioned in the "leaders" quadrant
of the Gartner report, Magic Quadrant for Communications Outsourcing and Professional
Services (COPS), North America. The report published on June 30, 2010, reviewed
16 vendors of information technology (IT) services for business communications
systems in North America.
According
to Gartner, "The market for businesses sourcing the ongoing operation and
support of connectivity and communications systems to third-party vendors continues
to gain significant traction among businesses of all sizes."
They
later write, "While the cost benefits related to outsourcing are a significant
driver in the market, there are new market force trends emerging in forthcoming
COPS deals. Among the most significant trends seen are business' requirements
to bring robust, integrated unified communications (UC) portfolios to the table
for consideration once the consolidation and optimization phases are completed."
"CSC
provides a unique and independent approach for communication solutions for the
world's largest and most successful enterprises," said Russ Owen, president
of CSC's Managed Services Sector. "Our focus on implementing long-term strategies
and integrating innovative technologies is allowing our customers to meet their
unique requirements and focus on the priorities that drive their business success."
"We
believe CSC's placement in the leaders quadrant demonstrates we deliver advanced,
secure and sustainable communication solutions available today," he added..
The
report was authored by Eric Goodness and covers communications outsourcing and
professional services in North America.
(editor@thesynergyonline.com)
NEW
DELHI, JULY 14 : STATEMENT on Auditing Standards (SAS) 70 is being misused
by many vendors, and often their customers and certified public accountants (CPAs),
in the hosted-application, software as a service (SaaS) and cloud computing spaces,
according to Gartner, Inc.
Gartner
analysts said SAS 70 is too often treated by vendors and their customers as a
certification "proving" security and compliance with privacy or other
regulations that require enterprises to monitor their exposure to vendor risks.
"SAS
70 is basically an expensive auditing process to support compliance with financial
reporting rules like the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX)," said French Caldwell,
research vice president at Gartner. "Chief information security officers
(CISOs), compliance and risk managers, vendor managers, procurement professionals,
and others involved in the purchase or sale of IT services and software need to
recognize that SAS 70 is not a security, continuity or privacy compliance standard."
Published
by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), SAS 70 provides
a service provider's auditor with guidance on how it should report on process-related
risks relevant to financial statements and transaction processing. Intended for
use by the customer's auditor, the result of a SAS 70 is either a Type I attestation
that the processes as documented are sufficient to meet specific control objectives,
or a Type II attestation, which additionally includes an on-site evaluation to
determine whether the processes and controls actually function as anticipated.
"Many
providers of traditional application hosting, SaaS and cloud computing are currently
treating SAS 70 as if it were a form of certification, which it is not,"
said Jay Heiser, research vice president at Gartner. "Furthermore, some claim
that SAS 70 addresses security, privacy and continuity, which is misleading. Instead,
it is only a generic guideline for the preparation, procedure and format of an
auditing report. SAS 70 always places the onus on the service recipient, or more
precisely, on the recipient's auditor, to ensure that all controls relevant to
the recipient's requirements are examined."
In
its intended context of financial reporting and transaction services, buyers'
auditors could reasonably be expected to know what controls are needed to meet
buyers' contractual requirements, and to identify gaps, but this is not the case
with alternative computing delivery models. Gartner does not consider the auditing
profession as being the most appropriate provider for all forms of IT risk assessment.
"Given
that SAS 70 cannot be considered as proof that an offered IT service is secure,
it should be a matter of suspicion when a vendor insists that it is," Mr.
Heiser said. "Vendor claims to be 'SAS 70 certified' indicate either ignorance
or deception, neither of which is a good basis for trust. The only thing that
can conclusively be said about having a SAS 70 Type II attestation is that an
auditing firm has agreed that the service provider is effectively performing those
controls that they paid the auditing firm to evaluate."
Nevertheless,
Gartner analysts said a SAS 70 Type II evaluation does provide a very high degree
of assurance that the examined controls are effective. The performance of controls
is evaluated over a period of time; it is not just a snapshot of control effectiveness.
However, customers should never assume that the provider has implemented all the
appropriate controls, and they must review the controls documentation at a minimum
and, ideally, review the complete evaluation report.
SAS
70 is one of several mechanisms that can be used to evaluate a service provider's
control environment. Gartner recommends a mix of the following methods that can
be used to supplement or serve as an alternative to SAS 70: background and reference
checks; vendor self-assessment and attached evidence (evidence could include SAS
70, Payment Card Industry security assessments, self-testing, and records from
other external audits and assessors); on-site audit or assessment by the enterprise's
own security assessors or internal auditors and application of direct controls
on the services provider, for example having vendor employees undertake the organization's
ethics training and sign off on the code-of-conduct policy.
Enterprises
may also want to evaluate alternative assessment standards for vendor security,
compliance and risk management, such as International Organization for Standardization
(ISO) standard certifications, BITS Shared Assessments (which are provided by
a consortium of service providers, their customers, audit firms and other third-party
assessors), SysTrust and WebTrust (which are formal security certifications that
are sponsored by the AICPA and carried out by CPA-qualified auditors), and AT
Section 101, which is a flexible attestation procedure sponsored by AICPA that
can be used by any CPA-qualified auditor.
"Standards
organizations are in the process of adapting their standards to better address
the unique risk issues of cloud computing. Their efforts are iterative, and service
providers, customers and auditors must ensure that the standards and assessment
procedures that they adopt align with the specific cloud environment of the service
provider," Mr. Caldwell said.
"To
ensure that vendor controls are effective for security, privacy compliance and
vendor risk management, SAS 70, its successor Statement on Standards for Attestation
Engagements (SSAE) 16, and other national audit standard equivalents should be
supplemented with self-assessments and agreed-upon audit procedures," he
added. (editor@thesynergyonline.com)
NEW
DELHI, JULY 13 : TRANSCEND Information, Inc., a worldwide player in storage
and multimedia products has now come up with a new initiative - the Indian online
shop . This e-commerce venture launched by Transcend in India is in association
with its India distributor Supertron Electronics .
According
to Mr. Austin Huang, Director - Sales, Transcend Asia, "Customers can take
a look at the exhaustive range of Transcend products available in varying capacities,
colors and form factors; study the specifications in order to compare; order and
pay for selected products online; track their orders; download drivers etc., on
this shopping portal."
"The
products made available here include Transcend's MP3 players, USB flash drives,
digital photo frames, USB external hard drives, solid state drives and peripherals
like CD/DVD burners and card readers. For shopping worth Rs 5000 or more, the
shipping is offered absolutely free of cost to the customers," he added.
The
company aims at connecting with its customers especially in the younger age group
who are generally very net savvy. To celebrate the launch of its online shop,
it has announced an online event which is essentially a Speeding Racing game.
It
offers prizes for those who take an attempt at the game till July 30, 2010. If
visitors are able to complete the game within 60 seconds and leave in their contact
details, five winners shall be selected randomly and given a 4GB Transcend JetFlash
600 USB drive. If they are able to score 12000 points or more, three winners shall
be selected randomly and given 4GB Transcend MP860 digital music players.
And
if visitors invite five of their contacts to the game, three winners shall be
selected randomly and given 500GB Transcend StoreJet 25M portable hard drive.
Those who become the fans at Transcend India Facebook page and join the event,
also stand to win Transcend RDP7 multi-card reader (black). Six such winners shall
be selected randomly. Also, after playing the game, visitors will get a super
discount for Transcend "hot" items on the newly opened shopping portal.
(editor@thesynergyonline.com)
Thesynergyonline
Infotech Bureau
NEW
DELHI, JULY 12 : ALL cloud services customers should have some basic rights
to protect their interests, and Gartner, Inc.'s Global IT Council for Cloud Services
has defined six rights and one responsibility of service customers that will help
providers and consumers establish and maintain successful business relationships.
Gartner
has established the Global IT Council for Cloud Services to facilitate successful
business relationships between cloud service providers and consumers.
The
Council, which consists of CIOs of large enterprises that consume cloud services
and Gartner analysts, has made identifying key rights of service consumers and
how they might be upheld, a key priority.
"If
cloud services are commoditized, providers should offer stronger customer guarantees,"
said Daryl Plummer, managing vice president and Gartner fellow. "However,
service providers either do not offer protections or vary greatly in the protections
they do offer. We believe that the Global IT Council for Cloud Services can facilitate
improvements in industry practices that will benefit not only IT customers and
clients, but also developers, vendors and other stakeholders."
The
Gartner Global IT Council for Cloud Services is examining the most pressing issues
affecting cloud computing today, and the Council has identified six rights and
one responsibility of cloud computing services consumers that it believes will
enable providers and consumers to work more productively together. They include:
"
The right to retain ownership, use and control one's own data - Service consumers
should retain ownership of, and the rights to use, their own data. The Council
insisted on the importance of data security in the issue of ownership and control.
The provider must specify what it can do with the consumer's data. Lack of clarity
on this point can lead to costly legal battles. Lastly, the consumer could lose
control of its data if the service provider goes out of business or is sold to
another company. The original contract or service-level agreement must provide
for the clear disposition of the service consumer's data, in case the provider
can no longer provide service.
The
right to service-level agreements that address liabilities, remediation and business
outcomes - All computing services - including cloud services - suffer slowdowns
and failures. However, cloud services providers seldom commit to recovery times,
specify the forms of remediation or spell out the procedures they will follow.
To make service-level agreements relevant to the business, providers do not have
to customize them for every consumer; rather, the agreements should comprehensively
address the business issues implied in the type of service offered. The provider's
contract should not simply guarantee a certain turnaround time for adding capacity;
it should specify how it will deliver that capacity.
"
The right to notification and choice about changes that affect the service consumers'
business processes - Every service provider will need to take down its systems,
interrupt its services or make other changes in order to increase capacity and
otherwise ensure that its infrastructure will serve consumers adequately in the
long term. Protecting the consumer's business processes entails providing advanced
notification of major upgrades or system changes, and granting the consumer some
control over when it makes the switch. Such changes might include upgrading a
software-as-a-service application, implementing salesforce.com, introducing new
versions of services, changing the location from which the service is provided,
entering or exiting a business, shuttering a facility, and so on.
"
The right to understand the technical limitations or requirements of the service
up front - Most service providers do not fully explain their own systems, technical
requirements and limitations so that after consumers have committed to a cloud
service, they run the risk of not being able to adjust to major changes, at least
not without a big investment. Service consumers and providers must do a better
job of keeping each other informed about their technical limitations, particularly
for complex, long-term projects or complex architectures and systems.
"
The right to understand the legal requirements of jurisdictions in which the provider
operates - If the cloud provider stores or transports the consumer's data in or
through a foreign country, the service consumer becomes subject to laws and regulations
it may not know anything about. Service providers have not done a good job of
explaining which jurisdictions they put data in and what legal requirements the
service consumer must, therefore, meet. The service consumer needs reassurance
that the provider does not violate any country's rules for which the consumer
may be held accountable.
"
The right to know what security processes the provider follows - With cloud computing,
security breaches can happen at multiple levels of technology and use. Service
consumers must understand the processes a provider uses, so that security at one
level (such as the server) does not subvert security at another level (such as
the network). Without this knowledge, service consumers risk security violations
caused solely by the provider not accounting for the ways in which consumers might
use a service. Service consumers also need to understand a provider's business
continuity plans, so that they can ensure that their own operations continue in
an emergency. Service providers are not consistent in explaining either their
security processes or their business continuity plans.
"
The responsibility to understand and adhere to software license requirements -
Providers and consumers must come to an understanding about how the proper use
of software licenses will be assured. On the one hand, providers must be held
harmless, if the service consumer puts the software it licenses from a third party
in the cloud yet violates the licensing agreement. On the other hand, the provider
should not agree to an audit directly by the vendor, if the consumer owns the
software licenses. The service consumer must take charge of the audit, because
it needs to consider the whole context - both what the consumer runs in the cloud
(perhaps using several service providers) and what it runs on its own infrastructure.
"Seven
rights and responsibilities will benefit both service providers and service consumers.
Respecting these rights will require effort and expense from providers, but securing
the rights will encourage enterprises to put more of their business into the cloud,"
said Mr. Plummer. "However, the seven rights will not become a reality unless
enterprises insist on them when they negotiate with service providers. We urge
all enterprises to do what they can to establish these rights and responsibilities
as the standard for cloud computing." (editor@thesynergyonline.com)
NEW
DELHI, JULY 09 : IN 2008, most CIOs were forgiven for being unprepared to
deal with the global recession, but if another recession unfolds in the next 12
to 18 months, no CIO will be forgiven for being unprepared a second time, according
to Gartner, Inc.
In May 2010, investor
doubts about the health of the global economy returned to the
world's capital markets with a vengeance. The possibility of nations defaulting
on repaying massive loans, high unemployment rates, depressed housing prices,
limited access to consumer and business credit, a growing belief that a sustained
economic recovery may not be possible this year, and an array of other factors
have all combined to shake investor confidence to its core.
As
these and other factors were unfolding, many economists were still maintaining
that 2010 and beyond would be a period of modest recovery and growth. Because
so much uncertainty exists about the sustainability of the current recovery, CIOs
should confront such uncertainty with clear and decisive action. They should augment
current near-term plans by preparing for a second recession.
"Just
the potential for a second business downturn should be sufficient to compel CIOs
to plan for another business downturn," said Ken McGee, vice president and
Gartner fellow. "However, most CIOs will not have a response strategy prepared
if a second business downturn occurs."
Mr.
McGee said CIOs today are uniquely placed to tackle a second economic downturn,
if they plan accordingly.
"As
questions, or even doubts, grow about the ability for economies to recover, CIOs
in 2010 have one advantage over their predecessors. For the first time in the
history of the IT industry, more than 90 percent of CIOs today possess extremely
recent and practical experience dealing with a recession," Mr. McGee
said. "In light of this fact, we strongly urge these recession-hardened CIOs
to leverage their recently acquired and economic battle-scarred experiences by
proactively preparing their entire enterprises should another economic downturn
occur within the next 12 to 18 months."
Gartner
recommends that CIOs take the following key actions to ensure that their enterprises
are best placed to weather any potential financial storms over the next 12 to
18 months:
·
Enlist C-Level Action Now — As IT leaders learned from the recent recession,
executives will once again have to make a multitude of decisions to minimize the
effects of a second business downturn. Because most official national recession
declarations are announced well after the actual start of a recession, IT leaders
should suggest that their enterprise executives convene now, so that business
downturn response guidelines may be established before capital markets, customers,
suppliers, creditors, etc. panic in the wake of bad economic news.
·
Focus on the Current Fiscal Year — To save money as quickly as possible in
the event of another business downturn, CIOs should work with executives to determine
which IT projects scheduled and approved under the current IT budget may be postponed
and which may be entirely canceled. Likewise, once all projects for the next fiscal
year are identified, CIOs should determine which of those projects may be postponed
and which may be entirely canceled.
·
Focus on the Next Fiscal Year — Once all projects for 2011 are identified,
simultaneously determine which of those 2011 projects are relatively expendable
and, therefore, may be postponed and which may be canceled, should deteriorating
business conditions warrant such steps. Of course, the decision process for determining
which projects may be postponed or canceled must include an assessment of the
contractual exposures that may exist or arise with IT vendors for hardware, software
and services.
·
Use Zero-Based Budgeting for Projects — As CIOs begin preparing for their
2011 budgets, they should adopt zero-based budgeting for projects in 2011. CIOs
need to strongly suggest to C-level executives that all business unit executives
sign documents affirming their understanding of: o The one-time costs that
will be incurred to implement their 2011 projects o The annual recurring costs
required to maintain those projects once they are completed
·
Use Zero-Based Budgeting for Existing Applications — CIOs should compile
an inventory of existing applications that are maintained by the IT staff and
assign a reasonable estimate of the annual cost incurred to maintain each application.
Once calculated, Gartner recommends having the business unit executives sign a
document affirming their understanding of the estimated annual cost for overseeing
and maintaining their applications.
"Our
bottom-line advice is to prepare the 'second recession' plan, rehearse the 'second
recession' plan and hope that you never have to use the 'second recession' plan,"
Mr. McGee said. (editor@thesynergyonline.com)
Thesynergyonline
Infotech Bureau
NEW
DELHI, JUNE 06 : THE Asia Pacific personal computer (PC) market is forecast
to grow 20.3 percent in 2010, reaching 114.6 million unit shipments, according
to Gartner's latest forecast. Spending on PCs in Asia Pacific is forecast to grow
12.4 percent in 2010, compared to only 2.9 percent in 2009, due to a sharper decline
in average selling prices for PCs in 2009.
"While
the overall growth in Asia Pacific was strong in 2009, at a country level India
and the more mature markets with high PC penetration exhibited weak PC shipments,"
said Lillian Tay, principal research analyst at Gartner. "However, the improving
worldwide economy should lead to better confidence to invest in 2010, especially
in Taiwan, South Korea and Singapore. Similarly in India, PC buyers are now more
confident to spend, with employment on the upswing."
In
2009, PC unit growth was spearheaded by China and the South Asian markets. China
took 59 percent of all PCs shipped in the region, up from 54 percent in 2008.
In 2010, government stimulus programs, including stimulation of domestic consumption,
helped to mitigate the adverse effect of the US and European recessions on these
export-oriented economies. Gartner expects China to represent 60 percent of all
PCs shipped in Asia Pacific and 19 percent of PC shipments worldwide in 2010.
Between
2009 and 2014, the Asia Pacific PC market will register a compound average growth
rate (CAGR) of 15.7 percent. Emerging PC markets will lead the growth, particularly
China and India. South Asian markets such as Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam
are also expected to perform strongly.
"In
the mature PC markets, we expect stronger growth for 2010 and 2011 as PC replacements
gain momentum. This reflects an expectation of increased IT budgets and adoption
of Windows 7 by organisations replacing PCs that are beyond their useful life,"
said Ms Tay.
Mobile-for-desk-based
PC substitution continues unabated and first-time PC buyers are increasingly turning
to mobile PCs. Mobile PC units will grow 35.2 percent in 2010 reaching 53.2 million.
In 2011, a milestone will be reached where mobile PC shipments will take 51 percent
share of all PCs shipped in Asia Pacific.
Overall
Asia Pacific desk-based PC unit shipments will increase 9.9 percent to 61.4 million
units in 2010, largely driven by the success of a rural PC program in China, where
70 percent to 80 percent of PCs shipped are desk-based PCs. In other markets it
will be driven by the replacement of aged desk-based PCs.
In
China, PC shipment growth is expected to reach 22.1 percent. Government and education
segments will have the most stable demand for PCs in the professional market.
The government announced early this year that it will try to increase education
spending to four percent of 2010 GDP and is focused on creating opportunities
in schools and kindergartens using PCs.
The
Chinese government is also looking inward in stimulating domestic consumption
to drive China's growth and rely less on export-oriented growth. Therefore, the
government can be expected to promote more entrepreneurship and initiatives to
help small and midsize businesses become agile and productive, with the PC an
integral tool in office productivity.
Also
driving growth in China will be the urbanisation of an estimated 65 million people
as they move from the country to small and midsize cities and towns within five
years. Urbanisation requires better infrastructure, and therefore the need for
more electrical appliances to improve the standard of living, with PCs one of
these items.
India's
recovering economy, which is expected to grow 8.5 percent in 2010, will be the
main driver behind PC shipment growth of 19.4 percent, compared to a decline of
3.8 percent in 2009. Growth will be restored to industries most affected by the
recession; spurring major hiring that will require increased PC budgets to support
new employees.
There
is more "bullishness" witnessed among small and midsize businesses,
while government and education are the other two verticals that have increased
their spending. At the same time, increasing job opportunities creates a sense
of optimism and security among consumers, leading to an increase in discretionary
spending.
The
rural economy is doing better, which should lead to incremental PC sales This
opportunity is immense, but it will need more improvements in basic infrastructure,
such as electricity and telecommunications, which will take another two to three
years.
In
more mature markets (Taiwan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and
Singapore), business will be the biggest growth area in 2010 due to PC replacements
that were held off in the past 18 months.. Mobile PC growth will continue to
be strong as more desk-based PCs are replaced by mobile PCs due to the need for
mobility and flexibility in working anywhere. Desk-based PC growth will mainly
be sustained by government and education, as well as areas of business. The professional
market for desk-based PCs will grow slightly in 2010 and 2011 and decrease from
then onward.
For
the home market, the desk-based PC remains popular with gamers and buyers who
look for flexibility in configuration and performance. Demand for mini-notebooks
is expected to taper off in these markets from 2010, but will remain attractive
to students where the low price fits the budget. Mini-notebooks will contribute
increasingly less growth over the period as they face increasing competition from
other value-priced better performance mobile PCs and new devices like Apple's
iPad. (editor@thesynergyonline.com)
NEW
DELHI, JULY 02 : WORLDWIDE IT spending is forecast to total $3.350 trillion
in 2010, an increase of 3.9 percent from 2009 spending of $3.225 trillion, according
to the latest outlook by Gartner, Inc. Gartner has lowered its outlook for the
IT industry from the first quarter of this year when it forecast worldwide IT
spending to grow 5.3 percent, primarily due to the devaluation of the euro versus
the U.S. dollar since the beginning of the year.
"The
European sovereign debt crisis is having an impact on the outlook for IT spending,"
said Richard Gordon, research vice president at Gartner. "The U.S. dollar
has strengthened against the euro during the second quarter of 2010, and this
trend will likely continue in the second half of 2010, which will put downward
pressure on US.-dollar-denominated IT spending growth."
"Longer-term,
public-sector spending will be curtailed in Europe as governments struggle to
bring budget deficits under control during the next five years and to reduce debt
during the next 10 years," Mr. Gordon said. "Private-sector economic
activity will also likely be hindered because of the direct impact of austerity
measures on key government suppliers and the indirect impact caused by the 'ripple
effect.' An effective policy response will be critical to stimulate investment
in general and in IT in particular."
Worldwide
computing hardware spending is forecast to reach $365 billion in 2010, up 9.1
percent from 2009 spending (see Table 1). "The computing hardware sector
continues to benefit from a healthy PC sector, which accounts for two-thirds of
total spending in this area, and we expect PC shipments to remain robust throughout
2010 and 2011," Mr. Gordon said. "Consumer shipments will continue to
be powered by strong mobile PC uptake, while professional shipments will be buoyed
by a new replacement cycle and migration to Windows 7."
In
software, IT services and telecommunications, the appreciation in the value of
the U.S. dollar, especially against the euro, has acted to dampen U.S.-dollar-denominated
growth in 2010.
"Our
latest IT spending forecast reflects the fact that the global economic outlook
is stable but vulnerable to shocks in key regions and industries, which means
that IT spending decisions are still scrutinized for value," Mr. Gordon said.
"CEOs are targeting 2010 as a 'return to growth' year, and to enable growth
strategies, CFOs expect increased IT spending.
However,
CIOs are seeing only marginal increases in budgets and are constrained to essential
enterprise IT spending with discretionary spending still on hold. In the consumer
sector, confidence is improving, although consumers are still wary of the threat
of unemployment." (editor@thesynergyonline.com)
NEW
DELHI, JUNE 29 : IACM SmartLearn , the growing IT hardware, networking and
security systems management training company in India, has announced special schemes
for its Master Connect program, which is a 14-months computer hardware Networking
and Security Systems training program for 10+2 students, graduates, engineers,
diploma holders and industry professionals.
Under
its CSR initiative, company is offering special discounts to class XII passouts
by rewarding them a never before cost rebate equivalent to their board marks for
their Master Connect Program, which can go upto 50 percent.
The
company has also announced special offers for its CCNA and MCITP courses which
are available at special price of Rs 3500 and Rs. 9000 respectively and has guaranteed
unlimited placement support to all the students who gets enrolled with IACM, even
after they get their job thus assisting in their career path.
The
company trained over 25,000 students who are very well placed with reputed companies
and now with such novel schemes, the company is hopeful to add more students who
want to shape up their career in IT and related fields." (editor@thesynergyonline.com)
Thesyneergyonline
Infotrch Bureau
NEW
DELHJI, JUNE 25 : MICRO Star International (MSI) expanded its gaming notebook
lineup in India with the king of gaming laptops - GT660. To meet gamer needs,
MSI, in cooperation with professional recording and sound systems Dynaudio, employed
craftsmanship to fashion the GT660.
Incorporating
exceptional hardware, as the company claims , GT660 is the first notebook in the
world with MSI's own TDE+ (Turbo Drive Engine+) technology to enhance processor
and display performance.
MSI
India Managing Director Tony Yang points out that the GT660 employs the Intel
Arrandale notebook platform with the powerful Intel Core i7 processor which comes
with the nVIDIA GeForce GTX 285M (1GB GDDR3 display memory) discrete graphics
card with MSI's exclusive TDE+ (Turbo Drive) technology to boost overall system
performance and graphics processing capabilities with just one touch. And as if
that weren't enough, MSI, in close cooperation with world-class sound system designer
and manufacturer Dynaudio, designed GT660's incredible sound system to give you
the equipment you need to truly enjoy your multimedia.
The
MSI GT660 will shatter this stereotype. Driven by high standards for sound quality,
MSI and Dynaudio designed and built a notebook with exceptional sound to meet
your need for fidelity.
To
build a laptop with superb sound, you need to be meticulous about every detail.
Speaker locations and sound field design have to be calculated with precision.
In the early stages of development, vast amounts of study and countless calculations
were carried out on the GT660 to determine the ideal locations to install speakers
to obtain obstruction-free sound transmission.
MSI
and Dynaudio have designed high quality speaker units with almost no coloration
as well as an optimal sound card circuit based on speaker and system configuration.
Over 1200 hours were spent in testing and tweaking each frequency to obtain ideal
tone and balance, so no matter what kind of music you listen to, you'll get crisp,
clean sound at all frequency levels.
MSI's GT660 is the world's first NB computer to come with TDE+ technology to enhance
both processor and display performance. With MSI's own TDE+ (Turbo Drive Engine+
technology), you can increase processor, memory, and display chip performance
instantly with one touch of the luminescent Turbo hotkey above the keyboard. The
power boost gives you crisp response even with resource-hungry graphics applications
and more importantly, when you're slaying orcs or battling baddies on the other
side of the galaxy.
The
MSI GT660 comes equipped with nVIDIA's most advanced GeForce GTX 285M discrete
graphics card with 128 3D stream processor and 1GB GDDR3 of display memory and
nVIDIA® CUDA™ technology to truly unleash the machine's image and graphics
processing potential, allowing the GT660 to execute such high load tasks as conferencing
and ripping with ease. The GeForce GTX 285M discrete graphics card also supports
nVIDIA® PhysX™ Technology, introducing you to a whole new world of extreme
playing, courtesy of super dynamic and realistic graphics.
In
addition to the TDE+ technology, the GT660 comes with MSI's own Cooler Boost technology
tailor made for the GT660's revved up hardware. One touch of the luminescent hotkey
located above the keyboard initiates the powerful cooling capabilities, keeping
your system cool as a cucumber even in the hottest work conditions.
MSI's
GT660 claims to have the most powerful hard/software, including Intel's latest
Core i7 quad core processor and the high end nVIDIA GeForce GTX 285M (1GB GDDR3
display memory) discrete graphics card as well as Intel's Turbo Boost technology,
allowing you to power up or down as necessary, depending on the load requirements
of the task at hand.
To
give NB gamers the power they need, the GT660 is the only laptop equipped with
three DDR3 memory slots, so you can expand memory to 12GB, giving your NB performance
heretofore found only in servers. USB3.0 ports: The GT660 come with the latest
USB3.0 ports which transfer speeds of 4.8Gbs-10 times faster than those of the
USB2.0, and 80% higher power transmission, providing vastly higher data transfer
and charging speeds for external hard drives, thumb drives, and other handheld
electronic devices.
The
GT660 follows the tradition of the MSI G series of NB computers in that it's just
plain cool looking. The glowing white MSI logo on the cover is set in the middle
of a raised black diamond trident below a smoldering red slash a la Knight Rider.
Hip yet low key-that's the GT660. The rhombic pattern on the wrist areas and high
tech brush finish on the touchpad add class and texture. The body is sheathed
in MSI's exclusive glossy color film print to protect the GT660 from scratches
and wear, while enhancing its stunning looks.
The
MSI GT660 has another cool feature-a one-of-a-kind LED light show, highlighting
LED lights around the NB's edges. So whether you're listening to music or engrossed
in an exciting, fast paced game, you can flick on the MSI LED light show hotkey
with the touch of a finger and lights embedded on both sides of the notebook and
in front of the keyboard will pulsate automatically to sounds emitted by your
laptop, kicking the thrill level of your GT660 up a few notches. (editor@thesynergyonline.com)
NEW
DELHI, JUNE 22 : WORLDWIDE cloud services revenue is forecast to reach $68.3
billion in 2010, a 16.6 percent increase from 2009 revenue of $58.6 billion, according
to Gartner, Inc. The industry is poised for strong growth by 2014, when worldwide
cloud services revenue is projected to reach $148.8 billion.
"We
are seeing an acceleration of adoption of cloud computing and cloud services among
enterprises and an explosion of supply-side activity as technology providers maneuver
to exploit the growing commercial opportunity," said Ben Pring, research
vice president at Gartner. "The scale of application deployments is growing;
multi-thousand-seat deals are increasingly common. IT managers are thinking strategically
about cloud service deployments; more-progressive enterprises are thinking through
what their IT operations will look like in a world of increasing cloud service
leverage. This was highly unusual a year ago."
Gartner
estimates that, over the course of the next five years, enterprises will spend
$112 billion cumulatively on software as a service (SaaS), platform as a service
(PaaS), and infrastructure as a service (IaaS), combined.
"After
many years of germination, most notably in the SaaS arena, the core ideas at the
heart of cloud computing - such as pay for use, multi-tenancy and external services
- appear to be resonating more strongly," Mr. Pring said. "In part,
this can be explained by macroeconomic factors. The financial turbulence of the
last 18 months has meant every organization has been scrutinizing every expenditure.
An IT solution that can deliver functionality less expensively and with more agility
(remembering that time is money) is hard to ignore against this backdrop."
More
fundamentally, cloud computing has become more material, because the challenges
inherent in managing technology based on the principles of previous eras - complex,
custom, expensive solutions managed by large in-house IT teams - have become greater,
and the benefits of cloud computing in addressing these challenges have matured
to become more appropriate and attractive to all types of enterprises."
Gartner
is seeing an acceleration of adoption of cloud computing and cloud services among
enterprises and an explosion of supply-side activity as technology providers maneuver
to exploit the growing commercial opportunity. North American and European markets
represent the largest markets from a geographic perspective, and while other geographies
around the world will experience growth, this growth will not notably alter the
overall weighting away from the larger, more-mature regions over the course of
the next five years.
The
US share of the worldwide cloud services market was 60 percent in 2009 and will
be 58 percent in 2010, but by 2014, this will be diluted to 50 percent as other
countries and regions begin to adopt cloud services in more-significant volumes.
Western Europe is expected to account for 23.8 percent of the cloud services market
in 2010, and Japan will represent 10 percent. In 2014, the U.K. is forecast to
account for 29 percent of the market, while Japan will represent 12 percent of
cloud services revenue.
"We
have not seen any evidence yet to support the often-touted hypothesis that smaller
and/or developing countries will "leapfrog" Western markets - and come
to represent a large proportion of the overall worldwide market - through their
adoption of the Internet and cloud services," Mr. Pring said.
In
industry terms, the financial services and manufacturing industries are the largest
early adopters of cloud services. Communications and high-tech industries are
also leveraging the cloud in significant volume, while the public sector is also
clearly interested in the potential of cloud services and its share of the overall
market.
However,
Mr. Pring said that, although interest in cloud computing has grown, many enterprises
still have strong concerns about the idea of cloud computing and cloud-computing
products as well as cloud services. Security is primary among these, while other
concerns include availability of service, vendor viability and maturity.
"Many
enterprises may be examining cloud computing and cloud services, but are far from
convinced that it is appropriate for their requirements," he said. "We
expect that this will be a significant opportunity for existing IT services players
to evolve their current offerings - such as outsourcing, system integration, development,
etc. - to become cloud-enabled and try to combine the best of the two worlds,
namely traditional IT services and cloud computing." (editor@thesynergyonline.com)
NEW
DELHI, India, JUNE 12: BROCADE (R) today introduced Brocade One(TM), the unifying
network architecture and strategy that enables customers to simplify the complexity
of virtualizing their applications.
By removing network layers, simplifying management and protecting existing technology
investments, Brocade One helps customers migrate to a world where information
and services are available anywhere in the cloud.
In
the data center, Brocade shares a common industry view that IT infrastructures
will eventually evolve to a highly virtualized, services-on-demand state enabled
through the cloud. The unique Brocade vision is based on the firm belief that
the process, an evolutionary path toward this desired end-state, is as important
as reaching the end-state.
This
evolution has started inside the data center and Brocade offered innovated insights
on the challenges faced as it moves out to the rest of the network.
The
realization of this vision requires radically simplified network architectures.
This is best achieved through a deep understanding of data center networking intricacies
and the rejection of rip-and-replace deployment scenarios with vertically integrated
stacks sourced from a single vendor. In contrast, the Brocade One architecture
takes a customer-centric approach.
"Driven
by the growth of server virtualization, continued growth of data and the proliferation
of devices connected to the network, the networking industry is on the cusp of
a major innovation cycle," said Mike Klayko, CEO of Brocade.
"Virtualized
data centers will enable the realization of cloud architectures where services
and applications can be delivered on-demand and at much greater speeds than is
possible today. I am proud of our company's leadership in driving network innovation
in this new era as we demonstrated today at our Technology Day," he added.
Executing
on the Brocade One architecture, Brocade will offer a comprehensive suite of solutions
in support of converged fabrics and Ethernet networking.
(editor@thesynergyonline.com)
NEW
DELHI, JUNE 11 : WHILE security risks are not going away for companies, efficient
and secure enterprises will actually safely reduce the share of security spending
by 3 to 6 percent of their overall IT budgets through 2011, according to Gartner,
Inc. Organizations with very mature and recently updated security programs will
be able to show even greater efficiencies.
"The
average percentage of IT spending that security will comprise in 2010 is 5 percent,
down from 6 percent in 2009," said Vic Wheatman, research director at Gartner.
"In 2009, in the face of a significant IT spending downturn, security spending
grew slightly as a percentage of the IT budget, while many other IT spending areas
were gutted. With the economic situation projected to improve in 2010, enterprises
are ramping up investments in other spending areas faster than they are for IT
security."
Mr. Wheatman said enterprises continue looking for security
"platforms" such as endpoint security, next-generation firewall, Web
security gateways, e-mail security gateways and multifunction firewalls for
branch offices, where they make sense.
However, Mr Wheatman said that
clients are still looking for best-of-breed solutions, where platforms do not
make sense - such as in vulnerability assessment. In many cases, customers will
seek lower-cost contracts and delivery models and are also starting to explore
the use of open-source tools and internal labor, or contracting for various security
services.
While security spending tied to "keeping the bad guys
out" was not heavily affected by the economy and will remain on pace for
2010, a significant number of IT security organizations had to scale back on large,capital-intensive
projects in 2009. In 2010, however, security spending that is more tightly tied
to new business initiatives, such as complex identity and access management (IAM)
and data loss prevention (DLP) projects, is beginning to reappear.
IAM
is the top security priority for 20 percent of organizations surveyed in Gartner's
2010 CIO Survey, making it the clear leader among the most-important projects.
More than 40 percent of organizations named intrusion prevention systems, patch
management, DLP, antivirus and identity management among the top five security
priorities for 2010.
In addition, spending is set to continue for such
priorities as supporting guest networking and employee teleworking, securing wireless
LANs, meeting Payment Card Industry standards, consolidating audit trails, security
information and event management, and penetration testing requirements.Gartner
is also continuing to see strong spending on intrusion prevention.
North
American companies led security spending in 2009, averaging 5.5 percent of IT
budgets. This compares with 5 percent in Asia/Pacific, 4.8 percent in Latin America
and 4.3 percent in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The security spend also
varied significantly from industry to industry and was typically higher for industries
that are high-visibility or in regulated environments or require higher levels
of risk mitigation, such as professional services (6.8 percent), government (5.9
percent), and banking and financial services (5.3 percent) because of requirements
for the protection of lives, financial assets and intellectual property.
"Determining how much a specific enterprise spends on information security
is not an easy exercise, particularly during time of economic uncertainty, said
Mr.Wheatman. "However, regardless of industry or geography, we would urge
organizations to use their best efforts to evaluate enterprise spending, while
recognizing that they may not be capturing all security spending because of organizationally
diffused security budgets."
Mr. Wheatman will provide more-detailed
analysis on the state of the IT security industry at the Gartner Security &
Risk Management Summit, taking place June 21-23 in Washington D.C.
This
Summit is the premier conference and meeting place for IT and business executives
responsible for creating, implementing and managing a proactive and comprehensive
IT strategy for information security, risk management, compliance and business
continuity management. (editor@thesynergyonline.com)
NEW
DELHI, JUNE 08 : A senior level delegation led by the Additional Secretary
of India's Ministry of Information Technology (IT) visited Taiwan from May 31
to June 3, 2010. The delegation included representatives from union as well as
state government ministries and departments besides senior industry dignitaries
representing a cross-section of
The
main objectives of the delegation are to explore the possibility of cooperation
between the IT industries of India and Taiwan, and promote Taiwanese investments
in IT hardware manufacturing in India. The delegation visited Transcend on May
31 to understand its operations and future plans. During the visit, the Indian
delegation also conducted a brief presentation about the Indian IT industry and
investment opportunities.
"Transcend
hosted high-level IT delegation and exchanged views on current affairs and future
collaborative
opportunities", said Austin Huang, Sales Director of Transcend Asia. He also
underlined that India is an attractive country for investment and that Transcend
has had huge success and market acceptance in India in recent years. "In
addition, more and more Indian IT companies are now realizing the importance of
the memory industry and want to tie up with Transcend for further cooperation,"
said Mr. Huang.
"The
visit to Taiwan is aimed at strengthening understanding and to seek further cooperation
between Taiwan and India," said Mr. Rakesh Singh, the Additional Secretary
of India's Ministry of Information Technology. Mr. Rakesh Singh also proposed
to increase international trade of IT products such as PCs, networking components
and memory products in the future.
India
is the seventh-largest country by geographical area and the second-most populous
country with over 1.1 billion people. The purchasing power of India is currently
ranked No.4, and Indian consumers purchase more than one million personal computers
on average every year.
In
2009, India's nominal GDP stood at US$1.243 trillion, which makes it the eleventh-largest
economy in the world. With an average annual GDP growth rate of 5.8% for the past
two decades, the economy is among the fastest growing in the world.
The
Indian Government representatives included Mr. Rakesh Singh, Additional Secretary,
Ministry of Information Technology Mr. L.B. Singhal, Director General, Foreign
Trade, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry , Mr. Deepak
Sharma, Additional Director, Ministry of Information Technology Mr. Ravi Saxena,
Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, Government of Gujarat SEZ representatives
Mr. R.K. Sonthalia, Chairman, Enfield Infrastructure SEZ, Kolkata Mr. O.P. Kapoor,
Deputy Director General, Export Promotion Council for SEZs Mr. Ajay Nijhawan,
Senior Vice President, Reliance Haryana SEZ Mr. R.V.S. Kadavakolanu; Director,
Business Development, Seer Academy , Hyderabad Mr. Harsha Nelakanti, Seer Academy
, Hyderabad Industry representatives Mr. Dushyant Thakor, General Manager, Invest
India Mr. Ramamurthy Sivakumar, Managing Director, Intel Technology India, Mr.
Vijay Malhi Senior, Vice President, Moser Baer, Mr. Anand Prasad Arkalgud, Associate
Vice President, Infosys Technologies , Mr. Rajesh Raizada, Vice President, HCL
Technologies, Mr. Pankaj Mohindroo, National President, Indian Cellular Association,
Mr. Shibu Abraham Tharakan, Senior Executive, KPMG , Mr. Rajiv Jain, vice president,
Indian Semiconductor Association, Mr. Sanchayan Sinha, Manager, Applled Micro
Circuits Corporation (AMCC) India and Mr. Sujit Chatterjee, Head, Greater China
Region, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) (editor@thesynergyonline.com)
NEW
DELHI, JUNE 04 : REFLECTING a modestly improving global economy, the need
to refresh dated storage infrastructures and the rising deployment of applications
that favor file-access applications, worldwide external controller-based (ECB)
disk storage revenue in the first quarter of 2010 grew 18.3 percent over the same
period last year, according to Gartner, Inc.
Worldwide
ECB revenue totaled $4.5 billion in the first quarter of 2010, up from $3.8 billion
in the first quarter of 2009. Except for the Japan market, the other major geographic
regions grew by double-digits year-over-year, with the North American market growing
25.5 percent.
Due
to the decline that the industry suffered last year, some of the growth rates
appear higher than usual. In comparing first quarter 2010 ECB disk storage revenue
to first quarter 2008 revenue of $4.2 billion, ECB disk storage revenue grew 5.2
percent. File-access ECB disk storage grew from $594.5 million in the first quarter
of 2008 to $846.5 million in the first quarter of 2010, a 42.4 percent increase,
while block access ECB disk storage was flat at $3.6 billion in first quarter
2010 and first quarter 2008.
"The
more cost-effective ECB disk storage systems that conform to the modular architecture
continue to gain share, with the more expensive monolithic/frame-based ECB storage
systems declining to 27.7 percent of the total ECB disk storage market in the
first quarter of 2010," said Roger Cox, research vice president at Gartner.
"Year over year, raw terabyte shipments grew 65 percent in the first quarter
of 2010, while the price per terabyte decreased 28.3 percent."
The
top four vendors achieved greater year-over-year revenue increases than the overall
ECB disk storage market in the first quarter of 2010 (see Table 1). EMC's market
share gain reflects strong Symmetrix, CLARiiON and Celerra organic growth, as
well as its Data Domain acquisition. Gartner estimates that Data Domain revenue
represented $124.6 million of EMC's $1,223.3 billion in the first quarter of 2010.
IBM
also achieved steady internal growth in its DS5000/4000/3000 series, with XIV
systems accounting for 44.4 percent of its year-over-year revenue growth in the
first quarter of 2010. NetApp's unified storage architecture continued to propel
its revenue growth, enabling NetApp to jump from sixth place in the first quarter
of 2009 to third place in the first quarter of 2010.
Dell
continued to strengthen its position in the iSCSI market with its PS Series (EqualLogic)
as well as in the entry-level ECB disk-storage market with its PowerVault MD3000
platform. However, its Dell:EMC-branded CLARiiON products declined $28.9 million
in the first quarter of 2010 over the first quarter of 2009.
The
vendors ranked fifth through eighth in worldwide ECB disk storage revenue all
lost share in the first quarter of 2010. The decline in XP series revenue, coupled
with its anemic position in the fast-growing file-access segment, offset HP's
block-access modular ECB disk storage system revenue gains in the first quarter
of 2010.
With
30.6 percent of its ECB disk storage system revenue coming from Japan, Hitachi/Hitachi
Data System's (HDS's) 1Q10 revenue performance was hampered by the gloomy economy
in Japan. In addition, we also note that its monolithic/frame-based USPV/USPVM
performance, which accounts for 52.8 percent of Hitachi/HDS's 1Q10 revenue, was
down 13.6 percent year-over-year.
Oracle's
first quarter 2010 results reflect the negative impact of the prolonged period
it took to obtain the necessary governmental approvals, and its disengagement
of the StorageTek 9000V series reseller agreement with Hitachi Data Systems. However,
the 7000 series unified storage system represented at least one bright spot for
Oracle in the first quarter of 2010, with revenue increasing to $35.9 million
from $17.7 million in the first quarter of 2009.
While
Fujitsu increased its year-over-year market penetration outside of Japan from
16.3 percent in the first quarter of 2009 to 23.4 percent in the first quarter
of 2010, its first quarter 2010 performance was heavily influenced by Japan's
dour economy, and its reliance on its monolithic/frame-based disk storage system,
which declined 27 percent.
Gartner
ECB disk storage reports reflect hardware-only revenue, as well as hardware revenue
associated with financial leases and managed services. Optional storage software
revenue and storage area network infrastructure components are excluded. (editor@thesynergyonline.com)
NEW
DELHI, India JUNE 03 : IN the first quarter of 2010, a total of 371,060
servers were shipped to the Asia Pacific region, a 27.3 percent increase
from the same quarter in 2009, according to Gartner, Inc. Vendor revenue
was up 8.8 percent over the same period, generating US$1.76 billion.
For
two consecutive quarters, the server market in Asia Pacific has recorded the
fastest growth compared to other regions worldwide. The economic recovery
in this region continued during the first quarter and firmed up business
confidence across different segments, including small and medium businesses (SMBs).
Server
revenue recorded year-on-year growth across Gartner's five sub-regions in
Asia Pacific, with Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) and ASEAN leading the
pack with increases of 36.4 and 17.6 percents respectively during the quarter.
In Greater China and India, despite strong consumption of x86 servers, revenue
growth was somewhat flat at 4.3 and 4.2 percent respectively.
This
was due primarily to the lack of contribution from higher end servers in
non-x86 platforms (mainframe and RISC/IA-64) in this quarter. The Korean
server market finally saw the return of positive growth, with market revenue
up 7.8 percent from the same period in 2009, thanks to continuous improvement
in market confidence that encouraged IT spending.
"Server consolidation
and virtualization still played important roles as growth engines in mature
markets like Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Australia, driving faster adoption
of new processors on richer configured servers," said Erica Gadjuli, principal
analyst at Gartner. "Demand came generally from a mix of financial and
public sectors in those markets."
x86 servers remained as predominant
platform that fostered market growth in this quarter. The product mix in
this segment continued to move towards higher end platforms which resulted
in faster revenue growth of 37.9 percent while shipment was up 30 percent.
The
4 socket x86 servers noted an increase in units share to 6.2 percent from 5.6
percent in previous quarter in addition to 2-way servers that remained on
higher demand and accounted for 73.5 percent of total server shipment currently.
Blade
servers (including x86 blades and RISC/IA-64 blades) growth consistently to be
the fastest compared to other server form factors, rack and tower, with a
47.9 percent year-over-year shipment growth in 1Q10.
All major
vendors benefit from this trend, led by HP and IBM with shipment shares of
47.9 and 28.8 percents, respectively, meanwhile Dell managed to almost double
its blade shipment over the year.
IBM
led the server market in revenue with 39.1 percent and HP was the leader in server
shipment, accounted for 31.9 percent of total market.
HP
and Dell gained advantage from the continuous strong demand of x86 systems and
both vendors reported another double-digit increased on their shipment and revenue
in this quarter. Amongst the top five vendors in revenue terms, Oracle was the
only server vendors that experienced sharp decline currently. (editor@thesynergyonline.com)
NEW
DELHI, JUNE 02 : CHENNAI-BASED Fatpipe Networks India proposes to enger caopigla
market with an initial public offer (IPO) of equity sharesof Rs 10 each to raise
Rs 49 crore .
The
price band of the IPO has been fixed at Rs 82 to Rs 85 which opens for subscription
on June 07, 2010 and will close on June 09, 2010.
The
issue price is 8.2 timemes the face value at the lower end of the price band and
8.5 times the face value at the higher end of the price band.
The
company intends to utilise proceeds of the issue primarily for meeting working
capital requirements and expanding its productline with enhanced research and
debvelopment activiteis.
The
company is looking at establishing 16 new marketing offices worldwide inlcuding
additonal offices in the US and also aiming at strategic acquisition of business
and company.
The
company registered net profit after tax and before extraordinary items at Rs 520.09
lakh for 9 months ended December 31, 2009 and Rs 399.37 lakh for the year ended
March 31, 2009. Its total income stands at Rs 4,591.38 lakh for 9 months ended
December 31, 2009 and Rs 4229.60 lakf for the year ended March 31,2009. (editor@thesynergyonline.com)
NEW
DELHI, JINE 02 : MOST organizations should be planning and testing Windows
7 this year, and most organizations should try to eliminate Windows XP by the
end of 2012, according to Gartner, Inc. Gartner analysts said organizations
need to decide when to begin their migration to Windows 7, set a target date
to have Windows XP out, and decide whether to deploy Windows 7 to all PCs, only
to new PCs, or to a mix.
"In
various Gartner polls and surveys, 80 percent of respondents report skipping Windows
Vista. With Windows XP getting older and Windows 8 nowhere in sight, organizations
need to be planning their migrations to Windows 7," said Michael Silver,
vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. "Windows 7 has
been getting positive reviews, and many clients report that they have plans
to start their production deployments, but there are some that are still undecided
about when to start and how quickly to do the migration."
Gartner
believes that organizations need to get Windows XP out before Microsoft ends support
for it in April 2014, and if possible, they should eliminate it by the end
of 2012 when new versions of many applications are not expected to support
XP, and independent software vendors (ISVs) will increasingly eliminate
XP support.
Once a target end date has been set, the approach to
deployment must be decided. This could take place all at once, in a "forklift"
project, or over time, through attrition, as they replace their PC hardware.
"Organizations
wanting to do as much of the migration as possible though PC refresh or attrition,
should begin by deciding on a start date," said Steve Kleynhans, research
vice president at Gartner. "These organizations should take into account
when their ISVs will provide sufficient Windows 7 support for their applications
and when they will have enough time to test applications, build images and
pilot Windows 7. This will give them their start date."
Taking
the attrition approach will immediately identify the time scale for the project.
Organizations should consider their PC refresh rate and their target end
date in order to determine how many PCs can be moved to Windows 7 by attrition.
However, based on the typical PC refresh rate, many organizations will not
be able to get Windows XP out by their target end date by moving to Windows 7
by attrition alone.
To
determine the length of the migration when using the forklift approach, organizations
need to work backward from their target end date to find the latest date
they can begin the actual deployment, and continue working backward to understand
the latest starting dates for piloting and testing. Most organizations need
12 to 18 months for planning, testing and piloting.
In both
scenarios, the length of time for the actual migration should take into
consideration the cost of supporting an environment with multiple versions
of Windows, as well as the cost to deploy a new operating system to every
user - which, for organizations without Software Assurance on Windows, would
also include the cost of buying additional Windows upgrade licenses.(editor@thesynergyonline.com)
NET4INDIA
TO RAISE RS 8 CRORE VIA PE EXPANSION POSTS RS 11.5- CRORE PAT
Thesynergyonline
Infotech Bureau
NEW
DELHI, MAY 27 : THE network and application services provider Net4 India today
said it has approved raising 8.04 crore via preferential allotment to Granite
Hill India Opportunities Fund, for its expansion drive.
Net4
has also posted with the consolidated sales of Rs 195 cr (up by 21 percent) ,
a 36.9 percent rise in PAT at Rs 11.5 crore and a 32.67 percent growth in
EPS to Rs 6.66 for the year ended March 31, 2010
Granite
Hill India Opportunities Fund comes in as the second PE participant with Net4
diluting 4.7 impressive results for the year ended March 31, 2010 . Earlier, Madison
India Capital had invested Rs 14.9 crore acquiring a 9.2 impressive results for
the year ended March 31, 2010 stake in the company.· Net4 India will dilute
4.7 percent equity stake
Apart
from expanding its service bouquet, Net4 is also setting up a large 30,000 sq
ft Data Centre at Chennai.
On
the new developments, Mr. Jasjit Sawhney, CMD Net4 India, said , “We are
glad to have closed the year with a strong growth momentum. We have had three
consecutive quarters of record profits and now our highest ever quarterly and
annual revenues," he added.
“Whilst
our existing services continue to grow at a reasonable pace, we are also embarking
upon expanding the depth of our service ranges, apart from adding new services
in the area of Network and Application services. This expansion will entail significant
investments in infrastructure and product development over the coming years,”
he said.
Besides
PE funding, the expansion will also be funded by internal accruals and bank borrowing.
This expansion will be in Data Centre services and Data Connectivity services.
We will be setting up a 30,000 sq ft Data Centre and deepen our range of managed,
security and SaaS services. Under data connectivity services we shall be adding
IP/MPLS VPN services to our portfolio.
According
to company sources , with the expansion of the service bouquet and investments
in infrastructure, Net4 expects to increase the growth rates significantly it
has been achieving over the last few years. (editor@thesynergyonline.com)
NEW
DELHI, MAY 26 : WORLDWIDE server shipments grew 23 percent year over year
in the first quarter of 2010, while revenue increased 6 percent, according to
Gartner, Inc.
"We've
seen a return to growth on a worldwide level, but the market has not yet returned
to the historical quarterly highs that were posted in 2008, and there were some
interesting variations in that growth," said Jeffrey Hewitt, research vice
president at Gartner. "Emerging regions that were expected to grow, such
as Asia/Pacific, forged ahead, while some mature markets, such as the U.S., produced
better-than-expected results, as other countries and regions had a 'mixed bag'
of results."
"The
server segments varied as well. x86-based servers grew 25.3 percent in units and
32.1 percent in revenue. RISC/Itanium Unix servers were not positive, with declines
of 28.5 percent in units and 26.9 percent in vendor revenue, and the 'other' CPU
category, which is primarily mainframes, fell 15.1 percent in revenue for the
quarter," Mr. Hewitt said.
From
a regional standpoint, the U.S. grew the most significantly in shipments, with
a 28.6 percent increase, while Latin America had the highest vendor revenue growth
at 27.9 percent for the period. All other regions had varying shipment and revenue
increases with one exception - Japan posted a revenue decline of 0.7 percent.
HP
took the lead in the worldwide server market based on revenue (see Table 1). HP's
server revenue reached $3.4 billion, representing 31.5 percent of the market,
in the first quarter of 2010. This share was up 2.7 percentage points year over
year.
IBM
fell from the No. 1 spot, and it sustained a 2.1 percent revenue decline for the
quarter, affected primarily by anticipated new products in both its mainframe
and Unix lines.
Of
the top five global vendors, Dell, Fujitsu and HP all had revenue increases for
the first quarter of 2010.
In
server shipments, HP remained the worldwide leader for the first quarter of 2010
(see Table 2) with a shipment increase of 26.6 percent. This growth was driven
by increases 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 first quarter.
The
primary driver for market growth in the quarter was the x86-based server hardware
platform. There was a marked difference between x86-based servers and non-x86
server platforms for the quarter with the latter posting declines. Blade severs
had the strongest growth of any form factor with an increase of 23.7 percent in
units and 40.7 percent in vendor revenue for the first quarter. (editor@thesynergyonline.com)
NEW
DELHI, MAY 25 : WORLDWIDE
mobile PC shipments totaled 49.4 million units in the first quarter of 2010, a
43.4 percent increase from the first quarter of 2009, according to final results
by Gartner, Inc. This year-over-year growth is the highest the mobile PC market
has experienced in eight years and represents about $36 billion in end-user spending.
Shipments
to the consumer segments continued to be the main growth driver, but there was
an uptake in the professional segment. Gartner expects to see higher
growth in the professional market toward the end of 2010 and into 2011 as part
of a larger refresh cycle.
"Mini-notebook
PCs were a big part of the bump in mobile PC shipments in the first quarter of
2010, with shipments growing 71 percent over the same period last year,"
said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner. "However, mini-notebooks'
share slowed in some regions as consumers begin to understand the limitations
of mini-notebooks, especially in the face of aggressive price cuts of regular
notebooks."
"The
average selling price (ASP) of mobile PCs was $732 in the first quarter of 2010,
a 15.7 percent decline from the first quarter of 2009, when the ASP was $868,"
Ms. Kitagawa said. "The ASP for mobile PCs is expected to stabilize as sales
into the professional market will grow, resulting in slightly higher ASPs compared
to consumer mobile PCs." (editor@thesynergyonline.com)
NEW
DELHI, MAY 20 : TRANSCEND Information, Inc., a global player in storage and
multimedia products has released its JetFlash 330 USB flash drive, the latest
addition to its JetFlash series. The stylish white JetFlash 330 offers efficient
data transfer and ample storage capacity of up to 16GB, making it easier than
ever to carry hundreds of personal documents, photos and music anytime, anywhere.
The
sleek, porcelain-like JetFlash 330 USB flash drive works well with any style.
It features a white gloss finish embellished with an adorable color band indicating
its storage capacity, and a bright LED indicator that flashes during data transfer
activity. The JetFlash 330 weighs only 8.5 grams, making it lightweight enough
to carry around and easy to slip into the user's pocket or purse.
Mr.
Austin Huang, Regional Head - Sales, SAARC & APAC, Transcend said, "Besides
its classic contoured design, the JetFlash 330 impresses users with a satisfying
transfer speed of up to 15MB/s and true plug-and-play functionality. Being fully
compatible with Windows ReadyBoost, a feature of Windows 7 that allows users to
optimize system performance by increasing available memory, the JetFlash 330 USB
flash drive is also able to double as additional computer RAM."
4GB
(Green) is priced at - Rs. 525 , 8GB (Purple) at Rs. 950 , 16GB (Lavendar) - Rs.
1825 .The new line of product offers lifetime warranty. (editor@thesynergyonline.com)
NEWDELHI,
MAY 20 : SEAGATE , the global player in hard drives and storage solutions,
today introduced the next evolution of the company's award-winning FreeAgent®
external hard drives-its new GoFlex™ storage solutions.
This
new family of external drives and accessories introduces a new level of flexibility
to traditional USB 2.0 storage that will change the way people store, access,
enjoy and share their digital content. The FreeAgent® GoFlex™ storage
family includes easy, plug-and-play portable and desktop drives, with an array
of interchangeable cables and desktop adapters that allow each drive to adapt
to the interface or device being used. GoFlex hard disk drives are also specially
designed to provide interoperability between operating systems in order to work
with both Microsoft® Windows® and Mac® OS-X computers.
"GoFlex™
interface cables are about providing the speed, performance and connectivity people
need to support their interaction with their digital content. The explosive growth
of video capture and multimedia collecting is expanding personal digital libraries
to terabytes worth of content within the home," said Rajesh Khurana, Country
Manager - India and SAARC, Seagate Technology.
"These
trends are driving demand for high-capacity, high-performance storage. The GoFlex™
family of storage products meets this need by delivering simple, USB 2.0 storage
and backup devices, with the flexibility to adapt as interface technology advances
by using the various GoFlex™ cables and accessories to access content stored
on the same drive ," he added.
Recent
survey results by the Yankee Group indicate that more than half of people planning
to purchase a new hard drive consider the interface connection an important factor
in their selection. GoFlex drives address this concern by providing a flexible,
plug-and-play way to adapt to the most popular available interfaces or devices.
The seamless GoFlex™ cable system enables the GoFlex™ and GoFlex™
Pro ultra-portable USB 2.0 drives to be upgraded to USB 3.0, eSATA or FireWire
800 connections simply by switching out the cable adapter.
Additionally,
specially-designed GoFlex upgrade cables provide even more applications of how
each drive can be used. For example, the GoFlex™ Upgrade cable - Auto Backup
transforms the drive into a continuous full-system backup, giving consumers the
peace of mind that their files and system settings are backed up, while leaving
the remaining capacity for basic drag-and-drop file transfer. "As consumer's
lives become increasingly connected, people will demand capabilities beyond the
traditional hard drive," said Carl Howe, director, Anywhere Consumer Research,
Yankee Group. "Consumers are looking not only for storage, but for new ways
to use their digital content. Connecting, sharing, and repurposing content is
part of the purchasing decision process for today's 'Anywhere Consumer'®."
Within
the GoFlex family, Seagate has created a special ecosystem wherein people experience
easy backup and enhanced protection of all their data-the same way they would
expect a traditional hard drive to perform-only now their interaction with that
content is not wholly dependent on the drive.
In
addition to several cable options, people can pair a GoFlex or GoFlex Pro ultra-portable
drive with a GoFlex™ TV HD media player or the GoFlex™ Net media sharing
device to enhance their experience of the drive's content. (editor@thesynergyonline.com)
NEW
DELHI, MAY 17 : BROCADE Encryption Switch has won the 2009 EMC Partner Solution
Award for best new offering for achieving the highest RSA platform utilization.
The EMC Partner Solution Awards recognize top offerings from the EMC Solution
Gallery and are based upon business impact, commitment to EMC technology, market
presence and revenue contribution.
The Brocade Encryption Switch combined with RSA® Key Manager for the Datacenter
helps organizations meet their security and corporate governance objectives, including
compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) and
the protection of Personally Identifiable Information (PII).
The
combined solution accomplishes this by encrypting critical corporate data onto
both disk- and tape-based storage media with high performance and centralized
fabric management. The Brocade Encryption Switch scales non-disruptively, providing
up to 96 Gigabits per second (Gbps) of encryption processing power to meet the
needs of the most demanding environments with flexible, on-demand performance.
“The amount of
sensitive information continues to grow , so organizations need a broader deployment
of encryption technologies across data centers in order to protect data confidentiality
and privacy,” said Jon Oltsik, senior analyst, at Enterprise Strategy Group.
“Specific
to storage, these security and privacy demands require an architectural approach
for enterprise-wide encryption of data-at-rest while enabling end-to-end management
for the secure flow of data across multiple fabrics.”
“We
are privileged that EMC selected the Brocade Encryption Switch as a 2009 Partner
Solution Award for Best New Offering - RSA,” said Bob Braham, vice president
of Product Marketing at Brocade. “This leading-edge solution has already
proven its capabilities in the market, providing data encryption for both disk
and tape storage systems." (editor@thesynergyonline.com)
NEW
DELHI, MAY 15 : A significant increase in server sales during the next two
years will lead to a further acceleration of data center power, cooling and space
problems, according to Gartner, Inc. Gartner said that users need to quantify
the effects of new deployments and take action without delay.
"While
server sales expected to rise the next two years, many IT administrators are already
grappling with data center power, cooling and space issues of its current fleet,"
said Rakesh Kumar, research vice president at Gartner. "Virtualization and
consolidation projects will help offset some of these issues, but with the snowball
effect that these issues tend to create within an organization, users need to
act quickly."
According
to Gartner, the worldwide server market declined by 16.5 percent in revenue and
by 16.8 percent in volume in 2009. However, analysts predict that the market will
recover from 2010 onward, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.5 percent
for shipments and 2.4 percent for revenue from 2010 through 2014.
Mr.
Kumar explained that while servers consume only about 15 percent of the direct
energy in data centers, there is a cascade effect. The more servers that exist,
the more heat is generated and, therefore, the more cooling equipment is needed.
Hence, if the data center power, cooling and space problems were causing such
headaches in a very depressed IT market, they will become significantly worse
in an expanding market.
Gartner
has identified a number of actions that users need to undertake to manage these
problems in 2010 and 2011, including:
Do
not underestimate the issues. Quantify the problem. Users need to get accurate
capacity-related data to quantify the impact of infrastructure expansion on the
amount of data center power, cooling and available space. This involves working
with facility teams to see what is available and how quickly it could be used
up. It also means that the infrastructure and operations (I&O) groups need
to work with the application and architecture teams to see what is being planned
for the next few years and to translate those needs into energy and space metrics.
Many of the consolidation and virtualization projects that started two years ago
will continue to yield benefits that will offset the impact of new hardware deployments.
However, in all cases, accurate modeling and quantification are key to addressing
the problem in a controlled manner.
Use
monitoring tools. Users need to start implementing energy-monitoring tools
to manage and predict capacity requirements and to control operational costs.
The use of monitoring tools remains low but is readily available as part of core
server management tools or as separate, server-independent tools for organizations.
Accelerate
consolidation and virtualization projects. Many of these projects were started
two years ago as the IT recession started. These are multiyear activities, with
benefits occurring over the life of the projects. However, the benefits often
increase toward the end of the project, so users should accelerate the speed of
adoption and change. This should provide extra energy capacity and floor space
to offset the needs of new hardware.
Assess
the benefits of delaying new server purchases. Many organizations will look
to deploy new servers as a result of new projects over the next few years. However,
Gartner urges I&O departments to fully assess the benefits and pitfalls of
doing so. In some cases, it may be beneficial to delay the acquisition and use
capacity that is freed up from consolidation and virtualization projects. The
equation is complex, because new servers typically use less energy than older
ones, and, in some cases, have greater capacity as a result of new multicore processors.
They also have better energy management tools. However, there will likely be spare
capacity on older machines that could also be used. (editor@thesynergyonline.com)
NEW
DELHI, MAY 13 : A significant increase in server sales during the next two
years will lead to a further acceleration of data center power, cooling and space
problems, according to Gartner, Inc. Gartner said that users need to quantify
the effects of new deployments and take action without delay.
"While
server sales expected to rise the next two years, many IT administrators are already
grappling with data center power, cooling and space issues of its current fleet,"
said Rakesh Kumar, research vice president at Gartner. "Virtualization and
consolidation projects will help offset some of these issues, but with the snowball
effect that these issues tend to create within an organization, users need to
act quickly."
According
to Gartner, the worldwide server market declined by 16.5 percent in revenue and
by 16.8 percent in volume in 2009. However, analysts predict that the market will
recover from 2010 onward, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.5 percent
for shipments and 2.4 percent for revenue from 2010 through 2014.
Mr.
Kumar explained that while servers consume only about 15 percent of the direct
energy in data centers, there is a cascade effect. The more servers that exist,
the more heat is generated and, therefore, the more cooling equipment is needed.
Hence, if the data center power, cooling and space problems were causing such
headaches in a very depressed IT market, they will become significantly worse
in an expanding market.
Gartner
has identified a number of actions that users need to undertake to manage these
problems in 2010 and 2011, including: Users need to get accurate capacity-related
data to quantify the impact of infrastructure expansion on the amount of data
center power, cooling and available space.
This
involves working with facility teams to see what is available and how quickly
it could be used up. It also means that the infrastructure and operations (I&O)
groups need to work with the application and architecture teams to see what is
being planned for the next few years and to translate those needs into energy
and space metrics.
Many
of the consolidation and virtualization projects that started two years ago will
continue to yield benefits that will offset the impact of new hardware deployments.
However, in all cases, accurate modeling and quantification are key to addressing
the problem in a controlled manner.
Users
need to start implementing energy-monitoring tools to manage and predict capacity
requirements and to control operational costs. The use of monitoring tools remains
low but is readily available as part of core server management tools or as separate,
server-independent tools for organizations.
Many
of these projects were started two years ago as the IT recession started. These
are multiyear activities, with benefits occurring over the life of the projects.
However, the benefits often increase toward the end of the project, so users should
accelerate the speed of adoption and change. This should provide extra energy
capacity and floor space to offset the needs of new hardware.
Many
organizations will look to deploy new servers as a result of new projects over
the next few years. However, Gartner urges I&O departments to fully assess
the benefits and pitfalls of doing so.
In
some cases, it may be beneficial to delay the acquisition and use capacity that
is freed up from consolidation and virtualization projects. The equation is complex,
because new servers typically use less energy than older ones, and, in some cases,
have greater capacity as a result of new multicore processors. They also have
better energy management tools. However, there will likely be spare capacity on
older machines that could also be used.
(editor@thesynergyonline.com)
NEW
DELHI, India , MAY 11 : SEAGATE Technology has come out with an online museum
for traditional Kutch crafts, the Kala Raksha Museum Collection .
This
online museum is part of Seagate's ongoing programme supporting digital preservation
of the vanishing traditional craft forms in the Kutch region of Gujarat, western
India.
This
programme is being administered by Kala Raksha, a non-government organisation
(NGO) comprising artisans, community members and experts in the fields of art,
design and museum curatorship dedicated to preserving traditional arts.
Seagate
has been collaborating with Kala Raksha for nearly two years in a unique programme
that involves extensive digitisation of images, documents, instruction and other
items to preserve the techniques, processes, materials, designs and motifs used
in the Kutch textile traditions.
The
joint digital preservation programme between Seagate and Kala Raksha includes
researching, archiving and digitally capturing, as well as developing programmes,
exhibitions and scholarships for deserving artisans.
With
Seagate's sponsorship, Kala Raksha has acquired rare and excellent traditional
examples that would help upcoming artisans draw on the strength of traditions.
Now with further assistance from Seagate, Kala Raksha's museum collections have
been put online, which makes them more easily and widely accessible.
Rajesh
Khurana, Country Manager of India & SAARC, Seagate Technology, said, "Seagate
is committed to leveraging the exponentially growing digital ecosystem to ensure
that the rich historical, cultural and artistic traditions of indigenous peoples
are preserved and shared.
Seagate's
involvement in this digitisation project aims to enable this unique heritage to
be shared across borders for future generations. The online museum will become
a resource for the next generations to inherit the traditional crafts."
"We
are most grateful to Seagate for enabling the creation and support of this programme,"
said Judy Frater, Project Director of Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya. "We run a museum
with an extensive collection representing textile traditions of Kutch." "Seagate
support enabled us to enhance the museum collections, complete documentation of
the different artisan traditions of Kutch, digitally archive historically and
culturally important works and complete a series of films on the traditional understanding
of design - all of which will become important tools in taking the craft forms
forward for coming generations," she added.
Elaborating
on the aims and objectives of the online museum, Ms. Frater said, "The digital
preservation project is helping artisans in several ways. Firstly, it will make
excellent examples available to artisans, which will enhance young artisans' appreciation
and pride, and inspire innovation within those traditions."
"The
second objective of the project is to raise the appreciation and value of the
craft among potential clients for excellent craft work. In addition to the images
of the collections, Kala Raksha also plans to have online exhibitions. The online
museum will bring the tradition to a wider audience across the world," she
said.
The
traditional crafts of Kutch include weaving, dyeing, printing, bandhani (tie and
dye), embroidery, leatherwork, pottery, woodwork and metalwork. Design is an integral
part of the craft, making the artisan the designer, producer and marketer of the
craft all at the same time.
However,
in recent decades local villagers sought out cheaper, machine-produced wares,
causing artisans to abandon their unique skills - and sometimes their villages
- to gain employment elsewhere.
Kala
Raksha is seeking to reverse the trend of the industrial production of traditional
crafts by providing economically and culturally relevant education in design,
guiding artisans in the creation of products with more contemporary forms and
functions as well as making these traditionally-crafted products more accessible
to national and global markets. (editor@thesynergyonline.com)
NEW
DELHI, MAY 11 : TRANSCEND Information, Inc. (Transcend), a global player in
storage and multimedia products, has launched its JetFlash 500 retractable USB
flash drive in India. The stylish JetFlash 500 features a smooth sliding USB connector
that eliminates the need for caps and effortlessly extends and retracts with a
simple flick of the thumb.
With
its user-friendly capless design, various color and capacity options and smooth
contoured shape, as the company claims , the JetFlash 500 is an ideal portable
storage solution for users with busy and active lifestyles.
Mr. Austin Huang, Regional Head - Sales, SAARC & APAC, Transcend said, "Losing
USB end caps can be quite annoying, not to mention the inconvenience of taking
the cap on and off every time the drive is used. For extra convenience and protection,
Transcend's JetFlash 500 flash drive is designed with an innovative extension
and retraction mechanism that enables users to bring out or hide the connector
with a single flick of the thumb.
The JetFlash 500's capless design not only keeps dust and debris out of the drive,
but also ensures there is no cap to misplace or lose. For further peace of mind,
the JetFlash 500 is solidly built to withstand a few bumps and falls, so users
can be sure its USB connector will never become loose, fall out, or accidentally
slip back into the drive when plugging it into a computer."
Due
to its use of ultrasonic welding technology, the JetFlash 500 drive's inseparable
outer case not only makes the drive more solid and rugged, but also improves its
tactile and visual appeal. The JetFlash 500 comes in five vivid color options
to match its sleek, streamlined black case: orange, red, blue, green and purple.
With
capacities ranging from 2GB to 32GB, the JetFlash 500 is a USB flash drive users
will want to take out of their pocket and show off to their friends.
For
added value, users of the JetFlash 500 can download and install Transcend's free
JetFlash Elite data management tools onto the JetFlash drive to enhance mobile
productivity.
The
JetFlash 500 carries Transcend's highly acclaimed lifetime warranty and is currently
available in five capacities: 2GB, 4GB, 8GB, 16GB and 32GB.
TS2GJF500 : 650 TS4GJF500 : 810 TS8GJF500 : 1500 TS16GJF500 : 3000
TS32GJF500 : 6300 The company offers lifetime warranty for the product.(editor@thesynergyonline.com)
NEW
DELHI, MAY 11 : INDIA'S enterprise software market is forecast to maintain
its strong performance, with an estimated growth rate of 12.3 percent from 2009
to 2014, the second highest growth rate in the world, according to Gartner, Inc.
Despite the global slowdown in 2009 and the continuing challenging economic conditions,
the software market in India is expected to rebound to an annual growth rate of
11.1 percent in 2010.
Gartner
analysts said that the increasing globalization of the Indian economy is leading
to a growing need for modern software with the latest features and improved functionality.
"Software
vendors have strong growth potential in India, but also face the challenges of
operating in a commercial environment that is still developing," said Asheesh
Raina, principal research analyst at Gartner.
"Indian
enterprises have historically preferred to develop applications using their own
labour because it costs less. However, this tendency has resulted in legacy and
quickly obsolete software as well as inhibiting Indian enterprises' sustainability
and business IT continuity. Growth will mainly be driven by replacing immature
infrastructure with standardised systems and the large vendors stand to benefit,"
he added.
According
to Gartner's latest forecast1 in 2010 India will be the fourth largest software
market (US$ 2.4 billion) in Asia/Pacific, and the country is forecast to account
for 11 percent share of the region's total revenue of US$21.72 billion in 2010,
the equivalent to 1.04 per cent of the total worldwide software US$232 billion
market share.
By
2014, India's share of the software market in Asia/Pacific is expected to reach
12 percent, representing US$3.8 billion in revenue or 1.3 per cent of total worldwide
software market revenue of US$299 billion. Compared with mature countries in the
Asia/Pacific region such as Australia (with 21 percent share of regional spending
in 2010), the software market in India is still relatively young and evolving.
A
2009 Gartner survey2 found that 50 percent of respondents in India planned to
increase their software spending in 2010, far higher than other countries surveyed,
such as those in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, North America, and Latin
America.
The
same survey found that organizations in India in 2010 are expected to spend approximately
27 percent of their IT budgets on software and also the same (27) percent on hardware.
"India
has balanced growth and will tend to increase spending equally on infrastructure,
hardware and application software space through the forecast period to 2014,"
said Mr. Raina.
"Optimism
regarding spending within Indian organizations reflects confidence in India's
regional economic performance, as well as the need to adopt better technology
to effectively compete in a tougher global environment," he added.
Priority
areas of software spending include enterprise resource planning (ERP), office
suites, operating systems and database management systems.
In
the next five years, the fastest-growing segment will be Enterprise Content management
(30 percent), Virtualization (27.7 percent) and web conferencing and team collaboration
(26.2 percent), although it is growing from a small base.
According
to Gartner, Indian enterprises are lagging behind in terms of adoption of these
tools, resulting in the fast growth of this market. (editor@thesynergyonline.com)
COMPLEXITIES
OF IT ORBGANISATIONS FROM COST- CUTTING TO ENTREPRENEURIAL MINDSET
Thesynergyonline
Infotech Bureau
NEW
DELHI, MAY 10 : IT organizations are facing a critical challenge in 2010 as
they tackle the need to shift gears from a cost-cutting to a revenue growth mindset,
according to Gartner, Inc. Gartner analysts said the recession of the past two
years has had virtually every IT organization operating in "keep the lights
on" mode — and many organizations are ill-equipped to support and drive
revenue growth opportunities.
"For
IT leaders, entrepreneurial growth, and the shift from a 'problem-focused' organization
to one that is 'opportunity-focused' requires more planning and execution than
simply changing the organization chart," said Jorge Lopez, vice president
and distinguished analyst at Gartner. "Entrepreneurial IT organizations must
maintain a dual focus: achieving ambitious growth, while running the current business.
Both are critically important to the mission of the organization."
Gartner
maintains that the building of new sources of revenue and positioning the business
for dominance in the new venture is an entrepreneurial task and one that requires
an entrepreneurial organization with an equally entrepreneurial CIO to seize the
opportunity.
Analysts have identified two key tools that the CIO must employ to satisfy ambitions
for entrepreneurial growth. These frameworks define the agenda for change and
the key actions required to fulfill it:
·
The Entrepreneurial Scope Assessment Framework: This tool enables CIOs and other
business executives to evaluate the magnitude of the opportunity for an entrepreneurial
organization. It is a requisite assessment to understand the scope of the task
facing IT, as well as other business units.
·
The Strategic Change Road Map: This level-by-level tool provides a clear-cut assessment
of the tasks that must be performed by an organization in moving from the current
mind-set and behaviors of cutting costs to a mind-set that is entrepreneurial.
It delineates today's situation, compared with the desired future and identifies
the changes that will transform today's organization, infrastructure, processes
and mind-sets into tomorrow's state.
Mr.
Lopez explained that to best understand the scope of the change facing an organization,
it is important to evaluate two factors that were first defined by Gary Hamel
and C.K. Prahalad in the book "Competing for the Future." They challenged
the concept that to win in business, one must first have superior amounts of resources.
They observed that, when starting out, resource positions were very poor predictors
of future performance, and that the businesses that seemed to win were those that
had two key capabilities — ambition and resource leverage.
"Ambition
is the animating entrepreneurial vision that redefines the rules of competition
for an industry," said Mr. Lopez. "It deliberately sets out a compelling
picture of the future that will outstrip existing resources to challenge incumbent
competitors to match the magnitude of their vision."
Mr.
Lopez said that examples of companies that have demonstrated high levels of ambition
include: Apple, with its ecosystem around the iPod and iTunes; Amazon, and its
ambition to unseat Wal-Mart, using the Web; and thousands of bloggers, who daily
compete for attention with established outlets, such as the New York Times.
The
concept of resource leverage is based on the premise that great differences exist
between different industry rivals and the competitive impact they are able to
generate with a given amount of resources. The ability to create greater distance
between the required efforts and the results is an important distinction for the
entrepreneur and, in doing so, establishes new levels of competition.
Examples
of advances in productivity leverage include the work of HP in radically reducing
its IT cost structure before a recession had emerged as a reality, as well as
the move by pharmacies to provide very-low-cost retail healthcare in the U.S.
and, thus, to restructure that industry.
Nevertheless,
the move from a problem-focused organization to an opportunity-focused organization
presents many risks for a business.
"The
greatest conflict faced by entrepreneurial CIOs will be the tension between the
team that is focused on the entrepreneurial opportunities and the team that is
focused on 'keeping the lights on'," Mr. Lopez said. "Both must function
effectively in an environment of elevated risk. Failing on either responsibility
is unacceptable and highly dangerous for the business." (editor@thesynergyonline.com)
NEW
DELHI, MAY 04 : WORLDWIDE IT services revenue totaled $763 billion in 2009,
a 5.3 percent decline from 2008 revenue of $805 billion, according to Gartner,
Inc.
"2009
was a year like no other before it for IT services providers," said Kathryn
Hale, research vice president for Gartner's worldwide IT services group. "Their
priorities changed and their business focus rushed from aggressive sales or tactical
revenue acquisition to strategies designed to simply maintain revenue levels,
keep a handle on costs and manage profitability."
Each
of the five largest IT services providers in 2009 declined in revenue, with HP
and Accenture reporting the largest declines at 10.4 percent and 11.8 percent,
respectively (see Table 1). The top 20 vendors as a group gained ground slightly
over their smaller competitors in 2009, with the group accounting for 37.5 percent
of the market, up marginally from 37.3 percent in 2008.
While
global sourcing makes the location of a provider's headquarters increasingly less
relevant, Gartner tracks this information for more than 300 vendors, which collectively
account for more than 70 percent of end-user spending worldwide.
India-based
vendors grew only 3.6 percent, in terms of U.S. dollars in 2009, down from 15.4
percent growth in 2008. India-based vendors were impacted early in the economic
downturn. This would be expected, as these providers sell especially heavily to
the financial sector and typically lead with offshore application development
services, which are relatively easy to delay in tough times.
"In
2009, the top six India-based providers' collective share of the global IT services
market was 2.7 percent, up slightly from their 2.5 percent share in 2008. These
providers collectively posted stronger growth in the U.S. market (6.5 percent
growth) than they did in Western Europe (2.7 percent decline)," said Mr.
Arup Roy, senior research analyst. (editor@thesynergyonline.com)
NEW
DELHI, MAY 02 : TRANSCEND
Information, Inc. (Transcend), a worldwide player in storage and multimedia products,
has launched its StoreJet 25D3 2.5-inch shockproof portable hard drive, one of
the first USB 3.0 compatible peripherals introduced to the market.
The
SuperSpeed USB 3.0 model offers much better performance than USB 2.0 external
hard drives, with real-world transfer speeds of up to 90MB/s. Featuring its significantly
improved transfer rates and advanced anti-shock design, the StoreJet 25D3 provides
users with fast and durable solution to match today's increasingly sophisticated
devices.
As
technology marches forward, new kinds of media formats and storage requirements
demand more bandwidth. To address this growing need, SuperSpeed USB 3.0 boasts
optimized interface speeds up to 10X faster than Hi-Speed USB 2.0.
Utilizing
the new, next-generation USB 3.0 standard, Transcend's StoreJet 25D3 portable
hard drive delivers blazing fast data transfer rates of up to 90MB/s in real world
testing, making it easier and less time-consuming to share and store gigabytes
of rich digital content.
The
StoreJet 25D3 USB 3.0 portable hard drive is backwards compatible with USB 2.0,
allowing users to access their files from nearly any computer.
With
a multicolor USB 3.0/2.0 status LED indicator, users can easily identify the drive's
current connection type. When operating in USB 2.0 mode, the indicator will appear
orange; when USB 3.0 is connected, the LED light will turn blue.
Under
the StoreJet 25D3 drive's seemingly delicate case with gloss piano finish is a
shock-dampening system that incorporates internal suspension technology. “
While the sleek, mirror-like exterior enhances tactile and visual appeal, the
advanced internal hard drive suspension system helps prevent damage from accidental
slips or falls during travel that may result in massive data loss,"explains
Mr. Austin Huang, Regional Head - Sales, SAARC & APAC, Transcend.
Also
an eco-friendly drive, the StoreJet 25D3 is designed to automatically go into
power-saving sleep mode after ten minutes of inactivity, allowing energy-savings
of up to 40 percent," he says.
In
addition to its StoreJet 25D3 USB 3.0 model, Transcend launched the USB 2.0 compatible
StoreJet 25D2 portable hard drive that shares the same durable and shock-resistant
features at the same time.
For
added value, both the StoreJet 25D3 and StoreJet 25D2 portable hard drives are
backed up by an extra-long 3-year warranty, and come bundled with Transcend's
own StoreJet Elite software that offers intelligent backup scheduling, Internet
tools and 256-bit AES encryption. All StoreJet drives are certified for Windows
7.
Currently
offered in classic black, the StoreJet 25D3 is now available in 500GB capacity,
while the StoreJet 25D2 is available in 250GB, 320GB, 500 GB and 640GB capacities. Warranty:
3 years product warranty ' Price (MRP): 9000 . (editor@thesynergyonline.com)
NEW
DELHI, MAY 29 : WORLDWIDE project application development software revenue
fell to $7.25 billion in 2009, a decrease of 2 percent from 2008 revenue of $7.39
billion, according to Gartner, Inc.
"One
of the main reasons for the decline in revenue in the AD market in 2009 was the
de facto spending freeze on new projects in the early part of the year, which
caused organizations to cut spending on new tools to support any new projects,"
said Laurie Wurster, research director at Gartner. "AD tool spending tends
to be cyclical in nature with strong years of spending, as we saw in 2007, followed
by a year or two of low or reduced investment."
Ms.
Wurster said that despite the restrictions imposed on AD spending due to the recession,
the ongoing need to invest in security testing was one of the key drivers for
the market. This segment grew during the year as security breaches continued to
highlight the need for good testing, making up for some of a lack of spending
on more-mature and less-dynamic tools.
IBM
continued to be the market leader, as its market share increased to 27.7 percent
in 2009 (see Table 1). This performance was helped, in part, by strategic acquisitions
such as Watchfire 2007 and Ounce Labs 2009, which provided growth in the aforementioned
security testing market. In addition, IBM's 2008 acquisition of Telelogic continued
to bring moderate growth in areas such as requirements management.
Gartner
analysts said Microsoft's share of the market remained fairly constant given the
company's preannouncement of Visual Studio 2010, which meant that many companies
decided to postpone any upgrades in 2009 and wait for the new version. CA's 1
percent revenue decline was more a reflection of the company's subscription-based
business model that causes a delay in revenue recognition.
"There
is some pent-up demand for AD products, and 2010 should see a return to growth,"
said Teresa Jones, senior research analyst at Gartner. "However, vendors
should not be complacent — the need remains to do more for the same cost,
and open source offerings in the AD market remain attractive, frequently delivering
good-enough functionality in a flexible manner. Software vendors need to ensure
that they can provide value add, with flexible deployment options."
"We
expect AD software spending to increase 2 to 3 percent in 2010," said Ms.
Wurster. "Java platform and Dynamic Web application tools will continue to
see the biggest impact from open-source alternatives. We expect consolidation
of this market to continue with larger vendors acquiring pure-play and point products
to round out their suits and portfolio offerings." (editor@thesynergyonline.com)
NEW
DELHI, APRIL 29 : MORE than 95 percent of organizations expect to maintain
or grow their use of software as a service (SaaS), according to a survey by Gartner,
Inc.
Survey
respondents cited significant integration requirements and a change in sourcing
strategy as the top two reasons for adoption followed by high total cost of ownership
(TCO).
However,
Gartner found that most companies still do not have policies governing the evaluation
and use of SaaS with only 39 percent of respondents indicating that such a policy
or process exists, up just 1 percent from 38 percent in 2008.
The
survey was conducted in December 2009 and January 2010 and involved 270 IT and
business management professionals from a variety of industries in North America,
Europe and Asia/Pacific who were personally involved in the implementation support,
implementation, planning and/or budget decisions related to the purchase of enterprise
application software.
"SaaS
applications clearly are no longer seen as a new deployment model by our survey
base, with almost half of those surveyed affirming use of SaaS applications in
their business for more than three years," said Sharon Mertz, research director
at Gartner. "The varying levels of maturity within the user base suggest
growing opportunities for service providers along the adoption curve, as organizations
seek assistance with initiatives ranging from process redesign to implementation
to integration services."
Ms.
Mertz said the scope of functionality of SaaS applications has broadened significantly
in recent years. In terms of popularity for SaaS usage, the survey showed that
e-mail, financial management (accounting), sales force automation and customer
service, and expense management are the most popular in terms of current use,
with more than 30 percent of the survey base using these types of applications.
In
terms of expected investment levels in SaaS solutions over the next two years,
survey respondents gave generally encouraging responses for software and service
providers, with on average 53 percent of organizations expecting to increase investment
levels slightly and 19 percent significantly. However, not all buyers intend to
increase usage, with almost one-quarter of all respondents expecting investment
levels to remain about the same, and 4 percent looking at a slight decrease in
investment levels.
In
comparing current with new investments in future on-premises and SaaS investments
within their organizations, 72 percent of respondents believe SaaS investments
will increase, while 45 percent hold the same notion about on-premises budgets.
Regionally, North America and Asia/Pacific respondents indicated a stronger interest
in procuring solutions via a SaaS model, and, compared with those in Europe, show
greater confidence that their organizations will increase investments in products
offered as SaaS or through a subscription model through year-end 2010.
However,
the survey found that some organizations have found SaaS solutions to be less
than optimal for some buyers, and 16 percent of respondents said that they are
transitioning from SaaS to on-premises solutions. Although there was no single
outstanding reason that caused respondents to shift to on-premises, in general,
the majority of organizations in this position were facing significant integration
requirements and became unsatisfied with a TCO that became too high.
Despite
the continuous adoption of SaaS across regions, more than one-third of the respondents
have noted concerns on their recent SaaS deployments. Most respondents with these
issues are located outside North America, specifically in Asia/Pacific where high-speed
high-availability networks, are not as readily available as in North America.
Issues with integration and customization were some of the primary issues cited
by respondents overall.
"These
issues aside, organizations are becoming more savvy when it comes to renegotiating
their SaaS contracts," Ms. Mertz said. "A key survey finding was that
more enterprises are renegotiating contracts for greater functionality, additional
users and improved financial terms. Thirty percent of respondents said that they
had renegotiated their SaaS contracts before the end of the initial term."
(editor@thesynergyonline.com)
NEW
DELHI, APRIL 28 : IT spending in India will reach $67 billion in 2010, an
increase of 14.1 percent from 2009. The IT market in India is expected to grow
11 percent from 2009 until the end of 2013, with IT services growing faster than
all other segments at 17.6 percent. Telecommunications will have the slowest growth,
increasing 9.1 percent during the same period.
"India's
economy recorded GDP growth of more than 6 percent during the recent global economic
crisis," said Aman Munglani, principal research analyst, Gartner. "Its
growth, and the growth of India's IT industry, have been driven largely by domestic
consumption, which has left India less exposed than many emerging markets to global
economic cycles".
According
to Gartner, India continues to be a vastly under-penetrated IT market relative
to its potential. As IT buyers expand and mature and consumers increasingly understand
the benefits of IT, acceptance of technology will increase, leading to further
IT market growth. The Indian government's focus on infrastructure projects with
IT dimensions will be a strong driver for overall IT growth within the country.
At
the same time, manufacturing in India is increasing, and it is expected to show
strong growth from 2008 through 2013. Other Industries to watch for growth include
communications, utilities and retail.
The
domestic IT services sector, at $6.1 billion, accounted for more than 10 percent
of the overall domestic ICT market in India in 2009, and is expected to witness
the strongest growth at 17.6 percent among the four sectors through 2013. Gartner
estimates the domestic IT services market in India will grow 17.6 percent, accounting
for nearly 19 percent of the overall domestic ICT market in India by 2013.
The
Indian PC market is expected to grow by 19 percent in 2010 and by more than 21
percent in 2011. Consumers and small businesses are leading PC growth, with higher
growth rates occurring primarily in smaller cities. Enterprises are seeking to
lower their PC acquisition costs by evaluating alternate PC delivery technologies
based on desktop virtualization, such as hosted virtual desktops, server-based
computing and blade PCs.
The
Indian server market will reach $551 million in 2010, registering a growth rate
of 6 percent from 2009. In the next few years, x86-based servers will be biggest
driver for the server market in India. Blade adoption will be a key enabler of
this growth. Virtualization will be another driver of growth in the x86 market
in India, as many midsize companies are expected to join large enterprises in
deploying server virtualization in the next three years.
Revenue
in the Indian external-controller-based storage market will reach $319 million
in 2013, growing 14 percent from 2009 to 2013. Network-attached storage will grow
22 percent over the same period.
Telecommunications,
finance and manufacturing will continue to account for the bulk of investments
in disk storage during the forecast period. Repeat business within these verticals
will provide a substantial opportunity for shipments of high-end disk arrays and
high-value upgrades to machines. A strong return to growth is expected in 2010,
with good growth expected across each of the verticals.
The
software spending in India is projected to grow 12.9 percent through 2013, compared
with the regional average of 10.8 percent during the same period. India is among
the top four markets in Asia/Pacific, both in size and in its growth prospects
for the next five years.
The
Indian IT security market is forecast to grow more than 20 percent in 2010. The
focus of IT security has shifted from single-point solutions, such as antivirus
software, to more holistic suite solutions such as intrusion prevention systems
and endpoint security solutions.
Security
solutions will increasingly include content-aware capabilities, which will enable
the system to detect which data is critical and sensitive and requires greater
levels of protection. One example of this is content-aware data loss protection
software, which includes content detection capabilities.
Indian
telecommunications services market revenue will reach $41.4 billion in 2013, growing
7 percent from 2009 to 2013. The Indian mobile communications market continues
to grow, as measured by the number of subscribers. However, revenue growth has
slowed as price points continue to fall due to increased competition from new
operators.
Data
services will be the main driver of the mobile sector from 2009 through 2013,
and will grow at 13 percent through 2013, accounting for 14 percent of total mobile
revenue in 2013. Mobile voice revenue will grow at a steady rate of 9 percent
Fixed
services revenue will increase only slightly, at 1 percent per year. While fixed
enterprise revenue will decrease by 1.8 percent per year, fixed consumer revenue
will increase by 0.6 percent per year. Household penetration of consumer broadband
connections will reach 7 percent in 2013. ADSL will remain the most popular technology,
though adoption of fixed-wireless technology such as WiMAX will increase.
(editor@thesynergyonline.com)
NEW
DELHI, APRIL 27 : KASPERSKY Lab, a developer of secure content management
solutions, today unveiled Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2010 priced at Rs 499 for end users
and distributors. The media conference was addressed by Mr Maxim Mitrokhin, Director
Operations - Kaspersky Lab APAC region along with Mr. Jagannath Patnaik, Director
Channel Sales - Kaspersky Lab India. Kaspersky Lab has recently commenced full
fledge India operations through its new set up in Hyderabad.
Mr.
Jagannath Patnaik, Director Channel Sales - Kaspersky Lab India, Speaking about
the new Product, said, "Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2010 is bound to be the backbone
of PC's security system, offering real-time automated protection from a range
of IT threats."
"The
product will ensure real-time scanning of files, web pages and e-messages, Basic
identity theft protection, color-coding of links to unsafe websites, disabling
of links to malicious websites, blocking of suspicious programs based on their
behavior, Protection from hijacking of your PC, self-protection from malware and
regular and emergency updates for always-on protection, " he added.
Mr.
Maxim Mitrokhin, Director Operations - Kaspersky Lab APAC region further added,
"We have launched this pocket- friendly edition of Anti-Virus so every computer
user becomes safe and secure and also with a view to capture the growing Indian
home personal computer market."
"In
India we now have 1.2 million users which we expect to reach 3 million during
next financial year. We plan to open up our offices at Mumbai and Delhi soon.
We also have plans to set up a full fledged customer support call centre In India
to give our users the best support and take full advantage of our products,"
he added.
Kaspersky
has been in Indian market for the last 4 years plus with its Kaspersky Internet
Security product which is an high- end product where in the user need to configure
certain advanced functions, now the vendor had decided to come out with a product
for common user. This, according to Kaspersky officials, will drive market share
further up and give the users the value for their money' he informed.
Kaspersky
Anti-Virus 2010 offers a number of new and improved features together with unique
protection technologies to address the latest online threats, keeping your PC
running smoothly and customize protection according to your activities; such as
- Kaspersky Toolbar for Internet browsers to warn you about infected or unsafe
websites, Basic identity theft protection, including improved secure Virtual Keyboard,
Urgent Detection System to stop fast emerging threats and next generation proactive
protection from zero-day attacks and unknown threats, the company says.
There
is a special game mode to suspend alerts, updates and scans while you play. The
company has presence in more than 100 countries with 300 million users worldwide.
The
interface in Kaspersky Antivirus 2010, as the company claims, is more user -friendly
for novices. An automated application mode has been implemented in Kaspersky Anti-Virus
2010 that chooses the best options without bothering the user with unnecessary
and annoying requests for action. A separate option has also been included for
fans of online games. Gamers can turn off some of the functions in Kaspersky Anti-Virus
that affect Internet traffic and subsequent server response times.
The
Anti-Virus module includes a script emulator that allows real-time scanning of
Java Scripts and VB Scripts that run when visiting various sites. This is a particularly
important innovation given that over 70 percent of malware on users' computers
comes from infected sites, according to Kaspersky Lab's specialists. The version
2010 product is based on Kaspersky Lab's improved antivirus engine which is even
more effective at detecting malicious programs.
Even
though the functionality has increased in the new product versions, performance
remains as high as ever and the 2010 products actually perform a range of tasks
40 percent faster than their predecessors on the Windows Vista operating system.
Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2010 is developed with Windows Vista in mind, making it fully
compatible with that operating system, says the company,Mr Maxim Mitrokhin added.
(editor@thesynergyonline.com)
NEW
DELHI, APRIL 26 : IN the next three to five years, more organisations will
aspire to support a blended approach to enterprise architecture (EA), according
to Gartner, Inc. Gartner analysts predict that 95 per cent of organisations will
support multiple approaches to EA by 2015.
"Businesses
are realising that there is no one way to support EA," said Julie Short,
research director at Gartner. "Decisions may be heavily influenced by a business
context and the organisation’s business landscape, people and politics, future
state vision and experience. Regardless of the approach, EA must facilitate change.
The key is to create, not the perfect or elegant architecture for the moment,
but the most adaptable architecture for the future."
Gartner
has identified four basic approaches to EA - traditional, federated, middle out
and managed diversity. Analysts said that the majority of clients will, in reality,
support a mixture of more than one of these approaches based on their business
needs.
Traditional
- In this approach, the EA team engages the organisation to facilitate the EA
process, focused on prescriptive content that serves to guide project decision
making consistent with the "master plan" embodied in the architecture.
Most of the standard industry frameworks and processes support a traditional approach
to EA which delivers very specific directives to projects on how to develop solutions
that will meet business requirements, while reducing complexity in technology,
information and business processes. This approach tends to work well in organisations
where decision making is largely centralised and are relatively stable in terms
of the pace of change. It does not work as well in organisations where decision-making
and authority are distributed and where the pace of business change is high.
Federated
- In large, complex organisations, decision making is often largely decentralised,
with business units having considerable autonomy over the EA that is required
to support the needs of their particular business unit.
A
federated architecture is focused on defining the core and common elements between
business areas/units. This approach is well suited to distributed organisations
and this is an approach that is often post merger & acquisition or market
consolidation to implement a more coordinated strategy. This approach is less
effective in highly centralised organisations with a homogeneous business.
Managed
diversity - Managed-diversity architecture is focused on defining choices or options.
This EA approach is focused on balancing the need for a set of standards with
the need for a diversity of solutions to increase innovation, business growth
and competitive advantage.
Project teams can decide which product best fits the project needs, rather than
having a single standard imposed on them. The advantage of this approach is that
it enables users and project teams to select the right tool for the job, enabling
innovation through diversity. The disadvantage of this approach is that users
and project teams must accept more responsibility for their choices.
Middle-out
- Middle-out architecture is an approach to EA whereby architects focus on managing
the key dependencies among those parts of the organisation that have the biggest
impact on the ability to change.
A
middle-out approach focuses on architecting interoperability by defining a small
but rigidly enforced set of general, stable interface standards, while allowing
complete autonomy of decision making for the specific technologies and products
that are used within the solutions. This approach is highly suited for organisations
and "business ecosystems," where the business units, partners, and suppliers
are not under the direct control of a central EA team.
"The
reality is that most organisations do not apply a single approach to EA in a pure
form," said Betsy Burton, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner.
"Rather, they use a number of different approaches in different areas, resulting
in a blended reality that truly meets the needs of their business."
With
a blended approach to EA, organisations seek to determine the appropriate balance
of architectural control and freedom by applying the appropriate EA approach.
This means that the EA team needs to determine a decision framework that enables
them to evaluate and weigh which approach for any given solution, technology,
information or business may be the most appropriate.
Ms
Burton and Ms Short will be speaking at the Gartner Enterprise Applications Summit
2010 which takes place 17-18 May in London. (editor@thesynergyonline.com)
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. 
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. 
