` 25 only

Guru Talk : Sajan Pillai, UST Global VC Talk: Bejul Somaia, Lightspeed Ventures Most Promising Mobile App Companies

EMPOWERING TECHNOLOGY LEADERS OF TOMORROW January 2011 thesmarttechie.com

Sunil Rao Head, Forum Nokia

EMPOWERING TECHNOLOGY LEADERS OF TOMORROW

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20 COVER STORY

Forum Nokia Enabling Smart

DBy Veimalvi Sweamylopers Sunil Rao Head, Forum Nokia India

[Guru Talk] 8 [Technology 38 50 Evolution of Mobile Devices and Future of Test Automation Tools & In - Services frastructure By Arun Samudrala, By Anand Bagmar, ThoughtWorks United Mobile Apps [Buyers Perspective] 54 By Sajan Pillai [Technology] 40 Mobile Data Growth in India an [Events] 56 Beyond the Metros: Bringing IT Opportunity and a Challenge siliconindia MentorGraphics Leadership Opportunities to Tier II and III Cities By Anjan Ghosal, awards for the Embedded/VLSI Industry By Sajan Pillai, UST Global IntelliNet Technologies By Eureka Bharali [In Focus] 10 42 Security Challenges in Using Social 59 [Tech Buzz] 14 Media Bug- Experts Throw Solutions for Bud - By Gary Bahadur, KRAA Security ding Testers [VC Talk ] 16 By Shwetha Raghavan Financial Services & Education Potential 44 [Tech Products ] 60 Areas for Startups “3G & speech” reconnecting India By Bejul Somaia, Lightspeed Venture Partners By Sunny Rao, Nuance Communications [Leadership ] 62 [Venture Beat ] 18 Move Beyond Logic 46 By Binu T Paul Enterprise Level SAN Features and So - [Business ] 19 ost Promissing lutions at SMB Prices Indian Startup Founders Are They Serious obile App By Tad Lebeck, Huawei Symantec M Companies on Sales? Wirkle 27 By Eurekha Bharali 48 Interworld Commnet 28 [Technology] 36 Nonlinearity Initiatives in Software Dot Com Infoway 29 HiddenBrains.com 30 Enhancing through Learning Collabora - Testing Services Business tive Technology By Ajikumar TN, Robosoft 32 By Minhaj Zia, Cisco Wipro Technologies o2s360 33 Nex-G Exuberant Solutions 34

The Smart Techie |6|January 2011 GURU TALK By Sajan Pillai Author is CEO, UST Global displacement—the need for people to For sustained commercialization skills right from that level. If the ba - immigrate to find work. The Tier I and confident investment, we need an sics are in place, the skills and con - cities were becoming saturated with amalgamation of four fundamental cepts required in professional life can Beyond the Metros: Bringing IT people and were nearing the limits of aspects: government support, re - be learned from the employer organ - their infrastructures. It became very sources, quality talent input, and fa - izations. We at UST Global have spe - apparent that these limits would have cilities. There is no substitute for any cial career development programs, Opportunities to Tier II and III Cities an adverse impact on our ability to re - many of which focus on the new gen - duce costs while operating in these Traditionally, businesses eration. We believe in giving our as - locations. sociates the gift of lifetime Tier II and III cities were a re - have tried to speak the employability. freshing alternative, once the model language of “employee The government, for its part, was seen to work. Suddenly, there satisfaction,” which is now should ensure that we have the right were a whole lot of them to invest in. being replaced in favor of kind of infrastructure to showcase to Competition among these cities is in - potential investors. Although we do tense, and this is where key differen - “employee engagement have some infrastructure, it is not tiators can come into play to help enough to support the amount of busi - with cost reductions. In terms of so - of these, but investors should be ness that can potentially come to our cial displacement, the use of Tier II made aware that these are available shores. What I mean by “infrastruc - and III cities makes use of what you together in one place. This calls for ture ” in this context goes beyond of - might call an IT “necklace strategy” solid marketing on behalf of the gov - fice buildings and telecom facilities that builds mega-centers offering em - ernment. While a beautiful country - to include aspects such as a decent ployment opportunities to the masses side is nice to have, it is hardly way of life, civic amenities, enter - in more dispersed areas around, enough. Investors need to be con - tainment options , and security . Em - rather than in the country’s biggest vinced of the commercial advantages ployees must be confident that there cities. Eliminating much of the social they can expect from investing in a is a sufficient supportive infrastruc - displacement in this way is one of the country like India. I can speak from ture in town to justify bringing their biggest social benefits of Information UST Global’s experience of expand - families to live there. Sajan Pillai Technology. And being a service in - ing operations into Manila, Philip - In fact, some of our clients, after dustry, there are no environmental pines and Chile. In both cities, the they have seen Kerala while visiting hen we started our opera - the potential of a service economy. We de - concerns to worry about, either. governments welcomed us with open our facilities, are so impressed that tions in 1999, we were cided: Kerala had to be the right place. Attrition is a costly affair in most arms. They promised us the best re - they want to bring their own busi - looking for the perfect loca - Today, we have grown to 500 times our organizations—the cost of replacing sources, and most importantly, deliv - nesses here. Unfortunately, a bit of re - tion for our offshore devel - original strength, largely because about 60 per - an employee is estimated to be 1.5 ered on their promises with prompt search into the geographical, opment centers. Our choice cent of our workforce is located in Kerala. times the employee’s annual compen - follow ups. These are the kind of political , and economic climate of the surprised everyone around us. “Why would When we looked at the big cities—what we sation. UST Global has been success - cities that are competing with India state reveals an unattractive side as you choose Kerala?” asked our well-wishers. now call Tier I, at least in the Indian context— ful in keeping attrition to a level well for investments . well . While we might have convinced WKerala’s industrialization in 1999 below industry standards, primarily Most cities in South East Asia them in earlier times that the advan - included ER&DC, Keltron , and a Attrition is a costly affair in most due to efficient employee engage - have a rich culture and heritage like tages we have to offer easily out - ment practices. Since employment the one we often boast of. Cities like weigh the disadvantages, there are so few small private companies pep - organizations—the cost of replacing an pered over Technopark. No global must have consequences more far- and Shanghai offer the same many options available today that company had a significant presence employee is estimated to be 1.5 times reaching than simple contentment or even better cost advantages than they just don’t have to take the risk. in the state , and prospects were hes - the employee’s annual compensation with a job well done, a well-engaged India does. So these two points will What we do have in our favor is itant to take the plunge. workforce results in happy employ - no longer set us apart from the crowd. the abundance of skilled talent and We decided to look at the facts ees, which in turn reduces attrition. India still needs to work on a few crit - the cost factor. If the government rather than believe the propaganda. The qual - we saw the advent of a whole lot of industrial Traditionally, businesses have tried to ical aspects like education, industry steps in at the right time, bringing in - ity of education in Kerala is among the best in clusters, corridors, estates, hubs, and other speak the language of “employee sat - regulations , and communication. vestment to our cities will be a cake - this part of the world. The people , too, are sur - business units. When looking at possible target isfaction,” but that is being rapidly re - When I speak of education in Tier walk. But we cannot afford to wait prisingly cosmopolitan from years of exposure sites, we envisioned a model that took two placed in favor of “employee II and III cities, I should emphasize another decade for the effects to to different cultures and from considerable mi - basic elements into consideration. First, that engagement.” In this context, en - that important personality develop - trickle down. We must strike while gration to and from the state. The workforce is the concept of outsourcing was primarily gaged employees are an essential fac - ment is taking place during high the iron is hot. India has many prom - highly stable and productive, while the gov - driven by the desire for cheaper talent and re - tor for any business, but the school. Schooling should be more ising locales for an IT destination. ernment at the time was slowly waking up to duced operational costs. There was also social requirements don’t end there. oriented towards communication Let’s make it work!

The Smart Techie |8|January 2011 The Smart Techie |9|January 2011 in in

Indian Companies Adapting Best Global Practices ICT Can Reduce GHG Emission by 10 Percent

ndian companies are keen in cially those associated to corporate nformation, Communication and The report by the Digital Energy the adoption of ICT in buildings, adapting best global practices governance, should be framed after Technology (ICT) solutions have Solutions Consortium India (DESC) transport and nine sectors under PAT and are increasingly doing so, taking into account the view points the potential to reduce India’s total and CII-ICT Centre of Excellence for (Perform, Achieve and Trade). This sIays an expert, though he warns that of all market participants . He also gIreenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by Sustainable De - contributes to about 30 percent of the these companies need to have regu - suggested that there should be an 10 percent by 2030. According velopment in - overall reduction. “Till date, no report lar evaluation at all levels to sustain annual evaluation process in place to a report this will result in vestigated the in India has quantified the specific good corporate governance. “Cor - to assess the effectiveness of the energy cost savings of possible savings possible using ICT solutions. porate governance has evolved enor - board as well as the corporate gov - around Rs 137,000 crore GHG reduc - The report allows industries to quan - mously in India and many big ernance in companies. per annum. India is tion opportu - tify their potential energy as well as companies in the country are com - cial numbers while just having good “Entities should anticipate and be presently the third largest nities via ICT monetary savings by adopting ICT- mitted to embrace global best prac - names on the (firms’) board need more prepared to tackle risks and emitter of GHG after China solutions in based solutions,” said Rahul Bedi, tices for their business,” said not ensure the same,” he said. It was shocks, mainly since the world is and the U.S. The report named three mitiga - DESC Chairman. Stephen Wagner, Chairman Emeri - the `14,000 crore accounting fraud getting more interconnected that is ‘ICT Contribution to India’s tion-related The high technology costs, inade - tus of global consultancy Deloitte’s of Satyam by its founder-chairman also resulting in connectivity of National Action Plan on Cli - missions of quate energy benchmarks, weak regu - Global Centre for Corporate Ramalinga Raju that brought the shocks,” Wagner said while talking mate Change (NAPCC)’, at - NAPCC - National latory norms on carbon emission Governance. issue of corporate governance into about the change in taking and man - tributed the maximum potential Mission on En - standard and low research and devel - “Good governance at companies sharp focus in India. Wagner aging risk by the companies in the of saving of carbon dioxide emission hanced Energy Efficiency opment support are the main factors usually translates into good finan - pointed out that regulations, espe - recent years. to the construction industry with a (NMEEE), National Mis - that are preventing the country from whooping 42 percentage, followed by sion on Sustainable Habitat ICT adoption. The report recommends road transport with 30 percent while (NMSH) and National Solar to create a platform for green jobs, un - power sector came third with 16 per - Mission (NSM). dertake steps to develop ICT adop - Diamond Studded Planet Discovered by U.S. Indian cent. The NAPCC was released by NMEEE has set targets to reduce 100 tions, rationalization of direct and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in million tonnes of carbon dioxide emis - indirect taxes, funds allocation, and to Astronomer Led Team 2008 as part of the nation’s strategy to sion by 2015, of which 31 million encourage research and development, manage GHG emission. tonnes reduction comes as a result of as remedies to these ailments. stronomers led by an Indian made largely of gas and only its core

Expo Partner American have discovered a contains carbon-based minerals such Gold Sponsor Supporting Partner giant planet with an atmos - as diamonds and graphite. This planet phere and a core dominated by carbon. was discovered in 2009 by re - Jan 23, 2011 • Delhi A Jan 29, 2011 • Pune Nikku Madhusudan, a Banaras Hindu searchers in the UK-based consor - Bus ness University (BHU) alumnus who tium called Wide Angle Search for works at Princeton University, New Planets (WASP). ntelligence Jersey, and his colleagues have ob - He also added that the structure of i Topics: served that an extremely hot planet this planet might make us rethink our Conference Emerging Trends and Technologies in the Business Intelligence Market discovered last year has a never before long-ingrained ideas of planetary for - BI Design and Implementation Challenges seen characteristic of having more car - mation and that with much hotness In today’s economy, businesses need quality Solution Centricity- The Pivot for Successful BI / DW Implementations bon than oxygen. They said that this and no solid surface the planet could insights driven by accurate data more than Integrating Search and Business Intelligence actually raised the prospect that dia - not support life. “If life exists on such ever. Yet many IT organizations struggle to SharePoint 2010 Insights: BI for Everyone Advisory board: mond-studded stars may exist. planets, it has to sustain low oxygen, provide easy-to-access data stores with the A computational technique devel - perature of this planet, named WASP- low water and lots of methane and Andrew Oh, General Manager - Asia, Microstrategy right analytic capabilities, not to mention Rajgopal Kishore, VP & Global Head of BI, HCL Technologies oped two years ago by Madhusudan, 12b, seems to be 2300°C, which other hydrocarbons that would be in while he was at the Massachusetts In - the atmosphere,” Madhusudhan said. integrated systems with all the metrics Sanjay Mehta, CEO, MAIA Intelligence makes it hot enough to melt stainless Dr. Gopala Krishna Chitta, Founder & CEO , INSTA Intelligence stitute of Technology (MIT), used to Scientists used U.S. space agency different business users need. At the Confer - steel. Madhusudhan, who is now a Vibhas Joshi , SAS R&D India, Head R&D analyze the atmosphere of the planet postdoctoral scientist in the depart - NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope to ence, you will learn about the challenges, which orbits a star about 1,200 light- observe light emitted by the planet ment of astrophysical sciences at solutions and future of BI from top industry years from Earth. The surface tem - Princeton, said that WASP-12b is WASP-12b. Don’t miss a power packed day with several BI developers, architects, experts and leading-edge peers. project managers, IT managers and professionals, analysts and business decision makers. The Smart Techie |10 |January 2011 Learn from the BI experts. Don't miss this unique opportunity. Limited Seats For speaking and sponsorship opportunities write to Register Now at www.siliconindia.com/events [email protected] or call 080-43402006

Expo Partner

For speaking and sponsorship opportunities write to [email protected] or call 080-43402006 in in

e-Waste Recycling Startups-VCs Confident, Yet Too Many Loopholes India Third Largest By Eureka Bharali Cloud Service User

he green statement has ganized e-waste recycling is achieved the products once it reaches the unor - been luring a lot of then there is no looking back for any ganized scrap dealers’ hands. Herein, ndia is the third largest cloud (22 percent). startup to grab a pie of the firm in this sector. the work of the organized recycling service user in world and is The study assessed how IT man - huge e-waste market. The The biggest snag is the lack of companies comes. We, for instance, ahead of U.S. The ranking is agers are evolving their data centers (69 percent) and India (76 percent) computing devices, elec - awareness and the urge to socially use a specific technology to re-format based on Cisco Connected World and taking advantage of new tech - in the near future. tronic garbage that piles up within come to a conclusion. “One is paid for the hard-disks to ensure no data can I Report, a new study commissioned nologies, at the same time working The study conducted in 13 coun - every company, have always been a giving out the garbage to an unorgan - be retrieved from the product. Also by network equipment vendor Cisco. to accommodate new trends in the tries also revealed that just about 18 sTource of the quick cash, thanks to the ized recycler. Even if being socially the hazardous bi-products are dis - The study was conducted by the U.S. workplace like social media, device percent of respondents are using cloud scrap dealers, and currently , just five conscious about pollution is kept on posed safely,” says Rohan Gupta, Co- market-research firm InsightEx - proliferation, video and an increas - computing today, while an additional percent gets recycled in an organized founder of Attero Recycling. It serves press. The countries that lead the list ingly mobile workforce. It maintains 34 percent plan to use the cloud. Also way. In such a scenario, how would a more than 200 clients which include by taking maximum advantage from that globally 52 percent of the IT a large majority (88 percent) of IT re - company venturing into the realm Wipro, HCL, Tata Tele Services, and cloud computing today are professionals have stated that they spondents expect to store some per - bring in a better return on invest - Google among others. To some (27 percent) and (27 per - use or plan to use cloud computing. centage of their company’s data and ment? Sachin Maheshwari, extent even electronic manu - cent); followed by India (26 per - Higher cloud adoption rates are pre - applications in private or public clouds who has recently joined facturing firms have started cent), U.S. (23 percent) and dicted in Brazil (70 percent), China in the next three years. the boards of Zephyr Pea - taking a notice of the re-usabil - cock as its Director ity part. For instance, Nokia quickly pinpoints, “The claims that 65-80 percent of the amount of recycled goods materials in their mobile phones that comes out of a product cov - can now be recycled and given a ers all the recycling cost. second life. Best practices can even SOF TE C Whether it’s metal or gold, the recover 100 percent of the materi - open market has a good price for als - partly as energy. The market is Jan 29, 2011 • Chennai it.” During his stints in Draper huge, yet till a complete agreement 201 1 siliconind ia Fisher Jurvetson Maheshwari from every nook of the society himself was a part of one of the re - comes it may not grow big. The testing community today, and test managers in particular, are facing a number of new problems such as increasing cycling startups. A sneak view of the recent laws complexity, ever-increasing demands to reduce time-to-market & the need for testers to take on more varied roles in the organization. The focus of this event will be how best to address the problems and cope with changing conditions and the There are 58 million television show that the government has intro - Platinum Sponsor need to optimize every eort. The conference provides clear guidance to the delegates and helps them understand the units in India which is expected to duced legal compliance whereby challenges and issues faced in testing today, how best to address them and how to cope with changing conditions and the reach 234 million by 2015. On the every company will have to give out need to optimize every eort. other side, there are 75 million com - the goods to the authorized recyclers. puters in India since the life cycle of a Yet till 2012, the law will not be im - TOPICS Speakers • An optimum approach to n-tier architectured T.Ashok, Founder & CEO, Stag Software PC has come down to 3-4 years from plemented on a full force. As per At - application testing Prashant Lambat, Sr Manager-SQA Engineering, Symantec Corporation 7-8 years a few years back. Similarly, tero’s Founder, Nitin Gupta, the • Building an Automation Framework around Pichumani N, CEO,SoftSmith Anuradha Biswas, Founder & CEO,Prakat Solutions the Indian mobile handset market is the sidelines for a minute, there are country may also be seen as a hub for Open Source Technologies • Commercial Test Automation Tools and its real benefit Samir Kulkarni, Project Manager, Kpit Cummins set to zoom across the 200 million also issues on security. For instance, e-waste management considering the • Software Security Testing Siddharth Gudagunti, Project Manager,Wipro Keerthi Kulkarni, Technical Consultant,Micro Focus Silver Sponsor • Mobile/Infotainment Apps testing mark soon. E-waste management recently, many of the U.S. companies’ fact that it takes $2 to recycle a single Sathishkumar S, Manager-Test & Infrastructure and Tools,IBM • Cloud Testing: The future of software testing firms claim that now it is possible to crucial data were found openly dis - PC in India compared to $20 in U.S. Vinay Srinivasan, Senior Technical Associate- Testing CoE,Tech Mahindra • The Case for a Standard Uniform Test Modeling Language recycle around 98 percent of a cell - tributed on an online site of Nigeria. But will it happen before 2012, • Globalization testing- Getting your software World-ready phone. If a general consensus on or - This happens as there is no track of chances seem to be meek . • Avionics Testing

Exhibitor Meet the Senior Testing Leaders and get practical solutions. Limited Seats The Smart Techie |12 |January 2011 Register Now at http://www.siliconindia.com/events For speaking and sponsorship opportunities write to [email protected] or call 080-43402006 Digital Vidya Camp: How to leverage social networks’ potential for businesses

Compiled By Hari Anil Based on expert opinion social net - Why do we need to have social Intel’s new Atom E600 series processors works are the next big things in the media marketing? How can it help us business world. In the U.S. compa - to improve the business? What Intel launched Atom processor E600 series, System-on-Chip (SoC) SAP’s new High Performance Analytic nies have already realized this and should be the approach and what are technology based processor in India. According to Intel, these Appliance (SAP HANA) software the social networks are spreading in the ways it can be structured? These processors with their open interconnect allows easier pairing with the business world like wild fire, but are the normal set of questions that Participants engrossed in discussion a various input/output devices. Intel South Asia Embeded & Com - Indian companies are still shy. Indian arises into one’s mind and the camp SAP AG unveiled High munications Group Managing Director (Emerging Markets), Sanat companies for some reason try not to proved to be an opportunity to get Performance Analytic Rao said that the E600 series is ideal for applications such as in- mix social networks and business, these questions answered. It also pro - Appliance (SAP vehicle infotainment systems, internet phones and smart grid de - and as a result are not leveraging the vided the attendees with an opportu - HANA) software vices. huge potential of the medium effec - nity to be the early player to leverage which is based on in- The processor, earlier codenamed ‘Tunnel Creek’ put together tively. Pradeep Chopra, Co-founder the advantage of social marketing memory database com - additional capabilities onto the chip and accelerates connectivity to of Digital Vidya, and his team took media and also gave them an under - puting. This first the internet. The main benefit of the E600 series processor seems this as their milieu when they organ - standing on which channel one have version of SAP HANA to be its high performance on optimum power, enabling the small ized their event on Social Media to select to engage more on Twitter, is the result of a robust form factor devices to be built on the chip. The total cost of the Marketing. “In India, people have Facebook, LinkedIn or any other co-innovation program material is also reduced due to the chip’s compact design. still not understood the power of so - platform, and the different ways to Associate Architect at Yahoo!, Jessie between SAP and its Some of the third party vendors are optimizing the chip for cial media and that’s where the op - strategize the marketing campaign. Paul, CEO - Paul Writer Author of key partners and cus - various embedded applications. OKI Semiconductor for in-vehi - portunity is,” said Chopra. The speakers in the camp in - No Money Marketing, and Gaurav tomers. cle infotainment and telecommunications terminals, Realtec Semi - What is Social Media Marketing? cluded Pradeep Chopra, Manas Garg, Dublish, Director, Wildcraft India. SAP HANA lever - conductor for connected services gateways and medical devices, ages the power of in- Vishal Sikka and STMicroelectronics for in-vehicle infotainment systems, are memory data among the few. Cisco’s new VXI and Cius HP Network University all set to create processing by primarily relying on main memory for Juniper to expand Indian Excellence Center Tablet next gen IT Professionals computer data storage. The main memory databases are faster than disk-optimized databases since the internal California based network solutions vendor Juniper Networks plans Cisco launched Cisco Virtu - HP in association with International Institute of Information optimization algorithms are simpler and execute only to expand its India Excellence Center (IEC) by adding 750 seats alization Experience Infra - Technology, Bangalore (IIIT-B) launched HP Network Uni - fewer CPU instructions. “SAP HANA and the first ap - with 450 equipment racks at a new site in Bangalore over the next structure (VXI), a system that versity. Based out of the IIIT-B campus in Electronic City, the plications built on it are already showing customers the two years. The new office will be located at Bangalore’s new Pres - addresses the current state of university will allow IT professionals to advance their knowl - unprecedented speed of in-memory computing, as well tige Exora Business Park and is being developed in two phases. fragmented solutions with edge in the delivery of next-generation enterprise networks. as the latency they have in the layers of their current IT This expansion is part of Juniper’s plan to continue its expansion complicate virtual desktop The university will provide the tools, methodologies and systems,” said Vishal Sikka, Executive Board Member, in India. Dinesh Malkani deployment, and Cius tablet. labs to teach the latest standards in networking solutions for Technology and Innovations Platform, SAP AG. The IEC participate in activities including hardware and soft - Cisco VXI helps enter - both students and the employees. Spread over three to six As a part of the co-innovation program, SAP has ware development, test engineering, field trials, program manage - prises in attaining the financial, data security and work - months, the course will cover basic to advanced levels of net - used data from customers to demonstrate how particu - ment, quality assurance, technical documentation and product line force flexibility benefits offered by desktop virtualization working, network security, consulting and converged infra - lar business processes could be improved by SAP management. IEC also provides 12-hour-a-day global customer and reduces the total cost of ownership of desktop virtual - structure. “Organizations are increasingly network dependent HANA, and these customers are already seeing valu - support covering all Juniper products and operates a Finance ization solutions by significantly increasing the number of as they develop new ways to engage their customers, employ - able results. Coca-Cola, Hellenic, Future Group, and Shared Services Center, which delivers functions to Juniper Fi - virtual desktops that can be hosted on each server. “Rather ees and partners. This brings a challenge as well as an oppor - Hilti are some of the key customers who provided data nance, an open network infrastructure that allows financial service than deploy a parallel IT infrastructure to support virtual tunity for the IT community,” said Neelam Dhawan, Managing for analysis. “We participated in the co-innovation pro - organizations to keep up with business requirements in a rapidly desktops, Cisco VXI helps businesses take advantage of Director, HP India. gram of SAP HANA and saw how SAP in-memory changing environment, organizations across the world. current investments by unifying data center, collaboration “We bring together expert faculty, best in class infrastruc - computing can dramatically improve our processes, ” “Any Product that Juniper ships today will have a substantial and networking architectures into one system,” said Di - ture and a proven industry academia relationship. Our associa - said Martin Petry, CIO, Hilti. amount of its work done in India,” said dhar Sarathy, Managing nesh Malkani, Managing Director-Collaboration, APAC- tion with HP will add immense value to our education system Working together with its partner and customer Director of IEC, Juniper Networks. Currently their India Excel - Cisco. and bridge the gap of training between employers and academic ecosystem, SAP plans in the next year to introduce new lence Center (IEC) in Bangalore employs 1,800 staff and 300 de - Their new WebEx High Quality Video turns web con - institutions,” said Prof. Sadagopan, Director, IIIT-Bangalore. applications based on SAP HANA that will help utility velopment partners. “This expansion reflects our ongoing ferencing into a virtual video conferencing room, as meet - HP and IIIT-B will also establish up a dedicated lab to study companies manage power supply in real time, provide commitment to increasing the depth of experience and expertise in ing participants can see other participants with exceptional and analyze networking technologies. HP has already put in an retailers more timely analysis of point-of-sale data and the India region, which is becoming increasingly important not clarity in full-screen video mode. The company expanded investment of $1 million to set up the lab and is prepared to in - enable more accurate sales pipeline forecasting for all just as a source of engineering talent but also as a fast-growing this capability by extending it to mobile users through the vest more in the venture. The certification for all courses will types of companies. market for Juniper Networks,” said Sarathy . Cisco Cius tablet and the Apple iPad. be provided by Prometric.

The Smart Techie |14 |January 2011 The Smart Techie |15 |January 2011 VC TALK By Bejul Somaia Author is Managing Director, Lightspeed Venture Partners

the recession but it also recovered very In India where ever you look there strongly and fundamentally whether you are opportunities to innovate and apply Financial Services & Education look at credit cards or home loans or in - technologies in interesting ways. The surance products the penetration is tiny limitations are only by the entrepreneur’s compared to any other markets including imagination and knowledge of a sector, Potential Areas other emerging markets. This means that so it is not fair to say that there are only the head room is significant and an en - limited ways to innovate. trepreneur has to find the right way to Entrepreneurs need to make sure that serve those needs. they are solving a large painful problem. for There are opportunities for innovat - Sometimes we see solutions looking for ing really across the board. The power re - problems and sometimes we see really in - Startups lated sectors are going through a lot of teresting technologies or ideas that no one changes now. One of our recent innova - is willing to pay for. In India the willing - he areas we invest in India are fairly broad. Currently we focus tions is in Power Exchange . This is a ness to pay is often a challenge. That is on four investments — power sector, financial services, edu - Bejul Somaia company that is now a couple of years why it is important to solve a large and cation and media. These sectors seem to be reflective of the old so it is essentially a start up and it is painful problem, because if it is painful opportunities set in India. Even though they sound like tradi - When a financial recession comes being a transparent competitive market then people will pay. Another thing is to tional sectors we have actually invested in the non-traditional there is generally nowhere to hide, but for electricity. That is something that have a great team. This helps to increase segments of these sectors. In these large traditional sectors there are pock - what an entrepreneur must to do is stay India needs, to create the right kind of in - your chances of success. Building busi - ets of emerging subsectors that create a lot of opportunity for entrepreneurs. focused as if there is a large unmet con - centives for investments and price sig - nesses are not easy, it is an unnatural act to TFor example, in power we are investing in the Power Exchange and in the sumer need. If you are solving it well, nals. Now this is an innovation in a very build something from nothing and so the financial segment we have invested in a prepaid card company. Then there then over time you will be able to build a large, very mature market but still it is a human capitol that you assemble is the is technology and technology enabled sectors like the internet and e-com - business that can survive recession. Fi - disruptive innovation that has a signifi - most prudent weapon you have. And fi - merce , which are seeing a revival of activity . The same is the case with mo - nancial services were quite badly hit by cant impact on the industry. nally the focus should be on execution. bile sector with the 3G and BWA rollouts . This is a growing trend. A lot of activities are being registered around the cloud, though it is not generally focused on the domestic market. Areas that are gaining speed more than others would be Internet and e-commerce. Subscribe today & save We are also witnessing a lot of activity in the education sector, not just 20% schools but in IP related businesses and content driven businesses. Take a  look at education sector , one can see a lot of companies trying to leverage The Smart Techie is a monthly magazine. Take advantage of this special offer and the current teaching or school infrastructure to improve the quality of ed - ` ucation. 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Subscription Helpline - P Magendran Tel: 80 41510601 or email at [email protected] BUSINESS By Eureka Bharali

Indian Startup Founders Compiled by ST Team Are They Serious on Sales?

Appnomic Systems Receives $2.5 Million in Series B Funding f a product can not be sold factor is always about doing for the first by the makers themselves, time. “They are initially hesitant as it takes no sales team perhaps can time to move out of their comfort zone,” ppnomic Systems, a provider frastructure Perform - one of the leading host - make the sale,” says says Abhishek Goyal, Associate at Accel of application aware IT infra - ance Management solu - ing and cloud compa - Bharat Goenka, the Tally Partners. They move forward with a better structure management solu - tion has been adopted nies, and continue to Chief. Goenka jumpstarted the accounting goal in mind and as their hands get full with also contributed immensely. So, for a Ations to large and growing enterprises, by many customers in - experience high demand software firm by selling the first 700 prod - the other core activities they tend to side - startup it’s important that they do look at has closed a $2.5 million Series B cluding one of the for its services offering. u“cts on hI is own, before passing on the line the sale proposition. the sales proposition of the CEOs. How - round of funding led by existing in - largest banks in India, a The company head - league to a set of sales managers. But how And of course, a look at product com - ever, only if the CEO has unmatched tech vestor Norwest Venture Partners leading travel portal and quartered in Palo Alto far are today’s startup founders and CEOs panies, we would see more of technocrats knowledge, sometimes sales might be (NVP). NVP had previously invested a mid-sized bank in also has its presence in in India willing to put their hands on sales? towing the entrepreneurial line. “In terms compensated by bringing in an expert,” $4 million in the company. “NVP has West Africa. Appmeter, India with offices in “One has to sell the vision of the com - of sales and marketing, the CEO doesn’t says Gaurav Saraf of Epipheny Ventures. been very supportive of Appnomic’s the cloud based version Bangalore, Chennai, Hy - pany at every point. Whether it is to the handle any of it he is a core IT person,” However, there are founders who have growth and we are happy to be ex - of their solution, has derabad and Mumbai; employees or to the investors , the selling says an Associate VP of a learning solution plunked their hands on every possible do - tending our relationship with them been featured on the D Padmanabhan Europe and Middle East. does happen. In direct selling of the prod - provider. In such a scenario, they are more main. Gautam Rage, Founder and Director with this round of funding,” said D Rackspace and Amazon “We believe Appnomic ucts, at times CEOs are not ready and rely oriented towards building a taut product of Josh Software quickly pinpoints, “We Padmanabhan, CEO of Appnomic. cloud for monitoring transaction per - continues to be well positioned to ad - on a more business-experienced person,” without much loopholes instead of moving make sure that either me or the other co- The company’s total financing to date formance of cloud-based applications. dress IT management requirements of says an ex-business developer of a loan across the market and making the sales founder are the only ones who become the stands at $6.5 million. The company Their existing clients include Red - growing enterprises that are working startup. pitches. “When we as VCs look towards face of the company while doing sales. In - plans to use this series B funds to fur - iff.com, Tata Business Support Serv - with both on-premise and What is not realized, if one has a com - investing, the company needs to have an fact, at times, we tend to work on the prod - ther enhance its sales presence in the ices Ltd, Tata Sky, Yatra.com, Ramco, hosted/cloud-based technologies. We pany, one is in some way or the other in - amiable CEO. Look at every big product uct development, do the coding and at the U.S., launch operations in Europe and DataCore Software, Everest Bank Ltd, look forward to partnering with App - volved in selling whether in a conventional firm, Sony, LG and you can see the CEOs same time make time for proper research enhance the application aware IT in - and Karnataka Bank. They have also nomic to help grow the company fur - or in an unconventional way. The deterring with significant sales experience and have to pitch in for sales”. frastructure management platform. acquired key U.S. customers such as ther.” said Promod Haque, managing Appnomic’s Application Aware In - Cypress Semiconductor, Stratus ASP, partner, NVP. Platinum Sponsor Gold Sponsor iYogi Raises $30 Million largest independent remote consumer model and believe that we have estab - tech support company which has driven lished the new market standard for tech Jan 22, 2011 an impressive 300 percent growth for its support and related services through a Yogi , the first consumer service Bangalore premium annual subscription service consistent user experience. Our planned brand from India, has raised $30 mil - alone, and solved more than two million expansion includes making our services lion in a new round of funding lead Developer tech problems for consumers since its available in any geography, across any by Sequoia Capital. With this invest - i inception. The company’s existing mar - platform, for any device, and at afford - Lanyard Sponsor Exhibitors ment iYogi will expand services outside ket includes North America, , able price-points,” said Uday Challu, the existing consumer the Co-founder and CEO of iYogi. market and the Windows and , and with “I believe that iYogi will be cited Operating System plat - the funding the com - amongst case studies of disruptive busi - form. It will provide the The Siliconindia Mobile Developer Conference brings pany has plans to in - ness models delivering world-class company with the capabil - together thought leaders and experts from different We have 4 exciting tracks: creases its services to service to global consumers from ity to extend its platform to aspects of the mobile ecosystem. Tailored specifically iPHONE ANDROID other countries in the India,” said Shailendra Singh, Manag - the global SME market for mobile application developers and technologists BLACKBERRY QT Europe, Middle East ing Director of Sequoia Capital India. and also aggressively ad - this conference will help startups, investors, mobile and India. “We have in - Apart from Sequoia Capital, iYogi’s ex - dress the growing need for carriers, device manufacturers to better understand Listen to some of the brightest minds in mobile vested significantly in isting investors Canaan, SVB Capital supporting mobile con - the latest technologies that will define the mobile industry discuss the future of mobile technology. extending our game Partners, SAP Ventures and Draper sumer devices. market of tomorrow. A one of its kind event covering Don't miss this unique opportunity. Learn from the changing platform-as- Fisher Jurvetson, also took part in this all aspects of mobile content development – mobile experts! iYogi is the world’s Uday Challu a-service delivery round of fund raising. jam-packed with presentations, demonstrations, and panel discussions. With some of the most interesting Register now at The Smart Techie |18 |January 2011 and engaging presenters from the Mobile industry http://www.siliconindia.com/events this conference is for beginners, intermediate, and For speaking and sponsorship opportunities write to advanced programmers of mobile content. [email protected] or call 080-43402006 COVER STORY The mobile industry has al - Indian market a decade ago, COVER STORY ways been the biggest driver of Nokia continues to rule the mo - entrepreneurial ecosystem in bile handset market with a 49.2 India, earlier with Mobile VAS percent hold in terms of revenue (example OnMobile, mCheck, share. And with its global devel - AdMob) and now a bigger push oper community and support pro - seems to be from Mobile App gram, Forum Nokia, the development. The app develop - company ensures that its reach ment is one area which has across the developer community hooked every one from an indi - in India is as wide and in depth as Forum Nokia vidual developer to a startup to it is with the consumers. The fact an established mobile solutions that India is one of the top five company. With a plethora of plat - markets for Ovi, it is understand - forms like iPhone, Andorid, able why Nokia is bullish on the BlackBerry, Symbian, Windows developer community here. And Enabling CE, Palm, MeeGo, the play - ensuring this is Sunil Rao, Head Smart ground is wide open for Indian of Forum Nokia in India. Mobile developers to test their Of the 62.4 million smart - skills. phones shipped globally, DBy Vimalie Swamy velopers One of the first entrants in the Nokia’s market share with its t is an era of unprecedented of growth for smartphones with 62.4 mil - lion smartphones having been shipped globally in second quarter of OVI Store Trivia 2010. It is an era of unprecedented mobile connectivity with people using their mobiles to access email, IM, VOIP, and social networking  Ovi Store attracts 3.5 million downloads a day, with an average of 2.6 apps downloaded per visit. sites. According to a report by Morgan Stanley, in the next four years,  About 90 percent of Ovi Store traffic converts to downloads. number of people accessing the internet from their mobile will be much more  Of Ovi Store's signed-in users, 85 percent are repeat visitors. than those accessing Internet from their PCs or laptops. It is an era of un -  Each active user averages 8.5 downloads per month. Sunil Rao precedented device convergence from maps, games, photos, camera, video  Active users represent more than 190 countries. I  Games are No. 1 among paid downloads, and apps are No.1 among and everything else coming to one single device. It is an unprecedented era of free downloads. adoption of the apps. Analysts predict that by end of 2012, 50 billion apps  40 percent of the content downloaded are games and 30 percent are will be downloaded globally. These statistics bring color a rosy picture for the apps. mobile market globally. And the case in India is no different, the future looks  In India, the top apps downloaded are Utilities followed by Games and Entertainment equally promising. At 15 million mobile users being added monthly, the In -  90 percent of Ovi Store users have Ovi Store in their local lan - dian mobile industry is hot on the radar of OEMs, operators and mobile en - guages. trepreneurs.  Publishers from more than 90 countries distribute their content through Ovi Store.  400,000 new Forum Nokia developers were added in the last 12 months.  92 publishers have over 1 million downloads each on Ovi Store.  Ovi Store supports 135 devices models, including 80 Symbian device models.  Touch devices account for 6 of Ovi Store's top 10 downloading device models: 5800 XpressMusic, N97, N97 mini, 5530 XpressMusic, 5230 Nuron, and X6 where available.  The 10 most active countries are (in alphabetical order) China, Ger - many, India, , , , Saudi Arabia, , the U.K. and .  Over 80 percent of Ovi Store users can purchase content from Ovi Store using their local currencies.  More than two-thirds of customers choose the mobile-billing pay - ment option in countries where it's available.  With support for 30 languages, 90 percent of visitors are using their local languages in Ovi Store from around the world. With its ven - Qt: The ‘cute’ software for Developers ture fund arm Nokia Growth Partners The Nokia Qt is a single, easy-to-use software developer kit for rapid develop - founded in 2004, the company offers ment, testing and deployment of native applications for millions of Nokia smart - growth-stage fund to mobile startups phones and mobile computers around the globe. Nokia has multiple platforms to across U.S., India, China, and Eu - serve different purposes and address different markets. Its Symbian platform is rope. known to bring in smartphones to the masses having more than 40 percent of the global smartphone market. The forum also works closely The primary benefits of Qt SDK are productivity (ease of use) and distribution with the local developer communities (cross platforms). For instance, if a developer wants to access specific feature of like the Mobile Monday in India and Symbian or MeeGo devices to further differentiate their application the Nokia Qt actively supports several mobile de - SDK enables them to integrate the Symbian and Maemo SDK and make use of any other the APIs these platforms offer in their application. Additionally, Qt will velopment events including the Sili - play in bridging the gap between Symbian and MeeGo, the open source mobile op - conIndia Mobile Application erating systems that Nokia uses on its phones. Mobile Qt applications can support Conference among others. Apart from the two operating systems, which means that the third-party application develop - the events, the company is also ac - “We are not chasing numbers ers won't have to write their software twice if they want to reach users of both of total apps downloaded or platforms. tively engaged in simplifying its de - available in the store but rather Nokia has been constantly innovating to aid developers and ensure that they veloper platform and recently its new have the right platform to maximize downloads of their applications irrespective of Qt (pronounced as ‘cute’) SDK (Soft - Symbian OS stood at 43.5 percent oper competition that was launched in empowering the developers,” the operating system in use. As per the Nokia’s developer strategy, Qt is one such ware Development Kit) for develop - followed by others. Its Ovi store 2008. In the first year, the forum saw Purnima Kochikar, VP for Forum cross-platform application and UI framework that is the sole development platform ers. This software makes it simpler today clocks 3.5 million downloads a almost 1,000 developers from 57 Nokia and Developer Community for Nokia smartphones moving forward, enabling the developers reach hundreds of thousands of smartphones with one development platform. and less laborious for developers to day. Though it is comparatively be - countries participating in the compe - Post the introduction of the Qt application; developers have seen a 70 percent create an app by reducing the number hind world’s biggest app store, Apple tition and competing for a cash award software engineer from India. The reduction in code – saving development time, project costs, language international - of lines required to write a code by iTunes Store that has over 300,000 of $40,000. The following years saw Toddler Tutor app, a voice-based in - isation, and code maintenance. Using Qt, developers are able to write web-en - about 70 per cent. third-party applications available on close to 2000 submissions from over teractive teaching aid app for toddlers, abled applications once and deploy them across desktop, mobile and embedded operating systems without rewriting the source code. “Mobile Applications is making it and has hit 7 billion download mark 85 countries competing for the prize ultimately created by Spice Labs its way to be an inseparable part of a as of October 2010, Nokia is not per - purse of $250,000. In all the three bagged the third position. skills, new connections, and new this will be the first step in creating a mobile users life and it is this that will turbed. “We are not chasing numbers years, Indian developers put in a The company also holds an an - ideas to create future technologies. highly collaborative ecosystem that drive the next wave of mobile entre - of total apps downloaded or available spectacular show, some of whom nual developer conference in India. The conference also has information will grow and thrive by sharing best preneurship. At Nokia, we do not look in the store but rather empowering the went on to grab top awards. Aimed at bringing together attendees sharing sessions by Industry, Busi - practices and setting a high bar for in - at app development as a technology developers,” says Purnima Kochikar, ‘Hackathon’ is another such pro - from across India to learn, share and ness and Technology experts. no vation,” says Kochikar. differentiator anymore but rather our VP for Forum Nokia and Developer gram where Forum Nokia called for explore the latest in application and “The convergence of mobility and Other programs include Forum focus is on understanding the chal - Community. developers to create an app based on content development, integration and the internet is creating unprecedented Nokia Launchpad, a program de - lenges from a developer stand point ideas submitted from users all over the distribution opportunities for Nokia opportunities to create innovative mo - signed to accelerate mobile applica - and in return help them understand the Engaging the Developer world, in 36 hours! 13 professional de - devices and services, the forum en - bile apps that transform the way we tion development for companies and facts, feelings, interactions and prob - Community velopers from around the world ables developers to utilize the poten - live and access information. The In - individual developers in order to ele - lems that a consumer may potentially In just a few years of its launch, worked through 36 grilling hours to tial of Nokia’s Ovi Store by ensuring dian developer is uniquely positioned vate their business visibility through face and the role of all the stake hold - Forum Nokia has managed to quickly create real applications for the new easy access to publish applications to leverage this opportunity. Forum Ovi store;Forum Nokia PRO, an invi - ers in the value chain. At the end of grasp the interest of developers across Nokia N8 using the Qt framework , and content to millions of Nokia de - Nokia is excited about partnering with tation-only program for companies the day, we want to empower every the world, especially India. To ac - based solely on ideas submitted by vices. The conference further helps and supporting this vibrant community and Nokia growth partners currently mobile app developer and make him tively engage with the developer consumers during the Nokia N8 Make developers acquaint themselves with of developers to find success not only working with it; and Forum Nokia realize the opportunities that are out community, it runs a multitude of My App contest. One of the winning dynamic technology platforms for in the Indian market but also in the Champion, a recognition and reward there for him This is what Forum programs, the major one being “Call - app ideas at the 2010 Hackathon was creating truly compelling user expe - markets worldwide. Conferences like program for top mobile developers Nokia is all about,” explains Rao. ing all innovators”, a global devel - by Revathi Sreedharan, a 29-year-old riences, equipping them with new

Calling All Innovators: Indian Developers hit jackpot

Toddler Tutor – Runner-up at Calling All Innovators Green Phone – Runner-up at Calling all Innovators Green Plaza - Second Runner-up at Calling all Innovators Nano Ganesh – Winner of Calling all Comics Creator – Winner of Calling PlanEasy2D - Second Runner-up of Call - Socially - Most downloaded social app on Innovators 2008 in Emerging Mar- all Innovators 2010 in Entertainment ing all Innovators 2010 in Productivity Ovi Store Hackathon 2008 in Eco-challenge Category 2010 in Eco-challenge Category ket Category Category Category Developed by Bangalore based Antarix, Developed by Delhi based Spice Labs, Toddler Tutor An S60 application maximizing battery life through Developed by Webdunia.com , Green Plaza is an innova - Developed by Ossian Agro Automa - Developed by Nextwave Multimedia, Developed by InfiMatra Technologies Socially utilizes the rich data emerging is a talking app that teaches children alphabets, num - improved regulation of device backlight, WLAN, tive Green application where individuals can test their tion, this application allows farmers it is an easy-to-use mobile applica - Planeasy2D application allow users to from your social networks to enrich your bers and common words. The app displays flash Bluetooth and charger power consumption. everyday life, know their carbon footprints and get learn - cards that can be swiped through and a speak button ing tips/hints to maintain an eco-friendly lifestyle. Appli - in India to establish remote contact tion that allows you to create your start drawing rooms and walls of their phone's Address Book, Calendar, Cal - that speaks out the displayed card. The app also in - cation is well categorized to check out emerging 'Green' with distant, modem-equipped elec - own comics, cartoon strips, photo dream home in the dimension of their lerID, Idle screen and more. Available on cludes a coloring book with lots of images where chil - conceptions and technologies that will change the way we tric irrigation pumps , to check on journals, and more. With this applica - choice on a sq.ft , on a basic blank screen Ovi Store since August 2010, the app has dren can select different colors to fill in. live. Users can play an interesting green Quiz and can get power supply and pump operation tion, you can turn your ideas into a of their mobile or desktop. One can also seen over a million downloads. quick Go Green Tips that assist to reduce carbon foot - without the need to travel long dis - comic format that you like, and share use it to draw floor plans, building exit prints and help people to make environment sound deci - tances . it with your friends. plans and other plans easily and quickly sions in day-to-day life. Forum Nokia Developer Conference

Ovi Apps categories downloads split for India

“Two out of every three con - sumers will choose to pay for Retail Revenues by Category their downloaded apps via their operator rather than through their credit card” Kenny Mathers, Head of Developer Relations, at Forum Nokia Asia-Pacific

91 telcos in 27 markets to introduce op - erator billing mechanisms in the Ovi Store of these markets.Within the re - gion, all mobile carriers based in Singa - pore, Australia and Thailand have integrated their billing systems with the Nokia app store to provide a more seamless end-user experience. The sig - nificance of such a billing service is that not every customer is comfortable using their credit card to pay for apps, which is the system Apple’s iTunes and Google’s Android Market currently uti - payment system to credit card billing by Today, with these initiatives in Ovi Store: What is in store for the In - margins overall, he said. create additional value for developers. lize. Furthermore, credit card usage is integrating operator billing services into place, Nokia is aiming to drive the dian Developers? Nokia, however, has “simplified” its This strategy leverages the company’s not high among the emerging markets, their app stores, is yet to be done by ri - thriving developer community and The OVI store is the ultimate Mecca for revenue-sharing system to assist devel - global marketing reach to bring local particularly for rural communities. With vals like Apple, Google and Research in become the most preferred app devel - the developers working on the Symbian opers who might not have the experi - apps to an international audience as well OVI, users can still access apps by pay - Motion (RIM) have yet to integrate opment platform for developers.The platform as it decides the fate of an app. ence of dealing with such billing as increase the visibility of local apps ing for the apps through prepaid or post - Google and RIM, though, are currently fact that Forum Nokia saw 400,000 In order to make it developer friendly, complexities. This system, which the according to the user’s location. paid accounts with local operators . working to offer such arrangements. developers join in 2010 alone indicates the company has ensured that the entire Finnish handset maker describes as Nokia has implemented location-based Kenny Mathers, Head of Developer For the Indian market, the company its success amongst the developer engagement process is hassle free and “flat-rate revenue share”, ensures de - features into its Ovi Store to help mo - Relations at Forum Nokia Asia-Pacific, is going one step ahead by launching a community. the user friendly . Also it has been proac - velopers take home at least 60 percent bile users discover locally relevant apps notes that two out of every three con - separate circle of operator billing. Also Just as the company had reached tive in increasing the revenue margin for of the gross price of an app even after much easier. This is done through the sumers will choose to pay for their Rao notes, “In an emerging country like out to all levels of consumers - from developers, for example in , local sales tax has been deducted. company’s TopApps tool which will downloaded apps via their operator India, we cannot compeletly depend on rural India and urban India to student in carrier-run app store, the mobile op - “With this program, developers stand push local apps to users based on the rather than through their credit card. OVI store in terms of distribution. One populace to avid gamers to corporates, erator takes 50 percent of the total earn - to benefit from (receiving) over 50 per - country they are in. Ovi Store, which is “The convenience that consumers ex - of the biggest advantage in India is the Forum Nokia hopes to cut across the ings each time an app is purchased and cent more revenue share (compared to preinstalled in Nokia devices, will also perience through an operator billing-in - retail outlets. Today there are 100,000 psyche of mobile developers across billed through the telco. While develop - a carrier-run app store),” explains Rao. showcase a “local apps” tab to improve tegrated app store will result in 13 times Nokia retail outlets and in a year’s time the world and encourage the growing ers take the remaining 50 percent, their Besides touting potentially higher the app discovery process. more the volume of sales than credit we will be selling apps out of retail out - mobile entrepreneurial ecosystem, es - cut has to account for bad debt and local revenue streams, Nokia has also been For an easier billing purpose, Nokia card-based app stores,” he says. lets. Also OVI will soon launch billing pecially in India. And this does not sales tax, resulting in lower revenue enhancing its “ultra-local” strategy to has inked partnership agreement with This provisioning of an alternative in INR too.” seem to be an unachievable task.

The Smart Techie |24 |January 2011 The Smart Techie |25 |January 2011 Most Promissing Mobile App Companies >>>> > > > M> ost Promissing Mobile App Companies

ost Promissing WCarvingi ar Nkichle ein Mobile obile App Software Development Varun Khurana M Companies By Hari Anil

obile phones are rana, Sunil Goyal and Lomesh more relevant, not all have been becoming much Dutta to develop a platform to opti - able to pick it up as a serious prac - more powerful in mize the web and bring it to the tice. For the bigger companies it is their capabilities mobile, it initially began as product too small to be a focus area at this and higher data development company but entered time and for the smaller ones, it is connectivity; the data based mobile the services segment in 2006. hard to demonstrate it without a applications that allow users to do Today, they provide services rang - track record. This puts us in a sweet vMarious things on the go are prolif - ing from social networking, instant spot.” says Varun Khurana, Co- erating. Mobile applications are messaging, location based services, founder and CEO, Wirkle Tech - Name Founded CEO Description seeing an increased push in the con - multimedia streaming, banking, en - nologies . Dot Com Infoway A multinational Information Technology company that does Mobile Applica - sumer as well as in the enterprise terprise applications, payments to The company tremendously val - Chennai, Tamil Nadu 2000 C.R. Venkatesh tion Development and Marketing. The company's headcount is above 300. www.dotcominfoway.in segment. Blackberry, iPhone and barcode scanning and many more. ues its employees and considers android based phones are leading With an impressive list of big plat - them as its greatest strength. “We Divum A mobile application development startup which works on iPhone, BlackBerry, Bangalore, Karnataka 2008 Vaideeswaran Sethuraman Nokia, Android and Samsung. The company operates with around 50 employ - the market now. While blackberry forms like iPhone, Blackberry, An - strive to create a culture where peo - www.divum.in ees. continues to be the dominant player droid, Symbian and Windows ple are passionate about what they HiddenBrains The company provides custom software development, Mobile App Develop - in the enterprise segment , iPhone Mobile for whom they develop ap - do, to have fun and treat others with San Jose, California 2003 Vikash Chhawchharia ment, and offshore IT outsourcing services. www.hiddenbrains.com and Android are dominating the plications, this Delhi based com - dignity .” says Khurana. Interworld Commnet consumer segment with a wide pany has carved a niche for itself. While mobile is an upcoming A web designing company by orgin, later ventured into web app development Chandigarh 1998 J K Menon and mobile app development. range of mobile apps available via Using their patented technology area, it also comes with many chal - www.innovativepeople.com their app stores. Taking advantage frameworks they provide low cost lenges. Mobile projects can mislead NEX G Exuberant Solution The company offers software solutions, technical consultancy, expert man - of this fast growing market is and high quality offerings with a company in a direction when they NOIDA, Uttar Pradesh 2002 S.S.Bhowmick power, and technical training in mobile communication technologies. www.exuberantsolutions.com Wirkle Technologies , a software lesser time to market. are working on a lot of small proj - A customer engagement technology solution provider devloping solutions development company with spe - According to International Data ects which do not justify the o2s360 which can be used to build and manage customer database, keep in touch Bangalore, Karnataka 2010 Vaibhav Tewari cific expertise in building mobile Corporation (IDC), the number of process overhead, have lower mar - with customers, run and manage multichannel marketing campaigns, and o2s360.com measure service quality. applications and solutions across downloaded apps is expected to gins and don’t result in continuous Robosoft A mid-sized software company specializing in C/C++/Java product develop - the various handset platforms, grow from 10.9 billion worldwide revenue. To challenge this Wirkle New Udupi, Karnataka 1996 Rohith Bhat ment for Mac OS and Windows, providing software product development across various wireless operators, this year to 76.9 billion in 2014. have is now focusing only on big - www.robosoftin.com services andf top-notch games for different Mobile platforms. across geographies as well as That will translate into mobile app ger, longer term projects that would RockeTalk The company created a social media platform and mobile phone client appli - San Diego, California 2005 Rajiv Kumar across various client server tech - revenues surpassing $35 billion in result in repeat business. The com - cations that provide a variety of fast, easy-to-use multimedia services. www.rocketalk.com nologies. The company’s unique 2014, which shows the exponential pany also seems to have big plans United Mobile Apps proposition is its focus on mobile growth phase this market is going for the future. “Mobile continues to Arun Samudrala (Co- A privately held company that develops intelligent solutions for next genera - Bangalore, Karnataka 2009 Founder & President tion wireless devices by focussing on end user needs. and the great track record it has as through. This gives a huge oppor - grow as a business / consumer need www.umobile.in a company in this space with multi - tunity for mobile application and and we are one of the leading com - Wirkle A software development company with expertise in building mobile applica - San Jose, California 2004 Varun Khurana tions and solutions across the various, handset platforms, wireless operators, ple applications on various app solution development companies panies in India in this space and www.wirkle.com geographies as well client server technologies. stores of blackberry, android and like Wirkle. “While almost every aim to be at the forefront of this, as iPhone. software services company today is it continues to grow over the next Started in 2004 by Varun Khu - seeing mobile becoming more and couple of years.” says Khurana.

The Smart Techie |27 |January 2011 Most Promissing Mobile App Companies >>>> > > > M> ost Promissing Mobile App Companies

Today, we offer both Mobile Applica - tion Development and Mobile Applica - tion Marketing. Many tend to think that Interworld Commnet you can see ROI when you build a great Mobile Apps at Attractive Price on Time app. Never. The app is profitable only when you market it. Mobile apps mar - keting is a must to reach your target users ,” says Vijayakumar Radhakrish - ndia, with more than 680 mil - opened into the mobile apps market pany highly effective in the space. nan, CTO, DCI . Their marketing style lion mobile connections, is the global business world was hit by Menon feels that there is a is very unique and often viral, in which now only behind China in recession. This was a severe setback scarcity in the availability of human Vijayakumar they gauge the USP of every apps they this regard. According to a for the company as they had to bring resources in India. This scarcity is Girish Ramdas Venkatesh C. R Radhakrishnan market and frame their strategies ac - forecast by Informa Telecoms down the price of their apps to at - pushing companies to offer very cordingly. & Media, the number of active mo - tract customers during this period. large packages to new recruits and The mobile apps market is a very bile subscriptions in India will touch “We brought down the price and further reduce their profit margin. Dot Com Infoway : competitive, dynamic, and ever-chang - 1.159 billion by the end of 2013, lowered our margins and now even He says this lack of availability of I Pioneers in Indian Mobile App Market ing market where no players have any making it the world’s largest mobile talented people has to change in elbow room. “You can create a break - market overtaking China. Inter - order for this industry to bloom fur - obile market all over Studios engages developing of apps for through in the app stores only if you world Commnet which had its in - ther. Since its introduction into the the world is in for an multiple platforms — iPhone, iPad, build apps that reach your target users. ception in 1998 entered the mobile mobile market the company has all time boom. It is BlackBerry, Android to Windows, Sym - An innovative and useful app that is world in 2007, and is today one of changed dynamically. It has hired almost similar to the bian, BlackBerry PlayBook, Samsung well-marketed makes a mark. Your app the leading web and mobile app de - several new managers and in terms dotcom boom of the Galaxy and more. “Since we build apps has to be in news always to stay in velopment company in the country. of employee development has up - 1990s. Everyone and everything is in such diverse platforms, we have a user’s minds or to get to top rankings. In a short span, the company has graded itself with social media, and going mobile. With smart phones being commendable knowledge and experi - Also, usability of the app is an impor - mastered in mobile application de - now is among the very few compa - Mable to manage everything from busi - ence in the mobile app sector. We know tant aspect. If your app lacks in usabil - velopment including iPhone Appli - nies in India who has done this . And ness to credit card payments, the mobile what sells where,” says Venkatesh. ity quotient, it may fail miserably ,” says cations, Windows Mobile the working culture is also different application industry is going through a As pioneers in this field, they have Ramdas. They keep this in check by Applications, and Applications on from similar companies. “Instead of J K Menon tipping-point phase. A recent survey by the industry intelligence, domain doing feasibility studies and competitor Google Android for the niche mar - asking our developers to do this and the BBC states that India has more knowledge and experience to lead the analysis before they venture into app de - kets. Its technology leverages J2EE, number of mobiles than toilets; this mobile revolution in India where more velopment. J2ME, Personal Java, CORBA, and By 2013, total active mobile subscriptions in marks the massive mobile revolution users are switching to smart phones Like most players in the industry .Net in order to provide mobile ap - that is happening in the country. In such now. Back when the iPhone platform the company also suffered from lack plications at attractive costs and on India will touch 1.159 billion, making it largest a climate, mobile app companies like was introduced in India, they launched of resources with necessary skills and time without any compromise in mobile market, overtaking China Dot Com Infoway (DCI) will find the the Galatta Cinema, the first-ever Indian experience. Their HR team addressed quality. Its mobile application de - platform to innovate and experiment movie and entertainment magazine on this challenge by hiring and training velopment capabilities includes with applications of diverse kinds. the iPhone. Today, two years later the resources. The company values its adding a mobile device interface to after the recession the customers are use this technology, we tell them Founded in March 2000, DCI came DCI studion has churned out several employees highly and provides them existing applications, augmenting not ready to go back to the old price. that this is the need of the hour and into being after a merger between C.R. apps, available at different app stores. with Performance Linked Variable mobile application infrastructure So it seems recession is not over for ask them what they can do about it Venkatesh founded web design firm “We believe that mobile is the next plat - Bonus (PLVB), health insurance, with a location-based service com - us. The tech investments have gone and they choose a suitable technol - CRV Infotech and Girish Ramdas form for communication and hence, a cash incentives, and paid leaves, as ponent, mobile-enable existing en - up but the profitability is yet to ogy ,” says Menon. headed internet company GNG Solu - mobile app will be the next level of part of their motivational programs. terprise applications, test mobile match up,” says J K Menon, CEO, The company has developed tions. Currently, Venkatesh is the CEO growth for them. Our official IPLT20 The company has set tall plans for the applications, SyncML-based syn - Interworld Commnet. “We have cer - partnership with crowd funding and Ramdas is President of DCI, a app is the best example of this. We have future. “We are expanding across chronization of data between mobile tain plans set in place for the next bodies and plans to use this for ex - multinational Information Technology also mobilized the film industry. The continents, in both developed and devices and enterprise applications, couple of years and these will boost pansion purposes. It is presently fo - company based out of India with offices tamil film ‘ Vinnai Thandi Varuvaya ’ emerging markets. We have offices in and mobile-enabled company alert - our profitability by 100 percent.” he cusing on Asian territory, and plans in Netherlands and the United States. In songs (search as VTV Songs in app the U.S. and Netherlands and are ing and notification services. added. The company understands to expand into , Singapore 2008, the company entered the mobile store) – is the first-ever app to feature planning to open branches in Aus - But despite its proven prowess, the business marketplace, current and Kuwait soon. “Indian market and wireless device programming serv - the composition of Academy Award tralia and Singapore. We have plans the company is facing challenges in trends and issues it faces, which is a still remains to be our priority and ices and formed an internal division winner A.R. Rahman for the movie. We to establish our client base in the setting a stable foothold in the mar - critical element of marketing any we have plans to expand further into called DCI Mobile Studios. DCI Mobile did this in association with Sony Music. Middle East too,” says Venkatesh. ket. Not far after the company company and this makes the com - this territory,” explains Menon.

The Smart Techie |28 |January 2011 The Smart Techie |29 |January 2011 Most Promissing Mobile App Companies >>>> > > > M> ost Promissing Mobile App Companies

HiddenBrains.com Growing Strong in Mobile World

hough the market is still the IT industry. Various studies sug - This vast exposure makes Hid - reeling from the after - gest that the demand in the field of denBrains divergent from similar math of the economic mobile apps is only going to get companies in the industry. It has de - From Left to Right:Pramod Sinha, Head - Business Development, Ram Chhawchharia, C.E.O / C.T.O, Vikash Chhawchharia, MD, and crisis, the mobile indus - larger in the coming years. According veloped more than 400 applications Vishal Chhawchharia, Managing Director try is already witnessing to International Data Corporation’s worldwide i.e. for almost 84 coun - an exponential growth phase and so (IDC) forecast the mobile apps mar - tries. The company caters to the is the mobile apps market. The ket revenue, which is $4.9 billion in needs of clients in different platforms TiPhones , Blackberrys and other smart 2010, will grow in mammoth propor - like web, desktop , toolbar develop - aim is to have 100 percent satisfied The aim is to have been a rosy expedition for Hidden - phones are taking the mobile market tions and reach $35 billion by 2014. ment and provides complete solu - customers and will not stop with any - Brains. It was a challenge for com - by storm, and a second colossal wave HiddenBrains has a vast experi - tions to them . This makes clients thing less than that. This care in cus - 100 percent satisfied pany to maintain the expectation set comprising of tablets are also prepar - ence in mobile platforms with expo - content as their business can be ex - tomer satisfaction is reflected in the customers which by Apple and Google’s framework ing for the same. These are not just sure in different technologies like posed on to different cadre of their fact that 80 percent of the company’s and that too with a fresh team of en - increasing the size of the mobile mar - business comes from repetitive client validates the fact that gineers. Every application is unique ket but also every market related to it. IDC forecasts that the mobile apps market base , and the company takes true 80 percent of the and it caters to various domains; The tech savvy users of these gadg - pride in saying that their success has keeping up with these domains for ets are demanding more and more revenue, which is $4.9 billion in 2010, will truly been based on partnerships company’s business every new app is a big challenge. mobile apps for their professional, grow in mammoth proportions and reach $35 from the very beginning . comes from repetitive However , Chhawchharia believes personal and entertainment needs. HiddenBrains keeps the commu - that ‘every challenge is an opportu - Many of these mobile apps are actu - billion by 2014 nication overhead to a bare minimum client base nity ’ and the company has created a ally expanding the business horizon by emphasizing on the standard significant competitive barrier by of - way further than anybody foresaw it iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry, customers; to maximize profitability. processes which has increased the fering its applications on almost all would reach. The workforces of com - Windows, Symbian and has created It has more than 2500 clients spread - productivity and in minimizing extra the whole we represent. We accom - platforms. panies are highly mobile now and multiple business solutions for vari - ing across the U.S., Europe, and Asia work which subsequently eliminates plish this by promoting and enrolling Today, HiddenBrains is expand - they demand apps that help them to ous kind of industries like eCom - Pacific and its affiliation directly & future expenses . Market research is each of our team players in training ing in terms of new geographies, do their job on the go without inter - merce, Education, Community, indirectly reaches to several big another aspect of their research ef - they seek or that can be used to de - newer applications and services, ruption. Entertainment, Gaming, Job Portals, names in fortune 500 companies . forts. These research helps the team liver better products, adopting new alongside aiming for having a differ - Most companies that are now in Real Estate, LMS, Restaurant, Travel “We enjoy educating our clients when they encounters some poorly technologies based on our team’s re - ent product range in near future. this space realized the potential of Portals, Hospitality, Retail, Whole - as this helps them save money on fu - designed solution, as the team can quest, and having an open out of the Company’s plan is to lay foundation this market only recently, where as sale, Communications and many ture projects and also help them un - refer into the researches and learn box thinking,” says Chhawchharia . for these expansions by aggressively HiddenBrains InfoTech, a company more across platforms like Web, Mo - derstand the next and biggest step, what not to do in the situation, and The company’s focus is on strengths increasing their workforce by 60 per - which provides custom Mobile App bile and Desktop. The company de - ‘Marketing’ ,” says Vishal Chhawch - thereby ensuring continuous im - rather than on weaknesses and this cent to cater the needs of increasing Development , Software Develop - velops applications that are eminently haria, Director & CEO, Hidden - provements in process and orienta - has helped them to stay sharp. market demands . Seeing the market ment , Web Application Development utilized for extensive functionality in Brains, as he explains the working tion . Everyone in the company is Every company that runs in size and the rate of growth , it is clear and offshore IT outsourcing services , today’s competitive corporate world process . He explains that the mar - accountable and their own boss. “We today’s highly volatile business sce - that, with its 200 intellect work-force , had recognized the potential of these by offering offshore development keting summary, which is a part of model this culture throughout the en - nario faces challenges. Establishing 400 plus apps , and a 100 percent cus - markets as early as 2003 and today service for client’s custom require - their package, has helped several tire company. It is important that a convincing position in Mobile Apps tomer satisfaction goal, Hidden - has evolved into a prominent name in ments across the globe. clients to maximize their returns. His each of our team players feel part of development in the market has never Brains is in the right space.

The Smart Techie |30 |January 2011 The Smart Techie |31 |January 2011 Most Promissing Mobile App Companies >>>> > > > M> ost Promissing Mobile App Companies

Bringing Retail Industry Robosoft: Gaming on the Go Closer to Its Customer

he IT sector has recov - discovering innovative solutions, to - grams are conducted to provide em - ered well after the eco - gether forms an integral part of the ployees with opportunities to en - o2sith 3compe6tition 0 o2s360. “We currently support mem - ward initiative and help our employees nomic meltdown and has company’s Product Development hance their technical and multiplying geo - ber clubs, mobile coupons, mobile learn new skills as they need. Our started to pick up its cycle and this sets them apart from metrically for feedback, mobile reviews and mobile whole idea is to build a company with pace opening avenues their competition. Still in all its mar - every consumer redeemable offers. We are currently many entrepreneurs so that at every for development firms. With the kets, whether it’s Windows or Mac or product and serv - developing social versions for all the stage of company’s growth, we can Smartphone revolution, platforms Mobile platforms, the company is ice in every aspect across the country, capabilities,” he adds. sustain ourselves to the next level eas - lTike iPhone, Android and Blackberry facing stiff competition. “The market knowing who your customers are, The real life experience inspired ily,” says Tewari. The company con - have created a huge demand to de - is booming, so obviously the compe - Wlearning what they think and keeping products proved to be very siders experiential learning velop on the go applications for both tition is cutthroat and to survive it, them engaged is crucial for survival. effective and useful to their process as a very crucial businesses and entertainment. The we focus on strong R&D and nurtur - This is a lot more critical if you are to customers. Unlike its com - part and provides ample result is that the Mobile Develop - ing a results-driven team passionate operate across multiple locations. Over petitors, whose products time and space to experi - ment space is expanding widely, gen - the last few years, the Indian Retail In - take a long time to get de - ment and learn. This has erating a lot of revenue and has The rise of varied dustry has been witnessing stupendous ployed and become fully helped them to get past the quickly become a domain to be fo - mobile platforms like growth and has been acquiring cus - functional, the company challenges that they faced in cused on. “Our expertise in develop - tomers rapidly. Technology, today, can with a simplified rollout the past. ing applications for the Mobile iPhone, Android, play a key role in managing this model can deploy its solu - When it comes to chal - platforms has given us an edge and Symbian, Blackeberry growth and the need for the hour is to tion in a medium sized Vaibhav Tewari lenges, in the begining because of this, we’re attracting Rohith Bhat bring innovative technology solutions company in as less than o2s360 had a hard time in clients from all over the world ,” says has led to a larger to help consumer businesses reach, en - seven days. Be it the im - convincing the businesses Rohith Bhat, Managing Director & mobile gaming gage and manage their customers in a plemented comprehensive on the need to better engage CEO, Robosoft Technologies. professional skills. The company scalable and comprehensive manner. coupon issue, redemption with their customers. Most In 1996 Robosoft Technologies market, increasing also has an internship program with This is the space that Bangalore based tracking processes, multi- of the consumer businesses started as a small startup that grew to both opportunity and which they mold raw talent and o2s360 is eying. location review processes at that time believed ex - a mid sized company, specializing in grooms students into working pro - Just a year old, o2s360 provides or member club processes, panding to more locations C, C++, and Java product develop - competition fessionals providing them exposure customer engagement technology so - all can be easily managed was all that was necessary ment for Mac OS and Windows, pro - to the current technologies. “The lution to all multi-location consumer by a non-technical busi - Sridhar Turaga to grow. “Now with in - viding software product about the working on new technolo - only thing constant in the IT indus - products or services, including fast ness analyst, there by strik - creased competition and development services to its global gies ,” says Bhat. “We believe in try is change. With new platforms food chains, beauty services, gyms and ing out the need to hire a coming out of a demand re - clientele. The company expanded it - making our employees feel at home coming up in succession, it’s a chal - electronics products. It provides retail - technical expert. The company be - cession there has been mass conver - self into the mobile market and took with cutting edge technology. Em - lenge to adapt to these changes and ers with solutions to build and manage lieves in focusing on business results sion across the country on the need to on the iPhone platform when Apple ployees have access to a plethora of deliver ,” says Bhat about the chal - their customer database, keep in touch and metrics rather than abstract value hold onto current customers and de - launched the device in 2008 and resources and are encouraged to lenges that the company faced. with their customers, run multichannel propositions, and this has ensured the light them always. The time for solu - came out with top-notch games for learn more about their area of inter - The gaming industry is booming marketing campaigns, and measure technology works in a measurable tions that help better manage clients. With the rise of other mobile est. Each individual is challenged to right now and this is the best time to service quality through reviews and manner. customers has come,” said Tewari. platforms like Android, Symbian and test their potential and come up with be in this business. “We have plans customer feedback. “Built to handle For Tewari, the fundamental belief Presently the company’s focus is Blackberry, they also successfully ideas that’ll someday change the face to get our games on other major mo - the ground realities of Indian environ - is “Business Results First” and the on Indian market as the country is pro - ported these games to suit these plat - of the business ,” he adds . bile platforms in the coming years. ment, we use mobile and social tech - same is instilled in to every employee, viding them with excellent opportuni - forms. The most precious resources for Along with this, we also hope to ex - nologies to give our retail clients an whom the company considers and im - ties. Future plans include covering the Teams that are driven by the de - the company are its employees and it pand our base of global clientage and easy, scalable and cost effective way to portant part of the company’s future entire spectrum of customer engage - sire to create world-class products continuously works on creating the make Robosoft a brand to reckon build customer databases, engage them vision. This has helped the team to ment and loyalty across channels, a and applications to solve real world right work atmosphere that fosters with ,” Bhat says , giving an insight and increase repeat business,” says think big and give their best in building feat not seeming tough for this dy - problems and the R&D’s focus on creativity. Extensive training pro - into his company’s future plans. Vaibhav Tewari, Co-Founder & CEO, the company to the next level. “We re - namic company.

The Smart Techie |32 |January 2011 The Smart Techie |33 |January 2011 Most Promissing Mobile App Companies >>>>

Nex-G Exuberant Solutions Delivering End to End Mobile Solutions

he revolution in mobile in - surance, NMS and M-Commerce. comments and act upon them, respect dustry is visible from the Every growing company identifies all employees’ individuality, encourage point we wake up (by an customers as the centre piece of their creativeness and desire to innovate, try alarm in our mobile) to the growth; more satisfied their customers our best to accommodate professional point we go to sleep (by are , higher their growth percentage will and personal preferences of employees, putting an alarm in our mobile). The en - be . Nex-G keeps its focus on optimiz - encourage learning from ones mistakes tire day we indulge in our mobile ing its customers’ investments in mobile and moving on, and totally understand Tphones and see other people doing the technology and helps their customers to and appreciate that each employee has a same. Life without a mo - envision and shape their life outside work ,” says Bhowmick. bile phone is unimagin - future around the key Advertising or marketing the prod - able now. The mobile is drivers of technology, ucts properly is a very important aspect like a life supporting ap - productivity and cost-ef - in the success of any products, more so paratus for us, something fectiveness, thus keep in the mobile space. It is not enough to we cannot live without. their customers satisfied. have a good product, it is very impor - Nex-G Exuberant Solu - “We provide complete tant to let customers know about it. It is tions, a Noida based end to end solution in hard to get this covered as advertising company that offers soft - mobile space. We are the brings a very huge expense onboard and ware solutions, technical only company in world most small and medium companies consultancy, expert man - with such a vast portfo - struggle with budget constraints . Nex- power , and technical S.S.Bhowmick lio ,” says G successfully managed to overcome training in mobile com - S.S.Bhowmick, Founder this challenge by using social network - munication technologies, leverages on and CEO, Nex-G Exuberant Solutions. ing sites and creative ideas to promote this opportunity. The competition in the SME level itself. They also had problem with re - Their Mobile Technology Academy is comparatively less as there are not source management, another major provides Individual Training, Enterprise many who can provide end to end solu - challenge faced by the Indian industry , Training and Internship Training, tions in this space. Nex-G is knowledge and is working on overcoming this . whereas the Mobile Technology Solu - oriented company and it makes sure that When its contemporaries are con - tions encompasses Mobile Application each and every resource in the organi - centrating on the U.S., Europe, and the Solutions, Network Application Solu - zation is enriched with updated infor - Asia Pacific as their venues for expan - tions, Product Design Solutions, and mation on a regular basis. Corporate sion, Nex-G is targeting the Latin Protocol Stack Solutions. It also has a Responsibility (CR) is an integral part American markets and the African mar - division called the Mobile Technology of its business strategy and management kets. Latin America, with 530 million Experts, through which it executes and approach. Apart from various charity mobile connections (Wireless Intelli - implements varied technology assign - works its CR also involves the adoption gence Quarterly World Review: Q2 ments for its clients. It is well versed of environmentally sustainable busi - 2010), in the second half of 2010, sur - with mobile technologies like GSM, ness; it reduces its environmental foot - passed the Western Europe and became GPRS, CDMA, UMTS, CDMA 2000, print and helps its customers to do the the second largest mobile market after LTE, eHRPD, IMS, VoIP, UMA, NFC, same. Asia Pacific. Africa has as many as 506 WiFi, and WiMAX, for mobiles or net - For Nex-G , its employees are the million mobile connections (based on work platforms such as iPhone, An - primary and only real asset and guar - an AfricaCom DailyNews research) droid, Blackberry, MeeGo, SYMBIAN, anties them an unparallel working envi - now. Both these markets have enor - BREW, WinCE, Windows Smartphone, ronment and quality of work. “We listen mous potential to provide a huge boost LiMo, IN, VAS, Billing, Revenue As - to our employees, their suggestions and to the company’s growth .

The Smart Techie |34 |January 2011 The Smart Techie |35 |January 2011 TECHNOLOGY By Minhaj Zia Author is National Sales Manager-Cisco, Unified Communications – India and SAARC experience, over the internet. Such col - documents together. Sessions can be Tele-presence solutions help pro - laborative technology solutions expand recorded and stored for future use , and fessors address students across multiple the learning opportunities for students for students who missed the live ses - campuses virtually as though they were in remote regions around the world. sion. sitting in the same room, collaborate Teachers are able to share knowledge Within a classroom teachers can use with other experts on academic re - either for free or for a fee. the Cisco WebEx ‘attention indicator’ search, and bring classrooms together The true benefits of technology are feature to monitor whether students are across geographies. This helps to en - in its application. An effective deploy - giving the class their full attention. gage in an interactive, face-to-face ment of a network that enables aca - Teachers can ask students participating learning environment. TelePresence demic information to flow to rural areas in the WebEx session to turn on ‘desk - sessions can be recorded and played can give millions of children access to top sharing’ to ensure that the students back for future viewing. Such solutions better education. A recent effort in that are actively engaged in the class. Edu - can underpin future changes in teaching Enhancing through direction has been made by several IT ca tors can also collaborate and share re - and learning environments by merging majors who have come together for a search with colleagues and institutions the potential of student centered learn - District Learning Centre initiative at scattered across the globe and educa - ing methodologies with interactive, rich Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh, to pro - tional institutions can expand their re - media to create a new form of collabo - Learning vide learning opportunities and IT train - search, develop profes sionally, and rative educational experience. Collaborative Technology ing to the youth of the district. Using bring additional perspectives to their in - Educational institutions can bring collaborative technology, and initial stitutions. teachers and professors with specialized mentoring on how to use it, the students Schools and collges that are looking expertise to students efficiently and eco - connected with tutors in the nearby city, for new ways to cut costs and reduce nomically and create new educational who could offer special after school tu - carbon emissions can connect and share opportunities, such as global class - toring services to them and those in knowledge across geographies without rooms and customized executive edu - nearby villages for a small fee. leaving the campus. By taking advan - cation programs. Virtual learning The students got extended support tage of web-based meetings, training, environments created using tele-pres - for English and Math while the tutors and conferencing capabilities, educators ence solutions help colleges and uni - were able to reach out to new learners can enhance communication internally versities embrace environmental through this medium and the small en - and externally to keep all members of sustainability goals through the reduc - ducation has undergone As the education process continues Technologies like streaming video, trepreneurial tutoring company created the education community on the same tion of travel, while extending the reach tremendous transformation to evolve, Web 2.0 and social network - rich media conferencing and telepres - a profitable business model bridging the page. They can also remove the burdens of university experts and attracting new over the last few years. ing tools such as blogs and wikis, on - ence make live distance learning situa - gap between the students and tutors. of support and maintenance through the students. Globalization has com - line video repository and delivery tions interactive. The content is more Such models can be scaled globally WebEx Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) Going forward, technologies like pelled educational institu - websites such as YouTube are facilitat - dynamic when the student can talk to with tutoring services can be offered to delivery model. ‘Cloud computing’ will help to improve tions to examine ways in which they ing collaborative learning in ways like the instructor, ask questions, and offer students online in a group or personal Telepresence delivers real-time, the learning and teaching experience in can integrate collaborative technologies never before. knowledge from his or her own experi - setting in many different parts of the face-to-face interaction using advanced universities. Eto further enhance the learning experi - ence. Voice, video, and web collabora - world at school and higher education visual, audio through collaboration. ence and improve productivity. These Collaborative learning: tion tools save the time, expense, and level. Distance and time differences evaporate Future scenario: tools are viewed as key assets to create Educational institutions continuously environmental impact of travel and and collaboration among remote groups Collaborative technologies will con - intellectually vibrant and relevant cam - seek ways to facilitate collaboration to allow earning revenue from a variety of How it works: can advance the learning process. This tinue to play an increasing role in puses and attract the best students and enhance teaching, research, foreign ex - vocational distance-learning courses. Collaboration and communication tech - helps to scale expertise, foster more higher education in the 21st century. faculty. change programs, alumni relationships, Properly planned, such technology plat - nology tools offer numerous ways to open innovation between academic and Innovative solutions will change the The delivery of content has evolved and private sector partnerships. Collab - forms enable educational institutions of enhance the experience and effective - industry researchers and develop inno - way students learn, communicate, pro - dramatically, and today it is possible for oration solutions enable students and in - all kinds to aid next-generation learning ness of education. Employing rich vative distance learning programs that duce, and study. On and off campus teachers to post all study material, in - structors to connect anywhere they have safely, securely, and efficiently. media conferencing offers remote stu - benefit from in-person collaboration. technology solutions will help im - cluding complete audio and/or video a network and combine voice, video, Collaboration technologies from dents an engaging, interactive learning Educational institutions facing dif - prove interactions among faculty, recordings of lectures online, to help graphics, and text to bring people to - companies like Cisco for example, experience and helps teachers to teach ficult challenges with fewer resources staff, and students. The need of the students download the course material gether with information, and with each which include TelePresence, Unified their classes from wherever they are. and increasing demands can benefit hour is for powerful, reliable, expand - from far away locations. Videos that other. In learning or training environ - Communications, Cisco Digital Media Rich media tools provide an efficient, from the immersive, life-like commu - able, and secure infrastructure with ad - contain both educational and entertain - ments, these tools allow instructors and solutions and Cisco WebEx, provide a highly secure environment for sharing nications experience, realistically con - equate bandwidth, quality of service, ment value in podcasts, and course con - students to come together over distance powerful audio, video and web inte - information. Students and instructors veying the body language and human and storage, to disperse knowledge tent posted on education channels create and time, exchange information, study grated virtual classroom experience al - can communicate, share documents, elements that are critical to the interac - seamlessly. The possibilities are a more engaging learning environment. together, and learn from each other. most mimicking a face-to-face demonstrate software and even annotate tive nature of a traditional classroom. abound and they are here to stay.

The Smart Techie |36 |January 2011 The Smart Techie |37 |January 2011 TECHNOLOGY By Arun Samudrala The author is President & Co-Founder, United Mobile Apps

software platforms, each vying to be the market leader – Google Android, Apple, Symbian, Qualcomm Brew, Blackberry, Windows Mobile just to name a few. In order to present a comprehensive solution, each com - pany has its own suite of software that’ll enable Users to backup and share content. Video call with Face - time is limited to iPhone 4, Ovi is for Nokia devices alone, Mobile Me is for Apple devices. Seamless data and media sharing across devices of any make (of course limited by their hardware capabili - ties) is still not available. At United Mobile Apps, we solve precisely this problem. Our cross platform software Unify combines a rich set of features that leverage the native device capa - bilities and present application devel - opers with simple interfaces to Evolution of Mobile Devices develop innovative information shar - ing and distribution software that cuts and Services across this device-data barrier. Unify enables individuals to not only share their content across Mo - he rapid growth of Mobile instantly share them with my friends bile devices, but also across desktops, usage in India is indeed all over the world. mobile phones have laptops and ipads. Some salient com - remarkable. In the past emerged as gateways to create, share ponents of Unify are – a module that few years, mobiles have and consume personal content. syncs data on multiple devices and penetrated the most re - Two parallel developments have keeps them all up to date, a module mote sections of our country where contributed to the transformation of that provides an intuitive interface to getting a landline used to be a distant mobiles into all-in-one information share content, a module that enables dTream. This phenomenon is a reflec - sharing and storing devices. While the remote management of devices. tion of the global ubiquity of mobile capabilities of the devices themselves While the industry waits to herald phones. This decade has witnessed not have improved on the one hand, ad - a leader with a steadily increasing only strong proliferation of mobile vances in the deployment of faster share in the platform space, there ex - technology, but also phenomenal ad - data transfer Technologies such as 3G ists a significant opportunity to im - vances in innovation. and 4G have considerably enhanced prove user experience in leveraging From being a voice only device, user experience on the other hand. cross platform capabilities and share the ‘mobile’ is now a personal data and However, this convenience of personal content regardless of the recipients media repository. It is hard to find a content creation and sharing is not phone make. device in the market that does not have without limitations. Mobile phones have transformed a high resolution camera, and a pow - Race to grab the biggest market how we communicate. Now the sec - erful processor. Being a convenient share, has led device manufacturers ond wave of innovation using Mobile handheld device with such capabili - to focus on improving networking phone as platform will transform ties, the mobile has ushered in an era and data sharing among their own de - how we use computational abilities of information and content creation vices, while inter-platform data shar - in our day-to-day activities. The and sharing such as never before. I can ing remains unaddressed. The scope of innovation in this space ap - snap pictures on my holiday trip and industry has several hardware and pears limit-less.

The Smart Techie |38 |January 2011 TECHNOLOGY By Anjan Ghosal The author is President, CEO and Founder, IntelliNet Technologies player high-definition gaming and Levels Description videoconferencing which can become Unmanaged Ooad Cellular devices (i.e. phones, dongles) detect the presence of available carrier or partner hotspots and automatically connect to them after authentication against technology. Both these technologies a major revenue generator for them. the operator’s subscriber database. Tra!c is routed directly to the Internet using allow data to be moved at a fraction of Another important factor that is the Wi-Fi operator’s infrastructure. the cost – though Wi -Fi can be an order likely to drive up data traffic is India is Managed Ooad Post authentication, the tra!c is routed via an ‘edge’ device that is managed by the operator. This edge device allows the operator to ‘control’ the subscriber’s internet of magnitude cheaper than deploying general internet access from mobile de - tra!c without having to route the tra!c back to the core networks. It allows vices. While India has a rapidly grow - operators to implement volume based billing, enable prepaid subscribers, perform femtocells. legal intercept, enforce tra!c shaping and policy controls, etc. India has been late to the 3G party ing mobile subscriber base, the low Converged Ooad In addition to the above establish seamless connectivity with the core network – so but is fast catching up. Earlier this year , penetration of laptops and personal that as required tra!c can "ow between the two. The enables carriers to deliver premium content and walled garden services to their subscribers via the Wi-Fi seven private operators paid a whop - computers means that the primary interface. This is extended to provide seamless hando# between the two networks. ping $14.6 billion to buy 3G spectrum . source of internet access are likely to A number of operators like Reliance be mobile devices. Whatever be the band customer base.”  Seamless transition between 3G and Tata have already launched their driver, the focus on mobile data is In parallel with the 3G roll out, al - and Wi-Fi – no need for sub - 3G services . As of end of September likely to become a double edged ternative wireless services are being scribers to manually register or 2010, the wireless subscriber base in sword , quickly outstripping network deployed to address the demand for log in to use the network India stood at 687.71 million, second capacity . These factors , coupled with wireless Internet services. Companies  Utilization of the existing mobile only to China. However, iSuppli fore - the limited spectrum allocated to oper - like Tikona, a recent startup, are build - billing and charging infrastructure casted that 3G will garner 250 million ators in India, may lead to a ‘perfect ing all-IP wireless networks using un -  Subscriber access to secure con - subscribers by 2012. storm’ where the networks get over - licenced spectrum. The technology, tent provided by the mobile oper - While there are similarities be - whelmed. referred to as WI-BRO - a variation of ators – known as “walled garden” tween India and other 3G enabled na - Operators are already aware of this WiMAX, is built on meshed network - services tions , there are some very significant problem and are actively seeking solu - ing routes traffic over wired and wire - differences. Due to fierce competition, tions to this problem using offload lessly meshed access points. The However, some work must be voice tariffs in India are one of the low - techniques. Femtocells are a valid iSuppli study forecasted a subscriber done to implement this functionality. est in the world . The Telecom Regula - proposition for them but they are base for such services to reach 19 mil - Based on the operators’ requirements tory Authority of India recently pricey and are still not proven in the lion by 2012. we have classified them into the fol - reported a year-over-year decline in current deployments. A more appropri - lowing three categories. Average Revenue per User (ARPU) ate solution for the Indian market is The Telecom The 3GPP and 3GPP2 standards per month of 33.9 percent for GSM data traffic offload to Wi-Fi networks. bodies have published specifications Mobile Data Growth in India subscribers and 19.6 percent for With this in mind operators are look - Regulatory for these techniques and some compa - CDMA subscribers. As of June 2010 ing at developing Wi-Fi zones of their Authority of India nies have developed products to en - an Opportunity and a Challenge the ARPU for GSM was Rs. 122 own or partnering with Wi-Fi operators able seamless integration of Wi-Fi and ($2.71 ) and for CDMA INR 74 and aggregators to see if some of the recently reported a Cellular networks . IntelliNet has been ($1.64). This can be compared to an data can be offloaded to these net - actively involved in a commercial trial obile data continues tions. year-over-year ARPU of more than $50.00 for post works. Both, Tata Communications with a leading edge operator in India to grow at a phe - One such solution is a ‘small cell’ paid service in the U.S. Hence, to re - and Bharti Airtel have been actively decline in Average and the initial results are promising. nomenal rate in approach where operators deploy fem - cover their huge investments in 3G, In - deploying hundreds of Wi-Fi hotspots However, successful deployment of countries that have tocells in locations with poor cellular Revenue per User dian operators will have to increasingly across the country as a service to their this solution will require the vendors already deployed coverage. The data is backhauled via look at data services to drive revenue broadband subscribers. BSNL, Re - (ARPU) per month of and the operators to work closely to data centric 3G networks. AT&T for the existing broadband network using growth. liance and Spectranet are also offering implement a complete end-to-end so - example has noted a data growth of standard IP providing a more cost ef - 33.9 percent for GSM Indian operators do have a great Wi-Fi Internet access. lution which will not only address the over 5000 percent in just three years. fective data coverage. The alternative M track record in generating significant Vikas Singh, CMO for Telemedia subscribers and 19.6 technological aspects but also all the Most of this growth is attributed to solution that is gaining favor is to en - revenue from VAS services like ring Services at Bharti Airtel was quoted as operational issues in deploying this high bandwidth video related services able the Wi-Fi radio on the user’s smart percent for CDMA back tones, music downloads, SMS saying : “Airtel Wi-Fi hotspots will be service such as the integration with the like video chat, IP TV and access to phone and deoliver data over that in - and a variety of downloadable applica - strategically located at leading pre - subscribers backend OSS systems. video content over sites like YouTube terface rather than over licenced spec - tions. Most of these services are of - mium hotels, hospitals, chains of This technology will not only as - on the Internet access. The continued trum like UMTS/3G. Data in this case fered through a strong web portal as restaurants, coffee shops and corporate By deploying a Wi-Fi data offload sist operators with 3G licenses offload price pressure on data rates together is also backhauled via the pubic Inter - ‘premium services’. So it is reasonable buildings that are the hub of corporate, solution, mobile network operators can their excess traffic but also will help with an unprecedented growth in de - net. Studies have shown that the ma - to assume that as 3G gains momentum, community and social activities. For provide: operators with 2G licenses to provide mand has created a major challenge for jority of mobile data is generated by a lot of these services will be supple - us, this is an initiative to increase cus -  Improved coverage and Quality of their subscribers a 3G -like experience operators around the world forcing smart phones in indoor settings which mented by high bandwidth services tomer stickiness and enhance average Service (QoS) for mobile data sub - - and do so at a fraction of the cost of them to seek ‘unconventional’ solu - make Wi-Fi an excellent data offload like video sharing, mobile TV, multi- revenue per user (ARPU) of our broad - scribers deploying 3G infrastructure.

The Smart Techie |40 |January 2011 The Smart Techie |41 |January 2011 TECHNOLOGY By Gary Bahadur The author is CEO, KRAA Security to read it, so when using social media defamation. Employees have to be 2. Information Classification – You sites, do not let your employees post in - made aware of the polices on the cor - have to explicitly define what informa - formation that is confidential. In order to porate brand image, intellectual prop - tion can be shared and what information block them from doing that, you have to erty, who they friend, who they should not be Tweeted or FaceBooked . have social media monitoring tools in endorse, customer information, and If your employees do not know how place to actually know what information other confidential information. Human valuable information is then you cannot employees are posting on the Internet resource monitoring should be strictly blame them for inadvertently being Another thing one should not do is post controlled. It can go wrong as was the sucked into the blogosphere. Security Challenges in Using his or her own identifying information case in 2006 when Hewlett Packard il - 3 Keep It professional – If you allow publicly, such as date of birth, his or her legally used pretexting to gain infor - your employees to Socialize information social security number, or an employee mation on employees. A number of about your company, you have to give ID number. If a site requires this infor - senior managers were in trouble over them standards to follow. Things like Social Media mation, 1) it is most likely not a rep - the poor judgment in how to manage cursing, grammar mistakes, casual con - utable site, and/or 2) one could make employee monitoring. versation style discussions might not be something up or ensure that it is not Social media usage is being retro - the image you want to portray when dis - ocial media sites have ment. While these applications can open all of one’s accounts if they know the going to be displayed in a profile that fitted into the corporate environment. cussing anything related to your com - gained popularity in the past up a great many doors for communica - one password. A security breach of one will be public. If your employees post But the consumer is already used to pany. ten years as a medium to tion, some form of guidance or gover - account could snowball. Passwords too much personal information about using social media in an insecure, “in - 4. Tracking and Monitoring – If you keep in contact with loved nance is necessary. Because banning the should be complex and change every 90 themselves and your company, this formation must be free” manner. Em - are going to have a policy , you have to ones, business associates use of such sites is most likely unen - days. Accessing social media sites could entice an attacker to try and gain ployees who have been used to giving have a mechanism for tracking compli - and friends. However, there can be forceable or impractical, a hospital or should be over SSL and only from access to your company with the infor - up all their information in places such ance, reporting on activity and have con - drawbacks to the usage of the said media other such entity that must shield private trusted network connections, not coffee mation the employee has posted. as Facebook and Twitter must now be sequences for breaking that policy. Swhen one is employed in certain career information should at least ask or force shops especially for business purposes! Some information may not be con - retrained to use social media in a whole fields, such as the healthcare industry. their employees to adhere to some So - When looking at confidential infor - sidered confidential; yet not posting different manner to meet corporate Conclusion Utilizing social media networks can in - cial Media Policy guidelines. mation, apply the same security require - these items to public social media sites is standards. (Assuming we have a corpo - A baseline set of requirements has to be advertently give way to the sharing of We can take a lot of security re - ments. A company would let an probably a good idea. This can include rate standard for social media security) agreed upon between IT and HR and confidential patient information with quirement from traditional IT secu - employee send out confi - anything from rumors, to purchases the But what is a corporate standard for Legal departments to implement a se - people that may not have a need to know rity practices. For instance, when dential information to company plans on making, anything using social media in an appropriate cure social media strategy. This list of which would then cause the company to utilizing social networking someone who didn’t about the technology one’s company fashion that does not put the company requirements can include:  violate HIPAA Security Rule compli - sites, one should use separate have authority uses or will use, and any projects the in - at risk? Corporations have not made a Defining the necessity for monitor - ance. The compliance risks increase with passwords for the different dividual may be working on. Develop concerted effort to define that secure ing community managers and em - uncontrolled social media utilization. sites, as an individual and follow practical posting guidelines social media strategy, or even a strategy ployees use of social media  Social Media has become part of the can easily hack and do not share more information than for training their employees in the “cor - Understand and update security user community several years ago. is necessary in corporate social media rect” use of social media. A social threats to social media platforms Today we have social media in the cor - activities. media policy is required to address all used by the company and monitor porate environment. The main prob - If an employee’s personal posting the concerns about employee posting, employee activity on affected plat - lem we have is how social media has about the company can be considered training in appropriate usage and mon - forms  evolved. It has evolved to become a defamation or are targeting a customer itoring and reporting of social media Monitor reaction and change in be - bottom up approach. By bottom up I or competitor, HR has to know to take activity. havior based on training  mean that the consumer has determined action even if it’s difficult to measure Monitor sites mentioning the com - how to use a technology and the corpo - the value of defamation. Laws already Social Media Policy Infrastructure pany  ration is playing catch up. But the social cover the social media posts of em - What is a good starting point for im - Track tools used by employees in norms that are appropriate for a con - ployees when it comes to things like plementing a social media policy? Here social media usage  sumer “product” are not appropriate in defamation, confidentiality and intel - is a basic guideline. Monitor activity of other organiza - a corporate environment. lectual property theft. There should be 1. Define a policy – You cannot assume tions in your industry  Social media applications are not some level of monitoring off hours employees will do the right thing with - Monitor and report on what online just a part of one’s personal lifestyle; postings by employees. out guidance. You already have things communities are saying about your this has also become incorporated in Employees should be made aware like Expense Policies, Acceptable Use company  the corporate climate. Many places through training and written social Policies, and Internet Use Policies. Track the influencers in your indus - use social media applications for media policies that the company will be Write a basic guideline. What’s in that try and those specific to your brand  marketing, file sharing, commu - monitoring for confidential and propri - guideline will vary from company to Monitor your competitor’s use of nication, and employee recruit - etary information and activities such as company. social media

The Smart Techie |42 |January 2011 The Smart Techie |43 |January 2011 TECHNOLOGY By Sunny Rao The author is MD - India and South East Asia, Nuance Communications ally diverse nation such as ours. In  It is also the most effective interface tions, combining voice, visual and audio rural and remote areas citizen infor - for blind people. They can easily interfaces on a single mobile device and have not connected to yet . mation services can be provided more browse on their mobile by just in a single session. Multimodal inter -  Another daunting task is overcoming effectively by using speech interfaces speaking to it and listening to the faces can be used to search and down - the illiteracy and dialect problems in crossing barriers of literacy, language output with the help of TTS. load the entertainment content like India. With the largest illiterate popu - and infrastructure. Speech as the primary interface will music, trailers and videos on the phone lation our rate of literacy is 65.38 per -  Providing a huge impetus to the m- revolutionize the concept of “user with the 3G. Web search, YouTube cent as per the last census and a governance initiatives, Voice verifica - friendly interfaces”. We will see mobile search and driving directions are just considerable portion of which is in tion aspect of speech technology can devices that enhance e-mail, browsing, one click away using speech, with the fact semi-literate or has little or no be used for unique identification and gaming and social networking. The ex - help of ASR and TTS. 3G enables these technology prowess. recording attendance. Voice verifica - perience of these services on the mobile services by reducing the latency in  Also, the provision of internet in rural tion can eliminate the cases of fake at - using speech will overcome the limita - downloading the content. areas does not necessarily mean that tendances in social schemes like tions of small screen sizes, incomplete people will be able to benefit from NREGA. keypad, unavailability of the keyboard Conclusion any technology. There are a range of  Speech interfaces can be used to leave and cumbersome typing. Mobile, 3G, and Speech Technology are factors to be considered, such as the voice tweet messages using either data For insight into how this technology bound to open infinite avenues in terms of availability of relevant applications or voice channel. The backend sys - can permeate all aspects of our life it is Communication Technology and are and content in local languages. tems use ASR to transcribe the voice important to understand how it works. going to play an extremely vital role in tweet message to text message and There are three components of speech revolutionizing our lives . It is quite appar - 3G & Speech – Transforming & all-em - send it as an SMS further. technology: Automatic Speech Recog - ent that the mobiles and handheld devices bracing  Also, people can use speech to dictate nition (ASR), Text-To-Speech (TTS), will be the choice of future communica - The use of speech as the primary medium their messages in social networking and Speaker Verification (SV). It is now tion. 3G will create great potential in the to access the web through mobile and sites. Others can listen to it with the possible to combine these three plat - Indian market and speech platforms will handheld devices, with the momentum of help of Text-to-speech (TTS). Users forms with mobile Internet and multi - leverage these to ensure that the web the 3G wave will be the interface that can listen to their friend’s messages media technology. This combination reaches to all the sections of the popula - seamlessly binds the vastly diverse India and postings handsfree while they are allows rapid development and deploy - tion making technology an integral, indis - – which is illiterate, semi-literate, and also driving. ment of genuine multimodal applica - tinguishable part of our lives. “3G & SPEECH” is the on-the-go ‘tweeting’ kind . Inspite of the challenges , 3G and speech together have the capability to RECONNECTING INDIA weave itself into the texture of our every - Now that the 3G auction is over in India and results are out, it is clear that day lives in many forms and also across Indian consumers are standing at the threshold of a telecom revolution. cross-sections of our society. To give a view of the scope of its application: 3G has the potential to immensely impact with 3G will become the chief vehicle for  Today, government is talking about almost every individual, both socially and connectivity. Financial and social inclusion through economically. Recognizing that, all eyes mobile telephony to provide a variety are trained on how 3G in India opens the 3G powering speech technology - tran - of services to the society. This com - door to innovative value added services al - forming & all-embracing bination will now also be capable of lowing everything to be accessed though Buoyed by 3G and mobile, we see many delivering telemedicine, m-com - just one convergent device . parallel stories unfold, one of which re - merce and distance education services In a country, where broadband pene - volves around use of speech technologies that the government has constantly tration is less than one percent, ironically to maximize the reach of mobile services. been struggling to deliver to all seg - mobile penetration is 45 percent. Infact, in There is a large amount of information and ments of the population. Services like a recent Google report, India has emerged content in the network. 3G in combination Kisan Call Center – to provide agri - as the second largest consumers of mobile with speech interface will accelerate the culture related queries solutions, Internet after U.S. To add another per - access and usage of it for the masses. Weather information, complaint reg - spective to these facts, Evalueserve (‘Up - As we speak about the convergence of istrations rely on the power this com - take of 3G services in India’ ) reports the speech and 3G technologies and its im - bination brings to telecommunication. number of 3G handsets will increase to portance, the challenges are also huge.  Speech recognition solutions today 395 million by 2013.  With a population of 1 billion and encompass all prominent Indian re - An indication, that in terms of reach with just 45.1 percent mobile pene - gional languages, thus scaling the and penetration, mobile internet along tration, there is still a huge number we challenge of reaching out to a cultur -

The Smart Techie |44 |January 2011 TECHNOLOGY By Tad Lebeck The author is CTO, Huawei Symantec With limited resources, many SMBs are who rely on manual methods to access is now attainable; the barriers have in - forced to be very cost-conscious and it. In addition, many SMBs are scattered deed come down. might not even have someone on staff across multiple locales, and trying to or - Vendors now recognize that SMBs dedicated to IT backup. Additionally, IT ganize and access data in multiple loca - constitute a significant constituency, staff at SMBs may not be able to keep tions and jurisdictions can be a doubly and have therefore scaled their wares up with the increasing flow of data. impossible task without the right tools. accordingly. The S2600, for instance, Given the limited resources, many Fourth, SMBs need to utilize re - is both scaled down and scalable, and SMBs may not have developed system - sources efficiently to squeeze what they can accommodate between 12 and 96 atic ways to handle backups. Disk space can out of their investments . This is a SAS or SATA disks. In addition, it of - is relatively cheap so many SMBs sim - key point in the context of data storage. fers multiple options of host interfaces, ply buy more disk space on an ad hoc Preventive care is essential in order to including fiber channel (FC), iSCSI, or basis and neglect to consider the mo - minimize total cost of ownership. Fail - a combination of both. This means that ment when they might need to perform ure to address storage and recovery is - a SMB can attach multiple servers— a comprehensive backup. Those who sues with foresight can mean that an mail servers, database servers, file have had the misfortune of having to re - SMB is one catastrophe away from en - servers, backup servers—and provide cover data are exposed to the nightmare during a devastating loss of valuable hierarchical storage using either the FC caused by haphazard backups and the business information. Preventive care is or the iSCSI networking mode. existence of fragmented information lo - not only prudent, but it is an effective This type of next generation SAN cated across multiple servers and stor - use of resources that will maximize re - aligns itself perfectly with both the re - age elements . Lucky SMBs would have turn on investment. sources available to and the needs of been able to recover data after spending SMBs. The future is now for SMBs: an excruciating amount of time, while Enterprise level features and solu - enterprise-level data protection that is many more are confronted with the re - tions at SMB prices cost effective, secure, scalable, energy- ality that their inadequate backups have Look around the marketplace today, and saving, economical, and easy to use, caused them to permanently lose im - you will see that a large number of ven - install, and maintain is well within portant business data. dors now offer middle-range and entry- reach. Second, as the amount of data level SANs that are both priced and grows, data protection becomes crucial. scaled for SMBs. SANs have become Entry-level SAN solution for SMBs Backups, as noted above, are vitally im - commoditized and plummeted in price Growth of data continues at an expo - portant, but additional redundancy in - while their feature sets have gotten bet - nential rate. Certainly, in the near fu - frastructure is now a necessity, given the ter and better. It is to the benefit of ture, there will be seismic shifts in the constant inflow of data. It is crucial to SMBs that they learn as much as they way SMBs approach data storage, Enterprise Level SAN Features keep the amount of time it takes to re - can about the options available in the management, and protection in order to cover data in case of a failure (a concept market . deal with this reality . SMBs will begin and Solutions at SMB Prices called “recovery time objective” or Huawei Symantec, for instance, of - to explore virtualization strategies and RTO) as short as possible so that down - fers the Oceanspace S2600, a next gen - will try to control the tide of data time is minimal. In addition, it is im - eration storage solution for SMBs that growth using data deduplication. In ad - storage area network changed the storage landscape and have will balloon to 35 zettabytes or, in other portant to do backups frequently in was designed with the intention of al - dition, cloud computing will play a role (SAN) comprises the made SANs more important and acces - words, 35 trillion gigabytes. order to minimize the amount of data lowing SMBs to have access to enter - in data storage, as online storage serv - most powerful technol - sible to SMBs . The first is the recent ex - As a result of this massive growth in that could be lost (commonly known as prise-level technology in one small ices will become more prevalent and ogy available for block- plosion of digital data , and the second is data, SMBs will face a number of chal - “recovery point objective” or RPO) . If a box. It allows SMBs to reduce total affordable going forth . level storage and has the increasing availability of entry-level, lenges in the coming years as they try to SMB performs a backup at the end of a cost of ownership by buying a piece of That said, it is vitally important that been used by enterprises for years. For feature-packed SANs that are specially deal with the increasing flow of infor - business day but its system fails in the consolidated equipment that will keep SMBs do not get too lost in the big pic - many small to medium sized businesses priced and designed for SMBs . mation. middle of the next day, a half day’s both long-term capital expenditures ture or in hypothetical scenarios. SMBs A(SMBs) though , SANs were long out of First, SMBs do not necessarily have worth of valuable data is lost. and operating costs low. Most impor - simply need to look at their data stor - reach due predominately to their high Managing storage in an age of data standardized data storage, backup, re - Third , data does not necessarily tantly, the S2600 provides superior age, management, and protection situ - cost. In addition, many SMBs simply explosion covery, or archiving methods. This is equate to useable information unless it data protection with value-added, cost- ations here and now, and ascertain did not have the need for large amounts According to research firm IDC, the due in part to cost constraints, and due can be easily sorted and readily ac - effective features such as an advanced what is necessary and viable to grow of scalable storage space and were amount of digital information created, in part to existing behavioral norms. cessed. Without a means to catalog the snapshot interface that enables SMBs their businesses in an efficient manner therefore able to function adequately captured, or replicated in 2010 will While there is more digital content to growing amount of data, it merely be - to keep RPO and RTO extremely tight. today . The answer lies not in some using direct-attached storage . amount to 1.2 zettabytes (1.2 trillion gi - handle now more than ever, resources at comes a steadily growing collection of This level of data protection was never complex solution but instead, in an Two underlying factors have gabytes). By 2020, IDC estimates this SMBs have stayed at the same levels. bits and bytes that can suffocate SMBs before even considered by SMBs, but entry-level, next generation SAN.

The Smart Techie |46 |January 2011 The Smart Techie |47 |January 2011 TECHNOLOGY By Ajikumar TN The author is Head - Testing Competency Team ), Wipro Technologies which solve a specific problem. These test team, identify right candidates for tasks can be done through differently solutions improve productivity of the outsourcing’ competent and time-shared team team or aid the team in improving the members. Such team members can be value of the deliverable. Earlier, these Nonlinear Finance Models part of what is called as ‘Delayered benefits were passed on to the cus - Quality Based Pricing Model Service Center’. This is known in dif - tomer without any fee. Now, we are This is taking over complete testing ferent organizations with different Nonlinearity Initiatives in successful in positioning these tools responsibility of customer’s product. names such as – flexibility centers, as value addition and charge for the The payment will be linked to the factory centers, industrialization cen - added value. An example is a test au - final quality of the product and not the ters etc. These centers will support tomation framework for embedded effort spent to achieve the same. For multiple clients since their activities software. example- payment is linked to are defined and selected to be inde - SoftwaSerrveic eTs eBussinteisns g  the estimated residual defects in pendent of client sensitivities. The Lab-On-Hire Models the product at the end of testing or time sharing thus achieved combined Certain test infrastructure is very  the field defects during the first 6 with lower employee cost results in costly to build and not many cus - months of rollout or overall cost push down .  n the earlier days, Product  We are discussing about Services ii. Emerging Technology Test - tomers want to build on their own. In - a combination like: 50 percent companies used to struggle organizations ing Solutions stead they depend on the service linked to effort, 25 percent linked Subcontracting with what is called ‘Box Men -  Nonlinearity is defined in terms of iii. Test Consultancy Special - organizations which have that lab. to estimated residual defects, 25% This is what is called Outsourcing 2 .0. tality’. Box Mentality means Gross Margin (GM) which can be ists Here the client is paying for the lab linked to actual field defects de - Indian IT service providers themselves that companies were getting measured at project, account or c Nonlinear Finance Models and not for the employees who man tected in the field during the first 6 will start outsourcing to tier 3/4 cities paid only for the boxes or products business unit level. i. Quality based pricing the lab and thus achieving nonlinear - months. and also to small firms in the city they could sell and never paid for in -  Rate of Gross Margin is defined as model ity. An example is a mobile handset where they are already in. The objec - Istallations or system integrations they GM per employee. Nonlinearity is ii. Risk based pricing model testing lab. Risk Based Pricing Model tive is to have overall less cost in get - did. It took a lot of effort on the part all about improving this ratio. iii. SLA based pricing model This is actual partnership with the ting the projects executed. Certain of leaders to come out of this mental -  ‘Substantial’ is relative to the or - 2. Cost Reduction Measures Specialization induced Services client in designing, developing and Service organizations have already ity and to start charging for their serv - ganization. The target has to be a Delayering Specialized Testing Services testing of the product. The returns are started thinking in this direction and ices too. more than the long term average of i. Delayered Service centers Specialized testing services like au - divided between partners. The pay - also we can spot certain small players On the other hand, Services or - Gross Margin and also we should ii. Sub contracting tomation testing and performance ment is linked to the risk exposure supporting them in this endeavor. ganizations had been struggling with aim for an improvement we get as b Productivity improvements testing attracts more revenue since each partner takes. Usually this hap - ‘Reverse Box mentality’ for quite a result of usual systemic improve - they are special compared to the usual pens when a client is getting into Productivity Improvements some time. This means they were ments. Revenue improvement measures functional testing. They command a untested waters and need the service In case of Fixed Price projects, the only getting paid for the services they Product Induced Services premium in the market since special provider’s help. Services Organization can lower their deliver and not getting paid for tools Margin is the difference between Productized Services knowledge (including that of tools ) is cost by introducing productivity im - and IPs they deliver along. Testing Revenue and Cost. So, we can Productized services are those serv - required to execute these services. SLA based model provement tools and thus achieving Services organizations were also not achieve nonlinearity by increasing ices which are packaged as a product Here a portion of the revenue is linked the same output from lower number of different. Over the last few years, revenue and / or reducing cost. The and is charged based on outcome. An Emerging Technology Testing Solu - to the service level agreements the employees – thus gaining an improve - there are attempts from top and sen - methods to achieve nonlinearity is example is- delivering 1000 test cases tions firm signs with the client. There will ment in the profit per employee ratio. ior leaders in the industry to reverse also broadly classified on these lines- for an insurance application. Here the Emerging Technology commands be penalty as well as reward clauses Do or die competition between the trend. The move is to start charg - 1. Revenue improvement measures organization or the client is not con - premium from scarcity of offerings. in the SLA. The firm’s objective is to service providers – home as well as ing clients separately for the IPs and 2. Cost reduction measures sidering the number of employees Since it is new, not many organiza - maximize the reward and bring more abroad – is putting pressure on billing this became a new revenue stream as who will work towards this outcome. tions will be in the game. An example revenue with better performance. A rates and thus bringing down margins. well . This method also resulted in get - A brief of different methods to The rate is defined per test case in - is virtualization testing. services organization gets into this So it is time to think beyond the tradi - ting more revenue from the same set achieve nonlinearity is given below. stead of per employee . This way, the model only in case of services in tional employee billing rates and bring of employees and thus become part of 1. Revenue Improvement Measures organization benefits from the pro - Test Consultancy Specialists which it has higher level of compe - in other sources of revenue in the serv - what is known as nonlinear initia - a Product Induced Services ductivity measures it took internally Even while outsourcing substantial tencies. ices business. As mentioned in the be - tives. i. Productized services and also the tools they used. This part of their software testing works, ginning of the article, it is time to Nonlinearity in a Services organi - ii. Point Solution Sales leads to more revenue from the same clients still need advice on certain as - Cost Reduction Measures come out of ‘reverse box mentality’. zation can be defined as ‘achieving iii. Lab-on-Hire Models or lesser set of employees. pects of testing. Consultancy services Delayered Service Centers Year after year, the portion of nonlin - substantial improvements in Gross b Specialization induced services play a role here and this job com - This idea stems from the fact that not ear revenue has to increase for the or - Margin per employee ’. Four things i. Specialized testing prac - Point Solutions Sales mands very high premium compared all tasks in a testing project require ganization to be competitive and also are important here. tices Point solutions are those solutions to outsourced services. An example is equally competent , qualified and full to be profitable enough to meet the ‘advise me to bring efficiency in my time team members. Some of the Street expectations.

The Smart Techie |48 |January 2011 The Smart Techie |49 |January 2011 TECHNOLOGY By Anand Bagmar The author is Lead Consultant, QA, ThoughtWorks How does this affect the software test • Discovery Execute tests automation? • Author • Form within or command line Well, this affects us in a major way. • Publish • Create run command  We eventually will be developing • Plugin Manager • Remote machine(s) or locally Future of Test Automation software to support and build on top of this technology. IDE Runtime Tools & Infrastructure  If we are developing software, that means we need to test it.  This also means that we need to do automation for it. Debug Report here are some specific ferent frameworks. allow the user to create their own cus - It is imperative for us to start think - trends noticeable in the There has been a need for writing tomized pages, based on the data they ing about how will we, as testers, test way we do UI-based test tests in a new lingo. Something that will want to see. And all this is done not by in this new environment? • Regular debugger • Result analysis automation. Technology be easier for non-coders (example: major configuration changes, or talking What tool support do we need to functions • Charts & Graphs • Advanced debugger has advanced, new inter - Business Analysts) to read, understand, to a sys-admin. test this effectively? • Archive faces have been created, and, as a result, and maybe also contribute to. Example: In the below image, the Lastly, let’s think BIG - why new tools have been developed that Thus arose a new type of methodol - Yahoo page has widgets which you can can’t we create / write our automa - Discovery Author Tchanged our way of doing test automa - ogy and framework for building our Au - configure and arrange in the order of tion tests using similar interac - This is a very essential and critical piece To create new objects / tests scripts, the tion. tomated Tests - BDD - Behavior Driven your preference, so that you are able to tions? Development. There are many tools in see what you want to see. This is done of functionality. We want to make sure test author will use the UI objects from Evolution of Test Automation Frame - the market that allow BDD, namely, simply by doing some mouse gestures we do not need to reinvent the wheel. the palette / repository, and, ‘simply’ works Cucumber, JBehave, RSpec, Twist, etc. and actions (drag and drop). We would also like to reuse our existing drag-&-drop various UI objects to cre - UDD Let us revisit how the test automation The BDD frameworks have also The whole world appears to be frameworks as much as possible and ate new objects / test scripts. All the ‘in - tools and frameworks have evolved. been around for some time now. When moving towards providing content BDD make the transition to UDD as seamless telligent’ code refactoring and  as possible. restructuring will happen automatically The crux of any automation frame - thinking about this pattern, the question based on preferences or doing actions Custom work is its core engine. that comes in my mind is - What is based on direct “interactions “. frameworks This component will be able to re - in the backend. Refer to the picture  The traditional record-and- next? New generation mobile phones Record & verse engineer the existing code base, below for reference. Playback playback set of tools sit on top of this have touch screens that allow doing var - and create an UI object hierarchy avail - Note: Currently, using reverse engi - Core able in a palette / repository. neering tools, we can create class dia - core framework. ious different activities using touch- Framework  The rigidity and difficulty (amongst What is Next? based gestures , or orientation of the Example: After running the discov - grams / UML diagrams from existing other factors) in customizing the device itself. ery tool against the existing source code base. In the context of UDD, these BDD repository, the UI objects will are at present dummy objects. The UDD standard record and playback scripts If you recall the movie, “The Mi - UDD - UI Driven Development Custom be created like this: objects, which when moved across, resulted in the new layer being frameworks nority Report”, the technology depicted If a user can interact with a system added - that of the Custom Frame - there is a step ahead of all this. The Record & using gestures, why can’t we testers works . Playback movie shows the actors interacting with change the way we write automated Core images, videos, voices, all using ges - tests? Framework Modularity Data Keyword Model tures made by the sensors in his hand. Why do we have to rely on cod - Driven Driven Driven Based This technology is already advanced ing, or writing tests in BDD format? enough and is being used / tried in a Why can’t we raise the bar and Hybrid What is next? few specialized fields - like Image edit - write tests using a different, interac - To answer the question - “ What is ing, high-end store catalogs, etc. tive mechanism to represent our next? “ we need to understand the cur - “Gesture Based Technology“ is the tests? Custom Frameworks are our cus - rent UI advancements. future that we have already stepped UDD provides us the ability to tomized scripts that do optimal record Most major portals / websites now into! develop our test automation suite and and playback. These frameworks can be framework using a visual (non-code, of any type as depicted in the picture on non-text) medium. Since a picture the side. speaks a thousand words, seeing the More often than not, when one starts test components as UI objects will to develop a Custom Framework using provide quicker visibility into the either of the 4 mentioned types, you functionality being tested. eventually end up with a Hybrid solu - The UDD framework will have tion - which is a combination of the dif - the following components:

The Smart Techie |50 |January 2011 The Smart Techie |51 |January 2011 would result in the framework making appropriate modifica - to track the health of the system. tions in the underlying code-base, without the user having to The Reporting Engine & Trend Analyzer will provide this manually intervene. functionality out of the box. Example: To create a new test, simply drag & drop vari - ous existing UI objects in proper sequence to Plugin Manager create new test scenarios as shown below. This complete framework will be built on plugins. A set of core plugins enables this framework. The community can Enter criteria contribute various other types of plugins based on their need,

View requirement and vision. results Load A ‘hot-deployment’ mechanism will enable additions of page Make selection from the new plugins into the framework without needing a restart. Login results Example: Some plugins include:

Scheduler Test Data Languages / Generator Frameworks

Custom External Reporting Tools & Trend Repositories Select Analyzer ticket Login

Enter Record & Omniture Ticket Search Playback Testing details Engine

Checkout Checkout

xPath Utilities UDD --- This provides a pictorial view for the people looking at these tests. When new functionality needs to be added in the code  Record & Playback Engine - to record user actions as UI base, the test author can use the Record & Playback Engine objects functionality in combination with writing specific code for  Custom Reporting / Trend Analyzer - to allow creation of the same if so required, and the UDD framework will auto - customized reports matically create appropriate UI objects for it. There is also an  Scheduler - to provide test scheduling option to publish it to the repository for everyone’s use.  Languages / Frameworks - It should be easy to change the underlying framework at the click of a button. This Execution Engine way the admin user can choose to change from say using The execution engine provides a lot of flexibility in terms of Selenium to Sahi just by choosing which UI framework how the tests should be run. There are is to be used. Similarly, it should be possible to select various options: which language (C#, Java, Ruby, etc.) should be used for  Specify Critical Test Failure (CTF) dependencies. the code generation.  Run the tests within UDD framework  Integration with External Tools and Repositories - ex -  Generate a command for the set of tests the user wants to ample: file diff / compare tools, source code repositories, run, which the user can simply copy and paste at the com - integration with CI (Continuous Integration) systems, etc. mand prompt and execute the tests directly without hav - ing to create the command manually. How do we get ready for the future?  Execute the tests on the same machine, remote machines By following a few practices in existing test automation, or combinations so desired. we can be in a good state to adopt what the future would  Launch tests via CI (Continuous Integration). have to offer. Test code should be of Production quality! Use private / protected member variables / methods. Make them public only when absolutely essential. Reporting Engine & Trend Analyzer Import only those classes that you need. Keep test intent separate from implementation We are used to seeing the default, yet quite comprehensive Example: Avoid import java.util.* reports generated by the various unit testing frameworks Use xPaths with caution. Do NOT use Do not simply copy / paste code from other (jUnit, nUnit, TestNG, etc.). However, what is lacking in this indexes. sources without understanding it completely. is the ability to automatically consolidate reports from various Keep test data separate from test scripts. Duplicating code is NOT OK. Refactor as appropriate. Do not over-engineer your framework. Have Follow the KISS principle - Keep it Short and different runs and archive them, create trend analysis and "exibility to scale up, but do not add extra Simple! functionality that is not needed at that charts of various types which may be required and interesting point in time.

The Smart Techie |52 |January 2011 Buyers Perspective Q&A Buyers Perspective Q&A Intel Eyes Rural India By Hari Anil In a candid conversation with The SmartTechie, Gopal Swaminathan, General Man - Lenovo: Focusing on SMB Segment ager – OEM Business, Intel India talks about the challenging Indian PC market and Intel’s initiatives for Rural India in partnership with Indian Government.

How big do you hope will be the Mo - thing that an SMB customer can ask Q: What is Intel’s biggest chal - vernacular content and applications of Statistics Organization (CSO), a bile PC market for Lenovo in India? for. Lenovo ThinkCentre A70z all-in- lenge in Indian market and how and reach out to people. This will statistician goes acre by acre to cal - The mobile PC segment is one of the one PC that is ideal for the small and do plan to address it? make sure the PC is relevant for the culate the acreage of paddy in a vil - fast growing segments in India. As per medium businesses , is also one of the The PC penetration of India is com - common man. lage, then get his numbers to national IDC’s India Quarterly PC market most ‘green’ products in the market. paratively less as opposed to that of statistics and the government uses tracker, November 2010 release, the We are bullish on the Indian SME China, Australia and . Every 10 this to estimate whether the paddy sales of Notebook computers grew at market and are committed to enhance percentage increase in broadband supply and demand are met or not. 52 percent year-on-year (July-Septem - our market share in this space. We connectivity and PC penetration will Similarly, in healthcare department, ber 2010 over July-September 2009), have streamlined our business models have a significant impact on the GDP representatives go village by village to cross 11.1 lakh units for the quarter. by replicating best practices from our of the country. Thus, PC connectiv - to find out infant mortality rate. All With the revival of growth in the global and emerging markets’ experi - Alex Li ity, broadband and people utilizing this is paper driven work. Taking this economy and sustained consumer con - ence. these, are all linked to the economic into account we have developed an fidence, more consumers are purchas - growth of this country, be it in the interface which will have a finger - ing PCs in India than ever before. What are the challenges and compe - of our LES . Buoyed by our ‘Get closer consumer segment or in the SMB print reader, a small screen, keyboard Lenovo has worked persistently in tition you see in the market? to customers’ strategy , we are aiming segment. Thus, the biggest challenge and a printer, and can be used for mi - streamlining operations, driving down The Indian consumer has become to achieve stronger partnerships with that Intel faces in the Indian market crofinance and other statistics com - costs and improving time-to-market. more discerning today, given the var - our business partners and bring higher today is how to increase the PC pen - puting. So if a person goes into a Our fine tuned focus on the young In - ied options in the market today, con - quality retail experience . Our aim is to etration and resolving this will be our village with this and connects it with dian consumer is a concrete step for - sumers are price-sensitive / value- have close to 400 LES Lite stores biggest mission in the next couple of the core server through broadband or ward to help us achieve steady growth conscious and at the same time un - across key tier 3-5 cities in India by years. 3G, he can collect money, give in the consumer and SMB segment . willing to compromise on product the end of FY 2010-11. We will con - Multiple factors need to fall into Gopal Swaminathan money, and give receipt on the move. quality and features. tinue to keep enhancing the quality of place in order to make a change in How strong has been the SME pen - By constantly studying market dy - our customer service and open more the issue of PC penetration. First Q: How are you going about your etration? namics and evolving consumer re - service centers in different parts of the among these is ‘connectivity’. In Another initiative is ePCO, where partner initiatives? Lenovo addresses multiple market quirements, Lenovo is effectively country in due course of time . India, the broadband penetration is we work with the government of Our biggest partner in all our initia - segments with its wide range of prod - addressing the requirements of PC just 8-10 percent, much smaller when Karnataka, BSNL and ItzCash. There tives is the government. Today the ucts and SME is certainly a high users across the world. On a habitual What are your future plans ? compared to other countries. But the are about 5000 PCOs in Karnataka, PCs and the Laptops are moving growth segment for us. Lenovo intro - basis, Lenovo has launched innovative As a company, we want to drive con - roll out of 3G wireless services will and all these are given an option to away from just being gadgets of the duced variety of products for the SME and award-winning products for cus - sistent product innovation, understand make a huge difference. Today cus - upgrade themselves to ePCOs. With elite to being useful devices of the segment early this year – of these, the tomers, with intent to deliver afford - the pulse of our customers and de - tomers not only want a PC but rather this we aim to drive self-employ - common man. The government has Lenovo ThinkPad Edge laptops, our able innovation across a wide range of velop game changing products that a connected PC and how one opti - ment, bridge the digital divide and shown tremendous interest is ensur - flagship SME products, have been po - products. give us a competitive edge in the mar - mizes it and hits the market will be a increase IT adoption in semi-urban ing that the policies are helping peo - sitioned as the ultimate business tool ket place. Lenovo has a clear roadmap big initiative. That is something that and rural areas. ple across levels. The second part of for SMEs. Our Lenovo ThinkPad Give an insight into you recent ex - for India. Our aim is to drive better ef - we are focusing on. partnership involves OEMs and some X100e is a pioneering product in the pansion of retail presence across ficiency, expand our product portfolio The second is how the customers Q: What are you looking to do in of our deepest association is with HP, industry as it offers ultra portability India. and increase partner profitability – are going to use the PC once they mobile device segment like Tablets Lenovo, Dell, HCL and others. The and the ThinkPad brand promise at an Currently, we have 120 plus Lenovo while ensuring that our customers get have it. A good percentage of com - and other hand held devices ? third level of partnership is with the entry-level price point. Lenovo B460 Exclusive Stores (LES) across India. nothing but the best. We will continue mon man does not speak English so We are working on different plans for distributors who take our products is a splendid business series laptop We are now focusing on improving the our strategic investment in key growth we need to get vernacular content in this segment. At present, we are into the market. The fourth piece is with excellent features aimed at pro - profitability of our existing LES. To markets, especially tier 3 -5 cities. the PC. At Intel, we are working to working in a concept stage for multi - the application developers and the viding high-performance. Lenovo increase our retail footprint in tier 3-5 With our winning suite of products achieve this. We work with various ple end customers for hand held de - fifth, NGOs. With this intricate mesh V460 is a high-feature, high-design cities in India , we have embarked on a and strong channel partnerships, we service providers and application vices. In the rural India there is a lot of multilevel partnerships, we have super-slim machine. It is an enviable major retail expansion with our LES expect to achieve incremental growth vendors, and have an initiative called of work that is done on paper but can been and continue to drive our pres - piece of technology, providing every - Lite stores – these are a smaller format in the coming months . app up stores where we will create be computed. Today, from the Centre ence in the Indian market.

The Smart Techie |54 |January 2011 The Smart Techie |55 |January 2011 EVENTS By Eureka Bharali

Best VLSI/ Embedded Design Best VLSI/ Embedded Design – MNC: Qualcomm Established Indian company - HCL The company is a leader in next-generation mobile technologies. It is the largest provider of wireless This $2.5 billion chipset and software technology, which powers the global IT services majority of all 3G devices commercially available company, HCL, has a today. very strong product The charter for the company’s Bangalore De - engineering services sign Center is to provide highly integrated chipset focus which has con - Saman Hejmadi, VP of Engineering Qualcomm solutions that allow the latest wireless devices to BN Pal – VP & Head, OEM tributed nearly 20 offer more features and smaller, sleeker designs that Strategic Initiatives at HCL percent of the com - use significantly less power. Qualcomm’s engineers pany revenue. The collaborate with other companies ’design centers across the globe, to deliver Engineering and R&D Services (ERS) complete system solutions – including reference designs, software and ap - group has about 12000 strong engineering plications - that reduce device manufacturers’ materials costs and develop - team servicing customers across domains ment time, while speeding new products’ time-to-market. like Aerospace, Automotive, Medical de - vices, Consumer Electronics and Telecom. Best VLSI/ Embedded Design This group has a very vibrant system de - Startup - Cosmic Circuits sign practice that includes ASIC design This Bangalore-based company pro - across eight verticals and 30 designs over vides Analog and Mixed-Signal silicon the last 15 months. Formation of the test IP cores. A large team of designers, lab and other initiatives like Joint venture whose experience and expertise in cre - with a leading EMS company has enabled ating complex analog IP is unmatched. HCL to offer comprehensive Concept to They have built a strong portfolio of Ganapathy Founder & CEO, Manufacturing solutions (C2M) to leading more than 250 cores in nanometer Cosmic Jury members and winners OEM companies. process nodes of leading foundries.

VLSI/ Embedded Awards Best Electronic System Design company - Outstanding Contribution to Established Indian company VLSI/ Embedded Design Industry - Best VLSI/ Embedded Design - MNC Qualcomm Tejas Networks academic institution: IIT Kharagpur Best VLSI/ Embedded Design Established We are witnessing This academic institution has unique expertise in silicon india Indian company awards for the an explosive advanced chip design and CAD for VLSI. The LEADERSHIP HCL growth in telecom institute ’s Advanced VLSI Design Lab has been Best VLSI/ Embedded Design Startup Prof. D. Acharya, Director, Cosmic Circuits over the last cou - IIT, Kharagpur, who couldn't involved in research in niche areas like formal Embedded/ VLSI Industry Best Electronic System Design company -MNC ple of years. One make to the event, sent his verification, RF, MEMS, analog CAD and med - Cisco of the key en - Acceptance Message ical electronics. More than 50 PhD students have Best Electronic System Design company - ablers of this is a graduated in these areas and about 40 more PhD students are cur - Established Indian company Sanjay Nayak, CEO of Tejas Networks Third from left Bangalore-based rently enrolled in these areas. The institute takes pride in taping out he semiconductor space has continuously evolved Tejas Networks Best Electronic System Design company - Startup company, Tejas nearly 90 chips in the last decade, which is considered significant by in India with significant contributions from the dif - Networks, which provides innovative optical net - any standards. ferent sects – individuals, companies, institutes. Redpine Signals Award for Youngest Entrepreneur in Semiconduc - working solutions ensuring high quality telecom Award for Youngest Entrepreneur in Semiconductor space There are crucial success stories which have tor space services available to over half a billion people at -Notion Ink Team transformed the stumbling blocks into stepping Notion Ink Team (Rohan Shravan, Rohit Rathi and the world’s most affordable prices. The company They are a three year old Bangalore based company. Alumni of IIT, stones driven by their passion, determination and undying Sachin Ralhan) has built complex networking products using the Kharagpur, a team of 24 year olds, Rohan Shravan, Rohit Rathi and sTpirit of entrepreneurship. It is to honor those success Outstanding Contribution to VLSI/ Embedded latest semiconductor technologies as well as de - Sachin Ralhan, they have a dream to design devices which can do streaks and recognize the business leaders of tomorrow Design Industry - Corporate sign tools to not only reduce the system costs, but anything, pushing computing devices towards singularity. And that ’s within the Embedded/ VLSI industry that Mentor Graphics Wipro Outstanding Contribution to VLSI/ Embedded also gain a time-to-market advantage. what they are doing right now. The first thing you do to realize your and SiliconIndia jointly instituted the SiliconIndia – Mentor Design Industry - academic institution The company is a true testament of what a dream is to write it somewhere. And that ’s what they will help oth - Graphics Leadership Awards . IIT Kharagpur product company based in India can do to serve ers to do with the first ever ebook reader and tablet, ADAM, that Outstanding Contribution to VLSI/ Embedded the highly competitive domestic market and at the they showcased at the ‘Consumer Electronics Forum’ at Las Vegas Design Industry - Individual Dr. Bobby Mitra, President & MD of TI India same time produce high quality, leading-edge last year. Having got rave reviews from there, they are all set to take products relevant to the rest of the world. on the world.

The Smart Techie |56 |January 2011 The Smart Techie |57 |January 2011 EVENT By Shwetha Raghavan

Best Electronic System Design Outstanding Contribution to VLSI/ company -MNC : Cisco Embedded Design Industry – In - Led by Senior Vice President and Gen - dividual: Dr. Bobby Mitra, Presi - eral Manager Pankaj Patel, the Service dent & Managing Director, Bug- Experts Throw Solutions for Budding Testers Provider Business Group (SPB) of Cisco Texas Instruments India Partho Mishra, Vice President generates nearly $10 billion in annual Bobby Mitra, the ardent believer of & General Manager - SPB Dr. Bobyy Mitra sharing his he worldwide market for group, Cisco India revenues for this company. SPB-India is Acceptance Speech, as he ‘once-in-a-generation’ opportunity has around 1000 people strong and develops couldn't make to the event been instrumental in playing a pioneer - computer software and a set of products like core routing products, optical switching ing role in creating the India semiconductor ecosystem – systems testing services is Hemanth Satam products and access technology for service providers (operators). with key partnerships with the industry and the academia. projected to reach $56 bil - In the recent past this group has overseen major product Under his leadership, Texas Instruments has established part - lion by 2013 despite taking launches, including the ASR 9000 and the CRS-3 core router. nerships with over 650 engineering colleges in India. Today a hit from the global economic cri - sis.There are issues and concerns re - While the Group does recognize there is a lot of value silicon he is actively involved in creating the India Electronic Micheal providers bring to the table, it designs its own chips too. They Ecosystem. Bobby leads several activities of the Indian semi - lTated to testing like Tools and had launched the QuantumFlow processor that sits in its router conductor industry as the President of the VLSI (Very Large mechanical Part of testing, Handling family of products. Scale Integration) Society of India. As amember of the Ex - Process and Metrics, which has been a hassle for the testing community to grab ecutive Council of NASSCOM & Chairman of India Semi - Sagar Patankar Best Electronic System Design conductor Association (ISA), he plays an active role in a share of the huge pie. Siliconindia’s company – Startup- Redpine several key policies and directions. Softec Conference helps testing profes - Signals sionals to have a broader view and gain Hypothesis Based Testing (HBT) faithfully reflects their business needs Jury Members Founded in 2001, Redpine Signals was solutions on the same from the experts. A new approach to detect defects dur - and provides a very effective mainte - the first in the industry to launch an ultra The latest edition of the event that ing testing is by using HBT. In simple nance of these tests all along the appli - low power and low-cost single-stream Chandra Sekhar Abburi, the Guru Ganesan took place in Mumbai had a great re - words, as T Ashok, Founder and CEO, cation life cycle. By so doing, one can Founder director of Redpine sponse from the audience especially STAG Software said, “HBT is a per - 802.11n Wi-Fi chipset in late 2007. The SIgnals Managing Director, ARM-India Operations move beyond testing, towards certifica - company offers chipsets, modules and from the younger testing professionals. sonal test methodology that enables tion of the IT.” solutions covering multiple market segments including industrial, This event brought in several Software rapid defect detection. Sharp goal clar - Techies from all over India who gained ity, purposeful activities, wide net are The Reactions consumer electronics, medical, mobile, PC, and smart energy. Pravin Desale, an insight from the top leaders of STAG vital for good testing and cannot typi - People were thrilled to learn about the With 95 of its 110 employees based in Hyderabad, all aspects of VP Milpitas CA Software, Rave Technologies, Flux - cally speeded up by mere tools or the entire array of the testing space in IT system & software design, customer applications and adaptation (Storage Components Division), LSI to customer environment — all carried out of the India center for onix, Accenture, Smartesting, and organizational process.” with specific sessions delving deep on its global customers. Of the 53 patents filed from this center, 19 Symantec. one or the other type of specialized have been granted. What’s its USP? Well, majority of the engi - Architecture Testing testing. The theme for the event was neers who work at the Hyderabad center are handpicked from Rajiv Kapur Automation Framework around Sagar Patankar, Practice Manager, ‘Bridging the Gap; Meeting New campuses like IIT Madras, IIT Gauhati and BITS Pilani. Managing Director, Broadcom Open Source KPIT Cummins Infosystems said, Challenges’. “Conference was well Re-usable test automation frameworks “Time to market has become key focus organized across the testing commu - VLSI/ Embedded Design Industry coupled with open-source tools and while maintaining High Quality of nity targeting a good mix of corporate technologies is a key solution to shrink Service for n-tier architecture testing to and college audience to create and - Corporate - Wipro Technologies Santhanakrishnan Raman, test cycle times and related costs. He - ensure high defect containment.” An nurture large spread of knowledge in Although Wipro’s R&D services arm ini - Managing Director, LSI India R&D mant Satam, Associate Vice President, optimum approach will be by using various dimensions of testing. It gave tially focused on client-driven product Datamatics said, “There are several op - Testing accelerators to provide speed a good insight and visibility into do - engineering, it has come a long way. portunities using open source in au - and agility and ensure high quality n- main specifics and well and non func - Today it’s a leader in spotting technolog - Srini Rajam, A. Vasudevan, Vice President, tomation testing; having a completely tier architecture testing. Some of the tional aspects of test coverage. It was ical opportunities, optimizing processes, Chairman and CEO, Ittiam Systems VLSI Group, WiproTechnologies planned framework will help us to key testing accelerators are Test case very well supported by platinum and managing effective New Product Devel - leverage the benefits in a way that we optimization, planned percent distribu - co-sponsors in multitude of value opment, and driving project-to-project learning. It is a hotbed of can increase the ROI of automation tion of unit tests, Integration tests, GUI added products and solutions in mod - New Product Development learning that is likely to provide a lot testing beyond acceptable levels. We functional tests across n-tier applica - ern testing community. Was very well of managerial lessons for the future. The third party R&D serv - Dr. Satyanarayan Gupta CEO, Concept2Silicon Systems. India need to understand the integration of tion, Performance and load testing ap - focused on presentations by the sub - ices provider started with product development for the Indian various applications within our eco sys - proach, Script less automation testing. ject experts in their respective arenas market and moved into R&D services for the global market pro - tem including other products used in or - On the same lines, Michel Guez, gave confidence in segregated world viding VLSI design embedded software and complete product Vivek Sharma ganizations and collaborating with Managing Director of Smartesting said , of testing solutions products and serv - development services. The product engineering services business V P Asia Pacific India Operation Director, systems that may not follow open “There are softwares that enable organ - ices,” said Ankur Damle Senior Man - serves customers across telecom, computing, peripherals, semi - India Research Centers, STMicroelectronics source architecture.” izations to produce functional tests that ager at Accenture conductor, automotive, industrial and medical segments.

The Smart Techie |58 |January 2011 The Smart Techie |59 |January 2011 TECH PRODUCTS By Hari Anil

Logitech’s Rechargeable Speakers for iPhone and iPods

Logitech India has launched the Logitech Rechargeable Speaker S715i in In - dian market. It has two three-inch laser tuned neodymium drivers for mid range music, two half-inch neodymium tweeters for the high notes and four two-inch passive radiators for deep bass. It features nickel-metal hydride rechargeable batteries which have eight hours of life. The speaker comes with a wireless remote control that lets you command the power, vol - ume, play, pause, shuffle, skip and repeat op - tions from as far as 30 feet (10 meters). It supports iPhone and all iPod models includ - ing the earlier versions (1 st - 3 rd generation) and comes with a 2-year limited hardware warranty. Price: `9,995 View Sonic launches two new tablets Lava A10 featuring latest IPS Samsung introduces Intel Atom powered NF210 screen ViewSonic launched two full touch screen tablets ViewPad 7 Samsung recently launched its NF210 netbooks in India. NF210 is windows and ViewPad 10 in India. These 3G enabled tablets run on Indian mobile phone maker LAVA has released the A10, 7 based and is powered by the Intel Atom Dual Core processor N550 which Google Android 2.2 operating system. ViewPad 7 feature a a touch screen phone that features a 3-inch IPS (In-Plane runs at 1.50GHz. The netbook has a 64-bit Dual Core CPU with 1 MB L2 seven inch capacitive multi-touch LCD screen with 800x480 Switching) screen; the type of screen that is used in the Cache Hyper-Threading and Inbuilt Graphics. It comes with 2GB DDR3 WVGA and a three megapixel back camera and a VGA front Apple iPhone 4 and iPad. Lava claims this will provide RAM and 320GB hard disk. With its 10.1 inch Anti Glare LED Backlit screen camera where as ViewPad 10 comes with a 10.1 inch screen the A10 a superior image and a 178 degree wide viewing NF210 weighs 1.34 kilograms. It is equipped with SRS 3D sound with stereo and 1.3 megapixel webcam with built in microphone. They angle. The A10 comes with a 3.2 mega-pixel camera with speakers , integrated webcam and a 4-in -1 card reader. For connectivity it fea - come with Accelerometer (G-sensor), Digital Compass and Flash, a Yamaha PA system, and a 3.5mm headphone tures Bluetooth 3.0 , LAN and Wi-Fi. With its six cell battery NF210 offers a Ambient Light sensor. The ViewPad 7 has a 3240mAh Li-ion jack. The phone features dual SIM capability and has 10.5 hours long battery life. A free one year Pick and Drop Warranty is of - battery that gives up to 600 hours of standby time or 6.5 hours gravity sensor for motion based gaming. It has Snaptu fered, within municipal limits of the city where the service center is lo - of video playback, and can be charger by using a charger or applications for cricket updates and Facebook. Its Super cated. This warranty can further be extended to two years by adding an USB when connected to any computer system. It also has 512 Picture Album claims to have the unique 3-D picture additional `699. MB internal memory while ViewPad 10 1 GB of internal viewing style . It supports up to 16GB in microSDHC as Price: `22,990 memory. They come with leatherette cover. expandable memory. Price: `32,000 – 38,000 Sony’s new interchangeable lens digital cameras Price: `5,500

Sony launched its new Alpha NEX cameras series in India, the Alpha NEX-5K and Strontium introduces pWn Series Gaming Memory Modules NEX-3K. The primary feature of this series is their interchangeable lenses. The cameras come with 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 OSS Kit lens, two Strontium introduced an entire range of Gaming memory other lenses presently available are a 16mm F2.8 and a 18-200mm modules in India. This new range is available up to 2GB F3.5-6.3 OSS. These 14.2 megapixel cameras are equipped with capacities with triple channel for Intel Core i3/i5/i7. They Background De-focus function, HD movie recording, 7 frames per have introduces a total of four memory modules: DDR2 second High Speed shooting and 3D Sweep Panorama. The cameras 1066 with PC2 8500 speed and 4GB size, DDR3 1600 also have Intelligent Auto Focus and Direct manual Focus. NEX 3- with PC3 12800 speed and 4GB or 6GB size, and DDR3 K is capable of 720p HD movie recording while NEX-5 features 1080i 2000 with PC3 16000 speed and 4GB size. They features full HD movie recording. They have three inch wide tiltable LCD mon - good memory timings and fast clock speed. The power itor which can be angled 80 degree upward or 45 degree downward. A consumption of the modules ranges between 1.5 volts and 4GB memory card and three year warranty is included with the Cameras. 2.1 volts. The family comes with a lifetime warranty. Price: `29990 – `34990 (with 18-55mm standard lens) Price: `3,950 – 5,950

The Smart Techie |60 |January 2011 The Smart Techie |61 |January 2011 LEADERSHIP By Binu T Paul

Move Beyond Logic

he world steps aside for the per - only a matter of positioning in the right way”. son who knows where he is The most important criteria to project going. When Mahatma Gandhi, oneself as a good leader is passion. It is the returned to India , people sneered absolute commitment to the vision you want at his idea of making it a free to achieve. A large part of the human brain country . A similar reaction would have con - does not work on logic. When mind does not fronted Michael Dell, had he mentioned work on logic, it follows the emotional sig - aTbout building the largest PC company when nals. Passion helps us to charge that large the likes of HP and Honeywell were doing part of brain by which one can achieve these the rounds. Had they refrained from their vi - illogical goals. This passion is mostly por - sions merely guided by the logic of others, trayed through better communication of your today India wouldn’t have a free economy ideas and also via commanding enough re - stand and the IT industry would have been spect and trust as a leader. In an organiza - bereaved of a customized PC expert like Dell. tional setup, co -operation and least favoritism In short, to be a successful leader, defy logic. will help one to earn the trust of others. And Each person, who may have landed as a talk about better communication, U.S. Presi - leader needs a massive vision. “Goals are dent Barrack Obama, whose ‘Yes We Can’ measurable and logically possible while vi - speech inspired every parts of the world, por - sion is illogical and might look difficult and trays the best example. It’s all about commu - impossible to achieve. A leader has a goal in nicating to make the listener feel to be an the direction of the vision,” said Dr. Vivek important part of your vision. Mansingh 1, President VTG & Unified Com - A look at the surroundings will show up munication Group India at Cisco Systems. many good managers, who are guided by the Certain snaps of history would show many logic and those who brave those logic to such people who were forced by circum - achieve desired results are leaders in the true stances to take up a broad vision without sense. They tend to stand as the change being prepared for it and then set their path agents portraying exceptional execution skills to success through experience and guidance. and follow up on every step taken and con - Within the IT industry itself there are tinues to challenge any opposing situation. scores of examples, like Azim Premji, who To be the phenomenal cream of the crop, it was another Stanford student and was doesn’t take thousands of skills rather just overnight entrusted with the respon - one powerful skill that would one apart from sibility of Wipro. If wished, he others. Whether, it’s the simplicity and could have passed on the responsi - charisma of Narayana Murthy or the boldness bilities to experienced personnels, of Indira Gandhi or the tolerant and non-vio - but it was the zeal to learn and ac - lent attitude of Mahatma Gandhi, each of cept the situation that makes him these strong personal skills make them idols an admirable leader. So, are for everyone. All it takes is to build up the ob - leaders born or made? As per session nurturing the key skill and even after statistics, only 10 percent of years your ways will be remembered and ad - leaders are born, the rest of the mired, as it’s beyond articulation . . 90 percent are made or trained. Dr Vivek Mansingh In Dr. Mansingh’s word, 1 Dr. Vivek Mansingh was Country Man - “Everyone has the leadership ager, Dell India R&D when he spoke at the skill hidden within and it’s siliconindia Leadership Summit in 2010

The Smart Techie |62 |January 2011 Regn. No. KRNA/BGE-1046/08-10 RNI REG.NO. KARENG/2006/16955