Dell Offers Unpolished Chrome OS for Mini Netbooks

What are the chances that Dell intends to offer a Chrome netbook next year? The company's early interest in Google's open source OS suggests that Dell may be see growing opportunities in the manufacture of machines with cloud-based applications in mind. Still, it's unlikely that even a slick-performing Chrome will create much of a rupture in Dell's partnership with Microsoft.

Which Is The Best GPS?

You're looking for the best GPS money can buy, so long as that money isn't going to break the bank. We've always been pleased with the Garmin nüvi line, especially the widescreen models with built-in Bluetooth and FM. The Garmin nuvi 760 has a 4.3" touch screen color backlit display, Bluetooth for hands-free calling and traffic broadcasts via "silent" FM data channel for intelligent routing based on traffic conditions.So aside from the super easy to use intuitive interface and excellent performance in the Garmin nuvi line, what do we like best about this particular GPS? Once priced for $399 the nuvi 760 is currently on sale on Amazon for $199 - which is what we paid for a measley nuvi 250W only a year ago!

Japanese Nano Tech Water Maze Game

Pachinko with water? That's what the Nano-Tech Japanese Aqua Dance Game accomplishes with hyper-beading "Adesso WR" technology using a nano-tech agent invented and patented by Nikka Kagaku Co., Ltd. of Japan. On a game-scale we're happy, on a water park scale where you zoom down slides with giant balls of water chasing you we're even happier. Maybe one day, until then

Shenzhen MacBook Air clone at $249 packs 3G, removable battery

don’t doubt why Chinese people are tagged to have been the source of low priced gadgets. Like what we got here is super-low priced Macbook Air, but apparently it’s a clone version. Anyways even it lacks some of the official Air style, its removable battery, integrated 3G, relative surfeit of ports and $249 price tag may have your mind find it as an alternative.

H1N1 Destroying UV Wand

While vaccines for the H1N1 flu virus is ready to be used, not all countries are going to get it. Still, the initial fear of catching this potentially fatal virus has somewhat died down, with less and less people being seen wearing face masks these days when outdoors. As for folks who do not want to take the chance, there is the H1N1 Destroying UV Wand from Hammacher to help you out

Samsung Announces New 'Diva' Phones

Samsung has, out of nowhere, announced two new mid-range handsets at a Corby related event last week. Strangely, the new phones

belong to Samsung's new design range of phones that is known as "Diva" - which is not quite, what the Corby range is all about.
The new devices in question are the S7070 and the S5150 (codenamed Olivia) - both of which belong to different design categories. One is a touchscreen, while the other is a clamshell.

American Express takes aim at PayPal with Revolution

With its deal to buy Revolution Money, American Express is taking aim at the growing market for online and alternative payments, in a challenge to recognized leader PayPal, analysts say

With its deal to buy Revolution Money, American Express is taking aim at the growing market for online and alternative payments, in a challenge to recognized leader PayPal, analysts say.

China harnesses mountain wind power

Cars and people are seen passing near wind power turbines in Dali, in the China's southwestern Yunnan province. In energy-hungry Yunnan, power is being produced at wind farms, dams and garbage dumps as the Asian giant adopts more "green" technology thanks to carbon trading.

In the mountains above the southwestern Chinese town of Dali, dozens of new wind turbines dot the landscape -- a symbol of the country's sky-high ambitions for clean, green energy.

Medibots: The world's smallest surgeons

A MAN lies comatose on an operating table. The enormous spider that hangs above him has plunged four appendages into his belly. The spider, made of white steel, probes around inside the man's abdomen then withdraws one of its arms. Held in the machine's claw is a neatly sealed bag containing a scrap of bloody tissue.

This is a da Vinci robot. It has allowed a surgeon, sitting at a control desk, to remove the patient's prostate gland in a manner that has several advantages over conventional methods. Yet the future of robotic surgery may lie not only with these hulking beasts but also with devices at the other end of the size spectrum. The surgeons of tomorrow will include tiny robots that enter our bodies and do their work from the inside, with no need to open patients up or knock them out. While nanobots that swim through the blood are still in the realm of fantasy, several groups are developing devices a few millimetres in size. The first generation of "mini-medibots" may infiltrate our bodies through our ears, eyes and lungs, to deliver drugs, take tissue samples or install medical devices.

Dumb code could stop computer viruses in their tracks

ON THE day a new computer virus hits the internet there is little that antivirus software can do to stop it until security firms get round to writing and distributing a patch that recognises and kills the virus. Now engineers Simon Wiseman and Richard Oak at the defence technology company Qinetiq's security lab in Malvern, Worcestershire, UK, have come up with an answer to the problem.

Their idea, which they are patenting, is to intercept every file that could possibly hide a virus and add a string of computer code to it that will disable any virus it contains. Their system chiefly targets emailed attachments and adds the extra code to them as they pass through a mailserver. A key feature of the scheme is that no knowledge of the virus itself is needed, so it can deal with new, unrecognised "zero day" viruses as well as older ones.

The race to build a 1000 mph car

Strapped into a custom built seat, Andy Green prepares for the ride of his life. The pancake-flat desert stretches out for miles ahead. The computer indicates all systems are normal. He eases off the brakes and puts his foot down on the throttle. The jet engine roars into life. In precisely 42.5 seconds he'll be travelling 1000 mph. In a car.

This time there's competition. A three-way race is developing, with two other teams, one from North America and the other from Australia, vying to wrest the record from the Brits. The first step will be to break the existing record and get past 800 mph. If that succeeds, the next stage is to attempt 1000 mph (1609 kilometres per hour). "That's what we're designing the car for," says Ron Ayers, chief aeronautic engineer on the Bloodhound project.

American Express takes aim at PayPal with Revolution

With its deal to buy Revolution Money, American Express is taking aim at the growing market for online and alternative payments, in a challenge to recognized leader PayPal, analysts say

With its deal to buy Revolution Money, American Express is taking aim at the growing market for online and alternative payments, in a challenge to recognized leader PayPal, analysts say.

Bing Buddies Up With Wolfram Alpha

Microsoft has secured a deal to give Bing some of the power of the data-driven answer engine Wolfram Alpha. Bing searchers looking for information about things like nutrition or math will be able to see data related to their querries courtesy of Wolfram. Bing has been focusing on growing its market share ever since it emerged as a rebranded and reworked version of Microsoft's search engine.

W3C Validation: It's Not Just About Rankings

The major roadblocks to universal Web standards are browsers themselves -- they are not compatible with one another, which is what causes site-display inconsistencies. Designers and programmers have to choose among competing Web site standards, which can make their jobs almost impossible.

Robots and the Law: Will the Real Inventor Please Stand Up?

The idea that robots might be capable of independent thought processes raises a lot of interesting possibilities, not the least of which is the problem of how such robots -- and their work products -- would be regarded under the law. A robot that invents something entirely on its own, for example, could conceivably be the appropriate patentholder, based on current U.S. law.

Network Forensics and Digital Time Travel

Network forensics is the capture, storage and analysis of network traffic. You might also hear the term referred to as "packet mining," "packet forensics," or "digital forensics." Regardless of the name, the concept is the same, with the objective to record every packet and the data it contains moving across the network and storing it for some period of time. Simply put, this means having a network recorder that would allow you to see all emails, database queries, Web browsing activity, etc.

Frankencamera Could Herald a New Digital Photography Era

The researchers who developed the Frankencamera intend to make every bit of it open source -- not only the software, but also the design and construction plans. "It's very easy to modify the design for your own purposes," said Andrew Adams, a Stanford graduate student in computer science, "and we imagine no two Frankencameras made this way will be exactly alike."

BlackBerry Storm Gathers Strength in Second Version

The first touchscreen BlackBerry phone, the Storm, got a few things right, but generally it was a chore to use. Good thing a lot can change in a year. Though not without flaws, the latest version of the device, the BlackBerry Storm2 , is the phone Research In Motion should have released last year: It's faster, smarter and more fun to use. The Storm2's face is still dominated by a large, bright touchscreen. The buttons that previously sat just below the screen have been integrated, making most of the phone's face one big, slick slab.

Study: Internet Doesn't Cause Introversion

A recent report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project debunks the notion that the Internet is a socially isolating technology. Indeed, with the rise of social networks and new communication media, the Web might have quite the opposite affect. Face-to-face contact is still the primary way people keep in touch, the study found.

Verizon Launches a Droid of a Different Color

Motorola's new handset wasn't the only Droid that Verizon brought to market Friday. HTC's Droid Eris also made its debut. The phone closely resembles the HTC Hero, a handset Sprint started selling last month. The similarity in names for the two Verizon phones is no accident -- Verizon says the name "Droid" will be used as a brand within the carrier's lineup.

Samsung Intrepid: Sleek Hardware Makes Up For Uncomfy OS

Samsung has built its Intrepid smartphone with a solid set of hardware. Its physical keyboard is comfortable for thumb-typing, and its camera sports a number of advanced features for a phone cam. The Windows Mobile 6.5 OS it's saddled with can be uncomfortable and unintuitive at times, but it may be at least a familiar interface for the business users the Intrepid targets.

GPS Safety, Part 2: Which Products Get It Right?

Using a GPS navigation unit in the car may not be as dangerous as texting, but some kinds of devices are safer than others. Voice-activated controls let the user make commands without taking his or her eyes off the road. Larger screens are easier to glance at while driving, and if you're using a cellphone-based nav app, investing in a dash or window mount is probably a good decision.

The Blood and Guts of Biometric Systems

In some instances, biometric security technology can be preferable to a traditional username/password system. However, biometrics is not synonymous with perfect security. For instance, trying to get a machine to recognize voices and faces without being fooled is tricky. Still, vendors are sharpening their techniques to make sure that the body part being scanned really is yours -- and that it's still attached.

The New Darling of the Green-Tech Movement

Apple has pleased green activists with its latest disclosures. The company is going way beyond what most tech firms do by including information on the environmental impact of its products throughout their lifecycles -- not just when Apple itself has control of them. Greenpeace was quick to praise Apple for its transparency and comprehensive disclosures.

Google Dashboard Lights Up User Access to Privacy Controls

Google Dashboard is a new offering that gives users with Google accounts a view of what Google knows about their use of services like Gmail, YouTube and Picasa. The goal is to give users more transparency and control of the data Google stores about them. Google doesn't appear to be instituting new privacy policies or procedures, but rather offering easier, more efficient ways for users to access controls they already have.

Nokia Siemens eyeing cost cuts, layoffs

Damaged by lower sales, huge operating losses, and a falling market share, Nokia Siemens Networks is pinning its hopes on a major reorganization.

The network equipment maker, jointly owned by Nokia and Siemens, announced Tuesday that it will lay off 5,700 employees and cut its five business units to three as part of a plan to slash expenses by 500 million euros ($740 million) by the end of 2011.

The layoffs will represent around 7 percent to 9 percent of the company's 64,000 global employees and is likely to be felt across all countries in which Nokia Siemens has a presence. The company did not state which jobs would be affected but did say that any disruption to sales positions that deal directly with customers should be limited.

The three new revamped business units are expected to launch on January 1 and will include Business Solutions, Network Systems, and Global Services.

"As our customers make purchasing decisions, they want a partner who engages in issues well beyond a traditional discussion of technology," said Rajeev Suri, chief executive officer of Nokia Siemens Networks, in a statement. "Business models, innovation, growth and transformation are now very much front and center when it comes to the selection of a technology partner - and our planned new structure will position us well in this changing market."

The company said it's also looking at potential new acquisitions and partnerships that could enhance its product line or expand its customer base. In June, Nokia Siemens bought Nortel's wireless technology for $650 million.

"We recognize that we are operating in a market where customer needs are evolving fast," said Mika Vehvilainen, chief operating officer of Nokia Siemens Networks, in a statement. "We see acquisitions and expanded partnering as important tools to help meet these needs in the fastest, most efficient way possible."

Sony Ericsson details its first Android phone

Sony Ericsson has released details and a video of its upcoming Xperia X10 smartphone based on Google's Android operating system.

The X10, which had been code-named Rachel, has a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, which should make this one of the fastest Android phones yet. The phone will sport version 1.6 of Android--aka Donut--and it will run applications from the Android Market and Sony Ericsson's PlayNow arena. The device will also feature an 8-megapixel camera, with autofocus and an LED photo light.

Expect to see the Xperia X10 in stores in the first quarter of 2010. Meanwhile, here's a video that Sony Ericsson posted Monday.

In 2012, spend 3 nights at space hotel for $4.4m - Science - Home - The Times of India

BARCELONA: A company behind plans to open the first hotel in space says it is on target to accept its first paying guests in 2012 despite critics questioning the investment and time frame for the multi-billion dollar project.

The Barcelona-based architects of The Galactic Suite Space Resort say it will cost $4.4 million for a three-night stay at the hotel, with this price including an eight-week training course on a tropical island.

During their stay, guests would see the sun rise 15 times a day and travel around the world every 80 minutes. They would wear velcro suits so they can crawl around their pod rooms by sticking themselves to the walls like Spiderman.

Galactic Suite Ltd’s CEO Xavier Claramunt, a former aerospace engineer, said the project will put his company at the forefront of an infant industry with a huge future ahead of it, and forecast space travel will become common in the future. “It’s normal to think that your children, possibly within 15 years, could spend a weekend in space,” he said.

Galactic Suite Ltd, set up in 2007, hopes to start its project with a single pod in orbit 450km above the earth,with the capacity to hold four guests and two astronaut-pilots.

It will take a day and a half to reach the pod — which Claramunt compared to a mountain retreat, with no staff to greet the traveller. “When the passengers arrive in the rocket, they will join it for 3 days, rocket and capsule. After that the passenger returns to earth,” he said.

As Asia rebounds, India set to grow faster in 2010: IMF

As Asia rebounds rapidly from the depth of the global crisis, India's growth is expected to accelerate to 6.5 per cent in 2010 from 5.33 percent in 2009 on the back of strong domestic demand, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said.

"In particular, the normalisation of financial market conditions is expected to support a rebound of private investment, sustaining demand even as the fiscal stimulus wanes," it said in the latest Regional Economic Outlook (REO) for Asia and the Pacific, released in Seoul Thursday.

Noting that there will continue to be significant differences in growth patterns within the region, IMF forecast Asia's growth as a whole to accelerate to 5.75 per cent in 2010 from 2.75 percent in 2009, both higher than previously projected.

"The primary driver of Asia's recovery has been a progressive return towards normalcy following the abrupt collapse in global trade and finance at the end of 2008," the report said.

"Just as the US downturn triggered an outsized fall in Asia's GDP because international trade and finance froze, now their normalisation is generating an outsized Asian upturn."

This development confirms that Asia has not decoupled from the rest of the world, the REO noted.

Noting that global conditions are expected to continue to improve gradually in 2010, the report forecasts that output in the large G7 economies would grow by 1.25 per cent next year, recouping only half the contraction estimated for 2009, because private demand in these countries remains constrained by the legacy of the crisis.

Keeping Your Secrets Safe in a World Gone Social

Social networking continues to play an important part of our cultural growth, offering an accessible outlet for expression and a means to explore greater social interactions within a broader community.

These platforms allow both anonymous and open communications with the world, giving us a voice and a forum to share our thoughts publicly and privately. However, with the growing threat of identity theft and other cybercrimes, social networks also present a new set of risks.

Social networks are not inherently evil. On the contrary, most social networks –Facebook and linkedIn for example -- are conscious of both privacy and security. However, they are a community; like all communities, they have varied populations, including some who would prey on the weak.

Some of these opportunists are benign, such as the growing community of corporate marketers who have made a valiant attempt to commercialize this new medium. Some are not.

Making sure that the networks themselves are safe requires the use of various monitoring and management solutions, and a fairly competent IS staff -- nothing new here, and some of the larger providers actually have above-average security operations.

Still, keeping the end-users of social networking services safe depends on something much more difficult to control: the end-users' behavior.

Google expands availability of its free voice mail

SAN FRANCISCO -

Google Inc. wants to answer your mobile phone calls when you can't or just don't want to talk.

In its latest bid to become a bigger player in telecommunications, the Internet search leader is giving people a chance to have its free voice mail service answer calls to their cell phones. The offering was introduced Tuesday.

The voice mail feature is part of Google Voice, a fledging service striving to become a hub for phone calls to people's mobile, home and office numbers.

Taking advantage of all of its tools requires getting a new number from Google Voice, a leap that many people aren't ready to make.

The Young and the Twitterless

As a general age group, young adults and teens have been relatively slow to warm to Twitter. Some, of course, are crazy about the microblogging service, but others either don't see the point or feel their social media cup already runneth over. It's a rare instance of young people adopting an Internet application after many of their older counterparts have already done so.

CBI digs up Rajus’ accounts in Mauritius

HYDERABAD: A top Indian team including sleuths from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has zeroed in on six bank accounts in Mauritius

linked to alleged money laundering by B Ramalinga Raju, prime accused in the Satyam scam, and his family members.
The team, headed by CBI DIG V V Lakshminarayana, included an RBI officer, and left for Mauritius on October 18, sources told STOI on Saturday. “In all, there is at least Rs 600 crore in the six accounts in Mauritius linked to the Satyam scam and the figure can rise by the time the investigations are over,” the sources said.

During the course of its investigations in the Satyam scam, the CBI discovered that the scam money was either stashed in foreign bank accounts or was being diverted back to India through these accounts. Accordingly, the CBI special court sent letters rogatory to six countries where the bank accounts linked to the scam were said to be in operation. Apart from Mauritius, the letters rogatory were sent to courts in the US, UK, Belgium, British Isles and Singapore. “The purpose of sending the letters rogatory was to request the courts in these countries to record the statements of the account holders and other connected persons and convey the same to the special CBI court in Hyderabad,” the sources said. The CBI team left for Mauritius after the court there communicated that it had recorded the statements of the account holders and others as sought by the Indian investigating agency. “The purpose of taking the RBI officer was to check the banking norms and procedures in Mauritius and assist the CBI in tracing the money trail,” the sources added.

The Interpol is assisting the CBI in unearthing the foreign link in the Satyam scam, the sources said, and added that the CBI teams will visit the other countries where such bank accounts are alleged to exist as soon as the courts respond to the letters rogatory.

By establishing the foreign link in the Satyam scam, the CBI hopes to prove its case that the Raju family had floated almost 325 alleged benami companies and that the foreign accounts acted as conduits to divert the money from Satyam only to be re-routed to these fictitious companies and then laundered further for purchasing land and property in and around Hyderabad. The CBI team is scheduled to return to Hyderabad on Sunday.

China's 'new front' on Indo-Nepal border

BAHRAICH: The Chinese clamour over Arunachal Pradesh has raised many eyebrows in India. Even as the meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in Thailand on Saturday was being looked at as an effort to cool down the tension between the neighbouring countries, the Dragon nation has opened another anti-India front. This time in Nepal.

Silently but speedily China is spreading its wings in the erstwhile Hindu kingdom, mainly to unleash anti-India propaganda. Besides acquiring some major construction projects in Nepal, the Chinese are also making their presence felt by opening language centres in Nepali cities on the Indo-Nepal border. These centres are teaching Chinese language. But, what raises suspicions on Chinese intentions is the fact that these centres are open only for Nepali citizens.

The surge in Chinese activities in the neighbour country is a matter of concern for India which is already fighting terrorism being pushed into the country from Pakistan. It’s a known fact that China often uses Nepal as a buffer state against India. After the Indo-China war of 1962, the Dragon country has made constant efforts to increase its influence in Nepal. Though it did not succeed much till Nepal was under the rule of monarchy, the fall of monarchy and growing Maoist grip over Nepal has given a fillip to Chinese plans.

A clear indicator of this is the construction of Sikta barrage in Agaiya village of Banke district (Nepal). Its construction was delayed for almost three decades owing to Indian protest. But, once Maoists held sway over the Nepali government, the construction was given a go-ahead in 2006. Moreover, the contract for the project was given to Chinese firm — Sinehydro. In fact, a team of 40 Chinese engineers is engaged in the construction of the Sikta barrage in Agaiya district of Nepal. The district touches the Indian district of Shravasti. The distance from Indian border to the barrage is barely 14 kilometres. The possibility of Chinese infiltration in important zones of war on Indian border areas due to the presence of Chinese engineers cannot be ruled out.

Also, after the completion of the barrage the flow of river Rapti towards India will be diverted towards Nepal which will create acute water shortage in Indian area. Efforts have also been started to divert the flow of rivers flowing towards Indian area from Parchu lake located in Chinese area adjoining the state which may lead to floods in the borders districts of India during monsoon.

Not only this, if the and Sikta barrage ever breaks down due to technical reasons it will severely impact the security arrangements made on the India border. China, thus, seems to be working on these two projects under well-planned policy to tease India.

Similarly, China has established the office of ‘Maitri Sangh’ in Nepal adjoining Indian border territory.

Meanwhile, a 10-member team comprising five Chinese and five Tibetan national recently visited Nepalganj headquarters of Banke district (Nepal). The team toured the Indo-Nepal border and secretly clicked photographs of the Rupaidiha main gate located on Indo-Nepal border.

The Indian intelligence agencies, however, learnt about this when the team had already left for Kathmandu.

Assistant army Nayak Devendra of Shashtra Seema Bal (SSB), when contacted, told TOI that he will report the incident to his senior officers.

WNS' CEO hunt narrows to Nambiar, Kurien

MUMBAI: The race to head India’s second-largest BPO WNS has narrowed down to Rajesh Nambiar of IBM Global Services and TK Kurien of Wipro,

according to a person close to the matter.

WNS had roped in executive searchfirm Egon Zehnder to find a new chief executive after co-founder and group CEO Neeraj Bhargava announced that he was stepping down. However, the process was put on hold, as the BPO’s largest shareholder Warburg Pincus initiated plans to sell its 50% stake. With the stake sale now being called off, the search process has resumed.

“An announcement about the new CEO is expected very soon,” said the person requesting anonymity. A company spokesperson said WNS does not comment on market speculation. Mr Nambiar is in a key role in IBM’s India operations heading its global delivery, a space where it competes with Indian outsourcing majors, such Tata Consultancy Services and US rival Accenture. He is also part of IBM’s core 10-member team on technology at the global level.

Mr Kurien, who once headed Wipro’s BPO business, moved into a new role after a reorganisation in April 2008 following the appointment of Suresh Vaswani and Girish Paranjpe as joint CEOs. He is currently president, Wipro Consulting Services, global programs and strategic initiatives. He is also part of Wipro’s corporate executive council, and reports directly to Azim Premji for new initiatives outside the IT business.

Following the reorganisation, there was a buzz that Mr Kurien would leave Wipro. He is credited with successfully integrating Spectramind into the company. He has more than 23 years of experience, of which around 10 years are with GE. Prior to joining Wipro, he was managing director and CFO of GE Medical Systems.

The WNS decision will be critical to Warburg Pincus plans to exit the company, which is expected to revive the process after a short interval. It had called off the process because the bids received were below expectations. “The CEO who comes in will also have to contend with this uncertainty,” pointed out a senior executive from the BPO industry.

Global financial firms to shed India back office operations

MUMBAI: Global financial firms, emerging from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, are looking to shed India back office operations as they focus on core operations and cost cuts. AIG and Citigroup Inc, the insurance and banking giants bailed out by the US government, have already sold some of their India units in the past 12 months, and there are increasing expectations of more such deals.

On the block are units of UBS, American Express and BoA-Merrill Lynch, banking sources said, adding Credit Suisse may follow. There is no official word on the prices but bankers estimate deals to be worth between $100 million to $600 million.

"It is pretty straightforward. Banks don't want these operations anymore," said a banker who is advising a potential buyer of one of the operations. He asked not to be identified as he was not authorised to speak to the media. "Such captive units are almost passe. Internally they are asking, 'Do we want a few thousand employees working on supportive functions or do we outsource it (on a long-term contract) and pay a few hundred million?'" There are buyers galore right from top software services firms such as Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Wipro Cognizant to private equity firms such as KKR and Blackstone, which already own back office firms in India.

A big part of the attraction is that such sales usually come with a fat multi-year contract to run the services for the financial firm. And the time-tested operations can be used to attract other financial clients. For instance TCS, which bought Citi's back office for $505 million last October, got a nine and a half year contract worth $2.5 billion from Citi.

IT cos bet on risk-reward partnerships for growth

MUMBAI: Even as investors look for pointers on the pick-up in demand and pricing from the results of IT companies, there are indications that the

pricing models themselves may be changing. The recent recession and client pressure to share risk have led to the past few quarters witnessing a significant increase in the number of deals based on risk-reward partnership.

“In the past few quarters, many contracts were renegotiated. The new models are based on a risk-reward partnership, and pricing based on defined outcomes,” said Karthik Ananth, engagement manager, Zinnov Management Consulting.

According to analysts, deals based on sharing risks are becoming a lot more frequent these days. “About a quarter of all deals with an annual run rate of $30 million or more are now being negotiated on newer pricing models,” said a senior executive with one of the country’s top-10 IT exporters, requesting anonymity.

Patni Computer Services’ $40-million deal with the US-based Weyerhaeuser is learnt to be based on one such new model. HCL Technologies, which bagged a $350-million contract from Reader’s Digest, made an upfront payment to it, as part of the promised savings, pointed out an IT analyst.

More in use are outcome-based and transaction-based pricing models. Here, pricing is based on a set of results or on the number of transactions, rather than on the number of manhours spent on a project.

There are also pure risk-reward models for product engineering projects, where the vendor is paid based on how successful the product is in the market. A similar model has now emerged for large IT service projects, where the client initially covers only the costs incurred for the project. The rest of the payment to the vendor is a percentage of the profits, said Mr Ananth.

SEBI asks Raju's brother, 2 others to file replies by Oct 30

MUMBAI: Market regulator SEBI today asked R Rama Raju, brother of Satyam founder B Ramalinga Raju, and two others to reply by end of the month

to the show cause notices issued to them in connection with the multi-crore accounting fraud case in the IT company.

SEBI has also allowed Rama Raju and others, including Vadlamani Srinivas and G Ramakrishna, to inspect the documents available with the regulator on October 14 and has fixed the date for personal hearing on November 7.

Other accused persons, Ramalinga Raju and V S Prabhakara Gupta, had earlier sought adjournment of the hearing.

SEBI allowed the persons involved in the Satyam case to inspect the documents following submissions by the counsels that their clients were in jail and had no access to records of company, necessary for responding to show cause notices issued by the regulator.

While Srinivas was the chief financial officer of the Satyam Computer Services, Ramakrishna functioned as cost accountant. Gupta too has been associated with the company.

SEBI had issued show cause notices to various persons involved in the Satyam fraud case which came to light after admission of fudging of accounts by its disgraced founder Ramalinga Raju in January.

Besides SEBI, the scam is also probed by Serious Fraud Investigation Office and CBI.

IT pricing models based on outcome & utility in vogue

MUMBAI: Even as investors look for pointers on the pick-up in business demand and pricing from the second quarter results of IT companies, there are trends that indicate the pricing models themselves may be undergoing a gradual change. Some of the momentum for the change has come from the recession and client pressure to share business risk. As compared to one in many deals that were seeing newer pricing models in 2007, the last few quarters have witnessed a significant increase in the number of deals based on newer models.

Some of these models have been experimented with earlier but did not become mainstream. In the current environment , analysts and IT services vendors say these deals are now becoming a lot more frequent, and may not revert to older models even post-recession . “In the last few quarters, we are seeing a lot more deals getting closed and a many contracts being re-negotiated . The newer business models are based on a risk-reward partnership and pricing based on defined outcomes,” said Karthik Ananth, engagement manager, Zinnov Management Consulting.

“About a quarter of all deals with an annual run-rate of $30 million or more are now being negotiated on these newer pricing models,” said a senior executive with one of the country’s top 10 IT exporters, requesting anonymity. “Some of the deals were structured using these models because the IT budgets of clients had frozen or vanished,” he added.
Mid-size exporter Patni Computer Services’ $40 million deal with the US-based Weyerhaeuser is learnt to be based on one of these newer models. Similarly, HCL Technologies, which bagged a seven-year $350 million contract with Reader’s Digest made an up front payment to it as part of the promised savings, pointed out an IT analyst with a brokerage, requesting not to be named.

India set to be global leader in tech services, says Forbes chief

MUMBAI: India is set to become a global leader in technology services as software companies move up in the value chain, while the weak dollar has hurt the US economic recovery, the Chairman and CEO of business publisher Forbes said on Saturday. "You have to make the distinction between pumping in money in immediate emergency response to the near collapse of the financial system and when the immediate crisis is over," Steve Forbes, 62, said, when asked what he made of the US government's response to the worst global economic crisis since the Great Depression. "This year I think the US government has made a number of mistakes that has slowed the recovery. They've not reduced taxes ... in terms of the dollar, they have not stabilised the dollar. They've weakened the dollar which hurts business investments, hurts the flow of capital and small businesses," he said. "So the government is prolonging the crisis - we should have had a strong recovery instead," Forbes said, adding that not enough was being done for job creation.

The pace of economic growth in India proved that the country was able to weather the crisis well - but the government would have to work to make the economy grow further, he said.

The Indian economy rose 6.7 per cent in 2008/09, while it is expected to rise 6 per cent in the current fiscal year. "India should continue the liberalisation that began in 1991, including simplifying the tax code and reducing tax rates, and allowing more overseas investments into India," he said. He said the bureaucratic procedures should be simplified to facilitate entrepreneurs. "One step - done!" India also needed to reduce the hurdles to building infrastructure, he said.

IBM faces rivalry despite antitrust inquiry

NEW YORK: IBM's dominance in large computer systems called mainframes may make it look like the US government has an open and shut case of

monopoly, but upon closer examination it appears there is more competition than critics suggest.

Analysts say the mainframes in question represent a small segment of the broader server market, where rivalry is heating up due to Oracle Corp's planned acquisition of Sun Microsystems Inc, as well as, network equipment giant Cisco Systems Inc's recent market entry.

The Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA), which urged the US Justice Department to investigate International Business Machines Corp, said the vendor of technology hardware and services had a 100 percent grip in mainframe operating systems.

IBM does dominate when it comes to supplying mainframe systems that run on its own operating system. But analysts say competition exists in other kinds of high-end servers, which similarly process large workloads and serve as the central nervous system for ATMs and airline bookings.

Technology research firm IDC's data shows IBM's high-end mainframe products, called System z, accounts for around 10 percent of worldwide server revenue of $53.3 billion.

In overall servers, IBM had 34.5 per cent market share, with HP holding around 28.5 per cent share, according to IDC.

Analysts said that since customers can switch to other mainframes or other servers, it made sense to look at the broader market.

"It's not as though people don't have other choices or can't turn to other products to do the work," said Jeffrey Hewitt at Gartner.