You can now browse and search the net on your laptop computers and hand-held devices--without an Internet connection.
A brand new software developed by a Silicon Valley startup, co-founded by Indian tech star Rakesh Mathur, makes that possible. What more, the service comes free.
Webaroo, the venture floated by Mathur along with fellow computer hotshots Bradley Husick and Beerud Sheth, formally launched the `Searchable, Offline Web' on Monday.
"At home or on the go, in the air or on vacation, users can now find the information they need, wherever they are," said Webaroo's CEO Mathur, who made a fortune during the dotcom boom by selling his hugely successful junglee.com to Amazon.
The Indian face of Webaroo is not restricted to Mathur and Sheth, both from IIT Mumbai. Much of the work on the new software has been done by 50 odd software developers and mathematicians in India. The company has offices in Seattle, Santa Clara, Mumbai and Delhi.
"As mobile use grows, consumers want to be able to do more with their mobile devices. Webaroo brings the power of web search to mobile devices with an innovative product that is truly ubiquitous and fast," says Mathur.
The Webaroo software features "web packs" on a variety of subjects such as news, sports and major global cities, including New York, London and Mumbai--each of which contains thousands of relevant web pages identified by its innovative algorithms.
The company has tied up with computer maker Acer to bundle the new software on its laptop PCs worldwide. It is in talks with other manufacturers for similar tie-ups.
The free software will be no drain on Webaroo's finances. For the company, much like Google and Yahoo search engines, plans to make money from advertisements.
The service is not only free, it's fast as well since content is saved on the device, says Webaroo. And it's "real" as web pages are delivered in full graphic form. How the software works? The company says its servers crawl the Internet and analyse web pages, selecting pages with high quality, broad coverage and small size.
Consumers can download Webaroo and selected content onto their laptop and mobile devices (PDA/smart phone). Or purchase a device with Webaroo bundled in. The company has more plans. Later this year, it plans to unveil a new version of the software it will call `Web to Go', that will allow people to search for any topic they desire offline.
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Orion to Reinforce Google Search
Google has bought a new search algorithm penned by Ori Alon, an Israeli student from the University of New South Wales, Australia. Apparently they beat Microsoft and Yahoo, who were also interested in the super-advanced technique for prioritizing relevance in text-searches. The algorithm called Orion, works out the most relevant text on which to perform a search. It only works in English and rates the text by quality of the site in which it appears. Orion will make searches less-time consuming, by working with existing search engines and expanding on their function. Moreover, instead of finding pages on the net that contain keywords, then providing links, the new search engine will provide expanded text extracts which will eradicate the need to open every link. Orion had sparked interest from the likes of Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, with Google eventually acquiring the rights to the algorithm. Alon stated that Orion would improve the speed and focus of internet searches making it an invaluable service. As its developers say, the new search-engine tool will revolutionize the way people retrieve information from the internet. Alon further explained that, it also provides a list of terms or topics related to the original search keyword. This new tool would make net surfing much easier and less frustrating, giving information directly and immediately making it a great time-saver for users. According to sources, it is confirmed that Ori Alon works at Google's Mountain View, California offices. Unfortunately there is no public demo of Orion, but this system is said to give users the most relevant results and a list of suggested topics that the user may not be aware of.
Satyam scouting for women at senior levels
The good news on the gender front is that companies like Satyam Computer are actively seeking to recruit women at senior or leadership levels.
The company has 19 per cent of women in its workforce of around 28,000; "but at the leadership level this percentage comes down to 7 per cent", Mr A.S. Murty, Director and Senior Vice-President, Human Resources, Satyam Computer Services, told Business Line.
Lack of qualified women
"We're desperate to get more women at senior levels and are prepared to be flexible, but can't find qualified women."
He says some customers ask for women leaders, and often during meetings with customers "it is a little awkward if you don't have a single woman leader, particularly when the customer might have 4-5 women in their group. We've identified this as a problem and want to improve the percentage of women in senior positions."
The company has 19 per cent of women in its workforce of around 28,000; "but at the leadership level this percentage comes down to 7 per cent", Mr A.S. Murty, Director and Senior Vice-President, Human Resources, Satyam Computer Services, told Business Line.
Lack of qualified women
"We're desperate to get more women at senior levels and are prepared to be flexible, but can't find qualified women."
He says some customers ask for women leaders, and often during meetings with customers "it is a little awkward if you don't have a single woman leader, particularly when the customer might have 4-5 women in their group. We've identified this as a problem and want to improve the percentage of women in senior positions."
Wipro, HCL May Unveil Strong Results
The Indian IT industry is set to witness another reasonable quarter and the top 5 companies are expected to accrue revenues in line with their last quarter guidance despite rising salaries and attrition.
The torchbearer in this quarter could be Wipro and HCL Technologies and others such as TCS and Infosys to show slightly lesser quarter-on-quarter results, said analysts. The industry is expected to post q-o-q revenues of 5.56 percent.
"Wipro is slated to post strong revenue growth at 9 percent as compared to the previous quarter," says an analyst from a leading brokerage house in Mumbai, who did not want to be named.
The package implementation and infrastructure services are bound to drive revenues for Wipro. The BPO business that had a huge impact in the past two quarters will continue to do so according to industry watchers.
Most US States offshoring work
The numerous proposals to restrict offshoring in US Government agency projects notwithstanding, a latest report of the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) reveals that offshoring occurred in human services programs in a majority of US States for functions such as software development and call centre.
It also found that India was the most prevalent offshore location. "Offshoring occurred in one or more programs in 43 of 50 States and the District of Columbia, most frequently in the Food Stamp and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs. However, expenditures for services performed offshore in the four State-administered programs appear to be relatively small... India was the most prevalent offshore location, followed by Mexico," the recent report by GAO said.
Ramalinga Raju is Nasscom chairman Software association
Nasscom Executive Council (EC) elected Mr B. Ramalinga Raju, founder and Chairman of Satyam Computer Services, as the new Chairman of the association. Mr Raju was earlier the Vice-Chairman of Nasscom. The EC also appointed Mr Lakshmi Narayanan, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cognizant as the new Vice-Chairman, said sources.
Thursday, April 06, 2006
INDIA'S SOFTWARE COMPANY ACQUIRES US FIRM
India's IBS Software Services, a software developer for the travel industry, on Thursday announced acquisition of US-based Discovery Travel Systems, a leading solutions provider to the travel marketplace. "This acquisition will enable us to diversify into other segments of the travel industry, thus expanding the scope of our operations," said V.K. Mathews, chairman and managing director, IBS Group. "The high profile DTS clientele and the high potential of leisure travel and vacation industries worldwide make it even more exciting for us to enter this industry segment," he added. Mathews said DTS' business operations in the leisure travel domain would complement their business relationships with airlines, travel agencies, hotel chains, car rental agencies and augment their strengths in areas like airline reservations and check-in. "This sale will provide significant benefits for our existing and future clients," said John Broughan, president of DTS.
Dundas Releases New SQL Server Tool
Dundas Software Ltd, one of the business intelligencepartners that could feel the brunt of Microsoft Corp'srecent takeover of ProClarity Corp, has released a newproduct for SQL Server 2005.The Toronto-based company has unveiled the DundasGauge for Reporting Services, which layers dashboardand scorecard visualizations on top of SQL Server 2005'sbuilt-in Reporting Services engine.The "gauges" refer to circular, linear and numeric dial-likeand knob-like visualizations -- much like those used byclassic Executive Information Systems (EIS) -- fordepicting key performance indicators.Dundas has already released a charting tool (DundasChart) for Reporting Services. Dundas Gauge forReporting Services costs $700 for a design license and$1,300 per processor.Despite Microsoft's increasing appetite in BI, the companyremains committed to SQL Server."We remain dedicated to bringing the best datavisualization and dashboard solutions to users ofReporting Services 2005" said Troy Marchand, vicepresident of product development at Dundas.
Patni eyes acquisition, to hire 4000 people
India's sixth largest software services firm Patni Computer Systems said it was actively scouting for acquisitions and wants to hike headcount by 4000 this year to drive its growth. "We would like to acquire companies whose revenues are roughly 10 per cent of Patni revenues. We would like to acquire companies with revenues of $45-50 million," Patni Executive Vice-President Mrinal Sattawala told reporters. Patni had revenue of $450 million in 2005.
Now, it’s time for reverse outsourcing: HCL
Four years ago when HCL made the ground-breaking decision to buy a call centre in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and become the first Indian company to own a BPO in Britain, everyone in the Irish city was scared of losing jobs to India. Today, it is the pride of Belfast, with HCL expanding to a second unit in Armagh and providing employment to more than 2,000 Irish youngsters and boasting further expansion plans. HCL has bucked the trend most American and British companies follow, of relocating their customer care operations to India and created contact centre jobs in the UK, thus changed the notion that British jobs are being stolen by Indians. DNA spoke to Kevin Houston, senior vice president and general manager of HCL’s Northern Ireland operations in Belfast. The initial fright in Ireland of HCL taking jobs away has gone now? Yes, we are now recognised as a large employer and provide employment of choice. Locals here no longer see India as a threat but more as an opportunity. There is always a waiting list for people wanting to work for us and our vacancies are filled almost immediately. We have people wanting to work for us both here and in India.
Sun Micro, Wipro set up Java centre
Sun Microsystems India and Wipro Technologies on Thursday announced the setting up of the first-ever Sun Centre of Excellence for Java enterprise system in India. This new Sun CoE joins a worldwide network of institutions and organisations that will develop projects using Sun's Java Enterprise System. It will assist customers in India as well as globally on leading technology solutions around hot technology paradigms such as identity management, portal technologies, service oriented architecture and grid computing, according to a release.The CoE will serve as a lab for Wipro Technologies to develop and maintain re-usable solutions and architectures based on the Java Enterprise System. It will also act as a reference point for Wipro to internally train engineers on the technology as well as to demonstrate to its clients the solutions offered.The state-of-the-art laboratory is equipped with the best infrastructure such as Sun servers running the Solaris (TM) 10 Operating System, and Sun Storage arrays, amongst others. Apart from the customer solution centre, Wipro has made investments in developing a pool of technical personnel who have thorough knowledge and experience on Java Enterprise Systems and other related Sun technologies.
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Andhra hospitality touches Bush's heart
US President George W. Bush, who visited this Andhra Pradesh capital for four hours earlier this month, has said the land and people he met had touched his heart.
In a letter to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, Bush thanked him for his hospitality and praised the leadership's strong commitment to agriculture and welfare of farmers.
'It is very clear to one (and all) that the people of your state hold you in high esteem,' he said in a communication written and signed by himself and delivered Saturday.
According to a statement from the chief minister's office, Bush wrote that his visit to Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University on March 3 was very educating and opened his eyes to the long strides made by India in agriculture over years.
'India is on the threshold of a major revolution in agriculture and emerging as a super economic power,' he said.
'The agriculture centre (university) was most interesting,' wrote the US president, indicating how he enjoyed meeting Indian agricultural scientists and enterprising women leaders from the villages of the state.
'The American president was enthralled by Indian fruits, plants, crops, enterprising women and the simplicity of the farmers during his four-hour visit,' said the statement.
Progress Software plans to expand India operations
Progress Software Corporation, the US-based supplier of open application infrastructure software to accelerate the development, integration and management of business applications, plans to expand its India operations.
Progress Software Development Pvt Ltd, the company's Indian subsidiary that has its operations here, will invest $3.5 million during 2006 to expand the operations. The headcount too will go up from 65 to over 120 this year.
The Indian operation, started a year ago at HITEC City here, is the firm's largest software development centre outside US.
'This is our largest development centre outside the US. We have already invested $2 million,' said Michael Hickman, managing director of Progress Software Development.
'Presently 65 employees are doing leading-edge software design and development in Java, C++ and .Net,' Hickman told IANS.
'We will take additional space as we grow. The company might also think of expanding to other Indian cities.'
The company currently has 75 customers including both end user customers and indirect sales. It plans to set up direct sales offices.
Founded in 1981, the Nasdaq-listed firm clocked revenues of $405 million in 2005, registering a growth of 17 percent over the previous year. The company registers $5 billion of technology sales globally every year.
'This is our first development centre in Asia-Pacific,' Hickman said. The Asia-Pacific region accounted for five percent of the firm's total revenues in the fourth quarter of 2005 and the company has a strategy to increase this share.
Headquartered in Bedford, the firm has 1,600 employees worldwide with 90 offices in 60 countries. The firm, which has around 2,000 partners, delivers 5000 unique business applications and has done a lot of work on services oriented applications (SOA).
Among the business applications developed by it include stock tracking technology. Used by major banks and financial institutions, it helps in automatically buying and selling stocks.
The company has 110,000 customer sites in 135 countries. Over 60,000 new users acquire Progress-based technology every year. The company has also bagged many awards for innovation, including the Info World Innovation award 2005.
Progress Software Development Pvt Ltd, the company's Indian subsidiary that has its operations here, will invest $3.5 million during 2006 to expand the operations. The headcount too will go up from 65 to over 120 this year.
The Indian operation, started a year ago at HITEC City here, is the firm's largest software development centre outside US.
'This is our largest development centre outside the US. We have already invested $2 million,' said Michael Hickman, managing director of Progress Software Development.
'Presently 65 employees are doing leading-edge software design and development in Java, C++ and .Net,' Hickman told IANS.
'We will take additional space as we grow. The company might also think of expanding to other Indian cities.'
The company currently has 75 customers including both end user customers and indirect sales. It plans to set up direct sales offices.
Founded in 1981, the Nasdaq-listed firm clocked revenues of $405 million in 2005, registering a growth of 17 percent over the previous year. The company registers $5 billion of technology sales globally every year.
'This is our first development centre in Asia-Pacific,' Hickman said. The Asia-Pacific region accounted for five percent of the firm's total revenues in the fourth quarter of 2005 and the company has a strategy to increase this share.
Headquartered in Bedford, the firm has 1,600 employees worldwide with 90 offices in 60 countries. The firm, which has around 2,000 partners, delivers 5000 unique business applications and has done a lot of work on services oriented applications (SOA).
Among the business applications developed by it include stock tracking technology. Used by major banks and financial institutions, it helps in automatically buying and selling stocks.
The company has 110,000 customer sites in 135 countries. Over 60,000 new users acquire Progress-based technology every year. The company has also bagged many awards for innovation, including the Info World Innovation award 2005.
Monday, April 03, 2006
Infosys to invest Rs.12.5 billion in Hyderabad
Hyderabad, March 27 (IANS) IT major Infosys Technologies Ltd Monday said it proposed to invest Rs.12.5 billion ($280.27 million) in its Hyderabad campus and ramp up the headcount here to 25,000 software professionals over the next decade.
The leading IT firm signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Andhra Pradesh government to expand its operations here. The state government has allotted 550 acres of land for the firm's new campus in Hyderabad.
Infosys plans to invest Rs.4.5 billion in the first phase of the project and Rs.4 billion each in the second and third phases.
The MoU was signed by Infosys senior vice-president (commercial and facilities) H.R. Binod and IT Secretary K. Ratna Prabha, in the presence of Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, Infosys Chairman and Chief Mentor N.R Narayana Murthy and Infosys Chief Finance Officer and Director Finance T.V. Mohandas at Infosys Hyderabad campus.
'We are happy to announce our expansion plans in Hyderabad,' Narayana Murthy said.
'The State has a healthy investment climate and the government has been very supportive. We intend to invest Rs.12.5 billion in the next 10 years to create a new state-of-the-art campus in Hyderabad and therefore requested the government for sufficient land for future expansion.
'The plan is to generate employment for 25,000 software professionals over this time frame,' he added.
The leading IT firm signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Andhra Pradesh government to expand its operations here. The state government has allotted 550 acres of land for the firm's new campus in Hyderabad.
Infosys plans to invest Rs.4.5 billion in the first phase of the project and Rs.4 billion each in the second and third phases.
The MoU was signed by Infosys senior vice-president (commercial and facilities) H.R. Binod and IT Secretary K. Ratna Prabha, in the presence of Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, Infosys Chairman and Chief Mentor N.R Narayana Murthy and Infosys Chief Finance Officer and Director Finance T.V. Mohandas at Infosys Hyderabad campus.
'We are happy to announce our expansion plans in Hyderabad,' Narayana Murthy said.
'The State has a healthy investment climate and the government has been very supportive. We intend to invest Rs.12.5 billion in the next 10 years to create a new state-of-the-art campus in Hyderabad and therefore requested the government for sufficient land for future expansion.
'The plan is to generate employment for 25,000 software professionals over this time frame,' he added.
Google speaking to govt to dispel security concerns
sriMaintaining that its satellite pictures of sensitive installations posed no threat to India, global online search engine Google said on Monday that it was in dialogue with the government to dispel secruity concerns.
Officials have in the recent past expressed concern over Google Earth's display of pictures of key Indian installations, including military bases, offices of the prime minister and the President, as well as nuclear facilities.
"Google Earth is built from information that is already available from a wide range of both commercial and public sources. As such, Google Earth presents no appreciable threat to security, given the wide commercial availability of high-resolution satellite and aerial imagery of every country in the world," a Google spokesperson said, speaking from from the company headquarters in California.
He added - "Google has been talking and will continue to talk to the Indian government about any security concerns it may have regarding Google Earth. We are pleased to have the dialogue, which has been substantive and constructive."
Anyone who flies above or drives by a piece of property can obtain the same information and no government with which Google has discussed Google Earth has, after study and examination, presented an objection to Google Earth, the spokesperson added.
To highlight the constructive use of Google Earth's pictures, the spokesperson said,"Google's freely available technology has been used for vital purposes ranging from fighting forest fires to emergency response, rescue, and relief in natural disasters such as the Kashmir earthquake relief efforts and the Mithi River Floodplain Project."
Officials have in the recent past expressed concern over Google Earth's display of pictures of key Indian installations, including military bases, offices of the prime minister and the President, as well as nuclear facilities.
"Google Earth is built from information that is already available from a wide range of both commercial and public sources. As such, Google Earth presents no appreciable threat to security, given the wide commercial availability of high-resolution satellite and aerial imagery of every country in the world," a Google spokesperson said, speaking from from the company headquarters in California.
He added - "Google has been talking and will continue to talk to the Indian government about any security concerns it may have regarding Google Earth. We are pleased to have the dialogue, which has been substantive and constructive."
Anyone who flies above or drives by a piece of property can obtain the same information and no government with which Google has discussed Google Earth has, after study and examination, presented an objection to Google Earth, the spokesperson added.
To highlight the constructive use of Google Earth's pictures, the spokesperson said,"Google's freely available technology has been used for vital purposes ranging from fighting forest fires to emergency response, rescue, and relief in natural disasters such as the Kashmir earthquake relief efforts and the Mithi River Floodplain Project."
EDS makes open offer for MphasiS
sri
In a smart move aimed at acquiring controlling stake in the Bangalore-based IT services and BPO firm MphasiS BFL Ltd, the Plano, Texas-based EDS has announced a conditional open offer on Monday.
As part of this offer, EDS proposes to acquire approximately 52 per cent stake in MphasiS at an offer price of Rs 204.5 per share in cash.
In a smart move aimed at acquiring controlling stake in the Bangalore-based IT services and BPO firm MphasiS BFL Ltd, the Plano, Texas-based EDS has announced a conditional open offer on Monday.
As part of this offer, EDS proposes to acquire approximately 52 per cent stake in MphasiS at an offer price of Rs 204.5 per share in cash.
Infy top executive gives thumbs up to Hyderabad
Overwhelmed by the 'pro-active' government and infrastructure that are in place in Hyderabad, a senior Infosys official made no attempt to hide either his admiration for the Andhra Pradesh capital or contempt for this Karnataka capital.
"It's good that Andhra Pradesh is doing what its doing. Because frankly, Hyderabad has possibly the best infrastructure for IT in India today," Infosys Chief Financial Officer, Mr T V Mohandas Pai said after an industry meet organised by the Andhra Pradesh government.
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