Infosys-enabled Etihad Airways Website A Hit In The Gulf

The website of the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) airline Etihad Airways, revamped by Infosys Technologies Ltd, has witnessed a dramatic boost in traffic, with the number of visitors increasing by almost 95 percent.

According to a statement from the Bangalore-based IT firm here Saturday, the website became a hit in the Gulf region for its customer friendliness, business strategy and design in the first 60 days of its re-launch.

'The average duration per visit on the new website has been slashed by 30 percent compared to the time spent on the old website, illustrating the simplified navigation of the new site,' Etihad e-commerce manager Tehmton Cooper said.

At the annual Pan Arab Awards event, held in Dubai early this week, Etihad bagged the best 'Online Strategy' and the 'Best International Standards Web Technology' awards for 2007.

The website was also awarded the prestigious Golden Award in the travel and tourism category.

'We engaged Infosys to re-develop our website to create a seamless experience for our customers,' Cooper said, adding that to receive so many prestigious industry awards, so soon after the site's re-launch, proved how impressive, dynamic and user-friendly the site now was as a result of its collaboration with Infosys.

Infosys also developed the multilingual capabilities of the website to increase Etihad's presence across the globe.

Jitin Goyal, sales head for EMEA, Infosys Technologies, said, 'It's an honour the new website has been well received by Etihad's customers and the industry alike. We look forward to doing more innovative and interesting projects for the Gulf airline in the near future.'

Etihad Airways is based in the UAE capital, Abu Dhabi. The airline offers flights to 43 destinations in the Middle East, Europe, North America, Africa and Asia.

Infosys Founders in Forbe's "India's 40 Richest" List.

Infosys founders N R Narayana Murthy, Nandan Nilekani, S Gopalakrishnan and K DInesh are in the Forbes' "India's 40 Richest" list.
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Remembering Manjunath Shanmugam

GURGOAN: He pinned up the `thought for the day' on the notice board of the Indian Institute of Management Studies-Lucknow (IIML), which largely went unnoticed. However, the legacy of Manjunath Shanmugam, an Indian Oil Corporation sales officer, who was killed for trying to stop adulteration of oil, has gone beyond the IIM community to become an inspiration for the whole country.

On Sunday, his friends and others gathered here to ensure that the legacy of honesty lives on. The Manjunath Shanmugam Trust (MST), formed by members of the international IIM alumni network earlier this year, together with Parivartan, a non-government organisation, launched a national Right to Information helpline on the occasion. It will answer queries that ordinary people might have about the RTI Act. The helpline — 9250-400-100 — will be manned by 10 trained personnel seven days a week. It will initially be in Hindi and English, but will soon include Tamil.

Calling from Johannesburg in South Africa to support the helpline, Narayana Murthy, chairman and chief mentor of Infosys, said: "For any democracy to consider itself evolved, it is imperative that there is an accountability of governments and authorities. This Act allows the public to question and seek answers from the establishment, thus making decision-making and governance transparent. This more than anything else contributes to the development of any nation."

The Trust also announced the Manjunath memorial award to felicitate individuals or organisations, which try to uphold the values that Manjunath lived and died for. The IOC officer played football, was into music and like any ordinary 27-year-old never set out to be a hero. But unlike most young people who dream to get into top management schools to land a high-paying job, he wanted to do something responsible. Sunday's gathering also got a chance to remember a classmate who always had a smile on his face.

"He was lively, chirpy and carefree. He was never interested in the highest-paying job. He said he wanted to do something responsible. He knew what he stood for and never got swayed by what anyone said. No matter how many times he met you in the day, he would always smile. I will never be able to forget his face,' said Supreet Kaur, a classmate.

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A tech-savvy Kerala on 50th birthday

Software giants like Infosys will employ about 20,000 engineers in land adjoining the TechnoPark and infrastructure development in both cities seems to be keeping pace.

The history of south India can be traced back to over 2,000 years. However, it was only 50 years ago when the four southern states were created along linguistic lines.

CNN-IBN unveils the changing face of south India and celebrates the Dravidian spirit in a special series The Golden South.

Thiruvanathapuram: As it turns 50, Kerala has just begun to take baby steps towards empowering a sector that has been stagnant for quite some time.

While its other southern counterparts – more specifically Karnataka and Tamil Nadu – have raced ahead, Kerala’s IT industry has been feeling withdrawal pangs for a while.

However, if the recently elected LDF regime has its way, the state would soon witness a kickstart in three mega IT projects.

When Chief Minister V S Achutanandan took over the reins of government in Kerala, he also began incorporating some big plans for the city’s IT sector.

First up was the controversial Smart City project with Dubai's Tecom group, which was put back on track, minus its contentious clauses.

The project will be heralded by the setting up of a 500-acre Technocity to complement Thiruvananthapuram's Technopark.

“The Left has a change in perception, that I agree. We don't want Kerala to be destination cheap labour alone. We are now concentrating more on knowledge-based industry. The Left, in fact, has more vision on this now,” says Chief Minister’s IT advisor, Joseph Mathew.

While it was Communists’ change of mind that provided a catalyst, the IT saturation in Bangalore and Hyderabad meant a migration to tier-two cities like Kochi and Thiruvanathapuram.

Software giants like Infosys will employ about 20,000 engineers in land adjoining the TechnoPark and infrastructure development in both cities seems to be keeping pace.

“I don't think infrastructure is a bottle neck in Cochin or Thiruvananthapuram. Rather the infrastructure in Thiruvananthapuram is excellent,” says President of Ventures Management Associates, G Vijaya Raghavan.

So when Kerala gears up to celebrate the golden jubilee of its formation, it's projects like Smart City, Kochi's LNG Terminal and the Vizhinjam Port in Thiruvananthapuram that will change the way the average Malayalee looks at his life.

It was more than a decade ago when the first IT park was built in the state, and it’s beyond doubt that very little has happened after that.

But with the new LDF government deciding to throw away the anti-IT garb, the road ahead looks more promising than ever.

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West Bengal to Provide 100 acres of Land to Infosys

West Bengal, the latest state joining the IT bandwagon, has showcased its strengths and offerings in the knowledge sector at India's premier tech event Bangalore IT.in

The state IT department is processing applications from Infosys and Wipro for allotting about 100 acres and 50 acres respectively on priority. The land clearance for both the IT bellwethers is expected during the current fiscal (2006-07).

Highlighting the state government's initiatives and pro-active policies for the IT sector, West Bengal IT minister Debesh Das said Saturday that world-class infrastructure facilities were being created across the state, especially in Kolkata, for IT and IT-enabled services (ITES).

'We are creating an additional built-up space of about 13 million square feet to generate over 130,000 jobs seats in the next three years in Kolkata. The IT Park being developed by the Delhi-based DLF group will be the largest of its kind in the country,' he told reporters here.

'In addition, a Special Economic Zone (SEZ), spread over 130 acres, has been approved by the central government exclusively for the IT industry, with 30 acres earmarked for the small and medium enterprises (SMEs),' Das said.

Keeping in view the land requirements for future growth, the state IT department plans to acquire about 330 acres near the airport. The West Bengal Electronics Industry Development Corporation (Webel) has already allotted 200 acres at Salt Lake in Kolkata for IT and ITES companies.

'Our government is also setting up a 'knowledge corridor' at Rajarhat in Kolkata for global IT players, including many from Europe and the Silicon Valley. A new town will be built on 8,000 acres with integrated facilities, including schools, hospitals, playgrounds, theatres, shopping complexes and residences,' Das said.

The state IT department is processing applications from Infosys and Wipro for allotting about 100 acres and 50 acres respectively on priority. The land clearance for both the IT bellwethers is expected during the current fiscal (2006-07).

To ensure uniform growth of the IT industry across the state, the West Bengal government is building land banks at Kharagpur, Haldia, Durgapur and Siliguri in the northern region, where the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) have set up earth stations to provide connectivity on 24x7 basis.

To attract investments in the high-tech areas such as knowledge process outsourcing (KPO), very large system integration (VLSI) design, mobile computing and electronic manufacturing services, an Advanced IT Park and an electronic design automation (EDA) delivery centre will be located near Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, in about 100 acres.

In a bid to minimise the demand-supply gap in human resources, the state government has begun offering incentives and subsidies for setting up IT-centric training institutions.

'With pro-active policies such as flexible labour laws, permission to employ women on 24x7 basis and declaring the IT firms as public utilities, we have created an eco-system to ramp up human resources.

'We propose to include IT in the list of essential services to prevent disruption in their operations due to strike, protests or demonstrations,' Das pointed out.

'With about 45,000 people employed in the IT and ITES space, West Bengal has been growing at about 100 percent annually over the last couple of years. We are aiming to generate around 15 percent of the country's total IT revenue by 2010-11 from the current three-four percent,' he said.

'We are also taking a number of measures to usher in e-governance, by computerising all the 54 departments and connecting them through broadband access to each development block and local body,' Das added.

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WiMAX facility for Infosys Bangalore Employees

SDA-India reports that Aircelhas received requests from IT majors such as Intel, TCS, Infosys and Wipro to provide WiMAX facility to their employees so that they can work out of homes in case of emergencies.

Aircel is a registered member of the WiMAX Forum. Aircel has launched wireless Internet services through WiMAX technology in Bangalore after Chennai. Worldwide interoperability for Microwave Access, popularly known as the WiMAX technology, enables 'last mile' connectivity using Near Line Of Site (NLOS) wireless equipment.

"Initially, Aircel aims to make Bangalore 'wire-free' using WiMAX technology enabling wireless Internet connectivity for SME, enterprise and residential use," said Ram Shinde, senior vice president, Aircel Business Solutions, while announcing the launch.

The release said that Aircel was also identifying and deploying Wi-Fi 'hotspots' throughout the city with indoor and outdoor points backhauled with WiMAX. Internet services at these 'hotspots' would be enabled through pre-paid cards integrated with Payment Gateways for on-line registration and subsequently activated using the 'Authentication, Authorisation and Accounting (AAA) mechanism.

Aircel has enabled the WiMAX based internet connectivity at the Palace Grounds, the venue for the four day Asia's largest IT Event beginning October 28 to enable the exhibitors and business delegates to get a first hand experience of the technology.
The company was also in the process of Wi-MAXing Vidhan Soudha, the state's secretariat that housed the Assembly and the Council, and adjacent buildings belonging to the state government.

The release said with WiMAX, end users could have Internet accessibility based on portable technologies at an affodable price.

WiMAX is unaffected by environmental or climatic disturbances and provided relief to organisations from 'last mile' connectivity concerns both in urban and rural areas with limited network infrastructure. The company also quoted a forecast, which suggested that the WiMAX subscriber base in India was likely to cross 12 million by 2012.

The company had recently launched WiMAX in Chennai with 90 per cent coverage across commercial areas in Chennai and has already enabled wireless connectivity for SME and enterprise clients through WiMAX based on 802.16d standards at a speed range of 2 to 10 Mbps. This would help the end user to stay connected to the Internet and Intranet with high uptime, the company said.

The State Government has invited competitive bids from five entities, including the public sector ITIL, Spanco, Microsense and KBIT to set up a USD 20 million project to unwire Bangalore city covering a serviceable area of more than 500 sq km from January-February next year.

Aircel would team up with either ITI or Microsense depending upon the outcome of the bidding process, the official said.

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Stephen Pratt to Speak in Consulting Summit 2006

Link: http://www.consultingcentral.com/Summit_2006

Stephen Pratt, CEO of Infosys Consuting will be one of the 4 speakers in Consulting Summit 2006 from Kennedy Information.

The sixth annual Consulting Summit is pleased to announce the following conferees:

* Paul A. Laudicina, Chairman, A.T. Kearney
* Chris Meyer, CEO, Monitor Networks
* Stephen Pratt, CEO, Infosys Consulting
* Brad Smith, COO, Kennedy Information

The Summit offers a unique opportunity to network with and learn from other leaders in the consulting profession. The format allows for participation from attendees, and we encourage you to share your thoughts and contribute to the discussion.

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Infosys counts on processes

ndian outsourcer Infosys Technologies Ltd. swears by processes. It needs them to coordinate the delivery of services, which may involve staff on the client's site and offshore in India.

"It is like managing an assembly line spread across many locations, and to do that effectively, processes are critical," said B.G. Srinivas, senior vice president and head of the company's European business.

Infosys, of Bangalore, is India's second largest outsourcer, and has over 60,000 staff worldwide, delivering software, IT, consulting, and business process outsourcing (BPO) services to over 450 customers.

To make sure processes are adhered to, Infosys has developed applications for project management, budgeting and quality measurement. "When you have these tools online, and a person from any location can access the information, then a certain transparency gets built into the process," Srinivas said.

The company insists that every stage in project implementation is documented, to ensure there is no gap in communication among teams working in multiple locations.

In an industry where staff turnover is a fact of life, outsourcing companies like Infosys need to plan for this attrition. Infosys has developed a knowledge-management system and tools to retain knowledge of the customer's requirements and business if staff quit, Srinivas said.

Project staff work as a team, and within each team there are core staff who are perceived to be less likely to quit their jobs. Even if one or two employees working on the project quit, the rest of the staff can continue the work while the team is being restaffed, Srinivas said. At 11%, Infosys' current staff attrition rate is not so high as to be able to disrupt a project, he said.

The company is also able to add more staff to a project quickly if the customer requires it. At any moment, between 76% and 80% of Infosys staff are assigned to a project, with the others forming a "strategic bench" of staff waiting to be assigned. "Almost 100% of the bench is offshore, so the cost of retaining this bench is significantly lower," Srinivas said. If a customers needs, say, 100 more Java developers, Infosys can have them working for the customer in two to four weeks, he said.

Infosys spends about $100 million a year on training staff on new technologies, soft skills and leadership. At a facility in Mysore, near Bangalore, the company can train up to 4,500 staff at a time. The company plans to set up a new center in Mysore over the next year to train another 9,000 staff, according to a company spokeswoman. All the parts of the supply chain have to be planned for well in advance, Srinivas said.

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Happy Diwali !

Wish you all a Happy Diwali.

- News Team

BBC signs 10-year £85m outsourcing deal with Xansa

Xansa has beaten off competition from Capita, Infosys, BPO and EDS to clinch preferred supplier status with the BBC in a £85m deal.

Xansa will deliver finance and accounting services across the BBC, including purchasing and sales transaction processing, artist and contributor payments, financial management and project accounting, payroll processing and expenses.

The outsourcing group will provide services from the UK and India. Voice contact will remain in the UK, with other services carried out at Xansa’s shared service centre in Chennai, India.

The deal follows months of speculation over what route the BBC would take to cut costs and direct more funds to its creative department. It is hoped that the deal with Xansa will save the broadcaster £200m, or 1.5 million license fees, over the 10 years of the contract.

Zarin Patel, BBC group finance director, said the deal was an excellent one for the organisation

'By moving our transaction processing to India we are demonstrating that we are prepared to take bold and imaginative decisions that offer the licence-fee payer great value for money, while still maintaining the highest quality of service delivery,' Patel said.

Alistair Cox, Xansa’s chief executive, said he was delighted to have won the contract to outsorce the BBC's finance and accounting function.

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From Xansa website

Xansa wins preferred supplier status with the BBC

Outsourced finance and accounting deal will release funds for creative programming

Xansa, the outsourcing and technology company, has won preferred supplier status with the BBC for outsourced finance and accounting (F&A) services following a competitive bid against Capita, Infosys BPO and the current incumbent EDS.

The contract, worth around £85m over 10 years, will be one of the most prominent F&A deals let to date and will save the BBC in excess of £200m over the life time of the contract, equivalent to 1.5 million licence fees. This will be a major contribution to the BBC's strategy to minimise the cost of its support services and release more money into their creative output.

Working closely with BBC Finance, Xansa will deliver finance and accounting services across the BBC, including purchasing and sales transaction processing, artist and contributor payments, financial management and project accounting, payroll processing and expenses. As prime contractor Xansa will also be working with Siemens Business Services to provide infrastructure, applications support and customer service facilities.

Xansa will provide the services from a blend of locations in the UK and India. All voice contact will remain in the UK, with other services, including transaction processing, to be carried out at Xansa's award-winning F&A shared service centre in Chennai, India. The BBC will therefore benefit from Xansa's integrated delivery capability - enjoying the advantages of value and proven expertise, whilst maintaining onshore customer service.

The new contract is expected to be signed in November, with Xansa taking over responsibility for the services in July 2007.

Commenting on the announcement Zarin Patel, BBC Group Finance Director, said:

"I congratulate Xansa on winning this major contract. The BBC will benefit from Xansa's proven expertise in managing outsourced Finance and Accounting Services, and we look forward to developing close a relationship with them."

"I believe this is an excellent deal for the BBC, and I am confident that Xansa will help us further to transform our finance and business processes. By moving our transaction processing to India we are demonstrating that we are prepared to take bold and imaginative decisions that offer the licence-fee payer great value for money, while still maintaining the highest quality of service delivery."

Commenting on the announcement Alistair Cox, Xansa's Chief Executive, said:

We are delighted that Xansa has been selected as the preferred partner to deliver F&A services across the BBC. Our expert technology and back office services allows our clients to do more with their own business and we are confident that we will, as the UK leader in F&A services, enable the BBC to minimise its administrative costs and to free up funds to invest in its core business of creative programming.

"We are particularly pleased to be the BBC's first offshore business process outsourcing partner. This comes on the back of our recent prestigious award from the National Outsourcing Association for Offshoring Operation of the Year and is another terrific endorsement of our leading offshore position and capability. We very much look forward to working with the BBC."

Stock market world ends flat

The markets ended flat on Friday after a volatile session with the benchmark index closing at 12,709 levels.

The Sensex moved in a broad range of 12,679 – 12,849 levels in the intra-day trade. In the broader markets, the Nifty ended flat at 3676 levels.

Infosys Technologies ended in red at Rupees 2064.10 with a net change of -4.40. Infosys stock world started becoming flat after the rise following the earnings.

Reliance Energy was the biggest gainer at the Sensex. It moved up 1.6 per cent. Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel, Wipro, Cipla, Gujarat Ambuja Cements, Reliance Industries, Hindalco, NTPC and SBI also ended in positive turf.

However, Satyam Computer, which shed 2.8 per cent, was the biggest loser. ITC Ltd, Bajaj Auto, Dr Reddy's, Maruti Udyog, HDFC, HDFC Bank, ACC, TCS, Infosys Technologies and Grasim Industries were the other key losers.

Murthy lambasts bureaucrats and corporates on corruption

A CII-spearheaded "Integrity India Campaign" against corruption was launched here today, with IT icon N R Narayana Murthy advocating a simple life and lashing out at bureaucrats and corporates for being "more corrupt than the poorest of the poor." "It is the big bureaucrats and corporates who are more corrupt than the poorest of the poor. Corruption has nothing to do with poverty. It has everything to do with greed," Murthy, Chief Mentor of software giant Infosys, said, launching the Confederation of Indian Industry campaign.

The campaign aims at creating a national debate, consciousness and positive action to inculcate values of transparency, accountability and efficiency in spheres of economic activity, the CII said.

Murthy gave a call to the youth to contribute towards making India a power to reckon with in the global market, at a time when "there is a global sense of confidence and acceptability about India."

"For the first time in the history of post-independent India, there is sense of confidence, enthusiasm and acceptability about India in the global market and this is the time for the youth to consolidate upon what has been done so far," Murthy said.

The youth today not only has tremendous responsibility but also the potential to transform the face of India and accelerate its economic growth "through their energy, enthusiasm, integrity, dedication and sacrifice," he said.
-PTI

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Integrity in India

The launch yesterday in Bangalore of the Integrity India Campaign against corruption by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is a welcome, albeit small, step in the right direction. Clearly a response to recent bad press, the initiative assumes significance as it is spearheaded by a highly respected industry association and presided over by India Inc’s statesman-in-residence, NR Narayana Murthy. Corruption in India has assumed gargantuan proportions, contributing significantly to the guesstimated $50-100 billion growth of the parallel economy each year. Worse still, corruption has spread its tentacles like a cancer to every facet of everyday life life. According to a study by Transparency International (which recently gave India the dubious distinction of being the most corrupt exporting nation in the world), more than Rs 21,000 crore is paid in bribes by ordinary citizens every year. However, as we all know, political corruption—often in connivance with industry—is probably the most insidious of all. So, it comes as no surprise that the CII initiative, lasting three years, will focus on corporate behaviour and good governance by showcasing success stories and model codes of conduct.

But tackling corruption in any meaningful way will need far more than just good intentions. What we need is a sustained, multi-pronged approach that includes electoral and judicial reform, tighter surveillance and prosecution mechanisms, improved civil service pay and a rational tax regime. More important, we need a groundswell of public outrage against graft at all levels of civil society, backed by unswerving political will to root out corruption at local, state and central administrations. To be sure, the question that we, the citizens of India, must ask ourselves is what kind of society do we want to bequeath future generations: one that is emasculated by enticement and cynical by scandal or one that is strengthened by systems and lauded for laws that work. If the CII initiative goes some way towards helping us find the answer to that vital question, then its efforts would not have been in vain.

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Nasscom supported cyber crime lab in Bangalore

The Nasscom supported cyber crime lab will open in the first week of November in Bangalore.

Speaking to CyberMedia News, Sanjay Vir Singh, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Economic Offenses, Corp of Detectives (COD), Bangalore, said that the lab will be a public-private partnership initiative.

Canara Bank has come forward with a funding of Rs 40 lakh towards the project, that includes other partners like Infosys, Micro Academy, Accenture, Motorola and Dell. These companies would provide training.

A Nasscom nominated manager would look after the lab, which has the capacity to train 36 people at a time. “The lab will provide training to police inspectors, prosecutors and metropolitan magistrates,” said Singh.

Nasscom has already set up cybercrime labs in Pune and Mumbai, but the Bangalore lab would be the first to be attached to the CyberCrime police station.

Singh is doing his bit to spread awareness on the IT Act 2000 among the police and also among the legal fraternity. The Karnataka Judicial Academy had introduced a course in Cyber Laws in September last year.

While the IT Act 2000 has been in existence for the last six years, the number of convictions is strikingly low due to factors like lack of awareness, not just among the public but also the legal fraternity. “They (lawyers) feel that they need to know technology to take up cyber crime cases,” said Singh.

Besides this, around 51 per cent of the victims prefer to drop their case owing to fear of negative publicity.

Last year, there were three convictions under the IT Act, while this year has seen two convictions so far, related to obscene e-mails.

Singh said that this year, there is an increase in Orkut related obscenity complaints. Around eight – 10 such incidents were brought to the notice of the cyber crime police station in Bangalore.

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Congratulations, Infosys!

Congratulations Infosys on the great performance and beating the market estimates!
All the best for the continued growth to become a $10 billion company. We are proud of you, Infosys.

- Infy News Blog Team

148 Infosys professionals get TOGAF certification

Infosys Technologies Ltd today announced that 148 of its professionals have achieved certification for ‘The Open Group Architecture Framework’ (TOGAF 8), resulting in the largest number of professionals with this accreditation at any one company in the world.

The Open Group is a vendor and technology neutral consortium focused on open standards and global interoperability within and between enterprises.

Sohel Aziz, EMEA head for technology consulting at Infosys, said, “TOGAF is the most important and well adopted standard for developing and implementing enterprise architecture activities. Our commitment to The Open Group’s TOGAF standards ensures we have the skills, capabilities and processes to enable our customers to execute and govern enterprise architecture to derive tangible business value.”

Allen Brown, CEO, The Open Group, said, “TOGAF has gained momentum over the past two years through the contributions of over 120 companies – all working together to develop best practices in enterprise architecture for the industry at large. Infosys is an active contributor to the architecture forum and reinforces the importance of this standard with its 148 certified architects, the largest amount of TOGAF certified practitioners at any single practice in the world.”

As businesses demand increased alignment from IT to enable the organization to adapt rapidly to the changing environment, TOGAF has emerged as the industry standard architecture framework for companies wishing to develop enterprise architecture within their own organization. TOGAF Certification is an assurance program providing multiple classes of certification for architecture service providers, tool vendors and individual enterprise architects.

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Infosys Planning Entry into Gujarat?

Gujarat is becoming favourite IT destination in the country with more and more companies coming forward to set up their IT parks. The IT friendly policies of state government has played a important role in this.

According to a survey carried out by a national news magazine state’s income from this sector has almost doubled during last two years. The state has given subsidy worth Rs.12 crore to IT companies.

The government has identified special land for IT companies and Rahejas, Wipro, Satyam, Infosys are planning entry into Gujarat, according to a government release. The state has received proposals from eight companies to set up an IT Special Economic Zone.

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