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NASSCOM TEST.......................

About NAC – Tech

The Indian IT industry is growing at a tremendous pace. India's biggest competitive advantage is the educated English-speaking talent pool, and hence it is also imperative that we have sustainable workforce development initiatives in place for the longer term. The industry, under the aegis of NASSCOM, is looking at ways and means to ensure that the future of this industry is even brighter. Proactive workforce development is becoming a major requirement for the Indian Engineering sector, specifically the IT.

NASSCOM is following a multi-pronged approach to facilitate manpower development for the short and long term. It is aiming to build a base of IT manpower by targeting various apex bodies and campuses across the country, which will be certified, in tune with the needs of the industry and geared up for the future requirements of the sector.

In this initiative, NASSCOM is looking at creating an Assessment and Certification program which becomes an industry standard and ensures the transformation of a "trainable" workforce into an "employable workforce. This program will be offered to all students who aspire to get into Technology / Engineering industry.

A part of its focus on evolving such a certification program is to provide a credible assessment solution which is integrated into the existing engineering program framework. NASSCOM also wants to conduct a "pilot run" administered across the country, run to calibrate the test so that it could be benchmarked against national and international expectations and requirements.

Delivery of assessment NAC Tech will be administered in either online or offline mode, depending on availability of infrastructure. Eligibility: BE, B.Tech, MCA, MSc-IT final year students Preferred: 60 % aggregate in graduation, 12th standard & 10th standard

NACTECH - Benefits Benefits for Students  A common, transparent process across companies in the IT/Engineering Sector Ability to identify their strengths and areas of improvement and self-assess training needs For Colleges  This assessment will help enable the colleges to generate a quantifiable picture of the knowledge and skill level of its students. Based on this feedback, it can approach various IT companies and companies in other verticals aggressively for placement opportunities. Benefits for the industry  Creation of a national standard for recruitment on entry level talent. Upto 50 % cost savings in industry's sourcing costs. Ease of benchmarking for individual processes with industry standards. Ability to create visibility and reach out to a larger audience.

Chrome 13 Hits Beta, Google Touts “Print Preview” Feature. For Serious.

Google Chrome first launched on September 1, 2008. The very next day, someone filed a “bug” report on the Chromium project page stating the following:

There is no option for a print preview. I think that this is needed so that you can see what the page will look like before wasting paper and toner.

Good news, Eric Lake — today is your lucky day! Yes, it may have taken almost 3 years and 13 versions, but Google has finally added “Print Preview” as a feature of Google Chrome! Google touts the new addition (which still doesn’t work on Macs yet) in their post today on Chrome 13 entering beta:

Second, we’re happy to announce that issue number 173 in our public bug database, which has collected more than 900 “stars” from users around the world since it was filed in 2008, has been implemented on Windows and Linux (the Mac version is coming soon). That’s right–we’ve finally added Print Preview! Print Preview uses Chrome’s built-in PDF viewer to display the page you want to print, and it updates automatically as you adjust your print settings. You can also choose to save any web page as a PDF file, using the “Print to PDF” option that’s automatically included in the printer list. Thanks for being patient with us on this one!

More importantly, Chrome 13 brings the new Instant Pages feature Google unveiled earlier this week. And there’s a new Omnibox suggestion feature.

Chrome 13 should be in beta for a few weeks and then it will go stable with the new features as well. Meanwhile, Chrome 14 just entered the dev channel. No word on if it will contain the “set as desktop wallpaper” bloatware, er, feature.

Carrier: Legacy — Can Apple, Google, Or Microsoft Really Change Anything?

The backstory of last year’s film Tron: Legacy picks up where the first film left off. Kevin Flynn teams up with Tron to create a new Grid, one meant for programs and users. But Flynn realizes that he can’t be in the system working on this constructed world all the time, so he creates another program, CLU, to help with the effort. Together, the three of them work on creating this new perfect system.

Then something happens.

I’m reminded of this story when reading Kevin Fox’s post last night entitled: Is Microsoft trying to end the reign of mobile carriers? (MSFT+Skype+Nokia). In it, he lays out a scenario in which Microsoft uses their acquisition of Skype alongside Windows Phone 7 and their new deep partnership with Nokia to disrupt the system that we’ve all been familiar with for far too long: carrier dominance. Their aim is to create a new Grid, if you will. And they’re not alone. Google and Apple are also working on this goal. Flynn. Tron. CLU.

When you read it, it sounds great. But just like in the movie, something is going to happen. Because we’ve actually already seen it happen before.

Back in January 2010, following Google’s much-hyped Nexus One unveiling, I wrote a post entitled: Apple And Google Just Tag Teamed The U.S. Carriers. In it, I argue that the biggest part of Google’s announcement wasn’t any one device, it was the new model they were putting out there. Google’s ambition to sell devices directly to consumers would build upon the consumer-friendly mobile foundation laid by Apple with the iPhone. Under the new system, consumers would go to a website and click on the phone they want, click on the carrier they want, and boom, they’re done. This was going to change everything. It was going to be beautiful.

Then something happened.

While Apple (some would say stubbornly) clung to their exclusive agreement in order to continue to bend AT&T to their will, Google backed down. When it became clear that the Nexus One was simply not selling, Google seemingly panicked and went running with open arms to the carriers.

“Open” is the keyword there. Google spun this close relationship with carriers like Verizon as giving consumers more options, more choice. This was “open”. It was also “open” in that the relationship allowed Verizon and the other carriers to begin taking advantage of Android and use it for their own, insidious purposes. And the OEMs too. We’re seeing this now with Android devices that aren’t upgraded to the newest builds for months (and sometimes not at all), pre-installed bloatware apps (that can’t be uninstalled), new carrier-run app stores, etc.

The carriers and OEMs are slowly but surely using Android to ensure that we stay a world in which they’re in control. And I’m sorry Android fans, but Google is letting them. The company showed so much promise in their initial Nexus plan. And as we hear it, Google initially had even more ambitious plans for the Nexus phones — how does a $99 unlocked Android phone sound? But the carriers quickly brought the hammer down on these plans. And Google, making a business decision, abandoned them.

(And all of this is without diving into just how murky the Google/carrier relationship has now gotten.)

So you’ll forgive me if I’m skeptical when I read Fox’s grand plan for how Microsoft is now going to come along and reshape the industry. As he notes:

Making calls, placing calls, searching for signal and scrimping minutes hasn’t changed much since the mobile phone came out, because carriers have little incentive to innovate. Mobile carriers make their money either way, and ‘innovation’ comes down to increasing the bottom line, whether it’s charging $1,300/megabyte for text messages or adding 20 seconds of instructions on how to leave a voicemail so that the carrier might get an extra minute’s revenue.

Not only do the carriers have little incentive to innovate, there are plenty of disincentivesif they innovate — or let others innovate. Everything that changes has the potential to ruin their model. And worse, changes that are adopted take away their control. Now that Verizon has given into (most of) Apple’s demands and gotten the iPhone, they’re saying all the right things about their love of the device. But the truth is that they hate it. They hate its very existence because it’s a very slippery slope for them. It points to a future where they’re no longer in control.

So why bother offering the iPhone at all? Because consumers demand it. Again, this is what really scares the shit out of the carriers. Consumers in control.

And that’s where Fox’s Microsoft plan may run into problems. Using Windows Phone 7 with Nokia hardware and Skype built-in all sounds great, but how is Microsoft going to sell them in any meaningful capacity? By pretty much all accounts, Windows Phones are not selling very well at the moment. Nokia phones have never sold well in the U.S., and their market share is quickly declining worldwide. That’s not to say both of those things can’t be turned around, but it will be very hard. Google and Apple are now the entrenched players with RIM also strong (though also seemingly in decline).

The easiest way for Nokia Windows Phones to get traction will be with the help of — surprise — the carriers. And do you think they’re going to help if Microsoft/Nokia plans to screw them? Perhaps Google can best answer that question.

As I see it, Apple is now the only short-term hope for true carrier disruption. Why? It’s simple, really.

Apple Stores.

Apple’s insanely successful retail stores give them one huge piece of leverage that the others don’t have. If a consumer wants an iPhone, they don’t have to go to an AT&T store or a Verizon store, they can just go to an Apple store. If a consumer wants an Android phone, it’s carrier or bust. (Again, this is why it’s so disappointing that they killed the website idea — it would have taken a long time to take off, but it deserved more time.)

Microsoft has their own retail stores as well, but there are only a handful currently. And it’s far from clear if they’ll ultimately work out or not. If they do, great. Then maybe Microsoft will have a shot at mobile industry disruption. But without them, they need the carriers.

It’s because of the retail stores that Apple is able to possibly do things like create a carrier-crippling SIM card, as has been rumored. Imagine having an iPhone that you buy at an Apple store that can seamlessly hop between Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, etc, as a consumer sees fit? That’s the dream.

Of course, even Apple is far from that dream at the moment. They too rely on the carriers for the all-important subsidy that brings the iPhone down to a reasonable price point. (Remember when the iPhone first was released and sold for $600? Apple had to learn a lesson the hard way as well.) But the talk of Apple working on a significantly cheaper iPhone may be related to this. Or there are other options…

…such as the “soft carrier” idea Fox talks about. If these phone makers can start getting customers to transfer more and more of their airtime minutes over WiFi, using things like Skype and FaceTime, things will get more interesting. But that’s going to be a very slow road.

Talk of change and disruption is great. But I’m skeptical since we’ve been here before. I have no doubt that things will eventually change — everything does. But it just seems like it’s going to take a long time and be more of a natural progression because the carriers aren’t stupid — they know that they still hold most of the cards. The only real hope in the near term may be for Apple, Google, and Microsoft to team up to turn the tables on the carriers. It would take a coordinated effort. But Google already walked away from one such effort.

It’s starting to sound like Google may be interested in trying again. And perhaps the shake up under new CEO Larry Page alongside Android’s now powerful market position will lead to that. But Apple and Microsoft have their own issues that they must overcome as well before we can start talking about the creation of a new, perfect system.

We’ll see. All I know is that it ultimately didn’t end well for Flynn, Tron, or CLU.

Apple Now Worth As Much As Microsoft, HP And Dell … Combined

If you look at how Apple fares on the public markets today, compared to other tech powerhouses, you’ll notice that the Cupertino computer giant is currently valued at roughly $301 billion, which is close to the sum of the market cap of three of its closest rivals:Microsoft (~$200.3 billion), Hewlett-Packard(~$72.8 billion) and Dell (~$29.3 billion).

Market cap is of course just one metric – and arguably not even the best one – to make comparisons between companies. It is, nevertheless, a most excellent trend barometer and a simple way to compare valuations.

To be frank, I’m not sure this is the first time Apple’s equity value has come this close to the combined value of Microsoft, HP and Dell, but it’s most definitely the first time I’ve noticed. And while we’re at it …

It’s been a little over a year since Apple passed Microsoft in market cap (they also turned out to be more profitable than the Redmond software company last quarter).

That was a pretty big deal. And then the next 12 months happened.

Today, the difference in market cap between Apple and Microsoft is approximately $100 billion.

That’s more than the combined worth of Research In Motion, Nokia, Netflix and eBay.

Or: $100 billion is the sum of market capitalizations of Amazon and Adobe.

Or: $100 billion is only $15 billion shy of Intel’s total market cap.

As for Microsoft, they’re in a rough patch. The company that boasted a market cap of around $400 billion 10 years ago (compared to Apple, which then hovered around $8 billion) saw IBMedge past them for the first time in 15 years just a few weeks ago.

Both IBM and Microsoft currently boast a market cap of around $200 billion.

Tata Consultancy Services

Tata Consultancy Services is planning to hire approximately 50,000 employees in 2011.The figure for 2011 is as same as this financial year.

“This year we will add 50,000 people and next year we will add the same (number),” Tata Consultancy Services Managing Director and CEO N Chandrasekaran said in Chennai. He told to reporters that 30,000 of the 50,000 candidates were recruited in the first quarter of this year.

Stating that there are good prospects in the overseas market, he said that TCS would recruit more number of candidates for overseas operations, but did not give exact numbers. “We plan to increase the number everywhere (in the world),” he said.

Currently, TCS has a presence in the US, Latin America, China, the Middle East and European countries.
“In the first year of our operations in China we quickly recruited 1,000 candidates but it took us two years to add 200 more,” Chandrasekaran said.
He said the company preferred to maintain the attrition rate at the industry lowest rate of 14 per cent. “Last two-three years it was 9-9.5 per cent. I would not like to see any kind of escalation (in 14 per cent…)”, he said.

Chandrasekaran was here to announce the first batch of candidates for TCS Research Fellowship Programme launched by them to promote research.
He said TCS planned to fund about 200 doctoral candidates over five years to take up PhD programmes in academic institutions across India [ Images ]. However, he declined to comment on the funds they planned to spend for this programme.

On future plans, Chandrasekaran said they would soon make an official announcement of a new product in Small and Medium Enterprises. A similar launch was also planned in Business Process Outsourcing platform. Plans are also on to launch services in healthcare platform globally.

“We have launched the health care service in three top notch hospitals and they are already gone live. We want to launch it internationally…”, he said.

Chandrasekaran termed the exchange rate as a major challenge and market volatility as a “big problem.” currently TCS is the largest IT services provider in India which has about 177,000 employees worldwide.

Mr. Rajendra Pawar appointed Chairman of NASSCOM for 2011-2012

Mr. N. Chandrasekaran appointed Vice-Chairman

Pune, April 26, 2011: National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) today announced Mr. Rajendra S. Pawar as the new Chairman of its Executive Council for the year 2011-2012. Mr. Pawar succeeds Mr. Harsh Manglik, Chairman for the year 2010-11, and will take on his new role with effect from April 26, 2011. Mr. Pawar has been a member of NASSCOM’s Executive Council and is currently the Chairman and Co-founder of NIIT Technologies. NASSCOM also announced the appointment of Mr. N. Chandrasekaran as the Vice Chairman of the Executive Council. Mr. N. Chandrasekaran is the CEO and MD of Tata Consultancy Services.

As Chairman of the Executive Council, Mr. Pawar will lead and assist NASSCOM in catalyzing the growth of the Indian IT-BPO industry and enabling the fulfillment of its future goals and aspirations.

“It is a moment of great pride and honour for me to be elected as the Chairman of NASSCOM. India is among the few economies of the world that have stood tall after the global financial crisis. The country has emerged a winner due to its favourable population demographics, greater domestic consumption, and inherent resilience. To further sustain this growth, India, and specially the industry, will have to focus on two important pillars of the economic development – Skills of its workforce and SMEs. There is a need of greater focus on the ongoing development of specialized skills and capabilities, with the objective of helping increase employability of the current talent pool, by means of skill development across all tiers of the pyramid. Also, SME's play a crucial role in the India’s economy and help to achieve the objective of inclusive growth. Therefore, special focus and attention is required on the development of SME segment to propel this broad-based economic growth,” said Mr. Rajendra S. Pawar, Chairman, NASSCOM and Chairman and Co-founder of NIIT Technologies. He further added, “NASSCOM will continue to facilitate and collaborate and support the industry’s growth and achieve its vision outlined for 2020. It will broaden its role entailing greater collaboration across various industry players, governments and markets.”

“It has been an honour and a privilege to lead the industry as Chairman of NASSCOM. The IT-BPO industry is an engine of growth and innovation and is contributing to the transformational agenda in India and around the world. The trajectory for the future is exciting and NASSCOM will continue to play a key leadership role in this journey,” said Mr. Harsh Manglik, former Chairman, NASSCOM.

“We at NASSCOM are honoured to have Rajendra as the chairman of its executive council. He is known for promoting industry-academia alliances, and has been working closely with the academia to facilitate skill development in various sectors by way of collaboration, showcasing best practices for capacity building. A visionary entrepreneur and a respected opinion leader, he will bring his invaluable experience to the table and will a play crucial part in formulating future growth strategies and ensure adequate policy support to keep the momentum strong. We wish him the very best for future,” said Mr. Som Mittal, President, NASSCOM.

Chairman Mr. Pawar along with Vice-Chairman Mr. N. Chandrasekaran and President, Mr. Som Mittal will lead NASSCOM to carry out its diverse array of priorities consisting of industry’s value proposition including:

• Talent Development – Leverage NSDC partnership; Foundation skills for IT and BPO, benchmarking entry level talent; Industry best practices
• Domestic Market – Enable private sector partnership for e-governance, cluster development for SMBs
• Small company/start-up ecosystem – Mentorship programs, partnership with industry, participation in e-governance projects
• Innovation / Transformation – industry best practices, successful examples and enable scale
• Globalization and Protectionism – Factual perspectives and demonstrate impact of job creation by India in key markets
• Inclusion – NASSCOM Foundation to create industry-government partnership on inclusion

About NASSCOMNASSCOM® is the premier trade body and the chamber of commerce of the IT-BPO industries in India. NASSCOM is a global trade body with more than 1200 members, which include both Indian and multinational companies that have a presence in India. NASSCOM's member and associate member companies are broadly in the business of software development, software services, software products, consulting services, BPO services, e-commerce & web services, engineering services off-shoring and animation and gaming. NASSCOM’s membership base constitutes over 95% of the industry revenues in India and employs over 2.24 million professionals.

About Mr. Rajendra S. PawarMr. Rajendra S. Pawar is the Chairman & Managing Director of NIIT Technologies. He is an engineering graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. Mr. Pawar co-promoted NIIT Limited, in 1981 and currently serves as the Chairman and Managing Director. He is also Chairman of a premier software company NIIT Technologies Limited. Mr. Pawar has been awarded the country’s prestigious civilian honour, Padma Bhushan by the President of India. Global Business Intelligence firm, Ernst & Young recognized him as the Master Entrepreneur of the Year in 1999. He has also been named the IT man of the Year by IT industry journal, Dataquest. Mr. Pawar is on the Board of Governors of the India’s premier engineering institution, IIT Delhi, IIM Bangalore, the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad and Scindia School, Gwalior.

About Mr. Natarajan ChandrasekaranMr. Natarajan Chandrasekaran is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director of Tata Consultancy Services. Responsible for formulating and executing the company's global strategy, Chandra has been at helm of several key strategic transitions at TCS since 2002 when he took over the role as head of global sales. Under his leadership, TCS pioneered the creation of its unique Global Network Delivery Model (GNDM™) across five continents and ventured into new markets including Europe, China and Latin America. It added new business lines like BPO, Infrastructure and Assurance services. Chandra has also driven the domain diversification drive that has seen the company enter new verticals like Media and Information Services as well as Hi-tech. Chandra joined TCSL in 1987 after completing his MCA from Regional Engineering College, Trichy, Tamil Nadu in 1986. He also holds a B.Sc. in Applied Science from the Coimbatore Institute of Technology, Tamil Nadu.