IT NEXT DECEMBER 2011 by Manan Mushtaq

DECEMBER 2011 / ` 75 VOLUME 02 / ISSUE 11

STRATEGY: Various Stages to becoming a Leader

BOSS TALK: People Management: Tips on Team Management

42 BIG Q

INTERVIEW VMwareâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Douglas Smith on Cloud Innovation

Desktop Virtualisation: Desktops Sans Pain? Pg 47

Buying Wire BY

IT managers boost security and improve integration to enhance the e-commerce user experience Pg 14

Editorial

E-Commerce & the IT Manager With the number of internet users predicted to reach about 70 million in the next three to five years, the percentage of online shoppers will grow equally in a geometrical progression. The trend has a cascading effect on IT, which is the backbone of the online buying phenomenon. The result: IT managers have a huge task ahead to create a reliable, scalable and secure user experience by making online shopping hassle free. Just deploying certain tools around security, servers, ERP systems, etc, will not suffice, as there is a lot more that is required to be done to ensure a smooth and successful transaction. As such, tighter integration of various enterprise applications along with security systems is the priority for IT managers. But why am I saying all this? In the current edition of IT Next, our cover story, ‘Buying by Wire’, highlights the inherent challenges that online shopping can throw up at IT managers and what they need to do in such a scenario. One of the IT managers mentioned how each transaction failure or dropout may cause a huge business loss for the company. And mind you, for every transaction loss it is the IT manager who is accountable, if it is due to a technical error. For end users it may sound and look easy to get a product delivered to their doorsteps, but the agony that an IT team goes through to ensure this smooth delivery, is immense. However, IT heads are all geared up to tighten the system and create the right ambience for a smooth user experience. As part of its content policy, IT Next has tried to focus on a subject which can help IT managers exploit their inherent potential and escalate it. As part of our ongoing effort, it is time now to unleash the hidden potential of IT heads across the country and bring it to light. The January edition of IT Next will showcase the inherent talents of IT managers who were honoured with the Next 100 Award which recognised them as future CIOs.

“Tighter integration of various enterprise applications along with security systems is the priority for IT managers ” G ee t h a N a nd i k o t k u r

Blogs To Watch! Ecommerce-blog http://www.ecommerce-blog. org/ Forrester Blogs http://blogs.forrester.com/ category/ecommerce Sectors benefitting from blogging? http://www.linkedin.com/ answers/technology/blogging/ TCH_BLG/931463-48589957 Challenges and Opportunities for Operators http://www. researchandmarkets.com/ reports/693300/e_commerce_ challenges_innovations_and

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Buying By Wire

IT managers boost security and improve integration to enhance the e-commerce user experience

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Cover Story

boss talk

interview

cov er des ign/illustratio n: S higil N

18 Case Study: Amway India 20 Contactless Payment: The Next Wave 23 Security Check in e-tailing

insights

32 Jobs: Innovator the World Loved Steve Jobs did not bring the change, he was the change that the computing world witnessed and reckons

25 Ubuntu on the Cloud While Ubuntu has been most closely associated with the desktop, the projectâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s server variant has grown more prominent in recent years, particularly in the context of cloud computing

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08 Team Management Tips| Amit Madan, CMD, OnDot Couriers & Cargo, on knowing your teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s strengths & weaknesses

42 Douglas Smith | Vice President, Global Partner, Strategy & Operations, VMware, on IT managers adopting cloud for agility

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MANAGEMENT Managing Director: Dr Pramath Raj Sinha Printer & Publisher: Vikas Gupta

EDITORIAL

Page

Group Editor: R Giridhar Executive Editor: Geetha Nandikotkur Consulting Editor: Sanjay Gupta Senior Assistant Editor: Manu Sharma Managing Editor (Desk): sangita Thakur Sub Editor: Radhika Haswani, Mitia Nath

Increased innovation, absorbing applications and enriched 3D gaming built around Flash and HTML on the cards

15-Minute manager 35 Unlearn to Learn | Every

phase of the leadership journey involves steps of learning, unlearning and re-learning 36 Seven Steps to Better Sleep | Feeling crabby lately?

cube chat

DESIGN

56 Serving Better with IT |

Sr Creative Director: Jayan K Narayanan Art Director: Anil VK Associate Art Director: PC Anoop Visualisers: Prasanth TR, Anil T & Shokeen Saifi Sr Designers: Sristi Maurya, NV Baiju & Chander Dange Designers: Suneesh K, Shigil N, Charu Dwivedi Raj Verma, Prince Antony, Binu MP & Peterson Chief Photographer: Subhojit Paul Photographer: Jiten Gandhi

Ravish Jhala, Systems Manager, Trident Hotel, Mumbai, on bringing efficiency

off the shelf 51 Firefox 8 | Yes, it now comes

with integrated Twitter search

Perhaps the solution is better sleep

sales & marketing Brand Manager: Siddhant Raizada (09990388390) National Manager-Events & Special Projects: Mahantesh Godi (09880436623) National Manager -Print , Online & Events: Sachin Mhashilkar (09920348755) South: B N Raghavendra (09845381683)) North: Deepak Sharma (09811791110) West: Hafeez Shaikh (09833103611) Assistant Brand Manager: Swati Sharma Ad co-ordination/Scheduling: Kishan Singh

39 Tech is Topical | Hot tech

themes fuel CIO\CTO interest in customer conclaves

the big Q 47 Managing Desktops Sans Pain | We all know it’s a growing

headache to manage PCs. Read on for our expert panel’s views before reaching for a tablet of aspirin

RegulArs Editorial _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 01

Production & Logistics

Inbox _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 04

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Industry Update _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 10 Open Debate_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 53 My Log_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 59

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advertiser index Nokia IFC Schneider 5 Sigmabyte 6, 7 Juniper 9 Bry Air Asia 13 Asia Power 60 Arkadin IBC IBM BC

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Published, Printed and Owned by Nine Dot Nine Mediaworx Private Ltd. Published and printed on their behalf by Vikas Gupta. Published at A-262 Defence Colony, New Delhi-110024, India. Printed at Tara Art Printers Pvt ltd., A-46-47, Sector-5, NOIDA (U.P.) 201301. Editor: Vikas Gupta

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INBoX

november 2011

IT NEXT thanks its Readers for the warm response

IT NEXT values your feedback

We want to know what you think about the magazine, and how we can make it a better read. Your comments will go a long way in making IT NEXT the preferred publication for the community. Send your comments, compliments, complaints or questions about the magazine to editor@itnext.in.

IT Next is the appropriate magazine for IT managers. In my opinion, more of implementation case studies, involving IT managers will be of great help. The cover story on ‘Open Source’ was a good read as it focussed on various developments that are impacting industry. Business Intelligence was a good topic too, and very relevant.

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read this issue online http://www.itnext. in/resources/ magazine

Dinesh S Technology Head, SJM Technologies, Bangalore

I have been a regular reader of IT Next. I find the magazine well focussed on second level CIOs. Its content, which is different from other publications, is very interesting and makes for a very good read. I would like to mention that the cover story topics are interesting and effective, but inclusion of more case studies, specific to varied industry verticals can make them even better. Going forward, IT Next could deal with issues like ‘how to improve the business process by implementing CRM’ and ‘what kind of benefits can the IT manager derive with this streamline process’, which will interest many readers. Besides, while speaking largely about success stories, it would be ideal to simultaneously share certain insights into the projects that failed and the reasons for the same. Such stories will create more excitement and help IT managers to evaluate and analyse projects better. Some features or stories around IT trends and implementations in the industries such as manufacturing, tex, pharma etc., will be welcome. Ratnakar Nemani, CIO, Himatsinka Seide Ltd

Compelling Read IT Next has very attractive covers, which trigger readers’ inter-

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est and compel one to go through the inside pages as well. The success stories around virtualisation are very interesting. I would be happy if the editorial provides the contact details of those quoted in the stories and case studies, as it would enable us to tap the right source for information. The stories should have the right mix of successes and failures, wherein IT managers have played a role. SDPL Narayana, Asst GM (IT), Neuland Laboratories Ltd

Good Initiative IT NEXT is a good initiative to cover technology, as part of its content. The issue that carried the cover story on cloud was insightful and the articles were a good read. The legal aspect of the cloud by two prominent legal experts was extremely interesting and informative. However, the application details were missing in the story and IT managers will be keen on knowing about new releases and its benefits on the cloud. For instance, I would be keen about latest trends in DB2 or other databases and their features and benefits. As a reader, I would like to read more industry-specific case studies which will help us gain deeper insights into varied technology implementations. Arun Kumar Sheth Head, Software development, Gati Ltd, Hyderabad

ITNEXT<space> <your feedback> and send it to

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Erratum Chips in the Cloud in the 15-Minute Manager section of IT Next, November 2011 edition has been inadvertently credited to Berjes Eric Shroff. The feature is by Chris Preimesberger, Senior Writer, eWeek. —Editor (Note: Letters have been edited minimally, for brevity and clarity)

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ADVERTORIAL | SIGMABYTE

Sigma-Byte Celebrating 20 Years of Bringing Value to Customers

From left Dr. Ispran Kandasamy, VP, Enterprise sales, APAC, CommScope, Mr. Ketan Kothari, MD, Sigma-Byte and Mr. Stephan Kowal, VP, Global Partner Organization, CommScope.

IGMA-BYTE, a provider of network cabling, audiovisual solutions & safety & security solutions, recently celebrated 20 years of bringing value to its customers. To celebrate this momentous occasion with

ITNEXT | D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 1

their long standing partner CommScope, SigmaByte hosted a gala event at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Mumbai. The event brought together various partners, customers and beneficiaries of Sigma-Byte â&#x20AC;&#x201C; those who

hold a special place with the company. The celebration was kicked off with a performance by Aman and Ayaan Ali Khan, who along with Gino Banks, entertained the attendees. The event also featured Bharat Dabholkar, famous for his advertising work with Amul and various productions. The high profile event was hosted by Diana Hayden, Former Miss World and featured speeches from Sigma-Byte and CommScope executives detailing their future plans. CommScope and SigmaByte have had a longstanding relationship in bringing solutions with great value to their customers and both hope to continue to bring their efforts to them. In an interview with ITNEXT, Ketan Kothari, MD, Sigma-Byte; Dr. Ispran Kandasamy, vice president, Enterprise sales, Asia-Pacific, CommScope; and Stephan Kowal, vice president, Global Partners,

SIGMABYTE | ADVERTORIAL

CommScope took a few minutes and spoke about the future and how they plan to take their services to the next level for their customers. As one of the key integrators/partners of CommScope’s solutions what are some the of the challenges that you face today from the customers? KETAN KOTHARI: Customers require connectivity that is foolproof. In India, the tendency is to get the solution at L1 (i.e., the best price possible). Obviously the best solutions and services are not available at the lowest price. Customers acknowledge the need for products and services that are better than what is available in the market; however, there is always a tendency to lean towards the most competitively priced solution, which is not necessarily the best. Another challenge we see is there is a lot of misinformation on what products and services are available in the market. In India, there is no guiding agency that recommends solutions or sets standards. It makes it difficult to convince customers towards a particular solution being better than another. If there is no government or regulatory agency setting standardization guidelines, then things are very challenging for us. How can you move beyond these challenges? DR. ISPRAN KANDASAMY:

CommScope is a global entity and leader from a tech-

nology perspective in this entire marketplace. We help set many of the global standards. So we try our best to educate our customers. We try to create awareness with respect to global standards. That’s important to do at this point of time. KETAN KOTHARI: The chal-

lenge in India is that because things are state driven you know when centre says something the state more or less opposes it. This makes it even more difficult to help in building standardization into our practice. DR. ISPRAN KANDASAMY: I think Ketan’s point regarding the establishment of a standardization process is important. At the rate that India is growing, infrastructure build is going to become uncontrollable without standards and the problems will erupt when customers are looking to scale up. STEPHAN KOWAL: There is

also a human safety perspective that comes into place. In the United Sates and European Union, there are safety guidelines and ratings for cables. The government said that you need to use cables that do not burn or produce smoke. What you do not see is that there is no consistency in what should or shouldn’t be used. So when people use the most economical solution it may not be the safest solution. We actually have partners who are educating customers about standards and how investment in our

cables can help from a safety and quality standpoint. These are things that need to be taken care of immediately. DR. ISPRAN KANDASAMY:

We try and educate our customers. We work actively with our partners to accomplish this; however, the challenge becomes when the customer is in a competitive environment and their competition does not have the same standards requirements. Competitors implement low-cost solutions all to save the customer money. This becomes an issue where you can rapidly lose market share. Describe some of trends you are seeing in the connectivity space. STEPHAN KOWAL: We are trying to find people who do not necessarily buy or sell our solutions but have a lot of influence over our solutions. What I see is the networks are becoming more of a central backbone for communications—having increased security of the network including heating, ventilation, access controls as well as controlling lighting. There is a movement towards lighting itself by using a low voltage system. Companies like Cisco are putting energy management policies into the networks. So CommScope has teamed up with Cisco to include these energy management policies into network infrastructures by helping them design in-building intelligent networks. It is our

responsibility to go out into the industry and partner with companies that are creating disruptive technologies and, at the same time, work with our partners to ensure that solutions customers want can be implemented. DR. ISPRAN KANDASAMY:

We are also seeing the penetration of fiber into networks. Bandwidth and the distance data needs to travel today is pushing technology to move into more of a fiberdominant space. So the issue in a fiber-intensive network is the quality of the installation associated with that goes up. It is so important that we have high-quality partners like Sigma-Byte with us where they can make a big difference in shaping how customers adopt technology. Sigma-Byte has been in the business for 20 years now. So what is next? KETAN KOTHARI: We want to build on the credibility we have built over the last 20 years and the skills we have developed and go into the next phase. The market is converging towards IP and our partnership with CommScope will assist us with obtaining a larger piece of the solution building business. We are expecting a lot of excitement in the coming future, especially given the nature of the amount of work that needs to be done on the standardization front. We are also always looking to acquire new customers. All I can say is its only going to get better from this point on.

D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 1 | ITNEXT

Boss talk | Amit Madan

P eo p l e M a n ag e m e n t

Tips on Team Management

f all the tasks a leader must perform on a day-to-day basis, the most complex is managing people — the aspect that plays a vital role in business continuity. People management, or team management, so to say, is directly proportional to the growth and success of the organisation. In most cases, team management success depends entirely upon the cohesion prevalent in the organisational structure. Team leaders need to a take a structured approach with appropriate communication methods and practices, if they want to win over their teams. For instance, as the head of the organisation, the challenge I face is dealing with senior people in the team, be it in the form of providing guidance, career satisfaction, meeting their expectations, addressing professional conflicts, ego conflicts and so on. However, the point of contentment would be to find that the applied formula works well in nurturing the team and its aspirations.

“Leadership is about knowing your team’s strengths and weaknesses, and taking them into confidence to share the vision that the company carries for their growth”

Suggestion BOX

Photo graphy: Subhoji t Paul

Inherent Requisites

While there is no rule of thumb or best practice prescribed, I believe that sharing one’s vision as a manager with the team is the key which allows him or her to work on autopilot, rather than giving instructions all the time. Having a good management degree is an added advantage to becoming a successful team leader. It enables the individual to observe the human factor in one’s area of business. Half the battle is won if the IT manager is able to sharpen his/her people management skills, irrespective of the chosen field.

Situational Compulsions Crisis is not new and is always unexpected — a situation that demands the individual manager have high-level leadership qualities. One can lay down many procedures — the best of the best systems of the world and the perfect machines

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“I liked the success formula for achieving harmony, success and balance in personal and professional life” Title: The L eader Who had no Title Author: Robin Sha rma Publisher: Jaico Publishing Price: `195

to monitor performance — but in the end it is people who handle the crisis, and it is their trust in the leader that pays rich dividends. Leadership is about knowing your team’s personal and professional strengths and weaknesses, and taking your staff into your confidence to share the vision that the company carries for their individual growth. Transparency is of utmost importance in driving effective team-management process, particularly when the organisation is small and new. When I took over the operational rights from the earlier management, my experience was almost nil. In this successful seven-year journey, it is the team which mattered most. With business expanding, team management skills enable one to collaborate and form a structured hierarchy which facilitates individual growth. Team management is a skill that a leader must perfect as he executes his professional journey up the corporate ladder for only an effective leadership can help you win.

The author is CMD, OnDot Couriers & Cargo Ltd

The new network means business: Game-changing technologies that lower latency, require far fewer devices and decrease power consumption by more than half. It’s why Codonis chose QFabricTM to help transform their data centers, and why companies everywhere are thinking about the future in a whole new way. Learn more at juniper.net/thenewnetwork

“You can virtualize your network, you can build one physical underlying network. The capacity is there, the tools are there…That’s the solution that Juniper’s putting forward.” ANDREW BACH, SVP, NETWORK SERVICES, NYSE EURONEXT

Þ Inbound Response Management

Priya Sharma, 1800 209 3062 022 - 67083830, Juniper@dnbindia.in

update

Update I n d u s t r y

India DC Services may Reach $617 mn by 2011 I mage : photos .com

TECH TRENDS | IDC annual study, Data Centre Opportunities in India,

2011, covering 10 third-party providers and 1,156 large and medium businesses for captives across verticals including manufacturing, BFSI and retail, has revealed that the third-party data centre services market clocked revenue of $360 mn for the 12-month period ended March 2011. The study is an attempt to assess the potential of data centre outsourcing market in India as well as to understand the dynamics of this market. The study findings are of immense benefit to

INTERNET

Internet Users Across the Globe The chart below shows distribution by world regions in 2011

The demographic numbers from the US Census Bureau globally amounts to 2,095,006,005 as on March 31, 2011

13% 22.7%

10.3% 5.7% 3.3% 1%

Asia Europe North America Lat Am/Caribb Africa Middle East Oceania/Australia

44%

Source: Internet World Stats

Third party data centre in India growing at 37 per cent, reports IDC

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trends deals products services people

various stakeholders within the ecosystem in terms of current state and future evolution of data centre market in India. “Adoption of third-party data centre services has been on the rise by large as well as medium businesses, driven both by the need to cut costs as well as to lower the risks associated with investing in data centre equipment and technologies that face ever shortening refresh cycles,” said Jaideep Mehta, Country Manager, IDC India. “While the majority of the third-party data centre services revenues come from co-location and hosting services, the managed services component is steadily rising,” adds Mehta. The key verticals for thirdparty services have been manufacturing and IT/ITeS. A growing need to focus on core business; lack and retention of skilled human resources for in-house management of data centre operations and rising power, cooling and real estate costs have remained the major drivers for adoption of thirdparty DC services. Telcos will continue to hold the largest market share with Reliance Communications being the market leader (in revenue terms), followed by Tata Communications. Among the pure-play service providers, Netmagic has consolidated its position, with a healthy and growing focus on managed services. Going forward, Tulip Telecom would be a player to watch out for as it builds its mega data centre facility of 900,000 sq ft in Bangalore.

Android Ice cream Sandwich

Cortex-A7 Processor unveiled

Ubuntu 11.10 is here

The newest flavour of Android 4.0 was released recently with a face recognition unlock, NFC, new user interface and camera capabilities. It is designed to work without buttons.

The chip that powers most future smartphones was unveiled recently. It uses a 28 nm fabrication process, is one-fifth the size and more energy efficient, by 70 per cent than the current A8.

The much-anticipated Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot is finally here. It is more polished and packs in a large number of improvements over its predecessor. Stretch your IT Budget.

India to have 121 Million Internet Users by Year End, says Study TECH TIDINGS | India is set to

have 121 million internet users by end of December, becoming the world’s third largest internet market after China and the US. This means one out of every 10 Indian will be an internet user. The figures were revealed in the annual report, I-Cube, jointly published by IMRB and the Internet & Mobile Association of India (IMAI). According to the report, the internet population is likely to rise from 100 million users ( as in September this year) to 121 million by December, 2011. In addition, out of 121 million, some

India will become the world’s third largest internet market

97 million users will be active internet users, who use internet at least once in a month. “A 100 million internet users is considered a critical

Around The World

landmark for the country. With this internet use in India is expected to enter a critical period of growth with the possibility of becoming the largest internet using country in the world in this decade,” says the study. The study also shows the evolving profile of users. It says that internet has deeper penetration in small towns and also among the less affluent sections. It is becoming highly popular among children, with schoolchildren making up more than a fifth of the users. More than one in 10 users hails from the lowest socio-economic groups. The report further highlights that emails, social networking and chatting are some of the most popular online activities among the urban users. The usage pattern differs among rural and urban users.

quick byte

Google Buys Two Start-ups to Enhance User Experience Internet titan Google Inc has acquired two start-up firms — Apture and Katango — for an undisclosed amount that would help it enhance the user experience of its browser and social networking services. Google buyout of Apture is expected to bolster the firm’s Chrome browser. The acquisition of Katango will help over 40 million users of internet search giant’s social networking platform, Google Plus, to organise their circles.

Anand Mahindra, Chairman, Tech Mahindra says,

This year saw recovery from a severe slowdown in the telecom vertical. Our growth is due to an unwavering focus on customer centricity and the ability to challenge conventional logic to better serve our customers

D E C E M b e r 2 0 1 1 | itnext

update

Tech Mahindra, Satyam Merger Likely in 2012 Mahindra resolved all cases in the US

I mage : photos .com

TECH TRENDS | Mahindra Satyam’s

merger with parent firm Tech Mahindra will take place in 2012, its chairman Vineet Nayyar said recently while declaring Q2 results of the company. Nayyar recalled that after winning the bid for the company in April 2009, Tech Mahindra had indicated its intention to merge. “That intention remains,” he said. In May this year, he hinted that the merger may be delayed as it is a legal process which has to go to two high courts. Tech Mahindra had acquired Satyam Computer in April 2009, a few months after Satyam was rattled by India’s biggest corporate fraud.

News @ blog

Satyam was subsequently renamed Mahindra Satyam. Nayyar said the firm had resolved almost all cases in the US, which arose because of the fraud committed by the earlier management. The company has already paid $10 mn to settle the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s suit over the fraud. It paid $125 mn to settle class action suits and another $70 mn to settle the unresolved case. On the IT Departments’s notice to pay Rs 616 crore tax, Mahindra Satyam CEO CP Gurnani termed it as unreasonable. Source: Timesofindia.com

NETWORKING

China Bags Top Spot in Super Computer List The Chinese Tianhe-1A system at the National Supercomputer Centre in Tianjin has taken the top spot in the Top500 supercomputer list. The 2.57petaflop/s (quadrillions of calculations per second), Nvidia-powered Tianhe-1A knocked Cray’s XT5 ’Jaguar‘ system at the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility off the top spot. The Cray ranked in second place, with Jaguar achieving 1.75petaflop/s. Third place is now held by a Chinese system called Nebulae, located at the National Supercomputing Centre in Shenzhen. Nebulae performed at 1.27petaflop/s. Tsubame 2.0, at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, came in fourth with a performance of 1.19petaflop/s. Tsubame is the only Japanese machine in the TOP10. The fifth most powerful supercomputer was Hopper, a Cray XE6 system at DOE’s National Energy Research Scientific Computing (NERSC) Centre in California. Hopper just broke the petaflop/s barrier with 1.05petaflop/s, making it the second most powerful system in the US.

GOOGLE Launches Google+ PAGES FOR BUSINESSes and brands to network This Will Help Companies Increase Communication With Their Audiences

Google has finally started rolling out its social networking service Google+ to businesses and brands, allowing them to set up their own Google+ pages. Google says the Google+ pages will help companies increase communication with their audiences. Google+ pages are pretty similar to Facebook page services, which also allows businesses to promote themselves. 12

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Frequent

TCS Bags $2.2 bn Deal

SERVER FAILURES ?

TECH TIDINGS | Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has

IBM Unveils First DC Solar Array TECH TRENDS | IBM has unveiled what it says is the

world’s first solar array designed specifically for highvoltage data centres at its software development lab in Bangalore. Specifically configured with the needs of servers and cooling To supply 330 days A year infrastructure in mind, the company for five hours will eventually make the technology daily available to clients seeking green data centre power alternatives. kW The 6,000 sq ft rooftop system is capable of providing a 50 kW supply power of electricity for up to 330 days a Source: IBM year, for an average of five hours a day, IBM says. IBM plans for the system to connect directly into the data centre’s water-cooling and high-voltage DC systems. By employing unique high-voltage DC power conditioning methods and reducing AC-DC conversion losses, the company claims that the array can cut energy consumption of data centres by about 10 per cent.

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www.bryair.com

RB/BA/1146HVCA1

won its second-biggest outsourcing contract worth $2.2 bn from UK-based pension firm Friends Life, providing positive forecast for India’s technology sector complaining of shrinking contracts and delays in decision-making by top customers. The contract, TCS’s second biggest deal after the company won $2.8 bn order in 2008 from Citigroup, is based on a model wherein the company will be paid for each insurance transaction and will add another 3.2 million policies to the existing Diligenta platform owned by its UK subsidiary. “According to our records, this is the largest private sector deal in the UK, at least since 2005,” said Ed Thomas, an analyst with UK-based outsourcing advisory Ovum. “And that it comes from the insurance sector that has been depressed since the beginning of the slowdown in 2008, makes it even more important.” TCS will now manage some eight million policies in the UK using the same platform, increasing the company’s share of revenues earned without hiring additional staff. Around 1,900 staff of Friends Life will get transferred to TCS.

WORLD LEADERS IN DESICCANT DRYING 1200 employees • 7 continents • 7 manufacturing plants : India, China, Malaysia, Germany, Switzerland, USA & Brazil

Buying

itnext | D e c e m B E R 2 0 1 1

e-commerce | cover story

By Wire

IT managers boost security and improve integration to enhance the e-commerce user experience by N G e e t h a Illustrat i on by Sh igi l N

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cover story | e-commerce

ave you bought stuff online? If you have, you’d probably know that the e-tailing landscape is replete with horror stories ranging from receipt of defective or wrong products and delayed deliveries to online payment discrepancies and information gaps. However, all this is changing, thanks to IT managers who have stretched themselves to automate the e-commerce platform to the fullest extent possible. Surely, even if slowly, they are working on e-tailing plans that absorb new business models, tech innovations and so on. It would not be an exaggeration to say that IT managers are going overboard in tightening security, application integration and payment gateway to make e-tailing easy for internal business groups as well as external stakeholders. A testimony to this change is Amway’s e-tailing platform initiative that caters to its one million business users who depend on the technology and the company’s IT managers’ effort in putting together a robust e-commerce framework in place. (Read the case study) However, given the scope of e-tailing and the growth opportunities therein which are throwing up newer challenges for IT managers, IT Next embarked on a study to analyse how they have been leveraging

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technological innovations and carrying out application integration to catch up with this e-tailing revolution.

E-tailing at its Best Beyond doubt, e-tailing has changed the way of doing business across B2B and B2C space. The major drivers for this shift have been the low cost of PCs and the growing use of the internet. As Ravish Jhala, Systems Manager, Trident, Bandra Kurla, observes, the stock exchanges now provide online stock portfolios and periodic status of prices that have added to the scope. He says that in the next three to five years, India will have 30 to 70 million internet users which will equal, if not surpass, the number of users in many of the developed countries.

e-commerce | cover story

“As part of e-selling,

we have integrated our ERP with that of our dealers and distributors and our stock points, via e-payment gateway for order fulfilment” Pertisth Mankotia

Photog raphy: Subho jit Paul

Global Head, Information Security, Cox & Kings Ltd, Dhananjay C Rokde talks of the fact that e-tailware has a huge success in the middle segment, as it provides easy integration, quick promotional campaigns, centralised database and dashboard, real-time analysis and reporting and so on. The $10 mn e-tailer India Plaza is aligned with the market growth and its Founder and CEO, K Vaitheeswaran is putting his best foot forward in leveraging the technology innovations to meet future growth. Prabhu Kannan, Director, SapientNitro, finds convenience and cost to be the main drivers for e-tailing in India considering that there are 100 million internet users who spend 16 hours per week online, with over 80 per cent researching online and 19 per cent buying online. “Online retail is projected to grow approximately 32 per cent this year in spite of the fact that not all retailers are online yet,” says Kannan and adds, “a number of retailers are present on social networking sites such as Facebook and use their presence to just surface deals or deep link into e-commerce websites for transactions or for browsing the catalogue of products.” E-Marketer forecasts say that globally online sales will more than double by reaching $168.7 bn in 2011, and the increased share is moving towards Australia, India and China. What does this growth indicate? Obviously, a lot would depend on how IT managers cope with this growth and enable a robust platform to run the show.

Challenges in e-tailing While the IT heads have been at the threshold of challenges all along, e-tailing is throwing up new ones with unbridled growth in consumer shopping online and technology posing even greater threats.

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imagi ng: pe te rson

Head, IT, Sheela Foam India Pvt. Ltd

cover story | e-commerce The one big challenge for the IT heads, says V Srinivas, CIO, Nagarjuna Fertilzers and Chemicals Ltd, is, “the primary connector”. The challenge for IT heads in this web-enabled marketer-to-consumer interactive shopping platform is the ability of both the parties to process ‘information on fingertips’. While this ability increases transaction comfort for the consumer and business volumes for the marketer, there remain serious concerns on both sides, on use and protection of customer-centric information by the other.” Shashank Mehrotra, General Manager and Business Head, BigRock, admits, “While there are several providers of payment gateway such as CCAvenue, EBS, Billdesk, etc., who provide access to online payment, the challenge for IT heads is to make this transaction platform robust and enable the company to increase the percentage of successful transactions. Jhala attributes infrastructural barriers to the slow growth of e-tailing in the country. For an IT head the primary task is to ensure that transactions do not get dropped or turn out to be insecure. “Supply chain management plays a critical role in ensuring that the product is delivered safe and secure in the right frame to the right owner,” admits Jhala. “The most critical aspect is the vendor management to drive efficient system for inventory management which itself is driven by digital data,” he adds.

Most IT managers opine that commercial challenges such as taxation and Octroi have bulldozed the e-tailing model, which then returns to IT heads as the pain point in the ERP system.

Tense Application Integration Every consumer transaction, irrespective of the product or item, depends on how IT heads have built the platform and integrated it with necessary enterprise applications. India Plaza’s Vaitheeswaran recalls that India’s first e-commerce platform was built on open source in 1999, with the availability of engineers around Unix platform, and was later scaled up to use Solaris. Vaitheeswaran’s 16-member IT team at India Plaza ensured that they had a scalable platform to create the shopping experience. “We have just migrated to Microsoft Azure platform to streamline our online transaction process and have deployed catalogue system, VISA payment system and fulfilment module to make the transaction easy.” India Plaza is now looking at a cloud model for its online transaction based on Azure platform, which is being hosted at Reliance data centre. “By moving to Azure which offers cloud services, we expect to carry out two million shipments in the next one year in India,” says Vaitheeswaran. “We have integrated the e-commerce platform with different applications including supply chain management and ERP, and have built inventory

Case Study: Amway India

E-tailing a Profit Storm E-tailing is set be a major hit, considering that it is going to be the next big revenue earner

Pawan Bakshi Manager, Infrastructure & e-Biz, Amway India Enterprises Pvt Ltd,

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he Rs 2,400 crore FMCG company, Amway India Enterprises Pvt Ltd is cruising at great speed on its e-tailing platform to cater to its one million business users who depend on the technology. Pawan Bakshi, Manager, Infrastructure & e-Biz, Amway India, finds the model to be a big hit given the fact that the website is contributing more than 20 per cent to the overall sales monthly, as against just one per cent till recently. Bakshi and team set up a robust e-commerce framework for Amway to cash in on.

Technological Advantage As the IT manager, Bakshi ensured the integration of the website with multiple payment gateways in order to maintain redundancy and high availability, and also to encash the competitive advantage through better negotiations with banks to drive business. Besides, he initiated online reconciliation process deployment with banks to minimise cancellation of orders due to online payment challenges. “We made sure to reduce the turnaround time for payment refund in case of transaction failure and advised the banks to expedite the process,” says Bakshi.

“Supply chain management plays a

critical role in ensuring that the product is delivered safe and

secure in the right frame to the right owner” Ravish Jhala

To protect data, Amway ensures secure payment gateway communication with SSL certificate, firewall and IPS, besides undertaking frequent audits. Bakshi went in for Microsoft Commerce Server platform to run the e-tailing initiative which is integrated with ERP using Microsoft Biz Talk Server tool. However, the challenge for Bakshi and team is regarding discrepancy in the payment gateway where the customer transaction gets dropped owing to technical issues. “Such transactional drops mean a great loss to the business and we have regular meetings with banks, financial institutions and security players to ensure smooth flow,” says Bakshi. The other challenge is finding a service provider that can integrate all their backend, security and e-tailing platform, and facilitate faster transaction and support.

Multiple Payment Options Conventionally, a company would go for

using PSP language and thus have control over the transactions,” claims Mankotia. He adds, “As part of e-selling, we have integrated our ERP with that of our dealers and distributors and our stock points, via e-payment gateway for order fulfilment.” Cox & Kings Rokde says that as technology undergoes a service portfoliofication, e-tailing and e-commerce too, began to be sold as services or packaged products. “We have witnessed a surge in e-tailware application suites which are software

Cash on Delivery mode, but Amway has come up with a new payment mode in association with key banks. Called the Pay By Challan, under this method a customer places online order choosing payment mode Pay by Challan, and gets an order reference number and other details on the screen. An SMS is also sent on his mobile number. The customer visits the nearest associated bank branch and deposits the amount and the reference order. The bank updates the Amway system about the payment in real time and order shipment process starts. This method avoids overhead cost of handling cash and also enhances customer confidence by sending SMS payment alerts.

Leveraging New Business Models Bakshi finds new business models opening up greater buying options that invariably also increase IT managers’ responsibility for enabling transactions. “In e-tailing, per order cost of process-

imaging: peterson

management alongside to work out better logistics using Microsoft tool,” points Vaitheeswaran. Retailer SheelaFoam has been driving the e-selling concept in both B2B and B2C platforms. The objective according to its Head, IT, Pertisth Mankotia, is to create visibility, consumer experience, ensure speed and accuracy in delivery models and drive efficient logistics. “To ensure that every objective is met, we have integrated our ERP and inventory management

Photography: Jiten Gandhi

Systems Manager ,Trident, Bandra Kurla

ing and fulfilling is very low compared to conventional sales methods,” says Bakshi. Given the advantages, enterprises are investing in setting up e-tailing platforms, and, more importantly, in creating awareness, educating customers and buying mindshare of internal business owners. However, despite the many advantages, customers used to conventional methods of buying and selling are proving tough to convert to e-tailing.

Trends and Trials The trend of youth using mobile devices for communication and transaction is a challenge — since the payment options on mobiles are limited and not real time. Another trend is to virtualise the ecommerce platform and make it serviceenabled. But it will take time for business owners and companies to take the risk of putting user and buyer related data on a cloud-based platform.

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cover story | e-commerce packages or hosted services offering brick and mortar retailers an online interface in a matter of minutes and helping them get started with ease. These applications require minimum to no coding experience and provide very user-friendly interfaces and wizards to get your e-store running in minutes. Rakesh Aerath, Director, Telecom and Innovation, Logica India, finds IT managers majorly leveraging platforms such as Web Portal including product catalogue, shopping cart, etc, payment interface integrated with payment gateway, applications around order management and product shipping and customer analytics and care. According to Aerath, developing a robust e-tailing platform requires considerable investment in servers, databases and software licenses. “IT managers can consider SaaS model if they do not want to invest upfront in the platform,” he adds. Sapient’s Kannan opines that enhancing and integrating enterprise applications with e-commerce platforms is imperative for a multi-channel presence. A single version of the product, customers and their orders, promotions as well as a consolidated view of inventory, will be necessary to provide a seamless experience for a multi-channel customer. “Existing custom-built legacy applications need to be changed or a new breed of applications such as Sterling commerce for order management, product information management systems such as Stibo, need to be introduced to achieve a single view of orders, product, etc,” says Kannan. Arun Chandramohan, Founding Partner Jade eServices, e-commerce platform service provider informs that the IT managers are struggling with challenges around website downtime, inability to adapt to emerging technologies, securing personal information of customers and the growing threat of cybercrime. “There is increased focus on inventory management and customer relationship management solutions in the e-tailing space, which are a major cause for concern,” says Chandramohan.

etail payments are undergoing tremendous change due to the combined effects of technological innovation, security improvements and the increased emphasis on spatial and temporal customer convenience. Contactless payment technologies and payment innovation are steadily gaining customer acceptance. While TSPs (telecom service operators), banks and third party service-providers pilot their offerings, the hurdles are immense and offer no assurance of success. In the meantime, the potential that contactless payments hold, if unleashed, will enable micro-payment transactions to a point where cash transactions will cease to prevail.

Paradigm Shift in Payment Modules The payments industry has undergone radical change in the past decade. The manner in which transactions are undertaken across the world continues to show an affinity towards non-cash methods. While the use of cheques continues to decline, transactions involving online, mobile and other contactless methods are gaining momentum.

Payment Systems Contactless payment is a transaction by the customer using an embedded, contactless chip on a reader/ writer terminal via card or mobile. Such payments leverage NFC (near field communication) technology, a specific standard of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, which enables secure wireless data transmission over short ranges between electronic devices. In combination with an embedded electronic wallet on a mobile phone or a smart card, NFC enables a wide range of transformative monetary and nonmonetary transactions.

Factors Fuelling ‘No Contact’ Developments of new technologies like NFC and handheld smartphones have led to the introduction of

Leveraging Innovations While new business models are escalating IT managers’ challenges in creating a

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Stakeholder Ecosystem

e-commerce | cover story

Contactless Payment:

The Next Wave

Technological evolution is enabling a paradigm shift in payment structures, making the “buy-via-wire” concept a reality innovative payment methods like contactless payments and e-wallets. Cuttingedge R&D and increasing technological awareness have made the adoption of new systems easier. Innovative business models necessitate new payment technologies. The payment industry is witnessing an era of collaborative ecosystems, with customer at the loci. “Transactional convenience” is of paramount importance. Micropayments, which were earlier unprofitable for merchants due to the card interchange fee, will become a reality with payments of less than Rs 500 being easily made using the cards.

Path to Contactless Payments Acceptance – Contactless payment methods have been successfully deployed in many parts of the world, with South-East Asia being the most successful example. Ubiquity – The transactional convenience offered by contactless payment systems has made many retailers install them at their outlets. Growth Opportunity – Mobile phonebased contactless payments are forecast to facilitate over $36 billion of worldwide consumer spending by 2011.

Stakeholders’ Ecosystem Any new application, when conceived, needs only an enterprising firm to develop it. However, the widespread deployment and adoption of contactless payments requires support and collaboration from a complex ecosystem of organisations. The biggest challenge in this ecosystem is to have a clearly defined and articulated business model and an understanding of revenue sharing, financial incentives and value propositions.

The Positives Some benefits of contactless payment: Consumer convenience in terms of time and ease of payment Reduced queuing times Low-value payments through card instead of the need to carry cash The first benefit for merchants is faster transactions, resulting in higher revenues Increased billing and transaction speed Competitive differentiation due to improved service delivery Better customer insight (through capture of transaction-level data) Banks could increase revenues by charging premium fees as well as creating a service differentiator Handset manufacturers would find an increased demand for contactless chips equipped phones

The burgeoning Indian urban youth population will be the target segment for contactless payment models as a huge percentage of urban youths are accustomed to e-commerce. Contactless payments, though only introduced as a pilot project in India at this stage, have the potential to become a preferred means of payment.

Challenges The introduction of contactless payments systems has its own set of hurdles. These payments must be made simple and provide greater speed, high security against fraud and more control. The other challenge is in terms of acceptance amongst customers. Here, payment systems-operators and banks must avoid charging high fees to early consumers and merchants and find other ways to fund the substantial infrastructure investments.

The Operating Model The application developers and application aggregators are involved in developing the mobile applications which are distributed by mobile operators in collaboration with banks. Customers using contactless card or contactless mobile will just have to tap at the merchant’s POS (point-of-sale) terminal to make the payments which will be directly credited to the merchant’s bank. At this stage, the exact revenue sharing model is hard to predict as the interplay of forces between the various stakeholders will determine the direction of contactless payment.

Technology as a Driver

Going Contactless - The Indian Way

NFC has made contactless payments faster and more secure and provides a clear advantage over existing mobile payment systems. Commercial contactless technologies will require different stakeholders to collaborate onto a single platform to club and deliver their services. When combined with biometrics, the mass transit and air travel stand to gain the most from improvement in contactless technologies as bookings, check-in and airport security transit points will become automated. The only problem which remains is ISO/IEC 14443 standards need to be agreed and complied with by different stakeholders.

With internet and mobile penetration rising exponentially, customers in India are becoming increasingly receptive to the adoption of new technologies.

By Krishna Chaitanya, Consultant, BTP; Snigdha Kulshreshtha, Consultant, BTP; and Sujay Maskara, Consultant, GRC, all from Wipro Consulting.

d e c e m B E R 2 0 1 1 | itnext

cover story | e-commerce

“The challenge for IT heads in

this web-enabled marketerto-consumer interactive shopping platform is the ability of both parties to process ‘information on their fingertips” V Srinivas

robust platform, they are also increasingly leveraging the evolutions to their advantage. From a product perspective, Jade eServices Chandramohan says, about 15 per cent of the products sourced are IT related and 20 per cent of revenues come from mobile sales. The apparel market will see a 25 per cent growth by 2015 in online transaction revenues, from the current 11 per cent. The e-procurement by IT managers is minimal at the moment. But going forward, the e-tailing industry will see a major revenue share coming from e-procurement with organisations across verticals going for it. Sheela Foam’s Mankotia is working out an e-procurement model and has registered vendors who are ready to bid to meet his IT requirements online. Sheela Foam is currently investing Rs 30 lakh on building IT infrastructure for e-selling and will increase the budget going forward. “I am also planning to drive e-freight concept as part of the e-tailing strategy and will enable the platform with necessary tools and payment gateway,” informs Mankotia. Vaitheeswaran opines, “Mobile e-commerce is catching up rapidly and would soon see 15 per cent of our traffic coming from the smartphone users. We are working on our back-end systems to enable this.” Trident’s Jhala is enabling his team to leverage the new business models in e-tailing and putting best practices in place. According to Jhala the trends which can influence his team would be collaborative click and brick, a hybrid online and offline business model incorporating both physical and online business practices, B2B net markets, where business to business applications are deployed which could result in corporate procurement portals, virtual distributors, industry consortiums and collaboration hubs.

imag ing: pe te rson

Photog raphy: A prabhakar Rao

CIO, Nagarjuna Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd

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e-commerce | cover story

Security Check in e-tailing Contactless payments need to be secure. And this means a lot of work for the IT manager

-payment gateways are a driving force behind the e-tailing business and the IT manager has the additional responsibility of ensuring a strong security framework to bring in transparency in transaction. Srinivas Nidugondi, Vice President, Mobile Business Solutions, Comviva, admits that metro transport projects are gearing up for contactless payments and banks have been advised to facilitate only electronic transactions, whereby RFID tags are placed for Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) on national highways. Ravish Jhala, Systems Manager, Trident, Bandra Kurla, opines that while the whole process of making a payment seems very simple, the processes that run behind the system are actually very complex and involve a series of steps. Jhala says that IT managers should create differentiators to drive success. Certain critical steps are necessary for this including setting up of e-commerce website hosting company; taking credit card

payments online; internet merchant accounts for e-commerce websites and PayPal-type solutions; shopping cart set-up on e-commerce websites; e-commerce website set-up using open source software and designing it accurately; search engine optimisation (SEO) on the website; SSL, two-way authentication and cyber security framework, among others. V Srinivas, CIO, Nagarjuna Fertilisers and Chemicals Ltd, believes in putting in place a data protection system before flipping the switch, rather than having to carry out a major post-disaster clean-up after a breach occurs. With increased online and netbanking transactions happening, Vishal Salvi, CISO, Information Security Group, HDFC Bank, is all geared up to provide necessary security to the payment gateway. According to Salvi, corporate certificate-based multilevel authentication for corporate bodies is critical to ensure smooth transaction. As a banker, Salvi ensures that the merchant platforms are secure with appropriate security policy frameworks and the infrastructure is ready. “We use RSA security solutions for online bank-

“Corporate certificate-based

multilevel authentication for

corporate bodies is critical to ensure smooth transition” Vishal Salvi, CISO, ISG, Information

ing which is a defence-in-depth solution. Dhananjay C Rokde, Global Head, Information Security, Cox & Kings Ltd, opines that most of the run-of-the-mill e-tailware lead to a lot of risks. They are often non-compliant to local and international laws and standards like PCI-DSS or local regulatory standards (like the IT Act for India and the DPA for UK). According to him the top four information security concerns in any etailing initiative are: a) authentication; b) privacy and protection of information; c) fraud, misrepresentation and relying on third party and; d) technology risks. Vishak Raman, Senior Regional Director, Fortinet, India and SAARC, highlights that in a typical e-tailing set-up, security administrators focus mostly on network perimeter and front end web servers, often neglecting or ignoring database security. Some of the security mistakes made by database administrators, security personnel, and application developers are: a) Poor configuration management b) Poor patch management c) Application-Layer Attacks d)Trust issues, especially when the database environment is left unmonitored or uncontrolled e) Lack of database security expertise However, the need of the hour, as Raman observes, is to have a secure database, real time monitoring, structured vulnerability assessment practices and strong configuration/change management controls.

BigRock’s Mehrotra finds mobile commerce still in its infancy, while technologies like NFC (Near Field Communication) are being touted as drivers in in enabling payment gateways. As a technology trend, Logica’s Aerath finds social media and Web 2.0 technologies creating major impact on e-tailing. Many e-tailing sites enable users

imagi ng: pe te rson

Digital products and mobile portals are a trend besides, new platforms for digital media delivery that are evolving; a wireless revolution is intensifying the movement towards mobile commerce. “IT managers will look at embracing new programming languages, platforms and protocols to make it a reality,” says Jhala.

Photog raphy: Jiten Gandhi

Security Group, HDFC Bank

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cover story | e-commerce

“By moving to Azure which offers cloud services,

we expect to carry out two million shipments in the next one year in India” K Vaitheeswaran

imaging: peterson

Founder and CEO, India Plaza.in

to provide reviews and comments on the products and rate the them based on their experiences. Websites also indicate the current trending products and let users compare two or more products based on price, features and user recommendations. “Using BI and analytics tools, many e-tailing sites up-sell and cross-sell products by suggesting other products based on user’s interest,” says Aerath. Aerath also finds increasing uptake of tablets and mobiles changing the e-tailing trend. “This trend is enabling custom application of mobile platforms that helps in easy navigation process and m-commerce transactions. Cloud-based delivery platforms will act as enablers for e-tailing by allowing small and medium retail enterprises to expand their market reach via e-tailing and also reduce the opex, as against

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traditional capex platform that entails setting up of an e-commerce portal. Usage-based pricing model facilitated by the cloud reduces the entry barrier and enables retailers to start small and scale up based on demand. Ankur Dinesh Garg, CMD, Wirefoot India Technology Ltd, believes that IT managers are bringing in greater reliability into the e-payment gateways by writing applications in good programming frameworks which have the capability of processing high volume data streams, run time filtering, flagging, and transaction routing switches that can interact with sophisticated bank transaction processing systems for authentication and act as secure communication layer. Inputs from Manu Sharma

UBUNTU ON Cloud | insight

Ubuntu Aspires to Own the

Cloud While Ubuntu has been most closely associated with the desktop, the projectâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s server variant has grown more prominent in recent years, particularly in the context of cloud computing By Jas o n B r o o ks

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insight | UBUNTU ON Cloud

Photogra phs: Sub hojit Pau l

With no licence fees and a focus on cloud features from primary sponsor, Canonical, Ubuntu has flourished in the cloud. Ubuntu has become a popular guest operating system on Amazon EC2 and other infrastructure-as-aservice (IaaS) options, and the reference OS of choice for OpenStack and Cloud Foundry projects. The cloud attractiveness of Ubuntu Server 11.10, remains undiminished and comes bundled with a plethora of tools for running on clouds — private and public, though it does have a few rough edges Based on my tests of Ubuntu Server 11.10, the project’s cloud attractiveness shows no sign of abating. The new version, which shipped alongside its desktop-oriented sibling two weeks ago, is packed with tools for building, orchestrating and running on clouds — private and public. Version 11.10, also known as Oneiric Ocelot, is one of the project’s fast-moving, short support-term releases. It includes more than a few rough edges in its new features, which I hope to see smoothed out for the next Long Term Support (LTS) edition of Ubuntu set to arrive in the spring. In particular, what I found lacking was the documentation for 11.10’s key new features, such as deploying OpenStack private clouds. For now, most Ubuntu private cloud documentation refers to the now-deprecated Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud feature based on Eucalyptus’ open-source EC2 workalike. Having said this, the Ubuntu Server 11.10 has me looking forward to spring’s LTS version and I have been impressed enough with the current state of its management tools to keep an example of it running in our lab, to help with server and middleware installs for our tests. For production purposes,

though, I recommend sticking with the previous LTS edition of Ubuntu Server, version 10.04. Ubuntu Server 11.10 is available for free download from www.ubuntu.com/download/server/download, in separate versions tailored for the x86 and x86-64 processor architectures.

Ubuntu Server in the Lab I tested the Ubuntu Server 11.10 on a white-box server powered by AMD Opteron 4000 Series processors on Amazon EC2 and a handful of VirtualBox virtual machines running on my desktop. I used that handful of VMs to test Ubuntu Server’s automatable network installation toolkit, Orchestra, following the tutorial at tinyurl.com/3qgz77a and deploying OpenStack private clouds. Orchestra brings together a few pre-existing open-source projects — chiefly the Cobbler installation and Nagios monitoring servers — to provide an automated way of deploying. Ubuntu servers on bare metal or VMs. Ubuntu wraps these components into a single install command. I was able to quickly bring up an Orchestra server and install a managed Ubuntu instance via PXE boot. Next

“We opted to implement our payroll packaged on Linux, and it is running satisfactorily for past eight years” Vinay Mehta, CIO, Escorts Construction Equipment Ltd

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UBUNTU ON Cloud | insight Work is under way to use juju I turned my Orchestra server alongside the Linux Containers toward a pairing with a second (LXC) functionality built into the new system deployment feature Ubuntu Server. LXC, which is in Ubuntu Server — ‘juju’, a similar to the Solaris Containers facility aimed at streamlining feature, provides a way to divvy the process of deploying multiup a single VM or physical component workloads. For machine among OS instances that instance, a WordPress blogging are lighter-weight than a full VM. instance consists of database and Also on the cloud computing web server components. track, I tested the Ubuntu Server’s Juju enables administrators OpenStack private cloud functionality to store the deployment steps for in the lab by installing a particular components single-node OpenStack for fast, consistent deployment. The install reuse in recipes called went smoothly, although Charms. The process for not quite as smoothly as deploying services with during my OpenStack tests juju calls to mind the with the purpose-built procedures for using a StackOps distribution platform-as-a-service. earlier this year. I missed Deploying WordPress, StackOps’ configuration for instance, involves helper, particularly when deploying database and Pertisth Mankotia, Head, IT, Sheela Foam Pvt Ltd setting up the networking WordPress application components and adding a relation between them. I set up juju for my private cloud. In my search for documentation for environments for Amazon EC2 and for the Orchestra server OpenStack on the Ubuntu Server, I noticed references both to I’d set up. The EC2 process is better-documented (and simpler installing OpenStack via juju and via Orchestra. In addition overall, as Amazon handles the VM provisioning parts of the to the fuller documentation, I hope to see a simpler OpenStack process). However, after spending a few hours debugging my installation option. Ubuntu’s earlier Eucalyptus-based effort Orchestra-juju installation, I was able to deploy services on benefitted from an install disk menu option for spinning that foundation as well. As it stands now, JuJu is a fairly server- up a new cloud. It would be great to see a similar option for hungry affair. A simple WordPress installation requires OpenStack. The most mature element of the Ubuntu Server three servers: one for the MySQL database, another for the cloud computing feature list involves the product’s suitability Web server and a third for controlling the juju environment. as a guest OS for cloud or virtual environments. For Amazon EC2 users, there’s a handy AMI locator for finding Ubuntu images in the version and regional zone one desires, and the cloud images available at http://cloud-images. ubuntu.com/ work well within most on Eucalyptus’ open-source virtualisation platforms. EC2 workalike Version 11.10 is packed The Ubuntu Server is also the with tools for building, reference OS for VMware’s Cloud Orchestra brings together a orchestrating and running on Foundry project, and the client few pre-existing open-source clouds — private and public packages required for using Cloud projects — chiefly the Cobbler Foundry are now available in the installation and Nagios Ubuntu Server 11.10 11.10 repositories. monitoring servers demonstrates that the project’s The server packages for Cloud cloud attractiveness shows no The most mature element Foundry haven’t yet made their way sign of abating of the Ubuntu Server cloud into the release’s official repositories, computing feature list is the Most Ubuntu private cloud but they are available in a Personal product’s suitability as a documentation refers to Package Archive at https://launchpad. guest OS for cloud or virtual the now-deprecated Ubuntu net/~cloud foundry.

“Open Source software procurement has become part of the IT strategy within Sheela Foam Ltd”

Feature Rich

Enterprise cloud feature based

environments

Labs Editor in Chief Jason Brooks/eWeek

D e c e m b e r 2 0 1 1 | itnext

Increased innovation, absorbing applications and enriched 3D gaming built around Flash and HTML on the cards By Da r ry l K Ta f t

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Il lustrati on: Princ e A nto ny

Adobe support | insight

hen it comes to Web application development, particularly as it applies to creating rich internet applications and sites, developers are often faced with a question: Should they use the Adobe Flash Platform or HTML5, which continues to mature and gain the acceptance and support of key software vendors? At its recent MAX 2011 conference, Flash-maker, Adobe, addressed the issue by stating that it plans to continue to support both platforms with equal commitment. Adobe officials said they plan to lead with Flash in terms of pushing the envelope in innovation, by adding new elements and features the company can then

bring back to standards bodies such as the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) for inclusion in HTML5. Adobe has been contributing actively to HTML5 through the W3C and through contributions to WebKit, to enable new expressiveness in HTML. The Adobe contributions include CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) Regions, which give designers more control over the flow of text in HTML by letting them wrap text around graphics and custom shapes. CSS Regions, which brings magazine-like layouts to the Web, is available in the latest versions of Chromium and Internet Explorer 10. Adobe has proposed CSS shaders to the W3C as a contribution to HTML, with the goal of enabling rich, animated effects for the HTML5 content elements through CSS. CSS shaders are based on Adobe Pixel Bender technology, but the submission to the W3C was co-edited by Opera and Apple. Adobe officials said, “We’ve been able to advance Flash and gather learning from Flash Player being available on 98 per cent of computers, and then take those learnings and bring them back into HTML and into the standards.” Danny Winokur, VP and GM, Platform at Adobe, said in a session with press and analysts at Adobe MAX 2011, “Pixel Bender is a great example of where we’ve already done that, where we had a pioneering technology in Flash, and we leveraged that as the basis for the work that we contributed to

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insight | Adobe support Paul Gubbay, VP, Web and Interactive at Adobe, said that to do great web developments you Absorbing Apps need three things: great The new releases of browsers, great frameAdobe Flash Player 11 works and great tools. and Adobe AIR 3 enable Regarding the tooling, the next generation of Adobe announced the immersive application pre-release versions experiences for gaming, —Emmy Huang of Flex 4.6 and Flash rich media and dataProduct Manager, Adobe Builder 4.6, which will driven apps. In addition, provide new components, native extensions for Adobe access to the latest platform AIR provide developers with and device capabilities and easy access to device-specific libraries native install experiences. They and features. will support apps running on tablets “I like native extensions a lot in AIR 3,” to take advantage of the larger-than-phones factor, and said RJ Owen, a senior software architect at they are targeting Android, iOS, PlayBook and whatever else Effective UI, in an interview with eWeek. “I is coming in the future, including (Microsoft’s Windows 8) like having the ability to customise your code.” “Flash is good at the visual layer. It is awesome at that, but Metro,” said Gubbay. Meanwhile, at MAX 2011, Adobe announced its intent to if I want to do image processing on a phone, which is already low power, I want to do that in native code and be as efficient acquire Nitobi, the maker of the popular PhoneGap crossas I can. So the ability to divide up the responsibilities platform mobile application development environment. between the places where it will run best, that’s amazing,” Industry analyst James Governor, Co-founder of RedMonk, told eWeek that he believes the Nitobi acquisition is huge in said Owen. Jesse Redniss, Vice President of digital strategy and terms of the company’s future focus on HTML5. “We have looked at the numbers and, if you look at real development at cable TV’s USA Network, said, “We build with Flash and AIR because it provides us ease of activity where developers are, PhoneGap is crushing development process on one platform, and also ease of cost everybody else in terms of HTML and JavaScript-based tools for mobile app-developers, Governor said. and development timeline.” the W3C for CSS shaders. We are going to continue to do that.”

“The next release of Flash Professional code named ‘Reuben’, would support the Starling enhancements ”

Created by Alternative Platform, Tanki Online is a free 3D action multiplayer game available for Internet-connected desktops via Flash Player 11

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Adobe support | insight

Plans

Adobe is looking at the PhoneGap the experience is one in which, for that HTML5 application platform to general purpose, it is a great choice,” Adobe plans to continue accelerate the creative tool giant’s Winokur says. He explains that, so supporting both Flash and HTML5 and web standards strategy, far, HTML5 is mature for use only in HTML5, giving equal commitment which the company says will run in places where it has been consistently to both of them parallel with its strategy to continue to implemented, such as for websites and evolve and innovate around the Flash mobile apps. Adobe contributions include CSS platform and Adobe AIR. “There are One area in which HTML is not (Cascading Style Sheet) Regions, more JavaScript and web developers mature enough, Winokur says, is in which give designers more than any other developers out there,” some of the most demanding, highcontrol over the flow of text in Andre Charland, co-founder and end entertainment experiences, such HTML CEO of Nitobi, said. “It is more about as streaming movies and videos. Adobe’s Flex 4.6 and Flash choosing the right tool for you.” Builder 4.6 will provide new Adobe’s Winokur says that, when 3D GAMES ENRICHED components, access to the latest it comes to Flash and HTML, it is Adobe invited developers to platform and device capabilities, not even one or the other. “There are experience 3D games with Flash and native-install experiences a huge number of projects that I can Player. As the game console for the think of where HTML and Flash get web, Flash Player 11, along with Flex versions will support apps combined in a single project,” he says. AIR 3, allows game publishers to running on tablets and take “The key message is we are all about instantly deliver console-quality, advantage of the larger-thangiving the content creator or developer immersive 3D games with the phones factor the richest toolbox. The person to broadest reach. Stage3D APIs make Target Android, iOS, PlayBook decide which tool to use is the content it possible to deliver sophisticated, and whatever else is coming creator. We lay out the tools for you, high-performance 3D experiences the future, including Microsoft’s and you can pick and choose whether across almost every computer and Windows 8 Metro you want to use one tool or mix those device connected to the internet with tools,” added Winokur. hardware-accelerated GPU-powered There are many projects on the performance. web that use HTML and then plug in some Flash, Winokur Adobe officials say that the Starling framework extends said. “There are AIR applications that plug in HTML and this work by enabling developers to write fast, GPUthere are PhoneGap applications that are pure HTML,” he accelerated 2D applications without having to touch the lowsaid. “There are AIR applications that have some level Stage3D APIs. native code mixed in. The point is, there Emmy Huang, Adobe’s product manager are many combinations and it would for gaming solutions, calls Starling an be a mistake for us to try to open-source 2D framework. She prescribe one technology or says the next release of Flash one solution per category Professional, code-named or application.” ‘Reuben’, would support the Wi n o ku r ad de d Starling enhancements. that there is no oneHuang demonstrated the size-fits-all project. Epic Games Unreal engine For general-purpose running in a web browser applications, business, using Flash Player. information-based and Meanwhile, Andrew —Danny Winnokur companion applications, Stalbow, GM, North VP & GM, Platform, Adobe branded micro-sites, America for Rovio, the advertising or general maker of the hugely popular rich interactivity, HTML5 Angry Birds engine, says his has advanced to a point at program is built on Flash Player 11. “Flash is which it is capable of delivering on important to us because it is going to help us those kinds of experiences. He says it is a good run on social networks,” Stalbow said. “And it choice because HTML5 has the advantage of being supported helps us better use the 2D graphics of the CPU broadly across all browsers in both the mobile and desktop to enhance our user experience.” space. Indeed, HTML5 has the ability to be packaged in Senior Writer, eWeek application form with technologies such as PhoneGap. “So

“HTML5 has the advantage of being supported broadly across all browsers in both mobile and desktop space”

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insight | Steve jobs

“Do you want to spend rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want a chance to change the world?”

“Jobs was brave to think differently, bold to believe he could change the world and talented to do it” —Obama

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hen Apple Co-founder Steve Jobs’ life ended on October 5, 2011 at age 56, the event marked the passing not only of an international icon, but also of a man people felt they knew well — even if they had never met him. Every device Apple made was designed to become a trusted friend to its user. However, Jobs’ life was a series of dichotomies. He was a micromanager with huge ideas. He co-created Apple, was fired by his own people eight years later, and returned 11 years after that to save the company and build it into one of the most successful businesses in the world. President Barack Obama, who was given an iPad 2 by Jobs in February before it was released worldwide, remembered Jobs as one of America’s greatest innovators. “Jobs was brave to think differently, bold to believe he could change the world and talented to do it,” Obama said. He opined that Jobs exemplified the spirit of American ingenuity. In a personal Twitter message, Obama said, “There may be no greater tribute to Steve’s success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented.” Jobs was an intensely a private man, yet he was one of the most famous people in the world. Because of his extremely high standards, he could be hell to work with as a colleague or a manager, yet he was kind and generous with family, friends, and others he loved and respected. Though he had no formal business education or training, Jobs was one of the savviest people ever to run an American company because he understood what customers wanted. He was able to take the highly technical task of aggregating digital files of all kinds and make them

Steve jobs | insight

Steve Jobs: 1955-2011

Innovator The World Loved Steve Jobs did not bring the change, he was the change that the computing world witnessed and reckons By Chris Pr e i m es b e r g e r

accessible in an intuitive, non-technical way for Apple’s customers. When thoughts and products in which Jobs truly believed were involved, he was stubborn and virtually immovable. Yet when he recognised a significant business trend or idea outside one of his companies, he was agile enough to incorporate it.

successful in the market as he had hoped. His Lisa personal computer, the Newton handheld pad PC, the eMate PC, a Macintosh television and AppleWorks business software were

either flawed or way ahead of their time. But Jobs was not deterred by failure. When he suffered a setback, he took notes and simply went on to produce the next idea on his agenda. In a message

“The world lost a visionary leader, the technology industry lost an iconic legend, and I lost a friend and fellow founder” —Michael Dell

“He always wanted to be an important person in the world, and he wanted to do it with a company” —Steve Wozniak

Jobs was the Change Jobs directly helped change and improve not only the PC business (Macintosh, iMac, MacBook Air, iPad), but also the music (iPod, iTouch, iTunes), smartphone (iPhone), movie (Pixar Animation Studios) and online retail (App Store) industries. The rest is business and cultural history. However, not everything that he created or produced turned out to be

d e c e m B E R 2 0 1 1 | itnext

insight | Steve jobs to Apple employees on the day of Jobs’ death, CEO Tim Cook wrote: “Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.” Steve Wozniak, with whom Jobs co-founded Apple in 1977, said that Jobs was “probably the great technical leader of our time.

He always wanted to be an important person in the world, and he wanted to do it with a company. “He did it many times over — not just with Apple. Look at the music company [iTunes] and the movie company [Pixar]. He wasn’t just Apple, [but] at Apple he built the products that stand the test of time.” Longtime friend and fellow entrepreneur Michael Dell told eWEEK: “The world lost a visionary leader, the technology industry lost an iconic legend, and I lost a friend and fellow founder.”

Jobs, a Mobile Maniac I

t’s hard to overestimate the effect that former Apple CEO Steve Jobs had on the technology industry as a whole. His company’s innovations in tablets and smartphones kicked off the current rush towards mobility.

Jobs co-founded Apple with Steve Wozniak in 1976, only to leave following a bitter internal dispute in 1985. In mid-1997, however, Jobs returned to seize Apple’s reins and launch a string of innovative products — starting with the iMac and iPod — that revived the company’s then flagging fortunes. Over the past decade, a series of subsequent hits, including the iPhone, MacBook Air, iPad and an ever-more-improved series of iPods, helped elevate Apple to one of the most valuable companies in the world and assured Jobs’ legend. Although Apple products were primarily geared toward consumers, enthusiasm for the iPhone, iPad and Macs — coupled with businesses’ increased willingness to accept employees’ personal devices into their IT ecosystem — led to the company’s increasingly significant presence in both the enterprise and in small and midsize businesses (SMBs). During a July earnings call, Apple executives claimed that some 86 per cent of the Fortune 500 had either tested or deployed the iPad. In conjunction with Senior Vice President of Industrial Design Jonathan Ive, Jobs pioneered a sleek design aesthetic for Apple products, with its later iterations emphasising glass and brushed aluminum. This design attracted imitators, but it was Apple’s melding of hardware and software — including Mac OS X and the mobile operating system iOS — that truly set the company apart from those rivals. In recent quarters, the Mac OS X operating system, geared for the company’s Mac line, had begun adopting elements originally created for the mobile iOS. This again highlighted the company’s fast drift toward a mobility-centric mentality. Apple’s iPhone supercharged the smartphone industry. A number of companies rushed to adopt the iPhone’s touch screen, which helped to launch a series of fierce intellectual-property battles between Apple and its rivals — battles that continue to this day. On October 4, a little more than 24 hours before the announcement of Jobs’ passing, Apple unveiled its latest device in the line, the iPhone 4S. Jobs’ impact on the tech sphere will be analysed for years to come. What is indisputable is that he changed it his way. —Nicholas Kolakowski

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Apple on its Comeback A Hometown Boy Jobs grew up as an adopted child in what was to become Silicon Valley, Sunnyvale, California, and one town over from Cupertino, where he eventually located his company’s headquarters. As a big-picture product visionary and marketer, Jobs was involved in every aspect of Apple’s products, from early development, to design, to the finishing touches. His personality affected every part of Apple. “Apple’s products always looked futuristic,” one longtime Apple customer, Dot Carlyle of Menlo Park, Calif., told eWEEK “The products themselves just begged you to use them.” In what is almost a homage to Jobs’ ability and dedication, Apple was recognised as the most valuable IT company and the second most valuable company in the world at $360 bn (as of October 10, 2011). Jobs had left Apple for 11 years (from 1985 to 1996) after being fired by his own board of directors following a long internal battle. In the interim, he learned more about how to be a CEO and went on to work on other major projects, including NeXT Computer and Pixar Animation Studios. “I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me,” Jobs said in a June 2005 commencement address at Stanford University. “The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.” By the time he returned in late 1996, Apple was nearly bankrupt, having fallen way behind IBM, Compaq and others in the PC sales wars. Sun Microsystems was very close to announcing the purchase of the company, but legal red tape held up the deal. In 1997, Jobs engineered a deal with Microsoft to enable its software to run on the Mac operating system. It was a move that ultimately saved the company from either bankruptcy or a buyout. A year later, Apple came out with the revolutionary iMac desktop computer.

15minute manager

training Education workplace compensation workforce trends skills development personal development

seven steps to better sleep Page 36

Strategy: Leadership this page Review: Choosing the Right Mobile PC page 38 Trends: Conclave Theme page 39 Training Calendar: TOGAF Training page 40

BY Kumar E ka m ba r a m

I llustrati on: Shigil N

very individual’s journey up the career ladder is in a state of flux, involving various stages of learning, unlearning and re-learning that finally culminate in a leadership role. The IT manager’s role is not an exception to this rule of professional life. An IT manager too has to struggle through the various phases in this journey before s/he can sail through to become a leader in his/her particular domain. Besides, one has to learn appropriate leadership skills on the way up and imbibe virtues that help bolster this journey. The leadership journey also involves learning of effective leadership models for self-actualisation and personal growth. Thoughts around self-realisation with regard to learning, unlearning and re-learning were endorsed in a statement made by actor, Aamir Khan when he famously commented: “There was too much skill in me; I wished I could lower my skill a bit, and in my next film I am going to try to unlearn a few things that I have learnt and relearn a few aspects which are good and natural.” This statement is testimony to the fact that to acquire new skills, one has

Leadership

Unlearn to learn Every phase of the leadership journey involves steps of learning, unlearning and re-learning d e c e m B E R 2 0 1 1 | itnext

15-MINUTE MANAGER to step back a bit, undo and then relearn the skill. Quite often we face scenarios where senior managers find it difficult to adapt to an organisation’s best practice or even to the culture followed in a particular company. Hence there has to be an extensive training and development module that allows our leaders to cope with internal and external changes. Imparting quality training to senior management is imperative as members represents an organisation at a global level, interacting with existing and potential clients, and it is the senior management team which inspires the younger workforce. Hence there must be a well-structured, holistic training programme that aims to provide a new dimension to the leader’s role.

Why is this Imperative? Our managers bring experiences not just from different organisations but also from different cultures. It therefore becomes imperative for an organisation to develop a training module that helps people unlearn a bit to make space to absorb new information and then relearn the latest operating fundamentals. However, this is a challenging task as it involves training and nurturing veterans, who come with so much knowledge and experience that it can take them a while to adapt to change. So it is best to structure a module in a manner that allows leaders to unlearn and then update their learning. This updated learning contextually becomes the phase of re-learning.

HEALTHY HABITS

SEVEN STEPS TO BETTER SLEEP

stress factors leading to insomnia Evaluation of these is critical: Jet lag Physical discomfort Working different shifts Stressful life situations Illicit drug use Cigarette smoking Caffeine intake before bed Alcohol intoxication Certain medications

illustrati on: A nil t

Learn to Unlearn

There is always debate about what has to be unlearnt as far as leadership training and development is concerned. As a process, unlearning has to be regular. While unlearning sounds tough psychologically, in training language it only implies that we update the learnt concepts and do away with redundancy. The idea of unlearning is to help trainees widen their horizons by helping them accept newer ideas, newer concepts and, most importantly, new methodologies of learning. For example,

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Feeling crabby lately? Or simply worn out or suffering from insomnia? Perhaps the solution is better sleep. Start with these simple sleep tips. No. 1: Stick to a sleep schedule: Go to bed and get up at the same time every day, even on weekends, holidays and days off. No. 2: Pay attention to what you eat and drink: Don’t go to bed either hungry or stuffed. Your discomfort might keep you up. Nicotine, caffeine and intake which takes hours to wear off — can wreak havoc with quality sleep. No. 3: Create a bedtime ritual: Do the same things each night to tell your body it’s time to wind down. This might include taking a warm bath or shower, reading a book, or music. No. 4: Get comfortable: Create a room that’s ideal for sleeping. Often, this means cool, dark and quiet. No. 5: Limit daytime naps: Long daytime naps can interfere with nighttime sleep — especially if you’re struggling with insomnia at night. Limit it to about 10-30 minutes. No. 6: Include physical activity in your daily routine: Regular physical activity can promote better sleep, helping you to fall asleep faster and to enjoy deeper sleep.

Sound sleep is necessary for a healthy start to a long working day: so work on it now

No. 7: Manage stress: When you have too much to do — and too much to think about — your sleep is likely to suffer. Source: www.mayoclinic.com

15-MINUTE MANAGER

“Smart managers spend time on a few vital projects that’ll make a difference” Vishnu Gupta, CIO, Calcutta Medical Research Institute

“Technologists need to understand that there are no individual heroes; it is the team that makes winners” Ravinder Jain, CIO, Aircel

learning to communicate better over networking sites and passing instructions over emails and other electronic forms of communication is quite a task for earlier generations. The unlearning phase is when managers are trained to clear the clutter of information and see what they truly

need and what can be deleted. This phase is crucial for those who need to work on articulation and effective communication. We often get feedback that c-suite managers spoke non-stop at a seminar. This is a classic example of a manager having garnered a lot of experience

It is imperative to develop training modules that help staff unlearn a little, to absorb new information and then re-learn the latest skills

How to factor in leadership Create a reliable, robust and attractive vision of the future that people will respect and believe in Communicate your vision Grow your self-confidence Build a reputation for expertise and a track record of achievement Make good decisions under pressure, with the confidence Build a strong, flexible and highly effective team Develop the sureness of touch shown by the best leaders, and build the empathic, mutually trusting relationships Enjoy mutually rewarding, cooperative working relationships with team members and peers. Keep people on target and performing well together Learn to inspire and motivate team Source: Mind Tools

but not learnt how to structure their thoughts. Once the thoughts are structured, then re-learning happens seamlessly.

Back to Basics Re-learning is the phase in which trainees are required to look back on what they have learnt and how best they can impart this knowledge to peers. How do we do this? Usually the trainees are asked to find someone who can be a true critic and help them work on behavioural and attitudinal aspects of their management approaches. It is imperative to help them articulate their thoughts better and impart knowledge around soft skills. This also makes room for peer-topeer training and is a win-win situation for both the trainees and the trainers.

Components of Leadership Training A leadership-training module should aim at enhancing the leader’s behaviour and allow them to update learnt facts.

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15-MINUTE MANAGER REVIEW

CHOOSING THE RIGHT MOBILE PC

Thinking of buying a new mobile PC, but not sure how to choose the best one? This article can help you make the right decision. Mobile PC choices

Notebooks: Notebooks are popular because they’re available in a wide range of sizes and options to accommodate almost any lifestyle. Maybe you only need to do a few activities with your notebook, such as reading and writing email, browsing the internet, storing pictures, and writing documents. Tablet PCs: Tablet PCs have something extra: a screen that you can write on or interact with by using a tablet pen instead of a standard keyboard and mouse. On some Tablet PCs, you can also interact with the screen by using your finger. There are two types of Tablet PCs: slates and convertibles. Slate Tablet PCs: Slate Tablet PCs have no lid or keyboard, which makes them slimmer and lighter in weight than most convertible Tablet PCs. If you want to use an external keyboard and mouse, you simply attach them to the Tablet PC.

imaging: ANIL T

Convertible Tablet PCs: Convertible Tablet PCs give you the best of both worlds: You can use them either in tablet mode or laptop mode. In laptop mode, you can use the integrated keyboard and mouse or the tablet pen to navigate and write. To use it in tablet mode, you rotate the screen and lay it flat over the keyboard so that you can write on it like a clipboard.

Ultra-mobile PCs: If you’re looking for something smaller than a notebook or Tablet PC and yet powerful enough to get your tasks done while on the road or in tight quarters, consider a UMPC. Just like other mobile PCs, UMPCs run the full version of Windows and any other Windows-compatible software. UMPCs with Windows Vista come with Origami Experience, which gives you easy access to your music, videos, pictures, and programs. Source: Microsoft

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It should be crafted based on the individual’s personal aspiration and plans towards getting to the leadership role, while laying emphasis on business acumen aspects, team synergy and strategy planning. Simultaneously, attitudinal aspects such as customer relationship management, counselling skills, presentation skills, neuro-linguistic programming and decision-making are touched upon in a training period that usually needs about 16 hours and can span two to three months. These two to three months are what we call a ‘transformative phase’ for our leaders. Once they are through with a 16-hour module they are advised to constantly upgrade their knowledge and facts through the resources provided by the organisation. Each of the attitudinal aspects, as well as the material on business acumen, should be fragmented into learning and re-learning. This will help the trainees retain what they need to know and filter out what is not essential. I would like to recall a statement made by the Minister for Human Resource Development, Communications and IT, Kapil Sibal, who announced that India will account for 20 per cent of the world’s global workforce in the 2020s. What is more striking here is that the average age of Indian workforce will be 29 years compared with 37 years in the US and China and 45 years in Europe. This is a huge opportunity for trainers to help our leaders take on the responsibilities of grooming the next generation. Our leaders have a lot to do in a limited time, hence as trainers, we should be able to inspire them to do more, to be more creative and more articulate in dealing with peers. Instead of having conventional models that tell them what they already know, trainers need to evolve new methods to acquire leadership tools based on practical experience, and design them as the situation demands. Kumar Ekambaram is Chief People Officer at CSS Corp.

15-MINUTE MANAGER

technology

Hot technological themes fuel CIO\ CTO interest in customer conclaves By N G eet h a

he IT industry worldwide is witnessing an increasing number of customer conclaves, and India is no exception to the trend. It can be observed that IT heads across industry verticals are part of some strategic forum or conclave or another, with the objective of getting more exposure to the trends and developments. IT Next participated in a customer technology conclave — iStorm 2011 — recently at Bali in Indonesia to understand as to what really triggers IT heads’ interest in associating with such congregations. Unlike the popular

assumptions, it is not just the overseas travel, fun, frolic or networking that drives their interest. IT heads see beyond all this and participate with the core motive of meeting their business objectives. No wonder, organisers pull out all stops to align the theme of such conclaves to the expectations of the participants.

in business. The organiser of iStorm, S Sriram, CEO, iValue Solutions believes that information technology plays a pivotal role in creating business differentiators across vertical organisations and in driving revenue growth and profitability. “Technological innovations are driving value creation, as IT heads are now given the task of managing both cost and revenue and are addressing profitability and business issues,” says Sriram. He maintains, “The themes are designed based on an understanding of customer pain points and enlightens them on the changing trends and innovations in technologies that can address these challenges.”

It’s All in the Theme

Technological Themes Matter Most

The fact cannot be ruled out that the first interest of the participants lies in the theme that the conclave addresses. Be it technology or business. In this case, it is more to do with technology as an enabler driving IT heads’ growth

In the past, one observed that most customer conclaves turned out to be vendor sales pitch platforms to woo favourite customers. While the trend cannot be ruled out totally, the platform enablers are driving certain

d e c e m B E R 2 0 1 1 | itnext

i llustratio n:Shi gil N

tech is topical

15-MINUTE MANAGER

event calendar Top IT/Telecom Global

Event Calender for December 2011

event

Venue

Dates

TOGAF 9 Certified Training

Shift Technologies, Dubai, UAE

December 4 to 8, 2011

TOGAF 9 Certification Training

Real IRM Solutions, Johannesburg, South Africa

December 5 to 6, 2011

TOGAF 9 EA Certification 1.0

Enterprise Architects Pty Ltd, Melbourne, Australia

December 5 to 9, 2011

TOGAF 9 for Practitioners (Level 1 & 2)

Architecting the December 6 to Enterprise, Pune 9, 2011 India

TOGAF 9 Certified Training

Shift Technologies, Dubai, UAE

December 11 to 15, 2011

TOGAF 9 for Practitioners (Level 1 & 2)

Architecting the Enterprise, Bangalore, India

December 13 to 16, 2011

TOGAF PRACTITIONER CBT 9.0

Source: http://www.biztradeshows.com/

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QR Systems Inc. December 15 2011 (16 hours Distance and online) Free eLearning for All Locations

differentiators. Currently, one can see more of case study based approach to such gatherings, where technology innovations and its value additions top the agenda. iStorm which was attended by 100 CIO/CTOs brought forth the hot technologies on which customers intend spending in the next few months. They included areas like application, information intelligence, data protection and storage management, network infrastructure, security, DR, etc. Berjes Eric Shroff, Senior Manager, Information Technology, Tata Services Ltd, had been keen on getting a deeper insight into the information security storage trends with data centre consolidation on cards. “The key attraction for me was the discussion around cloud security, web filtering, data leakage, backup and recovery, which have been challenging areas for me. Post the conclave, I could get detailed understanding and work out a deployment strategy around this,” remarks Shroff. Arup Mukherjee, AVP, IT Projects, SPCTG, Dhanalakshmi Bank, maintains that if the theme is catchy, it is the first step towards generating interest. “My objective is to watch out for a new technology or solution which meets my future requirements, besides understanding the techniques and process of implementation during such informal summits, rather than sitting face-to-face with the vendor.” “About 20 per cent of our IT spend is going into storage and about 20 per cent on security. A deeper insights into DR, cloud storage, end-point security, data base management, etc., trends will enable me to lay out my investments properly for the future,” says Mukherjee.

Tech With a Twist Virendra Singh, Manager, IT, HCL BPO clearly states, “I would be part of only such a summit that is not trying to re-invent the wheel. Rather, it should be introducing technologies that will help reduce my capex and opex which is around 18 per cent and five per cent respectively.” He reiterates, “My interest is driven by virtualisation and consolidation

15-MINUTE MANAGER related solutions around storage and security, which can help me meet the next level requirement.” Another interesting perspective of these conclaves that Amit Phadke, Head, Systems & Technology, Kale Consultants, acknowledges is that the technology related discussions trigger interest in associating with more such summits, as was in his case. ‘I was purely interested in learning about new technologies. At the conclave the technologies discussed threadbare fall under my six to nine month game plan,” says Phadke. “I decided to be part of iStorm to take a deep dive into the data domain’s de-duplication technology, as my data related challenges are escalating,” says Phadke. iValue’s Sriram finds increasing interest amongst the CTOs around digital asset protection, application delivery models and in working out an effective proof of concept. Sanovi Technologies’ President, Global Sales Ashish Gupta, finds increasing DR challenges amongst the CTOs chief concerns and in this the key issues have been around reliability, scalability, easy maintenance, security and access controls in a DR system. According to Gupta, the new DR

“Technological innovations are driving value creation, as IT heads are now managing both cost and revenue” S Sriram, CEO, iValue Solutions

solutions have been complementing the existing applications. The trends that are absorbing CTO interest are with regard to recovery health monitoring, real-time RPO monitoring and deviation alert, replication monitoring — relate replication lag to application recovery, exception reporting and policy driven actions, and identifying incompatibilities between primary and DR as passwords are different. Shibu Paul, Country Manager, Sales, Array Networks, finds customers seeking application delivery infrastructure solutions

iStorm Technologies in Focus Digital Asset Management IT Aligned with Business for Growth DR solutions-RPO, RTO, Monitoring Tools Data Leakage Protection Application Delivery on SSL Cloud Security Backup and Recovery Solutions Data De-duplication Technology Storage Tiering and Dynamic Provisioning

35.2 ZB of data by 2020

which can enable them to scale up the performance when they move to the cloud. “Customers can look at all-inone solutions combining application delivery, universal access under SSL VPN and cloud gateway, which help them take full control of their infrastructure lifecycle,” says Paul. Another technology trend that is giving sleepless nights to IT heads is storage management, in particular issues regarding backup, recovery, data deluge, data protection and infrastructure shift that result in huge budget dilemmas. Shreekumar Nair, Partner Director, Backup & Recovery Systems, EMC Data Storage Systems, observes that customers are aggressively looking at reducing costs and transforming backup effectiveness with target and source-based duplication. “Backup around legacy applications has been a major challenge for IT heads, and as a trend, I can see increasing interest in absorbing data de-duplication tools to reduce the data size and save more. Summit iStorm highlights top IT priorities for the customers and vendors which includes 30 per cent increased use of server virtualisation, 24 per cent priority over managing data growth, 22 per cent focus on data backup and recovery. With the consumerisation of IT across devices, the storage, security and application delivery related challenges are further going to escalate.

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Douglas Smith | interview

Virtualise to Innovate on the Cloud

Photo graphy: Ji ten Gandhi

Douglas Smith, Vice President, Global Partner, Strategy & Operations, VMware, in conversation with N Geetha explains how IT managers are adopting cloud models in order to drive information technology and business agility, and innovate for future growth

What are customer priorities with regard to virtualisation solutions? Industry is abuzz with the BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) trend, with users running operations on personal devices. In this scenario, the IT managers’ task is more of managing user data and not just the device/s. Access to VPN becomes a challenge, more so when the applications are on the cloud. The customers’ priority is to understand how virtualisation can help them address application deployment challenges and which tools can be used to drive higher flexibility while reducing the cost of deployment.

virtualisation. Customers are thinking of how and what to virtualise to drive operational efficiency and ensure business continuity. They are thinking about virtualising missioncritical applications such as Oracle and SAP, without disrupting operations. The priority of IT heads has been to maintain the uptime which is the main criteria for implementing virtualisation tools. With regard to deployment, the first movers in the enterprise space, which would be about 30 per cent of the total customer segment, have gone in for complete virtualisation. About 70 per cent of them have deployed virtualisation partially.

How does VMware help customers with Business Continuity planning and what is the rate of its adoption by enterprises? Our approach impresses upon customer orientation towards

Please elaborate on the customers’ journey to the cloud and the role of VMware’s vis-à-vis this movement? Our customers’ current agenda is to maximise IT agility in order

to drive business, as the focus is on creating opportunities for growth. If you look at a typical enterprise, nearly threequarters of IT resources are spent on managing complex infrastructure which leaves little time and budget to focus on innovation. Our customers are finding cloud computing promising a more agile and efficient IT environment which replaces traditional, costly and inefficient computing silos with elastic, self-managed and dynamic IT infrastructure. We recommend virtualisation first, and then adoption of cloud. As part of their journey to the cloud, customers need to identify and adopt impactful innovations, execute projects rapidly, ensure dynamic scale capacity, maintain flexible architecture to support changes and decommission obsolete systems. As per our annual cloud m at u r i t y i n de x st u dy

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interview | commissioned in association with Forrester Consulting, India, at 90 per cent, leads the region in cloud relevance alongside Japan, China, Malaysia and Thailand. Understanding of cloud computing is higher here than in markets like Singapore and Malaysia. Adoption of cloud computing is also on the rise with 77 per cent companies indicating that they would do so in the next six to 18 months. However, data privacy was highlighted among the key concerns by enterprises, besides vendor lock-in, interoperability issues between different clouds factor and so on. I see hybrid clouds on the rise and becoming a reality and not the hosted SaaS model. About 30 per cent of our customers are going for the hybrid cloud model. However, IT heads should initiate a few processes before moving to a private, public or hybrid cloud. They need to analyse the portfolio and prioritise applications that will benefit most from a cloud approach. It is vital to virtualise all the workload targeted for the cloud. They must define the standard services required with associated service levels and optimise architecture, infrastructure and organisation policies to support a service consumption model. Outlining security protocols and compliance requirements are a must. Methodology to manage resources, perform chargeback and handle change management as one moves to a cloud model, must be checked. In India, I find sectors like financial services, healthcare and banking moving to a hybrid model. BFSI, manufacturing, government and SMB segments seem to have gone in for private cloud model in a big way. The idea around customers opting

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for hybrid cloud is to get the best of both the worlds, such as improving IT agility and increasing enterprise-class software for performance, security and control, as they allow IT managers to deliver the right workload in the right environment at the right cost.

You have been speaking of hybrid cloud going the open way, what does this mean to IT managers? The key to enabling enterprise hybrid cloud deployment is the standardisation of frameworks and infrastructure across the public and private clouds, which include a common platform, management and security.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;As part of the cloud journey, customers must identify and adopt impactful innovations, execute projects rapidly, ensure dynamic scale capacity, etc â&#x20AC;? The premise of a hybrid cloud can hold true only if a cloud infrastructure can seamlessly integrate with other cloud infrastructures, internal or external. Open source provides the ability to not only create these interfaces and integrations, but also allows creating a hybrid cloud with applications that can interact seamlessly across clouds. We enable our customers to deploy application servers,

Douglas Smith | interview environment and businesscritical applications being virtualised increasingly, which is currently 20 to 30 per cent. The matrix of decision-making amongst IT managers changes as they begin to categorise and think of separating logical from physical servers with regard to virtualisation. Gartner predicts that CIOs will virtualise the environment when it is fully automated and the access rates through a virtual environment will be at an all time high.

load balancers and performance management tools at the infrastructure level, while deploying applications such as messaging and collaboration, based on open source technologies, through our vFabric, cloud foundry, Zimbra, etc. We are doing pilots around the hybrid open cloud model with some service providers.

What innovations or emerging trends have you observed that may benefit IT heads? Mobile virtualisation is evolving with users putting several applications on the mobile platform. I see rules being changed in the virtualisation

Find other interviews online on the website www.itnext. in/resources/ interviews

What are the steps taken up by VMware to ease licence procurement? We have migrated to vRAM (measure to the power of VM) model and made changes in the licensing model in an effort to align costs with the benefits of virtualisation rather than with the physical attributes of each individual server. Some of the discussions with the customers were regarding the confusion over the changes to the Vsphere 5 licensing model, which we brought in based on customer feedback. They include: Increased vRAM entitlements for all vSphere editions, including the doubling of the entitlements for vSphere Enterprise and Enterprise Plus Capping the amount of vRAM we count in any given VM, so that no VM, not even the ’monster‘ 1TB vRAM VM, would cost more than one vSphere Enterprise Plus licence Adjusting the model to provide flexibility around transient workloads and short-term spikes that are typical in test and development environments In this model, the licensing is not linked to physical hardware and upfront licensing remains the same as that of variable pricing. The new model aims at giving customers the opportunity

to move to a more cloud-like ‘pay for consumption’ approach to IT. The licence is based on per processor and this removes all restrictions on physical cores and RAM. Licence procurement is made easy as this eliminates barriers to deploying Vmware’s Vsphere on new multicore server configuration, which allows customers to choose best-fit server hardware.

How has virtualisation provided better RoI and lowered TCO? We have implemented virtualisation tools across varied industry verticals including banking, IT\ ITeS, financial services. For instance, virtualisation enabled a cooperative bank to provide a dynamic platform for its core banking system and support business growth of 22 per cent, while improving efficiency and availability of IT resources. VSphere was deployed to run virtualisation across two clusters: the first comprising three servers, supporting 20 virtual machines running head office applications. The second is a six-server cluster supporting 15 virtual machines running the core banking application, which is accessed by about 1,000 staff. The platform included IBM blade servers, Netapp storage and Microsoft Windows 2008. Virtualisation technology enabled the IT manager to reduce the physical server fleet from 90 to nine as a first step towards cloud computing. It also enabled the creation of cloud environment to provide banking applications as managed services to upto 25 banks. The power consumption lowered by 25 per cent, thus lowering the cost it by 15 per cent. The IT industry customers saw a server consolidation ratio of around 30:1 and reduced server and storage hardware cost by 50 per cent.

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Desktop Virtualisation

the big

managing Desktops sans pain EXPERT PANEL

Shiva Shankar, VP & Head, IT Infrastru cture, R eliance Tech Ser vices

THE SITUATION......

Cut it from he re

Will the initiative to switch to desktop virtualisation help Pawan Gupta, Senior IT Manager of a large manufacturing industry, lower desktop TCO? Various research groups surveys have found that it costs nearly $6,000 per year to maintain a PC for its two-to-three year lifespan. For IT managers, beleagured by rising costs of IT infrastructure and maintenance, security threats and BYOD among other issues, desktop management throws up several challenges. Maintaining desktops at the workplace in the face of increasing cost of IT infrastructure, is a battle that many of them are fighting. Pawan Gupta, too, is fighting a losing battle with desktop maintenance. Additionally, he has to face a series of gruelling interrogations from the senior management over the rising IT cost. Guptaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s company has a more than 2,000 desktops, and as the IT manager, he finds himself struggling to curtail the large spending on maintaining this huge infrastructure. Not only this, he Your responses count. Log on to www.itnext.in/bigQ to submit your replies. The best entry will be published in the next print edition.

V Sr inivas, CIO, Naga rju na Fertilisers and Ch emicals Ltd

Vinaya k Khadye, CTO, India F irst L ife Insur ance Company Ltd

also has to contend with the rising demand for desktops as the business is expanding and so is the employee count. With the increasing desktop volume, the pressure on him is at an all time high to cut down costs and lower capex. While the agenda is to eliminate the TCO (total cost of ownership), Gupta also has the task of driving better desktop performance, ensuring high security, greater flexibility, simplified and streamlined management, reduced support cost, improved compliance and improved SLAs among others issues. With all the industry buzz surrounding virtualisation and cloud, Gupta is in a dilemma â&#x20AC;&#x201D;whether to go in for cloud or look at virtualisation of desktops. Gupta has tracked various server virtualisation solutions being implemented across organisations and is convinced about its virtues. However, desktop virtualisation or VDI, technology is still in the nascent stage. Gupta needs assurance of expert advice, as to whether the technology will address his business needs and if the cost benefits would justify its adoption.

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the big q

the big questions... D O P A W A N G U P T A â&#x20AC;&#x2122; S NEE D S J U S T I F Y DESKTOP VI R TUALISATION\

V D I ? W H A T FE A T URE S \ A S PEC T S D OE S HE N EED TO LOOK AT IN DE S K T O P V IRT U A L I S A T I O N \ V D I ?

WILL GUPTA BE ABLE TO ACHieVE ALL THE BUSINESS AND COST BENEFITS THAT HE SEEKS AND LOWER THE TCO? PLEASE ELABORATE HOW?

Here are the answers... SCALABILITY, ELASTICITY AND EASE FIRST ANSWER

Shiva Shankar VP & Head, IT Infrastructure, Security, Operations and Engineering, Reliance Tech Services About me: Technology/ business solutions architect with over 18 years of experience in optimising IT performance and profit gains in startups and established environments

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Pawan Gupta is facing a classic IT burst syndrome. The demand always fluctuates with added load because of the constant pressure to maintain low TCO. In the past, the situation would have demanded implementation of multiple solutions from different vendors, but with virtualisation options, IT shall be able to deliver different types of virtual desktop â&#x20AC;&#x201D; each specifically tailored to meet the performance, security and flexibility requirements of end users. Gupta can go in for a virtualised desktop environment, but needs to consider a few aspects before jumping into it. They include: a) Solution adaptability to meet the needs with right applications for each user considering the security and ease of management aspects. b) He must consider solutions that are elastic in nature and scalable. C) Ensure ease of management and self-sustenance, which do not carry operational overload.

Second Answer Typically, different employees across the enterprise need different types of desktops. Some require simple and standard tools, while others require high performance and personalisation tools. A single solution is required which can meet all requirements. Compared to traditional distributed PC with locally installed applications, desktop virtualisation improves manageability, flexibility, security, compliance and costs associated with providing and maintaining the desktop infrastructure. The cost benefit depends on the service types Gupta intends to sign up. For instance, server-based virtual desktops are unmatched for their ease of endpoint device management. With this approach, one can keep the operating system, applications and data in check. Client-side virtual desktops enable full PC-like performance while reducing the need for additional server investments. IT team creates, manages, and updates these in the data centre, then either streams them for local execution or delivers them as client side virtual machines (VMs) to the device. On-demand applications can reduce application management costs by up to 50 per cent, accelerate application delivery and can help optimise delivery for any user, anywhere, on any device. Options are available to pay only for the compute power you use. Better security of content, easy adaptation and implementation of corporate policies and security compliance requirements, anywhere and anytime workforce access to data and resources, besides reduced device repair requirements are some of the benefits of desktop virtualisation.

the big q

IMPLEMENT VDI IN PHASEd MANNER FIRST ANSWER This is the best time for Pawan to implement VDI solutions. The compelling reason for him to look at desktop virtualisation should be increased security threats, centralised hardware management capabilities with respect to maintenance, centralised application upgrades and patches installation, hardware resource pooling along with application sharing and so on. Since the volume of desktops used are big, it is ideal to take up a pilot project to virtualise a few desktops before tapping the entire volume. However, the challenge that Gupta has to face is selling virtualisation concept to his top management, with security of data and applications being the major concern. Given the challenges and increasing maintenance cost, I would recommend that Gupta takes up a phased approach and works out a plan to virtualise 250 desktops to observe the desired result and address initial concerns. He should not go in for higher desktop virtualisation, as it may disrupt operations. The existing desktops can be used as virtual desktops and it would take about three to six months to run the pilot. After using it as virtual desktops, he should replace them with Thin Clients and then enter into a good SLA with a vendor for implementing desktop virtualisation solutions. It will enable faster provisioning. Gupta needs to look at a hybrid model allowing existing infrastructure to virtualise. Once the desired result is observed, he can think of virtualising another 1,000 desktops. With the hybrid cloud model emerging, I would recommend that about 50 per cent go the cloud way and the remaining 50 per cent through the traditional method of deployment.

V Srinivas CIO, Nagarjuna Fertilisers and Chemicals Ltd About me: Technocrat with over 19 years of cross-functional experience with key exposure to IT domain including ERP-SAP system implementation with BPR initiatives, etc

Second Answer The answer to the question as to how soon Gupta can achieve the desired result, will depend upon the applications that are used and the cost involved in maintaining them. Virtualising 250 desktops can bring in the RoI (Return on Investment) in a yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s time. However, a hybrid cloud model with the existing desktops and adding new Thin Clients, would assure RoI in about two years time. The results that Gupta can be sure of are much better user experience, and centralised data security and backup. It would be an ideal case for green initiatives in the future.

VDI adoption rates across industry verticals Government sector has done maximum implementations on VDI with 40% market share 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50%

40%

Yes

30% 20% 10% 0%

Healthcare

Financial Government Technology Services

Other

Source: www.imprivata.com

% of Respondents Using VDI

VDI

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the big q

SECURITY & TIGHTER DATA CONTROL FIRST ANSWER

Vinayak Khadye Chief Technology Officer, India First Life Insurance Company About me: About 17 years of experience in delivering IT & Process Improvement initiatives in industries

Virtualisation of desktops can deliver benefits in terms of security with tighter control of organisational data, compliance, enforcing of company policies and also from an audit perspective. Manageability of desktop support and maintenance is another advantage. Faster provisioning of desktops resulting in lower time to market desktop implementation for business expansion is critical. It facilitates convenience and flexibility with BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) concept, and all of these will result in significant savings in endpoint security software licences cost, power and floor space related costs, and desktop maintenance costs. However, implementation of this initiative will require significant investments in licence procurement costs, server and storage infrastructure costs for the primary and DR data centre, and clients. Gupta may have to incur largely opex cost and very little capex cost. There may also be regulatory issues in opting for hosted model. Considering the number of desktops involved, there may not be a very strong financial business case for him to consider desktop virtualisation, although there may be high IT benefits.

Second Answer Gupta should opt for virualisation in a phased manner. He may initially virtualise only new infrastructure to support business expansion. This will deliver quick time to market as well as protect his investment in current desktop infrastructure. He may then opt for desktop virtualisation of existing desktops as and when they retire from service.

Notes NOTEs

More Resources 50

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Virtual Storage Platform anniversary: http://blogs.hds.com/hu/2011/09/happy-birthday-vsp.html How to avoid information overload: http://marksblog.emc.com/2011/09/episode-108-.html

update

off the shelf

A sneak preview of enterprise products, solutions and services

Firefox 8 Released The software was released with integrated Twitter search, other improvements

Fujitsu Rolls Out PRIMEQUEST Fujitsu India has announced the launch of the new PRIMEQUEST 1000 series, highperformance mission-critical x86 server for enterprise database, application, cloud and virtualisation environments. Fujitsu PRIMEQUEST Servers have won accolades worldwide for their highest availability. With 2000+ installations in over 24 countries worldwide in demanding industries like Banking & Finance, Telecom, Manufacturing & Utilities, PRIMEQUEST is proving to be the best choice ever for database servers, ERP platforms, legacy modernisation, virtualisation platforms and HPC.

Illustrati on by Anil t

NEW OS SOFTWARE | Firefox 8 has officially

key features

* Integrated Twitter search been released. It comes with the usual slew * Lets you enable/disable add-ons of security and stability updates, but also as desired has numerous new features. * Simplified features One of the most interesting new * Helps perform much faster features is a check Firefox performs after installation, where it lets you see the status of your add-ons’ compatibility with the new version, letting you enable/disable add-ons as desired. Additionally, Firefox 8 now automatically disables any add-ons installed without the user’s permission. Many applications such as Free Download Manager, BitComet, Skype, etc., include add-ons for better integration with Firefox, but not all of them ask for your permission before installing the add-on, nor do they let you opt out of such an installation. For some users this can mean forced add-ons, impacting the performance and stability of Firefox. Such addons will now default to disabled, and the user will have an option to install such an add-on on launch. Another feature of Firefox that can have a huge impact on power surfers, is a new load-on-demand feature for tabs.

Speaking on the occasion, Mark Wilson, Senior Vice President, Fujitsu Technology Solutions, said, “PRIMEQUEST is the ultimate in open mission critical x86 servers. So far it is unmatched in the market.” The PRIMEQUEST 1800E2 features the latest Intel Xeon processor E7 family. This cutting-edge server is certified for Red Hat Enterprise Linux, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, Oracle Solaris, Oracle Virtual Machine, Microsoft Windows Server, and VMware vSphere. It meets Fujitsu’s stringent green environmental assessment standard and has been certified as a “Fujitsu super green product”. Product Features * Reliability and Availability * Hardware Redundancy * Performance and Scalability * Eco-Friendly ICT

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update

Lenovo C320 all-in-one desktop PC now in India Features * 20-inch LED-backlit display * 2nd generation Intel Core i3 processor * Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0. * Dynamic Brightness System software

Desktop pC | Lenovo India has announced a new addition to its All-in-One (AIO)

desktop PC lineup — the Lenovo C320. The sleek built of the device is a big space saver. The Lenovo C320 is also more affordable and comes with a host of other multimedia functions. “We create technology tools so users can do more. Our latest all-in-one desktop gives consumers just that by combining strong performance in a compact and affordable PC,” says Rajesh Thadani, Director, Consumer Segment, Lenovo India. “We’ve infused the C320 AIO desktop with leading technology, resulting in brilliant images, rocking sound, and touchscreen technology for a great entertainment experience,” he adds. The C320 AIO has a large 20-inch LED-backlit display with optional multitouch touchscreen support, which is supposed to make the computing experience more interactive. The device is powered by second generation Intel Core i3 processor with Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0. Users can watch DVDs using the AIO’s DVD player/optional burner, or stream movies through the WiFi connection. For an even bigger screen experience to watch videos, consumers can hook up an HDTV or monitor via the PC’s HDMI port (not part of the unit).

Motorola Droid Razr XT910 Available Online MOBILE | Motorola’s Droid Razr XT910 is now available in India via online retailers like Flipkart.com for Rs 33,990. Dubbed as the world’s slimmest smartphone, the Droid Razr XT910 runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system and features a 1.2 GHz dual-core Cortex A9 processor. The Droid Razr XT910 comes with a 4.3-inch AMOLED capacitive touchscreen with 540 x 960 pixels resolution. It has 8 MP primary and 1.3 MP secondary cameras. It has a 16 GB of internal storage, which can be expanded up to 32 GB via microSD card. For connectivity, the device supports WiFi, GPRS, 3G and Bluetooth. The

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Apple iPhone 4S Launched in India Aircel launched the long-awaited iPhone 4S last month as per schedule announced on its official Facebook page. Airtel also launched the device at the same time. The 16 GB variant of the iPhone 4S has been priced at Rs 44,500. The launch of the iPhone 4S comes nearly a month after Apple launched the device in the US. Earlier, Apple had launched the iPhone 4 in India nearly a year after its launch in the US. The iPhone 4S comes with a dualcore processor, an 8 MP camera and intelligent voice recognition software Siri. It also features a PowerVR SGX543MP2 GPU, which according to benchmarks is the fastest handset in the market where graphics are concerned. The iPhone 4S’ popularity has been marred by its battery issues. Apple recently released iOS 5.0.1 after a number of iPhone users complained about its battery life.

Key Advantages * 1.2 GHz dual-core Cortex-A9 CPU * Android OS, v2.3.5 (Gingerbread) * Weight: 127 gm * Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen

Droid Razr also comes with a 1,780 mAh Li-On battery. The device has various preloaded apps including MotoCast, YouTube, Google Talk and Google Search. Now that the Droid Razr XT910 is available online, we can expect Motorola to formally introduce the device in India anytime soon. The gadget-happy can look forward to another ‘sharp’ device.

update

open Debate

book For you A platform to air your views on latest developments and issues that impact you

Will BYOD increase IT managers’ challenges?

Upasna Saluja Operational Resiliency Manager, Product & Infrastructure Risk Management, Thomson Reuters Earlier, CIOs and IT teams brought in innovations and designed the IT landscape; today it is users. BYOD has brought increased challenges for IT managers, essentially on two fronts — increased risks of exposing company data and operational hassles in managing different types of devices. Once BYOD policy and access to employee-owned devices has been enabled, the other nightmare that IT managers will face is covering risk of information loss through these multiple devices.

U Arun Kumar Sheth Head, Software Development, Gati Ltd

Dharmaraj Ramakrishnan Head, Core Banking, ING Vysya Bank Ltd

BYOD does provide certain benefits but also throws up many challenges. Smartphones and tablets have contributed to the trend. However, BYOD creates a heterogeneous environment and the integration process will challenge the internal security system. Data protection becomes a priority for the IT manager and this calls for increased backup frequency. Constant antivirus updates become the need of the hour. BYOD should be restricted to accessing emails. BYOD may not be a smart concept (barring laptop it is not very user-friendly).

In a short time, BYOD has become a jargon. But for businesses, simply allowing access to personal devices isn’t the answer. It’s a question of enabling relevant, secure access across the entire network, while protecting corporate assets and delivering an optimal user experience. This places a huge pressure on networks and IT managers, who need to identify and provision access for a multitude of devices, while maintaining a high level of security, performance and control. BYOD is about creating a user-focussed network that supports next-generation mobility experience.

Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Bio Title: Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography Author: Walter Isaacson Publisher: Little Brown Pages: 627 Price: Rs 799 Reviewed by: Anoop Verma

Steve Jobs is easy to glamorise. His death is being treated as the loss of technology’s messiah. The biography of the man who has played a stellar role in bringing digital culture into the mainstream, reads like the history of modern digital revolution. The book is based on more than 40 interviews that Steve Jobs gave to the author. Jobs, who was 56 when he died, told Isaacson he wanted “the truth out”. There are no punches pulled, and Jobs gets described as a charismatic and inspiring leader, tech-visionary, and also as a man who could be very tough and even mean, when situations called for. There is no dearth of moments in the book that make you go ‘wow.’ There is the story of the turnaround that Jobs engineered in the company after he returned as the CEO in 1997. In the previous fiscal year, Apple had lost $1.04 bn, but he returned it to profit in the first quarter. The launch of iTunes store is a story by itself — the store was expected to sell a million songs in six months, but it sold a million songs in just six days. IT NEXT VERDICT

Your views and opinion matter to us. Send us your feedback on stories and the magazine to the Editor at editor@itnext.in

The book is a great accomplishment; there is lots to enjoy in the amazing life that Walter Isaacson has recounted. Star Value:

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the web f r o m

www.itnext.in Read IT Next stories published online. The links of these stories can also be accessed through your mobiles/smartphones using QR code.

TOP BI NEWS

How Big is BI in India? The market for business intelligence (BI) software in India is forecast to reach revenue of $81.5 mn in 2012, a 15.6 per cent increase over 2011, according to Gartner, Inc Worldwide BI software market revenue is forecast to grow 8.7 per cent to reach approximately $12.7 bn in 2012. Gartner says demand drivers include consumerisation of BI and support for extreme data performance. HOT READ

CIOs losing control of IT budgets: Gartner

http://www.itnext.in/content/how-big-biindia-about-81-mn-2012.html

Gartner predicts CIOs will lose control of 25 per cent of IT spending to the CMOs by 2014. But that’s not all — things seem to get scarier (from the perspective of the IT guys at least). By 2017, the research firm estimates that CMOs will have a larger IT budget than the CIOs. These findings and other trends were shared by Peter Sondergaard, Senior VP, Global Research, Gartner recently. http://www.itnext.in/ content/cios-losing-control-it-budgets-gartner. html

MORE LAY OFFS

Nokia Siemens to cut 17,000 jobs Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN), the world’s second-largest maker of mobile phone network equipment, is axing 17,000 jobs, nearly a quarter of its workforce, to help save about $1.35 bn a year. The cut is reportedly to ready the firm for an IPO. http://www.itnext.in/ content/nokia-siemenscut-17000-jobs.html

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OPINION

Getting Media Savvy to Grow

TOP DISCUSSION

Can Sabeer Bhatia Do a Hotmail to SMS? If you believe the promise made by Hotmail’s Co-founder in his press announcement, he may as well. Called Jaxtr Inc, the new venture is founded by Bhatia and Yogesh Patel. It is a crossplatform, open texting application to send free SMSes to anyone in the world. http://www.itnext.in/content/can-sabeerbhatia-do-hotmail-sms.html

“IT heads do get several insights into the various aspects of life with the help of the media,” says Vinay Dhumale It is interesting to watch how colours, shapes, forms, gestures, pictures, spoken words, calligraphy, beats, rhythm and music, give life to human expression. The capability of human mind to arrange each element of life, based on several permutations and combinations, will drive the evolution of any kind, technology not being an exception. This is a sure sign of an evolving human mind. The combination of the above-mentioned elements could be broadly termed as what we now know as ‘media’. While the term media is not related to the IT managers or their roles in particular, it is critical to find how it can be leveraged by IT heads for growth in career or in expanding their knowledge. http://www.itnext.in/ content/getting-mediasavvy-grow.html

from the web TOP HONOURS

Bharat Goenka gets Nasscom Lifetime Award Bharat Goenka, 50, Co-founder and Managing Director of Tally Solutions, the company that is synonymous with accounting software in India, has been honoured with the Life Time Achievement Award by NASSCOM. This is the first such award from the premier software association of the country. The award recognises Goenka as the ‘Father of the Indian software products industry’. “Receiving this award has been an overwhelming experience. Recognition from your peers and contemporaries is very special. The award really belongs to my father, Mr SS Goenka, to all our customers, partners and Tally family,” said Goenka in a company release. http://www.itnext.in/content/bharat-goenka-gets-nasscom-lifetime-award.html

GREEN NEWS

Wipro tops Greenpeace list of Indian firms Greenpeace has released a new and upgraded version of its Guide to Greener Electronics wherein Wipro retains the top slot followed by HCL Infosystem in the Indian version. The international version ranks the IT manufacturing company HP at the top slot, taking the lead over Dell and Nokia. Three new companies are included in the latest version of the guide. Research in Motion, manufacturer of BlackBerry phones, is included in the international list, while Chirag Computers and SAI InfoSystem are in the Indian guide. http://www.itnext. in/content/wiprotops-greenpeace-listindian-firms.html

Profiling

MC Srivastava: An Out-of-the-Box Thinker The senior IT manager of Systems at IFFCO wants to implement cutting-edge technology and provide ‘good services’. An ardent follower of Captain GR Gopinath and Ratan Tata, Mahesh Chandra Srivastava, Senior Manager

TOP TELECOM NEWS

Telecom to Rule Indian IT Spend at $54 bn Gartner estimates that out of the total spending of $79.8 bn in 2012, IT services will be No. 2 at $11 bn. IT spending in India is projected to be $79.8 bn in 2012, a 9.1 per cent increase over the 2011 spending of $73.1 bn, according to Gartner, Inc. Despite global economic challenges, enterprises will continue to invest in IT. http://www.itnext.in/content/ telecom-rule-indian-itspending-54-bn.html

(Systems) at Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO), admires the outsidethe-box ideas that these two business luminaries have made a reality. Srivastava says not many Indian business people qualify for the title of great dreamers. Most are dynastic successors. “But these two, are different. They have not only come up with new visions but also driven them to reality,” he says. http://www.itnext.in/ content/mc-srivastavaout-box-thinker.html

HOT PRODUCT NEWS

New LED Printers from Epson Epson has launched the company’s first range of high performance LED printers that will replace its entry-level laser printer device range. The new range comprises monochrome, colour singlefunction and all-in-one devices and features a high-performance LED technology that produces high-quality, high-speed prints with space and power savings. http://www.itnext.in/content/new-ledprinters-epson.html

D E C E M b e r 2 0 1 1 | itnext 5 5

cube chat | Ravish Jhala

Serving Better

with IT

“I feel proud that I was one of the first engineers in the country to install blade servers,” says Ravish Jhala, Systems Manager, Trident Hotel, Mumbai By Anoop Ve rma

My sucess

mantra Be strong to be useful

itnext | D e c e m B E R 2 0 1 1

avish Jhala gamely agrees that much of what a hotel does seems to happen offline. After all, you can’t deliver room service or make beds with the click of a mouse or with a few taps on the keyboard. However, he emphasises the fact that an IT backbone has a crucial role to play in ensuring that the various tasks get executed with perfection. He says, “I believe the foremost task of the IT team should be to create simple and workable solutions; increase efficiency of routine tasks and reduce operating costs. It should never shy away from bringing in all possible innovations, even if they are saving the company very small sums of money,” he adds. In college, Jhala planned a career in automobile engineering. Eventually he opted for electronics on his father’s advice. He landed in an IT job after his education which commenced

his IT journey. “All credit goes to my father for gently nudging me into the this space,” he says. He draws inspiration from Subroto Bagchi and Narayana Murthy. “I admire Narayana Murthy for the great values he brings in.” Subroto Bagchi’s Go Kiss the World: Life Lessons for the Young Professionals, is one of Jhala’s favourite books. Currently, Jhala manages IT related infrastructure at Trident, the plush 435-room hotel located at Bandra Kurla in North Mumbai. He says that as hospitality industry in the country is growing at a healthy rate, it is imperative for topnotch hotels to focus on IT for bringing in efficiency into their operations and improving their overall quality of service. Some of the innovations that he, along with his team, has implemented at Trident hotel include Visitor Management Systems, GoConceirge.Net, A&G software, Guest History Software, and a few others.

cube chat

Fact File Name Ravish Jhal a Cu rrent designatio n Systems M anager

Photography:

Jite n Gandhi

“It is imperative for top-notch hotels to focus on IT for bringing efficiency into their operations and improving their overall quality of services” On a more personal level, Ravish is responsible for creating the platform called HOSPITECH, which is short for Hospitality Technology Leaders Forum. He says, “Being the founder and advisory committee member of HOSPITECH, the onus lies on me to drive the IT think-tank for the industry’s success.” His real IT journey started with his stint at Compaq/HP. HP assigned the task of installing Blade servers at Reliance facility in Mahpe. His greatest challenge was to ensure the smooth deployment prompt response time in coordination with HP’s technical team from Mumbai and Bangalore. With the successful implementation of this project, Ravish Jhala became one of the first engineers in India to install blade servers.

His journey led him to take up a career at the sunrise hospitality sector. He joined Hyatt Hotels and Resorts at their regional office in India. Jhala experienced a complete transformation in the nature of the work that he had been doing so far. In his new role, he called the shots with regard to the IT deployments and vendor products. As the field of IT is being constantly wafted by winds of change, Ravish Jhala keeps himself up-to-date with constant research, important journals, websites and interactions with industry experts. He likes to track evolving technologies. Besides work, he is keen on watching movies along with his wife, Tejal, and son, Siddh. When asked about his idea of a dream vacation, he answered promptly, “I would like to take my family on a world tour.”

Cu rrent role M anaging IT for Trident Hotel, Bandr a Kurl a, M um bai. Provide world-c l as s servi ce experienc e to our internal and external guests. D eveloping team for future Expertise D eveloping new solutions; Resea rc h on new tec hnologies , Hospitalit y technologies solutions; Telecommuni c ation s ; Leadershi p; Creatin g knowledge pl atfor m for indust ry; Writi n g arti cles on IC T Work Experienc e 12 years Favourite quote “Knowing is not enough, you must apply. W illing is not enough, you must do.” –Bruc e L ee Favourite destination G oa Favourite gadget for work M y mind and heart Favourite personal gadget M y pen

d e c e m B E R 2 0 1 1 | itnext

update

indulge

The hottest, the coolest and the funkiest nextgeneration gadgets and devices for you.

Here is a preview of some tech toys and trends to help you make up your mind before you go splurging on one. NEW Hasselblad H4D-200MS A 200 MP camera from Hasselblad stables, it can capture single shots at 50 MP of still subjects and six shots of very still subjects of 200 MP resolution. Price: $45,000

Jarre AeroDream One Who said Ipod docks need to be compact? Well, not Jean Micheal Jarre for sure? With 10,000 rms power, most delivered by 18 inch sub, it stands 11 foot tall and weighs 400 kgs and costs a little over half a million US dollars.

HOT Lamborghini Aventador LP 700-4 You can own Robert Gulpenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s handcrafted gold, platinum and 2,000 precious stones studded lamborghini. Price: ` 24 crore

Like something? Want to share your objects of desire? Send us your wish-list or feedback to editor@itnext.in

itnext | D E C em b er 2 0 1 1

Anoop Verma

my log

Consulting Editor, Next Connect

Anil T

Yahoo! and the Houyhnhnms

illu

s t r at i

on:

With its unmatched patent portfolio, there are many a Houyhnhnms eyeing Yahoo!'s hot seat

3 Essential

Reads

DouGlAs smitH | INTERVIEW

ViRtUALiSe tO innOVAte On tHe CLOUD

p H oto G r A p H Y: J i t e n GA n D H i

Douglas Smith, Vice president, Global partner, strategy & operations, Vmware, in conversation with N geetha explains how it managers are adopting cloud models in order to drive information technology and business agility, and innovate for future growth

How does VMware help customers with Business Continuity planning and what is the rate of its adoption by enterprises? Our approach impresses upon customer orientation towards

Please elaborate on the customers’ journey to the cloud and the role of VMware’s vis-à-vis this movement? Our customers’ current agenda is to maximise IT agility in order

itnext | d e c e m B e R 2 0 1 1

d e c e m B e R 2 0 1 1 | itnext

Douglas Smith, VP, VMware, on virtualisation to opitimise & innovate on cloud Pg 36 uBuntu on ClouD | INSIgHT

Ubuntu Aspires to Own the

pH oto Gr A pHs : s uBH o Ji t pAu l

Cloud While Ubuntu has been most closely associated with the desktop, the project’s server variant has grown more prominent in recent years, particularly in the context of cloud computing

Based on my tests of Ubuntu Server 11.10, the project’s cloud attractiveness shows no sign of abating. The new version, which shipped alongside its desktop-oriented sibling two weeks ago, is packed with tools for building, orchestrating and running on clouds — private and public. Version 11.10, also known as Oneiric Ocelot, is one of the project’s fast-moving, short support-term releases. It includes more than a few rough edges in its new features, which I hope to see smoothed out for the next Long Term Support (LTS) edition of Ubuntu set to arrive in the spring. In particular, what I found lacking was the documentation for 11.10’s key new features, such as deploying OpenStack private clouds. For now, most Ubuntu private cloud documentation refers to the now-deprecated Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud feature based on Eucalyptus’ open-source EC2 workalike. Having said this, the Ubuntu Server 11.10 has me looking forward to spring’s LTS version and I have been impressed enough with the current state of its management tools to keep an example of it running in our lab, to help with server and middleware installs for our tests. For production purposes,

“We opted to implement our payroll packaged on Linux, and it is running satisfactorily for past eight years”

BY JAS O N B R O O KS

Vinay Mehta, cIO, escorts construction equipment Ltd

d e c e m B e R 2 0 1 1 | itnext

Ubuntu Server 11.10 tests prove that it's cloud attractiveness is still going strong Pg 28 CUBE CHAT | rAVisH JHAlA

CUBE CHAT

Serving Better

FAC T F I l E nAme r AV i s H J H A l A C u r r e n t D es i G n At i o n sYst e m s m A n AG e r

with IT

“i feel proud that i was one of the first engineers in the country to install blade servers,” says Ravish Jhala, Systems manager, Trident Hotel, mumbai

“It is imperative for top-notch hotels to focus on IT for bringing efficiency into their operations and improving their overall quality of services”

MY SUCESS

MANTRA Be strong to be useful

itnext | d e c e m B e R 2 0 1 1

pH oto GrAp HY:

Ji ten GAn D Hi

BY ANOOP V E R M A

On a more personal level, Ravish is responsible for creating the platform called HOSPITECH, which is short for Hospitality Technology Leaders Forum. He says, “Being the founder and advisory committee member of HOSPITECH, the onus lies on me to drive the IT think-tank for the industry’s success.” His real IT journey started with his stint at Compaq/HP. HP assigned the task of installing Blade servers at Reliance facility in Mahpe. His greatest challenge was to ensure the smooth deployment prompt response time in coordination with HP’s technical team from Mumbai and Bangalore. With the successful implementation of this project, Ravish Jhala became one of the first engineers in India to install blade servers.

Current role m A n AG i n G i t Fo r t r i D e n t H ot e l , BA n D r A K u r l A , m u m BA i . p r oV i D e Wo r l D - C l As s s e r V i C e eX p e r i e n C e to o u r i n t e r n A l A n D eX t e r n A l G u ests . D e V e lo p i n G t e A m Fo r Future eX p e rt i s e D e V e lo p i n G n e W s o lu t i o n s ; r es e A r C H o n n e W t eC H n o lo G i es , H o s p i tA l i t Y t eC H n o lo G i es s o lu t i o n s ; t e l eC o m m u n i C At i o n s ; l e A D e r s H i p ; C r e At i n G K n oW l e D G e p l At Fo r m Fo r i n D u st rY; W r i t i n G A rt i C l es o n i C t Wo r K eX p e r i e n C e 12 YeArs FAVo u r i t e Q u ot e “ K n oW i n G i s n ot e n o u G H , Yo u m u st A p p lY. W i l l i n G i s n ot e n o u G H , Yo u m u st D o.” –BruCe lee FAVourite DestinAtion G oA FAVo u r i t e GA D G e t Fo r Wo r K m Y m i n D A n D H e A rt FAVo u r i t e p e r s o n A l GA D G e t mY pen

d e c e m B e R 2 0 1 1 | itnext

Ravish Jhala, Systems Manager, Trident, Mumbai, dishes up IT in hospitality Pg 56

In his famous novel, Gulliver’s Travels, Jonathan Swift has described the Yahoos, as savage creatures resembling human beings far too closely. So closely, in fact, that they are complete yokels, with filthy and rather boorish habits. Complete opposite of the Yahoos, are the Houyhnhnms, caricatured in the book as a rational society of intelligent horses. Perhaps it is due to Gulliver’s Travels that the term Yahoo started being commonly used to signify an unsophisticated hooligan. In the 1960s' Bollywood blockbuster, Junglee, we had Shammi Kapoor dancing to, 'Yahoo! Chahe koi mujhe junglee kahe'. Yahoo! began its journey towards becoming a global brand in the 1990s; one that would change the way computer users communicate with each other and find and access information on the internet. As Yahoo! rose in popularity and power, the inimitable savage humanoids, the Yahoos of Gulliver’s Travels faded from public memory. The term 'Yahoo' became associated with excellence in the field of IT and a flawless corporate culture. But the two founders of Yahoo!, David Filo and Jerry Yang, insist that they picked up the name as they thought that Yahoo stands for the rude, unsophisticated and uncouth. In 2008, Microsoft tried to buy its way into the 21st century by dangling a bait of $45 bn in front of the Yahoo! board. The bid was rejected and Carol Bartz took over as the new CEO. Yet, the company’s

performance continued to hit new lows. Eventually Carol Bartz was sacked for non-performance, and she raged, “The company’s board was trying to show that they’re not the doofuses that they are.” Dan Loeb, the hedge-fund investor who recently purchased five per cent stake in the company, is now openly calling for Jerry Yang, Yahoo’s founder, to be deposed. Yahoo! has clearly lost its way. It seems most likely that the company will get sold. But there are too many contenders for the post of Houyhnhnms, or the rational and intelligent horses, who might eventually take over the beleaguered company. Is the Yahoo! Co-founder, Jerry Yang, a potential buyer or a seller in any deal? It is being reported that Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Softbank are in talks with privateequity funds to make a hostile bid for all of Yahoo!. Microsoft continues to have designs on Yahoo!. If Microsoft manages to acquire Yahoo!, it will be able to take on the competition from Google and Facebook. Yahoo! is receiving very little attention in the area of patents. It owns 1,100 patents in the USA, and has 2,661 applications pending! It is unclear, but if the rates that Google has paid for Motorola Mobility’s patents are anything to go by, then it is surmised that Yahoo’s patent portfolio has quite a huge value apart from its overall business. Did someone say Yahoo!

d e c e m B E R 2 0 1 1 | itnext

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