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News
| Microsoft unveils cloud-based operating system in India |
| 9 Mar 2010, 0219 hrs IST, ET Bureau
NEW DELHI: The world’s largest software maker Microsoft on Monday made its cloud-based operating system commercially available for Indian users.
The computer power on Windows Azure, a cloud-based operating system hosted in Microsoft’s data centers, will be available at $0.12 on an hourly basis, while storage on Azure will cost enterprises $0.15 per GB on a monthly basis.
The web edition of its database service SQL Azure will be available at about $10 per month for up to 1 GB. The business edition of its database service will be priced at about $100 per month for up to 10 GB of database per month.
Rajan Anandan, managing director, Microsoft India, said: “All of our popular products are already cloud-ready, and we have a clear future roadmap to provide anytime, anywhere access across diverse devices spanning computer, mobile and Internet.”
The company claims to have over 3,000 applications developed from India that are currently hosted on the cloud platform. It already claims to have about 250 small and medium-sized customers in India. There are about 22,000 developers from India who are making applications on the Azure platform. Companies like Infosys, HCL Technologies, Persistent Software, Wings Info, Cerebrate and CDC Software are developing commercial applications and solutions on Windows Azure platform.
Microsoft’s estimates reveal that with the Windows Azure Platform, customers and partners can realise a reduction in Total Cost of Operations of key workloads by up to 30 to 40% over a three year period. The announcement makes Microsoft one of the few companies in India that is ready to offer cloud-based services across all three service layers in the cloud, including infrastructure, platform and software applications.
For software-as-a-service, Microsoft had launched Microsoft Online Services, Office Web Apps, Microsoft Hosted Dynamics, Office Communication online and SharePoint online in November last year. For infrastructure-as-a-service, Microsoft had launched its offerings via Reliance ADAG, Netmagic last year. The platform as a service stack was rolled out today as part of Windows Azure and SQL Azure launch.
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| Date: |
Tuesday,9th March 2010 |
|
| Govt mulls $10 bn spend on e-Gov programme |
|
25 Feb 2010, 0505 hrs IST, PTI
MUMBAI: The government plans to spend $10-billion on the National e-Governance program, a senior Government official said. “The government has committed about $10-billion to this program, of which composite of some investment is coming from private partners and also from the State Governments, ministry of communication & information technology, additional secretary, S R Rao, told reporters on the sidelines of CII organised conference here on Wednesday.
Currently, its a $10-billion kitty but everyday more and more investments are coming in, he said. “In this current financial year, it could be to the order of Rs 5,000-6 ,000-crore at the minimum but I think it would be as large as Rs 8,000-crore ,” Rao said. In 2006, the government approved the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) comprising of 27 Mission Mode Projects (MMPs) and eight components.
“e-Governance will be promoted as a centralised initiative, to the extent necessary, to ensure citizen service orientation, to realise the objective of inter-operability of various e-Governance applications and to ensure optimal utilisation of ICT infrastructure/ resources,” Rao said.
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| Date: |
Thursday,25th February 2010 |
|
| IT Hardware: Vision 2020 |
| IT hardware: Vision 2020
22 Feb 2010, 0509 hrs IST, Ajai Chowdhry, ETOnline
The worst is behind us. This, however, is not to strike an optimistic chord, but to realise the necessity to focus on an ascent imperative for India — one of the most growth-intensive economies in the world today. Take the case of the IT hardware industry. In 2005, the total PC units sales were 4.93 million, growing to 8.07 million in 2007. However, 2008 saw a sudden drop in October-December quarter and, hence, only 7.98 million PCs were sold/manufactured in the country . This dropped to 7.82 million in 2009.
Given the direct impact this industry has on GDP, what is required is a sound policy that will drive onwards to a vision spanning the next decade till 2020. Budget 2010 must comprise the uniqueness expected of it, considering it is the first after the global crisis. As for IT, the choice is distinct: an astute focus on making PCs as common as the refrigerator or the television, or even the telephone.
We have come a long way on our road to prosperity . On this road, IT has been the driver, the enabler across sectors. In fact, the electronic highway is as clear and present to India as e-governance stands foremost in development. Having said this, it is pertinent to make e-governance projects time-bound . Every Budget has a vision and goal for e-governance .
What is required is to establish regular and appropriate rollout of projects that will help not only the industry but also enable the government to drive reforms and programmes, the largest potential customer. Whenever the government allocates funds to departments and states, these must be spent in a time-bound manner, i.e., a clear date must be given to spend the funds and complete the project. A recent example has been the APDRP power project rollout by the government, where if the funds are spent in the stipulated time, it will turn a grant into a loan.
It is also essential to convert IT benefits for sectors like education, small and medium enterprises, household and telemedicine, with a focus on rural areas, to make the government’s agenda of inclusive growth a success story. In UPA-II’s first Budget in July 2009, the education sector got an impetus with Mission in Education throughICT. Programmeslikethesearenotonlyinsync with developmental goals of the country but also complement IT as a welfare sector.
On the road to this end-result , badly needed on the ground is ‘free’ access to PCs, therefore, easy financing for hardware. Lack of consumer finance for purchase of IT products, coupled with high interest rates on the one hand and economic downturn on the other, have crippled the growth of domestic IT industry.
Take auto industry, which witnessed a phenomenal growth despite the initial after-effects of the meltdown tremors. Easy financing from banks and lucrative schemes have seen the sector score an impressive double-digit growth. Likewise, PC industry is in need of financing options, more so since household costs have escalated because of inflation, and PC purchase has taken a backseat in the common man’s scheme of things.
There are recent examples with projects like the Gujarat IT Flood where the rate of PC adoption went significantly up on the introduction of easy loans — as per industry sources, it is estimated that close to 30,000 computers were picked up in afewmonthsthroughthis financing route. Financial institutions like cooperative banks and nationalised banks are actively taking into consideration the need, but it needs a policy push to make financing for PCs a priority-sector funding. Further , the overall process of loan disbursement for purchase of IT products should be made simple, timebound , faster and easy for the consumer.
A simple step could also be 100% depreciation offered on PC purchases — via the tax-exemption route — to make them as common as household electronic goods. The fiscal incentive package, which announced excise duty/CVD rates at 8% on all IT hardware products, should remain, even if the government, burdened by the ballooning fiscal deficit, decides to revisit the stimulus as the industry is still struggling. Structural congruity is compromised by the lack of alignment between the rate of service tax (currently at 8%) and excise duty or CVD (10%).
On software, the government policy must support purchasing of genuine software. The duty policy has been fuzzy for the last three years. Do software products attract service tax or VAT? Currently, both are charged. In addition, there is CVD on media. This has created severe hardship in the distribution of software products in the country and the cost of software has unnecessarily gone up. This needs immediate correction.
Another key issue is the policy on abatement that continues to plague the industry. Excise duty or CVD on IT products, including notebooks, printers and set-top boxes, continue on their MRPs since January 2005. There is a provision of 20% abatement in the local taxes and the channel margins. However, the current abatement rate is a far cry from the prevailing cost structures. Withthecurrentapplicablerate,effectivedutyhasgone up by at least 50%.
What is required, therefore, is that the abatement rate be brought up to 35%, on a par with similar consumer durables. Budget 2010 must also be tuned to contain outflow of foreign currency reserves in the long run, consideringthatbetweencalendar 2014and2020,Indiaisslated to foot a higher electronics import bill than its total payout for oil imports.
By this fact, an elaborate scope of reductioninthecountry’selectronicsimportsandmaximisation of domestic manufacturing of IT and electronic items is primary. I believe the government must set up a national electronics mission to create a comprehensive environment for electronics manufacturing. We do have an opportunity to make a difference. Thisshouldbeconnectedtoapriorityforalong-termvision for electronics hardware manufacturing.
(The author is chairman and CEO of HCL Infosystems) |
| Date: |
Monday,22nd February 2010 |
|
| PC sales in the first-half of 2009-10 cross 3.71 million units |
| · Notebooks sales revive but Desktops, Servers and Printers continue to be sluggish
· Industry body advocates measures to sustain growth in these challenging times
New Delhi; February 11, 2010: MAIT, the apex body representing India’s IT hardware, training and R&D services sectors, today announced the findings of its Industry Performance Review for the first-half of financial year 2009-10. The total PC sales between April and September 2009, with desktop computers, notebooks and netbooks taken together, were 3.71 million (37.1 lakh) units, registering a growth of one per cent over the same period last fiscal. The sales of desktops stood at 2.61 million (26.1 lakh) units registering a decline of eleven per cent. Notebooks and Netbooks taken together recorded a consumption of 1.1 million (11 lakh) units, growing forty-three percent over the same period last year. Given the current macro-economic conditions and conservative buying sentiment in the market, PC sales are expected to cross 7.3 million (73 lakh) units in FY 2009-10, growing seven percent.
Commenting on the findings of the study, MAIT Executive Director, Mr Vinnie Mehta said:
“Although the sales growth was subdued in the enterprises, the overall consumption in the PC market was led by telecom, banking and financial service sectors, education and households segment. Verticals such as BPO/IT-enabled services, retail and the government, which traditionally account for significant proportion of the IT market, were very conservative in their IT spends in H1/2009-10. The first-half of the current fiscal also witnessed deviations from the traditional downward trend in pricing for IT products as the dollar continued to be significantly strong compared to the rupee. This was mitigated, to an extent, by price drops due to technology reasons and also due to intense competition. Going forward, with signs of revival in the domestic economy, we expect positive growth for PCs and other IT products for the fiscal 2009-10.”
Delineating his thoughts on sustaining the growth of IT consumption in the country especially in these challenging times, MAIT President, Mr Ravi Aggarwal said: “Stability in policy frame-work both at the centre and the states is critical for sustenance and growth of business. It is worrisome that while most sectors of the Indian economy have started reviving; the overall sentiment in the IT hardware business remains sluggish. MAIT has emphasized in its recommendations for the forthcoming Union Budget that the stimulus package introduced by the Government last year to counter the adverse impact of the global economic downturn be continued. MAIT has strongly recommended that the 8% excise duty on all IT products and components be maintained. Further, it has also stressed on the removal of 4% Special Additional Duty (SAD), which is a significant cost for the local manufacturers as also enhancing the low rate of abatement for MRP based excise duty assessment for IT products such as notebooks, printers, modems, etc. which makes such products expensive.”
Stressing on the need for urgently implementing the recommendations of the recent Department of IT Taskforce, he added, “The Taskforce has suggested several measures to overcome the hurdles being faced by the industry not only in the short-run, but has also defined a roadmap for the industry in the medium and long-run. It should be made mandatory for nationalised and PSU banks to earmark funds for easy and subsidised loans for purchase of IT products and solutions for the SMEs and the home consumers, especially for education. Similarly, Governments – Central and State should extend interest free loans to all their employees for purchase of IT products. Further, as several e-governance projects are being rolled out, these need to be replicated across all the states in the country and completed at an accelerated pace. Providing for local-language interface will be critical for the success of such projects, especially those aimed at Government-citizen interface.”
The bi-annual MAIT Industry Performance Review – ITOPs, conducted by India’s leading market research firm IMRB International is a survey of the IT hardware sector’s efforts to manage the business environment, gauge the market potential and consumer trends. This round of the study involved face-to-face interviews with over 25,000 respondents selected randomly across 22 cities in India. The MAIT-IMRB study was initiated in 1996-97 and encompasses five broad product segments — computers, networking products, printers, other peripherals and Internet connections. Apart from the half-yearly review, a supply-side estimation module is used to monitor industry performance every quarter, alternating with the half-yearly review.
Some salient findings of the H1 2009-10 Study are given below.
The Desktop Market:
· Market segmentation by organised vs. unorganised segments: Multinational brands accounted for fifty-two per cent of the total desktop market in H1/2009-10, registering a decline of seven per cent over the same period last year. The proportion of Indian brands increased to twenty-two per cent, registering a year-on-year growth of two per cent. Consumption of assembled desktops, the smaller and lesser-known regional brands and unbranded systems witnessed a decline of thirty-eight percent in H1/2009-10, their market share declining to twenty-six percent of the total desktop sales.
· Market segmentation by businesses vs. household consumption: Businesses accounted for fifty-three per cent of the desktop sales with a thirty-two per cent decline in consumption. The impact of economic slowdown was most pronounced in the businesses segment. Sales to large and small enterprises declined fifty-four per cent and fourteen per cent respectively. Sales increased ten per cent in medium enterprises. The large and medium enterprises accounted for forty-one and forty-two percent of the market respectively.
Households contributed to account for forty-seven per cent of the total desktop market, registering a growth of forty per cent over H1/2008-09. Consumption in the SEC A grew by four percent accounting for twenty-four percent of the market share in the households segment. SEC B accounted for forty-four per cent market share, registering forty-one per cent growth, while SEC C registered ninety per cent growth, garnering a market share of thirty-two per cent.
· Market segmentation by town-class: The proportion of desktops consumption in the smaller towns and cities has steadily increased over the last few years. In the first half of 2009-10, smaller towns accounted for a market share of seventy per cent of the total desktop sales. Consumption of desktops was adversely impacted across the various town-class. Consumption in the smaller towns declined by nine per cent. The top four metros accounted for a quarter of the total desktops purchased, while the Class B cities accounted for five per cent of the market. Consumption in top four metros declined ten per cent, while that in Class B cities declined twenty-eight percent.
The Notebook Market:
· The proportion of notebooks in the overall PC sales is fast growing as these have rapidly become more affordable. While the growth in the notebook consumption had been significantly high in the last few years, the FY 2008-09 witnessed somewhat slower off-take in notebook sales. However, H1/2009-10 witnessed a healthy revival in notebook consumption with sales amounting to 1.1 million (11 lakh) units, growing forty-three percent over H1/2008-09.
· Less than expected sales to the medium enterprises resulted in the establishment segment growing only seven cent over the first-half of last fiscal. The small establishments recorded a growth of sixteen per cent, while sales to the large establishments grew one-hundred-thirteen per cent. The large establishments accounted for seventy-four per cent of the total notebooks consumption in the establishments. Smaller towns contributed to three-fourths of the total notebook sales in the establishment segment.
· The household segment, accounting for sixty-one per cent of the overall notebook sales in the country, registered a growth of eighty-two per cent in the first half of the current fiscal. The SEC A and SEC B households, together, contributed to over ninety per cent of the notebook sales in the household segment. Notebooks have started making rapid inroads into the SEC C as well.
The Servers Market:
· Sales of Servers registered a decline of thirty-four per cent over the first-half of the last financial year, as sales were less than expected. Sales to larger enterprises declined seventy per cent while sales in small and medium enterprises declined nineteen and three per cent respectively. The SMEs accounted for eighty-two per cent of the total market for servers, while the larger enterprises for the rest eighteen percent. Consumption declined nineteen per cent, three per cent and seventy per cent in small, medium and large enterprises respectively.
The Peripherals Market:
· Overall printer sales at 0.62 million (6.2 lakh) units declined by twelve per cent during H1/2009-10 over the same period in the last fiscal due to poor offtake of sales in the businesses as well as household segment for all categories of printers. Printer sales are forecast to cross 1.74 million (17.4 lakh) units in fiscal 2010-11.
Consumption of laser printers at 0.15 million (1.5 lakh) units recorded a decline of three per cent as consumption in large enterprises fell by fifty-four per cent. Large enterprises accounted for nineteen per cent of laser printers, down from fifty per cent in the same period last year. Consumption of laser printers grew twenty-seven percent in small enterprises, which accounted for thirty-four percent of the market; it, however, plateaued in medium enterprises. The medium enterprises accounted for fifty-seven per cent of the market share.
Sales of dot-matrix printers at 0.17 million (1.7 lakh) units in H1/2009-10 declined seventeen per cent. Consumption of dot-matrix printers in the businesses segment declined fourteen per cent, while in households segment by sixty-five per cent.
Consumption of inkjet printers at 0.28 million (2.8 lakh) units declined by thirteen per cent. Consumption in the business segment declined one per cent, while in households segment by twenty-five per cent.
· The UPS market, led by the households, registered a growth of one-hundred-four per cent in H1/2009-10 over H1/2008-09 with 1.58 million (15.8 lakh) units in sales. Households with eighty-five percent market share registered a growth of two-hundred-twenty-nine per cent, while businesses segment with fifteen per cent market declined thirty-five per cent. Consumption in Class A cities grew three-hundred-twenty-five per cent, three-hundred-sixty-one per cent in Class B cities and by twenty per cent in other smaller towns and cities.
The Internet Entities:
· The number of active Internet entities increased to 9.4 million (94 lakh) units in September 2009, while the figure was 7.61 million (76.1 lakh) units in September 2008. With this, the number of internet users has exceeded 70 millions in the country. Internet penetration in the top 22 cities was forty-five per cent among businesses and twenty per cent, among households. The business segment now accounts for twenty-four per cent of India’s total active Internet entities and households account for the remaining seventy-six per cent.
· DSL/cable remains the most commonly used means of Internet connectivity among businesses: sixty-two per cent of businesses were found using DSL/cable, fourteen per cent dial-up connections, twelve per cent ISDN services, six per cent used leased-lines, five per cent used data cards and another one per cent used VSATs.
Summary of Findings:
Total Installs Total Revenue (in Rs Crores)
Product Apr 08 – Sep 08 Apr 09 – Sep 09 % Growth Apr 08 – Sep 08 Apr 09 – Sep 09 % Growth
Computers
Desk top PCs 2,919,407 2,610,968 -11% 5,190 4,752 -8%
Notebooks (Laptop + Net-book) 772,769 1,105,955 43% 2,634 3,810 45%
Servers 72,416 48,110 -34% 1,038 712 -31%
Printers
Dot matrix 214,686 177,147 -17% 151 137 -9%
Inkjet 330,475 289,124 -13% 71 79 11%
Laser 164,043 158,926 -3% 218 208 -5%
Line 1,660 4,526 173% 20 51 155%
Other Peripherals
Key boards# 2,970,578 2,764,298 -7%
Monitors# 2,962,889 2,788,861 -6%
UPS systems# 773,482 1,580,774 104%
Networking Products
Network Interface Card# 2,776,396 1,575,624 -43%
Hub# 75,143 51,754 -31%
Modem# 169,794 256,201 51%
# - There is wide variation in unit prices and hence the total revenue was not calculated.
Definitions:
· Top four Cities/Metros/Class A cities – Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata
· Next four Cities/Class B Cities – Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Pune
· Class C Cities/Towns: Other Smaller Towns/Cities
· Internet entities – Entities are establishments/individuals with Internet connection; an entity could house multiple users.
_____________
About the study:
ITOPS is a syndicated end-user based study on the IT hardware market conducted by the eTechnology Group of IMRB International since 1996-97. The study is based on over 25,000 face-to-face interviews with end-users spread over 22 cities, with data projected to the 'all India urban market'.
The MAIT-IMRB study involves data collection after the 'last mile' that the product travels, i.e. from the premise where the product is finally installed. It is therefore an accurate estimate of 'what' was bought, 'by whom', and for 'what purpose'. Since the MAIT-IMRB study is based entirely on data collected from 'users', it is able to accurately estimate the large unorganised market as well as direct imports. It does not suffer from shortcomings of estimates based on shipment or supply which in addition to under or over-counting, may also reflect biases in perception of vendors and resellers.
With thirteen consecutive years of ITOPS data, the study is now able to closely track emerging segments such as small offices, home users, first time buyers, etc. and identify the role of key drivers for purchase such as the internet. By virtue of tracking the installed base built over the
years, and monitoring the extent of upgradation/ replacements taking place in the market, the study has been able to identify emerging business opportunities that promise to expand the market for IT products in India.
About MAIT:
Set up in 1982 for purposes of scientific, educational and IT industry promotion, MAIT has emerged as an effective, influential and dynamic organisation. Representing IT hardware, training, R&D, and associated services in India, MAIT’s charter is to develop a globally competitive Indian IT Industry, promote the usage of IT in India, strengthen the role of IT in national economic development and promote business through international alliances.
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| Date: |
Thursday,11th February 2010 |
|
| Wipro Infotech launches Green PCs |
| Bangalore
Business Standard Financial Chronicle The Economic Times DNA The Financial Express The Hindu Business Line
Wipro Infotech, leading provider of IT and business transformation services, today unveiled its new "eco-friendly" and "toxin-free" desktops, manufactured with materials completely free of deadly chemicals like polyvinyl chloride and brominated flame retardants.
Based on the Intel Core 2 Duo processor, Wipro Greenware range of desktops were free from carcinogenic materials such as PVC and BFRs, Anurag Behar, Chief Executive of Wipro Infrastructure Engineering Ecoeye, Social and Community Initiatives, told reporters here.
With the removal of the toxins, recycling of the electronic products would be safer, he said.
"Wipro considers the launch of PVC and BFR free products a major breakthrough in clean production and recycling policy. A very difficult process with no alternative solution, Wipro worked with 37 overseas suppliers for over two years to come out with the completely toxin free product," he said.
Anand Sankaran, senior vice-president & business head, India & ME business, Wipro said: "Wipro is the No.2 greenbrand in India after Samsung and Nokia. Of our annual desktop production of two lakh units, greenware would be 15-20 percent."
"Greenware desktops will be followed by greenware laptops from the Wipro stable soon," he said.
Wipro has 17 e-waste collection centres in India where products were collected and recycled, he said.
Earlier, Behar said 12 Wipro campuses in the country had been certified green buildings adding recently the company had established "green data centre" in Delhi.
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| Date: |
Friday,29th January 2010 |
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 Wednesday, 07th April 2010
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Tuesday,2nd March 2010
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Friday,26th February 2010
MAIT welcomes focus on 'inclusive growth & equitable development' and 'Environment & Energy' in the Union Budget
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