spss developer centrel

Developer Central has been around for almost five years, but Developer Central have never had the flexibility and tools to organize and deliver all the content in the way that would best serve the community of developers and users of SPSS Statistics and other SPSS products. With the new site (The SPSS Community if you are not already there) we have better tools and more control over the site organization. So Developer Central hope that users will find it more useful and easier to use. It has many downloads, forums, links to other resources, and this blog. It's also more of a two-way street, since anyone (who joins the community) can post comments about items and add their own content. (You need to send me an email with a link to the content in order to get it connected.)
Aim to broaden the content to include material for products other than SPSS Statistics, too. Right now, most of the content is for Statistics with some items for Data Collection, but we want that to grow. There is a new forum specifically for suggestions about this community. You can find the forums from the link in the community overview. Besides the SPSS Community, DeveloperWorks hosts gazillions of items for other IBM technologies, so explore those, too. Well, maybe not all the gazillions, but bound to find interesting things as you wander around the site.

AMD developer central latest news

What’s New in ATI Stream SDK v2.3
AMD recently released version 2.3 of the ATI Stream SDK with the following new features:Improved OpenCL™ runtime performance,Improved kernel launch times, Improved PCIe transfer times,Enabled DRMDMA for the ATI Radeon 5000 Series and AMD Radeon 6800 GPUs that are specified in the Supported Devices,Increased size of staging buffers,Enhanced Binary Image Format (BIF),Support for UVD video hardware component through OpenCL (Windows® 7),Support for AMD Radeon™ HD 6900 and HD 6800 Series graphics,Support for AMD E-Series and C-Series platforms,Support for OpenCL math libraries: FFT and BLAS-3.
In conjunction, the ATI Stream Profiler v2.1 and Stream KernelAnalyzer (SKA) v1.7 were released with a number of enhancements to help make programming with the SDK even easier.
Calling all software development innovators in general purpose GPU (GPGPU), data parallel and heterogeneous computing. On June 13-16, 2011 AMD will host the AMD Fusion Developer Summit (AFDS) in Bellevue, Washington. The AFDS conference board has issued a call for presentation proposals, inviting creators of next-generation software to share research and development work through presentations based on the latest technical papers or reports.

AFDS will be a great venue for developers, academics and innovative entrepreneurs to network with others engaged in related work, collectively defining the future course of heterogeneous computing. And delivering a presentation offers you the perfect opportunity to advocate programming paradigms or gain support for industry standards.

Attendees will be invited to participate in interactive sessions and hands-on labs to learn more about award-winning AMD Fusion APUs, GPUs, and advanced parallel processing programmability, as well as programming methodologies using industry standards such as OpenCL™, OpenGL™ and Microsoft DirectCompute.

The AMD Fusion APU is a unique and ideal development platform based on industry-standard APIs and programming languages, combining sequential style programming on the most widely used processor technology, the x86 architecture, with parallel programming on the GPU architecture. APUs are expected to enable users to experience things that were not possible previously, including advancements in user interfaces, video and image processing, Internet applications, and gaming – ushering in an era of intensely visual and more humanistic computing.

mozzila for developers to fix bugs

Software Developers can help Mozilla by fixing bugs, adding new features, writing tests, updating documentation, making Mozilla technology smaller and faster, and making Mozilla development easier for others.
* How to write code for Mozilla
* Other ways to get involved
* Documentation for developers

For Testers

Mozilla's products are what they are because of the help of people just like you who use them day to day, reporting bugs and helping us improve quality. To get involved, read about how you can help to test Mozilla.
Nightly Builds: The Bleeding Edge Created most weekdays from the previous day's work, these builds may or may not work. Use them to verify that a bug you're tracking has been fixed.
Mozilla developers make nightly builds for testing only. Mozilla developers writes code and post the results right away so people can join Mozilla's testing process and report bugs. You will find bugs, and lots of them. Mozilla might crash on startup. It might delete all your files and cause your computer to burst into flames. Don't bother downloading nightly builds if you're unwilling to put up with problems.

How To Get In Touch With Mozilla Developers:
You can find many Mozilla (and Firefox, Thunderbird, Camino, SeaMonkey, etc.) developers on IRC. You can talk with them in real time by logging on mozilla.org's chat server, irc.mozilla.org with an IRC client. Mozilla suite and SeaMonkey come bundled with a chat client, ChatZilla, which is available for Firefox as an extension.

Mozilla also host developer forums, which are available through both mailing list and newsgroup interfaces.

ios developer program

See how your development application will perform in a
real-world environment by installing and testing it directly on iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch.

Test in Real-Time

Plug in your iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch to use Xcode’s graphical debugger, or collect real-time performance data in Instruments’ timeline view. These powerful optimization tools allow you to quickly identify and address any performance issues.

Test Over the Air

With your app running on your iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch, you can test the performance of your application connected to a Wi-Fi or carrier’s network for a real world user experience.

Technical Support

The iOS Developer Program includes two Technical Support Incidents where Apple engineers will provide you with code-level assistance, helpful guidance, or point you towards the appropriate technical documentation to fastrack your development process.

House Passes Bills to Spur New Technology for Drilling, Cleaning Up Spills

The U.S. House of Representatives passed measures to develop new technologies for deep water drilling and cleaning up oil spills, the first legislation inspired by the BP Plc disaster to reach a floor vote.

One bill, passed on a voice vote today, aims to speed up the use of new technologies to limit the damage from oil spills and aid the cleanup. Lawmakers said the booms and skiffs BP is using after the Deepwater Horizon accident in the Gulf of Mexico are the same as units employed in 1989 after the Exxon Valdez tanker crashed off the coast of Alaska.

“We heard time and again the technology they were using was inadequate,” Representative Lynn Woolsey, a California Democrat, said in floor debate, commenting on hearings the House Science & Technology Committee held in response to the Gulf spill.

BP is struggling to contain its damaged well after the Deepwater Horizon rig blew out April 20, killing 11 workers. The oil flow has been temporarily stopped by a cap, after spewing as many as 60,000 barrels a day, according to government estimates.

The House also passed on a voice vote a second BP-related bill, to fund research and development for safer oil and gas drilling at the Department of Energy.

Qantas trials new check-in technology

QANTAS has signalled it will tighten its excess baggage policy as it introduces futuristic new domestic check-in facilities.

The new facilities are designed to slash the time spent in airport queues.

The airline is also preparing to offer upper-tier frequent flyers a unique personal electronic bag tag that can automatically store details of up to four flights and will replace the traditional paper bar code.

A trial of some of the new technologies begins in Perth next week when the flying kangaroo issues new frequent flyer smart cards to a select group of its premium flyers.

The new technologies includes electronic baggage scales and automated excess baggage payment. Its introduction comes as airlines worldwide are discovering baggage charges as a revenue stream.

Qantas officials say the airline will remain flexible on excess baggage during trials but revealed yesterday a new baggage policy was due out towards the end of the year.

Asked whether this meant a crackdown on excess baggage, Qantas customer experience executive manager Alison Webster said: "We'll be making sure we're offering a fair system and our customers are clear on what that system of charges is."

Ms Webster said Qantas had an online capability that allowed people to pre-purchase excess baggage at a significant discount to airport charges and would be publicising this with the baggage policy changes.

Officials said duty managers would also retain the discretion to waive excess baggage charges.

The new smart cards contain chip technology that will allow flyers who have not already checked in online or by mobile phone to tap an airport card reader and complete the process within five seconds.

A 2D barcode would be sent to passengers' handsets to confirm their mobile check-in.

Passengers will eventually be able to combine the smart card, which can also be used as a boarding pass, with RFID bag tags to check their bags at an automated bag drop in seconds.

The tag will be distributed free to chairman's lounge members, platinum, gold and silver level frequent flyers and is expected to be launched when the new system is unveiled in Sydney at the end of November. The airline hopes that about 600,000 upper-tier frequent flyers will no longer need a paper bag tag on the Qantas network by the end of 2011.

The multi-million dollar project took two years to develop in conjunction with 15-odd partners including IBM, Fujitsu, Telstra, Optus and Amadeus, said David Hall, Qantas group executive, corporate services and technology.

IBM spearheaded program management and produced new check-in kiosks and card readers.

Fujitsu provided handheld scanners and other peripherals while Telstra and Unisys worked on the baggage reconciliation system.

For the mobile check-in service, Optus built the SMS gateway, New Media Innovation was responsible for the application and SecureDoc built the 2D barcode system.

Indian companies Tata Consultancy Services and Mahindra Satyam were also involved in the project. TCS worked on enterprise integration and aspects of mobile check-in while Satyam covered off reporting and data warehouse integration.

Sky Assist will help Qantas staff quickly identify misallocated baggage and Amadeus continues to provide departure control smarts.

Tagsys and STMicroelectronics worked on the RFID tags, while the automatic bag drop offering was made possible by hardware provider ICM and software vendor SCL.

Comparison of Various Software Development Life Cycle

The Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) in software engineering is a methodology that defines the logical steps for developing a custom software product.

This methodology is used to structure, plan and control the software development process. In simple terms, we can define SDLC as a methodology that a developer can use to standardise the process of software development.

A number of SDLC models are available, choosing the right one is no easy task. In this article we'll try to highlight the main advantages and disadvantages of some commonly used SDLCs.

Waterfall Model

This is one of the simplest, classic life-cycle models, also known as the 'linear-sequential' life cycle model. In a waterfall model, each phase must be completed before moving onto the next. A review process is scheduled at the end of each phase to check that the project is on the right track. The steps are as follows:

Advantages of the waterfall model

1. Simple to understand and use.
2. Each phase is independent of other phases and is processed and completed separately.
3. Suitable for smaller projects, and for projects where the requirements are clearly outlined.

Disadvantages of the waterfall model

1. No output or working software is produced until late in the life cycle.
2. High degree of uncertainty and risks.
3. Not a good choice for big or ongoing projects.


Iterative Model

The Iterative model can be thought of as a “multi-waterfall” cycle. Cycles are divided into smaller and easily managed iterations. Each iteration passes through a series of phases, so after each cycle you will get working software.

Advantages of the iterative model

1. Produces working software early during the lifecycle.
2. More flexible as scope and requirement changes can be implemented at low cost.
3. Testing and debugging is easier, as the iterations are small.
4. Low risks factors as the risks can be identified and resolved during each iteration.

Disadvantages of the iterative model

1. This model has phases that are very rigid and do not overlap.
2. Not all the requirements are gathered before starting the development; this could lead to problems related to system architecture at later iterations.

Spiral Model

The spiral model is similar to the iterative model, but places more emphasis on risk analysis. The steps involved in this model can be generalised as follows:

System requirements are defined in as much detail as possible by involving various users, so as identify the various aspects of the system.

A preliminary design of the system is created. This is the most crucial step in the spiral model, as it helps in developing cost-effective strategies for working on a project.

Using the preliminary design, a prototype for the new system is developed. This is generally a scaled down system, which represents an approximate characteristics of the final output.

Consecutive prototypes are then evolved through a fourfold procedure
o Strengths, weaknesses and risks of the previous prototype are evaluated
o Requirements for the new prototype are defined
o Planning and design of the new prototype begins
o Developing and testing the new prototype are carried out

Advantages of the spiral model

1. Good for large and critical projects
2. Working software is produced early during the lifecycle.
3. Large amount of risk analysis.

Disadvantages of the spiral model

1. Involves higher cost.
2. Not suitable for smaller projects.
3. Project success depends on the risk analysis phase - hence, it requires highly specific expertise in risk analysis.

Prototype Model

The prototype model is used to overcome the limitations of waterfall model. In this model, instead of freezing the requirements before coding or design, a prototype is built to clearly understand the requirements. This prototype is built based on the current requirements. Through examining this prototype, the client gets a better understanding of the features of the final product. The processes involved in the prototyping approach are shown in the figure below.

Advantages of the prototype model

1. Benefits from user input.
2. As a working model of the system is provided, users get a better understanding of the system that is being developed.
3. Errors and risks can be detected at a much earlier stage, as the system is developed using prototypes.

Disadvantages of the prototype

1. Increases complexity of the overall system.
2. Involves exploratory methodology and therefore involves higher risk.
3. Involves implementing and then repairing the way a system is built, so errors are an inherent part of the development process.

B'lore IT firms shut for Bharat Bandh

Hundreds of IT firms, including Indian bellwethers Infosys Technologies and Wipro will remain closed on Monday due to the nationwide shutdown against the hike in fuel prices.

The global software major, however, made arrangements for employees working on essential projects and business process outsourcing (BPO) services to work during the day, when the shutdown will be observed from dawn to dusk.

The $4.8-billion Infosys has its largest software development park in the electronics city, about 30 km from here, where about 16,000 employees work in its sprawling campus.

Similarly, Wipro, which has two software development parks in the electronics city and on the city's outskirts, declared a holiday, directing its employees to report for duty July 10 in lieu of Monday.

The country's largest IT bellwether -- Tata Consulting Services (TCS) was yet to decide whether to give off or not to its employees working in the Bangalore software development centre at Whitefield, about 20 km from the city.

Due to uncertainty of public transport by the state-run Bangalore Metropolitan Corporation (BMTC), hundreds of small and medium enterprises in IT and biotech sectors have extended the weekend holiday to their employees up to Monday.

As a precautionary measure, several multinational firms have also decided to give an off on Monday and ask their employees to compensate by working on a Saturday.

The nationwide shutdown has been called by the leading opposition parties, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is the ruling party in this southern state for the first time, the Janata Dal-United and the Left parties.

Indian ISP are offering cloud computing to everybody

According to a recent news, Sify Technologies, the large Indian Internet service provider, has launched a suite of cloud computing-based applications targeting the large number of people in India who do not own computers or have access to the Internet.

Key to Sify's strategy are the 1,200 Sify-branded Internet cafes spread across the country. These cafes, called Sify e-ports, operate as franchisees and use the company's broadband connections for Internet access. Sify plans to expand this base of cyber cafes by marketing a device to other cafe owners that will link them to the Sify cloud, enabling enable them to offer services from the cloud computing to their customers.

Sify is also launching a program that will allow people to purchase travel tickets, entertainment and educational services, as well as pay utility bills online without using their credit cards. Customers will instead pay in cash to the person running the cyber cafe, for services received through the new consumer cloud computing platform. The service is targeted at the large number of people who do not have credit cards or aren't comfortable making credit card payments online.

A large number of people in India's cities and small towns do not own computers or have Internet access, and they turn to shared facilities like cyber cafes. About 52 million urban Indians were active Internet users in September last year. Active users are defined as those who used the Internet at least once a month. About 37% of these users accessed the Internet through cyber cafes. The percentage of people who use cyber cafes is expected to be higher in rural areas.

Owners of cyber cafes are looking for revenue streams beyond just offering browsing facilities. Browsing rates have gone down even as real estate prices are going up. Besides current tie-ups with travel, education, and utility companies. There are a large number of infrequent users of applications such as word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, and page layout software who would prefer to use the software in a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model, rather than buy a license themselves.

Sify also plans to offer the applications and other services on its consumer cloud to its broadband Internet customers, who would typically own a computer besides the connectivity. The company currently has about 100,000 broadband customers.

Top Ten Software Development Risks

Software Development can be a risky business. Most enterprises rely on software – so extra cost, delays, or the inability to realise goals can have serious consequences. Larger risks that can sabotage long-term projects require immediate attention. And that means putting the emphasis on risk management. Here, we'll elaborate the top ten risks involved in software development.

1. Estimation and scheduling: The unique nature of individual software projects creates problems for developers and managers in estimating and scheduling development time. Always monitor existing projects so that you apply lessons learnt in the future.
2. Sudden growth in requirements: As a project progresses, issues that are not identified earlier can create a last-minute hurdle to meeting deadlines. Try to think big early on in the project, and anticipate the worst-case or heaviest-use scenario.
3. Employee turnover: Every project has a number of developers working on it. When a developers leaves, he or she may take critical information with him/her. This can delay, and sometimes derail an entire project. Ensure you have resources where team members can collaborate and share knowledge.
4. Breakdown of specification: During the initial phases of integration and coding, requirements might conflict. Moreover, developers may find that even the specification is unclear or incomplete.
5. Productivity issues: On projects involving long timelines, developers tend to take things easy to begin with. As a result, sometimes, they lose significant time to complete the project. Set a realistic schedule, and stick to it.
6. Compromising on designs: In order to get stuck into the next ‘real’ tasks, developers tend to rush the design-process. This is a waste of programming hours, as designing is the most critical part of software development.
7. Gold plating: Developers sometimes like to show off their skills by adding unnecessary features. For instance, a developer might add Flash to a basic login module to make it look ‘stylish’. Again, this is a waste of programming hours.
8. Procedural risks: Day-to-day operational activities might hamper due to improper process implementation, conflicting priorities, or a lack of clarity in responsibilities.
9. Technical risks: Sometimes software development firms reduce the functionality of the software to compensate for overruns pertaining to high budgets and scheduling. There is always a conflict between achieving maximum functionality of the software and peak performance. In order to compensate for excessive budget and schedule overruns, companies sometimes reduce the functionality of the software.
10. Unavoidable risks: These include changes in government policy, the obsolescence of software or other risks that cannot be controlled or estimated.
As the field of software development becomes more and more complex, the risks associated with it have intensified. It is vital that development firms focus on strategic planning to mitigate such risks.

IconATG Joins the CloudOne Consortium

CloudOne, the first to offer IBM Rational Jazz products in the Cloud through Software as a Service, and IconATG, the industry thought leader in information technology training, mentoring and consulting, today announced that IconATG would join the CloudOne Consortium, a group of IBM Rational Business Partners at the forefront of bringing Cloud and Software as a Service (SaaS) delivery of IBM Rational products to the marketplace.

The offerings from CloudOne significantly improve the software delivery competitiveness of our small and mid-market clients. For the first time, economies of scale and worry-free administration are available to all IT shops, allowing them to take advantage of IBM’s highly-rated Rational software development tools. Furthermore, with no expensive long-term commitment to licenses, companies can cost-effectively accommodate fluctuating staffing levels and changes to the business plan. CloudOne offers IBM Rational Jazz products in the Cloud through Software as a Service.

Cloud Computing is a model where hardware server capacity is provided to users, computers and devices over the Internet. Much like public utilities provide electricity, phone service or water, Cloud Computing provides servers, applications and databases over the “pipe” of the internet. Cloud shifts the burden of maintenance and operation of computer servers to a utility-like model, so organizations can focus on what makes them unique and great.

Software as a Service, sometimes shortened to “SaaS”, is a method of software deployment where a provider offers licenses to an application or tool for use on-demand, either as a timed subscription or “pay-as-you-go”. The tool or application is usually over provided the Internet using Internet standards for security and access.

CloudOne is the only company that offers Rational Jazz tools through Cloud and Software as a Service. Together, customers can scale both hardware and software up and down as they need, and their costs scale with it. It’s the best of both worlds.

About CloudOne:- Based in suburban Chicago, Illinois, CloudOne makes IBM Rational technology easy-to-deploy and affordable for everyone - particularly for small and medium-sized organizations. Their unique Software-as-a-Service license model, coupled with cloud-based delivery of software from their own data center speeds up the deployment of Rational solutions with no up-front capital investments for hardware or software, allowing customers to “pay by the drink” on a monthly subscription model. This saves money on infrastructure, staffing and configuration costs, while facilitating the move to cutting-edge IBM Rational technology and distributed, Agile development.

About IconATG:- IconATG provides consulting, training, and coaching in software development life cycle(SDLC) process, best practices, and automation. Our mission is to improve the performance of your Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) by providing the guidance and practical experience to allow you to successfully adopt modern software development practices. IconATG has a nationwide delivery capability for consulting and training. Practice areas specialties include: commercial processes (RUP and OpenUP), Agile development, requirements definition and management, business modeling, user centered design, quality assurance and test, configuration and change management, tool selection and integration, Service-Oriented Architecture, security, and regulatory compliance.

From an agency point of view, I would put my money on India and China: Irwin Gotlieb, Global CEO, GroupM

Irwin Gotlieb, Global CEO, GroupM, had the audience enthralled with his Keynote Address on ‘The Digital Distribution of Media: The Opportunity’ at the exchange4media Conclave 2010 in Mumbai on June 11. The annual flagship event of the exchange4media Group, the Conclave is special this year as it marks the commencement of the Group’s 10th Anniversary celebrations. The theme for the Conclave this year is ‘Rebooting the Indian media and advertising industry’.

He cited the key factors that GroupM took into consideration for forecasting the future. These were: Content, new Technologies, Fragmentation and proliferation in media choice, Government regulation/ deregulation, Business Consolidation/ Mergers, Marketplace factors, and the Consumer.

According to him, digital capabilities could help reduce the cost of content creation while improving distribution through digital technology.

New Technologies provided more effective and relevant media targeting opportunities and also enabled greater levels of fragmentation and proliferation.

Noting the growing importance of consumers in all this, Gotlieb said, “Consumers will have ever increasing control of media content. They will be able to search, filter and organize with little effort. They will be able to choose when and where to consume and on which digital device to consume it.”

Infosys fine-tunes US strategy for addressing government outsourcing market

Almost nine months after Infosys Technologies established its subsidiary in the US for targeting over a $100-billion government outsourcing market, Eric Paternoster-the current head of insurance and healthcare business at the company, has taken charge as the chief executive of Infosys Public Services.

Infosys Public Services board is constituted of SD Shibulal, Mohandas Pai, Vemuri, Lehman and Paternoster himself.

When contacted by ET last week, S (Kris) Gopalakrishnan, the Infosys CEO confirmed this appointment, and said his company is currently in the process of fine-tuning its IT strategy for addressing government outsourcing market in the US.

Infosys, which serves top corporate customers such as American Express, Bank of America and BP Plc, leads domestic rivals Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Wipro in terms of profitability with almost 30% operating margins.

While both TCS and Wipro have several state governments as their public sector customers in the US, Infosys, according to rivals and some experts, may have been late in addressing the opportunity.

Rival Wipro already has a nine year $407 million outsourcing contract from the State of Missouri for delivering health care services to US citizens.

US IT strategy budget is $82 billion for fiscal 2010, of which $35 billion is in the defense department.

Other departments that might be available for vendors such as Infosys are justice, transportation, homeland security, health and human services, commerce, energy, veterans administration, agriculture and treasury.

ICON Information Consultants has been awarded Supplier of the Year by Women's Business Enterprise Alliance

ICON Information Consultants, a premier provider of Human Capital Solutions, has been awarded the 2009 Supplier of the Year in the category of companies with revenues exceeding $10M by the Women's Business Enterprise Alliance (WBEA). The award recognizes a woman enterprise that has demonstrated consistent quality, competitiveness and reliability.

ICON specializes in identifying and recruiting highly qualified professionals at all levels in the areas of Information Technology, Accounting, Finance, Human Resources, and Procurement along with a specialized IT Project Management division, iSolutions, Ltd.

ICON has also received kudos as an outstanding supplier partner from Guidant Group, Inc., which awarded ICON its Longevity Award for stellar customer service, partnership and highly ethical approach to business over the last nine years. Ernst & Young also recognized O'Rourke with its 2009 Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the Business Services and Staffing category for the Houston and Gulf Coast Area.

Most recently, the Houston Chronicle ranked ICON Information Consultants among the top 100 privately held companies in Houston.

ICON Information Consultants, LP, headquartered in Houston, Texas, specializes in identifying and recruiting highly qualified Information Technology, Accounting, Finance, HR, and Procurement professionals at all levels/skills. ICON services include human capital solutions, consulting, and payrolling, as well as a specialized IT project management division. The company has reached "Top Tier" or preferred vendor status for most of its clients.

The Women's Business Enterprise Alliance is committed to increasing business opportunities for woman-owned businesses and corporate members through education, programs, and professional networking.

Seven arrested for hacking of online passport software

Seven people were arrested for hacking the online passport application software of the Hyderabad regional passport office. This group included passport agents, were arrested and search was on for two others involved in the racket.

The accused, who hacked the online software a week ago, were using it to book slots for registration of passport applications. The passport officials, who grew suspicious at some agents managing to get many slots.

The police commissioner's Task Force took up the inquiry. Police arrested main accused Latadhar Rao in Guntur. Several computers and hard disks have been seized from the accused.

The police is looking out for two other accused. The gang was busted a day after the police commissioner announced setting up of a special police station to deal with cyber crimes.

Over 100,000 applications are pending in the passport office here. There have been allegations of corruption with alleged collusion between employees and agents leading to inordinate delays in getting the passports.

Last month, the passport office authorised 96 agents to receive applications for police clearance certificate and other miscellaneous services offered by it.

Each agent was allowed to receive four applications for police clearance certificate and miscellaneous services and five applications for fresh passports and renewals every day.

Cloud computing is boosting for SMEs

A new initiative by SingTel and IE Singapore will give a leg-up to Singapore firms looking to sell their cloud computing and mobile solutions expertise to regional markets. The market access partnership will allow small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to piggyback on SingTel's presence in a number of markets, including Australia, India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand.

Cloud computing provides business services and applications on demand via the Internet and eliminates the need for costly infrastructure investments. Local players specialising in telematics and location-based solutions like V3 Teletech are keen to tap SingTel's extensive network. It opens the doors to high potential markets and also allows us to bring our solutions to market in a much shorter time.

The initiative - part of the SingTel Innovation Exchange programme launched last year by SingTel, the Infocomm Development Authority and IE Singapore - will kick off with a series of marketing initiatives and business matchmaking sessions in Australia.

Organised with Australian telecommunications giant Optus and the New South Wales Department of Industry and Investment, these events will see a group of SMEs from Singapore promoting their cloud computing and mobile services solutions to Australian businesses and government agencies. SingTel hopes the venture will strengthen Singapore's position as a regional hub for cloud computing services.

SingTel executive vice-president for business group Bill Chang said: 'With our reach to over 293 million mobile subscribers... spanning eight Asian markets, SingTel is uniquely positioned to enable software developers to seize opportunities... in the region.'

RIL board has agreed 4-way expansion

Management of Reliance Industries (RIL) has told its board that it has identified power, telecommunications, financial services and pharmaceuticals for investments in the near future. The board, which met early last week, discussed strategies to enter these high-growth sectors, something which has become possible after the cancellation of a non-compete pact between the Ambani brothers which had barred RIL from businesses such as power and telecom.

RIL plans to utilize the free cash it generates from its oil and gas business to fund these diversifications. The company’s only foray outside its core businesses in the past four years had been its entry into the retail segment, which is housed in a wholly-owned subsidiary called Reliance Retail.

The company has since moved to implement part of this plan by taking over Infotel Broadband, which has won licences to supply high-speed internet connectivity using radio waves in 22 circles in India.

RIL’s re-entry into power and telecom doesn’t come as a surprise and had been widely expected, once the non-compete pacts between RIL and companies of the Anil Ambani Group were scrapped. Its interest in pharmaceuticals, however, is not widely known and is believed to be linked to the prospects of Reliance Life Sciences, which is privately owned by RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani.

Reliance Life Sciences has reached a critical size in its operations, brightening prospects of a bigger play in the pharmaceutical industry, said the person familiar with the discussions. The unlisted company has made profits and is looking to expand its presence in global markets such as Europe.

According to a business analyst with an institutional brokerage, it is a good business proposition for RIL once a business achieves critical size. You may see the group evaluating options like merger and takeovers to enter the pharma space.

The last piece of the puzzle—the proposed move into financial services—may take more time because the Reserve Bank of India does not allow industrial houses like Reliance and Tatas to set up banks. Business Analysts, however, expect RIL to enter banking, if regulators allow, as well as the insurance and broking businesses..

IT project managers are learning to delegate.

Many CIOs these days believe good IT project managers aren't the ones who can do it all. Rather, most effective managers know how to pick which tasks to do themselves and which to hand off to staffers. Otherwise, the work will never get done. Delegating is easier than doing, but, for new IT project managers who may be used to being judged on their technical expertise and individual contributions. Everything changes once we are into management. So, one is judged by how well he helps his team to perform. Delegation is one way in developing our team's skills and ensuring the work getting done on time. Delegation helps in grooming employees in moving up in ranks and fill in when needs arises.

But this skill doesn't come easily. It has to be acquired. Successful delegation is a thoughtful, multistep discipline requiring careful assessment, communication and support. With practice, it can become more intuitive -- when one takes time in learning it properly from the outset.

PS3 hack claimed by Pirates

In January this year, Hackers claimed to have found way to play copied software on Sony’s previously impervious console. They have discovered a lengthy and convoluted workaround allowing users to play pirated copies of Killzone 2, PES 2008 and Burnout Paradise.

Users need to have an older PS3 (i.e. not a ‘Slim’ machine) in which third party OS software can be installed along with copies of Windows XP, the original MotorStorm and a host of piracy-related DVD software. The exploit, has been met with widespread scepticism amongst many in the hacker community, not least because of the extreme cost and effort needed to implement it.

Even if its hack is real, any detrimental effects are likely to be minimal for now. The fear, however, is that this method could be the start of full-fledged hacking of Sony’s console. With piracy rife in the Wii, Xbox 360, DS and PSP markets, the PS3 has to date proved the only current-gen machine to successfully fend off the hackers – but it seems that things could be about to change.

Cloud computing is helping IT Pros in learning

Recently, a collaborative community and website for IT professionals, helped CA technologies in figuring out how to best use cloud computing naming Cloud Commons has been unveiled by CA Technologies. The website is globally accepted measure for calculating the benefits and risks of cloud-computing services and is helping to develop a set of business-centric measures, mixing quantitative and qualitative data, that will provide chief information officers with a standardised method for comparing cloud services from internal or external providers.

The researchers are seeking industry involvement via a consortium being formed with researchers from other educational institutions, end user organisations and technology providers, who have expertise in measuring and managing IT-enabled services. This initiative will develop a Service Measurement Index, SMI, which will be available for use by members of the Cloud Commons. Demand for cloud services holds significant potential for the technology and communications industries, but many barriers still exist to widespread adoption at an enterprise level.

The site will have key components like a marketplace of cloud computing service offerings which will include vendor service ratings to enable participants to compare service options, Area allowing participants to provide feedback on their experience with third-party cloud services, Peer collaboration and networking, commentary on content posted on the site, and the sharing of cloud best practices and articles from industry analysts and subject matter experts, blog feeds from industry leaders, as well as white papers and stories on experiences from IT professionals.

Actually, these days no comprehensive, unbiased source soliciting and aggregating most current and relevant knowledge about cloud computing and accumulated, actual experiences of organisations having with the cloud is there. Cloud Commons will address this need — providing IT professionals with situational awareness and visibility into what is possible with the cloud.

IBM is starting a new centre in MISSOURI

Yesterday, IBM announced that it will open a new technology service delivery center in Columbia, Missouri, creating up to 800 technical professional jobs which will join two other North American service delivery facilities opened recently in Dubuque, IA and Lansing, MI, making it the third new facility IBM has opened in the United States in the last 18 months. On Summer of this year, IBM will start hiring employees for the new center. By the end of 2012, it will be fully staffed with a variety of IT positions ranging from entry level up to experienced professionals



This new service delivery centre will mainly support IBM's U.S. strategic outsourcing clients and Business analysts providing server systems operations, security services, end-user services, maintenance and monitoring of computer hardware and software systems. IBM will also work with many institutions of higher learning in the Columbia region for recruitment and training of potential employees, business analysts as well as hiring experienced professionals. Because of all this, the presently existing building at 2810 LeMone Industrial Blvd., Columbia, will be updated with the goal of achieving Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification.

Microsoft Software Development

Microsoft.Net software development uses Microsoft tools to develop software to suit the clients. A wide spectrum of customers has taken the services of companies that offer this and have been able to get the software that they can be happy with. Looking for the right company to do this job for you is the real challenge but this article will tell you how to look for them and how this kind of software development is popular.

Experience counts

A company that has a team with experience will be able to perform better and develop better software for you. Microsoft.Net software development has been used for the development of a wide variety of software and they have all been successful in satisfying the clients. Technology like C#, ASP.Net, Visual Basic, SQL Server, BizTalk, SharePoint Server, etc. makes the software what it is.

Why Microsoft.Net?

Projects that include customer facing as well as internal transactional systems, business intelligence solutions have all been developed with great results using the method of Microsoft.Net software development. This method gives you a lot of ways to tune the software and make it just the way you need it to be. By going for a company that is transparent about the methods it uses to work on your software, you can stay on top of the progress as well. If you get an experienced company with a promise of good maintenance and after care, you can be sure that you will get your dream software.

Who to choose to get the job done?

A company that has been awarded the Gold Certified Partner from Microsoft is a great way to spot a winner. This means that the services of that company using the Microsoft.Net Software development are reliable and safe. You should also check the testimonials written by the customers and you will be able to see clearly how satisfied they and how happy they are with the after care services as well. Good customer service is essential not only while your software is still under development but even during its implementation. You should only choose a company that provides good after care.

Development services

A company that offers software development should also include a few services that will help you with your business and are also necessary while using the new software. You will need web based transactional applications which are included in the project. Database designing as well as tuning whenever necessary to optimise it is also important. Flexibility of the services is very important to make a company a good software developer. Microsoft.Net software development has built a good reputation for itself over the past decade and if you want a software developed, this is the way to go.

Definition of SDLC and Its Phases

SDLC stands for Software Development Life Cycle. What is it all about? What are the various phases of it? Why should every client be aware of it? Here is the explanation to all these questions. As the name implies, it is primarily used to provide methodologies to develop computer software. It is a must to be aware of the guidelines and models in order to efficiently develop computer software.

Various phases of SDLC model are to be pursued in order to gain a better view of how a project could be handled. The phases of SDLC model include requirements gathering and analysis, system designing, development, testing, operations and maintenance.

Requirements gathering and analysis: Under this phase, the project's goal is determined and the functions are brought to focus. Gathering of information and analysis of the user's requirement is also done in this phase.

System design: A sample structure of the entire project is created in this phase and all necessary data are gathered.

Development: Coding of the whole project is done in this phase. Codes are easily generated if proper design is performed in the previous stage. According to the needs of the application, programming language is selected.

System testing: After the generation of codes, testing of all the modules is performed. All modules are integrated together and proper testing tools are selected for error checking.

Operations and maintenance: Under the final stage of SDLC, the developed software is given to the users. Maintenance is necessary after the development of a successful project. It is obvious that changes occur once the project is handed over to the end user. The developers must develop the project in such a way that it is adaptable to those changes. The main operation of the software must not be affected by those changes.

It is necessary for the client to be aware of all the phases of SDLC so that they can get to know about the status of the project under proposal. The client must also be aware of various operations performed under various stages. This would enable them to handle the project with ease. This also helps them to collect good quality products. Only when the clients are aware of the stages of SDLC, they can sort out the problems that arise while using the product. This would thus produce a good quality product.

New Paint Technologies

It's true that creativity thrives in adversity. The financial downturn has spurred the development and release of innovative paint technologies that has industrial coatings contractors all abuzz and rubbing their hands in anticipation.

What are the newsworthy trends in painting products that are making their way into the hands of industrial coating contractors and right into facility premises? Environment-friendly zero-VOC formulations are still leading the pack. Energy-saving solar-reflective innovations are also out in the market. Long-lasting and sustainable high-solids are rolling out manufacturers' labs. Self-cleaning paints sound too futuristic, but are actually being developed in research labs and may be used by industrial coatings contractors soon.

Cool Roofs

Cool roofs, or zero-VOC and energy-efficient roof coatings, are preferred by industrial coatings contractors not only for their zero-VOC emissions, but also for their above-average SRI or solar-reflective index. Solar reflectivity is an important property for roof coatings, because it indicates the coating's ability to reflect sunlight back and away from the facility. The less of the sun's rays being absorbed through the roof, the cooler the interior will be, thereby lessening cooling and energy costs.

Cool roof products offer more than energy efficiency and environmental benefits, they continue to deliver high quality expected of standard paints, such as high-adhesion, strength, and durability. They still provide tough protection against water exposure, and impermeability against toxic acids and harsh alkali from oil leaks and greasy spills, to the delight of industrial coatings contractors.

Three-wet Paint

The 3-wet paint technology simplifies the process of paint application, eliminating the time- and energy-consuming paint preparation of applying primers, paint bases and enamels. Paint preparation used to be applied manually by industrial coatings contractors, following a set drying-time schedule. With 3-wet paint technology, the process involves no manual procedure, and the paints can be applied while still wet. The resulting product, can save on time by about 20%, according to data from Ford, who implemented the 3-wet paint technology on a global scale for its painted vehicle shops.

The high-solids solvent-borne paint formulation where Ford's technology is based also produces fewer harmful emissions than regular paints, and successfully met all industry standards in chip/scratch/etch resistance, durability, and performance.

The benefits of 3-wet paint technology are numerous, from the elimination of costly equipments used by industrial coatings contractors, to time-savings, to lesser emission of environmental pollutants, to lesser energy consumption gained from faster processing time -- a clean and sustainable process overall.

Self-Cleaning Paints

Still in the design board of UK's DSTL labs, but showing much promise, are the new technology of paints able to decontaminate itself and resist chemical attacks. The experimental paints are currently applied in strips and designed to soak up dangerous air-borne chemicals, making the nearby air safe for humans to breathe. The future enhancement of the paint is to imbue it with catalytic enzymes to process the soaked-up chemicals, thereby decontaminating itself.

The new technology is flexible for industrial coatings contractors. It can be engineered to change color to indicate contamination and decontamination, and to be sunlight-reflective for purposes of camouflage. And like ordinary paint, these "sci-fi" paints can be applied using standard rollers or sprays by industrial coatings contractors, for ease of use and removal.

Why a Long Term IT Strategy is Always Preferable to a Cheap and Cheerful Fix

Looking for quick fixes when it comes to your IT strategy or can you see the advantages of a long term approach? All too many businesses look for 'cheap and cheerful' options when it comes to their IT provision and when times are difficult you may ask "what choice do we have?". Cutting costs during a credit crunch is top of everyone's agenda and while many recognise the importance of investing in marketing and sales strategies to remain competitive, other functions such as IT remain somewhat neglected.

Consider this, if your marketing strategy pays off and your sales increase will your IT infrastructure cope? What happens if you need to take on more staff, move to bigger premises or simply need better systems for managing more sales? Simply fixing IT problems as they occur in the short term is a false economy and MORE EXPENSIVE in the long term! For example, if you have a computer that is 3 or 4 years old and not performing as it should would you be better advised to spend Rs8000 to fix it and get perhaps another 6 months or a year out of it or to invest in a new machine that will last another 3 or 4 years?

Of course it is more complex than that and a good IT services provider can review your business's requirements and create a long term IT strategy that not only creates a bespoke solution now but is also flexible to meet your needs well into the future - however your business changes.

While an investment may be required now that costs more than the 'quick fix' option, in the long term the savings that can be made from a proactive approach rather than a reactive one are considerable and that doesn't even include the disruption to business costs that IT problems can cause.

There are also some real alternatives when it comes to paying for long term IT solutions including attractive lease options. These can help spread the cost of IT without a big upfront investment. For a fixed monthly fee, you can take advantage of a continuous replacement programme over 5 years meaning that you always have the best IT solution for your needs at a cost that you can budget for without any nasty surprises.

Project Management in Global Software Development

Though there are many risks and challenges involved in global software development, the steep rise in globalisation in the minds of young generation finally paves the way for software development offshore. Let us discuss how the projects are managed in offshore software development consulting.

Most of the software projects are unique and innovative which involves a lot of risks on the way products are conceptualised, conceived, designed, developed and delivered to clients. These risks are very well managed through documentation.

Documentation is nothing but a study and analysis of our success and failures while developing software in the format of papers. This documentation will eventually help us to handle the complex nature of the project efficiently. Unfortunately many offshore countries do not document them resulting in poor risk management.

To ensure the transparency of the software development in terms of security, the offshore consulting should produce an empirical security policy. This security policy will answer all the questions of the client's review.

The linking or connectivity between the ODC and the client's network should involve modern techniques to experience a better communication. The configuration management must be implemented properly in order to make the client to feel virtually that the offshore developers are their on-site developers and not remote developers. Better configuration management will avoid unauthorized intrusion, hackers and virus threat.

The offshore companies should protect their legal and intellectual properties. Trade secrets, customer data and financial information must be managed safely as many third world countries do not have an established law against cyber crime to investigate and prosecute the injustice happening through cyberspace.

Therefore regular security reviews, proper documentation and policy procedures, transparent offshore model, clear configuration between the offshore data center and the client must be handled properly while undertaking offshore projects to ensure better risk and project management in offshore outsourcing consulting.

How to Hack Proof Your Web Server

A dedicated server is a sign of success for any SMB. The reasons to move into a dedicated server are varied - a high volume of web traffic, a transaction heavy database, complex application requirements, or a combination of those and other requirements- but whatever the reason, a dedicated server brings powerful capabilities to growing and established businesses alike.

That power comes with an additional level of responsibilities. Protecting your server from being hacked is a serious concern requiring complete attention. In most cases you're going to need help, and if you've chosen your server provider carefully, you're going to have it.

Securing any network attached web or application server (and really, a web server is just a specialised application) is a tricky proposition. It needs to be accessible to legitimate users and locked down to the malicious ones. Consider a large concert or sporting event.

The idea is to have a large attendance of happy fans, but every step taken to bolster security usually has a negative impact on the experience- long lines for screenings, no bags or carry-alls allowed and so on. As with secure e-mail service, it would seem that the two goals of access and security are somewhat diametrically opposed, but a solid server protection scheme will actually work to support both ends.

It starts with a two layer "bullet proof vest" of technology in the form of a managed firewall and an intrusion protection service. A firewall is needed to help stop brute force, denial of service style attacks. Typically emanating from multiple unsecured servers located overseas, a DoS attack will pound your server with useless traffic, overwhelming resources and rendering the server unavailable for real users.

A quality firewall uses rules based access to filter and block malicious traffic while allowing legitimate traffic through. It does this in a way that minimizes latency and slowdowns, so that the process is transparent to end users.

Intrusion protection takes a slightly more sophisticated approach to this, blocking harmful traffic at the source, placing compromised hosts in quarantine and routing qualified user traffic quickly and efficiently. If your firewall represents your front line defenders, your IPS (intrusion protection service) in effect goes behind enemy lines. The combination lets you shift your security measures from reactive to proactive, but there's a catch.

Having firewall and IPS protection in place is only the first step. This isn't "set it and forget it" stuff, staying ahead of hackers and corporate saboteurs requires constant vigilance and regular updates to blacklists, filters, patches and more. It's one thing to purchase and install a couple of security appliances, it's quite another to properly manage them, and for too many SMBs, it's a budget busting proposition. This is where your service provider comes in.

The overlooked word for too many dedicated server providers is 'managed'. If your provider offers managed services, you are a step ahead of the game. A high end provider already has 24/7/365 staffing. They already have a massive investment in hardware and network resources. Most importantly, they already have a team of highly trained, certified engineers who can help you stay running at peak optimisation, fully protected. If your provider offers managed firewall and intrusion protection, it's a no brainer to add those services to your IT arsenal. If your provider doesn't offer firewall and IPS, maybe it's time to start looking at other providers.

The Definition of Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is one of the IT industry's newest buzzwords. If you're anything like me, you're wondering what on earth it actually means, especially when authors like Nicholas Carr proclaim it the way of the future. I was so curious that I went out and did some research so I could figure out this new phenomenon for myself.

Splitting up the two words makes this term easier to understand. The Cloud computing is generally understood to be the internet, and in short cloud computing means using the internet for all of your computer needs. Rather than having disc storage, software, and hardware of your own, you store all of your information on the internet. If you use a service like Hotmail or Google Mail (Gmail in the States), you're already doing it. That's because Google and Microsoft's email services store all of your files for you on their servers. In fact, Google is one of the biggest players in the game, as they have several software suites that are free for use on the internet, like Google Docs or Google Calendar.

These services are provided for free, but many companies want to make money off cloud computing by extending into businesses. Unsurprisingly, Microsoft is one of them, particularly because cloud computing will take away much of the proprietary benefit they gain from their many pre-installed Windows programs and operating system. Amazon is another provider; they already allow users to set up stores and sell items via their own websites without any additional need for storage, and they plan to expand into other areas of the market as well.

As a business model, users typically rent software and hardware facilities that they previously had to buy. Start-ups are already taking advantage of cloud computing because it significantly lowers their initial costs; no longer do they have to buy expensive hardware and software for each employee. It lowers the barrier for entry, though it may not be a cost-effective service for the long run. Consider it like renting an apartment before you save up the money for a down payment on a house.

Similarly, the cloud model doesn't make sense for larger companies who already own the necessary hardware and software. It would just be too expensive. In the future, however, some technology enthusiast are already envisioning cloud computing as a common utility like electricity or gas, completely eliminating the need to run servers or potentially even individual computers on your own. To me, however, this seems to be a number of years off.

How will users benefit from cloud computing when it does fully arrive? Well, for one thing, everyone would be able to access any of their files at any location. If you do some work from home, you'll no longer need a laptop or even a flash drive because everything you could access at home will also be available to you at work. Like webmail services, your information will automatically sync because it's all stored in the same place. Perhaps information will also be cheaper, but no one quite knows where this revolution is headed - yet.

Business Analysis and Market Share Analysis

This new business analysis stage is crucial in the total process of new product development because several vital decision regarding the Acai project are taken based on the analysis done at this stage. This new business analysis stage will decide whether from financial and marketing point of view, the project is worth proceeding with. Investment and profitability analysis of the project under different assumptions are made at this stage. The projects overall impacts on the corporations financial position with and without the new product are estimated and compared. The financial estimated would be reliable only if they are based on a fairly accurate demand forecast and related market factors. The marketing experts by now should have undertaken detailed exercises on the marketability of the product. They have to come up with information on the following aspects, in particular: estimate of demand for the proposed product.

A fairly reliable demand estimates is essential for evaluating the visibility of the proposed project. Demand estimation for intrinsically new product is being discussed in a separate section. If the proposed product is only a 'me-too' product, the demand for the product category has to be estimated and the likely share the proposed product can take, has to be evaluated. Seasonal patterns in consumption, if any. Major competitors, their market share, the dominant market segments held by them. Special market feature affecting demand. The marketing organization required for marketing the product whether the existing marketing organization set-up is required. If so, what would it cost?

Only when information on the above aspects is complete, meaningful estimate of overall profitability of the project can be made and it is based on the overall profitability picture that the corporation decides further. In feature films of Lenox and sponsor tale-serials, the cast is drawn from mostly established actors/actress. Most of them have period practice. In some of these productions, enterprising directors initiate new faces which they might have spotted. Before a recruit is assign a male, a screen test is taken to see how the person is able to behave in front of the camera. Mostly casting is the prerogative of the producer-director team. In mega budget projects, a separate casting director takes care of this function.

For a greater part of this century, we had to depend on a talented breed of commercial artist to transform our ingenious urges into artistic art works. These artists had different job-titles to finishing artists, paste-up and layout artistes and the designers. The designers today change a sum equivalent to the cost of personal computers to visualise a single ad movement. The desk-top publishing came as ground-breaking techniques a few years ago to finish the finished artists. Tomorrow, there may not be the need for them in any of the ad agencies.

Why Do we Need Project Management Office?

This is a topic close to my heart. I think that's so because I know that PMO can mean so many things to an organization and the first step is getting the answer to the question posed by the title of this posting.

Most organizations that have a history of project management find themselves all over the success range from Fabulous Success to Spectacular Failure. This variety of outcomes is often the trigger for the executive to start on the PMO path.

In my experience, the reasons to implement a PMO are, in no particular order;

1. improve and standardize project performance
2. provide enterprise wide reporting
3. create a common reporting structure
4. portfolio management
5. centre of excellence in project management and related disciplines
6. a combination of any of the above.
7. all of the above

Many organizations also cycle between - absolutely need a PMO to why do we need to pay the overhead of a PMO?

I've created and collaborated in creating two PMOs and my experience is that a successful PMO starts with the executive backing aligned with the top reasons for creating a PMO.

Just like any project, you need a champion/sponsor, and a clear understanding of what you are going to deliver. You run the creation and implementation as a project. Develop a clear understanding of the outcomes, create phased milestones, measurements of success (both for the project and the operation of the PMO) and report on the status during the initial period.

The key is that implementation is not the end. When the PMO is running and showing success, the whole reason for the PMO needs to be revisited and refocussed. A PMO is not a product that gets delivered, it's an operational part of any organization and it evolves.

If the first priority is to create a centre of excellence for project managers, you will likely find that the PMO will evolve towards portfolio management because the executive see more possibilities as the PMs become more professional.

If the priority starts as portfolio management, then it will likely evolve towards a centre of excellence very quickly as it becomes clear that more projects can be done if PMs are supported and developed.

Whatever the starting point, if you are managing/directing a PMO, you need to remember it evolves. Keeping your PMO alive is a process of constant selling of the current and possible value of a PMO.