OMAHA, USA: TiVUS Inc. has established a comprehensive hotel industry distributor network to thoroughly, quickly, and efficiently reach its target market within the hospitality entertainment industry through its new strategic partnership with TEL electronics inc.
"I am pleased to announce this vital strategic partnership with TEL," commented Phil Marriott, TiVUS' executive vice-president of sales. "TEL brings over 33 years of experience in hotel communication technology sales, is well-known, and much respected within the hospitality electronics industry.
"As thousands of hotel properties have now been chain-mandated to upgrade to high-definition television (HDTV), the strategy of distributing through entrenched hotel vendors already providing other electronics and software needs is paramount to rapidly seizing market share; and, is made possible only through the leverage of TEL's established relationships.
"In this way, TiVUS expects to both rapidly gain access to desirable hotel properties as well as mitigate the need to fund, train and field a large sales force," Marriott concluded.
Shiva Prakash, TIVUS' president and CEO, commented: "I believe Phil Marriott's and TEL's continued development of this solid distribution network will favorably position our HD IPTV with ad-insertion solution in front of virtually every desirably hotel property throughout North America; furthermore, we believe this strategy to be the most efficient method of rapidly establishing significant market share."
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Wi-Fi Direct-enabled digital TVs will approach 80 million by 2015
DUBLIN, IRELAND: Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Wi-Fi Direct: It's All About the Software" report to its offering.
Wi-Fi Direct is a software layer that sits on top of Wi-Fi silicon. It makes Wi-Fi a much more formidable offering because it adds peer-to-peer capability to Wi-Fi's networking capability. Two Wi-Fi Direct devices can transmit data, images, and video without the need for a Wi-Fi access point. Because Wi-Fi Direct is a software layer, the cost of adding Wi-Fi Direct to the silicon solution is minimal.
Wi-Fi Direct is currently hitting the market in mobile PCs and mobile phones. Digital televisions will also be a popular application for the specification, as it will allow mobile devices from PCs to portable media players and smartphones to display video and images on a big screen. The development of application programming interfaces (APIs) will be very important to the success of Wi-Fi Direct, since it will ultimately make Wi-Fi Direct usable.
The report includes annual penetration forecasts through 2015 for Wi-Fi Direct in 20 separate applications within PCs, PC peripherals, CE devices, and mobile phones. Brief profiles of major companies involved in Wi-Fi Direct are also provided.
Other details from the report include:
* Mobile PCs will adopt Wi-Fi Direct more quickly than any other application.
* Every PC, CE device, and mobile phone that ships in 2014 with Wi-Fi silicon will be Wi-Fi Direct-enabled.
* Wi-Fi Direct-enabled device shipments will reach 173 million in 2011.
Wi-Fi Direct is a software layer that sits on top of Wi-Fi silicon. It makes Wi-Fi a much more formidable offering because it adds peer-to-peer capability to Wi-Fi's networking capability. Two Wi-Fi Direct devices can transmit data, images, and video without the need for a Wi-Fi access point. Because Wi-Fi Direct is a software layer, the cost of adding Wi-Fi Direct to the silicon solution is minimal.
Wi-Fi Direct is currently hitting the market in mobile PCs and mobile phones. Digital televisions will also be a popular application for the specification, as it will allow mobile devices from PCs to portable media players and smartphones to display video and images on a big screen. The development of application programming interfaces (APIs) will be very important to the success of Wi-Fi Direct, since it will ultimately make Wi-Fi Direct usable.
The report includes annual penetration forecasts through 2015 for Wi-Fi Direct in 20 separate applications within PCs, PC peripherals, CE devices, and mobile phones. Brief profiles of major companies involved in Wi-Fi Direct are also provided.
Other details from the report include:
* Mobile PCs will adopt Wi-Fi Direct more quickly than any other application.
* Every PC, CE device, and mobile phone that ships in 2014 with Wi-Fi silicon will be Wi-Fi Direct-enabled.
* Wi-Fi Direct-enabled device shipments will reach 173 million in 2011.
CyberOptics to exhibit AOI tabletop system with in-line inspection solutions
Electronica/Productronica India 2011, INDIA & MINNEAPOLIS, USA: CyberOptics Corp., a leading SMT inspection solutions provider, will display a prototype version of the new QX100 – AOI Tabletop System alongside its latest inspection technologies in Maxim SMT Technologies’ Booth #1190 in Hall 11 at the upcoming Electronica International Trade Fair, scheduled to take place September 13-16, 2011 at the Pragati Maidan in New Delhi, India.
The QX100 tabletop system embraces CyberOptics’ unique image acquisition solution using the Strobed Inspection Module (SIM) and is capable of inspecting 01005 components and larger at 100cm²/sec, making it the fastest tabletop system the industry has ever witnessed.
The sleek tabletop system is powered by AI2 (Autonomous Image Interpretation), a patented next-generation image analysis technique that exploits the latest advances in processor architecture.
AI2 has evolved from the very ideas upon which CyberOptics’ industry-proven SAM technology is rooted. A robust statistical modeling engine forms the core of AI2, providing superior defect detection capabilities, the lowest false call rates and improved clarity of defect identification through Defect Pixel Marking. Designed to fully support unsupervised and semi-automatic model training, AI2 delivers incredibly fast setup times and a streamlined programming workflow. The QX100 system is designed to match production footprint requirements and fully comply with safety standards.
SE350 3-D solder paste inspection system is equipped with CyberOptics’ calibration-free 3-D sensor technology to inspect even the most demanding assemblies. The sensor is an integrated assembly designed with no moving parts, eliminating machine-to-machine variation across production lines while offering the lowest cost of ownership in the industry. Leveraging on the development efforts of the SE500, this system is capable of inspecting pad sizes down to 01005 component size (150 x 150μm).
The QX100 tabletop system embraces CyberOptics’ unique image acquisition solution using the Strobed Inspection Module (SIM) and is capable of inspecting 01005 components and larger at 100cm²/sec, making it the fastest tabletop system the industry has ever witnessed.
The sleek tabletop system is powered by AI2 (Autonomous Image Interpretation), a patented next-generation image analysis technique that exploits the latest advances in processor architecture.
AI2 has evolved from the very ideas upon which CyberOptics’ industry-proven SAM technology is rooted. A robust statistical modeling engine forms the core of AI2, providing superior defect detection capabilities, the lowest false call rates and improved clarity of defect identification through Defect Pixel Marking. Designed to fully support unsupervised and semi-automatic model training, AI2 delivers incredibly fast setup times and a streamlined programming workflow. The QX100 system is designed to match production footprint requirements and fully comply with safety standards.
SE350 3-D solder paste inspection system is equipped with CyberOptics’ calibration-free 3-D sensor technology to inspect even the most demanding assemblies. The sensor is an integrated assembly designed with no moving parts, eliminating machine-to-machine variation across production lines while offering the lowest cost of ownership in the industry. Leveraging on the development efforts of the SE500, this system is capable of inspecting pad sizes down to 01005 component size (150 x 150μm).
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Percentage of US consumers planning to buy TVs hits record low
EL SEGUNDO, USA: Spooked by the sputtering economy, US consumers are choosing to forego television purchases, with the number of Americans planning to buy new sets plunging to record low levels, according to a new IHS iSuppli US TV Consumer Preference Analysis report.
A survey conducted during the second quarter of 2011 revealed that only 13 percent of US consumers who had not purchased a TV during the past quarter are planning to buy a new set during the next three to 12 months, down sharply from 32 percent in the first quarter.
A full 83 percent of respondents said had no intention of buying a new TV set within the next 12 months. This compares to the 66 percent of respondents who said the same during the first quarter, marking the highest negative level of response to the question since IHS iSuppli first posed it to the public in 2010.
The remaining 4 percent in the study represented those who had received televisions as a gift, up from 2 percent in the first quarter.
“The latest survey indicates a tremendous shift in preferences among an increasingly cautious buying public, unnerved by the continuing gloom of the economy,” said Riddhi Patel, director for television systems and retail services at IHS. “The findings suggest a growing willingness among US consumers to suspend—if not totally abandon—their ongoing love affair with the television, the primary entertainment device for many American households. A sort of wait-and-see attitude has taken hold—whether it is waiting for the economy to improve, or for television prices to fall some more, or for the arrival of better deals that combine both reduced prices and high-end TV features.”
Buyers vote with their dollars
Among the ranks of US consumers who recently bought TVs, the most important criteria for purchasing in the second quarter were picture quality, price and screen size. Brand name has become a less important factor in the purchasing decision because of the diminishing price differential between different makes.
Also deemed not critical were newly emergent advanced TV features such as Internet connectivity and light-emitting diode (LED) backlighting, the survey found. Still, LED-backlit TVs accounted for nearly 30 percent of TV purchases in the second quarter, up from 26 percent in the first.
Overall, televisions featuring liquid crystal display (LCD) technology continued to dominate TV purchases during the second quarter—at 86 percent. The rival plasma technology accounted for the remaining market, although plasma sets experienced an increase in overall average pricing as well as favorability ratings, thanks to new models offering larger sizes and advanced features.
In terms of size, a slight increase was detected in buyers going for 50-inch-and-larger sets, but a surprisingly large percentage—up to 38 percent—bought in the under-30-inch range, mainly for reasons of price as retailers offered fewer and smaller discounts in the bigger sizes.
The use of Netflix among households soared to 66 percent for new TVs connected to the Internet, and together with Facebook, YouTube and games, represented the most-accessed applications by consumers.
IHS iSuppli Consumer Preference Analysis methodology
The results of the latest US TV Consumer Preference Analysis report by IHS iSuppli are based on a survey conducted among more than 45,000 randomly polled US households from a continually refreshed pool of 2 million, with a margin of error at 1.6 percent.
Source: IHS iSuppli, USA.
A survey conducted during the second quarter of 2011 revealed that only 13 percent of US consumers who had not purchased a TV during the past quarter are planning to buy a new set during the next three to 12 months, down sharply from 32 percent in the first quarter.
A full 83 percent of respondents said had no intention of buying a new TV set within the next 12 months. This compares to the 66 percent of respondents who said the same during the first quarter, marking the highest negative level of response to the question since IHS iSuppli first posed it to the public in 2010.
The remaining 4 percent in the study represented those who had received televisions as a gift, up from 2 percent in the first quarter.
“The latest survey indicates a tremendous shift in preferences among an increasingly cautious buying public, unnerved by the continuing gloom of the economy,” said Riddhi Patel, director for television systems and retail services at IHS. “The findings suggest a growing willingness among US consumers to suspend—if not totally abandon—their ongoing love affair with the television, the primary entertainment device for many American households. A sort of wait-and-see attitude has taken hold—whether it is waiting for the economy to improve, or for television prices to fall some more, or for the arrival of better deals that combine both reduced prices and high-end TV features.”
Buyers vote with their dollars
Among the ranks of US consumers who recently bought TVs, the most important criteria for purchasing in the second quarter were picture quality, price and screen size. Brand name has become a less important factor in the purchasing decision because of the diminishing price differential between different makes.
Also deemed not critical were newly emergent advanced TV features such as Internet connectivity and light-emitting diode (LED) backlighting, the survey found. Still, LED-backlit TVs accounted for nearly 30 percent of TV purchases in the second quarter, up from 26 percent in the first.
Overall, televisions featuring liquid crystal display (LCD) technology continued to dominate TV purchases during the second quarter—at 86 percent. The rival plasma technology accounted for the remaining market, although plasma sets experienced an increase in overall average pricing as well as favorability ratings, thanks to new models offering larger sizes and advanced features.
In terms of size, a slight increase was detected in buyers going for 50-inch-and-larger sets, but a surprisingly large percentage—up to 38 percent—bought in the under-30-inch range, mainly for reasons of price as retailers offered fewer and smaller discounts in the bigger sizes.
The use of Netflix among households soared to 66 percent for new TVs connected to the Internet, and together with Facebook, YouTube and games, represented the most-accessed applications by consumers.
IHS iSuppli Consumer Preference Analysis methodology
The results of the latest US TV Consumer Preference Analysis report by IHS iSuppli are based on a survey conducted among more than 45,000 randomly polled US households from a continually refreshed pool of 2 million, with a margin of error at 1.6 percent.
Source: IHS iSuppli, USA.
HID Global launches next gen access control readers and contactless smart cards
BANGALORE, INDIA: HID Global, trusted leader in solutions for the delivery of secure identity, today announced the availability of its next generation access control readers and credentials based on the company’s new iCLASS SIO technology-enabled (SE) platform.
This platform initiates a significant transformation in how secure identity is delivered and managed by introducing technology-independent digital credentials that can be deployed for use on smart phones, microprocessor-based cards, contactless smart cards, USB tokens and related devices.
The iCLASS SE platform is an essential building block in the access control industry’s first Near Field Communication (NFC)-enabled mobile identity and access management solutions, now being developed by various HID Global partners. Based on open standards to support a wide array of smart card technologies, HID Global’s new access control platform supports iCLASS, MIFARE DESFire EV1 and other contactless smart card technologies. It extends physical access control beyond traditional cards and readers to enable deployment of mobile access with digital credentials.
To accommodate constantly evolving security challenges, iCLASS SE provides users with the ability to dynamically increase security levels via simple firmware updates and efficiently address future changes in requirements as they occur.
“The introduction of our new iCLASS SIO technology-enabled product line is the tangible result of HID’s unique understanding of the access control industry and the partnerships we’ve formed over the years with users, security consultants, system software developers and OEM manufacturers,” said Dr. Selva Selvaratnam, senior vice president and chief technology officer with HID Global.
“iCLASS SE also represents a significant milestone in the advancement of our secure identity strategy, because it provides a standards-based platform for implementing exciting new applications for NFC-enabled mobile phones.”
This platform initiates a significant transformation in how secure identity is delivered and managed by introducing technology-independent digital credentials that can be deployed for use on smart phones, microprocessor-based cards, contactless smart cards, USB tokens and related devices.
The iCLASS SE platform is an essential building block in the access control industry’s first Near Field Communication (NFC)-enabled mobile identity and access management solutions, now being developed by various HID Global partners. Based on open standards to support a wide array of smart card technologies, HID Global’s new access control platform supports iCLASS, MIFARE DESFire EV1 and other contactless smart card technologies. It extends physical access control beyond traditional cards and readers to enable deployment of mobile access with digital credentials.
To accommodate constantly evolving security challenges, iCLASS SE provides users with the ability to dynamically increase security levels via simple firmware updates and efficiently address future changes in requirements as they occur.
“The introduction of our new iCLASS SIO technology-enabled product line is the tangible result of HID’s unique understanding of the access control industry and the partnerships we’ve formed over the years with users, security consultants, system software developers and OEM manufacturers,” said Dr. Selva Selvaratnam, senior vice president and chief technology officer with HID Global.
“iCLASS SE also represents a significant milestone in the advancement of our secure identity strategy, because it provides a standards-based platform for implementing exciting new applications for NFC-enabled mobile phones.”
University of Kent chooses Talisma as CRM technology partner
UK: UK’s leading university, the University of Kent has chosen Talisma Corporation as its CRM technology partner. Talisma will help the University of Kent to leverage technology to offer a more enriching experience across all campuses of the University in the UK and overseas, to students, staff, academics and visitors.
The project, to be executed in multiple phases, will cover the admissions process for both graduates and undergraduates in phase one. In phase two, Talisma’s CRM will be implemented across the entire University, providing the University with a unified and complete view of the campus eco-system and its constituents.
As part of the project, Talisma will enable the University of Kent to integrate information exchange with the UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) database. UCAS is a central UK body responsible for managing applications to almost all undergraduate degree programmes at UK universities and colleges. Another link enabled by Talisma, with the UKBA (UK Borders Agency), will help the University vet and verify overseas applicants.
The project, to be executed in multiple phases, will cover the admissions process for both graduates and undergraduates in phase one. In phase two, Talisma’s CRM will be implemented across the entire University, providing the University with a unified and complete view of the campus eco-system and its constituents.
As part of the project, Talisma will enable the University of Kent to integrate information exchange with the UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) database. UCAS is a central UK body responsible for managing applications to almost all undergraduate degree programmes at UK universities and colleges. Another link enabled by Talisma, with the UKBA (UK Borders Agency), will help the University vet and verify overseas applicants.
LCD monitor market share battle to occur in Q4
TAIWAN: WitsView, a research unit of TrendForce, estimated that the July 2011 shipments from top ten LCD brand vendors declined by 4 percent MoM (month-over-month) to 11.37 million due to unclear amount of demand from terminal market and the already high base period for June.
Total shipments from top 10 SIs (system integration manufacturers) in July was 12.01 million, a MoM decline of 5.1 percent. These SIs are expected to see a MoM growth of 6~8 percent in August because of short term orders for the fourth quarter. Overall brands will also see a MoM growth of 6~9 percent in September while several brands, relying on consumption market, distribute products to the market.
Overall monitors SIs’ shipment shows signs of decline, despite some short-term orders for Tatung and growth for TPV, Qisda, and Wistron at the expense of CMI. CMI was expected to take the lead in monitor manufacturing over TPV in 2009.
As the gap between the shipment volumes of CMI and TPV widened in 4Q09 (37 million from CMI in comparison with 40 million from TPV), CMI production continued to decline because of merger and internal restructuring. CMI shipments are expected to be around 25 million this year, at the same level as that in 2007. In contrast, TPV continues to grow and is expected to produce 57 to 59 million this year.
Concern over decline looms because of debt crisis in the US and Europe even though the peak season is approaching. Anita Wang, an analyst at WitsView, indicated upcoming challenges for brand vendors. This difficulty results from weak terminal market demand, unwillingness to place orders from the distributors’ side in fear of stocks piling up, and weak price support from the panel makers which had experienced consecutive decline through three quarters.
Brand vendors could only hope to maintain production by reducing cost and selling off stocks; therefore, the shipments for the second half of the year will remain limited. Regardless of the scale of the upcoming shipment challenges, the brand shipment forecast for September and October suggests that battle over brand market share in Q4 is inevitable.
Burrell Liu, assistant manager of WitsView, also indicated that LCD TV demand, which is the driving force for the entire industry, is forecasted to grow 10~12 percent in the third quarter, compared to the second, against the background of declining overall demand. While there appears to be seasonal growth, the actual growth is not of any significant positive influence for overall supply and demand. Monitor and TV display panel prices have been showing signs of decline since last month.
It is predicted that average display panel makers’ utilization rate will continue to decrease to 60 percent. It is also expected that selling price will be stabilized and there will be a balance of supply and demand in Q4.
Source: WitsView, Taiwan.
Total shipments from top 10 SIs (system integration manufacturers) in July was 12.01 million, a MoM decline of 5.1 percent. These SIs are expected to see a MoM growth of 6~8 percent in August because of short term orders for the fourth quarter. Overall brands will also see a MoM growth of 6~9 percent in September while several brands, relying on consumption market, distribute products to the market.
Overall monitors SIs’ shipment shows signs of decline, despite some short-term orders for Tatung and growth for TPV, Qisda, and Wistron at the expense of CMI. CMI was expected to take the lead in monitor manufacturing over TPV in 2009.
As the gap between the shipment volumes of CMI and TPV widened in 4Q09 (37 million from CMI in comparison with 40 million from TPV), CMI production continued to decline because of merger and internal restructuring. CMI shipments are expected to be around 25 million this year, at the same level as that in 2007. In contrast, TPV continues to grow and is expected to produce 57 to 59 million this year.
Concern over decline looms because of debt crisis in the US and Europe even though the peak season is approaching. Anita Wang, an analyst at WitsView, indicated upcoming challenges for brand vendors. This difficulty results from weak terminal market demand, unwillingness to place orders from the distributors’ side in fear of stocks piling up, and weak price support from the panel makers which had experienced consecutive decline through three quarters.
Brand vendors could only hope to maintain production by reducing cost and selling off stocks; therefore, the shipments for the second half of the year will remain limited. Regardless of the scale of the upcoming shipment challenges, the brand shipment forecast for September and October suggests that battle over brand market share in Q4 is inevitable.
Burrell Liu, assistant manager of WitsView, also indicated that LCD TV demand, which is the driving force for the entire industry, is forecasted to grow 10~12 percent in the third quarter, compared to the second, against the background of declining overall demand. While there appears to be seasonal growth, the actual growth is not of any significant positive influence for overall supply and demand. Monitor and TV display panel prices have been showing signs of decline since last month.
It is predicted that average display panel makers’ utilization rate will continue to decrease to 60 percent. It is also expected that selling price will be stabilized and there will be a balance of supply and demand in Q4.
Source: WitsView, Taiwan.
V-locity 3 virtual platform disk optimizer released at VMworld
LAS VEGAS, USA: Diskeeper Corp. released the new V-locity 3 virtual platform disk optimizer for VMware at VMworld. V-locity 3 delivers invisible background optimization to give maximum I/O performance on virtual servers.
V-locity 3 now has full integration with VMware ESXi as well as existing support for other platforms such as ESX, and Microsoft Hyper-V. Other developments include V-Aware technology which detects external resource usage from other virtual machines on the virtual platform and eliminates resource contention that would otherwise exist on the same Host Server.
New CogniSAN technology detects external resource usage within a shared storage system, such as a SAN, and allows for transparent optimization by never competing for resources utilized by other VMs over the same storage infrastructure. CogniSAN does this without intruding in any way into SAN-layer operations. Lastly is the new automatic space reclamation which is a powerful engine that zeros out unused data blocks on virtual disks and makes virtual disk compaction easy.
V-locity 3 is like a virtual doctor that eliminates many of the chronic pains servers experience: I/O bottlenecks, slow VMs, slow migration, resource conflicts, wasted storage space, slow backup speeds and many more.
V-locity 3 now has full integration with VMware ESXi as well as existing support for other platforms such as ESX, and Microsoft Hyper-V. Other developments include V-Aware technology which detects external resource usage from other virtual machines on the virtual platform and eliminates resource contention that would otherwise exist on the same Host Server.
New CogniSAN technology detects external resource usage within a shared storage system, such as a SAN, and allows for transparent optimization by never competing for resources utilized by other VMs over the same storage infrastructure. CogniSAN does this without intruding in any way into SAN-layer operations. Lastly is the new automatic space reclamation which is a powerful engine that zeros out unused data blocks on virtual disks and makes virtual disk compaction easy.
V-locity 3 is like a virtual doctor that eliminates many of the chronic pains servers experience: I/O bottlenecks, slow VMs, slow migration, resource conflicts, wasted storage space, slow backup speeds and many more.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Aegis software improves EE Technologies’ production efficiency and quality
HORSHAM, USA: EE Technologies Inc, an ISO/TS 16949:2009 certified Contra Manufacturing partner recently completed a full implementation of Aegis’ Manufacturing Operations Software (MOS). This was effective in fulfilling their strategy to improve efficienciency and quality by streamlining and controlling process planning and launch, process tracking and control, and quality and test management.
“Speed, control and visibility are core competitiveness. We utilize technology to connect data to all of our factory processes for our customers’ benefit,” commented Sonny Newman, president of EE Technologies.
Aegis MOS provides the tools needed by production staff to translate engineering design into manufacturing documentation. Aegis provides support for virtually every CAD type and simplifies programming of the machines that use the CAD data.
It allows EET to automate revision control processes; it also automates the distribution of information to operate workstations in sufficient detail for quality product building. All of this is achieved with a system which, being paperless, achieves an EET environmental corporate objective.
During manufacturing, materials are related to individual machines and stations at the point-of-use and are electronically validated against job parameters. As units travel through each station, their correct, validated material setup is guaranteed, and each unit then automatically inherits the currently loaded material set. This ensures that the right product is at the right station at the right time for the right job, and provides EET’s customers with total traceability.
“Speed, control and visibility are core competitiveness. We utilize technology to connect data to all of our factory processes for our customers’ benefit,” commented Sonny Newman, president of EE Technologies.
Aegis MOS provides the tools needed by production staff to translate engineering design into manufacturing documentation. Aegis provides support for virtually every CAD type and simplifies programming of the machines that use the CAD data.
It allows EET to automate revision control processes; it also automates the distribution of information to operate workstations in sufficient detail for quality product building. All of this is achieved with a system which, being paperless, achieves an EET environmental corporate objective.
During manufacturing, materials are related to individual machines and stations at the point-of-use and are electronically validated against job parameters. As units travel through each station, their correct, validated material setup is guaranteed, and each unit then automatically inherits the currently loaded material set. This ensures that the right product is at the right station at the right time for the right job, and provides EET’s customers with total traceability.
France to display its technological expertise in Secure Payments & Identification Systems
NEW DELHI, INDIA: On the Occasion of the Indo-French Technology Meet 2011 organized by Ubifrance and the French Trade Commission in India, the ICT-Services and Aerospace Department of Ubifrance is bringing leading French companies in the field of Secure Payments and Identification Systems from 19th to 22nd September 2011 in New Delhi, to present their know-how and identify business opportunities in the Indian market.
The Indo-French Technology Meet being organized from 19th September to 1st October 2011 in New Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, brings together leading French and Indian companies to meet and interact and chalk out strategies for business development. A real concentration of information and expertise, these four days dedicated to the digital securities and smart technologies bring together leading French companies like ID3, Prooftag, Starchip, Elitt, Baracoda, Atos Wordline to present their latest technological developments in the area of Smart Cards, Biometrics, E-Transactions, etc.
The event opens on 19th September 2011, in New Delhi with an interactive session with the experts and decision makers of the Identification systems industry in India. This discussion will set its focus on the rapidly growing Indian market in the field of smart technologies. The session will be followed by a networking lunch and a company site visit. Further to this, these French companies will also be exhibiting at the French Pavilion in the Smart Cards Expo from 20th to 22nd September, 2011 being held at the Ashok Hotel, New Delhi. One-to-one B2B meetings with Indian companies will also be organized at their stand.
India’s Secure Payments and Identification Systems industry is one of the fastest growing markets in the world. This industry owes its growth to the recent initiatives taken by the Government of India like the UIDAI project- providing Unique Identification cards to each citizen of India; electronic driving license; e-passports, health cards and so on.
The Indo-French Technology Meet 2011 provides a unique platform to these French companies to work out business partnerships in the field of digital security with key Indian players and in collaboration with the Government of India for many such upcoming projects in the sector.
The Indo-French Technology Meet being organized from 19th September to 1st October 2011 in New Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, brings together leading French and Indian companies to meet and interact and chalk out strategies for business development. A real concentration of information and expertise, these four days dedicated to the digital securities and smart technologies bring together leading French companies like ID3, Prooftag, Starchip, Elitt, Baracoda, Atos Wordline to present their latest technological developments in the area of Smart Cards, Biometrics, E-Transactions, etc.
The event opens on 19th September 2011, in New Delhi with an interactive session with the experts and decision makers of the Identification systems industry in India. This discussion will set its focus on the rapidly growing Indian market in the field of smart technologies. The session will be followed by a networking lunch and a company site visit. Further to this, these French companies will also be exhibiting at the French Pavilion in the Smart Cards Expo from 20th to 22nd September, 2011 being held at the Ashok Hotel, New Delhi. One-to-one B2B meetings with Indian companies will also be organized at their stand.
India’s Secure Payments and Identification Systems industry is one of the fastest growing markets in the world. This industry owes its growth to the recent initiatives taken by the Government of India like the UIDAI project- providing Unique Identification cards to each citizen of India; electronic driving license; e-passports, health cards and so on.
The Indo-French Technology Meet 2011 provides a unique platform to these French companies to work out business partnerships in the field of digital security with key Indian players and in collaboration with the Government of India for many such upcoming projects in the sector.
Cyber attackers bank on Indian BFSI
PUNE, INDIA: Symantec Corp. announced the results of the August 2011 Symantec Intelligence Report, now combining the best research and analysis from the Symantec.cloud MessageLabs Intelligence Report and the Symantec State of Spam & Phishing Report.
This month’s analysis reveals that once more spammers are seeking to benefit from fluctuations in the turbulent financial markets, most notably by sending large volumes of spam relating to certain “pink sheets” stocks in an attempt to “pump” the value of these stocks before “dumping” them at a profit.
Threat landscape -- India highlights from Symantec Intelligence Report, Aug. 2011
* 88.8 percent organizations spoofed for phishing attacks were in the financial services sector globally.
* 100 percent of Indian brands targeted for phishing attacks were in the banking sector.
* Spam in India constituted 74 percent of all email in August 2011.
* Phishing with Indian geo-location saw an increase of 148.38 percent from the previous month.
* Hyderabad tops the list of Indian cities hosting phishing attacks on non-Indian brands.
* One in 207.7 emails were identified as phishing globally.
* One in 203.3 emails in August contained malware globally.
* India was the highest originator of spam in August, accounting for 16.6 percent of total global spam volume.
This month’s analysis reveals that once more spammers are seeking to benefit from fluctuations in the turbulent financial markets, most notably by sending large volumes of spam relating to certain “pink sheets” stocks in an attempt to “pump” the value of these stocks before “dumping” them at a profit.
Threat landscape -- India highlights from Symantec Intelligence Report, Aug. 2011
* 88.8 percent organizations spoofed for phishing attacks were in the financial services sector globally.
* 100 percent of Indian brands targeted for phishing attacks were in the banking sector.
* Spam in India constituted 74 percent of all email in August 2011.
* Phishing with Indian geo-location saw an increase of 148.38 percent from the previous month.
* Hyderabad tops the list of Indian cities hosting phishing attacks on non-Indian brands.
* One in 207.7 emails were identified as phishing globally.
* One in 203.3 emails in August contained malware globally.
* India was the highest originator of spam in August, accounting for 16.6 percent of total global spam volume.
VMWare, Cisco and EMC enable large-scale VDI implementation at KPIT Cummins
BANGALORE, INDIA: VMware, Cisco and EMC announced that KPIT Cummins has deployed the Vblock Platform for a Virtual Desktop Interface (VDI) implementation to serve 1,200 users across India. The deployment will enable KPIT Cummins to scale its infrastructure and at the same time enable employee access to their hosted virtual desktop from anywhere and over a broad range of end-user devices.
The Vblock Infrastructure Platform is the industry’s first completely integrated offering that combines best-of-breed virtualization, networking, computing, storage, security, and management technologies into a standard product with end-to-end vendor accountability.
“Desktop refreshes are done every three years in a typical large organisation. Instead of upgrading our PCs this time, we chose to implement VDI to achieve greater manageability, security and efficiency. In EMC, Cisco and VMware, we found partners who were willing to lead the consultation process and address our specific needs. And in the Vblock platform, we found not only a certified solution but a convincing solution that could be deployed right out of the box, saving us time and cost-ridden planning and architecting,” said Shrikant Kulkarni, senior VP, KPIT Cummins.
Through the Vblock platform, the Virtual Computing Environment (VCE) Co. formed by Cisco and EMC with investments from VMware and Intel, aims to simplify and accelerate virtualization and help customers transition to private cloud infrastructures. The platform, designed to enable rapid virtualization deployment, also offers flexible processing, network performance and storage capacities, and supports incremental capabilities such as enhanced security and business continuity.
“We congratulate KPIT Cummins on being amongst the early adopters of VDI in India. We anticipate that many more Indian enterprises will opt for VDI as they deal with growing deluge of smart devices at the enterprise, an increasingly mobile workforce and constrained IT budgets. The Vblock platform is a perfect solution for VDI implementation with unmatched benefits of Virtualisation and Cloud Computing,” added Manoj Chugh, president, EMC India & SAARC.
Rajesh Rege, senior VP – Data Center, Cisco, India & SAARC, said: “We are witnessing accelerated VDI deployments today as enterprises look to improve manageability and at the same time, enhance user experience. The Vblock platform provides a completely integrated private cloud offering for a virtual desktop environment and we congratulate KPIT Cummins on pioneering this infrastructure model. Cisco along with its partner ecosystem endeavors to constantly innovate and help customers make the transition to a cloud based infrastructure to enable industry leading security and scale.”
“Desktop virtualization has become a key component in aiding end-users to connect with business critical data and applications via any device, on demand” said T. Srinivasan, MD, VMware, India & SAARC. “Enterprises today want a model that enables users to be more productive while more effectively managing the growing portfolio of devices, data and applications. We are very excited about this implementation at KPIT Cummins and are very optimistic that this will inspire a lot more enterprises to adopt VDI. VMware is uniquely positioned to help enterprises realize the value of their existing end user investments while architecting a more flexible and powerful model that adopts and caters to the needs of end users and businesses.”
“Vblock platforms can reduce time to implement VDI projects by 75 percent,” said Anthony Elvey, MD of VCE, APJ/C, “They also significantly lower operational costs through a seamless support process whereby software updates and change control are coordinated by VCE across all components of the Vblock platform, relieving customers of this time consuming and expensive burden that consumes much of a typical data center’s resources.”
As an innovative and specialist provider of product engineering and IT consulting solutions and services to global corporations in the manufacturing and energy & utilities space, KPIT Cummins has a large IT infrastructure setup in India – made up of 6,000-plus desktops and laptops spread across multiple locations. KPIT Cummins offers a wide range of solutions & services using technology to the manufacturing corporations and also provides L1, L2 and further enterprise product support on behalf of large IT organisations.
KPIT Cummins deployed Vblock 1, which is designed for large Virtual Machines in a compact footprint, and provides for a mid-sized configuration to deliver a broad range of IT capabilities to organizations of all sizes.
The Vblock Infrastructure Platform is the industry’s first completely integrated offering that combines best-of-breed virtualization, networking, computing, storage, security, and management technologies into a standard product with end-to-end vendor accountability.
“Desktop refreshes are done every three years in a typical large organisation. Instead of upgrading our PCs this time, we chose to implement VDI to achieve greater manageability, security and efficiency. In EMC, Cisco and VMware, we found partners who were willing to lead the consultation process and address our specific needs. And in the Vblock platform, we found not only a certified solution but a convincing solution that could be deployed right out of the box, saving us time and cost-ridden planning and architecting,” said Shrikant Kulkarni, senior VP, KPIT Cummins.
Through the Vblock platform, the Virtual Computing Environment (VCE) Co. formed by Cisco and EMC with investments from VMware and Intel, aims to simplify and accelerate virtualization and help customers transition to private cloud infrastructures. The platform, designed to enable rapid virtualization deployment, also offers flexible processing, network performance and storage capacities, and supports incremental capabilities such as enhanced security and business continuity.
“We congratulate KPIT Cummins on being amongst the early adopters of VDI in India. We anticipate that many more Indian enterprises will opt for VDI as they deal with growing deluge of smart devices at the enterprise, an increasingly mobile workforce and constrained IT budgets. The Vblock platform is a perfect solution for VDI implementation with unmatched benefits of Virtualisation and Cloud Computing,” added Manoj Chugh, president, EMC India & SAARC.
Rajesh Rege, senior VP – Data Center, Cisco, India & SAARC, said: “We are witnessing accelerated VDI deployments today as enterprises look to improve manageability and at the same time, enhance user experience. The Vblock platform provides a completely integrated private cloud offering for a virtual desktop environment and we congratulate KPIT Cummins on pioneering this infrastructure model. Cisco along with its partner ecosystem endeavors to constantly innovate and help customers make the transition to a cloud based infrastructure to enable industry leading security and scale.”
“Desktop virtualization has become a key component in aiding end-users to connect with business critical data and applications via any device, on demand” said T. Srinivasan, MD, VMware, India & SAARC. “Enterprises today want a model that enables users to be more productive while more effectively managing the growing portfolio of devices, data and applications. We are very excited about this implementation at KPIT Cummins and are very optimistic that this will inspire a lot more enterprises to adopt VDI. VMware is uniquely positioned to help enterprises realize the value of their existing end user investments while architecting a more flexible and powerful model that adopts and caters to the needs of end users and businesses.”
“Vblock platforms can reduce time to implement VDI projects by 75 percent,” said Anthony Elvey, MD of VCE, APJ/C, “They also significantly lower operational costs through a seamless support process whereby software updates and change control are coordinated by VCE across all components of the Vblock platform, relieving customers of this time consuming and expensive burden that consumes much of a typical data center’s resources.”
As an innovative and specialist provider of product engineering and IT consulting solutions and services to global corporations in the manufacturing and energy & utilities space, KPIT Cummins has a large IT infrastructure setup in India – made up of 6,000-plus desktops and laptops spread across multiple locations. KPIT Cummins offers a wide range of solutions & services using technology to the manufacturing corporations and also provides L1, L2 and further enterprise product support on behalf of large IT organisations.
KPIT Cummins deployed Vblock 1, which is designed for large Virtual Machines in a compact footprint, and provides for a mid-sized configuration to deliver a broad range of IT capabilities to organizations of all sizes.
Pickering Interfaces intros new LXI Matrix
CLACTON ON SEA, UK: Pickering Interfaces is expanding its range of LXI switch solutions with the introduction of the 60-590 high density matrix.
The 60-590 is a high density matrix which can be provided in configurations of 40x40 or 40x20 and has provision for loop thru connections and isolated Y axis monitoring. The matrix has a current rating of 2A and supports up to 60W hot switching and voltages up to 300VDC. The design uses high quality EMR’s to ensure long service life and repeatable operation.
Connections to the matrix are by easy to use D Type connectors that are fully supported by the extensive range of Pickering Interfaces connection accessories.
The 60-590 is fully compliant with Version 1.3 of the LXI standard to ensure easy control in Ethernet/LAN based applications.
The 60-590 is a high density matrix which can be provided in configurations of 40x40 or 40x20 and has provision for loop thru connections and isolated Y axis monitoring. The matrix has a current rating of 2A and supports up to 60W hot switching and voltages up to 300VDC. The design uses high quality EMR’s to ensure long service life and repeatable operation.
Connections to the matrix are by easy to use D Type connectors that are fully supported by the extensive range of Pickering Interfaces connection accessories.
The 60-590 is fully compliant with Version 1.3 of the LXI standard to ensure easy control in Ethernet/LAN based applications.
IBM launches smarter energy cloud in Iowa
DUBUQUE, USA: IBM and the City of Dubuque, Iowa announced the availability of the Smarter Energy Cloud in Dubuque, Iowa. The cloud, or internet-based computing, will enable citizens to access information about their energy usage and habits and share best practices through an electricity portal/website over a six-month period. The electricity portal is now available to volunteer households in Dubuque.
This application is part of the Smarter Electricity Pilot Study in which data will be collected and analyzed over the next several months, providing these volunteer households with information, insights, and actionable intelligence to potentially lower their energy costs. Dubuque is the first city in Iowa where 1000 smart electricity meters have been installed at volunteer households.
The study's goal is to demonstrate how informed and engaged citizens can help themselves by saving money and conserving energy, making their community more sustainable. By providing citizens and city officials with an integrated view of energy consumption, the project will encourage informed changes in usage resulting in conservation and cost reduction.
The city is now expanding its portfolio of smarter sustainable offerings to its citizens. The study was a collaboration of IBM, the City of Dubuque, Alliant Energy - Interstate Power and Light, and the Iowa Office of Energy Independence. The study will run from July to November 2011 and initial study results will be available by December 2011.
As the City of Dubuque continues to enhance its integrated sustainability approach, IBM's technology will interface automated metering technology from Alliant Energy to monitor energy consumption data and provide near real-time visibility into the overall city energy consumption. To accomplish this, IBM has built the IBM Smarter City Sustainability Model, which is a cloud-delivered asset that provides the city with an integrated view of its water and energy management.
This model provides a combination of deep analytics to generate personalized insights, social computing to allow volunteers to collaborate, and actionable intelligence that allows citizens interested in changing consumption patterns to understand the impact of their actions. This last aspect makes it a very powerful system to reinforce changes and sustain them in future.
"Based on the success of the Smarter Water Pilot Study completed earlier this year, we look forward to learning the insights the Smarter Electricity Study will offer our citizens and our city," said Dubuque Mayor Roy D. Buol. "Dubuque is honored to be IBM's partner in this research to create a model for communities across the country and around the world."
New technologies are capable of digitizing and connecting city systems, so they can sense, analyze and integrate data, and respond intelligently to the needs of citizens. IBM, together with the City of Dubuque and business partners, will revitalize the city's systems to become smarter and more efficient in order to meet the city's "Sustainable Dubuque" vision which integrates economic prosperity, social/cultural vibrancy, and environmental integrity.
The smarter electricity meter system will monitor energy consumption every 15 minutes and will collect and securely communicate anonymous data to the IBM Research Cloud. Cloud computing is Internet-based computing, whereby shared resources, software, and information are provided to computers and other devices on demand. Organizations are looking to cloud computing to foster rapid innovation and decision making, for the agility needed to respond quickly in today's highly competitive environment, to reduce capital and operational costs, and an environment that scales easily to effectively meet customer needs.
The data being collected will be anonymous and contain no confidential information. In the cloud, the data will be analyzed to trigger alerts and insights about ways of saving energy such as the amount of phantom loads which drain energy by being connected all the time. Volunteers can only view their own consumption habits while city management will be provided with aggregate data.
"One of many enhancements that automated meters provide is real-time data collection. With help, consumers can understand their usage patterns and make informed decisions on how to adjust those habits to save money and conserve resources," says Milind Naphade, Program Director, Smarter City Services Research.
"Our energy portal has these unique personalized decision support capabilities based on advanced analytics and social computing. This portal can be used by any utility deploying smart meters."
This study comes on the heels of a similar study performed using smart water meters in 2010 which resulted in a 6.6 percent reduction in water consumption for pilot households that were empowered with consumption information provided by a smart water meter system.
In September 2009, IBM and Dubuque announced a collaboration aimed at making this community of 60,000 one of the first "smarter" sustainable cities in the US. Dubuque is recognized as a national leader in sustainability with its forward-thinking public policy and, together with IBM, will address the ever-increasing demands of cities to deliver vital services such as water management, energy and transportation, all while reducing the community's impact on the environment.
Additionally in 2009, IBM and leaders of Iowa's business and governmental communities opened an IBM technology services delivery center -- located in the historic Roshek Building in downtown Dubuque.
This application is part of the Smarter Electricity Pilot Study in which data will be collected and analyzed over the next several months, providing these volunteer households with information, insights, and actionable intelligence to potentially lower their energy costs. Dubuque is the first city in Iowa where 1000 smart electricity meters have been installed at volunteer households.
The study's goal is to demonstrate how informed and engaged citizens can help themselves by saving money and conserving energy, making their community more sustainable. By providing citizens and city officials with an integrated view of energy consumption, the project will encourage informed changes in usage resulting in conservation and cost reduction.
The city is now expanding its portfolio of smarter sustainable offerings to its citizens. The study was a collaboration of IBM, the City of Dubuque, Alliant Energy - Interstate Power and Light, and the Iowa Office of Energy Independence. The study will run from July to November 2011 and initial study results will be available by December 2011.
As the City of Dubuque continues to enhance its integrated sustainability approach, IBM's technology will interface automated metering technology from Alliant Energy to monitor energy consumption data and provide near real-time visibility into the overall city energy consumption. To accomplish this, IBM has built the IBM Smarter City Sustainability Model, which is a cloud-delivered asset that provides the city with an integrated view of its water and energy management.
This model provides a combination of deep analytics to generate personalized insights, social computing to allow volunteers to collaborate, and actionable intelligence that allows citizens interested in changing consumption patterns to understand the impact of their actions. This last aspect makes it a very powerful system to reinforce changes and sustain them in future.
"Based on the success of the Smarter Water Pilot Study completed earlier this year, we look forward to learning the insights the Smarter Electricity Study will offer our citizens and our city," said Dubuque Mayor Roy D. Buol. "Dubuque is honored to be IBM's partner in this research to create a model for communities across the country and around the world."
New technologies are capable of digitizing and connecting city systems, so they can sense, analyze and integrate data, and respond intelligently to the needs of citizens. IBM, together with the City of Dubuque and business partners, will revitalize the city's systems to become smarter and more efficient in order to meet the city's "Sustainable Dubuque" vision which integrates economic prosperity, social/cultural vibrancy, and environmental integrity.
The smarter electricity meter system will monitor energy consumption every 15 minutes and will collect and securely communicate anonymous data to the IBM Research Cloud. Cloud computing is Internet-based computing, whereby shared resources, software, and information are provided to computers and other devices on demand. Organizations are looking to cloud computing to foster rapid innovation and decision making, for the agility needed to respond quickly in today's highly competitive environment, to reduce capital and operational costs, and an environment that scales easily to effectively meet customer needs.
The data being collected will be anonymous and contain no confidential information. In the cloud, the data will be analyzed to trigger alerts and insights about ways of saving energy such as the amount of phantom loads which drain energy by being connected all the time. Volunteers can only view their own consumption habits while city management will be provided with aggregate data.
"One of many enhancements that automated meters provide is real-time data collection. With help, consumers can understand their usage patterns and make informed decisions on how to adjust those habits to save money and conserve resources," says Milind Naphade, Program Director, Smarter City Services Research.
"Our energy portal has these unique personalized decision support capabilities based on advanced analytics and social computing. This portal can be used by any utility deploying smart meters."
This study comes on the heels of a similar study performed using smart water meters in 2010 which resulted in a 6.6 percent reduction in water consumption for pilot households that were empowered with consumption information provided by a smart water meter system.
In September 2009, IBM and Dubuque announced a collaboration aimed at making this community of 60,000 one of the first "smarter" sustainable cities in the US. Dubuque is recognized as a national leader in sustainability with its forward-thinking public policy and, together with IBM, will address the ever-increasing demands of cities to deliver vital services such as water management, energy and transportation, all while reducing the community's impact on the environment.
Additionally in 2009, IBM and leaders of Iowa's business and governmental communities opened an IBM technology services delivery center -- located in the historic Roshek Building in downtown Dubuque.
Friday, August 26, 2011
electronica India 2011 and productronica India 2011 open their gates this September!
INDIA: The electronics industry in India has been very optimistic and consumption of electronic components is on a new high. Messe München International (MMI) has sought this opportunity and has organized electronica India 2011 and productronica India 2011 which is set to start on September 13, 2011, at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi.
This is the best place to gather information to build the technology roadmap and identify ways to make business more agile and efficient. The four day exhibition provides comprehensive thought leadership in electronic and product technology driving the business technology market in India.
After a successful show in 2010 in Bangalore, electronica India 2011 and productronica India 2011 will play host to over 900 exhibitors with country pavilions from China, Germany, Hong Kong Korea, Singapore and Taiwan. The events will also have participation from Japan, Switzerland, USA, Italy, Spain, and Malaysia, all together from 25 countries.
Major players exhibiting this year include Agilent Technologies, element14, Infineon Technologies, Juki India, Kaynes Technology, Leaptech Corporation, National Instruments, NMTtronics, NXP Semiconductiors, Panasonic Corporation, RS Components & Controls, Rohde & Schwarz India, STMicroelectronics, Sony, TATA Power.
The events will be accompanied by two concurrent technical conferences where industry experts from India and overseas will share their knowledge and expertise, and work towards creating a roadmap for sustainable growth and enable global competitiveness.
electronica India 2011 and productronica India 2011 co-operate with ministries and official organizations and are supported by all important industry associations. One important partner in this respect is the “Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, department of Information Technology. More than 15 industry associations which are working around for the development of the industry support these events.
India has already emerged as a hot spot for Contract Manufacturing (Electronics Manufacturing Services – EMS and Original Developer Manufacturing – ODM). The growing Indian economy is fuelling a massive consumer boom. Demand for electronic gadgets, appliances and equipment is growing briskly, companies are increasingly turning to EMS firms to fill the gap, as said by Darryl Dasilva, CEO – MMI India.
Dasilva further adds: “Despite difficult global economic conditions, the Indian economy is on a steady growth plan. If we look for impulses behind this growth, the electronics industry is definitely an important part. India, as a market, is still growing and is one of the most important future markets for the electronics industry, due to its innovation, strength and growth potential. The long term for India as an outsourcing location is also very promising.”
India is a growing market and the events prove to be good platforms for companies to showcase their products and get a feel of what is happening in the industry in terms of new technology and offerings. electronica India and productronica India are established platforms for electronic components and electronics production and a good experience to see many international participants providing access to the emerging Indian market. The strong presence of companies with the product spectrum of semiconductors, passive components, material processing, soldering technology and many more make the event one of the hot spots for electronics.
This is the best place to gather information to build the technology roadmap and identify ways to make business more agile and efficient. The four day exhibition provides comprehensive thought leadership in electronic and product technology driving the business technology market in India.
After a successful show in 2010 in Bangalore, electronica India 2011 and productronica India 2011 will play host to over 900 exhibitors with country pavilions from China, Germany, Hong Kong Korea, Singapore and Taiwan. The events will also have participation from Japan, Switzerland, USA, Italy, Spain, and Malaysia, all together from 25 countries.
Major players exhibiting this year include Agilent Technologies, element14, Infineon Technologies, Juki India, Kaynes Technology, Leaptech Corporation, National Instruments, NMTtronics, NXP Semiconductiors, Panasonic Corporation, RS Components & Controls, Rohde & Schwarz India, STMicroelectronics, Sony, TATA Power.
The events will be accompanied by two concurrent technical conferences where industry experts from India and overseas will share their knowledge and expertise, and work towards creating a roadmap for sustainable growth and enable global competitiveness.
electronica India 2011 and productronica India 2011 co-operate with ministries and official organizations and are supported by all important industry associations. One important partner in this respect is the “Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, department of Information Technology. More than 15 industry associations which are working around for the development of the industry support these events.
India has already emerged as a hot spot for Contract Manufacturing (Electronics Manufacturing Services – EMS and Original Developer Manufacturing – ODM). The growing Indian economy is fuelling a massive consumer boom. Demand for electronic gadgets, appliances and equipment is growing briskly, companies are increasingly turning to EMS firms to fill the gap, as said by Darryl Dasilva, CEO – MMI India.
Dasilva further adds: “Despite difficult global economic conditions, the Indian economy is on a steady growth plan. If we look for impulses behind this growth, the electronics industry is definitely an important part. India, as a market, is still growing and is one of the most important future markets for the electronics industry, due to its innovation, strength and growth potential. The long term for India as an outsourcing location is also very promising.”
India is a growing market and the events prove to be good platforms for companies to showcase their products and get a feel of what is happening in the industry in terms of new technology and offerings. electronica India and productronica India are established platforms for electronic components and electronics production and a good experience to see many international participants providing access to the emerging Indian market. The strong presence of companies with the product spectrum of semiconductors, passive components, material processing, soldering technology and many more make the event one of the hot spots for electronics.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
AGMA members continue to address IPR protection
LOS GATOS, USA: The Alliance for Gray Market and Counterfeit Abatement (AGMA), a non-profit organization dedicated to addressing the gray marketing, counterfeiting, software piracy, and warranty and service abuse of branded goods around the globe, recently held their quarterly industry forum to discuss various topics related to brand protection issues. Hosted by APC by Schneider Electric in Newport, R.I., examples of real-life scenarios involving the defense of intellectual property rights were provided by representatives from AGMA member companies and members of law enforcement.
Ben Smith, VP of global sales and channel operations for host company and AGMA member APC by Schneider Electric, started off the conference with a presentation that detailed his company's Channel Insight program. Noting that "Channel sales and inventory visibility is critical to the management of a channel business," Smith explained how APC by Schneider Electric has centralized all point of sale and inventory data from its reporting partners. The Channel Insight program has helped the company detect and prevent gray market activity through fast serial number validation, sales tracking, and proactive mining for irregular behavior and daily EDI reporting.
US General Services Administration (GSA) Inspector General Brian D. Miller discussed his office's initiative to stop counterfeit parts from entering the Federal government's marketplace and infrastructure. He also discussed his office's wide range of activities and his role in the US Attorney General's Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. GSA, as the procurement arm of the Federal government, is heavily involved in purchasing information technology and other products for use across the government.
IG Miller established within his office the Government Infrastructure Protection Investigations initiative by partnering with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Intellectual Property Rights Center to more effectively identify counterfeit suppliers through joint investigations. Just recently, IG Miller's office concluded a joint investigation with ICE that resulted in the conviction of two Chinese nationals who were responsible for supplying counterfeit computer networking equipment to the government. The investigation also resulted in the seizure and forfeiture of over $4 million in real property and proceeds.
AGMA member company EMC, working with the District of Massachusetts Attorney's office, also prevailed in a recent case involving IP theft. Scott Garland, Assistant United States Attorney in the District of Massachusetts, reviewed the case, in which EMC had been a victim of equipment theft by employees. A deferred prosecution agreement was reached with a company that had purchased the stolen equipment from the employees and resold it over the Internet. The deferred prosecution agreement requires the company to pay EMC restitution, to implement a compliance program to identify the true identity of the people who sell the equipment, and to cooperate with the government if any suspicious sales of equipment are identified.
Therese Randazzo, director of IPR Policy and Programs for the US Customs and Border Protection, spoke to AGMA members about establishing more effective border enforcement. Randazzo reviewed the daunting challenges that face the CBP, then revealed the impressive results they've been able to achieve in increased seizures over the last 10 years. A multi-layered IPR strategy of facilitation, enforcement and deterrence as well as improved processes and technology, and cooperation with rights holders and international organizations, is expected to yield continued success.
According to AGMA president emeritus Ram Manchi: "At AGMA, we are focused on presenting members with strategic ideas and examples for addressing key brand protection issues. Introducing AGMA members to vendors and law enforcement officials and their ideas for mitigating threats to their intellectual property rights fosters the type of collaborative, sharing environment that can benefit all of us on this quest."
Ben Smith, VP of global sales and channel operations for host company and AGMA member APC by Schneider Electric, started off the conference with a presentation that detailed his company's Channel Insight program. Noting that "Channel sales and inventory visibility is critical to the management of a channel business," Smith explained how APC by Schneider Electric has centralized all point of sale and inventory data from its reporting partners. The Channel Insight program has helped the company detect and prevent gray market activity through fast serial number validation, sales tracking, and proactive mining for irregular behavior and daily EDI reporting.
US General Services Administration (GSA) Inspector General Brian D. Miller discussed his office's initiative to stop counterfeit parts from entering the Federal government's marketplace and infrastructure. He also discussed his office's wide range of activities and his role in the US Attorney General's Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. GSA, as the procurement arm of the Federal government, is heavily involved in purchasing information technology and other products for use across the government.
IG Miller established within his office the Government Infrastructure Protection Investigations initiative by partnering with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Intellectual Property Rights Center to more effectively identify counterfeit suppliers through joint investigations. Just recently, IG Miller's office concluded a joint investigation with ICE that resulted in the conviction of two Chinese nationals who were responsible for supplying counterfeit computer networking equipment to the government. The investigation also resulted in the seizure and forfeiture of over $4 million in real property and proceeds.
AGMA member company EMC, working with the District of Massachusetts Attorney's office, also prevailed in a recent case involving IP theft. Scott Garland, Assistant United States Attorney in the District of Massachusetts, reviewed the case, in which EMC had been a victim of equipment theft by employees. A deferred prosecution agreement was reached with a company that had purchased the stolen equipment from the employees and resold it over the Internet. The deferred prosecution agreement requires the company to pay EMC restitution, to implement a compliance program to identify the true identity of the people who sell the equipment, and to cooperate with the government if any suspicious sales of equipment are identified.
Therese Randazzo, director of IPR Policy and Programs for the US Customs and Border Protection, spoke to AGMA members about establishing more effective border enforcement. Randazzo reviewed the daunting challenges that face the CBP, then revealed the impressive results they've been able to achieve in increased seizures over the last 10 years. A multi-layered IPR strategy of facilitation, enforcement and deterrence as well as improved processes and technology, and cooperation with rights holders and international organizations, is expected to yield continued success.
According to AGMA president emeritus Ram Manchi: "At AGMA, we are focused on presenting members with strategic ideas and examples for addressing key brand protection issues. Introducing AGMA members to vendors and law enforcement officials and their ideas for mitigating threats to their intellectual property rights fosters the type of collaborative, sharing environment that can benefit all of us on this quest."
Effects of Steve Jobs’ resignation will take some time to play out
AUSTRALIA: There are several reasons why the resignation will not have an immediate impact. Firstly, Tim Cook, former COO and newly appointed successor to Steve Jobs, has been running the company since Jobs began his latest medical leave in January. Secondly, Jobs will now serve as chairman and will therefore continue to have a role with the company, at least in the short term. And thirdly, the broad direction and strategy for the company and its major products for the short to medium term will already be in place, and will not be affected by this change.
Longer term, there are more reasonable grounds to believe that Apple may face greater challenges. Though Tim Cook is considered a safe pair of hands as an operational leader, he does not have a reputation as a visionary. And should the time ever come when Steve Jobs no longer has a role with the company, Cook will have to rely on others on Apple’s senior leadership team to provide an ongoing strategic vision, and there is no single figure that obviously fills that role going forward.
Steve Jobs has presided over one of the great corporate success stories in recent history
Steve Jobs founded and then later returned as CEO to Apple, which was until the announcement was made the company with the highest market capitalization in the world. During his first stint as CEO, he created a company which offered an alternative to the Windows hegemony in the PC world, but which always remained marginal in terms of market share. Following his ouster as CEO and his return, he began rebuilding an Apple that had been on the brink of collapse.
He laid the foundation for the subsequent fourteen years of Apple’s history by building a new version of Apple’s operating system, Mac OS X, on technology from his previous company, NeXT. He then built in succession three products that would redefine segments of the technology industry in the next few years: the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad, the latter two running operating systems based on Mac OS X.
Without a doubt, Steve Jobs has been the architect of major shifts in the music market, the smartphone market and the personal computer market. Of the three major new products he created over the past ten years, the iPod and iPad gained dominant market shares, while the iPhone transformed smartphones from mostly enterprise-centric devices with hardware keyboards and buttons to a series of black slabs with touch screens. At the same time, these products, the company behind them, and Steve Jobs himself have become the subject of resentment and criticism for their relatively closed and proprietary approach to these products and the related platforms and services.
Short term, there will be little impact
The short-term selloff of Apple shares immediately after the announcement is driven by fears that Apple will not continue to perform as it has once Steve Jobs leaves the CEO role. However, these fears appear relatively unfounded at least in the short term. Tim Cook, formerly COO and now CEO, has been in day-to-day charge of Apple not only since January but during two previous periods when Steve Jobs’ health prompted extended absences. On all three occasions, Steve Jobs was nevertheless involved in major decisions and continued to set strategy for the company. His new role as chairman suggests this will continue to be the case even if he does not sit at a desk in Cupertino for eight hours every day.
In addition, Tim Cook has by all accounts managed the company well during these absences, and is considered by most to be a particularly strong operational leader. Since many of Apple’s current challenges revolve around producing sufficient inventory to satisfy demand, these talents will be in high demand and suit Cook well to lead the business. Meanwhile, Steve Jobs will continue to provide the visionary leadership Apple is accustomed to. Lastly, it is very likely that at least the next iterations of major products such as the iPhone and iPad are already well underway, and that the broad strategic direction for future versions has also been set already, so that there is unlikely to be any impact in the next one to two years.
Longer term, there is a risk of a lessening of Apple’s pre-eminent position
Longer-term, however, if Steve Jobs’ health is indeed behind his resignation, as many have speculated, and his condition worsens to the point that he can no longer be involved in even occasional decision making at the company, there are reasons to fear that the company will struggle to emulate its recent success. Steve Jobs has provided both strategic vision and personal leadership at the top of the company, as arguably the most visible and well-known CEO of any technology company today. Tim Cook will not step easily into either of these roles, as a safe pair of hands but hardly a visionary or a charismatic figure.
That visionary role now has no obvious owner among the second tier of management at Apple. Jony Ive is well known as the lead designer at Apple, responsible for the look of Apple’s iconic products, while Scott Forstall has a background in product leadership spanning NeXT, Mac OS X and latterly iOS. It is not clear who among these two (or other senior figures) will step into Jobs’ shoes as a visionary and leader, complementing Cook’s operational leadership.
As such, there may be either conflict among these senior leaders or a lack of clear vision for the company going forward, either of which would be damaging for the company. Cook’s challenge will be to harness and channel the creative energies of the team beneath him such that a single vision and strategy emerges, something that will be difficult to do on a bottom-up basis in contrast to the previous top-down strategic leadership of Jobs.
Longer term, there are more reasonable grounds to believe that Apple may face greater challenges. Though Tim Cook is considered a safe pair of hands as an operational leader, he does not have a reputation as a visionary. And should the time ever come when Steve Jobs no longer has a role with the company, Cook will have to rely on others on Apple’s senior leadership team to provide an ongoing strategic vision, and there is no single figure that obviously fills that role going forward.
Steve Jobs has presided over one of the great corporate success stories in recent history
Steve Jobs founded and then later returned as CEO to Apple, which was until the announcement was made the company with the highest market capitalization in the world. During his first stint as CEO, he created a company which offered an alternative to the Windows hegemony in the PC world, but which always remained marginal in terms of market share. Following his ouster as CEO and his return, he began rebuilding an Apple that had been on the brink of collapse.
He laid the foundation for the subsequent fourteen years of Apple’s history by building a new version of Apple’s operating system, Mac OS X, on technology from his previous company, NeXT. He then built in succession three products that would redefine segments of the technology industry in the next few years: the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad, the latter two running operating systems based on Mac OS X.
Without a doubt, Steve Jobs has been the architect of major shifts in the music market, the smartphone market and the personal computer market. Of the three major new products he created over the past ten years, the iPod and iPad gained dominant market shares, while the iPhone transformed smartphones from mostly enterprise-centric devices with hardware keyboards and buttons to a series of black slabs with touch screens. At the same time, these products, the company behind them, and Steve Jobs himself have become the subject of resentment and criticism for their relatively closed and proprietary approach to these products and the related platforms and services.
Short term, there will be little impact
The short-term selloff of Apple shares immediately after the announcement is driven by fears that Apple will not continue to perform as it has once Steve Jobs leaves the CEO role. However, these fears appear relatively unfounded at least in the short term. Tim Cook, formerly COO and now CEO, has been in day-to-day charge of Apple not only since January but during two previous periods when Steve Jobs’ health prompted extended absences. On all three occasions, Steve Jobs was nevertheless involved in major decisions and continued to set strategy for the company. His new role as chairman suggests this will continue to be the case even if he does not sit at a desk in Cupertino for eight hours every day.
In addition, Tim Cook has by all accounts managed the company well during these absences, and is considered by most to be a particularly strong operational leader. Since many of Apple’s current challenges revolve around producing sufficient inventory to satisfy demand, these talents will be in high demand and suit Cook well to lead the business. Meanwhile, Steve Jobs will continue to provide the visionary leadership Apple is accustomed to. Lastly, it is very likely that at least the next iterations of major products such as the iPhone and iPad are already well underway, and that the broad strategic direction for future versions has also been set already, so that there is unlikely to be any impact in the next one to two years.
Longer term, there is a risk of a lessening of Apple’s pre-eminent position
Longer-term, however, if Steve Jobs’ health is indeed behind his resignation, as many have speculated, and his condition worsens to the point that he can no longer be involved in even occasional decision making at the company, there are reasons to fear that the company will struggle to emulate its recent success. Steve Jobs has provided both strategic vision and personal leadership at the top of the company, as arguably the most visible and well-known CEO of any technology company today. Tim Cook will not step easily into either of these roles, as a safe pair of hands but hardly a visionary or a charismatic figure.
That visionary role now has no obvious owner among the second tier of management at Apple. Jony Ive is well known as the lead designer at Apple, responsible for the look of Apple’s iconic products, while Scott Forstall has a background in product leadership spanning NeXT, Mac OS X and latterly iOS. It is not clear who among these two (or other senior figures) will step into Jobs’ shoes as a visionary and leader, complementing Cook’s operational leadership.
As such, there may be either conflict among these senior leaders or a lack of clear vision for the company going forward, either of which would be damaging for the company. Cook’s challenge will be to harness and channel the creative energies of the team beneath him such that a single vision and strategy emerges, something that will be difficult to do on a bottom-up basis in contrast to the previous top-down strategic leadership of Jobs.
Essemtec highlights SMT highly versatile production on high quality level
NEW DELHI, INDIA: At Electronica India 2011, Booth 1211 in Hall 11, Essemtec will exhibit a Swiss Made, highly flexible SMD assembly line at the upcoming electronica India 2011 in New Delhi.
The promoted turnkey line consist of a SP150-SV-PLUS high accuracy solder paste printer, a PANTERA-XV highly flexible SMD pick and place and a RO400-FC full convection reflow oven – perfectly suitable for a highly versatile production with many product changeovers and small to medium batch sizes.
Essemtec Switzerland is a real turnkey supplier for manufacturers and developers of SMT electronics. Essemtec provides the machinery for all production processes together with storage systems, handling modules and traceability solutions from one source.
The product portfolio includes manual and semiautomatic machines for prototyping as well as fully automatic inline machines for large volumes. Essemtec develops and produces machines in Switzerland, where they are manufactured and tested according to the most advanced Swiss quality standards.
The SP150-SV-PLUS is a semi-automatic printing system with an integrated stencil cleaning, controlled printing process and digital high speed vision system. This affordable machine can reproducibly print finest structures even in larger series. Due to the space saving front drawer the SP150-SV-PLUS fits into every production.
Pantera-XV is an automatic pick and place machine featuring optical, touchless alignment systems for accurate component placement. Intelligent and programmable feeders allow quick changeover from one job to another. A glue or paste dispensing system is integrated. The placement system PANTERA-X ideally meets the standards of a high-mix / low-volume production. As model Pantera-XVC it is available as inline transportation system.
The RO400FC is a high quality full convection reflow oven perfectly suitable for midsize to high throughput. It features advanced reflow technology for complex and multilayer PCB soldering.
A close relationship with its customers has always been important for Essemtec because it not only supplies machines but also process and production know-how. In India, local specialists in Bangalore and New Delhi can provide first-hand support in the local language.
The promoted turnkey line consist of a SP150-SV-PLUS high accuracy solder paste printer, a PANTERA-XV highly flexible SMD pick and place and a RO400-FC full convection reflow oven – perfectly suitable for a highly versatile production with many product changeovers and small to medium batch sizes.
Essemtec Switzerland is a real turnkey supplier for manufacturers and developers of SMT electronics. Essemtec provides the machinery for all production processes together with storage systems, handling modules and traceability solutions from one source.
The product portfolio includes manual and semiautomatic machines for prototyping as well as fully automatic inline machines for large volumes. Essemtec develops and produces machines in Switzerland, where they are manufactured and tested according to the most advanced Swiss quality standards.
The SP150-SV-PLUS is a semi-automatic printing system with an integrated stencil cleaning, controlled printing process and digital high speed vision system. This affordable machine can reproducibly print finest structures even in larger series. Due to the space saving front drawer the SP150-SV-PLUS fits into every production.
Pantera-XV is an automatic pick and place machine featuring optical, touchless alignment systems for accurate component placement. Intelligent and programmable feeders allow quick changeover from one job to another. A glue or paste dispensing system is integrated. The placement system PANTERA-X ideally meets the standards of a high-mix / low-volume production. As model Pantera-XVC it is available as inline transportation system.
The RO400FC is a high quality full convection reflow oven perfectly suitable for midsize to high throughput. It features advanced reflow technology for complex and multilayer PCB soldering.
A close relationship with its customers has always been important for Essemtec because it not only supplies machines but also process and production know-how. In India, local specialists in Bangalore and New Delhi can provide first-hand support in the local language.
Letter from Steve Jobs
CUPERTINO, USA: To the Apple Board of Directors and the Apple Community:
I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.
I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.
As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.
I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.
I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.
Steve
I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.
I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.
As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.
I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.
I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.
Steve
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Media tablet forecast increased as Apple’s dominance grows
EL SEGUNDO, USA: Capitalizing on its shrewd strategy, as well as its competitors’ stumbles, Apple Inc. is set to increase its iPad shipments at a faster rate than previously expected in 2011 and beyond, causing the global media tablet market to exceed growth expectations during the next few years, according to data from the IHS iSuppli Display Materials & Systems Service.
Global media tablet shipments now are expected to rise to 60 million units in 2011, up 245.9 percent from 17.4 million in 2010, as presented in the figure. The previous forecast issued in May predicted shipments of 58.9 million for 2011. The new figures will help propel media tablet shipments to 275.3 million units in 2015, compared to the previous forecast of 262.1 million.
Source: IHS iSuppli, USA.
“All the momentum in the media tablet market is with Apple right now,” said Rhoda Alexander, senior manager, tablet and monitor research for IHS. “The competition can’t seem to field a product with the right combination of hardware, marketing, applications and content to match up with the iPad. Furthermore, Apple’s patent litigation is serving to slow or complicate competitors’ entry into some key regional markets. With Apple lapping its competitors, many of whom are still struggling to get out of the starting gate, this remains a one-horse race.”
The big Apple
Apple will ship 44.2 million iPads in 2011, up from the previous forecast of 43.7 million. IHS lowered its forecast earlier this year in light of Apple’s initial iPad 2 production and supply challenges. With those supply issues resolved, Apple’s production now is firmly on track to meet the expected strong second-half 2011 demand.
IHS also revised its iPad forecast upward, with shipments expected to reach 120.1 million units in 2015, up from the previous outlook of 97.9 million.
Apple is expected to account for 74 percent of media tablet shipments in 2011 and 43.6 percent in 2015. This compares to the previous forecast of 64 percent in 2011 and 32 percent in 2015.
IHS now believes Apple will account for the majority of tablet shipments through the year 2013, one year longer than the previous outlook.
The HP way out
While Apple has deftly played its hand in the media tablet market, its continued dominance also reflects the inability of competitors to mirror the iPad’s success. As a result, IHS has reduced its shipment outlook for alternative tablets at the same time that the iPad forecast was adjusted.
The latest and most dramatic example of the struggles of Apple’s tablet rivals came last week with Hewlett-Packard Co.’s announced exit from the tablet space and instead review opportunities to license its Web OS software to others. The move came just 14 months after HP acquired Palm Inc., whose operating system served as the basis of HP’s tablet product.
Makers of tablets using Android and other operating systems are encountering slower-than-expected sales for their products and facing other challenges, including lagging development of content and applications for their products.
Tablet tactics in 2011
Other savvy moves by Apple in the tablet market in 2011 include its strong marketing and retail expansion not only in China but also other developing economies, as well as the continuing innovation of its tablet platform—a move that has allowed Apple to grab the headlines with reports of strong sales, new applications and compelling content.
Furthermore, Apple is still the only tablet player truly benefitting from peripheral advertising, with content providers promoting their iPad-enabled content. The iPad also has profited from being the early favorite in the education space, a factor that will help to boost sales during the third-quarter back-to-school season.
Finally, Apple is increasing its focus on information technology (IT) support staff, in response to growing interest in its products from corporate markets.
Feliz Navi-Pad
Apple’s run of success is expected to continue though the fourth quarter, with the iPad once again shaping up to be the hot gift of the holiday season. The iPad’s strongest competition may actually come from in-house, with the new iPhone expected to be rolled out this fall, rather than from any of its tablet competitors.
Coming attractions
Apple’s tablet sales are expected to get another boost sometime in the first quarter of 2012, with the introduction of the iPad 3 employing the high-resolution Retina display. IHS believes Apple may take a page from the iPhone handbook and offer both the second and third generations of the iPad for a period of time. This would allow Apple to compete on price using the iPad 2—while simultaneously differentiating based on innovation with its new-generation product.
Over the longer term, Apple will benefit from its diversified market strategy that markets the iPad at the consumer, education and corporate segments. This will allow Apple to mitigate the impact of seasonal sales swings in the consumer market.
The expansion into China also will boost iPad sales in the first quarter, during the Lunar New Year holiday season. With the first quarter normally a slow sales season outside of Asia, the China sales will serve to smooth out the normal first-quarter sales dip suffered by electronics makers following the Christmas selling season in the West.
Source: IHS iSuppli, USA.
Global media tablet shipments now are expected to rise to 60 million units in 2011, up 245.9 percent from 17.4 million in 2010, as presented in the figure. The previous forecast issued in May predicted shipments of 58.9 million for 2011. The new figures will help propel media tablet shipments to 275.3 million units in 2015, compared to the previous forecast of 262.1 million.
Source: IHS iSuppli, USA.
“All the momentum in the media tablet market is with Apple right now,” said Rhoda Alexander, senior manager, tablet and monitor research for IHS. “The competition can’t seem to field a product with the right combination of hardware, marketing, applications and content to match up with the iPad. Furthermore, Apple’s patent litigation is serving to slow or complicate competitors’ entry into some key regional markets. With Apple lapping its competitors, many of whom are still struggling to get out of the starting gate, this remains a one-horse race.”
The big Apple
Apple will ship 44.2 million iPads in 2011, up from the previous forecast of 43.7 million. IHS lowered its forecast earlier this year in light of Apple’s initial iPad 2 production and supply challenges. With those supply issues resolved, Apple’s production now is firmly on track to meet the expected strong second-half 2011 demand.
IHS also revised its iPad forecast upward, with shipments expected to reach 120.1 million units in 2015, up from the previous outlook of 97.9 million.
Apple is expected to account for 74 percent of media tablet shipments in 2011 and 43.6 percent in 2015. This compares to the previous forecast of 64 percent in 2011 and 32 percent in 2015.
IHS now believes Apple will account for the majority of tablet shipments through the year 2013, one year longer than the previous outlook.
The HP way out
While Apple has deftly played its hand in the media tablet market, its continued dominance also reflects the inability of competitors to mirror the iPad’s success. As a result, IHS has reduced its shipment outlook for alternative tablets at the same time that the iPad forecast was adjusted.
The latest and most dramatic example of the struggles of Apple’s tablet rivals came last week with Hewlett-Packard Co.’s announced exit from the tablet space and instead review opportunities to license its Web OS software to others. The move came just 14 months after HP acquired Palm Inc., whose operating system served as the basis of HP’s tablet product.
Makers of tablets using Android and other operating systems are encountering slower-than-expected sales for their products and facing other challenges, including lagging development of content and applications for their products.
Tablet tactics in 2011
Other savvy moves by Apple in the tablet market in 2011 include its strong marketing and retail expansion not only in China but also other developing economies, as well as the continuing innovation of its tablet platform—a move that has allowed Apple to grab the headlines with reports of strong sales, new applications and compelling content.
Furthermore, Apple is still the only tablet player truly benefitting from peripheral advertising, with content providers promoting their iPad-enabled content. The iPad also has profited from being the early favorite in the education space, a factor that will help to boost sales during the third-quarter back-to-school season.
Finally, Apple is increasing its focus on information technology (IT) support staff, in response to growing interest in its products from corporate markets.
Feliz Navi-Pad
Apple’s run of success is expected to continue though the fourth quarter, with the iPad once again shaping up to be the hot gift of the holiday season. The iPad’s strongest competition may actually come from in-house, with the new iPhone expected to be rolled out this fall, rather than from any of its tablet competitors.
Coming attractions
Apple’s tablet sales are expected to get another boost sometime in the first quarter of 2012, with the introduction of the iPad 3 employing the high-resolution Retina display. IHS believes Apple may take a page from the iPhone handbook and offer both the second and third generations of the iPad for a period of time. This would allow Apple to compete on price using the iPad 2—while simultaneously differentiating based on innovation with its new-generation product.
Over the longer term, Apple will benefit from its diversified market strategy that markets the iPad at the consumer, education and corporate segments. This will allow Apple to mitigate the impact of seasonal sales swings in the consumer market.
The expansion into China also will boost iPad sales in the first quarter, during the Lunar New Year holiday season. With the first quarter normally a slow sales season outside of Asia, the China sales will serve to smooth out the normal first-quarter sales dip suffered by electronics makers following the Christmas selling season in the West.
Source: IHS iSuppli, USA.
Indo-French Technology Meet 2011 to showcase French expertise in five key sectors
FRANCE: Ubifrance and the French Trade Commission in India are organizing the "Indo-French Technology Meet 2011" from 19th September to 1st October 2011 across the three cities: New Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru.
Promising to be one of the major events of 2011, the Indo-French Technology Meet will showcase French expertise and state-of-the-art technologies from France in five key sectors: Secure Payment and Identification Systems, Green Building, Sustainable Mobility, Nuclear Energy and Aerospace. An essential part of the "2011 France India Opportunities Program", this event aims to further the economic and commercial ties between India and France.
Placed under the patronage of Pierre Lellouche, French Minister of State for Foreign Trade, the Indo-French Technology Meet provides a unique platform for French companies to meet and interact with leading Indian companies and decision makers and chalk out strategies for business development. There will be around 80 participants comprising of world-renowned French companies, SMEs and high-level representatives of French authorities. This 12-day event includes their participation in leading Indian exhibitions, a series of seminars & conferences and B2B meetings with Indian counterparts to present French know-how and latest technologies.
The Indo-French Technology Meet encompasses five key sectors:
- Secure payment and identification systems, with participation in the Smartcards Expo in New Delhi from 19-22 September 2011.
French SMEs have developed innovative solutions at the leading edge of technology. Together with their Indian counterparts they hope to contribute to the exponential growth of the identification technology sector, including the UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India) project, driving licenses, health cards, border and workplace security, banking solutions, etc.
- Green building, with participation in the Innovative Lightweight Faster Sustainable Building Construction Technology (ILFS) exhibition in New Delhi from 22-25 September 2011.
The French offering is diverse and comprehensive in terms of both technical expertise (energy efficiency experts and specialist architects) and innovative products (eco-friendly materials, low energy consumption equipment, renewable energy production systems, etc.) and can meet the energy and environmental priorities set by the Indian government’s latest five-year plan.
- Sustainable mobility, New Delhi, 26-28 September 2011, with an interactive exhibition at the French Embassy in Delhi, site visits and B2B meetings.
With the goal of improving traffic flow in the cities, improving safety, saving energy and time and reducing the ecological footprint of automotive transport, the French companies are all set to offer reliable, tailor-made solutions best suited to the Indian needs.
- Nuclear energy, with a French pavilion at the India Nuclear Energy (INE) exhibition in Mumbai from 28 September to 1 October 2011 and high-level workshops and round table conferences.
Seeking to diversify its energy mix, India has reaffirmed its commitment to develop nuclear energy. To that end, India is working in partnership with foreign companies that specialize in this sector, opening up real business opportunities for French companies. India Nuclear Energy is a key trade show where France already has a major footprint, with support in particular from GIIN (French Nuclear Industry Association).
- Aerospace, New Delhi and Bengaluru, 28-30 September 2011.
India’s aerospace industry is one of the most dynamic markets in the world. This industry owes its growth to cooperation between government-controlled Indian companies and foreign partners, particularly from France. Many French companies, most of them being members of GIFAS (French aerospace industries association), would like to enter this civil, military and space aviation market and are forging long-term ties with public authorities and Indian manufacturers.
Following the path laid out by the French and Indian governments, during the recent visit of the French President, the Indo-French Technology Meet will aim to reinforce business collaborations between French and Indian companies, to identify business opportunities and develop partnership ties with key Indian players.
Promising to be one of the major events of 2011, the Indo-French Technology Meet will showcase French expertise and state-of-the-art technologies from France in five key sectors: Secure Payment and Identification Systems, Green Building, Sustainable Mobility, Nuclear Energy and Aerospace. An essential part of the "2011 France India Opportunities Program", this event aims to further the economic and commercial ties between India and France.
Placed under the patronage of Pierre Lellouche, French Minister of State for Foreign Trade, the Indo-French Technology Meet provides a unique platform for French companies to meet and interact with leading Indian companies and decision makers and chalk out strategies for business development. There will be around 80 participants comprising of world-renowned French companies, SMEs and high-level representatives of French authorities. This 12-day event includes their participation in leading Indian exhibitions, a series of seminars & conferences and B2B meetings with Indian counterparts to present French know-how and latest technologies.
The Indo-French Technology Meet encompasses five key sectors:
- Secure payment and identification systems, with participation in the Smartcards Expo in New Delhi from 19-22 September 2011.
French SMEs have developed innovative solutions at the leading edge of technology. Together with their Indian counterparts they hope to contribute to the exponential growth of the identification technology sector, including the UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India) project, driving licenses, health cards, border and workplace security, banking solutions, etc.
- Green building, with participation in the Innovative Lightweight Faster Sustainable Building Construction Technology (ILFS) exhibition in New Delhi from 22-25 September 2011.
The French offering is diverse and comprehensive in terms of both technical expertise (energy efficiency experts and specialist architects) and innovative products (eco-friendly materials, low energy consumption equipment, renewable energy production systems, etc.) and can meet the energy and environmental priorities set by the Indian government’s latest five-year plan.
- Sustainable mobility, New Delhi, 26-28 September 2011, with an interactive exhibition at the French Embassy in Delhi, site visits and B2B meetings.
With the goal of improving traffic flow in the cities, improving safety, saving energy and time and reducing the ecological footprint of automotive transport, the French companies are all set to offer reliable, tailor-made solutions best suited to the Indian needs.
- Nuclear energy, with a French pavilion at the India Nuclear Energy (INE) exhibition in Mumbai from 28 September to 1 October 2011 and high-level workshops and round table conferences.
Seeking to diversify its energy mix, India has reaffirmed its commitment to develop nuclear energy. To that end, India is working in partnership with foreign companies that specialize in this sector, opening up real business opportunities for French companies. India Nuclear Energy is a key trade show where France already has a major footprint, with support in particular from GIIN (French Nuclear Industry Association).
- Aerospace, New Delhi and Bengaluru, 28-30 September 2011.
India’s aerospace industry is one of the most dynamic markets in the world. This industry owes its growth to cooperation between government-controlled Indian companies and foreign partners, particularly from France. Many French companies, most of them being members of GIFAS (French aerospace industries association), would like to enter this civil, military and space aviation market and are forging long-term ties with public authorities and Indian manufacturers.
Following the path laid out by the French and Indian governments, during the recent visit of the French President, the Indo-French Technology Meet will aim to reinforce business collaborations between French and Indian companies, to identify business opportunities and develop partnership ties with key Indian players.
Lenovo India intros ThinkPad X220
BANGALORE, INDIA: Lenovo India continues to drive the ThinkPad legacy by introducing a power-packed ThinkPad X220, engineered specially for today’s mobile professionals. The ultraportable ThinkPad X220 comes equipped with the second generation Intel Core i7 processors that are 20 percent faster than the previous generations with 2x the graphics performance.
The Lenovo ThinkPad X220 is 3lbs MIL-SPEC tested ultraportable notebook for extreme mobility. With enhanced communication and multimedia experience, the ThinkPad X220 provides up to 23 hour battery life with a slim external battery pack.
The ThinkPad has further improved its industry-leading full-size keyboard design and nimble TrackPoint by adding an advanced buttonless touchpad that’s up to 45 percent larger than the last year. Lenovo Enhanced Experience 2.0 for Windows 7 further enhances the user experience with industry’s best boot up times. These best-in-class features, combined with Lenovo’s reputed durability and reliability, make the ThinkPad X220 a must-have for mobile professionals who look for the best from their notebooks.
The Lenovo ThinkPad X220 is 3lbs MIL-SPEC tested ultraportable notebook for extreme mobility. With enhanced communication and multimedia experience, the ThinkPad X220 provides up to 23 hour battery life with a slim external battery pack.
The ThinkPad has further improved its industry-leading full-size keyboard design and nimble TrackPoint by adding an advanced buttonless touchpad that’s up to 45 percent larger than the last year. Lenovo Enhanced Experience 2.0 for Windows 7 further enhances the user experience with industry’s best boot up times. These best-in-class features, combined with Lenovo’s reputed durability and reliability, make the ThinkPad X220 a must-have for mobile professionals who look for the best from their notebooks.
Cloud insecurities: Enterprises in India report more security issues than global counterparts
INDIA: A recent global cloud security survey conducted by Trend Micro provides a valid reason explaining why most enterprises in India face apprehension over adopting cloud computing. With the highest percentage among all surveyed countries, 55 percentof enterprise IT decision makers in India reported a security lapse or issue with their cloud provider within the last 12 months.
The global survey of 1200 US, UK, Germany, India, Canada and Japan IT decision makers uncovers the insecurities and concerns surrounding their journey to the cloud. It confirmed that, on the whole, enterprises are moving toward the cloud at a brisk pace and are initiating a giant multiplicative wave of new deployments.
For four technologies/services (server virtualization, VDI, public and private cloud services), market penetration numbers are significantly higher in India, US and UK. In fact, although about 10 percent of the respondents (in India?) currently have private cloud in production and roughly 15 percent have hybrid apps or public cloud in production, about half are implementing or piloting one or more of these cloud services, according to the survey.
Despite cloud computing’s growing popularity in India, confusion is still at play among enterprises, some of whom don’t recognize what cloud computing services are. When presented with a list of cloud computing services, 96 percent of the respondents said they are currently working with at least one of them. And yet, 7 percent of the same respondents said that their company has no plans to deploy any cloud computing service – a contradiction.
“Based on our data, we see about 5 times more cloud applications coming online in the next few years, yet 44 percent of the survey respondents in India reported having experienced a IT security breach. On top of that, some respondents didn’t even know they were using the cloud, much less securing it. Given that many cloud service providers do not adequately add IT resources to security, the reality is that securing your cloud environment is not an option, it’s a necessity,” said Amit Nath, country manager of India, Trend Micro.
Security is a key reason for holding back adoption of cloud technologies
In India, 60 percent of respondents pointed out that apprehension over security is a key reason for holding back their adoption of cloud computing. Generally speaking, Indian respondents expressed a higher level of concerns about adopting cloud computing services than respondents elsewhere.
“While security is one of major hindrances toward cloud adoption, India now perceivescloud services, such as performance/availability of cloud, billing and tracking of service used and lack of access to data, to be of near-equal consideration,” said Amit.
According to the survey, the top barriers respondents see in adopting cloud computing services in India are: Billing and tracking of services used(44 percent),lack of access to data (42 percent), availability of cloud services/uptime (42 percent) and lack of transparency (41 percent).
Data in the cloud is vulnerable without encryption
When it comes to public cloud in production, 93 percent of respondents in India said they encrypt data stored in the cloud. Before taking the plunge into cloud adoption, 56 percent of survey respondents said they would be more likely to consider a cloud provider if an easy to administer cloud encryption service was provided. Nevertheless, most commonly used encryption key management techniques used in the cloud today are vulnerable.
Policy-based key management for better control over cloud-stored data
First introduced last year, the Trend Micro SecureCloud security platform applies policy-based key-management technology with industry-standard encryption to give control over data stored in public, private or hybrid clouds back to enterprises. It alleviates data security, privacy and compliance risks associated with deploying information into any cloud-computing environment.
SecureCloud’s approach enables enterprises to safely and easily deploy data into private or public cloud environments, allowing them to secure sensitive information without having to install a vastly more complex secure file infrastructure.
Trend Micro secures the enterprise journey to the cloud
Trend Micro has invested heavily in a family of multi-layered protection for cloud and virtual environments – all designed to secure the enterprise journey to the cloud.
In addition to SecureCloud, Trend Micro Deep Security prevents data theft, business disruptions, and compliance violations with comprehensive server security for today’s virtualized datacenter. The latest release of Deep Security includes agent-less anti-malware, virtualization-aware intelligence, and leverages the latest VMware APIs for stronger server protection against data breaches and greater compliance.
The global survey of 1200 US, UK, Germany, India, Canada and Japan IT decision makers uncovers the insecurities and concerns surrounding their journey to the cloud. It confirmed that, on the whole, enterprises are moving toward the cloud at a brisk pace and are initiating a giant multiplicative wave of new deployments.
For four technologies/services (server virtualization, VDI, public and private cloud services), market penetration numbers are significantly higher in India, US and UK. In fact, although about 10 percent of the respondents (in India?) currently have private cloud in production and roughly 15 percent have hybrid apps or public cloud in production, about half are implementing or piloting one or more of these cloud services, according to the survey.
Despite cloud computing’s growing popularity in India, confusion is still at play among enterprises, some of whom don’t recognize what cloud computing services are. When presented with a list of cloud computing services, 96 percent of the respondents said they are currently working with at least one of them. And yet, 7 percent of the same respondents said that their company has no plans to deploy any cloud computing service – a contradiction.
“Based on our data, we see about 5 times more cloud applications coming online in the next few years, yet 44 percent of the survey respondents in India reported having experienced a IT security breach. On top of that, some respondents didn’t even know they were using the cloud, much less securing it. Given that many cloud service providers do not adequately add IT resources to security, the reality is that securing your cloud environment is not an option, it’s a necessity,” said Amit Nath, country manager of India, Trend Micro.
Security is a key reason for holding back adoption of cloud technologies
In India, 60 percent of respondents pointed out that apprehension over security is a key reason for holding back their adoption of cloud computing. Generally speaking, Indian respondents expressed a higher level of concerns about adopting cloud computing services than respondents elsewhere.
“While security is one of major hindrances toward cloud adoption, India now perceivescloud services, such as performance/availability of cloud, billing and tracking of service used and lack of access to data, to be of near-equal consideration,” said Amit.
According to the survey, the top barriers respondents see in adopting cloud computing services in India are: Billing and tracking of services used(44 percent),lack of access to data (42 percent), availability of cloud services/uptime (42 percent) and lack of transparency (41 percent).
Data in the cloud is vulnerable without encryption
When it comes to public cloud in production, 93 percent of respondents in India said they encrypt data stored in the cloud. Before taking the plunge into cloud adoption, 56 percent of survey respondents said they would be more likely to consider a cloud provider if an easy to administer cloud encryption service was provided. Nevertheless, most commonly used encryption key management techniques used in the cloud today are vulnerable.
Policy-based key management for better control over cloud-stored data
First introduced last year, the Trend Micro SecureCloud security platform applies policy-based key-management technology with industry-standard encryption to give control over data stored in public, private or hybrid clouds back to enterprises. It alleviates data security, privacy and compliance risks associated with deploying information into any cloud-computing environment.
SecureCloud’s approach enables enterprises to safely and easily deploy data into private or public cloud environments, allowing them to secure sensitive information without having to install a vastly more complex secure file infrastructure.
Trend Micro secures the enterprise journey to the cloud
Trend Micro has invested heavily in a family of multi-layered protection for cloud and virtual environments – all designed to secure the enterprise journey to the cloud.
In addition to SecureCloud, Trend Micro Deep Security prevents data theft, business disruptions, and compliance violations with comprehensive server security for today’s virtualized datacenter. The latest release of Deep Security includes agent-less anti-malware, virtualization-aware intelligence, and leverages the latest VMware APIs for stronger server protection against data breaches and greater compliance.
Huge growth opportunity for CRM outsourcers in retail in Asia-Pacific
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA: The retail sector represents a massive future growth opportunity for CRM (customer relationship management) outsourcers in Asia-Pacific (AP), with contact centre agents servicing the industry projected to increase by 30 per cent by 2016, according Ovum.
However, the independent technology analyst finds that to be able to take advantage of the potential the retail market offers them, CRM outsourcers must first enhance their offering.
In a new report, Ovum claims that CRM outsourcers will need to look beyond their standard service to make their mark in the sector.
Peter Ryan, Ovum lead analyst and author of the report, commented: “The retail sector is undergoing significant change globally due to both poor economic conditions and shifts in how consumers purchase products. This is having a significant impact on how end users interact with retail operators, many of which are under considerable pressure to keep costs at a minimum, while at the same time maximising revenue opportunities and customer service”.
In Australia, the ANZ Bank analyses point to a relatively sluggish remainder of 2011 and 2012, with economic growth relatively sluggish. Should this occur, there is significant likelihood that consumers' disposable income will remain tight or evaporate altogether, thus having a tough impact on retailers profitability,, meaning that there will be pressure to cut overheads in order to maintain margins.
“We believe that there is tremendous opportunity for CRM outsourcers globally to win business in the retail sector. However, in order to do so vendors will have to take a more forward-looking approach than simply cheap agents on telephones. Rather, the retailer of the future will need to partner with an outsourcer that can provide enhanced standards of support at the agent level channels.”
According to Ovum’s figures, the Asia-Pacific market size for outsourced contact centre agent positions in the retail sector will grow from 478k positions in 2011, to 681k in 2016, an increase of almost 30 percent for the period. Australia proved to be the most sluggish in comparison to China, The Philippines and India within the AP region, with a CAGR of only 3.8 percent over the five years. China, being the growth engine globally, shows a CAGR of 12.9 percent. The Philippines is not very far from China, showing a CAGR of 11.2 percent from 2011 to 2016.
Ovum’s report advises that the enhanced services CRM outsourcers adopt in order to win business should focus on areas in which their services are better equipped than any in-house solution to drive retailers' businesses forward.
One example is to provide additional services to existing retail clients that will allow them to target their end users with add-on products that enable the retailer to boost revenues and reduce costs in the contact centre.
Ryan commented: “To execute this effectively, outsourcers must stress their expertise in this domain, as well as capabilities in using analytics tools to properly target tactical opportunities. This is likely to resonate strongly with retailers that have been struggling with budget issues leading to an inability to invest in the right agent training and application acquisition.”
However, the independent technology analyst finds that to be able to take advantage of the potential the retail market offers them, CRM outsourcers must first enhance their offering.
In a new report, Ovum claims that CRM outsourcers will need to look beyond their standard service to make their mark in the sector.
Peter Ryan, Ovum lead analyst and author of the report, commented: “The retail sector is undergoing significant change globally due to both poor economic conditions and shifts in how consumers purchase products. This is having a significant impact on how end users interact with retail operators, many of which are under considerable pressure to keep costs at a minimum, while at the same time maximising revenue opportunities and customer service”.
In Australia, the ANZ Bank analyses point to a relatively sluggish remainder of 2011 and 2012, with economic growth relatively sluggish. Should this occur, there is significant likelihood that consumers' disposable income will remain tight or evaporate altogether, thus having a tough impact on retailers profitability,, meaning that there will be pressure to cut overheads in order to maintain margins.
“We believe that there is tremendous opportunity for CRM outsourcers globally to win business in the retail sector. However, in order to do so vendors will have to take a more forward-looking approach than simply cheap agents on telephones. Rather, the retailer of the future will need to partner with an outsourcer that can provide enhanced standards of support at the agent level channels.”
According to Ovum’s figures, the Asia-Pacific market size for outsourced contact centre agent positions in the retail sector will grow from 478k positions in 2011, to 681k in 2016, an increase of almost 30 percent for the period. Australia proved to be the most sluggish in comparison to China, The Philippines and India within the AP region, with a CAGR of only 3.8 percent over the five years. China, being the growth engine globally, shows a CAGR of 12.9 percent. The Philippines is not very far from China, showing a CAGR of 11.2 percent from 2011 to 2016.
Ovum’s report advises that the enhanced services CRM outsourcers adopt in order to win business should focus on areas in which their services are better equipped than any in-house solution to drive retailers' businesses forward.
One example is to provide additional services to existing retail clients that will allow them to target their end users with add-on products that enable the retailer to boost revenues and reduce costs in the contact centre.
Ryan commented: “To execute this effectively, outsourcers must stress their expertise in this domain, as well as capabilities in using analytics tools to properly target tactical opportunities. This is likely to resonate strongly with retailers that have been struggling with budget issues leading to an inability to invest in the right agent training and application acquisition.”
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
China surpassed US to become largest PC market in Q2-2011
BEIJING, CHINA & FRAMINGHAM, USA: Final results from the International Data Corp. (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker show that PC shipments in the China market have exceeded those of the United States in the second quarter of 2011 (2Q11).
Approximately 18.5 million units worth $11.9 billion shipped in China during the quarter, compared to 17.7 million units worth $11.7 billion in the US China represented 22 percent of the global PC market's unit shipments compared to the US at 21 percent.
On a full year basis, IDC still expects the US to remain the largest market in 2011, with 73.5 million units forecast to be shipped in the US versus 72.4 million in China. Similarly, holiday season buying in the US will likely keep it ahead of China in the fourth quarter, especially as China's market contracts after its third quarter summer promotions. IDC does not expect China to exceed the US in full year shipments until 2012, when 85.2 million units are forecast to be shipped in China and 76.6 million units in the US.
"There are of course still risks ahead for China, including not just inflation but also the impact of economic conditions in the US and Europe," said Kitty Fok, VP for Greater China Research at IDC. "But, in the meantime, the Chinese government's 12th Five-Year Plan should help large enterprises in various infrastructure verticals to continue to move along, not to mention of course the ongoing efforts to increase consumer penetration in lower-tier cities."
"China's lead in the PC market is a huge shift that reflects the rising fortunes of emerging markets as well as the relative stagnation of more mature regions." said Loren Loverde, Program VP, Worldwide PC Tracker. "While the immediate economic circumstances in the US and other markets had a significant impact on the timing of China's move to the lead, they have not changed the trend, but accelerated it."
Approximately 18.5 million units worth $11.9 billion shipped in China during the quarter, compared to 17.7 million units worth $11.7 billion in the US China represented 22 percent of the global PC market's unit shipments compared to the US at 21 percent.
On a full year basis, IDC still expects the US to remain the largest market in 2011, with 73.5 million units forecast to be shipped in the US versus 72.4 million in China. Similarly, holiday season buying in the US will likely keep it ahead of China in the fourth quarter, especially as China's market contracts after its third quarter summer promotions. IDC does not expect China to exceed the US in full year shipments until 2012, when 85.2 million units are forecast to be shipped in China and 76.6 million units in the US.
"There are of course still risks ahead for China, including not just inflation but also the impact of economic conditions in the US and Europe," said Kitty Fok, VP for Greater China Research at IDC. "But, in the meantime, the Chinese government's 12th Five-Year Plan should help large enterprises in various infrastructure verticals to continue to move along, not to mention of course the ongoing efforts to increase consumer penetration in lower-tier cities."
"China's lead in the PC market is a huge shift that reflects the rising fortunes of emerging markets as well as the relative stagnation of more mature regions." said Loren Loverde, Program VP, Worldwide PC Tracker. "While the immediate economic circumstances in the US and other markets had a significant impact on the timing of China's move to the lead, they have not changed the trend, but accelerated it."
Pure Storage breaks cost barrier to mainstream flash adoption with first all-flash enterprise storage array
MOUNTAIN VIEW, USA: Pure Storage, the all-flash enterprise storage company, entered the market with the first all-flash enterprise array, combining the performance, density and power of flash with enterprise array features including high availability, out-of-the-box compatibility, and enterprise class scalability -- all for less than the cost of disk-centric arrays, including performance disk, flash retrofits and flash/disk hybrids.
Ten times faster and 10x more power and space efficient than disk-based arrays, the Pure Storage FlashArray FA-300 Series delivers up to 20x inline data reduction, breaking the cost barrier to widespread data center adoption of flash. Pure Storage makes it affordable for mainstream enterprises to broadly deploy all-flash storage for their demanding enterprise workloads, including virtual server, virtual desktop (VDI), database and cloud environments.
"We have experienced amazing results using Pure Storage in our data centers," said Matt Kesner, CIO of Fenwick & West. "The FlashArray has reduced our data between 50 to 90% on a variety of workloads, ranging from VMware virtual machines to Microsoft Exchange and SQL, as well as reduced our physical storage footprint far beyond our expectations."
Built to work out of the box with existing application infrastructures, the Pure Storage FlashArray is a true enterprise array that supports native high availability (via active/active controllers), plug-compatibility via standard SAN interconnects and online scalability from tens to hundreds of terabytes of storage within a single array. The FlashArray and its tightly coupled software, the Purity Operating Environment, were architected from the ground up for solid state flash memory, featuring a full suite of data integrity and hardware resiliency services, as well as performance management to ensure consistent high performance.
"While logic dictates that it's only a matter of time before solid state technologies replace spinning disks -- certainly for all active workloads -- the major gating factor on adoption is for someone to crack the economic code. If a hefty price premium doesn't have to be justified, then the change to solid state storage can really start," said Steve Duplessie, senior analyst and founder of Enterprise Strategy Group.
"Pure Storage is not only meeting that bar, they're raising it by offering actual, realistic potential for price advantage over 'regular' enterprise disk. Not only that, but they have all the key operational bells and whistles of enterprise storage functionality, can slot right into existing environments and deliver great Opex advantages. I love the idea that Pure Storage is aiming beyond simply 'why not?' as the question users would ask regarding all-flash arrays -- pretty darn good in itself. Instead, they are looking to turn the question on its head and make people start to ask 'why disk?'"
What differentiates the Pure Storage FlashArray
Purpose built for flash. Instead of retrofitting flash into disk-centric arrays, the Pure Storage FlashArray is built from the ground-up to take full advantage of flash.
Flash below the cost of disk. Pure Storage couples the use of MLC flash with inline data reduction to deliver a dollars-per-usable gigabyte cost of flash that is below the cost of performance disk or disk/flash hybrids. It is the industry's first inline deduplication and compression that can deliver consistent sub-millisecond latency.
Substantial power and space savings. Pure Storage's all-flash array consumes one-tenth the power of traditional disk-based storage and can allow for a dramatic expansion of the overall data footprint without expanding the data center.
Enterprise-grade high availability (HA). The FlashArray offers an active/active HA architecture, including clustered controllers that share storage to deliver enterprise resiliency without the doubling of cost incurred when duplicating non-HA devices to achieve redundancy.
RAID re-designed for flash. Purity implements RAID-3D, a new form of RAID specifically designed to protect against the unique failure modes of flash. RAID-3D implements three layers of independent parity, protecting against multiple drive losses, flash bit errors and variability in flash performance.
Scalable to hundreds of terabytes within each array. The FlashArray was architected for scale, allowing for starter deployments in the tens of TBs and scaling to hundreds of TBs, as opposed to PCIe flash cards and flash appliances that can accelerate performance of a single application but do not support clustering for growth.
Deploy in minutes. Manage with ease. From the 10-minute install to the intuitive web-based user interface, the FlashArray frees storage administrators from the cumbersome processes of traditional disk storage management.
"Until now, flash has been the data center revolution that no one could afford. Pure Storage is breaking the cost barrier to flash so that every enterprise can get in the game," said Scott Dietzen, CEO of Pure Storage. "Flash memory has already remade storage for consumer devices and powers the web experiences of top consumer websites. We're convinced flash will have a similar impact in the data center. Pure Storage all-flash arrays are radically faster, more space and power efficient, more reliable, far simpler to manage and now cheaper than disk-centric alternatives -- so why buy disk for the data center?"
The Pure Storage FlashArray FA-300 series is available immediately for evaluation. The effective storage capacity of the FlashArray depends on the data reduction on a given data set. At a conservative 5:1 data reduction ratio, the market price for a full high availability solution is below $5/gigabyte useable. At 10:1 reduction, the Pure Storage solution is about half the price of disk and decreases with higher levels of data reduction.
Ten times faster and 10x more power and space efficient than disk-based arrays, the Pure Storage FlashArray FA-300 Series delivers up to 20x inline data reduction, breaking the cost barrier to widespread data center adoption of flash. Pure Storage makes it affordable for mainstream enterprises to broadly deploy all-flash storage for their demanding enterprise workloads, including virtual server, virtual desktop (VDI), database and cloud environments.
"We have experienced amazing results using Pure Storage in our data centers," said Matt Kesner, CIO of Fenwick & West. "The FlashArray has reduced our data between 50 to 90% on a variety of workloads, ranging from VMware virtual machines to Microsoft Exchange and SQL, as well as reduced our physical storage footprint far beyond our expectations."
Built to work out of the box with existing application infrastructures, the Pure Storage FlashArray is a true enterprise array that supports native high availability (via active/active controllers), plug-compatibility via standard SAN interconnects and online scalability from tens to hundreds of terabytes of storage within a single array. The FlashArray and its tightly coupled software, the Purity Operating Environment, were architected from the ground up for solid state flash memory, featuring a full suite of data integrity and hardware resiliency services, as well as performance management to ensure consistent high performance.
"While logic dictates that it's only a matter of time before solid state technologies replace spinning disks -- certainly for all active workloads -- the major gating factor on adoption is for someone to crack the economic code. If a hefty price premium doesn't have to be justified, then the change to solid state storage can really start," said Steve Duplessie, senior analyst and founder of Enterprise Strategy Group.
"Pure Storage is not only meeting that bar, they're raising it by offering actual, realistic potential for price advantage over 'regular' enterprise disk. Not only that, but they have all the key operational bells and whistles of enterprise storage functionality, can slot right into existing environments and deliver great Opex advantages. I love the idea that Pure Storage is aiming beyond simply 'why not?' as the question users would ask regarding all-flash arrays -- pretty darn good in itself. Instead, they are looking to turn the question on its head and make people start to ask 'why disk?'"
What differentiates the Pure Storage FlashArray
Purpose built for flash. Instead of retrofitting flash into disk-centric arrays, the Pure Storage FlashArray is built from the ground-up to take full advantage of flash.
Flash below the cost of disk. Pure Storage couples the use of MLC flash with inline data reduction to deliver a dollars-per-usable gigabyte cost of flash that is below the cost of performance disk or disk/flash hybrids. It is the industry's first inline deduplication and compression that can deliver consistent sub-millisecond latency.
Substantial power and space savings. Pure Storage's all-flash array consumes one-tenth the power of traditional disk-based storage and can allow for a dramatic expansion of the overall data footprint without expanding the data center.
Enterprise-grade high availability (HA). The FlashArray offers an active/active HA architecture, including clustered controllers that share storage to deliver enterprise resiliency without the doubling of cost incurred when duplicating non-HA devices to achieve redundancy.
RAID re-designed for flash. Purity implements RAID-3D, a new form of RAID specifically designed to protect against the unique failure modes of flash. RAID-3D implements three layers of independent parity, protecting against multiple drive losses, flash bit errors and variability in flash performance.
Scalable to hundreds of terabytes within each array. The FlashArray was architected for scale, allowing for starter deployments in the tens of TBs and scaling to hundreds of TBs, as opposed to PCIe flash cards and flash appliances that can accelerate performance of a single application but do not support clustering for growth.
Deploy in minutes. Manage with ease. From the 10-minute install to the intuitive web-based user interface, the FlashArray frees storage administrators from the cumbersome processes of traditional disk storage management.
"Until now, flash has been the data center revolution that no one could afford. Pure Storage is breaking the cost barrier to flash so that every enterprise can get in the game," said Scott Dietzen, CEO of Pure Storage. "Flash memory has already remade storage for consumer devices and powers the web experiences of top consumer websites. We're convinced flash will have a similar impact in the data center. Pure Storage all-flash arrays are radically faster, more space and power efficient, more reliable, far simpler to manage and now cheaper than disk-centric alternatives -- so why buy disk for the data center?"
The Pure Storage FlashArray FA-300 series is available immediately for evaluation. The effective storage capacity of the FlashArray depends on the data reduction on a given data set. At a conservative 5:1 data reduction ratio, the market price for a full high availability solution is below $5/gigabyte useable. At 10:1 reduction, the Pure Storage solution is about half the price of disk and decreases with higher levels of data reduction.
Samsung Mobile Display and Universal Display announce entry into OLED patent license and supplemental material purchase agreements
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA & EWING, USA: Samsung Mobile Display Co. Ltd (SMD) and Universal Display Corp., enabling energy-efficient OLED displays and lighting with its UniversalPHOLED technology and materials, announced that the companies have entered into agreements under which Universal Display will license its technologies and sell its proprietary materials to SMD for use in its line of state-of-the-art OLED display products.
Building on their eleven-year relationship, SMD and Universal Display will continue to work closely to accelerate growth of the OLED display industry through the development of state-of-the-art, energy-efficient OLED products.
“SMD is committed in leading the world display industry by offering high quality OLED products to its customers,” said Soo In Cho, president and CEO of Samsung Mobile Display. “I believe the long-term agreement with Universal Display and the continued close partnership between the companies will provide a platform for successfully establishing the OLED products as the mainstream display products.”
“As the world’s leading developer and manufacturer of active-matrix OLEDs, Samsung Mobile Display has been a true visionary and leader in setting out a path to seize the tremendous potential for OLEDs, including through the extremely popular line of Galaxy S smart phones. SMD has been an excellent partner since we started working together over ten years ago,” said Steven V. Abramson, president and CEO of Universal Display.
“We are extremely pleased to continue this strong relationship with SMD to support them with state-of-the-art technologies and materials as they continue to develop and introduce exciting new OLED display products to the marketplace. Working even more closely, we look forward to realizing the full growth potential for the OLED display industry.”
With an increasing number of OLEDs reaching the marketplace, their performance advantages are easy to see. Thinner, lighter and more pleasing to view, OLEDs offer much faster response times, wider viewing angles, higher contrast ratios and brighter, more saturated colors – for a more enjoyable viewing experience. With Universal Display’s proprietary UniversalPHOLED technology and materials, OLEDs can also be more energy efficient than LCDs.
The agreements announced today are an OLED Patent License Agreement and a Supplemental OLED Material Purchase Agreement. Under the license agreement, Universal Display has granted SMD license rights under various patents owned or controlled by Universal Display to manufacture and sell certain phosphorescent OLED display products. In consideration of the license grant, SMD has agreed to pay Universal Display a license fee over the term of the license agreement.
Under the supplemental agreement, SMD has agreed to purchase and Universal Display has agreed to supply a minimum amount of phosphorescent OLED material for SMD’s use in the manufacture of licensed products, subject to Universal Display being able to supply sufficient quantities to meet SMD’s requirements. The agreements run through December 31, 2017.
Building on their eleven-year relationship, SMD and Universal Display will continue to work closely to accelerate growth of the OLED display industry through the development of state-of-the-art, energy-efficient OLED products.
“SMD is committed in leading the world display industry by offering high quality OLED products to its customers,” said Soo In Cho, president and CEO of Samsung Mobile Display. “I believe the long-term agreement with Universal Display and the continued close partnership between the companies will provide a platform for successfully establishing the OLED products as the mainstream display products.”
“As the world’s leading developer and manufacturer of active-matrix OLEDs, Samsung Mobile Display has been a true visionary and leader in setting out a path to seize the tremendous potential for OLEDs, including through the extremely popular line of Galaxy S smart phones. SMD has been an excellent partner since we started working together over ten years ago,” said Steven V. Abramson, president and CEO of Universal Display.
“We are extremely pleased to continue this strong relationship with SMD to support them with state-of-the-art technologies and materials as they continue to develop and introduce exciting new OLED display products to the marketplace. Working even more closely, we look forward to realizing the full growth potential for the OLED display industry.”
With an increasing number of OLEDs reaching the marketplace, their performance advantages are easy to see. Thinner, lighter and more pleasing to view, OLEDs offer much faster response times, wider viewing angles, higher contrast ratios and brighter, more saturated colors – for a more enjoyable viewing experience. With Universal Display’s proprietary UniversalPHOLED technology and materials, OLEDs can also be more energy efficient than LCDs.
The agreements announced today are an OLED Patent License Agreement and a Supplemental OLED Material Purchase Agreement. Under the license agreement, Universal Display has granted SMD license rights under various patents owned or controlled by Universal Display to manufacture and sell certain phosphorescent OLED display products. In consideration of the license grant, SMD has agreed to pay Universal Display a license fee over the term of the license agreement.
Under the supplemental agreement, SMD has agreed to purchase and Universal Display has agreed to supply a minimum amount of phosphorescent OLED material for SMD’s use in the manufacture of licensed products, subject to Universal Display being able to supply sufficient quantities to meet SMD’s requirements. The agreements run through December 31, 2017.
Norton mobile security provides trusted protection for Android devices
BANGALORE, INDIA: With more than six billion applications downloaded to date, it’s clear that the Android Market is experiencing explosive growth and that consumers are hooked on downloading what they want, when they want it.
At the same time, consumers need to be vigilant about safeguarding their mobile phones because Symantec’s latest Internet Security Threat Report, Volume 16, found that researchers identified nearly four times as many unique-to-Android pieces of malware than the previous year. The need to protect consumer mobile devices is more important than ever.
Reinforcing its commitment to the Norton Everywhere ‘Beyond-the-PC’ initiative, Norton by Symantec announced the availability of Norton Mobile Security for Android 2.0, through leading IT retailers and telcos in the country. With over 600,000 downloads and a 4 out of 5 star rating on the Android Market, Norton Mobile Security for Android 2.0 will enable users to protect the information stored on their mobile device as well as the device itself.
“There has been unprecedented growth of non-PC devices in recent years, as consumers rely on these new devices to communicate and store their private information. From streaming their favourite music station, getting the high score hurling birds through the air and filing their taxes online, consumers deserve to feel confident regardless of what they do on their mobile phone,” said Gaurav Kanwal, Country Sales Manager, India, Consumer Products and Solutions, Symantec. “Norton Mobile Security protects confidential information and offers protection from the most trusted name in security – which means your device is safeguarded and you’re worry-free.”
Antiphishing technology to protect users who access email on their smartphone
With Norton Mobile Security for Android 2.0, consumers and their confidential information are protected against new and evolving security threats. The anti-phishing Web protection feature in the product blocks fraudulent Web sites and protects users who connect to the Internet via their smartphone.
Phishing is an equal opportunity scam, taking place just as easily over a phone or tablet as on a computer, so having built-in protection is essential.
Prevents strangers from using a lost or stolen phone and helps locate device
The average adult in India loses his mobile phone 1.5 times in five years and 50 percent reported concerns over the loss of privacy and sensitive information. Norton Mobile Security for Android 2.0 remotely locks lost or stolen phones, preventing strangers or thieves from accessing vital information.
Following a quick initial set-up, users can locate, lock or wipe their Android device with a simple text message in the event of loss or theft. To help locate the device, Norton Mobile Security sends exact GPS coordinates of your phone's whereabouts, offering an increased chance of retrieving it.
These features address the current situation faced by many Indian adults who have experienced losing or having their mobile phones stolen; 80 percent of whom feel that locking, wiping, and locating their mobile device are important features to have.
Detects and eliminates mobile threats before they can infect device
Norton Mobile Security for Android 2.0 detects and removes threats, viruses and spyware from files, SD (Secure Digital) memory cards, and downloaded app updates. With regular update checks, it ensure that users have the latest, most-up-to-date protection without any effect on device performance or web browsing.
Norton Mobile Security is available for purchase at leading retailers and telcos across the country at Rs 599 for a single license. The price includes a one-year service subscription to use the product and receive Symantec’s protection updates.
At the same time, consumers need to be vigilant about safeguarding their mobile phones because Symantec’s latest Internet Security Threat Report, Volume 16, found that researchers identified nearly four times as many unique-to-Android pieces of malware than the previous year. The need to protect consumer mobile devices is more important than ever.
Reinforcing its commitment to the Norton Everywhere ‘Beyond-the-PC’ initiative, Norton by Symantec announced the availability of Norton Mobile Security for Android 2.0, through leading IT retailers and telcos in the country. With over 600,000 downloads and a 4 out of 5 star rating on the Android Market, Norton Mobile Security for Android 2.0 will enable users to protect the information stored on their mobile device as well as the device itself.
“There has been unprecedented growth of non-PC devices in recent years, as consumers rely on these new devices to communicate and store their private information. From streaming their favourite music station, getting the high score hurling birds through the air and filing their taxes online, consumers deserve to feel confident regardless of what they do on their mobile phone,” said Gaurav Kanwal, Country Sales Manager, India, Consumer Products and Solutions, Symantec. “Norton Mobile Security protects confidential information and offers protection from the most trusted name in security – which means your device is safeguarded and you’re worry-free.”
Antiphishing technology to protect users who access email on their smartphone
With Norton Mobile Security for Android 2.0, consumers and their confidential information are protected against new and evolving security threats. The anti-phishing Web protection feature in the product blocks fraudulent Web sites and protects users who connect to the Internet via their smartphone.
Phishing is an equal opportunity scam, taking place just as easily over a phone or tablet as on a computer, so having built-in protection is essential.
Prevents strangers from using a lost or stolen phone and helps locate device
The average adult in India loses his mobile phone 1.5 times in five years and 50 percent reported concerns over the loss of privacy and sensitive information. Norton Mobile Security for Android 2.0 remotely locks lost or stolen phones, preventing strangers or thieves from accessing vital information.
Following a quick initial set-up, users can locate, lock or wipe their Android device with a simple text message in the event of loss or theft. To help locate the device, Norton Mobile Security sends exact GPS coordinates of your phone's whereabouts, offering an increased chance of retrieving it.
These features address the current situation faced by many Indian adults who have experienced losing or having their mobile phones stolen; 80 percent of whom feel that locking, wiping, and locating their mobile device are important features to have.
Detects and eliminates mobile threats before they can infect device
Norton Mobile Security for Android 2.0 detects and removes threats, viruses and spyware from files, SD (Secure Digital) memory cards, and downloaded app updates. With regular update checks, it ensure that users have the latest, most-up-to-date protection without any effect on device performance or web browsing.
Norton Mobile Security is available for purchase at leading retailers and telcos across the country at Rs 599 for a single license. The price includes a one-year service subscription to use the product and receive Symantec’s protection updates.
iTunes gains share in online movies in H1-2011
EL SEGUNDO, USA: Reversing its previous declines in market share, iTunes in the first half of 2010 managed to pad its leadership position in the US online movie market, according to the new IHS Screen Digest Media Researc.
iTunes’ share of US consumer spending for movie electronic sell-through (EST) and Internet video on demand (iVOD) rose to 65.8 percent in the first half of 2011, up from 64.9 percent for the same period in 2010, as presented in the table below. The expansion contrasts with the first half of 2010 when the share held by Apple Inc.’s iTunes declined by 11.9 points year-on-year. In fact, the first half of 2011 marked the first increase in share for iTunes since two years ago in 2009.
Notably, iTunes experienced the largest revenue increase growth among all online movie providers during the first half.
“iTunes’ expansion of its market lead represents a remarkable achievement in light of intensifying competition from a slew of aggressive rivals,” said Arash Amel, research director, digital media, for IHS. “Much of iTunes’ success can be traced to the rising usage of Apple’s AirPlay system, which allows wireless video streaming to consumer electronic devices including televisions. This has expanded the reach of iTunes to new platforms, boosting sales of movies from the system.”
Other factors that enhanced iTunes’ share included the growing installed base of the iPad and price promotions.
Vudu’s market share voodoo
Along with Apple’s market share advance, the other big success story among the major online movie stores in the first half was Wal-Mart’s Vudu. Vudu’s share of EST and iVOD movie revenue rose to 5.3 percent in the first half of 2011, up from 1 percent during the same time in 2010. This allowed Vudu to rise to the No. 3 position earlier this year, up from fifth place.
“Just as IHS predicted in its February release, Vudu has emerged as a major market rival to established players like Apple and Sony,” Amel said. “Vudu’s gains were driven by several factors, including its shrewd device strategy, a good customer experience, a compelling user interface and its $1/$2 rental pricing system.”
Microsoft and Sony face challenges
The No. 2 online movie store, Microsoft’s Zune Video Marketplace, lost market share in the first half, declining to 16.2 percent, down from 18.5 percent during the same period in 2010. The company had enjoyed a market share surge during the 2010 holiday season courtesy of the strong sales of the Kinect, a motion-sensing system for the Xbox 360. Kinect helped improve sales at that time of the Xbox, which can access movies on the Zune Video Marketplace. However, the impact of the surge since has dwindled, causing Zune’s share to decline.
For Sony, its PlayStation Store accounted for 4.4 percent of iVOD and EST movie share in the first half, down from 8.2 percent in 2010. This caused the PlayStation Store to drop to the fourth position, down from third place, which it had long occupied.
“The PlayStation Store fell out of the Top 3 rankings chiefly because Vudu cannibalized its market share,” Amel said. “Furthermore, the global security breach that shut down Sony’s online gaming operations during a major portion of the first half had a deleterious impact on the PlayStation Store’s business.”
In the case of Amazon, a boost in revenue to reach 4.2 percent in the first half, up from 4.0 percent in 2010, was not enough to keep it in the No. 4 rank, as the surge from Vudu pushed the online retailer down to fifth place. The company in the first half was engaged in a shift in its business to streaming video on demand (SVOD) and Amazon Prime.
Online movie business focuses on EST
Together, the US iVOD and EST business in the first half of 2011 amounted to $229 million, with EST accounting for $118 million and $111 million for iVOD. For the full year of 2011, IHS predicts the market will rise to $487 million, with EST representing $247 million, and iVOD taking up $240 million.
“The new-release on-demand business is all about iVOD,” Amel said. “In the current economic climate, consumers are more interested in accessing movies than in owning them. Because of this, growth in EST has virtually stopped. Whatever small EST growth that is happening is coming from aggressive sales on iTunes, as well as discounting across major services.”
Source: IHS iSuppli, USA
iTunes’ share of US consumer spending for movie electronic sell-through (EST) and Internet video on demand (iVOD) rose to 65.8 percent in the first half of 2011, up from 64.9 percent for the same period in 2010, as presented in the table below. The expansion contrasts with the first half of 2010 when the share held by Apple Inc.’s iTunes declined by 11.9 points year-on-year. In fact, the first half of 2011 marked the first increase in share for iTunes since two years ago in 2009.
Notably, iTunes experienced the largest revenue increase growth among all online movie providers during the first half.
“iTunes’ expansion of its market lead represents a remarkable achievement in light of intensifying competition from a slew of aggressive rivals,” said Arash Amel, research director, digital media, for IHS. “Much of iTunes’ success can be traced to the rising usage of Apple’s AirPlay system, which allows wireless video streaming to consumer electronic devices including televisions. This has expanded the reach of iTunes to new platforms, boosting sales of movies from the system.”
Other factors that enhanced iTunes’ share included the growing installed base of the iPad and price promotions.
Vudu’s market share voodoo
Along with Apple’s market share advance, the other big success story among the major online movie stores in the first half was Wal-Mart’s Vudu. Vudu’s share of EST and iVOD movie revenue rose to 5.3 percent in the first half of 2011, up from 1 percent during the same time in 2010. This allowed Vudu to rise to the No. 3 position earlier this year, up from fifth place.
“Just as IHS predicted in its February release, Vudu has emerged as a major market rival to established players like Apple and Sony,” Amel said. “Vudu’s gains were driven by several factors, including its shrewd device strategy, a good customer experience, a compelling user interface and its $1/$2 rental pricing system.”
Microsoft and Sony face challenges
The No. 2 online movie store, Microsoft’s Zune Video Marketplace, lost market share in the first half, declining to 16.2 percent, down from 18.5 percent during the same period in 2010. The company had enjoyed a market share surge during the 2010 holiday season courtesy of the strong sales of the Kinect, a motion-sensing system for the Xbox 360. Kinect helped improve sales at that time of the Xbox, which can access movies on the Zune Video Marketplace. However, the impact of the surge since has dwindled, causing Zune’s share to decline.
For Sony, its PlayStation Store accounted for 4.4 percent of iVOD and EST movie share in the first half, down from 8.2 percent in 2010. This caused the PlayStation Store to drop to the fourth position, down from third place, which it had long occupied.
“The PlayStation Store fell out of the Top 3 rankings chiefly because Vudu cannibalized its market share,” Amel said. “Furthermore, the global security breach that shut down Sony’s online gaming operations during a major portion of the first half had a deleterious impact on the PlayStation Store’s business.”
In the case of Amazon, a boost in revenue to reach 4.2 percent in the first half, up from 4.0 percent in 2010, was not enough to keep it in the No. 4 rank, as the surge from Vudu pushed the online retailer down to fifth place. The company in the first half was engaged in a shift in its business to streaming video on demand (SVOD) and Amazon Prime.
Online movie business focuses on EST
Together, the US iVOD and EST business in the first half of 2011 amounted to $229 million, with EST accounting for $118 million and $111 million for iVOD. For the full year of 2011, IHS predicts the market will rise to $487 million, with EST representing $247 million, and iVOD taking up $240 million.
“The new-release on-demand business is all about iVOD,” Amel said. “In the current economic climate, consumers are more interested in accessing movies than in owning them. Because of this, growth in EST has virtually stopped. Whatever small EST growth that is happening is coming from aggressive sales on iTunes, as well as discounting across major services.”
Source: IHS iSuppli, USA
Monday, August 22, 2011
Espial TV browser powers smart TV experience globally
OTTAWA, CANADA: Espial announced that the Espial TV Browser is now powering a wide range of consumer devices including Smart TVs, set-top boxes and digital media players. The Espial TV Browser is now commercially shipping in more than 25 languages across the world. To support this global reach, the Espial TV Browser has been optimized to support more than two dozen languages as well as the most popular search, news, video, photo, social and sports sites in dozens of countries.
The Espial TV Browser is now powering smart TVs, digital media adapters, set-top boxes and other consumer electronic devices across the world.
The Espial TV browser provides access to popular Search, News, Video, Photo, Social Networking and Sport Sites. The most popular websites are preset into the browser, including Yahoo, Google, YouTube, Daily Motion, Picasa, Facebook, Twitter, ESPN, and more.
The Espial TV Browser is based on WebKit, supports 25+ languages and is optimized to industry leading chipsets. It supports languages such as Hebrew, Arabic, European, Chinese, Korean, Japanese and many more.
The Espial TV Browser, based on WebKit, delivers a PC-like web browsing experience, applications, widgets, video, HTML5 and Adobe Flash 10.1.
The Espial TV Browser is now powering smart TVs, digital media adapters, set-top boxes and other consumer electronic devices across the world.
The Espial TV browser provides access to popular Search, News, Video, Photo, Social Networking and Sport Sites. The most popular websites are preset into the browser, including Yahoo, Google, YouTube, Daily Motion, Picasa, Facebook, Twitter, ESPN, and more.
The Espial TV Browser is based on WebKit, supports 25+ languages and is optimized to industry leading chipsets. It supports languages such as Hebrew, Arabic, European, Chinese, Korean, Japanese and many more.
The Espial TV Browser, based on WebKit, delivers a PC-like web browsing experience, applications, widgets, video, HTML5 and Adobe Flash 10.1.
Worldwide BPO growth continues despite mixed fortunes in developed countries
MUMBAI, INDIA: The worldwide business process outsourcing (BPO) market is forecast to grow 6.3 percent in 2011 and 5 percent in 2012, according to Gartner, Inc. The outlook for BPO is mixed in developed economies, and this has resulted in a tempering of growth expectations.
"While growth remains strong in developing economies, the United States, the world's largest BPO market, presents a mixed picture for the global market," said Cathy Tornbohm, research vice president at Gartner.
"Emerging markets are faring far better and, generally, multinational companies continue to look to BPO as a means both to reduce costs and to buoy their business operations during the protracted return to a growth environment. We also see an increase in transaction volume, especially in payroll, recruiting, accounts payable, and customer data analytics and knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) activities."
Gartner estimates that North America's BPO market will grow 3.8 percent in 2011. Following strong growth in the third and fourth quarters of 2010, the U.S. economy presented a mixed picture in the second quarter of 2011, and yet CEOs' confidence increased for global businesses. The US is the largest and most established market for BPO.
Canada has also seen major BPO initiatives throughout the decade in the
energy sector, as well as an active domestic BPO service provider market. Key vertical markets poised for industry-specific BPO growth through 2014 in North America are retail, healthcare, transportation and utilities. Within horizontal sectors, dynamic growth is expected for customer selection in the customer
relationship management (CRM) and human resources (HR) domains.
Gartner analysts estimate that Western Europe's BPO market will grow 8.9 percent in 2011 in terms of US dollars, as demand for services relating to customer management (CM), finance and accounting (F&A) and HR BPO continues. In Europe, Gartner does not see a major wave of deals being brought back in-house. For newer services, such as KPO, there is demand for legal process outsourcing, particularly in the UK.
Continental Europe has seen demand primarily for payroll services, increasingly with a multicountry service requirement, contact center BPO, and industry-specific processes such as banking and road tolling. In continental Europe, the challenges of overcoming language requirements, labor laws and trade unions, and a lack of labor arbitrage benefits, still limit adoption of many types of BPO.
The outlook for Asia/Pacific's BPO market remains positive, with growth in 2011 expected to be 17.9 percent in terms of US dollars. Gartner expects higher demand for services related to CM BPO, HR outsourcing, F&A outsourcing, banking and financial BPO services, billing BPO services and supply management BPO through 2015. Most growth will center on the key regional economies of India, Australia and China.
Key drivers for outsourcing business processes in emerging economies within Asia/Pacific are scalability, the infusion of best-of-breed processes and technology, faster time-to-market and improved quality of service.
Gartner estimates that Japan's BPO market (expressed in yen) will decrease 0.9 percent in 2011. The impact of the March 2011 earthquake is expected to be prolonged, and analysts expect this will impair growth in the BPO market. In 2011, demand for CM and supply chain BPO will decline due to lower business activity as a result of the slowdown in production and consumption.
Although IT services growth rates in Latin America slowed slightly in 2009, Gartner has said that overall Latin American adoption of BPO will grow through 2015. BPO in this region continues to be adopted by the domestic and Latin American subsidiaries of global corporations.
Latin America's BPO market is expected to grow 14.7 percent in 2011 in terms of US dollars. Labor costs remain relatively low, compared with other regions. Latin America has received major investments from BPO service providers as a location for global delivery sites, in addition to Asia/Pacific and Eastern Europe.
"While growth remains strong in developing economies, the United States, the world's largest BPO market, presents a mixed picture for the global market," said Cathy Tornbohm, research vice president at Gartner.
"Emerging markets are faring far better and, generally, multinational companies continue to look to BPO as a means both to reduce costs and to buoy their business operations during the protracted return to a growth environment. We also see an increase in transaction volume, especially in payroll, recruiting, accounts payable, and customer data analytics and knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) activities."
Gartner estimates that North America's BPO market will grow 3.8 percent in 2011. Following strong growth in the third and fourth quarters of 2010, the U.S. economy presented a mixed picture in the second quarter of 2011, and yet CEOs' confidence increased for global businesses. The US is the largest and most established market for BPO.
Canada has also seen major BPO initiatives throughout the decade in the
energy sector, as well as an active domestic BPO service provider market. Key vertical markets poised for industry-specific BPO growth through 2014 in North America are retail, healthcare, transportation and utilities. Within horizontal sectors, dynamic growth is expected for customer selection in the customer
relationship management (CRM) and human resources (HR) domains.
Gartner analysts estimate that Western Europe's BPO market will grow 8.9 percent in 2011 in terms of US dollars, as demand for services relating to customer management (CM), finance and accounting (F&A) and HR BPO continues. In Europe, Gartner does not see a major wave of deals being brought back in-house. For newer services, such as KPO, there is demand for legal process outsourcing, particularly in the UK.
Continental Europe has seen demand primarily for payroll services, increasingly with a multicountry service requirement, contact center BPO, and industry-specific processes such as banking and road tolling. In continental Europe, the challenges of overcoming language requirements, labor laws and trade unions, and a lack of labor arbitrage benefits, still limit adoption of many types of BPO.
The outlook for Asia/Pacific's BPO market remains positive, with growth in 2011 expected to be 17.9 percent in terms of US dollars. Gartner expects higher demand for services related to CM BPO, HR outsourcing, F&A outsourcing, banking and financial BPO services, billing BPO services and supply management BPO through 2015. Most growth will center on the key regional economies of India, Australia and China.
Key drivers for outsourcing business processes in emerging economies within Asia/Pacific are scalability, the infusion of best-of-breed processes and technology, faster time-to-market and improved quality of service.
Gartner estimates that Japan's BPO market (expressed in yen) will decrease 0.9 percent in 2011. The impact of the March 2011 earthquake is expected to be prolonged, and analysts expect this will impair growth in the BPO market. In 2011, demand for CM and supply chain BPO will decline due to lower business activity as a result of the slowdown in production and consumption.
Although IT services growth rates in Latin America slowed slightly in 2009, Gartner has said that overall Latin American adoption of BPO will grow through 2015. BPO in this region continues to be adopted by the domestic and Latin American subsidiaries of global corporations.
Latin America's BPO market is expected to grow 14.7 percent in 2011 in terms of US dollars. Labor costs remain relatively low, compared with other regions. Latin America has received major investments from BPO service providers as a location for global delivery sites, in addition to Asia/Pacific and Eastern Europe.
National Instruments India announces Graphical System Design achievement awards 2011
INDIA: National Instruments India, a technology pioneer and leader in Graphical System Design has launched the Graphical System Design Achievement Awards 2011 to celebrate innovative engineering and science applications which National Instruments graphical system design tools helped make successful. These awards aim to recognize engineers, scientists and researchers across India for their innovative ideas and efforts across the test, control and embedded design domains.
National Instruments graphical system design approach to engineering equips users with the tools to accelerate innovation and discovery and the awards have been put forward to inspire the vast engineering and scientific community in India to successfully design, develop and deploy novel engineering applications which improve the quality of everyday life.
The National Instruments Graphical System Design Achievement Awards 2011 has four main categories.
Overall Winner: 1st & 2nd Prizes. NI India will recognize the top two applications showcasing the most innovative projects in any field based on NI hardware and software.
Alliance Partner Category Award: This award recognizes the National Instruments Alliance Partner that has developed an interesting application in any field using NI products.
Planet NI Category Award: This award recognizes the most interesting application in any field using NI products by a Small & Medium Enterprise.
Humanitarian Category Award: This award recognizes the submission that has the potential for making the biggest improvement to and profound impact on everyday life.
Jayaram Pillai, MD, IndRA (India, Russia and Arabia), National Instruments said: “NI is built on core values which includes dedication to serving our customers and strong commitment to innovation. The graphical system design platform accelerates development of any system that requires measurement and control. Engineers who have used this approach have been truly successful in translating their imagination into reality.
“We believe recognizing and rewarding them for their vision and efforts will only give impetus to others especially students, young innovators and budding entrepreneurs to pursue their dreams to create companies and evolve as job creators.”
National Instruments graphical system design approach to engineering equips users with the tools to accelerate innovation and discovery and the awards have been put forward to inspire the vast engineering and scientific community in India to successfully design, develop and deploy novel engineering applications which improve the quality of everyday life.
The National Instruments Graphical System Design Achievement Awards 2011 has four main categories.
Overall Winner: 1st & 2nd Prizes. NI India will recognize the top two applications showcasing the most innovative projects in any field based on NI hardware and software.
Alliance Partner Category Award: This award recognizes the National Instruments Alliance Partner that has developed an interesting application in any field using NI products.
Planet NI Category Award: This award recognizes the most interesting application in any field using NI products by a Small & Medium Enterprise.
Humanitarian Category Award: This award recognizes the submission that has the potential for making the biggest improvement to and profound impact on everyday life.
Jayaram Pillai, MD, IndRA (India, Russia and Arabia), National Instruments said: “NI is built on core values which includes dedication to serving our customers and strong commitment to innovation. The graphical system design platform accelerates development of any system that requires measurement and control. Engineers who have used this approach have been truly successful in translating their imagination into reality.
“We believe recognizing and rewarding them for their vision and efforts will only give impetus to others especially students, young innovators and budding entrepreneurs to pursue their dreams to create companies and evolve as job creators.”
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