Biz Tech

Nenasalas make their mark at ‘Deyata Kirula’

The Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) will participate at the Deyata Kirula exhibition organized under the patronage of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and held at Pallekele, Kandy till 10th February.

ICTA’s participation will be articulated mainly by the Nenasala stall forming part of the National Development exhibition which was inaugurated on February four coinciding with the 62nd Commemoration of Independence Day.

The Nenasala stall at the exhibition which is expected to attract about four million people will be an ideal opportunity for anyone to see for himself the facilities available at the 600 Nenasalas established islandwide .

The ‘Nenasala stall at the ‘Deyata Kirula’ exhibition held for the fourth time parallel to the Independence Day celebrations will show how the Nenasalas bring the dividends of ICT to all and in particular to the remotest villager.

The Nenasalas are really a crown to the people, Deyata Kirula and it is quite appropriate that they are brought to the limelight when the people have reaffirmed their appreciation of the originator of the concept.

Not only was the Nenasala concept thought out by President Mahinda Rajapaksa but it was also President Mahinda Rajapaksa who guided its implementation right throughout and ensured its implantation in the ethos of the people. From the time ICT began to be part of his portfolio from 2004 to date, President Mahinda Rajapaksa converted ICT ever increasingly from being a prerogative of the elite to the state of a facility for all.

Thus what would have been a semblance of the internet caf‚ in the city, the Nenasalas became wisdom centres operated in the premises of the Buddhist temples, Hindu kovils, mosques and churches, the popular gathering sites of most people.

The Nenasala stall at the exhibition will be equipped with computers, connectivity etc. making it possible for the visitor to experiment for himself/herself exactly what obtains in any Nenasala. It is an opportunity not to be missed.

Microsoft Tech Ed 2010:

Security Guru Bruce Schneier to speak

Microsoft’s premier technology event Tech.Ed 2010 will experience the presence of one of the technology world’s most acclaimed celebrities, American cryptographer, Computer Specialist and writer Bruce Schneier. Schneier is an internationally renowned security technology specialist. He will share his knowledge on “Reconceptualizing Security” a timely topic in today’s business context.

BT Counterpane Founder and Chief Technology Officer Schneier was dubbed the “Security Guru” by The Economist for his outstanding list of best selling books, articles and essays. His influential internet newsletter “Crypto-Gram,” and his blog “Schneier on Security,” are read by over 250,000 people worldwide.

He has testified before Congress, is a frequent guest on television and radio, served on several government technical committees. Schneier is frequently quoted in the press on computer and other security issues, pointing out flaws in security and cryptographic implementations ranging from biometrics to airline security after the September 11, 2001 attacks. He also writes “Security Matters”, a regular column for Wired Magazine.

One of the most frequently quoted individuals on security issues, Schneier’s presence at Microsoft Tech.Ed 2010 is expected to draw many of the country’s top security and business personnel, offering an opportunity for the Sri Lankan tech community to learn from one of the technology world’s greats.

To be held from February 8-10, Tech.Ed 2010 is Microsoft’s premier technical education and networking event for any technology professional interested in leading, connecting and exploring a broad set of current and soon to be released Microsoft technologies, tools, platforms and services.

Tech.Ed is well known for its contribution to technology in every field, as well as for being a platform for the most innovative thinkers in the present to share experiences and ideas. Participants will be exposed to the best of what is available in the field of IT, helping them realize the full scope of the technology itself, as well as reach their own true potential.

To promote Cloud Computing :

Suntel Joins FITIS

Suntel has come forward as the Principal Sponsor of the SLASI Tech Forum 2010 - Cloud Computing Demystified. The Tech Forum is the flagship ICT industry forum annually organized by the Software Chapter of the Federation of Information Technology Industry Sri Lanka (FITIS).

At the Tech Forum, decision makers of ICT industry get an opportunity to obtain independent views of technology innovators and industry thought leaders of an emerging technology. The industry’s much hyped Cloud Computing technology is this year’s topic. Tech Forum 2010 is scheduled to be held on Feb 16 at Colombo Hilton.

Speaking about the Suntel’s decision to sponsor the Tech Forum on Cloud Computing, Suntel’s Director Sales and Marketing Hasitha Abewardene said, “Today, businesses are increasingly dependant on ICT. Cutting edge ICT infrastructure is an importation differentiator in today’s business context.

However, the challenge for the enterprises is the fast pace of change in technology as the risk of technology becoming obsolete also is too high. Cloud Computing brings significant benefits for enterprises to meet the above challenges. Cloud Computing technology allows enterprises to subscribe computing, storage or infrastructure as a service from a service provider.

Suntel being a leader in enterprise ICT solutions provisioning space in Sri Lanka has invested in a state- of-the-art internet data centre and offers a portfolio of managed services to top business enterprises. Suntel has always been an innovator in introducing enterprise solutions such as IP VPN, Managed IP Telephony and will be the pioneer offering services based on Cloud Computing technology. So we decided that the Tech Forum organized by FITIS - the frontline organization for the ICT industry in Sri Lanka is an ideal Platform to start a dialogue with enterprise CIO’s on cloud computing”.

Tech Forum Project Chairman and SLASI Immediate Past President Nayane Gunawardena said , “Communication and IT infrastructure plays a major role in Cloud Computing which extends to all aspects of IT with concepts such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) , Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Software as Service (SaaS).

As one of the pioneers in new technology in Sri Lanka we are delighted to have Suntel as the principal sponsor of the event along with global technology giants Microsoft and Cisco.

Last year’s Tech Forum on Service Oriented Architecture drew a significant interest from the Industry and we see an even greater industry response to Cloud Computing forum this year.”

Speaking about FITIS imitative to promote Cloud Computing, CEO Damith Hettihewa said, “At FITIS, we strive to promote the using of cutting edge technology in all sectors of the economy. Effective use of ICT usage results in productivity and efficiency gains and helps the nation as a whole to become more competitive in global context.

Cloud computing can bring significant benefits to Sri Lankan enterprises. The benefits includes optimizing existing IT investments, sharing ICT capex among many enterprises, making cutting edge information technology available to small and medium companies (SME) and sharing the risk of technology being obsolete among multiple players. We want Sri Lanka to embrace cloud computing sooner than later for the country gain competitive advantage against its competitors.

Cisco profit up 23 percent, will hire up to 3,000

US networking giant Cisco on Wednesday posted better-than-expected quarterly results and said it expected to hire up to 3,000 new employees, less than a year after carrying out layoffs.

The San Jose, California-based maker of switches and routers for the Internet and wireless networks said its net profit rose 23 percent in the second quarter of its fiscal year to 1.9 billion dollars.

Earnings per share of 40 cents were better than the 35 cents per share forecast by Wall Street analysts.

Revenue grew eight percent to 9.8 billion dollars, well above the 9.41 billion dollars expected by analysts and far better than the one percent to four percent growth Cisco had forecast three months ago.

“Our outstanding Q2 results exceeded our expectations and we believe they provide a clear indication that we are entering the second phase of the economic recovery,” Cisco chairman and chief executive John Chambers said.

“During the quarter we saw dramatic across the board acceleration and sequential improvement in our business in almost all areas,” he said in a statement.

“We are confident that our aggressive strategy of investing in the business during the downturn and our focus on innovation, operational excellence, and productivity are driving our momentum and growth in the market.”

Chambers added that Cisco was well positioned “as economies around the world continue to improve and our customers increase their technology investments.”

In a conference call with analysts following the earnings release, he said he expects to “add 2,000 to 3,000 people to Cisco over the next several quarters.”

“Given our belief that our market is beginning to accelerate, and our productivity growth of 17 percent in the second quarter, it’s not a surprise to anyone that you’ll see us grow our expenses at a faster pace,” he said.

Cisco cut some 3,500 jobs between February and November and currently has 65,874 employees after rehiring some 2,000 people over the past three months.

Chambers said he expects third-quarter revenue to grow between 23 percent and 26 percent compared with the same quarter a year ago.

“We’re clearly basing our forecasts on an optimistic forecast for the economy,” he said. “If we get surprises we’ll adjust.”

Chambers also said Cisco would continue to be “very aggressive” with its partnership and acquisition strategies.

Cisco has been on a buying spree over the past year and the company said Wednesday that it had 39.6 billion dollars in cash and cash equivalents and investments on hand at the end of the second quarter.

In another second-quarter move, Cisco repurchased 63 million shares of common stock for a total of 1.5 billion dollars.

Cisco shares were 3.51 percent higher at 23.88 dollars in after-hours electronic trading.

NEW YORK, Feb 3, 2010, AFP

hSenid Mobile to launch App Store and VAS platform

hSenid Mobile, a leading mobile solution provider, will be launching their latest revolutionary products, mChoice Soltura - a community VAS platform and mChoice Vishma - an open source appl store at this years Mobile World Congress held in Barcelona.

As communications, entertainment, and information services converge, driven by the unprecedented power and flexibility of democratizing content, Telco’s today need an open platform which couples content creation together with an exciting array of features in creating a sustainable revenue stream by increasing ARPU and reducing Churn.

mChoice Soltura is a next generation VAS creation platform which provides a simplified yet advanced set of tools for application content creation with different types of SMS/MMS based applications for developers.

The solution allows the creation of information, Subscription services, voting applications, competitions and alerting and much more.

This enables the telco to introduce an immense number of applications to their customers without incurring any high operational and capital expenditure.

mChoice Vishma, the open source Telco application store complements mChoice Soltura. This provides the necessary platform to build an ecosystem in which application developers can publish and market their applications while users can perform reviews and ratings, trials and the visualization of available content to provide them with the finest purchasing experience.

mChoice Vishma provides a seamless integration to mChoice Soltura which in turn helps the users to create an application using mChoice Soltura, and directly publish it on mChoice Vishma, making it available for thousands of viewers. Furthermore, mChoice Vishma being an open source product can be customized and integrated to the Service Delivery Platforms provided by any vendor.