The extent to which software companies in India will go to welcome new employees (in the Indian) is sheer madness. Seeing is believing.

Call it a jumbo welcome, or high-tech gurus out to have some fun.

Enjoy!

When GV Dasarathi pulls up his bicycle at a traffic intersection on his way to work in India’s InfoTech city, Bangalore, heads turn.

Bicycles may be the most popular two-wheeler on India’s roads, but the millions who use them to commute and to transport goods and family in India’s towns and villages certainly don’t wear white helmets, fluorescent jackets or biking gloves.

Through his attire and vehicle of choice, Mr Dasarathi, 48 and director of a software products development company, makes a potent statement for an alternative mode of daily transport in the choked roads of India’s Silicon Valley.

Cycling to work makes more and more sense for the city’s well-heeled professionals - nearly three million vehicles clog 500km (300 miles) of Bangalore’s gridlocked roads, with 1,000 new vehicles added every day.

Read the full story

(Pic: Head honcho Schubert at Bangalore)

Bangalore: Siemens Ltd. has decided to freeze all expansion plans in Bangalore in the wake of crumbling infrastructure in the city.

“There will be no more expansion plans in Bangalore. Bangalore is not attractive for investors anymore”, company’s Managing Director Jurgen Schubert said here on Friday.

This is the strongest vindication of the worsening infrastructure in the city from the head of a global manufacturing giant. Siemens was one of the first to set up operations in Bangalore with huge investments.

Apart from the manufacturing base for automotive sector and servicing workshop for industrial turbines, Bangalore is a hub for telecom, medical and automotive software development and high-end research and development work for Siemens. Its outsourcing arm alone employs about 900 people in Bangalore.

Bangalore accounts for one-third (around 4600 employees) of the company’s employee strength of over 12,000 in India and contributed 24 per cent of the turnover in India last fiscal, whereas the southern region has 45 per cent (about 5,500 employees) of the employee strength.

Read the full story

Siemens PLM Software, a division of Siemens Automation and Drives (A&D) and a leading global provider of product lifecycle management (PLM) software and services, today announced it has significantly expanded the capacity of its operations in India by opening a new, and much larger, development center to accommodate up to 1,100 employees. The division’s India-based development team has experienced a growth rate of 30 percent (CAGR) over the last few years.

The new facility, recently inaugurated by Dr. Helmuth Ludwig, president of Siemens PLM Software, currently employs 800 individuals responsible for many of the division’s software product developments, modules and service engagements on a global basis.

“Our investment in India is not only critical for our expansion in the Asia Pacific region, but globally because it provides us with proximity to customers in the area and is a superior talent resource pool for our development efforts,” said Ludwig.

Read the full story

(Pic: A computer class in session in the Indian state of Manipur)

Christians in India’s northeastern state of Manipur are fighting government plans to build a technology institute on 300 acres of land where four churches and a synagogue are currently located.

Kim Gangte, a Seventh-day Adventist and a former member of the Indian parliament who heads an action committee against the land seizure, told Ecumenical News International (ENI) the government is using the project as a “tool” to “drive out” the region’s Christian tribal minorities.

Many of the Christians who make up more than 30 percent of Manipur’s 2.5 million people belong to two tribal groups, the Kuki and the Naga. Members of the tribes became Christians after British missionaries arrived in India in the 19th century. Sixty-five percent of Manipur’s population belongs to a Hindu caste group called the Meitei.

Read the full story

Satyam has signed on as one of the first FIFA sponsors. Satyam, a leading global consulting and information technology services provider, has become the first Indian company to sign up as a FIFA World Cup™ Sponsor. This historic agreement awards Satyam global rights for the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ in South Africa, the 2014 FIFA World Cup™ in Brazil and the two FIFA Confederations Cups which fall within the 2007-2014 period. The partnership, sealed by FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter and Satyam chairman and founder B. Ramalinga Raju at a signing ceremony on the eve of the Preliminary Draw for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ in Durban, represents the first major sponsorship deal the IT services company has entered into - a further indication of the enduring appeal of football.

“I am very proud that Satyam has chosen the FIFA World Cup for this historic move. Satyam’s commitment is a testimony to the immense appeal of FIFA as a superior marketing platform for transporting a brand around the world. It is a big advantage for all those involved in the events to have such an experienced IT service partner on board,” said the FIFA President. “We look forward to working with such a dedicated partner who shares our ideals and identifies with our mission to use football as a tool to touch the world and build a better future.”

Read the full story

Washington — New hires at Wipro’s first U.S. software development center can expect to work for an “agile,” “high-energy” company that helps its workers improve their skills, officials and current employees say.

Wipro, a global information technology services company based in Bangalore, India, announced last summer that it would hire 500 to 1,000 employees, from back-office trainers to software developers and engineers, for a center in the Atlanta area over the next three years.

Company officials said recently they were on the verge of choosing a location for the center, which is expected to open within a few months and hire its first 200 employees within a year.

Maggie Large, a spokesperson for the Georgia Department of Economic Development, said the state was involved with ongoing discussions with Wipro over incentives for the project. “Wipro is eligible for tax credits and the state has offered them discretionary grant money,” she said.

Read the full story

(Pic: Employees at IBM India)

NEW YORK:: Betting big on the ‘India advantage’, IBM, one of the world’s biggest information technology (IT) companies, eyes India as its hub for global delivery, providing research software, besides contributing significantly to the company’s revenue. Talking about its road map for 2010, IBM vice- president (financial management) Jesse Green said, “We think of India as a support to IBM. The country will be a hub of global delivery which will help us improve margin components and growth initiatives.”

The IT giant, which is already working with local telecom major Bharti Enterprises and has entered into pacts with some other Indian corporates, expects its revenue from the country to touch the $1 billion-mark by the end of the year. “We expect our revenues to reach $1 billion by the end of this calendar year, up from $700 million in 2006, driven by strong factors. In the first three quarters of the current financial year, our revenue has grown by over 39 per cent,” Green said. The recent deals with some of India’s big corporates are likely to contribute a good chunk to IBM’s revenues. Besides Bharti Enterprises, the IT behemoth has also entered into agreements with BSNL and Idea. Other big names to have inked pacts with IBM include realty major DLF, Central Board of Direct Taxes, Delhi International Airport, Financial Information Network and Operations and Apollo.

Read the full story

MUMBAI: Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal has drawn up plans to overwhelm arch-rival Roger Federer in 2008. Easier said than done, given Federer’s imperious form this year. But he has help at hand, here in India.

From Nadal to the Sri Lankan cricketers, champions aiming at becoming the world’s best are rushing to India for success. Teams and players from across the world are scouting for analytical software that will help improve their games. And a host of Indian companies are playing ball.

Sample this: world No 2 Nadal is consulting Swantha Software to figure out ways to beat Federer on grass. The Bangalore-based firm’s software, christened Half Volley, provides frame-by-frame analysis of how Fedex plays his trademark forehand shots and executes those electric cross-court returns. Nadal’s certainly got an ace up his sleeve when he faces Federer next.

And he is not alone here. If Sri Lanka’s cricketing success is attributed to its well-crafted strategy against opponents, it has much to do with Chennai-based Meru Consultants and Technologies. The Sri Lankan board sources cricket analysing software from this company.

Read the full story

(Pic: Hack Day India)

PUNE: Want to see a network-attached bread toaster gaining control of a computer? Or, learn how to wiretap an internet telephone call? Then, Pune is the place to be on December 9. For those who think of hacking as malicious attack on computers, this could come as a shock. But for those self-professed hackers who understand the term as an exercise in playfulness, cleverness and exploration, here is welcome news.

India’s hackers are going to come together and discuss their pastime at a day-long convention in Maharashtra’s technology hub this Sunday. Corporate leaders have been invited and cops will be there too, just in case.

“Not all hackers are out there to harm the society. There are many of them who are doing excellent work in their domains and we feel that a hacker should be judged only by his skill, intention and willingness to share his knowledge,” Rohit Srivastava, convenor of Clubhack 2007, said.

The media world over may have focused on the criminals among hackers, but the act itself is not aimed at crime. Richard Stallman, the global guru of free software movement, once roughly defined hacking as exploring the limits of what is possible and crossing it.

Read the full story