Today`s Software & IT News

China shuts down 91 sites containing porn

noreply@blogger.com (TodaysTelecom News) — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 05:42:00 +0000

China has shut down 91 websites containing porn and lewd content in the past three days, according to state news agency Xinhua.

The Chinese government last week launched a fresh campaign to "purify the internet", led by the State Council Information Office. It has targeted top portals and search engines such as Sina, Baidu and Google.

Chinese authorities have also vowed to beef up crackdown efforts in the coming days, and have urged offending webmasters to voluntarily turn themselves in to public security departments.

As part of the censorship campaign, the government has listed 33 international sites – including Google and MSN - which the company claims are not doing enough to censor pornography and other "inappropriate content".

In a progress update published last week, most of the sites – including Google – were chided for needing to "continue the clean up." Chinese search site Baidu was listed as making "ineffective" clean up efforts.

Satyam CEO arrested as company faces breakup

noreply@blogger.com (TodaysTelecom News) — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 05:34:00 +0000

Satyam CEO and founder Ramalinga Raju has been arrested over his involvement in the $1 billion false accounting scandal, which has wiped out an estimated $2.2 billion of investor wealth.

New company chairman Deepak Parekh has told Bloomberg that the company may need to be broken up - and parts of the company sold off - in an attempt to stem the rapid decline in value of the company.

Separation may also be needed to shield any potential buyers from lawsuits lodged by angry investors, he said. Satyam is facing at least three class-action lawsuits in the US alone.

The board will also work to determine how much cash Satyam has on hand to fund its business operations and pay its 53,000 employees.

Meanwhile, Raju, his younger brother and Satyam CFO Srinivas Vadlamani have been remanded in custody, and face charges including forgery and criminal conspiracy. The first hearing will take place on January 23.

Satyam Chairman Resigns

noreply@blogger.com (TodaysTelecom News) — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 11:48:00 +0000

Satyam Computer Services Ltd. Chairman Ramalinga Raju resigned after saying he falsified accounts and assets, sending shares of the Indian software services provider to a record decline.

Raju, 53, unsuccessfully tried to sell two companies to Satyam last month in a final attempt to plug 50.4 billion rupees ($1.04 billion) of “fictitious assets” on the company’s balance sheet, Hyderabad-based Satyam said in a statement today. Profits from the main business have been inflated “over a period of last several years,” Raju said in a letter to the board.

The transactions started to unravel after shareholders vetoed the sale of two construction companies, four directors quit the company and the World Bank barred Satyam from bidding for contracts. India’s markets regulator C.B. Bhave said the event is of “horrifying magnitude” as Satyam dragged down the benchmark stock index already hit by a record slump last year.

“This is a black day for India, the software sector and corporate governance claims,” Arun Kejriwal, founder of Kejriwal Research & Investment Services, said in Mumbai. “If at all there’s an event that could be the biggest setback for corporate India, it is this.”

Shares of Satyam, which means “truth” in Sanskrit, plunged 69 percent to 55 rupees in Mumbai trading. The Sensitive Index tumbled 4.3 percent.

‘Non-Existent’

Of the reported cash and bank balances of 53.61 billion rupees on Sept. 30, 50.4 billion rupees was non-existent, Raju said in the letter sent to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Operating margin at Satyam, India’s fourth-largest software exporter, in the quarter ended Sept. 30 was 3 percent of revenue, instead of the reported 24 percent, Raju said in the letter. The company’s revenue was 21 billion rupees, 22 percent less than the inflated figure of 27 billion rupees that had been reported.

Raju arranged 12.3 billion rupees “to keep operations going” at Satyam over the last two years by pledging the founders’ shares and raising funds from other sources, he said.

“What started as a marginal gap between actual operating profit and the one reflected in the books of accounts continued to grow over the years,” Raju said. “It was like riding a tiger, not knowing how to get off without being eaten.”

‘Easy Target’

The founders’ concern was that a poor performance, combined with the fact they held a small stake in the company, would make Satyam an easy target for a takeover, exposing the inflated figures, he said.

Satyam yesterday denied a report that the company received a merger offer from Tech Mahindra Ltd., an Indian software-services provider controlled by Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. and partly owned by BT Group Plc.

Tech Mahindra termed the report of a proposed all-stock merger as “speculative.”

Earlier in the week, MindTree Ltd. denied a report it was one of two smaller rivals in talks for a merger with Satyam. The Hyderabad-based company is in talks to merge with smaller rivals including HCL Technologies and MindTree, the Business Standard reported on Jan. 5, citing unidentified people at investment banks.

Raju’s attempts to “keep the wheel moving” at Satyam was finally derailed as lenders sold most of the pledged shares because of margin calls, he said.

Reduced Holdings

SRSR Holdings Pvt., which holds the founding family’s stake, reduced their holding to 3.6 percent from 5.13 percent, Satyam told the Bombay Stock Exchange yesterday. Of the 3.6 percent, 1.7 percent is pledged with lenders, it said.

The stake sales by the families of Chairman Raju and his younger brother, manager director Rama Raju, reduced their holdings to below levels held by institutional investors including Aberdeen Asset Management Plc. Funds run by Aberdeen own 6.6 percent of Satyam, according to data compiled by Bloomberg until the end of October.

Raju scrapped the planned acquisition of Maytas Properties Ltd. and Maytas Infra Ltd. last month, less than 12 hours after announcing it, after the company’s ADRs plunged.

Separately, the World Bank Dec. 23 declared India’s fourth- biggest software-services provider ineligible for contracts for eight years, alleging “improper” benefits were given to the bank’s employees.

Satyam was founded in 1987 by Ramalinga Raju and Rama Raju and counts ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steelmaker, and Nissan Motor Co., Japan’s third-biggest carmaker, among its customers.

“This company had a five-star independent board and it had a leading auditor and still it managed the con,” said Tarun Sisodia, a Mumbai-based analyst with Anand Rathi Securities Ltd. “So the question is why only Satyam, why not every other company.”

Obama’s victory: What does it mean for Indian IT?

noreply@blogger.com (TodaysTelecom News) — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 04:38:00 +0000

Barack Obama has finally won the US presidential election. A BBC poll showed that most of the countries wanted Obama to win the elections. In India, these results are important as USA is important for our IT & ITES industry. In USA, outsourcing of jobs becomes an election issue.

The issue of outsourcing jobs to India was first raised by Obama in February last month he told his voters in an election rally that their jobs had been taken away by offshore companies set up in places like India and China. He further said that there was a need to end those tax breaks that go to companies that ship jobs overseas.

The total software and service market was about $63 billion for the financial year ending March 2008. Out of which, exports are over $ 40 billion and the domestic market is about $ 23 billion. During last financial year, US accounted for 67% of the total exports. If trend continues in this financial year, then total outsourcing to the US will be to the tune of $26.80 billion.

However, IT industry is not worried by such political statements. Indian IT industry has hailed Obama's victory. Following are some of the important views of industry associations and leaders on this issue:

NASSCOM, an apex body representing India's IT & ITES industry:

When Obama referred to outsourcing in context of migration of jobs, he was basically referring to the manufacturing sector. In IT & BPO sector there is a shortage of skilled manpower and hence India can help in it's the growth of US economy.

Raman Roy, chairman and managing director of Quatrro and considered as father of Indian BPO industry:

Obama has said that everything is part of global economy. Outsourcing is a part of world economy. His first priority will be to tackle economic meltdown. I believe India can help in it.

Som Mittal, President, Nasscom:

NASSCOM shares many of the same economic and diplomatic goals outlined by President-elect Obama during the course of his campaign. Specifically, we support expanding the H1B visa program so that highly skilled workers can help companies lead the way on innovation and contribute additional jobs and economic growth in the United States.

IBM India inks $450 mn IT deal with MNYL

noreply@blogger.com (TodaysTelecom News) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:41:00 +0000

BANGALORE: IBM India has entered into $450-million IT outsourcing contract with private insurance player Max New York Life (MNYL). The technology services behemoth, which has already showcased the advantage of total IT outsourcing with the telecom major Bharti, is expecting this deal to pan out in the similar manner.

The deal, spread over ten years, will see IBM India providing complete end-to-end backend IT infrastructure to MNYL. IBM India global technology services vice-president Nipun Mehrotra said, "This (life insurance) is a growing market and the work we have done has the potential to change the sector...it is likely to change in similar lines to what happened in telecom sector."

According to IRDA, the market for insurance (both life and non-life) in 2006-07 stood at $41.74 billion, with the life insurance market growing at 47.38% while the non-life business rose by 21.51%. It is estimated that life insurance market alone is expected to touch $80 billion in the next couple of years.

Life insurance premium collections (including single premium, first year and renewal) in 2006-07 stood at Rs 1.56 lakh crore representing a year-on -year growth of 47.38%. IRDA statistics indicates that the Indian insurance market accounts for a paltry 1.12% of the global insurance market estimated to be at $3,723 billion.

Mr Mehrotra said as part of the agreement, MNYL will see them getting revenue for every insurance policy sold. This, in fact, reaffirms the commitment of IBM as it would also making substantial investments in setting up the IT infrastructure as part of the deal.

The key aspect of the deal will be to extend the reach of the insurance player and focus on the semi-urban and rural areas. IBM India said that they will be bringing in technology process which will enable MNYL provide life insurance policies with minimum documentation.

Mr Mehrotra said their focus would be on delivering high efficiency at lower costs. As the alliance is still in its early phase, there is a sharp focus on bringing the best of the breed IT applications and services.

Incentive plans in BPO companies lag general market practices

noreply@blogger.com (TodaysTelecom News) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:41:00 +0000

NEW DELHI/ MUMBAI: Attrition rates in India's lucrative BPO industry are about 7.8 percentage points higher than in other industries, according to a report released today by Hay Group, a global management consulting firm.

The finding comes from a new report, BPO Special Sector Survey 2008, based on Hay Group's global online compensation and benefits database, PayNet. It showed that in general, staff turnover in India is 15.7 per cent, but at BPO companies, attrition is the country's highest at 23.5 per cent, followed by Communications (22 per cent) and Retail (18 per cent).

The report explained that one of the factors is that the remuneration structure design is not as attractive when compared to other industries in India:

-- Short-term incentives account for only 4 per cent of total remuneration, compared to 10 per cent generally

-- Benefits are limited to those that can be enjoyed only post-retirement, like pension fund and gratuity, and not during the employment period.

-- While pay is generally designed to give employees more take-home cash, a higher portion is allocated to allowances like housing/rent and not base salary.

"The BPO industry hires a large number of graduates who are bright and ambitious. From our analysis, the overall compensation structure design is not competitive when compared to general market practices. This means that BPO employees do not receive as much cash-in-hand as their peers in other industries. When you add unattractive remuneration to working shifts, lack of career development, and monotonous tasks, it is not surprising that employees leave when offered a small salary increase," said Oscar De Mello, Country Head of Hay Group's Reward Information Services in India.

"The BPO industry is a critical sector in the Indian economy, worth USD11 billion and employing over 2 million people. However, if the industry is to achieve the projected USD30 billion by 2012, we have to tackle this talent attrition issue now. We are all too familiar with what happens when employees leave - work falls through the cracks, unhappy clients. Contrary to belief, adjusting pay need not automatically lead to higher operating costs for BPO companies. By creatively designing their total reward package towards more short-term incentives and benefits, and linking the package to performance, companies can ensure that they get higher productivity without hefty increases in salary costs and minimize attrition costs and issues at the same time," De Mello added.

The report also recommends:

-- planning a more robust combination of short and long-term incentives, such as performance bonus, Employee Stock Option Plans, deferred and retention bonus, that meets the aspirations and needs of their young employees so as to drive performance and improve productivity

-- effective communication of the compensation plan so as to promote employee buy-in

-- non-pay measures like open communications, promotion of team-based culture and transparent performance management systems

-- focus on providing opportunities such as career development, job rotation, and local/international mobility.

Here's a comic way of understanding Chrome

noreply@blogger.com (TodaysTelecom News) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:32:00 +0000

Google seems to be on a simplification drive. Probably that's why it has chosen the medium of a comic to present the Chrome chronology. Read on to get a click by click account of Chrome's inception and development till it grew into a mature web browser that is giving Microsoft (Internet Explorer) sleepless nights.

Click here for the Chrome comicbook

Google enables businesses to share videos

noreply@blogger.com (TodaysTelecom News) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:32:00 +0000

In what is being called Google's enterprise makeover, it has developed a YouTube-like application for its Apps suite, which allows business users to upload and share videos.

Google Video for Business can be accessed through most browsers, including Safari on the iPhone, in the traditional cloud-computing style. Google is hoping the service will take off with companies that might have been put off using video by the costs involved.

According to the web giant, the video service could find itself being used in companies for sharing company news — "Email doesn't always carry a lot of feeling; it's not always the best means of communication," according to a Google spokesman.

Instead of a repairman who is visiting a home to fix a washing machine having to recall a long-ago training session, he could access a video on mending the problem directly from his company's network over his mobile device, the spokesman continued: "Rather than having to remember a course they did six months ago, they could look at the video there and then," he added.

Google challenges Microsoft with new browser

noreply@blogger.com (TodaysTelecom News) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:30:00 +0000

WASHINGTON: Google on Tuesday launched its own Internet browser, opening up a new challenge in cyberspace to Microsoft and its dominant Internet Explorer. The California-based Web search leader said the new browser called Google Chrome would "add value for users and, at the same time, help drive innovation on the web."

"Google Chrome is a new approach to the browser that's based on the simplicity and power that users have come to expect from Google products," the company said in a statement. "We realized we needed to completely rethink the browser," Google's Sundar Pichai said in a blog post.

The test or "beta" version can be downloaded for free in more than 100 countries and its code will be open source so no rights will have to be paid by anyone using or adapting the software. Chrome is Google's latest weapon in its bid to become the leader in all Internet areas. The last major browser war was won by Microsoft when it won the battle for dominance in the 1990s against Netscape Navigator.

Google scheduled a briefing later Tuesday on the new broswer, which will be available in more than 40 languages. The move comes amid growth in browser market share by Firefox, a project of the nonprofit Mozilla Foundation, which ironically get a large portion of its funding from Google.

According to estimates by the research firm Net Applications, Internet Explorer is used by 74 percent of computer users worldwide compared with 18 percent for Firefox. News of the browser leaked out Monday when Google release a comic book describing the advantages of Chrome.

According to the comic book, the new browser will have several advantages including being "multi-threaded" to help avoid freeze-ups."We hit 'send' a bit early on a comic book introducing our new open-source browser, Google Chrome. As we believe in access to information for everyone, we've now made the comic publicly available," said Pichai.

The announcement comes as Microsoft released a beta version of IE8, the eighth major version of its Explorer. The new version is touted as faster, with more graphics and allows users to easily get updates from their favorite websites.

"This (Chrome) is a straight shot over the bow of Microsoft, which has tightly integrated its Live Search offering into its dominant Internet Explorer browser (and which, surprise, is in turn tightly integrated into Windows)," said Mark Hendrickson in a posting on the technology website TechCrunch.

"It also makes for an awkward relationship with Mozilla, whose Firefox browser Google basically funds." Henry Blodget of Silicon Valley Insider said: "Microsoft has seen this movie before. This time, it won't like the ending."

Blodget said Google is attempting to drive more people to Google search and other applications and away from Microsoft. "If you're thinking about Chrome as just another Web browser, you're missing the larger point," he said.

"In a couple of years, you won't be downloading Google's 'browser.' You'll be downloading Google's software - or, rather, you'll be clicking on a series of Google icons that come pre-installed. Specifically, you'll be working within a Google software environment that works sort of like Windows."

Greg Sterling of the website Search Engine Land said: "One way to look at this is as a kind of operating system for the emerging 'cloud computing' world," a reference to the use of the Internet instead of personal computers to store documents and information.

"Chrome does have the potential to contribute to a decline in desktop OS- (operating system-) based computing," he said. "However it's way premature to call it a Windows Killer in my view." Mitchell Baker of the Mozilla Foundation said he remained confident about Firefox.

"We'll continue to compete in the browser world, and we'll continue to do well," he said. "Competition is seldom comfortable, but it forces us to do our best. Firefox 3 is a terrific product and there's much more to come."

Google chief admits to defensive component of Chrome

noreply@blogger.com (TodaysTelecom News) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:30:00 +0000

LONDON: Google's chief executive admitted on Thursday there was a "defensive component" to the Web search giant's launch of its own Internet browser, thereby pitting it against Microsoft's dominant software.

Speaking to the Financial Times from the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Eric Schmidt said: "Microsoft has a history of favouring its own applications and I can give you 500,000 pages of court testimony, document web blogs and so forth and so on about that."

Schmidt added that "there is a defensive component" to the launch of Google Chrome, the code of which will be open source so no rights will have to be paid by anyone using or adapting the software, which will be a competitor to Microsoft's Internet Explorer, the dominant Internet browser.

"It is true that we actually, and I in particular, have said for a long time that we should not do a browser because it wasn't necessary," he told the business daily.

"The thing that changed in the past couple of years ... is that people started building powerful applications on top of browsers and the browsers that were out there, in particular in Explorer, were not up to the task of running complex applications."

Schmidt continued: "There is an opportunity for a platform and that platform for running these new applications is something that you can't really do on IE7 (Internet Explorer version 7), and that's the argument."

Chrome is Google's latest weapon in its bid to become the leader in all Internet areas. The last major browser war was won by Microsoft when it won the battle for dominance in the 1990s against Netscape Navigator.

The move comes amid growth in browser market share by Firefox, a project of the nonprofit Mozilla Foundation, which ironically get a large portion of its funding from Google.

According to estimates by the research firm Net Applications, Internet Explorer is used by 74 percent of computer users worldwide compared with 18 percent for Firefox.

Cranes Soft completes due diligence for German acquisition

noreply@blogger.com (TodaysTelecom News) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:29:00 +0000

MUMBAI: Cranes Software International on Monday said it has completed the due diligence process to acquire Germany-based Cubeware GmbH for 18 million euros (about Rs 116.4 crore).

"Due diligence exercise is complete and the company proposes to acquire Cubeware through its wholly-owned arm Systat Software GmbH for a cash-cum-share deal aggregating to 18 million euros," Cranes Software said in a filing with the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Out of the 18 million euros, 12 million euros would be paid in cash and 6 million euros worth shares of the company would be allotted to the shareholders of Cubeware GmbH, Cranes added.

On July 24, the wholly-owned subsidiary Systat Software GmbH had entered into an agreement to acquire Cubeware GmbH.

Shares of the company were trading at Rs 121, down 1.18 per cent on BSE the in afternoon trade.

Google browser: Why Google needs it

noreply@blogger.com (TodaysTelecom News) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:29:00 +0000

NEW DELHI: The search giant Google has officially confirmed its long-rumoured entry in the browser arena. Termed Chrome, the new browser will take on Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Mozilla Foundation's Firefox.

Google's entry in the browser market further embitters the long-going Microsoft-Google battle for Web supremacy.

At the same time, it once again hots up the browser battles even as Microsoft has launched IE8 beta 2 and Firefox 3.0. But few people know why a browser might become an important weapon in the Google arsenal.

Here's an insight into why Google needs Chrome.

Microsoft worries
Google browser reflects the company's concern that Microsoft would find ways to use its dominance of the PC software to favour its own Internet applications.

Google has been worried that Microsoft could `use' its power by manipulating Internet Explorer's default settings in a way that might hurt traffic to Google's search engine.

In 2006, Google contacted the Justice Department to raise alarms about changes to Internet Explorer that Google believed made it more difficult to install search toolbars made by Microsoft's rivals.

Although regulators decided not to intervene, Microsoft subsequently modified the way Explorer handled the selection of search toolbars.

The new feature in the latest beta of Microsoft IE 8 makes it easier for users to block information about their browsing habits, a move which could hamper Google's interests in display advertising.

Independent Mozilla
Until recently, Google had been trying to undermine Microsoft's hold over the browser market by supporting Firefox. Bolstered by an advertising partnership with Google's search engine, Firefox ranks as the second most popular browser, with a market share of more than 10 per cent.

So, an important question is why Google needs another browser when it has Firefox. The non-profit Mozilla Foundation, which manages Firefox, has Google's help both in terms of engineering as well as financially.

Firefox has collaborated with Google on a variety of technical issues, including a system for reporting software crashes and to make software browsers more secure.

According to the company's financial figures for the 2006, 85 per cent, or about $57 million of the company's $67 million in annual revenues for the year, came from Google. Last week only, Google extended its advertising alliance with Firefox through 2011.

On its part, Firefox assigns Google search site as the default for the browser's search bar, though users have the option to change this to a rival search site if they wish.

Is it the `independent' ambitions of Mozilla that threatened Google. In an interview to with Computerworld in October 2007, Mitchell Baker, currently the chairwoman of Mozilla Corp said that she would not hesitate to walk away from the lucrative partnership if that was what was necessary to remain independent.

"We've spent a lot of time and energy making sure that Google understands that it cannot turn us into an arm of Google," Baker said. "If the protection of [our independence] would come into conflict with Google, or any of our search partners, we would opt for the community who built Firefox and love Firefox," she added.

Better integration with Google apps
Also, an in-house browser that is Chrome means deeper and better integration with all Google tools, including Gmail, Picasa, and Documents. As it is obvious that a company-controlled browser will operate better with Google's own software. Probably, this also means that Google won't have to pay Mozilla for the Firefox searchbox ads.

Also, if one goes by the popular argument that the browser will in future serve as an operating system or be the medium to tap into the OS, Google needs to have a product ready. And what better for Google if it connects Chrome, Desktop and Android.

Rising dominance of Web browsers
Similarly, mobile may be touted as the future, however, desktop browsers have continued to evolve and become more intrinsic to the way users use the Web. And who controls this experience goes to leverage it, and at times also at the detriment of other website companies. For instance, IE 8 makes it far easier to find something without going through Google search.

Also, with Google expanding its own range of Internet-based applications, it has increasingly become dependent on the state of browser technology. Google and Microsoft are battling over customers who use a browser for tasks such as email, calendars and word processing, applications that have traditionally resided in the stored on a PC.

New branding
According to analysts the Google browser may help the company further improve its branding. According to Kay, president of Endpoint Technologies Associates in Wayland, Massachusetts, "This gives Google another opportunity to protect its flank and to create a new branding position." "The browser is a broader platform than they currently have," he added.

A recent Merrill Lynch & Co report said that the market for Web-based software is expected to touch $160 billion by 2011.

The more, the merrier
One thing that is certain is that Google wants a fall in marketshare of Microsoft Internet Explorer. So, here it can be the case of more the merrier. Suppose, if Google's browser grabs 10 per cent market share in first year it's sure to hit IE too.

Also, if Google's Chrome fails to become a hit with the users, according to some analysts it could be a vehicle to acquire Mozilla.

Sanra Software to raise Rs 319.20 cr for new projects

noreply@blogger.com (TodaysTelecom News) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:29:00 +0000

MUMBAI: Chennai-based IT company Sanra Software today said it would raise Rs 319.20 crore from domestic and foreign markets to finance new project and expansion of existing business.

The board of directors resolved to raise 27 million dollar (Rs 119.20 crore) through allotment of foreign currency convertible bonds, Sanra Software said in a regulatory filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. The board also decided to raise funds up to Rs 200 crore by issuing shares on rights or preferential basis, it said.

The software firm is also planning to acquire companies or businesses with good potential, Sanara Software added. Shares of the company closed at Rs 53.40, down 4.98 per cent on the BSE.

High-tech tools to fight fine wine fraud

noreply@blogger.com (TodaysTelecom News) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:28:00 +0000

PARIS : One of Britain's top rare wine merchants and nuclear scientists in France on Tuesday jointly unveiled a 21st-century tool for unmasking counterfeit vintage wines.

The technique consists of zapping bottles with ion beams generated by a particle accelerator. The beams are directed at the glass, not the wine, and can distinguish how old the bottles are and, roughly, where they originate.

"We compare the suspect bottles with those that we know come from the chateaux," explained Herve Guegan, a researcher at the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) in Bordeaux. "The chemical composition of glass used to make bottles changed over time and was different from place to place," he told media.

The Antique Wine Company in London, which asked Guegan's Centre for Nuclear Studies to develop the fraud-busting technology, handles more than 10,000 bottles of rare wines every year for thousands of customers around the world.

"We sell bottles every day for between 2,000 and 10,000 dollars," said the company's managing director, Stephen Williams, noting that the exceptional grand cru can fetch up to 100,000 dollars (70,000 euros).

At these prices, "counterfeiting is something we have to be very diligent about," he said by phone.
France's most prestigious Burgundy and Bordeaux chateaux are notoriously reluctant to discuss fraud or its
prevalence, but wine experts say it is a growing problem.

In a recent and spectacular case, American collector William Koch sued a German wine dealer, claiming four bottles -- allegedly belonging to US president Thomas Jefferson -- he had purchased for 500,000 dollars were fake. The case has yet to be settled.

To prevent counterfeiters from filling authentic old bottles with ordinary plonk, Williams intends to combine the ion beam test with another established method that checks for levels of a radioactive isotope, cesium 137, in the wine itself.

This technique, however, is only effective in identifying wines made in the era of heavy atomic weapons testing in the later half of the 20th century.

The ion beam technology unveiled Tuesday depends on comparison with genuine bottles. "We are working with the various chateaux to develop a database of benchmark references," said Williams, adding that more than 100 bottles from some of Bordeaux's most prestigious houses had been tested so far.

He has also set his sights on the prized Burgundy region in northeastern France, and said a service geared toward wine collectors, wine merchants and auction houses will be available by late November. While the new test can verify the age of the bottle, it cannot guarantee the quality of the wine.

The ion beam analysis correctly dated bottles of German wine recovered from a German ship, the Deutschland, that sank in a storm off the coast of England in 1875, Williams said.

"The wine, however, wasn't very good. We still had a headache six months later," he said. Other technologies developed in the last few years to combat fine wine fraud include water marks and holograms on labels -- much like those used on bank notes -- along with bar codes and UV-sensitive markings.

Hardys, part of Constellation Wines Australia, now inserts DNA material from 100-year-old vines in tamper-proof neck labels on its top bottles.

Microsoft cutting Xbox 360 price to $200

noreply@blogger.com (TodaysTelecom News) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:27:00 +0000

SEATTLE: Microsoft Corp said on Wednesday it plans to cut the US prices of its Xbox 360 video game machine, lowering the price of its entry-level console to $50 below Nintendo Co Ltd's top-selling Wii.

The move makes the Xbox 360 the first game machine of this generation of consoles to sell for less than $200, a key mass-market price that Microsoft said historically has accounted for more than 75 percent of all machine sales.

The lower prices ahead of the crucial holiday shopping season, a period of time when the video game industry racks up most of its sales, puts pressure on rivals Nintendo and Sony to cut the prices of their machines.

The company said it will cut prices for its entry-level Xbox 360 Arcade, which comes without a hard drive, to $199 from its current price of $279 and it also will lower the prices of its mid-range and high-end Xbox 360 consoles by $50 each. The new prices will go into effect on Sept 5.

Nintendo's Wii sells for $249 while Sony Corp's least expensive PlayStation 3, which comes with an 80-gigabyte hard drive and a Blu-ray high-definition video disc player, retails for $399. "Microsoft wants to drum up demand for the holiday. Microsoft's long-term vision for the Xbox is not to turn a profit today," said Toan Tran, analyst with Morningstar.

"It's a way to get a foothold into people's living rooms." Microsoft said it will cut the price of its Xbox 360 Pro, its best-selling version which comes with a 60-gigabyte hard drive, to $299 from $349 and reduce the price of its top-end Xbox 360 Elite with a 120-gigabyte hard drive to $399 from $449.

The US price cut comes on the heels of a similar price cut for the Xbox 360 in Japan where Xbox sales have been slow. Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft has sold over 20 million Xbox 360 consoles worldwide since its introduction in late 2005 compared to 14.4 million units for the PlayStation 3 and nearly 30 million Wii units since debuting in Nov 2006.

In recent months, the PlayStation 3 has outsold the Xbox 360 in the United States. "Microsoft recognized it needed to do something and I think they also can afford it," said Michael Pachter, analyst at Wedbush Morgan. "They've got to make it up by penetrating more households and selling more software."

After losing roughly $5 billion since it entered the video game console business in 2001, Microsoft turned a $426 million profit in fiscal 2008 at its entertainment and devices division, comprised mainly of the Xbox business. The price cuts were reported earlier by BusinessWeek on its Web site.

Sapient acquires Derivatives Consulting Group Limited

noreply@blogger.com (TodaysTelecom News) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:24:00 +0000

NEW DELHI: Sapient today announced that it acquired London-based Derivatives Consulting Group Limited (DCG), a leading provider of derivatives consulting and outsourcing services to investment banks, hedge funds, asset managers and commercial banking clients.

DCG is a leader in partnering with the industry to provide derivative operations metrics and respond to the industry's operational challenges. With this acquisition, Sapient will add a globally integrated service in derivatives processing to the market-leading capabilities of its Trading and Risk Management (TRM) practice, which has been a key driver in Sapient's growth.

The addition of DCG will dramatically increase Sapient's ability to address derivatives operations issues and further strengthen its unique position in the marketplace.

Sapient's expanded TRM services will now include unique operations benchmarking, deep derivatives and process expertise, operations support, technology services and proven off-shore capabilities.

These will help clients both manage the growth and complexity of derivatives transactions and eliminate the inefficiencies they currently experience in derivative operations.

"Today's volatile markets and increasingly strict regulatory environments make this an opportune time to add DCG's capabilities to our TRM practice," said Sapient President and Chief Executive Officer Alan Herrick.

"Regulatory scrutiny has resulted in new demands on clients to maintain compliance and reduce the risk associated with the growing complexity and volumes of these transactions. Our TRM practice is already well established and this move will bolster our opportunities, both in the current uncertain times and in future growth markets. TRM and our interactive services represent the fastest growing parts of our business," added Alan.

David Easthope, senior analyst at Celent, a Boston-based financial research and consulting firm, said: "Given the growth in this area, clients are looking to partner with firms that can help them define and manage their derivative processes from start to finish. This allows them to reduce costs while strengthening their ability to respond to the regulatory and compliance demands associated with complex derivatives trading and processing."

Sapient's acquisition of DCG is supported by a number of key global trends. The worldwide derivatives market reached 677 trillion dollars notional in 2007 and continues to grow dramatically, according to Celent. While derivatives volumes have grown, there has been a lag in operations infrastructure investments.

This has created greater demand for operations support and technology. At the same time, government agencies such as the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Financial Services Authority have increased the regulation and scrutiny of derivatives transactions, further compounding the existing operational challenges.

DCG will operate within Sapient's TRM practice, which provides high-end business consulting, program management, technology delivery and process outsourcing solutions focused on the specialized needs of risk enterprises. Key clients of the practice include the leading firms in the investment banking, asset management, hedge fund, insurance, oil and gas, utilities and agricultural sectors.

"As the premium choice for the world's top global investment banks, we were eager to realize our full growth potential by combining our offering with Sapient's strong business consulting, technology and outsourcing capabilities," said Cameron Munro, co-chief executive officer, DCG.

"This acquisition makes perfect sense for our clients and our organization. Our vision and culture map very closely to Sapient's-and together we can provide a powerful and unique set of solutions for our combined client base. We are thrilled with this opportunity," Cameron Munro added.

Next-gen antivirus system to offer better protection to computers

noreply@blogger.com (TodaysTelecom News) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:23:00 +0000

NEW YORK: A new "cloud computing" approach to malicious software detection, developed by the University of Michigan, is likely to replace ageing antivirus software on personal computers.

Cloud computing refers to seamless applications and services on the Internet.

Traditional antivirus software, installed on millions of personal computers worldwide, has been found to be increasingly ineffective, according to researchers.

They observed malware - malicious software - detection rates as low as 35 per cent against the most recent threats and an average window of vulnerability exceeding 48 days.

That means new threats went undetected for an average of seven weeks. The computer scientists also found severe vulnerabilities in the antivirus engines themselves.

The researchers' new approach, called CloudAV, moves antivirus functionality into the "network cloud" and off personal computers. CloudAV analyses suspicious files using multiple antivirus and behavioural detection programmes simultaneously.

"CloudAV virtualises and parallelises detection functionality with multiple antivirus engines, significantly increasing overall protection," said Farnam Jahanian, professor of computer science and engineering at the Michigan University department of computer science.

Researchers see promising opportunities in applying CloudAV to cell phones and other mobile devices that aren't robust enough to carry powerful antivirus software.

The CloudAV system uses 12 different detectors that act together to tell the inquiring computer whether the item is safe to open.

Researchers evaluated a dozen traditional antivirus software programmes against 7,220 malware samples, including viruses, collected over a year. The vendors tested were Avast, AVG, BitDefender, ClamAV, CWSandbox, F-Prot, F-Secure, Kaspersky, McAfee, Norman Sandbox, Symantec and Trend Micro.

Traditional antivirus software that resides on a personal computer checks documents and programmes as they are accessed. Because of performance constraints and programme incompatibilities, only one antivirus detector is typically used at a time.

CloudAV, however, can support a large number of malicious software detectors that act in parallel to analyse a single incoming file. Each detector operates in its own virtual machine, so the technical incompatibilities and security issues are resolved, Oberheide said.

CloudAV is accessible to any computer or mobile device on the network that runs a simple software agent. Each time a computer or device receives a new document or programme, that item is automatically detected and sent to the antivirus cloud for analysis.

CloudAV also caches analysis results, speeding up the process compared with traditional antivirus software. This could be useful for workplaces, for example, where multiple employees might access the same document.

The new approach also includes what the developers call "retrospective detection", which scans its file access history when a new threat is identified. This allows it to catch previously-missed infections earlier.

Jahanian, along with doctoral candidate Jon Oberheide and postdoctoral fellow Evan Cooke, presented their findings recently at the USENIX Security Symposium.

3G rollout in India may ring in bonanza for IT firms

noreply@blogger.com (TodaysTelecom News) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:23:00 +0000

NEW DELHI: While the impact of third generation (3G) mobile telecom on users will be huge, what might be immediately less visible is the impact on businesses of IT companies. With the announcement of 3G policy by the government this month, IT players are expecting a bonanza.

Small and medium enterprises expect a slew of application and software development contracts from operators, hardware vendors and mobile value-added service providers. IT companies could see their telecom vertical revenues, about $4 billion at present, increase by at least 10% with the 3G rollout.

India has one of the largest mobile phone population with around 300 million phones in the country. About five million subscribers already have 3G enabled phones and even chip design companies are expected to benefit with 3G handset sales.

Says Texas Instruments (TI) India wireless business development director Jithu Niruthambath, "As a semi-conductor company, our customers are network suppliers (Ericsson, Nokia Siemens, Huawei) and handset suppliers ( Nokia, SEMC, Motorola). 3G will result in new network equipment deployment and handset sales. With a strong presence in both areas we foresee a significant impact of 3G on our revenues." TI works on Digital Signal Processor (DSP) solutions, application processors, power management solutions which are embedded in handsets.

IT companies, which develop software for mobile value-added service, expect at least a 20% incremental rise in revenues. "3G will enable high speed, real time multi-player gaming on the mobile phone. We expect a 20% increase in the next 12 months through 3G. But the big growth will come in 2009. Overall. revenues from the telecom vertical for Indian IT industry may increase by at least 10% due to 3G rollout," said Nitish Mittersain, CEO of Nazara Technologies, which develops mobile games and content for mobile phones. Nazara Technologies customers include T-Mobile, Bharti Airtel and Tata Tele.

Telecom software companies which have deployed their solutions for global operators plan to deploy the same in India as well. "From a 3G perspective, we have worked with operators like TNZ (Telecom New Zealand) , Hutch Indonesia, Vibo Taiwan, O2. We have also worked with players in the US and the Middle East in development of heavy data consumption services which are typical to 3G networks. We plan to replicate the same in India too," says a spokesperson of CanvasM.

But some technology companies say that India should directly jump to LTE (Long Term Evolution), a technology more advanced than 3G. "India should leapfrog beyond plain 3G to High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), a collection of mobile telephony protocols or LTE. This will help us get to a high bandwidth path straight-away. It will be a little early to predict the exact numbers due to 3G but a lot will depend on the rate of adaptation to this service by consumers," says G Venkatesh, executive director & corporate CTO, Sasken Communication Technologies, which works on 3G/4G technologies in all the three verticals that is, semiconductor, handsets and networks.

3G is a high-speed wireless communication technology. The government last week rolled out its policy on spectrum auction of 3G. For a pan-India licence, an operator will have to dole out at least Rs 2,020 crore. The government plans to rake in Rs 30,000 crore from 3G spectrum auction.

"We have partnerships with operators like BSNL, Bharti, Vodafone and are talking to some operators regarding development of a platform to roll out 3G services. We see a lot of revenues coming from areas like VOIP, corporate virtual PBX, social networking IPTV and quadplay," adds Bhaskar Gorti, SVP and GM, Oracle Communications.

Visual IQ rolls out new software platform

noreply@blogger.com (TodaysTelecom News) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:22:00 +0000

KOCHI: Visual IQ, a US-based leading provider of marketing business intelligence (MBI), on Thursday launched their new software platform -- IQ 2.0, and has plans to focus on the Asia Pacific region.

The product was conceived in US, but developed in its India office at Kochi, Anto Chittilappilly, President and Chief Technical Officer (CTO) of Visual IQ told a press meet here.

The new platform helps advertisers and advertisement agencies to optimse their marketing budgets and achieve the highest returns on their advertising spend, he said.

Most of the business of the company is from North America and Europe and there are plans to focus on the Asia pacific region using mobile marketing, he said.

The Indian and Chinese companies use 'push advertising' by blasting the brand message in every single channel and do
not count the returns, he said.

The US slowdown has affected the company as some clients have reduced marketing spends in a big way while some other companies use their software to have a tight control on advertisement money they are spending.

The company which has 35 staff now, plans to make it 70 by the year end and 200 by 2009. The major brands who use their software are: Microsoft, MSN, Pfizer, large US banks, Radio Shack, A M Radio, a satellite radio company, Liberty mutual and the US Army, he said.

Small IT firms to shed non-core clients

noreply@blogger.com (TodaysTelecom News) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:22:00 +0000

BANGALORE: Majority of the sub-$1 billion IT services companies in India will be forced to alter their business models to focus on specialisation in the changed competitive environment, according to technology research provider Forrester.

In its report, "Surviving The Offshore Vendor Polarization Puzzle," Forrester said that sub-scale, non-specialist IT services providers are struggling to grow their businesses and this is likely to see many of them shedding up to 30% of their non-strategic clients to pursue a more specialised strategy and rebuild competitiveness.

Senior analyst Sudin Apte says in the report that while the top three IT services companies and the specialist Indian players continue to excel, the sub-scale companies have added a huge army of new recruits in the past two years while failing to grow revenue in proportion to the headcount increase.

The top three—TCS, Infosys and Wipro — accounted for 46.6% of India's total IT services exports in FY08 as against 41% in FY07. "Financial analysts' continued use of obsolete metrics such as 'number of people added in the quarter' actually push a 'body shopping' mindset in the tier-two suppliers. And to meet stock market expectations, these firms continue picking up customer business all over the map in terms of skills, service lines, and industries served—ultimately lacking specialisation or niche play," Mr Apte warns.

In such a scenario, the tier-two companies are expected to make niche acquisitions and boost their IP assets. "A majority of the Indian sub-scale, non-specialist IT players in early 2008 was in pubic denial of looming trouble that may marginalise hundreds of them. However, we now observe that many offshore industry leaders are now suggesting a radical course correction in the way they sell their services."

Wipro launches resource guides for engineering faculty

noreply@blogger.com (TodaysTelecom News) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:21:00 +0000

BANGALORE: Mission10X, a not-for-profit trust created by Wipro Ltd, today launched two resource guides that it said would help the faculty of engineering colleges to create resource guides in their respective areas of expertise.

The sample guides for fluid mechanics and microprocessor would facilitate the delivery of sessions to the learners in a planned and effective manner, people spearheading Mission10X told a press conference here. The prime objective of Mission10X, launched in Septemeber last year, is to empower faculty members of engineering colleges to help students imbibe higher understanding of a subject and at the same time develop key behavioural skills that would lead to higher employability, officials said.

Mission10X programme involves a layered set of capability building workshops to help engineering faculty nurture talent pool and it has covered five states till date. "It will be launched in a phased manner across the country", said Pratik Kumar, Executive Vice-President - Human Resources, Wipro Ltd. "The aim is to cover 10,000 faculty by the year 2010".

Meanwhile, Mission10X announced constitution of its advisory board with the joining of three senior academics. They are: Prof Chidananda Gowda, former Vice-Chancellor Kuvempu University, Prof. A S Kolaskar, former Vice-Chancellor of Pune University and Prof. R Natarajan, former chairman of AICTE and former Director of IIT Chennai.

Mission10X is involved in multi-dimensional activities such as training, portal development and asset building, officials said.

Microsoft preparing itself for end of Windows era

noreply@blogger.com (TodaysTelecom News) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:20:00 +0000

LONDON: Microsoft has started a new research project, Midori, to develop a software program that will help uncouple Windows from a single PC.

The company has revealed that a decision to develop Midori was taken because Windows is unlikely to be able to cope with the pace of change in future technology, and the way people use it.

"If you think about how an operating system is loaded, it's loaded onto a hard disk physically located on that machine. The operating system is tied very tightly to that hardware," the BBC quoted Dave Austin, European director of products at Citrix, as saying.

He said that that created all kinds of dependencies that arose out of the collection of hardware in a particular machine, and raised concerns for Microsoft's business in case Windows ends up being less important over time as applications become more OS agnostic.

A statement issued by Microsoft describes Midori as an ambitious attempt by Microsoft to catch up on the work on virtualisation being undertaken in the wider computer industry.

Virtualising generally signifies creating a software copy of a computer complete with operating system and associated programs.

It allows a reduction in the numbers of machines one needs to manage, and easy shifting to another machine in case one physical server fails.

A virtual machine on a PC also enables very old applications, which existing operating systems would not run, to keep going.

Many virtual machines these days are tuned for a particular industry, sector or job.

"People take their application, the operating system they want to run it against, package it up along with policy and security they want and use that as a virtual client," said Dan Chu, vice president of emerging products and markets at virtualisation specialist VMWare.

In such virtual machines, the core of the operating system can be very small and easy to transfer to different devices.
Many believe that the idea behind Midori is to create a lightweight portable operating system that can easily be mated to many different applications.

Michael Silver, research vice president at Gartner, said that the development of Midori was a sensible step for Microsoft.

"The value of Microsoft Windows, of what that product is today, will diminish as more applications move to the web and Microsoft needs to edge out in front of that. I would be surprised if there was definitive evidence that nothing like this was not kicking around," he said.

He further said that the big problem that Microsoft faced in doing away with Windows was how to re-make its business to cope.

"Eighty percent of Windows sales are made when a new PC is sold. That's a huge amount of money for them that they do not have to go out and get. If Windows ends up being less important over time as applications become more OS agnostic where will Microsoft make its money?" he said.

HCL Tech to invest $3.2 mn for US delivery centre

noreply@blogger.com (TodaysTelecom News) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:20:00 +0000

MUMBAI: Software exporter HCL Technologies Ltd said on Tuesday its wholly owned US unit will invest $3.2 million over five years on a delivery centre in North Carolina.

The centre, to offer application development, engineering services and consulting services for U.S. customers, is to start operations by the end of this year, HCL said in a statement.

Anti-doting on data

noreply@blogger.com (TodaysTelecom News) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:19:00 +0000

From data recovery services to developing data cleansing software, Stellar Information Systems not only became a pioneer in the Indian market but also spread wings across the globe. An engineer from the university of Pune, Sunil Chandna, started the company in 1993 with two other partners who provided data recovery solutions along with file and email repair solutions, after working with a small software company.

"I was involved in a project to develop data recovery software solutions but it got shelved as the company was not able to import it. So I decided along with my two partners to start a business with that project and were successful in getting a client," says Chandna.

He invested Rs 50,000 that could cover the cost of a computer and rentals. But in the days where customers were hesitant because software was expensive and very technical, Chandna created a market for data recovery solutions in India. "Initially, we were saddled with finances and banks refused to give loans. In the first year of operation, we made losses and couldn't get clients as we lacked marketing and distribution expertise to take forward our business to the trade. So in the second year, we hired a distributor. However, in the subsequent 3-4 years, we couldn't make any profit," says Chandna.

At a time when there was no large data recovery market in India, the company overcame two troubles-logical recovery and replacing physical damage. In 1998, Stellar was triumphant in getting acceptance in the market with big clients like GAIL, Indian Cement, Prime Minister's Office, Container Corporation, SAIL, NIC and others making a beeline for the company's solution.

But the major breakthrough came in 2000 when 'Chernobyl', a computer virus with a potentially devastating payload that destroys all data on the network, cropped up. "It rocked a lot of business in the domestic and international market severely and so we offered solutions to recover lost data and serviced companies globally in Dubai, Singapore, Russia, USA and Europe," says Chandna.

In 2001, Stellar got into e-commerce and started selling software solutions through the Internet. "Initially, online payment was slow but the revenue grew rapidly in the next five years. Now, 60% of our business comes from online sales," says Chandna.

In 2003, the company did a turnover of Rs 3 crore and began localising its services in various languages-Italian, French, Spanish, German and Japanese. At present, the Rs 20-crore company has 25 indigenous data recovery applications and 12 laboratories in the country.

Apart from data recovery services, the company went on to develop the 'safe data eraser' that completely destroys unwanted, sensitive and confidential data beyond recovery. Stellar has 184 data recovery software service companies that use their software and one million product users through the Internet all over the world-the US and Canada make up 49% of its business. Some big Internet clients are NASA, Department of Energy and 9/11 Enquiry Commission in the US.

It is the only company in South Asia and the Middle East to have a 'Class-100 Clean Room' data recovery facility in Gurgaon. This is a controlled environment with not more than 100 dust particles of less than 0.5 micron in diameter. Such an environment is a must to physically open a hard-drive since a normal environment would damage the head and disk platters.

"It is supported by a inventory of 15,000 replaceable hard drives and does 24 transplants a day," explains Chandna. It has clients in both IT and corporate world, like Microsoft, Maruti Suzuki, HP, Sony, P&G, Vodafone, LG, Canon, JP Morgan, Coca Cola, Yahoo, Google, Siemens, among others.

With a headcount of over 240-odd employees, the company aims to achieve Rs 29 crore in turnover this fiscal and Rs 57 crore by 2010. "We have invested $100,000 to open a laboratory in New Jersey and we will invest $250,000 more in the next two quarters. We want to expand majorly throughout the US as it is our largest market. Besides, we are looking to acquire a small data recovery company in Europe to expand our market there through both organic and inorganic operations," says Chandna.

India all set to rule software testing market

noreply@blogger.com (TodaysTelecom News) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:02:00 +0000

NEW DELHI: India is all set to become a leader in the software testing market with an increasing number of software development companies outsourcing their software testing work here. Industry analyst firm Gartner has pegged the worldwide software testing market at $13 billion and the global market for outsourced testing services to be around $6.1 billion, of which India is expected to corner a 70% share.

Software testing implies checking any IT system prior to implementation for multiple aspects like functionality, reliability, usability, security, compliance and performance. Market players like Hexaware and AppLabs believe that the need for outsourcing software testing has grown due to the high level of complexity and multiple intersection points in modern software.

"The winning combination of cost, communication, exposure to various domains, testing principles and test tools gives a clear edge to India in software testing," said Hexaware Technologies global delivery head and chief software architect Ramanan RV. While software services are growing at an average of about 10-12% globally, testing is growing at over 50% every year. The market opportunity for Indian offshore testing companies is seen at around $8 billion by year-end, from $2-3 billion a year ago.

"Indian businesses have matured in terms of making IT central to all business processes. Hence, there is a very high level of business dependence on error-free software code," said AppLabs president and CEO Makarand Teje.

A global case in point is eBay, which experienced a 22-hour outage of its website in 1999 due to software flaws. It cost eBay $5 million in revenue and an 11% drop in share price. The outage affected 1.2 million customers who were either trying to sell or buy something on the website.

Along with the growth witnessed in offshoring of software testing to India, the average deal size of such projects is also on the rise. A few years ago, the average deal size for an outsourced testing project was about $50,000-60,000, requiring a few testers. That has now grown to about $2-4 million per project.

According to Gartner, India will require around 18,000 testing professionals every year over the next three years to fulfill the demand seen in the software testing market.