Archive for the ‘Technology’ Category

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IBM is second largest private employer in India

August 18, 2010

In 2006 IBM had 53,000 employees in India which grew to 73,000 employees in 2007. Since then, the company has maintained that it is a global company and geographic numbers do not have any meaning in that context. In 2010 IBM employees in India exceeded 100,000 and may be as many as 130,000.

IBM still employs the most people in the US but almost one in three of IBM’s total workforce of over 400,000 is now in India.

http://www.accessnorthga.com/img/stories/205230/ibm-india_medium.jpg

The Times of India reports that

The fact that IBM has over one lakh (100,000)  people on its rolls in this country is one of India Inc’s best-kept secrets.
Tata Consultancy Services is the largest private sector employer in the country. It had 163,700 employees as on June 30.

No one in US-headquartered IBM will admit that it employs such a large number of people in India — for fear of a backlash at home. There’s been rising anger in the US over the transfer of `American jobs’ to lower cost havens, particularly India. Faced with an economic slowdown and a politically-damaging high employement rate, Barack Obama himself has begun to sound jingoistic. He has issued barely-veiled threats against US companies that ship out work and promised candies to those who stay patriotic.Even as an IBM spokesperson declined comment when contacted, a source within the company said that in a couple of years, the India employee strength could cross that in the US, where it employs about 1,55,000 people, and where the pace of hiring is substantially slower than in India. IBM globally has a little over 4,00,000 employees. So, close to 1 in 3 of its employees is already an Indian.

Its staff strength is more than four times that of India’s biggest private sector company, Reliance Industries, which employs about 23,000 people. It is bigger than the combined employee base of the two Tata Group’s crown jewels, Tata Steel (81,000) and Tata Motors (24,000).

A cross-section of industry analysts and manpower recruitment firms TOI spoke with not only put IBM’s India workforce (including that of its wholly-owned subsidiary IBM Daksh) at over one lakh, some even went to the extent of saying it might be 1.3 lakh — well over Infosys’ 1.14 lakh as on June 30. Infosys is India’s second largest IT firm by revenue and third, it now transpires, by employees.

Since 2007, the company has stopped disclosing the geographic break-up of its employee numbers. The last time it provided figures was in 2007, when it said it had 73,000 employees in India. Since then, the company has maintained that it’s a global company and geographic numbers do not have any meaning in that context.
 (more…)

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Hayabusa returns — Ion engine spacecraft back after 7 years

August 4, 2010

The Japanese asteroid exploration spacecraft Hayabusa returned miraculously on 13th June from a seven-year, trouble-filled journey  powered by ion engines.

Hayabusa’s main engine failed due to fuel leaks, but the probe was able to complete its odyssey by relying on ion engines developed by  NEC. The Japanese firm’s unique method of using microwaves can extend the lifespan of an ion engine to more than twice that of conventional engines. Hayabusa’s successful return “has boosted the credibility of ion engines,” an NEC official said.

image: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/missiondetails.cfm?mission=Hayabusa

Japan is planning for the launch of the “Hayabusa-2” asteroid probe sometime between July 2014 and 2015.

(more…)

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Posted in Japan, Science, Space, Technology | 1 Comment »

The Trabi: An endangered species — only 35000 left

July 31, 2010

After living in Görlitz for 3 years I got used to seeing the occasional Trabi struggling manfully on the A4 autobahn.

But it was the stretch Trabis that caught the eye. Streamlined ugliness!

image:http://www.dreamlimo.de/index.php?fileid=limousinen&fnr=285

But Der Spiegel reports that the species is under threat of extinction and there are only 35000 of these plastic cars left in Germany.

The beloved Trabant, a trademark of communist East Germany, is dying out fast. The number rattling around on German roads has dwindled to 35,000 from close to one million shortly after reunification. Last year’s cash-for-clunkers program appears to have persuaded many owners to ditch their brand loyalty.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall two decades ago, East Germans had had enough. Even as Trabants were hard to come by in communist times, once Germany reunified, everyone wanted a Western car.

Not long later, thought, the little plastic car with its fume-belching two-stroke engine became the premier cult item for hard-core auto enthusiasts — and for those who had succumbed to Ostalgie, dubious nostalgia for life in communist East Germany when “Trabis” provided a limited source of freedom and people had to wait 10 years for delivery. ……..The vehicles are made of Duroplast — a mixture of resin powder and cotton — and are literally falling apart. In addition, however, many owners ditched their brand loyalty last year when the German government offered a €2,500 vehicle scrapping bonus to persuade people to buy new cars to boost the flagging economy.

  • A Trabi on a mountain top — A miracle!
  • How do you double the value of a Trabi — Fill her up
  • “I’d like 2 windshield wipers for my Trabi” — “Sounds like a good swap”
  • What do you call an accident involving 4 Trabis — A Tupperware party
  • Why is the luxury Trabi rear window heated – To keep your hands warm when pushing it
  • Is there a device to measure a Trabi’s acceleration — A calendar

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The 35$ tablet and cloud computing

July 28, 2010

Whether or not the 35$ tablet recently unveiled in India ever becomes real is irrelevant.

Kapil Sibal

It looks like an iPad, only it’s 1/14th the cost: India has unveiled the prototype of a $35 basic touchscreen tablet aimed at students, which it hopes to bring into production by 2011.

But the 20$ pc in India – the “Shaksat” has not really happened.

But the Tata Nano – as the 2000$ car – did happen even if the cost is slightly over the magic target of one lakh rupees (100,000).

The 749 rupees ($16) water purifier is a reality and $2,000 open-heart surgery has been available for some time.

What is really important is the challenging of barriers and the attitude it represents. The future of distributed computing, perhaps through a much more extensive use of the cloud, could well depend on this challenging of attitudes. Ultimately the device used by every individual would be nothing more than  a very secure interface device:

  • secure and simple regarding the individual’s identity
  • secure regarding the connection to the cloud, and
  • secure regarding the personal or sensitive material stored in the cloud.

As Tony Bradley of PC World puts it

The $35 tablet prototype from India will run a variation of the open source Linux operating system. It has 2Gb of RAM, but no internal storage–relying on a removable memory card. The device has a USB port, and built-in Wi-Fi connectivity. Seems like reasonable enough specs–especially for $35.

On the software side, the $35 tablet has a PDF reader, multimedia player, video conferencing, Web browser, and word processor. The value of the multimedia player will be contingent on its compatibility with popular audio and video file formats. The functionality of the word processor will hinge on its ability to create, view, or edit files in Microsoft Word format.

….. Many will scoff at the idea of a $35 tablet PC. Of course, many tech geeks, pundits, and power users also scoffed at the concept of a netbook, claiming it was too weak to be of any value. A year later, netbooks were cannibalizing notebook sales as students embraced the cheaper platform, and business professionals opted for smaller, lighter mobile computers.

Ultimately, it doesn’t even really matter if the “$35 PC” ever materializes. The Indian prototype illustrates what’s possible and breaks down barriers–challenging the rest of the industry to push the envelope. A Linux-based (think Android or Chrome OS), Web-connected tablet would likely still be a tremendous success in the United States at three times that $35 target.

Of course netbooks are already losing out to ipads and small tablets.

Scoffers are already out in force but even they serve a purpose in creating the challenge necessary. It is always more satisfying to do something when there are those who scoff and say it cannot be done.

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Posted in Business, India, Technology | 2 Comments »

25 years on and toxicity is still being exported….

July 23, 2010

25 years after Bhopal where the manufacture of toxic products was “exported” to India the same “export” philosophy – this time with toxic wastes to the Ivory Coast – continues.

I thought I could see signs of ethics returning to the corporate world but I was being too optimistic. “Business as usual and pay a few fines if you get caught” seems to apply. Nobody goes to jail after all.

Trafigura found guilty of exporting toxic waste

A Dutch court has found multinational Trafigura guilty of illegally exporting toxic waste from Amsterdam and concealing the nature of the cargo.

Two civil protection workers pass by a bulldozer clearing a site polluted with toxic waste at the Akouedo district in Abidjan - 19 September 2006

In 2006, Trafigura transported waste alleged to have been involved in the injury of thousands of people in Ivory Coast. The firm was fined 1m euros (£836,894) for its ship, the Probo Koala, transiting Amsterdam with its cargo.Trafigura, an oil trading company, initially tried to clean up low-grade oil by tipping caustic soda into the hold of the Probo Koala. The company tried to unload the waste in Amsterdam for treatment, declaring it as “harmless slops”.

Timeline

Sept 2006 – Thousands in Ivory Coast report falling ill from waste in Abidjan

Oct 2006 – About 1,000 Ivorians sue Trafigura

Feb 2007 – Trafigura reaches $160m out-of-court settlement with government of Ivory Coast

Oct 2008 – Ivory Coast court finds two people, not employees of Trafigura, guilty of dumping toxic waste in Abidjan

Sept 2009 – Trafigura agrees to pay $50m to people in Ivory Coast who say they were poisoned by the waste

June 2010 – Dutch prosecutors accuse Trafigura of illegally exporting hazardous waste to Ivory Coast

Trafigura denies responsibility for the dumping of the waste and any deaths or injuries caused !!

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Mining Super Tax scrapped? Perhaps sanity will return

June 24, 2010

The backlash against the mining super tax proposed in Australia I referred to here in an earlier post seems to have contributed to the exit of the Australian Prime Minister.

The Australian reports

Stocks, dollar rise on Rudd’s exit

AUSTRALIAN financial markets have reacted positively to the Labor leadership spill, with expectations new Prime Minister Julia Gillard will overhaul the controversial resource super-profit tax (RSPT).

“We understand that Gillard is a supporter of the RSPT, the current proposal following the Henry Review was largely drafted by Rudd and Swan,” Ms Ong said.

“Given the backlash from the business community and limited public support, the new leadership team is a good excuse to change the RSPT in its current form.

“We expect the new PM to announce a watered down version of the RSPT in the coming weeks. The most likely changes will probably be to the uplift the rate, tax rebate on losses over the investment life of projects, and concessions for particular commodities although we would not rule out any tinkering to the proposed 40 per cent rate of tax.

“There is also the outside chance that the RSPT is dumped all together. This, however, would be poor long term macro policy as political survival dictates.”

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„Monopoly“ of Iron Ore producers together with speculation could create a new bubble

June 13, 2010

Iron ore is not a scarce resource but the ore price dominates steel price and a rising steel price – in turn – is a fundamental constraint on the rate of global economic recovery. Production of iron ore is dominated by just 3 players – Rio Tinto, Vale and BHP Billiton – and they are now under investigation by the European Commission and German authorities for building cartels.

The CEO of Thyssen-Krupp accuses them and speculators for jeopardising the economic recovery.

Ekkehard Schulz

“The new pricing system opens the floodgates to speculation and manipulation. A massive bubble is threatening to develop in the natural resources market. Its dimensions could even exceed that of the real estate problem in the United States two years ago.”

This is being compounded by taxation and the opportunistic Australian Resource Super Profits Tax would seem to be a case of shooting oneself in the foot !! A case of greed overcoming common sense perhaps?

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23 B$ Broadband Bonanza for the Indian Government

June 11, 2010

(photo – http://adityasphones.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/mobile-phones-rural-india.jpg )

Mobile subscribers are increasing by between 5 and 10 million every month in India !!!

Following the receipt of over $15 Billion ( Rs 67,700 Crores) from the auction of the 3G spectrum to mobile operators in May, the Indian Government has received over $8 Billion (Rs 38,300 Crores) from the 16 day auction of the Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) spectrum.

This is more than 3 times greater than the expected proceeds and provides the Indian Government with an unexpected $15 Billion to improve the fiscal deficit for the current financial year.

http://www.ptinews.com/news/707739_Broadband-spectrum-auction-ends–Govt-gets-38-300-cr

As with 3G, Mumbai and Delhi received the highest bid amounts. The BWA auction had two slots of 20 MHz of spectra across India.
At least 11 companies, including Bharti Airtel, Reliance, Idea Cellular, Aircel, Vodafone and Tata Communications Internet Services, participated in the auction for Broadband Wireless Access spectrum. The state owned bodies – BSNL and MTNL, which had received BWA spectrum allocations in advance of the auction will have to pay the equivalent of the winning bid in each service area.

BWA spectrum enables high-speed Internet access as well as Internet telephony and TV services. It can also be used for voice and high-speed data services.

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Birds or People: Environmental Hypocrisy and Double Standards

June 11, 2010

Bhopal vs. The Gulf of Mexico or Union Carbide vs. BP

The oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico is creating hysterical headlines, slide show after slide show of birds in oily distress and diatribes against BP which can only be described as a witch-hunt. The hysteria is – quite naturally – mainly in the US and it seems to be compounded by the fact that BP is a non-US conglomerate.

I have no idea of how culpable or negligent BP employees were.

But I note the contrast with the apologist and protective attitudes taken in the US when Union Carbide – a US Corporation – outsourced its production of the highly toxic methyl isocyanate to Bhopal in India. The gas leak in 1985 has killed close to 25000 people.The U.S. Supreme Court on October 4th, 1993 declined to review a U.S. Appeals Court decision that reaffirmed that the victims of the Bhopal tragedy lacked  legal standing to seek damages in the United States court system.  In 2001, Dow Chemical acquired Union Carbide. This week, 25 years after the tragedy, the Indian courts sentenced eight Indian employees to 2 years imprisonment. None of the US executives of Union Carbide has been brought to trial let alone faced any sanctions.

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_ex-president-kalam-anguished-by-verdict-in-bhopal-gas-tragedy_1394666

But Bhopal is far away from the Gulf of Mexico and the beaches of Florida.

DOUBLE, DOUBLE, OILY TROUBLE
Government Doubles Earlier Gulf Flow Estimate, But Still Lowballing

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

The Bhopal tragedy  

http://www.thecitizenfsr.org/_sgg/mam9s4_1.htm

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PowerPoint and Decision making don’t mix

May 1, 2010

An excellent example of the dangers of PowerPoint presentations.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/27/world/27powerpoint.html

If PPT presentations could be somehow restricted for information briefings or as illustrations for a lecture but avoided as the basis for decision making it would be a giant step forward.

PowerPoint slides discourage thought.

An excellent essay about the dangers by Thomas Hammes.

http://www.afji.com/2009/07/4061641

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