Category: Software

This amounts to FDI investment of 49 per cent.

IBS Software Services Private Limited has been permitted transfer of shares up to 6.86 per cent of the equity of the company by way of share swap to acquire a British company. This will not involve any fresh inflow of FDI.

Lately online-travel portal Arzoo.com has launched ‘Monsoon Masti‘, catering to about 35 locations across India under two packages ‘Monsoon Weekend Breaks‘ and ‘Monsoon Holidays‘.

Some of the popular locations include include higher altitude spots like Lonavala, Mahabaleshwar, Bhandardara, Saputara, Goa which blossom with greenery and waterfalls.

From the rest of the country Nainital, Mussoorie, Shimla, Dehradun, New Delhi, Ooty, Coonoor, Bheemeshwari, Yercaud from Bangalore have also been included in the list.

‘Monsoon weekend breaks‘ includes various destinations that are 100 to 300 kms away from Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. “These packages are designed where people can rejuvenate over the weekend and get back to face the challenges of another hectic week ahead,” says Aarzoo.com head India operations Amal Purandare.

This package has various options ranging from Rs. 1,800/- for two nights and three days stay up to Rs. 14,000/- for three nights and four days stay, he added.

‘Monsoon holidays‘ package comprises scenic destinations across India like Cochin, Kerala, Goa, Kinnaur, Thekkady and many more. The packages range from Rs. 3,300/- for two nights and three days stay to Rs. 24,000/- for seven nights and eight days stay.

“Arzoo.com also provides various packages like ‘Weekend Gateways‘, ‘Mind Body and Soul‘ and ‘Road Less Traveled‘. We have a dedicated team of travel consultants who can guide you to feel the special holiday experience that India has to offer during the monsoons,” says marketing head Sameer Patil.

Arzoo.com currently specializes in handling regular travel requirements of corporate customers, including group bookings.

The cookies, which under current configuration last upto the year 2038, will be replaced by new cookies from the internet search giant “in the coming months”. The new cookies will expire within two years after a user visits its website, but they will be updated each time they return.

Cookies are small data files that are downloaded automatically to computers when a website is visited. They identify users on later visits and gather information on their surfing behaviour and preferences. ‘Third-party cookies‘ can be used to track a consumer’s progress across several sites – valuable information for advertisers, but this data that is also perceived as intrusive on most occasions.

Google’s commercial ambitions rest on it acquiring massive amounts of data from its users. Cookies play a key part in Google‘s efforts to customise its services for individual users and it helps target online advertising.

Google‘s global privacy counsel Peter Fleischer said, “After listening to feedback from users and privacy advocates, we have concluded it would be a good thing for privacy to significantly shorten the lifetime of our cookies. These steps are part of our ongoing plan to continue innovating in the area of privacy to protect our users.”

Earlier this year, a report from Privacy International placed Google at the bottom of its online privacy rankings and claimed the company had an institutional hostility to privacy.

The recent concern over the use of cookies has been spurred by the company‘s $ 3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick, an internet advertising firm which has been controversial in the past for its use of invasive techniques.

Reporting directly to Tivo president and CEO Tom Rogers, Richardson has directed campaigns that transformed high profile consumer and technology brands in North America, Europe and Asia. He has a particularly strong background at the intersection where hardware and subscription services come together.

Rogers says, “I am delighted to welcome Clent to TiVo‘s senior leadership team. His achievements, global-branding insights and marketing expertise will strengthen TiVo‘s ability to drive greater distribution in both its stand alone and mass distribution efforts. We look forward to having Clent‘s energy, enthusiasm and focus brought to bear on our business.”

Percept Knorigin will be focussed on servicing Indian and global clients by leveraging digital media technology like internet, mobile, gaming and 360 degree capabilities of Percept Group which has interests in entertainment, media and communication services with a capitalised billing of Rs 16.5 billion.

The company plans to set up a delivery facility in Bangalore where it will be headquartered. It will also have offices in Mumbai and Delhi. Percept Knorigin is targeting revenues of $10 million per annum and will expand to a team of 100 within the next three years, according to a company statement.

Percept Holdings vice-chairman and MD Harindra Singh said, “The Digital or New Tech Media is heavily matured in western countries like US and UK. Estimates predict that by 2010, India is slated to have the third largest mobile and internet user base worldwide. Digital/Interactive communication (Internal and external) in India is undergoing an evolution stage at a rapid pace. Viraj brings in a lot of experience with him in this domain and I am confident Percept Knorigin will deliver value in the area of ‘Tech Media‘ to our clients.”

Malik added, “We will be focusing on three broad areas, to create IP in digital advertising aggregation and build network of high quality online properties. Leverage Percept‘s content and network to build unique online and mobile assets. ROI linked marketing solutions to clients in India, UK and USA. Services which will include consulting, creative, operations and procurement services.”

The company will also look at making investments in building ‘enabling platforms‘ for providing these services and solutions. Services bundled with ‘enabling platforms‘ will provide Percept Knorigin the capabilities to offer ROI based marketing solutions.

Viraj Malik brings with him more than 12 years of experience in areas of strategic marketing and business development, which includes entrepreneurship experience within India and market development experience in Indian, European and US markets. His last assignment was with Infosys where he headed business development and led key client engagements for Infosys in the European & US markets for IT outsourcing business and was based in London and New York for the last 5 years.

According to an official announcement, the expansion is in line with Bharti Airtel‘s objective to offer world-class and cost effective telecom products and services to its customers through a state of the art, converged network across the country.

The deal which is one‘s Ericsson‘s largest deals to date is expected to allow Bharti Airtel to expand its reach into rural areas thereby further consolidating its leadership position, states an official release.

Under the two-year supply and services contract, Ericsson is expected to design, plan, deploy, optimize and manage Bharti Airtel‘s GSM network across 15 circles in India as well as for its pan-India prepaid (IN) platform across 23 circles.

In addition, Ericsson will also deliver pan-India integrated device management solutions, enabling usage of advanced data services by all mobile customers across retail and enterprise segments.

Bharti Airtel president and CEO Manoj Kohli says, “Our partnership with Ericsson is testament to this belief as it allows us to focus on delivering a better customer experience leveraging Ericsson‘s global expertise to enhance our networks. The state of the art network will further allow us to offer more innovative products and solutions in the areas of voice and data like community based charging, location based services and enterprise VPN services. Bharti and Ericsson is also looking at forming a focus group to work on energy optimization by way of introducing energy efficient equipments and alternate energy sources,” he added.

Ericsson India managing director Mats Granryd says, “We are honored that Bharti Airtel has chosen to partner with us in this grand venture that underpins our strategy of providing communications for all through sustainable and innovative solutions.”

Ericsson has been a strategic partner of Bharti Airtel since 1995, and manages around 70 percent of its GSM/EDGE network in 15 circles in India. Its nationwide charging solution (IN) caters to Airtel customers across all the 23 circles of Airtel Bharti.

According to an official release, the new platform delivers enhanced communications, productivity, security and device management capabilities, enabling users to work and play when they are on the move.

By improving usability and added support for Microsoft Office features previously available only on PCs, Windows Mobile 6 delivers to the small screen. Hewett Packard (HP), Hi Tech Computers (HTC), O2, iMate and Motorola are Microsoft’s device partners in India.

The release quotes IDC Worldwide Converged Mobile Device 2006-2011 Forecast and Analysis, May 2007 – Windows Mobile will see a CAGR of 57.0 per cent, the highest rate of growth among the top 5 platforms through 2011.

In India Windows Mobile leads the messaging segment with a 30.5 per cent market share in Q1 2007 (source: IDC quarterly tracker).

Windows Mobile with its new look and feel offers the following key benefits to the users which include first platform to offer the ability to read HTML mail, direct push technology for up-to-date e-mail delivery and automatic synchronization of Outlook calendars, tasks and contacts through Microsoft Exchange Server.

It also offers chat with multiple contacts at one time, express more through emoticons, quickly send a file or image, as well as record and send voice notes through a new instant messaging application.

Another feature is ‘Day Glance‘ that helps manage calendar tasks, seamless integration with SharePoint and active links, support for storage card encryption and storage card wipe, a rich set of Windows Live services including mail, messenger, search, contacts and spaces, ease of viewing and editing of Office system documents.

The platform offers a variety of security options, giving IT departments ways to help secure a device, including new Exchange Server policies and certificate options, storage card encryption, and continued support for remote and local device wipe.

It also has protected content features wherein organizations using Information Rights Management (IRM) technology are assisted to control the viewing, storing and printing of confidential information on PCs and the same can be extended to Windows Mobile 6 powered devices, a feature not available on any other mobile phone platform.

.NET Compact Framework and Microsoft SQL Server are built into Windows Mobile 6, making it even easier to create and access sales tools, inventory tracking and many other applications from a Windows Mobile 6 powered smartphone. A new built-in application makes using a Windows Mobile 6 powered smartphone as a laptop’s high-speed modem “one-click easy” with either a Bluetooth wireless or cable connection.

Windows Mobile 6 makes it easier for operators and device-makers to integrate a voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) solution into devices they are building. Windows Mobile provides people with more choice of operators and phone styles for nearly any business or personal need.

In India Windows Mobile is available on a diverse range of 30 form factors including both stylus and PDA phones which is the widest range of smart phones available in the country.

MUMBAI: Goldstone Technologies has partnered with Shemaroo Entertainment and has entered into a five year arrangement for sourcing the latter‘s video content library for India and international markets.

The agreement with Shemaroo will provide Goldstone access to entertainment for NRIs who subscribe to Goldstone‘s soon to be launched online movie rental business both internationally and in India.

The content will be available on a patented technology for Triple Play services, which delivers quality video at only bandwidth‘s of 600 kbps Internet speed. The company will stream Shemaroo‘s content along with host of several live Indian television channels across International markets and India.

Goldstone says that it believes that the quality and versatility of content is its strength and there is a huge demand for content of this nature, not just in the India subcontinent, but also worldwide. The tie up with Shemaroo will greatly enhance its portfolio of services, such wider variety of on demand Indian content is currently not available on any platform globally.

Other than India, Goldstone is spread across Asia Pacific and Europe, where IPTV is catching up rapidly. According to the key findings of the report by iLocus reveal that the worldwide IPTV subscriber base touched almost four million of March 2007.

The most successful IPTV operators include PCCW, France Telecom and Free Telecom. According to iLocus publication, PCCW, France Telecom and Free Telecom had IPTV subscriber base of 833K, 768K and 680K respectively as of March 2007.

Goldstone has already signed up for providing television channels for its global pay TV service which includes 11 zee channels, India TV, Aastha TV, B4U Movies and music and several other south Indian, Lankan and European TV channels.

BANGALORE: Indiagames, which was acquired by UTV last year, has partnered with online casual gaming company PopCap Games to launch PopCap’s catalogue of games on the Indiagames ‘Games on Demand‘ (GoD) service. The partnership was announced at the CGA Casual Connect Seattle 2007 conference.

After having launched a portfolio of international game titles, Indiagames will bring the PopCap titles to India. PopCap Games‘ offerings on the GoD Service will feature some of the game developers popular titles including its flagship game ‘Bejeweled‘, as well as ‘Chuzzle‘, ‘Zuma and Bookworm‘ amongst others.

Indiagames CEO Vishal Gondal said, “With broadband connectivity growing exponentially in India, casual games are very important to the growth of online gaming as there are millions of Indian gamers who are experiencing gaming for the first time through our GoD service and they want to see a simple and fun experience. We believe PopCap’s games will be a welcome addition to our GoD service and will be an instant hit with our users.”

“We are very optimistic about the prospects of casual games in India,” said PopCap’s VP for Asia Pacific James Gwertzman. “The online games market in India is just getting off the ground, and we are excited to be there at the beginning,” he added.

The GoD service is an online monthly subscription based gaming service that offers a catalogue of over 300 games across multiple genres catering to gamers of all skill sets.

The other titles on the catalogue include leading international titles like Age of Empires II, A3, Brian Lara’s Cricket, Flight Simulator and Lara Croft Tomb Raider amongst others. Indiagames has exclusive distribution agreements with international publishers like Atari, Activision, Codemaster, Microsoft, Cenaga, Playfirst, Sandlot, Eidos, Hipsoft, and Magnasoft amongst others.

Moore will be replaced by Don Mattrick, a former top EA executive who has served as an advisor to Microsoft on video games for the past six months. Moore will stay at Microsoft until 1 September though Mattrick will start his new job on 30 July.

The announcement comes soon after Microsoft announced that it would fix an “unacceptable” number of broken Xbox 360 game consoles that would cost the software major an estimated $1.15 billion.

Meanwhile, Microsoft has said that there is nothing to be read into the timing of Moore‘s departure which comes close on the heels of E3, the video game industry‘s annual expo. Moore was supposed to play host for Microsoft‘s press briefing.

“It is just how things fall. A lot of this timing was driven by Electronic Arts,” said Microsoft entertaninment and devices division president Robbie Bach. “Peter is a sports nut, so it is a good job for Peter.”

Moore will receive a one-time bonus of $1.5 million from EA to offset future compensation he was due at Microsoft. He joined Microsoft in 2003 to oversee their gaming consoles. After joining Microsoft from Sega Toys Ltd., Moore became the marketing face of the company‘s Xbox push and made it more competitive towards rival Sony Corp.‘s PlayStation console.

Previously he was the President and COO of SEGA of America and helped launch Dreamcast in 1999. He also has an extensive sports background, as both a senior vice president of marketing at Reebok International Ltd. and as the President of Patrick USA, the United States subsidiary of a French sportswear company.